No Companion Left Behind

Librarian in the TARDIS, Bonus Review #1

Title: Tales from the Vault
Written by: Jonathan Morris
Featuring: Captain Ruth Matheson, Warrant Officer Charlie Sato, Jo Grant, Zoe Heriot, Romana I, Steven Taylor
Adversary: Kali Carash
Originally Released: July 2011
Range and Number: Companion Chronicles 6.01

Synopsis (from TARDIS Wikia) -

Welcome to the Vault — jokingly known as "the Museum of Terrors" — a high security establishment where UNIT keeps all of its alien artefacts.

New recruit Warrant Officer Charlie Sato is given a guided tour by Captain Ruth Matheson, and the archive reveals some dark secrets. An army jacket, a painting, crystal and a wax cylinder all hold a grave significance, and their stories are told by the Doctor's companions: Steven Taylor, Zoe Heriot, Jo Grant and Romana...

My Review:
Okay, okay - I know I said I was done with Big Finish. Turns out the Doctor’s Rule #1 is also my Rule #1 (as far as springing surprises on my readership goes, anyway).

One thing that I've appreciated about this blogging project is the opportunity to revisit Doctors and companions that I've grown to love and highlight why I love them so much. Another thing I've enjoyed is the chance to take another look at other characters that I might not have given a fair chance to, or that I've never encountered before. I wanted to give as many companions their due as I could but because of the format I chose, I ended up ignoring a few companions that I wanted to talk about. And the fact that I was flying by the seat of my pants in the very beginning and hadn’t settled on a firm system - I kind of feel like I gave short shrift to the First and Second Doctors’ eras and those are stories that I want to revisit at a later date (just not quite sure how to do it yet).

Conversely, when I learned that Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso had indeed done a Companion Chronicle for Big Finish - though not as Grace Holloway or Chang Lee - I was very intrigued. When I learned that Companion Chronicle also featured four companions from the Classic Series - several of whom I adore but didn't get to talk about in Librarian in the TARDIS - I resolved to review it and give them at least some kind of due.

What I didn't count on was how Grace and Lee would invade my headcanon when I listened to this. Even though Daphne and Yee Jee are playing different characters (as Big Finish does not have the rights to anything from the TV Movie, other than the Eighth Doctor), I kept hearing Grace and Lee in their performances, so I thought that maybe Ruth and Charlie were really Grace and Lee. In Grace’s case, I had no problem imagining that the American division of UNIT contacted a well-connected heart surgeon who’d been involved with a certain San Francisco Incident that, rumor had it, also involved the Doctor. Chang Lee would be a little more difficult to pin down - but I imagine that he finally got out of the gang scene and joined the military because he thought it would be a good way to improve his life. UNIT, being UNIT, eventually realizes that Lee was involved in the same incident that brought Grace to them and they approach Lee with an offer to join UNIT. Maybe Lee feels a twinge of regret at not having taken the Doctor up on his original offer to travel and this is the next best thing (who knows? The Doctor’s worked with UNIT before, maybe he’d come back again!) And the name changes? Witness protection. Standard operating procedure for UNIT (hell, they have the power to issue international gagging orders, so why not?)

Anyway, I know this is a cracked idea, but it works for me. No fanfic will come of it (trust me - you don’t want me writing fanfic), but it’s fun to play around with these theories. Besides, every time I watch the TV Movie, I keep wanting more and more of Grace's and Lee’s backstories and since I never got it out of official channels, I can make it up myself. It’s not any better or worse than what anyone else would come up with, is it?

The beauty behind “Tales from the Vault” is the idea of archiving stories for others to hear about and enjoy (or, in the case of UNIT Secret Ops, to hide and cover up). On one level, if you listen to enough Companion Chronicles, you start to feel like these companions are actually telling the stories to an audience - maybe the grandkids have come round for tea and another one of Gran’s or Gramps’s fantastic stories of traveling with the Doctor. Some of the Chronicles actually have the audience written into the story, such as Polly holding a press conference in “The Forbidden Time” or Liz writing to her mother in “The Last Post.” So, for UNIT to actually take parts of these stories and put them in archive is kind of a commentary on what the Companion Chronicles actually do.

