The Leisure Hive (1980) Review

I know it didn't work out, but their love really was beautiful to behold.
I hope to be like that when I get married.

The Leisure Hive is largely an incoherent mess, but it tries so hard you can't hate it.

WRITTEN BY

David Fisher, responsible for a pair of classics and one misstep. This one is somewhere in-between and probably not his fault, as it was heavily rewritten by fresh script editor Christopher H. Bidmead.

PLOT

The Doctor and Romana decide to spend their vacation on Argolis, where the last remnants of a once-proud race manage a leisure center renowned for its tachyonic technology. However, as soon as they arrive, an experiment goes horribly wrong and the old Argolin-Foamasi conflict re-emerges to threaten the out-of-depth time travellers.

ANALYSIS

Whilst it's fundamentally a good story(as one might expect from David Fisher), I feel like it's too short and would've worked better as a six-parter. There are some plot points that I still don't understand, such as the fraudulent scientist who is killed by one of the Foamasi(good or evil, who knows?). Like, what was his whole deal?

Besides that, the new incidental music by Peter Howell frequently threatens to drown out the dialogue, particularly in the first few episodes. He does settle down eventually later on, though, and his music when the army emerges from the Recreation Generator is quite admirable.

As with the music, the cinematic direction in this story is hit and miss. Sometimes, the editing and camera choices are so poor that I lose the plot, whilst on other occasions, it's very inspired and interesting.

The new era is announced with trumpets and fanfare as we have a new title sequence, new effects, new costumes and new music to enjoy. An obvious attempt is made to bring back the serious drama of the 60s-early 70s, with some of the ad-libbed humor now feeling quite "naughty", as it were. The problem is that so much focus was put on renewing the series that the story itself suffered as a result. I'm not sure if the scatterbrained script was Fisher's fault or Bidmead's(probably both). 

CHARACTERS

Tom Baker gets to do some of his best acting yet as an aged Fourth Doctor. He is completely invested in coming across as an old man and it's very believable. The excellent make-up used helps a lot, too. Another interesting thing is that the Doctor is very much not in control for this entire story, merely a bit player in the plot who manages to resolve everything by the end. I think with this story, JNT and Bidmead did a pretty solid job in unravelling "the Tom Baker Show" of the past few seasons. 

Lalla Ward is equally vulnerable, at one point being dragged away by guards as the Doctor is in danger. However, she does have one absolutely spiffing moment(god, I've become British) as the different tachyon images of the Doctor disappear and she becomes desperate to find the real him. It looked like she was about to break down and cry as they vanish. Aww. I think this story finally got me shipping the Doctor and Romana II.

John Leeson returns to his iconic role as K-9, in the dumbest opening sequence ever. Listen to this: Irritated, Romana throws a ball into the water for K-9 to catch, which he then pursues only for Romana to scream and K-9 to blow up because of the water. I mean, where do I begin with this? Why would Romana throw the ball into the water if she knew it was dangerous? Why does K-9 go into it if he knew it was dangerous? This made no sense to me.

The Argolins are all played very well by Laurence Payne(previously Johnny Ringo in The Gunfighters), Adrienne Corri and David Haig, respectively. Payne and Corri both play their characters as intelligent, tired and wise, wary of the Foamasi, but with an open mind whilst Haig makes for a great villain, utterly deluded in boyish dreams of glory. He sees himself as a messiah and won't let anything stop or refuse him. 

Nigel Lambert's Hardin is a character that I'd define as solid, one of those loyal Harry Sullivan-types who are trying to do the right thing, even if they don't really understand the stakes. 

Brock is great, basically a Foamasi who has taken on the appereance of a human con man. It was interesting to see that despite his clear-cut villainy, he was still rather concerned about Pangol's mania in what at least seemed a very humane way.

NOTES

*I am in love with Tom Baker's new costume. Whilst I think the coat is a bit too heavy(and it's a bit too trenchcoat-y for my liking), the color coordination is absolutely superb. This could be my favourite Doctor costume ever.

*The new title sequence is also fantastic and still really fun to watch and listen in a way that some of the earlier titles weren't. Of course, this was to become the iconic Peter Davison title sequence, so it's definitely a little funny to see Tom Baker's face in them. Speaking of which: Baker's face looks awful. They seriously couldn't get a better photo? I mean, I didn't think much of his staring in the first one, but here... wow. He looks like he has no idea that he's IN an intro.

*The opening shot goes on for a bit too long, but wonderfully establishes a very different atmosphere from the Williams era.

*I like that they didn't just discard the Randomiser(or forget about it altogether), but actually had it serve a useful function in the plot before letting it go.

*Tom's new scarf is so huge that it actually looks like quite a weight to wear. 

*Why does the Doctor scream in the cliffhanger, if the image of him being ripped to pieces was just that? Was he just trolling?

BEST QUOTE

Brock: "His scarf killed Stimson!"
The Doctor: "Arrest the scarf then!"

CONCLUSION

Well, the new era certainly doesn't lack enthusiasm, so I'll give them this one... let's see if JNT and Bidmead can settle in.


And now, let's talk about season 17. In short, it was quite poor. Most of the stories had plot holes in them, or bad monsters. I did enjoy the frivolous atmosphere of it all(especially in The Horns Of Nimon), but it was more self-mockery than the adventurous spirit of season 16. Shada might've offered some very interesting concepts, but as it was only half-completed, we can barely count that. 
Most people refer to City Of Death and the chemistry between Tom Baker and Lalla Ward when they talk about season 17, and both certainly have their merits, but at the same time, neither was as perfect as people were saying, at least in my eyes, anyway. 

More importantly, let us discuss the Williams era(seasons 15-17). I really enjoyed it. I know I just harped on season 17, but it's not like I hated that either, I just thought the quality dropped. What I really appreciate about the Williams era was its imagination and free-spirited nature. I loved that it was simply trying to entertain, to deliver adventures from throughout time and space, which in the end is what Doctor Who is all about. Present day Earth became a rarity in this era, making the TARDIS feel truly adrift in the universe. It was innocent and charming, always tongue-in-cheek and I'll definitely revisit it happily.