Doctor Who: Series 25, Episodes 8-10 – “Silver Nemesis” (1988)

I think of classic Who’s 10^th and 20^th anniversaries as big events because of their always-fun multi-Doctor specials. But even though we don’t get anything like that in series 25, the season actually does highlight the 25^th anniversary pretty well. The season kicks off with the Doctor and Ace back at Totters Lane in 1963, nudging up against the fourth wall by almost alluding to the show itself, and now part of “Silver Nemesis” is set on November 22, 1988—the eve of the 25^th anniversary. Of course, it also threatens worldwide destruction, but what’s a Doctor Who anniversary without a little murder and mayhem?

Every 25 years, the orbit of the comet Nemesis takes it past the Earth, always bringing devastation with it. This time, the comet falls to the planet’s surface, and a race begins to seize it and control its powerful living metal. The major players include a group of Nazis wanting to usher in the Fourth Reich, a 17^th century noblewoman who combines time travel with magic, and a fleet of Cybermen. It’s up to the Seventh Doctor and Ace to keep any of them from succeeding.

At times, this story leans too far into the “super mysterious Doctor and all his special secrets” thing, which is a well that the Seven era draws from too often. I’ve always preferred the Doctor as a madcap adventurer who barely scraped a passing grade from the Time Lord Academy, someone who’s important because of what they choose to do, not because of inflated significance bestowed on them by the narrative. I can find the latter too trite and wannabe-edgy.

That said, there’s still plenty to like about this serial. There are a lot of creative ideas at play here, and even though they pull the serial in a few different directions, it hangs together pretty well and doesn’t just feel like two or three separate stories got smashed together. The mix of antagonists is good, with Nazis fighting Cybermen fighting time travelers from the 1600s—only on Who, am I right? I also like the concept of validium, both how the living metal works when it’s constructed into a statue and the comet’s malevolent impact on the human race. Oh, and after seeing Ace take on Daleks with a baseball bat at the start of the season, we now get to see her take on Cybermen with a gold coin and a slingshot. Fun times all around!