Battlefield (1989) Review

"Science leads... over my dead body!"

Battlefield is a soup of absolutely fantastic ideas for a Doctor Who story: the return of a beloved character, a war from another dimension bleeding over, tying the Doctor into Arthurian legend. The result is awesome... but just think how much more awesome it would be if it actually made any sense?

WRITTEN BY

Ben Aaronovitch, close friend of script editor Andrew Cartmel and writer of the equally continuity-heavy, but more far more beloved Remembrance of the Daleks.

PLOT

When legendary knights from a parallel universe break through to our world, the Doctor and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart join forces one last time with UNIT to save the Earth from the warrior queen Morgaine.

ANALYSIS

Battlefield has its hearts in the right place: it wants to be a glorious send-off to the Brigadier, keep building the mythos of the Seventh Doctor(possibly the most ambitious of any Doctor's character development), combine magic and science on a scale the show never has before(this could easily be an episode of "Once Upon A Time") and it even manages to have an explanation for how legendary characters such as Arthur and Morgaine can exist without it being contrived(not a daft space cruise like in Voyage Of The Damned or Mummy On The Orient Express).

But it has such a breakneck pace that it really struggles to remain coherent. Vital plot elements such as "why is the dimensional crossover happening" and "what do the knights want" are left for the viewer to figure out from the few references to the Doctor's future encounter with them. Which is an implied level of investment on the viewer's part that borders on arrogance, especially during this era.

There's a reason why the companion is known as "the one that asks the questions", and all that this story really needed was for a nice quiet scene where the Doctor sits Ace and company down and gives them a quick rundown of what he thinks is going on. But of course, since this is the Seventh Doctor, we got a lot of winking and question marks instead. And yes, I can appreciate the mystery, but there's ambiguity and then there's a situation where the viewer might start asking why he should be invested if the show's never going to tell him what he's watching. It just turns what should be a layered thrill ride into homework.

CHARACTERS

I do love that the Seventh Doctor is, for once, his own pawn and for much of the story, has no idea what to expect. It's a smart juxtaposition of his usual role in events, though McCoy still manages to be on top of the situation and play the part of Merlin to a tee. I especially loved the scene where he commanded the battle to cease and it actually did. One can always expect the unexpected with this Doctor, and I dig it.

Ace is kept on the sidelines, but she does develop a decent rapport with Ling Tai's Shou Yuing based around a shared love for explosives(whatever works, I guess) and I thought the scene where their partnership is put to the test by Morgaine as they're hiding in the chalk circle was very well acted.

Nicholas Courtney is back one more time as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and is still so, so, so, so, so, so, so lovable times infinity. And he also gets a brilliant send-off in this story, with a lot of it dedicated to establishing his home life with Angela Douglas's perfectly sensible Doris, and loyalty to the Doctor and Earth. Seeing the Brigadier confront the villain on his own(both Morgaine and the Destroyer) was also very interesting as despite being the head of UNIT, it was usually the Doctor who handled the talking. It's kind of a shame that he isn't killed off saving the Earth in this story as it would've been the exit the character deserved.

Jean Marsh(who also appeared as pseudocompanion Sara Kingdom in Nick Courtney's first Doctor Who story, The Daleks' Master Plan) gives a powerhouse performance as Morgaine, a multilayered villainess who is obsessed with war, but also honor(the scene of her insisting on respecting the Earth's fallen soldiers was quite powerful). A terrific final foe for the Brigadier to go up against, I think. I also found her relationship with her smug son Mordred(Christopher Bowen, king of maniacal laughter) interesting. You don't often see villains with familial connections, or at least not affectionate ones, so it was cool to see a more complex pair of villains.

Angela Bruce provides plenty of amusement as the new, hotshot Brigadier Winifred Bambera with an over-the-top, but charming temper and a fun partnership with Marcus Gilbert's charismatic knight Ancelyn.

The only real letdown is Marek Anton's Destroyer, a monster with potential, but a pretty ridiculous and tensiondeflating look. I feel like the Destroyer should've been something more abstract and incorporeal, but still destructive. Or at the very least, not look like a mutant Smurf.

NOTES

*I was pleased to hear UNIT using "Salamander" as a codeword. I wonder if old Ramon was already born during the events of this story?

*I imagine JNT learned his lesson after suggesting the Brigadier was retired by 1977 in Mawdryn Undead, and here the UNIT story is once again set a few years in the future(the early 90s then, presumably). Unfortunately, the "futuristic suggestions" are a little more dated here than they were back then(still waiting on that King of England).

*As a former soldier, it slightly irritates me to have the Doctor dismiss UNIT's testing explosives as mere amusement for them. Firstly because it's unfair, and secondly because... well, Ace.

*UNIT appears to have no qualms about letting two civilians wander about their stranded convoy, right next to the NUCLEAR MISSILE.

*How can Brigadier Bambera be unaware of both the Doctor and the alien invasions? Isn't it her job to know?

*I miss laser beam effects on the sci-fi guns. I know the McCoy era is all about sparks(an eccentricity it shares with the Tennant era), but it just looks like crap.

*I hate hate hate the needless cutting between scenes in 80s Doctor Who.

*It's kinda weird that the Doctor didn't include a backup subroutine so that his own security system in Arthur's ship wouldn't harm him.

*Not sure how I feel about the Doctor indulging in some very Masterly hypnosis.

*Seven's getting really good at imitating Pertwee's jumpcut transmogrification trick.

*What was up with McCoy's ridiculous twirl into the portal?

*I love the irony about the Brigadier's declaration that he is rather more expendable than the Doctor, given that in reality, McCoy could be replaced whereas Nicholas Courtney was the only Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart there ever was. RIP.

*Lines like "call me lady one more time and I'll break your nose" really piss me off. Dude was just being nice.

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

1) The Brigadier has finally married his sweetheart Doris, mentioned in Planet Of The Spiders. I like that if they were going to give him a wife, it was actually tied to his past, so well done. Fleshes out his character better, I think.

1) The Brigadier remarks to his wife that he's retired from teaching, which is what we saw him doing in Mawdryn Undead. Not strictly necessary given that The Five Doctors just ignored it, but it's nice that they kept track of his life.

2) The Brigadier name-drops his old underling Sergeant Benton as he reminisces about the efficiency of his soldier days. Pure nostalgia, but then this is a nostalgic character.

3) The Doctor tries to get into UNIT with his 1970s passes(that he just happens to be carrying in his hat), the other being for Liz Shaw. Now this is just gratuituous.

4) In order to convince Brigadier Bambera that he's not an ordinary civilian, the Doctor namedrops the Yeti, the Autons, the Daleks, the Cybermen and the Silurians. This is the worst kind of reference, and the way McCoy delivers it is just cringeworthy, like a fan recital.

5) Sergeant Zbrigniev tells Brigadier Bambera of the Doctor's ability to change his appereance(implying that he was hired at UNIT from The Invasion to Robot, at least). Probably a necessary callback(though they could've just brought back Mike Yates if you asked me).

6) The Brigadier recovers the Doctor's prized car Bessie for him to use. Again, wholly unnecessary, but that car is awesome and it's cool to see somebody other than Pertwee drive it(the only other case was in Robot, where Tom Baker briefly had the wheel).

7) The Doctor tells to Ace run when he says so, a sweet reference to the Troughton era.

BEST QUOTE

"UNIT looks after its own, alive or dead, and I want these ashes buried with honor." - The Brigadier(the original, you might say).

CONCLUSION

With quite a bit of ironing out, this would be a stone cold classic. As it is, it's certainly memorable and different.