Overview: Doctor Who Classic: Season 21

After The Five Doctors, something strange happened to Doctor Who. Davison had decided, based on a chat with Second Doctor Patrick Troughton, that he would be leaving after his third season. This is also often attributed to JNT's decision to add in an American companion to make the show popular in the states, which for Davison was the last straw, as he believed that Americans (and Austrialians) liked the show for its Britishness. I've only seen five of the seven stories in Season Twenty One, but that's enough for me. The stories I haven't reviewed, The Awakening and Frontios, will be reviewed later in the year.

Davison's Doctor became darker.

Five (Peter Davison) - I'm not going to let you stop me now!
(Warriors of the Deep to Caves of Androzani)

Saward suddenly decided that he was feeling under the weather, and so for the next two years we were faced with kill-em-all bloodbaths. Warriors of the Deep, Resurrection of the Daleks and Caves of Androzani are all like this, and they all have one key feature - the Doctor inadvertantly plays an active role. Five kills Silurians with poison gas pumped into the ventilation system, he massacres the Daleks with both a gun and a genetically engineered virus, and his presence on Androzani sparks a war in which every last male character in the story (including him) dies.
     Perhaps because he knew he was leaving, Five is much more dejected and pessimistic in this season. This certainly adds to the darkness of the Saward kill-em-alls, but it even affects relatively lighter stories like Planet of Fire, where The Doctor euthanises Kamelion and watches as The Master burns to death. It just feels so unlike Five's characterisation, and in fact harkens back to Tom's era. Despite this he still demonstrates his wonder for the universe and all of its intricacies.
      This darkness of character does come into its own, however, once we reach his final story in The Caves of Androzani. Here Five shows his character's core determination - he will fight to save his companion's life no matter the cost, no matter the risk to himself. This is epitomised in Five's most badass quote, "I'm not going to let you stop me now!" where you can hear him trying desperately to resist the beckoning call of regeneration.
     Five's last days were darker than they needed to be, but his final story did justice to a season that had thus far been unimpressive. Until the end he was enthusiastic, nerdy, and always hoping that somehow, peace could prevail.

It was never fun, Tegan.

Tegan (Janet Fielding) - It stopped being fun, Doctor!
(Warriors of the Deep to Resurrection of the Daleks)

Tegan's final stories continued to fail to paint her in a particularly good light. In Warriors of the Deep she gets trapped under a polystyrene door. The final straw for the character comes in Resurrection of the Daleks, where she apparently cottons-on to the fact that it's a kill-em-all and takes her chance to wing-it. Tegan's leaving is a stark commentary on the darker nature of this season, herself commenting that, "It stopped being fun, Doctor!" Words that don't really ring true when one considers how much she found to complain about in her eighteen stories.
     Aside from that, Tegan doesn't make much of an impression. Her whining doesn't help in this more pessimistic year, and despite the Doctor's regret at losing her, I found it a bit of a relief. Her only real point of relief was Frontios, where Bidmead's writing gave her something to do.
     Although it wasn't part of Season 21, Tegan's next appearance would be in the non-canonical A Fix With Sontarans for Jim'll Fix It. There she randomly met Six, and the two work surprisingly well together. Check it out, it's awesome.

Mwhahah... wait. Did that joke
last time.

Turlough (Mark Strickson) - Pessimistic nobody.
(Warriors of the Deep to Planet of Fire)

Turlough is surprisingly pessimistic for someone who broke free from the most evil force in the Universe. This is especially characterised by the fact that he either stays in the shadows for most of the story and/or he declares that they're dead everytime a slight problem arises.
     And then, from nowhere, we suddenly find out all about him. Frontios does place some hints, but we have to wait until Planet of Fire before we learn anything about his history. He was a political prisoner from the Planet Trion, who was exiled to Earth for his own protection. This doesn't stop him from wearing the same school-boy outfit in all but one of his ten stories.
    Turlough's main problem was that he was too far outside the companion mould. He really didn't want or need to be there, he had little courage or confidance and he disagreed with The Doctor's ideas. When he leaves, one feels less sad or relieved and more concerned as to whether you should feel anything at all.
     Again, Turlough shines the most in Frontios, where he's given stuff to do. He also works very well into making Planet of Fire more managable. 

Erm... Hello?

Peri (Nicola Bryant) - I'm Perpegillium Brown and I can shout as loud as you can!
(Planet of Fire onwards)

Peri has issues. Sure she does. Like Tegan, she was conceived to make the show popular with foreign viewers, this time in the Amercian market. The problem is that they cast a very British actress, Nicola Bryant. As a kid watching the old videos I didn't really notice it, but now it's obvious to both British and American audiences why this should never have happened. The character didn't even need to be American - and if she wasn't, there's a chance Davison would have stayed for longer.
     Although she's mainly eye candy (another nod to 'the dads'), there was a token attempt at giving her some backstory. Apparently she's a botanist, and she lives with her step-dad who she appears to have a strange sorta relationship with. In the end, she's sorta stuck with the new Doctor; they argue and fight, but I think that Peri still wants to find Five's innate goodness within Six's brash exterior, something that she certainly does by the end of Season 22.
     In Season 21, she's not so lucky. While with Five she gets a few cool moments - chastising the Kamelion!Master with, "I can shout as loud as you can," and talking ethics with Karaz Jek. Rather unfortunatly for Five, her cleavage ends up being the defining image of his regeneration! By Season's end, Peri is how she is in Season 22 - stuck with a joyfully unstable Doctor, not really knowing why the hell she's there.

Colorful!

Six (Colin Baker) - In my time I've been threatened by experts... and I don't rate you very highly at all.
(Caves of Androzani onwards)

I've already said how much I love Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor. He's brash, he's rude. He's arrogant and he always believes that he's the most powerful person in the room. And, in his way, he is often right. The thing that differentiates Six from your average villain is that Six has these qualities and balances it out by using them for good ends.
     The coat gets so much scrutiny, and yet while it shouldn't matter to you what he's wearing, this is a time where The Doctor's costume actually reveals a lot about his character. He's brash. He doesn't care about style or class; he doesn't fit in anywhere because he doesn't accept the things people try to fit him into. Six may be a little morally sketchy, but he always tries to do what is right.
     Since this is about Season 21, The Twin Dilemma is the most hated of all stories in the show's 48 year history. But it really shouldn't be. Colin Baker was a brave move for the production team and frankly, I love The Twin Dilemma's little cotton socks off. He's promising, and after the dire season that he finished he was a wonderful splattering of colour. After I've taken a look at a few assorted stories, I'll be continuing with Colin's story when I cover Season 22.

Thanks.