The Androids Of Tara (1978) Review

*sigh* The Doctor can just never catch a break.

The Androids Of Tara is easily the best story we've had since the Hinchcliffe days. A sizzling adventure tale of heroes and villains, love and hate, sci-fi and history.

WRITTEN BY

David Fisher, who hits the nail even better than last time. So far, so good.

PLOT

After tracking the fourth segment of the Key To Time to Tara, the Doctor takes a day off to go fishing(sorry to break in here, but that was the funniest thing I think I've ever seen the Doctor do), leading Romana to be captured by the greedy Count Grendel whilst retrieving the segment. 

To rescue the lady, the Doctor pits his wits against the Count with the help of the Taran prince and his guards. 

CHARACTERS

Tom Baker is completely in his element here, with many witty lines precooked for him, a marvellous villain to exchange barbs with and many comedy relief characters to suddenly transform into straight men next to the scarfed one himself. I love him in this. 

Romana, too, is hilarious, with her princess-y tendencies highlighted in the brilliant closing episode with Princess Strella. I also love her confusion with the semi-medieval setting. 

Peter Jeffrey is an unsubtle, theatrical villain. He's also utterly delicious in his performance. Completely captivating, utterly without morals and with a flair, he is by far the best part of this story and surprisingly enough, survives the ending!

Paul Lavers has a splendid role as Prince Reynart, a very likable aristocrat destined for the throne. Unfortunately, he spends the latter half of the story locked in Grendel's dungeon and portraying his android duplicate, which is a shame since he was great in the first half.

Declan Mulholland portrayed Till, Grendel's slobbering manservant/peasant lackey. An oddly memorable role in of itself, but Mulholland hides a far greater significance: he was the original actor to portray Jabba the Hutt in Star Wars. 

Lois Baxter plays Lamia, a peculiar sort of role as Grendel's android expert/surgeon/peasant girl/ex-girlfriend... funny?

Paul Lavers is basically a walking recurring gag, an over-the-top "dashing young knight" who actually constantly screws up. This serial really has it all.

NOTES

*Although I absolutely adore the Doctor literally halting the narrative so he can go and fish, it does show off just how much of a comedy Doctor Who has become. I mean, the lead character couldn't care less that evil is about to dominate the universe!

*I also think that Romana's finding the Key To Time so early is a mixed bag. It could've been an excellent gimmick and the retrieval would've been more satisfying, but it's nice to see that not all of the segments need to be ludicrously hidden.

*This story has many similarities to the equally swashbuckling The Masque Of Mandragora(a prince in need, an evil count taking over the throne, a swordfight, nice location filming etc.). It's very Robin Hood.

*I don't really get the world of Tara. Just like Mummy On The Orient Express and Voyage Of The Damned, there's no explanation given to as to why the planet would copy human society and appereance so diligently, yet still have various gadgets handy like androids and blasters.

*However, unlike those stories, the sci-fi element is considerably toned down. In fact, the only time it really comes into play is during the android plot. The rest of it could've been done without the alien backstory. Maybe it wouldn't match up to any historical event?

*The scene where the Doctor presents the android Prince to the court is the most tense I've ever been in a Doctor Who story. I was literally pausing every other second, praying that the android worked. Great job, Fisher.

*So... Grendel. Beowulf much?

*How come the Doctor and Romana can get to everything they want from the TARDIS by walking through that one door? In The Invasion Of Time, it was a brickwalled corridor, in The Stones Of Blood it was a dark room and now it's the TARDIS wardrobe(with immediately the letter that Romana is looking for!). Does Romana have that excellent control over the TARDIS's dimensional transcendence?

*Also, I'm pretty sure that closet in the console room has never been there before. 

*However, I am pleased with the reappearance of the Doctor-K9 chess matches(he even has a similar reaction to the TARDIS landing as he does in The Sun Makers). I especially like that they're playing on the floor, it makes the TARDIS console room seem much more like home. 

*How did Romana manage to hold onto the Key To Time tracer throughout the whole story without Grendel ever taking it?

*I quite like Romana's Taran costumes in this story(designed by Mary Tamm herself).

*Well, the Doctor almost manages to look respectable... until a bit of his scarf is cut off and his hat is set on fire(after which it disappears). Well, he tried. In the name of fishing.

*The Doctor needs to practice fencing more. But sure enough, a few minutes with the Count and all his Sea Devils memories came right back...

*Fisher really couldn't have found a way for Romana to twist her ankle without involving some silly one-scene beast(i.e. a fur coat with a Halloween mask)?

*There's a lot of creativity in the direction this week... lots of great shots and ingenious uses of models.

BEST QUOTE

I was going to say the entire scene of the Count attempting to manipulate the Doctor, but looking it up, it's actually quite blandly written... just goes to show just what a marvellous job Tom Baker and Peter Jeffrey did with the scene. 

CONCLUSION

The Androids Of Tara was so good, it's one of those ultrarare stories I watched straight, four episodes in one night. A tremendously well done send-up, as the British would say.