Also - and this is a theme that creeps up in Doctor Who a lot, especially in New Who - how important stories are. How keenly you feel it when you know there are pieces missing (which Who fans are all too aware of). All of the stories in “Tales from the Vault” are just pieces of the story of Kali Carash - pieces that Ruth and Charlie work to put together to complete the whole (well, it’s more out of Charlie’s curiosity than anything).

Talking briefly about each companion in turn - I've already reviewed a Jo Grant story, but it’s so great to have a recording of her doing day-to-day UNIT stuff. Also, that Charlie calls her “a legend” is really neat too - then Ruth starts the tape. The joke that she would leave the tape recorder running while she made tea is absolutely charming. Jo’s part of the story - about a jacket that is possessed by an entity who takes over whoever touches it - is what gets the overarching narrative going, even though you don’t really think about it at the time.

The next companion to be featured is Romana I (played by Mary Tamm). Her part is actually from one of Captain Matheson’s first missions for UNIT Special Ops, so Ruth is heard interviewing Romana after an incident with a painting that shows the viewer the exact nature of their death, which in turn leads to the viewer going mad. The painting is held in the UNIT vault with instructions to only use it as a last resort - but at least it’s locked up in the vault. This Romana is very much a young, inexperienced Romana who hasn't quite found the appeal of Earth people and she has that haughty air about her that would be condescending in anyone else, but is positively glamorous in Mary Tamm’s portrayal of the character (Romana I has always been my favorite Romana and sometimes I wish there was more of her outside of the Key to Time season).

Zoe Heriot’s (played by Wendy Padbury) involvement in this story is quite unique. A copy of her mind has been transferred into a crystal that was used to wipe people’s memories (it didn't actually wipe Zoe’s memory - this is just a copy. But it’s an interesting choice by the producers of this audio, considering what ultimately happens to Zoe in the TV show). Using Zoe’s voice, the crystal tells the story of when the Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe got involved with an investigation of bank robberies in which the victims never remembered how they were robbed. The Doctor figures out that the robbers were using the crystal, stops the robbers from using it anymore, and gives the crystal to UNIT for safekeeping. This crystal is a big reason why UNIT Special Ops can cover up a lot of big alien invasion-type events and Ruth even says so (which was a dangling plot thread that I didn't even realize was dangling to begin with).

As Ruth and Charlie are leaving the vault, an alarm goes off on a time capsule with a wax phonograph recorder. Turns out, the time capsule was set to open at this exact time and this recording is of Steven Taylor with a warning that only gets half communicated (apparently, wax doesn't last very long). Steven was the companion I was most excited to hear from in this audio. I felt like an absolute dope when I realized I hadn't reviewed any Steven stories when I covered the First Doctor’s era (to be fair, I could hardly pass up the chance to fangirl flail over “The Rocket Men” - which is another review that I want to revisit later. And “The Keys of Marinus” is just way too good. You know - I think I should do a First Doctor rewatch... hm... I'll add it to the schedule).  As wonderful as Ian and Barbara are and as much as I adore Vicki and Susan - Steven is the real heartbreaker of the Hartnell era. Partially because most of his stories are missing (sad face), but also because his character is just so compelling. It’s hard to pin down my favorite Steven story because watching him find his time-traveling feet in “The Time Meddler” is just lovely, his relationships with the Doctor, Katarina and Sara Kingdom in “The Dalek Master Plan” are so tragic, he’ll tear your heart out in “The Massacre,” and he’s so cute in “The Gunfighters” and “The Celestial Toymaker” (if anyone wants my top list of missing stories to find, my answer would be anything with Steven). Meeting Peter Purves at Gallifrey One last February didn't hurt my enthusiasm for the character, either.

