Doctor Who (TV Series) The Visitation: Part One (1982) User Reviews

"The next time you want to escape from somewhere, walk." Good start.

[poolandrews · 7/10 · 7 July 2007]

Doctor Who: The Visitation: Part 1 starts as the Doctor (Peter Davison) attempts to return Tegan (Janet Fielding) to Heathrow during 1981, he gets the Heathrow part right buy ends up in the year 1666. There the Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) & Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) explore their leafy surroundings & are attacked by some local villagers, an actor named Richard Mace (Michael Robbins) saves them & takes them back to the barn where he has been hiding. He tells them that a deadly plague has ravaged the country, everyone is scared & strangers are not welcome. He also talks about the strange lights seen in the sky just before the first case of plague was reported, the Doctor explores & finds some alien artifacts which leads him to believe there is an alien presence in the area...

Episode 13 from season 19 this Doctor Who adventure originally aired here in the UK during Februray 1982 & was Peter Davison's fourth story from his first season as the infamous Time Lord, directed by Peter Moffatt the four part story The Visitation is a big improvement on the previous story Kinda (1982). Also known as 'Invasion of the Plague Men' & 'The Plague Rats' during various stages of the production the script by Eric Saward has thrown the Doctor & his companions into an intriguing mystery which this first episode sets up but doesn't reveal, I always like these mysterious starts as they peak ones interest for the the next part. The 17th Century setting is nice, there's a cool opening as the local Squire & his family are attacked & the character of Richard Mace is pretty good with some nicely amusing lines. The cliffhanger ending isn't that special here & feels a bit forced like they didn't know what else to do. I'm liking it so far & hopefully that will continue.

After the terrible looking jungle sets of Kinda during the previous story The Visitation is a huge improvement on the production design front, the 17th Century period setting is impressive with well realised with nice detail & locations. The aliens have not yet been revealed during this episode although we get to see some multi coloured robot of some sort wearing a pair of badly decorated cricket gloves!

The Visitation: Part 1 has started out promisingly enough but then you can say that about a lot of Doctor Who stories & they end up going off the boil so it still has work to do to totally convince me but I am looking forward to Part 2. A good episode.

Ye olde Shiny invaders

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 13 August 2015]

I have a huge fondness for the Visitation, whilst looking back at it in more detail I find it way better then I recalled, with some rather nice production values, the BBC do a good historic piece. They do old very well, they struggled a little with modern, the Android looks a little.... I can't even think of any words, images of a 1982 roller disco?? I really didn't like Kinda, it looked and felt so cheap, the Visitation put the show back on good form. There is some amusing banter between the team.

In brief, A comet flashes through the sky at the window of a family enjoying their evening. John Savident and co don't last too long before they are struck down by an Alien invader. The Doctor tries once again to get (a very sulky) Tegan back home, but fails and the team are back to the C17th, where they discover something is amiss in old England. Richard Mace saves the Doctor and co from a team of angry axe wielding villagers. Mace explains that plague is rife and that a comet had recently hit. Alien artifacts are discovered indicating there are some unwelcome visitors. The Doctor disappears down a staircase and we cut to a cliffhanger.

All characters run to form, Nyssa questions intelligently, Adric is annoying and Tegan is grumpy.

Two points I didn't really like, Adric's fall is diabolical, and Michael Robbins performance was pretty shocking.

Alien Invaders in Olde England

[profh-1 · 6/10 · 14 November 2009]

In a VERY "traditional" story, THE VISITATION has the TARDIS drawn centuries into Earth's past due to the crash of an alien spaceship whose crew is causing havoc for the locals. Being the good sort of chap that he is, naturally, The Doctor goes looking for them, intending to offer them a lift home. But he soon finds they're NOT interested, and have other, more genocidal, plans in mind...

Considering the havoc he played for several years as the series' story editor, it's almost hard to believe this was the 1st WHO story from writer Eric Saward. The tone, the structure, and especially the pacing feels almost exactly like a Tom Baker story, something the show would steer further and further away from as "MTV" pacing designed for multiple viewings on VCR became more and more the norm. Of course, Baker would have been a lot more dynamic, charismatic, and witty. Peter Davison, who continues to stand out more than even a "Doctor" should in that absurd cricket outfit, merely comes across as a "nice guy" who almost nobody seems to listen to.

There's far too much "continuity" between the previous story KINDA and this one, which gets bizarre when you realize this was filmed just before that one, not after (probably for outdoor location and weather reasons). At least, unlike FOUR TO DOOMSDAY, both Tegan and Adric are written (and acted) far less annoyingly-- and the pair seem to be developing an unexpected mutual friendship as well. (Perhaps he's at the age where he finds himself more interested in "women" than-- ahem-- "just girls"?)

The only regular in the story whose outlandish clothing doesn't seem completely out-of-place (due to the comparatively drag color scheme) is Nyssa, who once again gets to shine when she winds up single-handedly taking The Doctor's advice and painstakingly assembling a device capable of taking out a killer robot. Then she regrets the need to have done so, as it was an ingeniously-crafted machine itself that had no choice in its programming.

