Full Circle (1980) Review

I would seriously have loved it if they had all become companions
and formed an actual TARDIS crew.

Full Circle is an intelligent, well-crafted and atmospheric story. Indeed, I would go so far as to say it's the show's most solid piece of storytelling in years. 

WRITTEN BY

Andrew Smith, a 17-year old who somehow got the chance to write for the show. I am not making this up. That is incredible!! Especially considering how well it came out.

PLOT

Whilst on its way to Gallifrey, the TARDIS accidentally goes through a Charged Vacuum Emboitment(an incredibly rare anomaly in space) that sends it into a parallel universe working on vastly different laws of physics known as E-space. 

Landing on a planet with a community obsessed with repairing their spacecraft, the Doctor and Romana are separated by the actions of fearful rebels and must solve the mystery behind the mysterious mute Marshmen bearing down on them all.

ANALYSIS

It was actually really hard to write that plot summary as the story is very complex and unique, with multiple clever plot twists and centered on a believable and fair, yet completely different society to our own. At no point do any of the characters feel like caricatures, the direction is top-notch and thrilling and things actually get tense on multiple occasions. It feels like a renaissance for the show.

I especially enjoy the over-arching storyline of the TARDIS team getting trapped in E-space, which is a wonderful sci-fi plotline of the sort that I've really missed in the new series. There's no "big meaning" to it, it's just a really funky, somewhat scary situation, like the Key To Time. We need more of that and I hope Chris Chibnall brings some of this kind of pragmatic storytelling into the show. 

CHARACTERS

This may just be my favourite Tom Baker performance, ever. I can't really imagine that he'll top this. He retains his sense of humor, but finally, FINALLY discovers his moral authority, his desire to help people, which is something I've always criticised about the Fourth Doctor's characterisation. There's no flippancy, no joke. When he berates the Deciders on their attempt to perform a vivisection on one of the Marshmen, I was completely glued to the screen. That was the Doctor, not saving people for fun or "because he's the man that blah blah blah", but very simply because it's the right thing to do and he's been given the chance to do it. That scene defines why the Doctor left Gallifrey. 

Due to her encounter with the Marshmen, Romana is largely absent from the second half of the story, although I did find her slightly childish strop about not wanting to go back to Gallifrey very amusing(considering her behaviour when she first joined the Doctor). Also, I found Romana as a mindless animal kind of... sexy? Especially when the Doctor got her to guard the TARDIS.

This story of course introduces one of the most notorious companions of all time, Adric. Matthew Waterhouse is another lucky kid like Andrew Smith, who got the chance to be in Doctor Who(possibly to appeal to a younger audience whilst K-9 was getting phased out). He can't really act well at all, but he has very good chemistry with Tom Baker and seems harmless enough.

Oh, poor K-9... why do they drag you through the mud like this? Yes, it's another one of those "K-9 gets axed... but not really" tales. It's the only thing that really bothers me about this story. If they wanted to get rid of K-9, they should've just done so. The fact that K-9 hasn't been properly involved in the story since The Armageddon Factor is simply absurd and I'm really resenting the way they treated his character.

The actors portraying the Outlers(including Adric's brother) were all a pretty wooden bunch, another flaw in this otherwise great story. They carry a lot of these episodes, so a constant annoyance in Full Circle is their sincere-robotic acting. 

Fortunately, the Deciders come across as much better people, gentle and infirm, but genuine and willing to learn at the same time. I really loved every one of them: the confused, but determined Nefred(played by James Bree who also portrayed the awesome Security Chief in The War Games), the wise Draith, the supportive Garif and the hilariously named Login(who was the active and imaginative one). I really felt for them and the issues that they faced. Plus, their inability to decide also provided a lot of naturalistic comedy.

NOTES

*Maybe I missed it, but I never really understood how the people of the Starliner evolved from the Marshmen, and what exactly their relationship was supposed to be.

*I found it slightly peculiar that one of the Marshmen used K-9's head as a weapon and yet they appear to be scared of it as if it was a religious artifact or something.

*The Doctor working in a laboratory with a microscope was VERY Pertwee(especially since I just recently rewatched The Silurians).

*Why didn't Varsh and the other kids just run into the TARDIS on the multiple occasions they were confronted by Marshmen and the doors were clearly open?

*Also, Varsh staying behind for so long to blow oxygen into the faces of the Marshmen was just ridiculous. He should've just run back and helped to block the doors again. 

*How exactly did the Marshmen turn Romana into one of them?

*Why does the Doctor carve into the fruit that he finds in the Starliner? Is it really a good time to start slicing up watermelons?

*And why do the Marshman later drop the knife he used, which he had stolen? The knife was like this recurring joke or something that went nowhere after the Doctor got it back.

*The sonic! I love the sonic. Seriously, JNT getting rid of it was ridiculous. It's been 12 seasons since they introduced it and I'm pretty sure it's only been used around twenty-thirty times in the entire classic series.

*When the Doctor discovers his TARDIS is gone and touches the air around where it was, I briefly thought the TARDIS had turned invisible(like in The Invasion and The Impossible Astronaut). 

*The reveal that nobody knows how to pilot the spaceship... such a brilliant touch.

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

1. At the beginning of the story, the Doctor references the events of The Invasion Of Time, naming Leela, Andred and the earlier K-9. It's not forced per se, since they are heading to Gallifrey, but it was a bit odd, since the classic series usually doesn't refer so blatantly to past events.

2. Romana mentions that the Doctor once fought the Time Lords and lost, which is a reference to The War Games. This was a terrific callback, I thought and it's very interesting to see that the Doctor has accepted Gallifrey's role in his life, completely dismissing the idea of not returning once he has been summoned.

BEST QUOTE

"I'm usually good with children." - The Doctor

CONCLUSION

A very different, fresh kind of story with a production that's firing from all cylinders. I really enjoyed it.