Castrovalva (1982) Review

Don't fret, Peter. I believe in you!

Castrovalva is a strange, contemplative, but enthusiastic opener for the Fifth Doctor era.

WRITTEN BY

Recent script editor Christopher H. Bidmead, whose philosophical pondering and highbrow mathematical plot devices have transformed Doctor Who from an adventure show to a strange Alice In Wonderland experience.

PLOT

As Tegan and Nyssa deal with the Doctor's post-regeneration trauma, the Master(hell yeah!) kidnaps Adric and forces him to use block transfer computation to trap his arch-nemesis once and for all.

ANALYSIS

Unlike previous(and later) introduction stories, there is no big adventure here that the Doctor has to take on to prove his identity. The only threat comes from the Master taking advantage of his extremely vulnerable state to try and end his life once and for all.

Having post-regeneration trauma affect the Doctor so badly is a really good idea in my opinion. Not only does it allow the companions to take charge, but it also means that this is the first time since The Power Of The Daleks that it hasn't been played for laughs and also the first time ever that it comes across as a real problem for the Doctor to overcome.

Because of the focus on the Doctor, we spend almost the entirety of the first two episodes inside the TARDIS, which I really enjoyed(the new series especially could learn from this) and the second half on a truly remarkable alien world... remarkable in the sense that it is completely non-hostile and more of a mystery with a ticking clock. 

It certainly feels like the show has completely changed with these last few stories, into a more cerebral, concept-focused drama, which would be great if it wasn't for...

CHARACTERS

Peter Davison's start is a mixed bag, I'm afraid. I like him when he takes control, but it happens only once or twice in the entire story. Even in Part 4, the Doctor is largely debilitated and like with Peter Capaldi in the modern series, you go away feeling like "he doesn't really know what he's doing, but he's giving it his best, so I guess we'll go with it."

Now, in my review of Spearhead From Space, I pointed out how it seemed like Pertwee's first scenes as the Doctor were playing Troughton's incarnation, who slowly faded away to become the Third. Here, this is the case quite literally, as Davison is made to impersonate the other actors who played the part. And it looks ridiculous. 

At his best, though, Davison is witty, bashful and quite adorable as the Fifth Doctor, and I'm quite excited to see more of him. Fun fact: the first classic Doctor Who story I ever saw was The Five Doctors, so in my mind, he's always been the definitive classic incarnation(his appereance in Time Crash certainly helped) and I've been looking forward to his stories since I started with Hartnell. 

Each of the three companions might be good on their own, but together, they are a ridiculous band. First of all, there's the fact that they're all characters from recent stories, which just makes it look like bits and pieces of the past season have somehow stuck onto the show. And secondly, none of them are really any good!

Tegan Jovanka is probably my current favourite, as she seems to have the most spirit. Unfortunately, Janet Fielding's acting continues to be very forced and over the top, and so I'm alternating between liking her and rolling my eyes every time she waits a full second before proudly declaring every one of her lines. 
Also, what is she even still doing there? Why didn't she go with the security guards once she got back to Earth? 

Then there's Sarah Sutton's Nyssa, and I still have no idea what her princess character is supposed to have on the TARDIS. She's a boring technical expert with dead eyes.

And finally, Matthew Waterhouse's Adric, who is left completely adrift without Tom Baker's powerful presence. He is barely even in this story, but still, it doesn't feel right at all. 

Anthony Ainley's Master is an embarrassment. First of all, I find it out of character for the Master to construct an entire world just to kill the Doctor. The Master's main goal has always been to gain power over the universe. Even the raging Peter Pratt incarnation, who intentionally brought the Doctor to Gallifrey so he could be killed, was merely using him as part of a plan to restore himself. 
Having the Master actually work solely at trying to kill the Doctor is both very undignified and cartoonish.
Plus, he tries to crack open the Zero Cabinet with a fire poker and has to be told by Nyssa how Time Lord technology works! He's an utter buffoon!

The Castrovalvans are all fairly decent and charming, much like Castrovalva itself. I never really got what the deal with the Castrovalvan women was, though, or why they stole the Zero Cabinet.

NOTES

*What on Earth was all that drivel about the "power of the word 'if'"??? 

*At one point, the Master uses Adric to send the TARDIS into Event One aka the Big Bang. For what purpose, exactly? It is later revealed that he also had Adric input a whole bunch of new data into the TARDIS databanks just so Nyssa and Tegan could figure out how to pilot it to safety in Castrovalva where they could help the Doctor, something that they would've done regardless of the situation. So he's basically sabotaging one of his plans for another. Crikey.