So, yeah, Steven Taylor - love him to pieces. And his segment in this audio is great too (sort of wish he got more time in this story, but I can listen to his other Companion Chronicles because they’re amazing!)

What’s fun about this entire story is how each of the different companions’ stories seem to be disconnected, but end up working together to resolve the problem. I won’t go into the resolution because it’s a great ending to a wonderful story and it’d be nice for you, Dear Reader, to have some surprises going into this audio.

Other things I loved:
- “You should see the security kitchen.” Loved that nod to “The Ark”
- UNIT Special Ops was involved in covering up the events of the millennium in San Francisco (Even more fun that Ruth was the one talking about it).
- Wondering what that “giant” thing was that the Doctor fought with UNIT that neither Ruth nor Charlie told the whole story about.

To conclude - this may be part of the Companion Chronicles range, but the deviation from the usual formula is a special treat for the listener. This story makes it feel like the Doctor’s lives are interconnected, even though you typically only deal with one incarnation at a time (special multi-Doctor episodes excluded). And it’s cool to remember that the Doctor’s companions are always a part of his life, even though he may not actively refer to them all the time. I love getting multi-companion stories and I only hope we get to see more, not to mention more with Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso. I think my third big wish - apart from finding a shedload of missing episodes and getting Paul McGann a spin-off Eighth Doctor miniseries is that the rights to Grace Holloway and Chang Lee could be resolved and we could see their stories played out in Big Finish or some other medium. But for now, I’ll take my headcanon of Ruth Matheson and Charlie Sato being pseudonyms for Grace and Lee and that they went to work for UNIT.

(Hey, if Ace can go to the Academy on Gallifrey to become a Time Lord, anything is possible).

***
Next time, on Librarian in the TARDIS -
Review 9.01 - The modern world started with “Rose” - but this is the episode that sold me on Doctor Who

Previously -
Review 8.03 - “What Are You Going To Do Next?” “I’m Going... Somewhere Without Copyright Infringement”

Well... That Was... A Book. Yup. Definitely A Book

Librarian in the TARDIS, Review 4.04

Title: Festival of Death
Author: Jonathan Morris
Team TARDIS: Fourth Doctor, Romana II, K-9
Adversary: Repulsion, Dr. Koel Paddox
Originally Released: September 2000
Range and Number: Past Doctor Adventures #35

Synopsis (from TARDIS Wikia) -
The Beautiful Death is the ultimate theme-park ride: a sightseeing tour of the afterlife. But something has gone wrong, and when the Fourth Doctor arrives in the aftermath of the disaster, he is congratulated for saving the population from destruction – something he hasn't actually done yet. He has no choice but to travel back in time and discover how he became a hero. And then he finds out. He did it by sacrificing his life.

My Review:

I have tried for two weeks to read this book. But I’ve only gotten as far as page 70. Every time I sit down to read, I get through a couple of pages and get bored. Even yesterday (Sunday, June 16) I tried to force myself to read for an hour so I could at least get halfway through.  I even promised myself I could watch "The Three Doctors" afterward because I had borrowed from the library and I hadn't had a chance to watch it yet.  I ended up falling asleep for 45 minutes and watching "The Three Doctors" after I woke up anyway.

(Note: When you have to force yourself to read anything, it’s probably a good indication that you are just not enjoying it. And since I am not in school anymore, I don’t have to force myself to read anything I don't want to. So, nyeah!)

My inability to get into this story really bothered me. There was absolutely no reason I shouldn’t enjoy this book. Even if I don’t have much to say about it in my review (as was the case with “The Last of the Gaderene” - it was an enjoyable story and I was interested in the plot and characters and it fit the definition of "page turner", but I didn’t have much to say about it when I went to review it. Which is why that review is so short).  “Festival of Death” starts with the Doctor and Romana landing on a planet where everyone knows them and are grateful to them both for saving their planet - but they haven’t even been there yet to save the planet! It’s an interesting premise - one that Steven Moffat would be proud of (timey-wimey and all that). There are even some really great moments between the Doctor, Romana and K-9 early-on.  Some examples -

       - The Doctor and Romana leave K9 in the TARDIS. K9 quips that there’s a high statistical probability of him needing to come rescue them at some point (talk about being self-aware within a story).

