"Four to Doomsday" is a perfect example of why I love Tom Baker's last season and Davison's entire era. No, the stories themselves weren't always good, but perhaps for the first time since the third season of the show in the sixties (with a few exceptions to the ensuing adventure/horror/fantasy with elements of science fiction, admittedly), there were genuinely interesting science fiction concepts being explored, and beyond just that, it's generally done far better and with far more intelligence than the Hartnell era, mostly because John Nathan-Turner and the writers he was working with were now writing for the show's fanbase, which they knew included many adults.
No, Peter Davison's seasons are not nearly as consistently enjoyable and wonderful as Tom Baker's, Graham Williams' rather silly era excepted, but they cover a larger range of topics, and in terms of the quality of the writing and the concepts used, they were pushing "Doctor Who" in a new and fresh direction, some would say 'bloody boring', I would politely disagree. Still, "Four to Doomsday" is a real oddity. A forgotten and neglected gem, perhaps, and hopefully the recent DVD release will change that, but a real oddity nonetheless. There's never been anything quite like this in "Doctor Who". There's big concepts and intellectualism here, but absolutely no overblown dialogue (in fact, some of it is so subtly performed that you could miss the best lines and allusions on first viewing. I didn't even realize that Enlightenment's description of love was taken from Renoir's "La regle du jeu" until I looked in the DisContinuity Guide this morning.
It's rather pointless to try to explain what "Four to Doomsday" is about. It's pretty concept-driven, and the plot is pretty thin. Still, it's worth talking about the quality of the script here by Terence Dudley (who also wrote "Black Orchid" and "King's Demons" and directed "Meglos"). It's really very good. The general lack of a strong plot is the story's biggest weakness, and what keeps it from reaching the potential it had (the story honestly could have been one of the top 10 or so "Doctor Who" stories), but there's enough wit in the dialogue and intelligence in the writing to keep the viewer interested.
"Four to Doomsday" is an odd viewing experience which benefits from good acting, set design, and model work, as well as fine performances. It's a very unusual story, but also a very worthwhile one.
8/10
No, Peter Davison's seasons are not nearly as consistently enjoyable and wonderful as Tom Baker's, Graham Williams' rather silly era excepted, but they cover a larger range of topics, and in terms of the quality of the writing and the concepts used, they were pushing "Doctor Who" in a new and fresh direction, some would say 'bloody boring', I would politely disagree. Still, "Four to Doomsday" is a real oddity. A forgotten and neglected gem, perhaps, and hopefully the recent DVD release will change that, but a real oddity nonetheless. There's never been anything quite like this in "Doctor Who". There's big concepts and intellectualism here, but absolutely no overblown dialogue (in fact, some of it is so subtly performed that you could miss the best lines and allusions on first viewing. I didn't even realize that Enlightenment's description of love was taken from Renoir's "La regle du jeu" until I looked in the DisContinuity Guide this morning.
It's rather pointless to try to explain what "Four to Doomsday" is about. It's pretty concept-driven, and the plot is pretty thin. Still, it's worth talking about the quality of the script here by Terence Dudley (who also wrote "Black Orchid" and "King's Demons" and directed "Meglos"). It's really very good. The general lack of a strong plot is the story's biggest weakness, and what keeps it from reaching the potential it had (the story honestly could have been one of the top 10 or so "Doctor Who" stories), but there's enough wit in the dialogue and intelligence in the writing to keep the viewer interested.
"Four to Doomsday" is an odd viewing experience which benefits from good acting, set design, and model work, as well as fine performances. It's a very unusual story, but also a very worthwhile one.
8/10