*If the Zero Room got ejected from the TARDIS, why are the doors still there?

*The TARDIS databanks say that Castrovalva is a peaceful environment similar to that of a Zero Room. If that's the case, why does the Doctor still need a Zero Cabinet after they land there?

*The trek to Castrovalva is extremely drawn out. Honestly, this story could've been a two-parter, with the first part establishing the Doctor's plight, the Master's plan and ending with the crew being captured on Castrovalva, and the second part featuring the Doctor working it all out and stopping the Master. 

*The music is fantastic in this story. I especially love the Castrovalvan theme that plays when the crew are exploring the planet.

*When Tegan and Nyssa find blood near the Zero Cabinet, it looks 100% like jam. 

*There's very little transition between the girls' travelling to the city of Castrovalva(on the planet of Castrovalva) and actually arriving there. Odd complaint, I know, but it felt very sudden to me.

*Tegan and Nyssa are surrounded. They run away for a bit. And nobody catches them. Sure.

*The pig that the Castrovalvans are roasting looks a bit too real to me... did they get an actual pig in the studio? And if so, how?

*This line really bothers me for some reason. When the Doctor is offered celery as a snack: "Definitely civilisation!". Is Christopher Bidmead a vegetarian or something? 

*I will say this about Anthony Ainley: he really sells the Master's various disguises as different people.

*Speaking of his disguises though, the strobing effect when the mask is removed looks very silly. Why not just an actual mask, like in the Delgado days?

*Maybe it's a Time Lord thing, but it looks really silly when the Doctor goes to sleep without even taking his suit off.

*When Tegan and Nyssa arrive in Castrovalva, they are told that somebody else wished to see the Doctor. Somehow, they correctly guess that it's the confused Doctor himself, rather than, I dunno, Adric?

*The tapestry that can show pictures of recent events is a really daft concept, which only exists to have someplace quirky where the Master could hide his villainous devices.

*In a very bizarre scene, Shardovan insists that he be allowed to carry the Doctor's cabinet instead of Tegan and Nyssa. Suddenly, it cuts to the Castrovalvans carrying it and Tegan and Nyssa running up to them and demanding that they carry it instead. I mean, what happened? Did they surrender the cabinet and think "nah, they MUST be doing something evil!" and chase after it???

*A bit of awful writing: as the Master believes that the Doctor is inside the Zero cabinet, we actually see him entering the room via the tapestry and Tegan says out loud: "Wretched tapestry! He'll spot the Doctor any minute now!" It really comes across like the show talking down to the children.

*Why is Shardovan's attack on the Master such a big deal when he just erased two Castrovalvans from existence before they could do any harm to him?

*The final scene, where the TARDIS team and the Castrovalvans tear the Doctor and the Master away from each other as the city collapses around them is quite awesome.

*This line is simultaneously silly and adorable: as the TARDIS sends the Doctor a wheelchair, he exclaims: "Transport of delight!"

*Another really memorable line: as the Doctor is trying to find his way out of the timey-wimey mess that Castrovalva has become, he asks the women for help and they all point in different directions. The Doctor's response? "Well, that's democracy for you."

*The special effects representing the recursive occlusion are absolutely terrible and don't bring Escher to mind at all.

*Why exactly was the regeneration so difficult this time around anyway? I wish they'd explained that, since it was definitely much worser than any of the ones he'd had until now. And all that he died from was a bad fall!

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

1) Since this story is a direct sequel to Logopolis, several things carry over, such as the concept of block transfer computation, the Master's presence and his pillar-shaped TARDIS(apparently he can't be bothered with the chameleon circuit anymore either), mentions of Logopolis itself, and the Pharos Project, the cloister bell. Rather interestingly, the Doctor also mentions ejecting Romana's room in the previous story, something that he "did once with Adric".

2) When he is in delirium, the Fifth Doctor impersonates his previous selves and namechecks the Brigadier, Vicki, Jamie, Jo and K-9.

3) For the first time since the Third Doctor era, we hear the famous "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow" line.

4) In a VERY random moment, the Portreeve mentions that in Castrovalva, the Doctor can finally rest from his adventures, and the Doctor responds with "oh, the Ogrons and the Daleks and all that." 

5) The Master's unmasking may not look identical to, but it's clearly a reference to Roger Delgado's Master.

BEST QUOTE

"The solution? Oh my little friend, if only you were." - The Doctor, as he picks up a random medicine bottle.

CONCLUSION

Like the previous story, it's a bit of an unedited mess of creative ideas, but there's such a happy-go-lucky charm to the new Doctor and the writing itself is frequently witty and intellectual, so that it just about works.