       - Doctor: “Where would I be without my sonic screwdriver?”
       - Romana: “Probably still locked in a cellar in Paris.”

But the other characters... I just couldn’t bring myself to care. Not in a rage-inducing, Hulk-smash sort of way (I’ve done that already in this project, to my great chagrin). No, the green rage monster stayed safely caged away for this. It was more of a “Oh - that’s a thing? Hm... don’t care... I’m going back to sleep” sort of way.

It took me finally getting into chapter five of this book to realize why I was not enjoying this book as much as I hoped I would. And this realization also answered a lot of questions of why I’m just not as enamored of the Fourth Doctor’s era as most people are.

Buckle up, Dear Reader, because it's Story Time!

Back when I was doing my undergrad degree at Utah State, I had a roommate who I shared plenty of common interests I am still good friends with (if she’s reading this - Hi Shelley!) It was a little odd that an electrical engineering major (that’s her) and an English major (that’s me) would get along so well, but we did and still do to this day. One of her favorite authors is Douglas Adams and she was appalled that I’d never read any of his books. I promised her I would read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy when I graduated (when you’re in the English department, you never get to read anything for fun. You have to read shit like “The Bell Jar” and then go stab your eye out because it’s so hideously horrible but your professors have wet dreams about it so you have to smile and nod for your grade. Sorry for the swears but “crap” just isn’t going to cut it in this case).

After graduation I got a job, I lost said job (long story - don’t ask), I went on a mission (another long story - ask me later), and when I came home, I ended up working at my old high school which is out in the middle of the desert (yet another long story - which I’ll probably tell you whether you ask or not). West Desert High is probably the smallest high school in Utah (I’d have to look up the numbers to be absolutely sure that there isn’t a smaller one out in Four Corners or something), but the library had always been very well-stocked because, well, there isn’t a whole lot to do out in the desert. School, church, farm chores, sports and reading - that’s about all we have to do for fun. When I took up the librarian post in 2010 (as well as my assistant teaching duties), I started looking through the books we had and doing routine collection maintenance. And I discovered that we had Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I was in my master’s program at the time, it was a 3/4-time program and while I was busy, I could find time for some fun reading. Plus, one of my students was reading Hitchhiker’s Guide and she loved it, so I thought I’d better give it a whirl.

Well, I read it. And I have never felt so much indifference towards a book in my life (well, not one that I hadn’t been assigned to read for school). On the one hand, I can see why other people like Douglas Adams’ stuff. On the other hand, I couldn’t give two craps about it. The most excitement I could respond with was “Well... that was a book. A book I read. Yup. That’s it.”

(This confession probably will mean the forfeiture of my geek card, but I think I already lost that when the most excitement I could muster over the prospect of meeting Mark Sheppard at Gallifrey One was an apathetic shrug).

So - what does all this have to do with my indifference toward “Festival of Death?” And why did it take me five chapters to figure it out? Well, “Festival of Death” is written very much as an homage to the Douglas Adams’ era of Doctor Who. The writing style and the characters - even the names (Chapter five introduces a character named Hoopy - that was an immediate clue) all point to the influence that made that particular era of Who a success. And I’m certainly not one to knock success - if people like Douglas Adams' writing, that’s wonderful. I’m glad that they found something they like so much. And his influence is felt even all these years after his death and he still has plenty of fans (one evidence comes from my friend Brittany’s “The ABCs of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” photo challenge - it’s on Instagram with the tag #TheABCsOfHGTTG, if you’re interested).

