Review: Doctor Who Classic: The Visitation

The Doctor talks to the Tereleptil.

Doctor Who - Season 19, Story Four - The Visitation

Saward. We meet at last. Eric Saward is one of the most controvertial script-writers and script-editors in the program's history, especially from Seasons 20 to 23. The Visitation was his first script for the program, and it was off the strength of this story and a later one, Earthshock, that he was made Head Writer. At its heart the story is a straightforward pseudo-historical, but it has even greater significance - it sees the end of the Sonic Screwdriver during the original run, having been hated by producer JNT.
    In 1666, strange Androids appear at a country house after a meteor shower. Still recovering from the events of Kinda, the TARDIS crew find themselves at Heathrow Airport - three hundred years too early. After being chased by plague-fearing villagers, the foursome find themselves assisted by highwayman Richard Mace (Michael Robbins). The Doctor, fearful that aliens have landed, finds suspicious tech in a local house - same house from before. They're assaulted by the androids, and they manage to kidnap Tegan and Adric. The aliens interrogate them about their identities and the identity of The Doctor.
     The alien reveals that he can control the local villagers through the use of a mind-control device. Richard Mace wears one such device, albeit with its power source removed. Mace, Nyssa and The Doctor discover the aliens' escape pod - he identifies them as the Tereleptils. Adric manages to escape, as Mace and The Doctor are nearly executed by the plage-fearing villagers. They are instead apprehended by other, Tereleptil-controlled, villagers.Tegan is controlled using a bracelet also.

Richard Mace is amazed by technology.

     Mace and The Doctor are accused of witchcraft, and are saved from burning by the Android, which takes them to the Tereleptil. The Tereleptils, having crash-landed, reveal that they will use a genetically-altered plague rat to kill everyone, taking Earth for their own. It destroys the Sonic Screwdriver before heading down to London with its servants to release the infection upon the world. The Doctor is guarded by braceleted Tegan and Mace, but The Doctor disables the bracelets.
     The weapon Nyssa has been working on mages to destroy the Android, and together they travel, using the TARDIS, to the Tereleptil's base in London. As they face down the Tereleptils, the aliens' weapons overload and the building explodes, the fivesome escaping just in time. The fire spreads throughout London as the TARDIS gang leaves for another adventure.
     I really love the dialogue in this story, especially for Richard Mace whose characterisation is perfected by Michael Robbins affable performance. The Tereleptil is at first rather silly and rubber, but once we get to hear more of its dialogue it really feels like a prison-ravaged outlaw. Because of the BBC's love of period drama, the environment and local characters are very realistic and bring with them a rustic sense of charm. All the companions are pretty much as they usually are; Tegan is whiney, Nyssa is brilliant and Adric is damn irritating.

The final showdown.

     A lot of the time this story is referred to as, "that Fire of London story," or the end of the Sonic Screwdriver is over-emphasised. In truth, The Visitation isn't really anything to write home about. It's a straightforward pseudo-historical with some nice dialogue, a great guest character and an ok villain, but it doesn't really shine off the screen. Eric Saward's first script is not the disaster that his later works on the program would suggest, and for that we can be thankful.

Thanks.

NEXT TIME: 50 minutes of fun in the 1920s. Join me as we look at the Black Orchid.