Castrovalva

"Adric’s Groin", "Doctor Who and the Recursive Occlusion", "Attack Of The Beards"

"The One With Event One" (USA), "Doctor Who and the I.F. of Death" (Target), "The Hangover From Hell" (Tom Baker fan club magazine)

Doctor Who regenerates and looks like a girl.

*** - A weak start for Peter Davison, that starts dreadfully, and goes downhill from there on in. I loved it.

Shardovan : [Is asked by the Doctor if he sees the 'spatial anomaly' of Castrovalva.] "With my eyes, no, but in my philosophy... also no. It's bollocks from where I'm standing. Which is here, nowhere else, not also over there. Here and only here. Spatial anomalies, my arse." (trimmed before broadcast but added back for the Region 3 DVD)

"Pants... My dad used to say that "pants" was the most powerful word in the English language"

Although transmitted first, this was actually the last story Peter Davison recorded. Many people misunderstand this fact and assume Castrovalva was filmed before Mr Davison’s work for Big Finish. We have a memo which proves this is not the case.

Matthew Waterhouse’s celebrated trouser bulge was achieved with the use of a vegetable. Twenty years on, no one (except Mr Waterhouse) knows where the vegetable was placed to produce such a reaction.

MC Escher would go on to record hits such as "U Can't Touch This" which the sleeve notes explain is a reference to the intangibility of illusionary landscapes. 

It is believed that it was during the production of this story that Janet Fielding fell madly in love with Sarah Sutton.

The refresh rate and picture quality of the tapestry is comparable to that offered by 'ITV Digital' during it’s brief existence.

'The Official DWAS Bible of Doctor Who Facts' stated that the Doctor's impressions of his earlier selves were achieved by playing audio of Hartnell, Troughton and Pertwee to which Davison merely mimed. This was an official fact until 1993 when the DWAS Factual Committee voted 3-2 that it wasn't the case.

...is never to trust a database with a weird filing system.

Si Hunt

People often note that one of their favourite aspects of Story 5Z is the t-i-t-ular character having flashbacks to earlier points in his life. As someone who has experienced such a malady I can assure you it is nothing to enjoy. I was browsing my local library when an entire 32 volume set of Encyclopaedia Britannica landed on my head. The library staff later claimed they simply fell from the top shelf but since the top shelf is only chest height I have never fully accepted that.

In my dazed state I first reverted back to being a small child and squeaked,

"I don't care what Muffin is doing - I need to know the name of the puppeteer and which set of strings he's using."

I then moved forward to adolescence,

"Mr Sphincte, I don't care what the underlying theme of Hamlet's speech is - I want to know if there are any production notes on the surviving manuscripts.

Then to my years as a beatnik wastrel.

"I've never cared to listen to any Bob Dylan but my favourite LP is almost certainly catalogue number MFS-1-114"

And finally to the 1980s when I was at my most politically active.

"Here you are, Ian Levine, this one should break the glass first time."

Someone threw cold water on my face at that point and I regained my sensibleness. After a night in the cells (the police claimed I had deliberately damaged the Encyclopaedia Britannica with my head) I was released for lack of evidence. My police record was as clear as my head. All was well that ended well. Looking back on those quotes it is clear that I have lived a full and interesting life. 

Doctor Who's return garnered an extraordinary amount of coverage in the fan press. Reviews of Castrovalva ranged from "I see they've updated the title sequence. Fair dos - they've got common sense at least" to "How long has Peter Davidson been playing Doctor Who? It seems like at least seven and a bit years!!!". The official DWAT poll revealed that Castovalva was the best Doctor Who serial of all time, beating Logopolis into second place for the first time. Within a fortnight, Four to Doomsday was officially the best serial of all time and the DWAT statistics department began to sense a trend. Overall, the mood of fandom was one of "polite optimism" as the "breathless" new Doctor "blandly" climbed into his "over-stuffed" Tardis and "with an ill-fitting smirk" dematerialised for "a mixed bag" of adventures.