Mawdryn Undead

You could say that this was quite a contrived story, in the sense that much of it is clearly designed to manoeuvre the various characters into a state ready for the double Brigadiers meeting to provide the solution to the main problem. Even the Doctor muses "What worries me is the level of coincidence in this..." at one stage, which isn't that unreasonable in the circumstances (and this in a series which often tends to be strongly reliant on them).

Of course, the implication is very much that the Black Guardian is doing his best to engineer the situation that the 1977 Brigadier ends up inadvertently rescuing them from, the presence of the latter having only come about as an unplanned side effect of the TARDIS having being sent to the wrong time zone (owing to the "temporal anomalies" caused by escaping a "warp ellipse"). He makes enough threats to Turlough along these lines ("Soon he (the Doctor) will be separated from the TARDIS...and in your power" and so on). It would appear, therefore, that the story is ultimately a contrivance (that ends up failing) on the Black Guardian's part to destroy the Doctor's power to regenerate, with Turlough intended to do the rest.

The story does have a plot structure which the uncommitted might well find dauntingly labyrinthine - this isn't the sort of story you can follow easily if you're not fully concentrating. How well it appeals depends on how much interest you can work up in the actual set up and the many twists and turns that keep it moving, and how convincing or at least entertaining you find it.

For myself, I've always enjoyed the course of this story, while acknowledging that it can sometimes have an artificial feel. It does hold my attention and I find it reasonably diverting to work out the tangled chronology that results from this story taking place in mixed up time zones, and the way one character bridges them. I can appreciate that someone who didn't feel this way would probably find the story far less satisfying.

Production values are mostly very good, with some attractively shot location material in the grounds around the school, especially the vaguely iconic-looking obelisk on the far hill. However, I'm not sure the car Turlough and Ibbotson crash in at the beginning is really travelling as fast as it's meant to be doing in narrative terms, and the music accompanying it is a bit too jaunty and trivial.

That said, I do quite like the music score overall, although it does have many detractors. It can be overly intrusive and overstated at times, certainly it's rarely subtle, but it does have powerful ring to it, and can often have a dramatic and exciting quality to it - it's not aural wallpaper by any means.

The interiors for Mawdryn's ship also have a rich and colourful style, successfully breaking right away from the style and look of the contemporary Earth scenes, although the capsule interior is unfortunately rather tacky. Quite a neat idea for the capsule to share the dimensionally transcendent qualities of the TARDIS though, mirroring the Mutants' aims of imitating the Time Lords generally (as well as probably making it easier to mount scenes set inside it).

Regarding the use of the Brigadier, it's known that Ian Chesterton and then Harry Sullivan were originally going to be used in this role, but neither of the respective actors were available at the time. It does occur to me that using either of these (the first at least) might actually have been more fannish than resorting to the Brigadier, who had, after all, appeared intermittently in the series for many years. Almost certainly he would have been better remembered even by non-fans than either of the other two, I would have thought. So it wasn't necessarily a bad idea to use him ultimately. And it is a far more interesting development for the character for us to see him somewhat bitter and in retirement, than for the old UNIT format to have been revived (in that sense, I think Battlefield was a rather reactionary development). Nicholas Courtney plays his dapper moustachioed blazered 1977 persona with a crispness and self confidence mostly missing from his tweedy clean shaven greying-haired 1983 version, who seems slightly out of sorts until the end. Having gone through the encounter with himself from the other end, as it were, he finally relaxes into the new life he is living.

Turlough shows a great deal of (sadly mostly never to be fulfilled) promise, with Mark Strickson putting in an enthusiastic performance, able to handle the sneakiness and cowardice as well as the willowy disdain and mocking superiority he enjoys over "Hippo". His fear at being possessed by the Black Guardian shows an interesting development in psychological horror, even if Valentine Dyall is less effective than he was in Armageddon factor (still a great voice though).

Peter Davison is still on good form, whether ruminating calmly with his friends or dashing through the ship/parklands, delivering breathless exposition to Turlough outside the TARDIS, or hesitating when deciding whether or not to make the sacrifice for Nyssa and Tegan's sakes. Nyssa and Tegan themselves are not that well served though, being mainly expected to play passive roles throughout, although I do like Tegan's militant hostility when she decides Mawdryn is not who he claims, and her resentment of the Brigadier's patronising attitude to them.

David Collings also invests Mawdryn with a world weary dignity that makes the character seem far more sympathetic than he might have done. Barely a villain at all really, although he does tell lies and use underhand methods, and he is also allowed an honourable send off ("Can this be...death?").

Generally enjoyable and interesting, if a little shallow in places.