As for me - I tried. I tried to like Douglas Adams and I really just don’t connect.  It's like trying to load an ebook file meant for a Kindle onto a Nook.  It just doesn't compute.  One of the first Tom Baker stories I ever saw was “City of Death” and my first thought was “This is what all the fanboys pee their pants over? I don’t get it...” Luckily I’d seen “Genesis of the Daleks” before that and I knew that not all of the Fourth Doctor’s stories were like that - it’s quite deserving of the praise and love it gets. “City of Death” is all right - I just don’t think it’s quite as good as everyone says it is. At least, I don’t connect with it the same way everyone else does. Maybe the section of my brain that would normally love Douglas Adams is too occupied with loving the black-and-white era of Who. Because I will say this - if I’d followed conventional advice and started with “City of Death” and the rest of the Douglas-Adams-as-script-editor stuff, I think I would have dropped Classic Who like a hot potato and stuck with the New Series. As it is - I’m glad that I went with starting at the very beginning with “An Unearthly Child” and making my way through the early Hartnell stuff before the recons became too much and I skipped ahead to the Fifth Doctor (it’s a strange jump to make, but I made it and it worked quite well for me).

I suppose that this realization of mine is quite fitting in my attempt to review and recap significant stories and give attention to hidden gems and opinions in Doctor Who's history.  Douglas Adams is such an integral part of the history of this show and his influence shaped something that lots of people still love and he deserves credit for that.  Just because I don't see the appeal doesn't mean that I need to slag off the whole thing.  But don't expect me to be anything less than totally honest in my opinions of it either.  But I can just as easily go off and watch "The Sensorites" and leave you all to your "Shada" recons.

In conclusion - if you’re a Hitchhiker’s Guide fan, you’ll enjoy “Festival of Death.” I’m not, so I didn’t.  But it's not like I didn't try.

***
Next Time, on Librarian in the TARDIS -
Review 5.01 - The hill that I am more than willing to die on: Storytelling vs SFX.

Previously -
Review 4.03 - So Much Cooler Online

So Much Cooler Online

Librarian in the TARDIS, Review 4.03

Title: Babblesphere
Written By: Jonathan Morris
Team TARDIS: Fourth Doctor, Romana II
Adversary: The Babble Network
Release Date: April 2013
Range and Number: Destiny of the Doctor #4

Synopsis (from TARDIS Wikia) -

The violent, volcanic world of Hephastos is home to a colony of composers, painters, authors and poets, all striving to create the greatest works of art the universe has ever seen. But in pursuit of their goal, artistic collaboration has been taken a stage too far...

When the Doctor and Romana arrive, they discover the colonists have neglected their well-being and their once beautiful habitat, which has now succumbed to decay, and they are enslaved to the Babble network which occupies their every waking moment. Every thought, however trivial or insignificant, is shared with everyone else and privacy is now a crime.

The colonists are being killed and the Doctor and Romana begin to suspect that a malevolent intelligence is at work. With time running out, the two time travellers race to discover the truth before they too are absorbed into the endless trivia of the Babblesphere...

My Review:

I had THE hardest time deciding which audio story to review for the Fourth Doctor. I just want you all to be aware of this. I listened to a few Companion Chronicles and some of the new Fourth Doctor Adventures range from Big Finish, but none of them were really good enough (in my mind) to warrant a spot on this list. They weren’t bad, exactly, but I wasn’t excited enough about them to want to write much. But Traveling the Vortex (man, how many times have they saved my bacon in this project? They deserve all the publicity I can give them right now - EVERYONE! LISTEN TO THEIR PODCAST!!) is reviewing the Destiny of the Doctor series this year in conjunction with the various 50th Anniversary celebrations (which, Destiny itself is an audio series celebrating the 50th Anniversary, produced by Big Finish and AudioGO). Anyway, I listened to “Babblesphere” a few weeks ago in anticipation of Traveling the Vortex's review of it and I loved it! Truly, it’s the only Fourth Doctor audio story I’ve heard that I enjoyed enough to want to write about. Make of that what you will.

