Overview: Doctor Who Classic: Season 23

See here for my reviews of Season 23.

Trial of a Timelord did some damn strange things. The structure, harkening back to arcs like The Key To Time and The Black Guardian Trilogy, ultimately did nought to save the series. Upon its return, the peak of viewing figures dropped from nine million to six million, and Doctor Who was never the same again. Here are the characters.

Colin was sacked for no good reason.

Six (Colin Baker) - I should have stayed here!
(All Season, unfortunately has to leave at the end.)

Colin's character hadn't been well-looked-upon in Season 22. His brashness wasn't liked by the public, and after this season he got the sack. In response to the public's anger, Six's personality was much, much more toned down for the Trial Season, and it shows. This was a necessary change, but only because the trial itself seemed to be against the initial personality. The writers had to make the change obvious, otherwise the season wouldn't work.
      The character, for the first time, shows real honest-to-god concern for Peri. Of course, it would have helped had he not then near-instantly revealed his future companion, Mel. The Trial, plus his firing, makes Six's timeline a little absent of meaning. I would have so much prefered to have seen the original Season 23, and to have watched Six's more gradual progression into a loveable Doctor rather than the swift culling of characterisation that we saw here.
       Unfortunately, Six's final lines are "Carrot Juice," a tragic sign of the show's problems still to come. If Colin Baker had stayed... well, we'll never know now. Suffice to say that I thought that it was a tragic loss, and at the end of this unfortunatley silly season I'm still sad to see him go.

Peri grows up.

Peri (Nicola Bryant) - Wife of Yrcanos
(Until Mindwarp)

I'm not all that sure how I feel about Peri's departure. It depends upon my mood. When I'm cheerful, it's a potent, gutting move that stays in the mind and makes her one of the most tragic companions in the show's history. When I'm not so cheerful, it's a stupid waste of time that wastes a character that could have been used brilliantly. Bryant expressed no desire to leave; the series could have gone on with her.
     In Season 23, Peri finally puts some proper clothes on and stops being the cover-photo of Letch's Choice Monthly. She's a great deal more mature, and this improves the character immensely. By the beginning of The Mysterious Planet, we could see that the buxom beach babe from Planet of Fire had developed into an independant woman.
      It's such a shame then that she doesn't get much to do in that story. She only really stands out in her final story, Mindwarp, where she grows up and attempts to civilise Brian Blessed's Yrcanos. This is easily one of Bryant's best performances, and the only one that manages to truly use the character well. Then she dies. I suppose having your mind wiped and then being shot by a slow-motion Brian Blessed is a good way to go.
      Peri could have been so much more, and so very nearly accomplished it. Season 23 at least saw her off without much fuss.

The face of all evil.

Mel (Bonnie Langford) - Now you're getting at the dirt!
(Terror of the Vervoids onwards)

Mel (in Season 23) is abhorrant. Her entire character. The concept behind her character. I hate it. There's not a lot about the Eighties that I really dislike on the level I do Mel; Adric was irritatingly presumptious but he also had an interesting backstory and a death that kept the program alive. Mel is useless 101 - her breathtaking optimism in the face of mediocrity is the most irritating thing in this series.
     It certainy does not help that she appears with only one line of dialogue to explain who she is. Terror of the Vervoids is fundamentally well-structured, but the three elements that make it nigh-unbearable are the villains, the script and Mel. Her screams are the soundtrack to my personal hell and her ridiculously unreal dialogue is matched only by her hideous dress sense.
      Ok, maybe I'm sliding into a bit of hyperbole about dear Mel. But like Vervoids, there's nothing redeeming to Mel at all. She just appears - we're not invested into her as a character. We don't care about who she is, what she has to say and why she wants to say it. And that's bad storytelling. Mel is bad storytelling. At least until the next season.

Thanks.