When Peter
Turned Into Colin:
Celebrating
Peter Davison’s Last Season
Has it been
30 years already since Peter Davison hung up that Cricket style costume with
the stick of celery on it? Yes it has
and if you remember watching the Fifth Doctor during the 80’s then you must be
feeling pretty old. Well maybe not as
old as the ones who watched Jon Pertwee turn into Tom Baker 40 years ago this
May. Even still I cannot believe it has
been 30 years since Peter Davison regenerated into the robust and blond haired
Colin Baker to the amazement of Peri inside the TARDIS console room. It just ‘Feels different this time.’
Peter
Davison’s last season started on January 5th 1984 with the not so
memorable Warriors of the Deep. Well it
is memorable but for all the wrong reasons.
It is often called Warriors of the Cheap as the sets was less than
stellar but the one thing that always stuck in my mind was why Ingrid Pitt’s
character Solow would karate kick the Myrka who is an electric based creature
that if touched you would be electrocuted.
Plus just look at the Myrka talk about cheap. It was definitely not one of the better
rubber suit monsters that the show has come up with. Season 21 starts with a story that should be
great with the return of the Silurians and the Sea Devils but the story is just
ok and I consider it one of my guilty pleasures to watch as I think it is
somewhat enjoyable despite being mediocre.
Season 21 did
not start off that well but the stories that came after Warriors of the Deep
were not bad and ones I actually enjoy.
The Davision era is a favorite of mine and let’s be honest those that
know me know that the Fifth Doctor is my favorite so I’m a bit biased towards
his era. But many consider his last
season to be his weakest but I disagree with the exception of Warriors of the
Deep the season had some really good stories.
Even Warriors can be looked on as a stronger than normal mediocre
story.
The season
continued with the two part story The Awakening which involved the demon the
Malus which was a big head inside the wall of a church that used psychic energy
to get its strength by the hate that was going on. It is also the story that involved Tegan
being the Queen of the May during the English Civil War and her wanting to
visit her Grandfather in Little Holcombe.
Frontios wasn’t a bad story either.
Taking place way in the future where the Time Lords prevent themselves
from visiting. The Doctor’s TARDIS gets destroyed by the Tractators and he
tricks them into putting it back together.
It is a good story about an Earth colony struggling to survive on the
Planet Frontios. These two stories are quite
different but pretty good as we come up to the farewell stories. Four in all but there were two hellos in
there also.
Resurrection
of the Daleks is the Fifth Doctor’s only meeting on TV with The Daleks. It
sees the return of Davros and the Daleks need him to help find a cure from the
Movellan virus that kills them with no mercy.
This is a pretty violent story and the body count is pretty high. After seeing lots of good people die Tegan
reaches her breaking point and decides it is not fun traveling with The Doctor
anymore. Most companions leave on
happier terms but Tegan’s departure is sad and in a way shows what happens when
you travel with The Doctor. Resurrection
of the Daleks is also one of my favorite Dalek stories and is one of the best stories
in the Davison era.
Planet of
Fire sees the return of The Master. He
is using the robot Kamelion to help him get back to normal height by using
Kamelion to transport him to the magical gas that is in a volcano on the planet
Sarn. It also sees Turlough leaving as
well. With a new Doctor on the way it is
normal to get rid of the past Doctors companions and start with a new TARDIS
crew. Turlough’s farewell is rather
touching as he wasn’t really a popular character but Planet of Fire adds
something to his background as we learn about him being a war criminal exiled
to Earth but now he is able to return to Trion.
It was touching to see The Doctor shake his hand and wish him good luck
considering the rocky start they had. We
also see Kamelion’s farewell. Remember
him the robotic companion that didn’t work. We see The Doctor destroying him
with the tissue compression eliminator to prevent the Master from using him
again. Kamelion was a bad idea that just
did not work right. If JN-T was smart he
could have had Kamelion take the form of a different costar every new story and
use him that way. It was a wasted
opportunity. 
Planet of
Fire introduced us to the Sixth Doctor’s main companion Peri. In fact she makes quite the debut that I’m
sure a lot of 13 year old fans will never forget. Yes that bikini scene where all the fanboys
wish they were Mark Strickson. But right
away you are introduced to the type of personality the new Doctor would have to
deal with in the new companion Peri and also I wished she had a few more stories
with Peter Davison’s Doctor also.
Caves of
Androzani hailed by many as one of the finest Doctor Who stories even
considered the best ever sees the Fifth Doctor take his leave. Written by Robert Holmes we are treated to a story
in which The Doctor and Peri are dying a slow death from spectrox toxemia. The problem is they are constantly captured
and captured again by the Army, the rebels hired by Trau Morgus , and Sharez
Jek. The problem is Jek has fallen for
Peri and will not let them go. The Fifth
Doctor sacrifices his life to save Peri from spectrox toxemia and thus becomes
the Sixth Doctor.
30 years ago
on March 16th the Fifth Doctor’s era came to an end. It was a really good era that had some good
stories and also was the last time the show was extremely popular as the show
would decline after season 22. Peter
Davison gave us a Doctor that was totally different than Tom Baker and carved
his own niche in Doctor Who mythos as being the youngest Doctor until Matt
Smith took the part. The Fifth Doctor’s
era was a fun one to watch with lots of wonderful stories and it all ended 30
years ago. Hard to believe it was so
long ago and I am sure lucky that I was around to enjoy it when it happened. 
No comments:
Post a Comment