A word on Destiny of the Doctor - This series is most comparable to Big Finish’s Companion Chronicles where one of the Doctor’s companions is featured and the actor playing that companion narrates. One other actor is brought on to play one additional supporting character. The main difference between Companion Chronicles and Destiny of the Doctor is that the story isn’t necessarily narrated from the companion’s point of view (this is how, for the Second Doctor’s installment “Shadow of Death,” you can get Frazer Hines presenting Jamie’s point of view, but he can also step in and do a fantastic scene with just the Second Doctor and... another character that I won’t spoil for you, but it’ll probably be spoiled in this review, so never mind). It’s kind of a blend between traditional audiobooks and Big Finish’s Companion Chronicles and it works really well (at least, it has so far).

"Babblesphere" is narrated by Lalla Ward (who played Romana II on TV and continues to do so for Big Finish audios) and she does a fantastic job. About half of the story is told from Romana’s point of view, since the Doctor gets captured early on in the story. That’s an interesting flip of the typical trope of the companion getting captured and the Doctor has to face down the baddies. It’s a nice twist that I really enjoyed and Lalla Ward seems to have fun with the narration as well. Romana can more than hold her own as she explores the planet and meets up with what could be best described as The Knitting Circle Resistance (seriously - love these older ladies fighting against the Babble Network). Though I think the Babble Network later dismisses these ladies a little too soon when he (she, it, they, whatever) says that he can’t stand boring people. I mean, Romana seems to find them interesting enough. Hell, I think they’re wonderful!

While this entire story is fun and clever, the moment when I think the Fourth Doctor really shines is when he and Romana are overwhelming the Babble Network with mundane trivia. If there’s one thing the Fourth Doctor does well, it’s making a scene with mundane trivia compelling and exciting. Remember - this is the guy that randomly offers jelly babies to hardened adversaries in the midst of great danger. If there was ever a Doctor made for non-sequitur references, it’s the Fourth Doctor (Douglas Adams has his fingerprints all over that, certainly).

One thing that is fun about doing Classic Who stories in modern times is the ability to bring these characters forward into the future. You don’t have to be tied down to the time period in which their stories were originally produced, even though you do have to be careful about what characters from 1960s and 1970s Earth know on their own. Even then, you can handwave it as “Oh they traveled with the Doctor to two-thousand-whatever and saw the internet and smartphones and stuff like that” (but how fun is it to have mentions of creatures introduced in New Who - like the Krafayis and the Ood - in a Classic Doctor story? Not to mention Zagreus from Big Finish! Yay!)

So, it’s easy (and a lot of fun) to depict what I call for this story “Social Networking on Steroids” and have the Doctor and Romana fight against an entity bent on finding only the most interesting people and disposing of the boring ones (though, how the Babble Network got away from duck-faced selfies and Beliebers I have no idea) (and, just to depress you even more - Google Drive recognizes “Beliebers” as an actual word. There is no red squiggly line denoting it as not in the dictionary. God help us all).

As the Doctor and Romana leave the Babblesphere after the Babble Network is defeated (spoilers, sorry), Aurelius and Phyllis voice concerns about how the people are going to communicate to one another, since they’ve been so used to connecting telepathically on Babble. And I laughed at Phyllis’s complaint that people are still sharing more information than anyone wants to hear. And while this song is more about using social networking to project a more impressive version of yourself than what’s reality - it’s still funny (and William Shatner's in the video, so bonus nerd points for that).



***
Next Time, On Librarian in the TARDIS -
Review 4.04 - That Was... A Book. Yup. Definitely a Book.

Previously -
Review 4.02 - Haven't I Seen You Somewhere Before?

Haven’t I Seen You Somewhere Before?

