In a twist on the alien-invasion-of-Earth storyline, the TARDIS arrives on an alien spacecraft four days out from reaching Earth to begin its invasion. The frog-like Urbankans, only three of whom seem to be in evidence (we later learn where the other three billion are waiting for the invasion) are also carrying representatives of several ancient Earth cultures— Greek, Australian Aborigine, Mayan, Chinese— who have been promised they’ll rule over their respective peoples when the invasion is complete.
This is a rather peculiar story, with good things and bad things to say about it. The Urbankan leader, known only as Monarch, is an intriguing character. Instead of the usual megalomaniac boasting, he comes across as intellectual and even kind of reasonable (if you don’t look too closely). Though as ruthless as any tyrant when anyone gets in his way, he talks about the importance of doubt and dissent to galvanize progress, and the value of appreciating the Earth cultures he has on board. We’re told by those who oppose him that he’s a true megalomaniac who actually believes himself to be God, and we learn eventually that his plan is malevolent enough to qualify: his ship carries a poison he’ll use to eradicate all life on Earth, making room for the Urbankans. But he’s a far more interesting character than a simple alien monster.
On the other hand, it’s hard to quite see Monarch as a real threat, with his ship full of rather silly dancing Mayans and Aborigines and Chinese dragons (part of the regular “recreationals” that celebrate the Earth cultures they came from) and all our characters spend an inordinate amount of time just wandering around the Urbankan ship talking about things. By the time it’s over, you find yourself wishing for a pitched battle with the Brigadier leading UNIT against a wave of alien solders while the Doctor rushes to do something very clever.
The Doctor and his companions also come across as rather peculiar and not quite in character. For the Doctor himself, there’s a reason: this was actually the first story Peter Davison filmed and he’s still feeling his way toward how he’ll play the Doctor. With the idea in place that he’d be a more unassuming and vulnerable version of the Doctor, here that takes the form of the Doctor seeming far too easily intimidated by Monarch. Meanwhile his companions are also acting strangely. Tegan mistakes the Doctor’s playing for time as an actual lack of interest in stopping the invasion, and finally rushes off to try and fly the TARDIS herself to warn Earth, thinking the Doctor’s not going to do anything. This is perhaps forgivable— Tegan’s still very new to the TARDIS, and from her point of view she’s only had one real “adventure” so far, with the Doctor and the Master fighting it out— but her hysteria goes over the top, and it makes the Doctor seem even weaker that he can’t manage to explain to her that he’s trying to find a way to stop Monarch. Adric, meanwhile, is for a short while entirely fooled by Monarch’s pretense of benevolence, but even to a point of siding with Monarch against the Doctor— and despite the recent regeneration Adric’s been around long enough that he should know better than that. (In fairness, when the Doctor confronts him directly and says, essentially, “No, I’m not wrong about Monarch, you are, now choose which of us you believe,” Adric does choose correctly. But should it really have gotten to that point?)
Overall I’d say Four to Doomsday passes, but not with flying colors. Granting that the show is trying to figure out how the new Doctor and his crowded TARDIS will work, the bottom line is that it needed to figure that out more quickly.
Details
- There’s a very strange moment early on, when the Doctor and Tegan first meet Monarch and his henchmen, “Enlightenment” and “Persuasion.” The Doctor clearly sees them as a threat right from the start, despite the superficially pleasant conversation. Tegan is understandably frightened by her first glimpse of really alien aliens. As they start fishing for information about present-day Earth, they ask what people on Earth are wearing these days. Instead of trying to explain, Tegan asks the Doctor for a paper and pencil and hastily draws a sketch of a man and woman in 80’s vintage business attire. It’s an odd thing to do, the sketch she produces on the fly is an implausibly perfect “fashion plate,” and the whole thing comes across as very strange. (It becomes a plot point as two of the Urbankans transform themselves into perfect replicas of Tegan’s sketches, but it’s clumsy writing all the same— couldn’t they find a more plausible way to show the Urbankans a couple of pictures?)
- Speaking of Tegan, the adventure begins as the Doctor is trying to return her to Heathrow airport in time for her job as a flight attendant (which she was on the way to at the start of Logopolis). The TARDIS is drawn to land on the Urbankan ship because of its high magnetic field and the fact that it was directly in their path. It’s a reminder that Tegan is the first companion in a very long time who didn’t want to be on the TARDIS, and only wants to get home. It’s a nice change from what’s become the usual devoted-sidekick role for a companion. While Tegan will eventually decide she likes traveling on the TARDIS, for several episodes to come the Doctor will be trying to get her home while the unreliable TARDIS keeps missing the target. (The new series, with the Doctor in perfect control of his ship, can’t do that anymore— in fact lately his companions don’t even travel with him, they just live at home while he drops in from time to time.)
- From the Series Lore department, in this episode we learn that Time Lords can survive physically unharmed in the vacuum of space for six minutes, needing a supply of oxygen but not an actual pressure suit. The six minutes are played in an unrealistic “countdown” way— i.e. it means six minutes of no harm whatsoever and then instant death when the clock runs out— but that’s a very standard trope in science fiction, so it can be overlooked. (“Only thirty more seconds until we’ll have received a lethal dose of radiation! Good, we shut it down with one second to spare, so we need no treatment at all.” —Star Trek’s done that more times than I can count.)
- The story ends with a small cliffhanger: with all our heroes back on board the TARDIS, Nyssa suddenly passes out (she’s been through some stressful events in her subplot of this story). This comes from another of John Nathan-Turner’s ideas: remembering how, back in the William Hartnell days, the series appeared to be a single ongoing serial, with cliffhangers in between stories as well as within them, he wanted to reintroduce that feel. So we have a cliffhanger into next week’s story. We’ll talk more about how this works out as it goes on.
Next Week:
“Kinda,” 4 episodes