Outstanding in this one is the character of Richard Mace (played by Michael Robbins), a thespian turned highwayman, who seems to have stepped out of a Robert Holmes story (Saward of course being a huge devotee of Holmes, who he later was instrumental in bringing back to the series). Mace and The Doctor become quick allies, even though he's repeatedly witness to things most men of his era would simply disbelieve, or run from in blind panic. When they finally part at the end, he tells The Doctor, "I'm afraid your lifestyle is too fast-paced for me."

Aliens and plagues in old England.

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 9/10 · 27 September 2019]

Review for all 4 parts:

This pseudo-historical story has the TARDIS arriving at the site of Heathrow airport to return Tegan but finding they are in the 1660s during the plague and that some lizard-like aliens the Terileptils have crash landed there and are up to no good.

This was the first contribution of Eric Saward to the show. He wrote the story and was soon made script editor taking over for the production of stories including a couple which were broadcast before this one. Saward does well as a writer although he would turn out to be not consistently good in my opinion as a script editor.

Saward's story is very interesting and fun. The first couple of episodes are quite slow but set the scene really well with some excellent period settings and enjoyable scenes. The introduction of the Terileptils is a decent new alien who have menace and intelligence in their concept. The alien costumes are not perfect but the faces are good I think and they present a suitable threat. The dialogue is very good and intelligent, one of the main strengths of this serial.

Michael Melia puts in an excellent performance as the lead alien, delivering his lines really well. Michael Robbins is also brilliant as Richard Mace, a rich character who enriches the story and has quite a journey across the 4 episodes. Other guest roles are very good and the TARDIS crew are solid. The relationships are strong and apart from an annoying scene at the start with Tegan getting angry they do their jobs well.

Peter Davison is excellent as The Doctor. He shows some depth and toughness here as well as his compassion and decency. He is on top form. We also see the demise of the sonic screwdriver which had been a very oft used device but would not be seen again until the 1996 movie with the 8th Doctor.

I really liked this story a lot, especially the 3rd and 4th episodes when the action, the plot and the dialogue kick into top gear. I think it is great. The linking in of historical events is nicely done, there are nice period locations and a fun story.

My ratings: Parts 1 & 2 - 9/10, Parts 3 & 4 - 10/10. Overall - 9.5/10.

Enjoyable Pseudo Historical Adventure

[Theo Robertson · 7/10 · 28 January 2014]

Refers To All Four Episodes . Suggestive Spoilers

Arriving in mid 17th Century England the Tardis crew are accosted by villagers who accuse them of being plague carriers . After being rescued by thespian turned highwayman Richard Mace they stumble upon a deserted manor house who Mace says has been visited by a strange light in the sky . Exploring the house they find it may not be deserted after all

In many ways this feels like a throwback to the Hartnell era with a Tardis group of four exploring past history . That said such a comparison is merely artificial since in a Hartnell story you wouldn't get any aliens only straight laced historical drama with William Russell , Jacqueline Hill and Carol Ann Ford showing the audience how to earn an equity card . Sadly the three cast members playing the companions aren't really in the same league . Russell , Hill and Ford would be Man Utd , Chelsea and Arsenal while Fielding , Sutton would be division one sides and Waterhouse would be a pub team . To be fair Davison makes for a rather likable Doctor and he's on good form here

The Visitation is a fairly enjoyable tale . Peter Moffat as with State Of Decay in the previous season shows he's well suited to doing pseudo-historical tales . There's nothing exceptional about the directing but by the same token there's nothing exceptionally bad . One or two things stop the script from perhaps being better than it could have been such as the devisive design of the android and a bit too many medium shots . The Terilptils like so much else with this story are a fairly good alien race design wise but nothing outstanding and do seem a bit too rubbery to convince totally . It's interesting that scriptwriter and incoming script editor Eric Saward has them saying " Excellent " several times and this exclamation would become overused by nearly every single alien race featured in the Davison era

The highlight of the story is Michael Robbins best known for his supporting roles in ITV sit-coms in the 60s and 70s playing failed actor Richard Mace who has now had to take a different career path in to robbery . It's not a role that's comedic but neither is it a role that's seriously dead pan . It's a performance that's exaggerated and on the right side of camp and Robbins goes along with the embellished , broad portrayal the script demands and is one of the more memorable one off characters the show has given us . Richard Mace did win the best guest character in the Doctor Who Monthly season poll

I remember watching this away back in the late Winter of 1982 and thinking this was the best story of the season . As it turned out another Eric Saward story a couple of weeks away would win my vote for best story that year , but with hindsight the strange and haunting Kinda is the best story of season 19 . As it stands The Visitation is an enjoyable adventure from a very strong season of the show

Watch it for Robbins

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 14 August 2021]

Here's a Peter Davison serial I hadn't encountered before, the four parter THE VISITATION from 1982. It's novel in that it features our characters travelling to 16th century England and tangling with a plot that involves a reptilian alien, a sinister android, and a deadly plague. The Doctor went on many historical adventures over the decades and this is one of the better ones, although it's a shame he's saddled with so many companions at this point, particularly the interchangeable Nyssa/Teagan. Kudos points for Michael Robbins delivering one of the best and most entertaining guest performances of the show.

:^)

[wetmars · 7/10 · 26 February 2020]

Ah yes, the first time when the Doctor put on his hat. The plot was great.