Librarian in the TARDIS, Review 4.02

Title: Meglos
Written by: John Flanagan and Andrew McCulloch
Team TARDIS: Fourth Doctor, Romana II, K9
Adversary: Meglos, General Grugger
Originally Aired: September 27-October 18, 1980
Number of Episodes: 4

Synopsis (from TARDIS Wikia) -
On Tigella, two factions are irrevocably divided over a fundamental issue: the Dodecahedron, a mysterious object which provides the entire planet's energy.

The Savants and the Deons are locked in a crippling stalemate. Their civilisation is on the brink of collapse. The Tigellan leader, Zastor, seeks the Fourth Doctor's help. The Doctor and Romana have been trapped aboard the TARDIS in a time loop by Meglos, the last of the Zolfa-Thurans. He will stop at nothing to steal back the awesome power of the Dodecahedron.

My Review:
Another TV story? For Tom Baker?? What is the meaning of this???

Okay, so I’m cheating. BUT I HAVE A VERY, VERY GOOD REASON!!

When this project was a mere twinkle in my eye, I sat down and decided on the format of one TV story, one audio and one novel for each Doctor’s era. I then selected each story that I would review. Some of these selections were easy. Some... not so much. I’ve already recounted how I more-or-less hit a wall when it came to selecting stories to represent the Fourth Doctor, so I turned to my go-to-guys for the Fourth Doctor - Shaun and Glenn of Traveling the Vortex. They both gave me some good suggestions, but one that intrigued me greatly was one that Glenn said was a personal favorite of his, but Shaun isn't a huge fan of.  That story is “Meglos.”

Funnily enough, I already owned “Meglos,” but just hadn’t watched it yet. I got it when my local FYE was going out of business and I took the opportunity to get a lot of Doctor Who DVDs for cheap. “Meglos” was on the shelf, so I grabbed it, but for whatever reason I just never got around to watching it.  So, when Shaun and Glenn gave me their recommendations, I was torn between "The Android Invasion" and "Meglos."  I wanted to gush about Sarah Jane at least once in this project, but I also was intrigued by "Meglos" and thought this would be a great opportunity to review it - for better or worse.  And then I thought - Kid, it's your blogging project! Do with it whatever the crap you want!

And that, Dear Reader, is what I did. I haven't thrown the rulebook out entirely, but just this once, I'm bending it a little.

Like I said, "Meglos" was on sale at a going-out-of-business sale at FYE.  But so were a lot of other things (that I also picked up, don't worry).  But you know what the real selling point was for me? (other than it being on sale) - it featured the return of Jacqueline Hill to Doctor Who.

For those that need a refresher, Jacqueline Hill played Barbara Wright, one of the very first Doctor Who companions. In fact, in terms of who came on screen first, she may well be the very first companion to make an appearance (I recently rewatched “An Unearthly Child” and I’m pretty sure I’m right on this one). From the word “go”, Barbara’s always been a particular favorite of mine. Back when I was first getting into Classic Who, Jacqueline Hill was one of the first people I looked up on Wikipedia and I was sad to find out that she had passed away back in 1993 (yes, I was saddened by something that happened twenty years ago - I’m that kind of person). Not that I had any real hope of meeting her or anything, but it’s just nice to think that people who were involved in the show at the very beginning are still around to see how much success and love it’s garnered through the years (also - seeing William Russell and Carole Ann Ford in interviews and DVD commentaries and Big Finish is always such a delight and it would have been fun to have Jacqueline in there with them as well). But, I think it’s very cool that she came back to the show, not as Barbara (though that would have been beyond awesome), but in a very different role as Lexa, a priestess of the god Ti. Though considering one of the best First Doctor stories features Barbara being mistaken for the reincarnation of an Aztec priest/god and she tries to end human sacrifice in that civilization (thanks to her knowledge of future history) - this role is quite appropriate. Almost serendipitous. (I wonder if anyone thought of that connection at the time “Meglos” was being made). Either way, it’s a fantastic role for her to play and she did a wonderful job with it (and I admit - I did my little Happy-Seal-Clap-of-Glee every time Lexa was on screen).

