Been watching all the stories within the
Doctor Who Collection Series 22 blu ray box set - so far I've just revisited the stories themselves but will check out the extras in due course.
So what do we have here? Well I'd say this is very much an enjoyable season of classic true
Doctor Who that remains one of the very best of all the 1980s seasons. The 22nd year of
Doctor Who was certainly an important stage in the show's history as it needed to reintroduce not only the new Doctor as now portrayed by Colin Baker but also to bring back some iconic monsters from the show's illustrious past and so the Daleks, Cybermen and Sontarans all make dramatic returns. Nicola Bryant's Peri is again paired (!) with Colin's Doctor from the previous year's
Twin Dilemma but Season 22 is really the true launch of Colin's era proper. Personally I always enjoyed the screen chemistry between Colin and Nicola and I'd even have liked to have seen their characters' on screen relationship develop further.
The season kicks off excitingly enough with
Attack of the Cybermen - a bit of a tale of two halves this one with an opening episode, featuring spooky sewers and some amusing antics from the likes of Maurice Colbourne and Brian Glover, that works rather better than the subsequent part, taken up with rather too much of the silly Cryons on Telos before ending a bit too downbeat with Lytton's gloomy demise. Next though comes
Vengeance on Varos, quite an interesting variation on the dystopian nightmare type of story, before
Mark of the Rani offers something of a change of pace with an entertaining little "pseudo historical" type adventure. I really enjoyed revisiting
The Two Doctors most as it somehow seems to get better every time I rewatch it, almost like a fine wine maturing. While I can understand it might not be to every one's taste, for me it succeeds as a wonderfully intriguing and colourful slice of classic
Who which benefits from a truly great cast. The season's only real misfire I think is
Timelash - I nearly fell asleep tbh rewatching this - as it's definitely the season's weakest effort. Even Paul Darrow's splendid overacting couldn't really enliven things enough and, while the optional new cgi effects here on this release are fine (thankfully obscuring all that rubbishy tinsel!), I guess you just cant polish a turd. Fortunately, such a tedious turkey is followed by the truly outstanding game raiser that is
Revelation of the Daleks, ending the season with a flourish of really high quality. So this season includes at least two stories that are imo all time classics -
The Two Doctors and
Revelation of the Daleks - both being deliciously ghoulish and tremendously well written.
Perhaps what remains most striking about Season 22 is the decidedly dark tone that runs throughout it. This highlights the wonderfully wicked villains ranging from the returning Anthony Ainley's Master and Terry Molloy's Davros to new beasts like Nabil Shaban's splendidly slimy Sil and the excellent Jacqueline Pearce's technologically augmented Chessene. And Kate O'Mara's Rani introduces a female rival to the Master, complete with her own TARDIS and no-nonsense scientific amorality, who impresses in a coolly evil way that's quite refreshing. This season also of course brings back the magnificent Patrick Troughton plus Frazer Hines, both effortlessly slipping back into their old roles with great style and charm. Incidentally I don't accept any alleged canonical inconsistencies in this story since Season "6B" sounds logical enough to me and anyway it's great to watch one final screen outing for the Second Doctor (especially as Patrick passed away only a couple of years or so later). I think it's to Colin Baker's credit too that he is still able to impress in all this without being overshadowed as The Doctor even when he's up against such scene-stealing competition.
Indeed Colin Baker really threw himself into the role with great energy and enthusiasm so it seems such a pity that his efforts in this 1985 season were not rewarded afterwards by a longer stint in the series. I'd have loved to have seen at least
one more full season with Colin and Nicola as the stars of the show so it feels incredibly frustrating that we were denied this. The prospect of the Celestial Toymaker (surely at this time played again by Michael Gough?) returning for an adventure set in Blackpool certainly appeals to me. Perhaps even more tantalising is the sadly aborted Auton story (maybe equivalent to the old six parters like
Two Doctors was?) promising to bring back The Rani and the Master as well as the nefarious Nestenes in an adventure excitingly located in Singapore. I'm still annoyed to this day that such potential was cancelled by this era's short-sighted BBC management pulling the plug. What we got the following year instead turned out to be the
Trial season that hardly lived up to the excitement we could have enjoyed without this disastrous BBC managerial interference. Indeed I don't think the show's reputation ever fully recovered from the damaging effects of the hiatus and subsequent curtailing of standard season episodes' length. As mentioned, I've not yet watched the documentary extras although I'm in no hurry since the extras include an interview with that rather unpleasant and grossly overrated Michael Grade who I still find it impossible to forgive for his despicable behaviour back then.
She looks great in Trial, but I'm not sure I want to spend money on getting the blu ray for that season. I don't even have the DVD.
