The Trial Of A Time Lord (1986) Prosecution

WTF is this?
(And why didn't the Valeyard show The Twin Dilemma?
A Time Lord actually dies there!!)

Let me start off by saying that there's actually two prosecutions: the Valeyard's, which consists of the first eight episodes of the serial, and my own of the whole serial, which naturally also includes the Valeyard's prosecution.

For simplicity's sake, let's take a look at the Valeyard's case first. He begins with a segment featuring the Doctor and Peri in a most trivial adventure, with one notable exception: it contains secret information of the Time Lords' meddling with history. Considering that, and the fact that this story really does contain very little to accuse the Doctor of(the Valeyard's suggestion that lives might've been spared in his absence is absurd, given that Dibber would've destroyed the black light generator regardless).

The Mysterious Planet is also the only segment that doesn't feature any supposed tampering with the Matrix to implicate the Doctor, suggesting that the only real reason to show it was to tip somebody off about the High Council's crimes. But considering that it's only thanks to the Master's (clearly unwanted) intervention that the Doctor even discovers this, and the lack of motive on the Valeyard's part, I fail to see the point.

Mindwarp is a much more effective piece of evidence, largely thanks to the Doctor's bizarre switch to evil for a large portion of the story that results in Peri's sad fate. However, I would like to point out that for unsentimental Time Lords, the Valeyard might've found a better example of the Doctor breaking the First Law(after all, getting Peri killed doesn't technically break any Gallifreyan laws), such as The Caves Of Androzani, where the Doctor's presence is akin to the first pebble of an avalanche.

With that out of the way, let's examine The Trial Of A Time Lord as a whole. There's no denying that the whole concept of a court of Time Lords watching Doctor Who is a bit ludicrous, especially when compared with the previous trial depicted in The War Games(that really should've come into play as more than a throwaway line) where the Time Lords were already well versed with the Doctor's travels and a prosecutor wasn't even required.

As such, it feels like less of a court session and more like Colin Baker watching Doctor Who with his mum and dad. Leaving aside the Valeyard's edits, the stories have very little relevance to the Trial arc. Robert Holmes attempted to bring it all together by revealing the whole thing was a sham orchestrated by the High Council to ensure the Doctor wouldn't reveal their secrets, but not only does it make very little sense(partially because the Doctor never did find out until the Trial and seemingly never investigated how Earth became Ravalox in the meantime, partially because the Valeyard uses the very event they're trying to cover as evidence in a public trial and partially because they could've just assassinated him if they wanted to), but it is completely dropped by Pip and Jane Baker in their side of The Ultimate Foe.

And let's talk about the Valeyard's edits. I already mentioned the idiotic bleep in The Mysterious Planet, but his handling of Mindwarp was just sad. So he rewrites events to show that the Doctor is a cowardly meddler who immediately ditches Peri as soon as he gets in over his head. But then why on earth does he make it equally suggestible that the Doctor's head got fried by Crozier's device? There's even a scene where the Doctor visibly recovers from his weird ailment and from there-on after, returns to heroics. And wasn't he worried the Time Lords would check and find out that Peri was actually fine?

It's also far too obviously forced in, as at first the Doctor just acts completely drunk, then out of nowhere he is the quintessence of evil and in the final episode, he's sane again. Surely even a Time Lord could notice that the Doctor was clearly acting out of the ordinary, if not to say schizophrenically, in that story? If he was as disloyal as the Valeyard suggests, he'd go through companions like socks! I'm also extremely interested in finding out what really did happen, given that the Doctor's falsified betrayal was basically the lynchpin of that entire story.

In Terror Of The Vervoids, the only Valeyard addition is a short scene of the Doctor destroying Hyperion III's communications system, where I can only ask... why? What would be the Doctor's motive? This is never referenced again so why does the Valeyard even bother? In a murder mystery story, it would've actually been interesting to implicate the Doctor(much more subtly), but it goes nowhere, shame.

And finally, there's The Ultimate Foe, where a fascinating setup by Robert Holmes(I far preferred this rendition of The Matrix to the one in The Deadly Assassin) is sadly squandered in a desperate attempt to return things to status quo. The Master and Glitz are both done away with unceremoniously when the Matrix thingamajig turns out to be booby-trapped, the Valeyard is defeated with the equivalent of "reverse the polarity", all of Holmes' bureaucratic satire is just forgotten and the Inquisitor conveniently takes over as Lord President. And who could forget Mel apparently rejoining the Doctor in his travels despite them not having met yet? Charmed. I can't really blame anyone for this, but it is woeful to see good writing go to waste.

Of course, not even the late Holmes escapes criticism. Both of his scripts for the season, however amusing, are extremely unoriginal by his standards. A worshipped deity turns out to be a robot gone rogue? A confrontation of modern and primitive life? A standoff in the Matrix? Double-acts, again???

Thus, I conclude that
1) The Trial segments were extremely poorly thought out, and lack a proper conclusion due to Holmes' death.
2) The story segments lack originality.
3) The Trial arc reduces rewatchability, in particular when it directly interferes with the story segments(the Valeyard edits).

Click here for the Accusation.
Click here for the Defense.
Click here for the Final Verdict.