Beyond past Who connections (which are very squee-ful in their own right) - I quite enjoyed this story. I admit, this portion of the project was a little bit of a risk - I had one person telling me this story was good and another telling me that it really wasn’t. I want to keep things positive (ignore my review of “Ten Little Aliens” - I have a lot of things I want to go back and fix about the reviews I did early-on) and shower love upon my favorite shoe because, frankly, I prefer to keep a positive attitude. It’s much more fun to be happy and excited about something than it is to be mean and negative and beat-up on something. But what’s life without a little experimentation and risk? (as long as that risk doesn’t involve me strapped to the top of a bus parachuting off the Grand Canyon).

First - Meglos is an ingenious villain. He (it?) starts out as a cactus in a planter. How brilliant is that? You’re on a budget? That that potted plant that’s been in the BBC Television Centre accounting office for years? Wheel that thing in, do a few voice-overs and some witty makeup - boom! Villain!  And it's not like it stops there - oh no!  The idea behind Meglos is brilliant beyond brilliant. I mean, the thing can shape-shift AND control time? Dude - how come the Zygons get all the fanboy love and Meglos gets crapped on? (fandom, sometimes I just don’t understand you).

Second - the factions on Tigella. Savants and Deons. Science and faith. They’re set up to be at odds with one another, but it turns out that they both have a common interest in keeping the Dodecahedron around (and could you have chosen a more difficult word to type to name that thing? Honestly...) One side worships it, the other side wants to study it - but they both revere it. Just showing that science and religion actually do have a lot in common, when you think about it.



Third - Tom Baker acting for two. I sort of wish I’d kept “Double Vision” for this review (to be fair, I didn't know that was going to happen - but Lindsey Stirling's awesome and any excuse I have to put one of her videos in a review is okay by me). Doctor Who has done this prior to this story - it happened in “The Massacre” and in “The Enemy of the World” (both are sadly missing, but both audios are excellent) and it happened again in “Arc of Infinity” (another story that I simply adore). And, more recently, it happened in “Nightmare in Silver.” The trope of the Doctor’s evil doppelganger is well-used, but certainly not tired (as long as it doesn't involve vats of living yogurt, then I’m okay with it). It gives the actor a chance to do something new and be more awesome and I say that it’s a brilliant use.

Fourth - Can I get a big hand for General Gruggar and Lieutenant Brotadec? They aren't quite to the levels of Jago and Litefoot (those two are the only reason for watching “The Talons of Weng-Chiang,” by the way), but they were hilarious! Brotadec and the Doctor’s coats was just great. For them being the leaders of the villainous space pirates (whatever their real name was - I just called them “space pirates” in my notes) - they had some fun comic-relief moments.

Fifth - The pacing of “Meglos” is really great too. The writing is tight and interesting. Never once did I feel like watching this was a chore. I sat down to watch it before bedtime, thinking I’d just watch the first episode, but I ended up watching the whole thing PLUS writing up about half of my review (after taking notes while I was watching it). It’s got just the right amount of hard-sci-fi, but without being annoyingly pretentious and snobby about it. The characters are likable and the villain - man, a giant cactus! That shape-shifts! And controls time! That is... I mean... yeah, it's awesome!

Sixth - I have to mention the Earthling that Meglos possesses in order to be able to shape-shift (at least, that’s the impression that I got about how that whole thing works) - just when you’ve forgotten about the guy, he fights back and gives Meglos all kinds of trouble! It’s interesting that the story never gives him a proper name - that he’s just this random guy that the space pirates kidnapped while he was out getting milk or whatever.

Honestly, I don’t have a negative thing to say about this. That makes me happy because I had zero clue what this was about going in, but it's now on my list of favorites.  And as far as hidden gems of Doctor Who go, this certainly qualifies.

***
Next Time, on Librarian in the TARDIS -
Review 4.03 - So Much Cooler Online!

Previously -
Review 4.01 - Fill My Eyes With That Double Vision