Taking a turn away from the usual podKast format this week, we head back in time, not to 2005, but to 1985, and the much-maligned Colin Baker story Timelash.
Over the past week, the Kasterborous team of Christian Cawley, Brian A Terranova and James McLean has watched Timelash (in varying degrees of completion) and they report back now, dear listener, for your interest and entertainment. Could it be that Glen McCoy’s script is, in fact, unfairly derided by fans, desperate to highlight a weak point of an already mixed run of episodes?
For those of you who don’t know, Timelash
– this week’s only recommendation – stars Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant as the Doctor and Peri, who find themselves on the planet Karfel were the population are terrorised by the sinister Borad. Guest starring Blake’s 7 star Paul Darrow (currently seen in Contradiction) as the villainous Tekker and including a historical figure in the proceedings, the story has long been lambasted by fans.
PodKast Series 4 Episode 52 introduction by John Guilor. Theme tune this week is the Peter Howell arrangement, which featured on Timelash.
Just watched it for the first time and I agree with you: It is, overall, complete rubbish but not as rubbish as it’s often made out to be. It’s Darrow and Baker that make it work. It probably comes out as the third best of Colin’s stories for me, after Varos and Revelation in first and second respectively. Not that being the third best of his stories is much of an achievement when you consider the competition it has!
I gather there was a certain return match rivalry going on
in Timelash, after Colin stole the show on B7 ‘City at the Edge of the World.’
But if you haven’t heard it, do listen to the last few seconds of the podcast
on wifeinspace here: http://wifeinspace.com/2012/03/the-pertwee-years/
Paul Darrow is so gracious and funny joining in like this
throughout their experiment & sequel. No spoilers please though – I haven’t
read their view of Timelash itself yet!
“I often lie awake worrying if they’ll make it as far as Timelash.” Fair enough, there are some real stinkers between that point and the Sixth Doctor.
It seems having the word ‘time’ in a Doctor Who episode dooms it to be below average at best: “Time-Flight”, “Timelash”, “Dimensions In Time”, and “Time Heist” all support this theory. On the other hand, there’s also “The Time Meddler”, “The Time Of Angels” and “The Time Of The Doctor” which all counter this observation.
To that first list add “Time & The Rani” and “The End Of Time”. The fact I forgot them says it all!
The Time Warrior?
I haven’t seen that one yet. Is it any good?
To my mind it is. Robert Holmes script. First Sontaran story. First Sarah Jane Smith story. Well worth a watch.
Good to hear that! Holmes is good, love the Sontarans, the Pertwee/Sladen pairing is always wonderful… you can’t go wrong with all of them in the same place!
couple of other things to look out for too. But, you know, spoilers!
Just gone and watched “The Time Warrior” at your recommendation. You were right: It is good. Thank you.
Glad to have been of help. It’s the first time the Doctor’s home planet is named.
…and it only took them 11 years. 🙂
And four stories later they gave a name to the process whereby one Doctor changes to the next…
Yes, in ‘Planet Of The Spiders’. It’s been on my list for a long time! They just casually waited until it’s about to happen for a third time before deciding that maybe they should name it.
I have seen of that one the final clip when Tom Baker appears: “Here we go again” says the Brig. He always got all the best lines! Nice of Moffat to pay homage to that line with Vastra in ‘Deep Breath’.
I haven’t watched it in quite some time, but I really enjoy Timelash! There are missteps and dodgy scenery, but the Borad is brilliant. It gets a lot of unfair criticism.
I always enjoyed Timelash but of the episode of the era I think is the Cyberman episode, great story, a good cast, the return of Lytton and Terry Molloy not being Davros.