DOCTOR WHO-THE TRIAL OF A TIME LORD part 2: THE MYSTERIOUS PLANET part 2

 

DOCTOR WHO-THE TRIAL OF A TIME LORD part 2: THE MYSTERIOUS PLANET part 2

 

“I don't know. I really think this could be the end!”

 

We should be so lucky and be freed as DW fans!

 

You know, there is some merit here. You have to search pretty high and low for it but there is, most of it wasted. First, one has to imagine that a fourteen part story is a bit ahead of its time, even though by this time, shows like DYNASTY, FALCON CREST, and before that DALLAS and maybe KNOT’S LANDING were ALL doing long running parts to their “stories”, arcs if you will, one big story if you will. Of course, it is of note that they were all night time, prime time soap operas. Which now almost 90 percent of TV shows are but not all.

 

The thing is TRIAL presumes a good idea: a 14 part story. The content is not a great idea: having courtroom scenes, many of which have NO value, interrupt the running action (well, there’s running but for once, the running can’t really be considered action of any kind, though perhaps that is harsh).

 

Thing also is that TRIAL is not really a 14 part story, regardless of its packaged on the DVDs and blu rays. It is the same old, same old: four stories separated by guest casts, content, and “action” as well as villains. It’s a fake. It’s not a really good 14 part story and by standards of ALL the past seasons of DW (yes, all 22 of them), it’s not even a full season (shades of Moffat and Chibnall’s horrid eras).

 

Some good parts: Peri being readied by Katryca as wife to many husbands and some of Peri’s lines about this; Dibber---who frankly is less of a villain than the murderous Glitz (yes, Glitz--- he who was going to gas a whole group of people, so he’s a bit like THE NAZIS) and he seems to have more potential than Glitz if only cosmetic. And the Doc’s names for people, mostly the Valeyard: Boatyard, Graveyard this episode but also for the two flamboyant (and frankly embarrassing Humker and Tandrell) boys: Handbag and Humbug (or maybe it was just names for Humker but it looked like both of them). The location work here looks fantastic again. NONE of this is enough to overcome the flaws and faults of the production, if not the script itself, which isn’t totally terrible.

 

Just what are those? Well, for one, the Doctor starts off being mean to two that just saved his life: Drathro and Merdeen (yes, Merdeen was going to have the Doctor killed until the robot Drathro---who looks good but can hardly move---stops him). Why? Did he know they were villains from the start? If so, how? From the stoning, the Doctor is merely stunned. How? Why? He also seems to quickly accept Glitz and Dibber who are on the run with Peri.

 

Not only is Drathro unmovable it might seem but…the robot HE uses is worse. It’s the worst robot since….well, ROBOT? It makes the BLAKE’S 7 robot in the first season looks positively smashing. Well, maybe not. Let’s not go that far but BLAKE’S had something this does not: good premise, good character motivation, genuinely funny dialog and more.

 

If Glitz isn’t really all that amusing or interesting, Katryca is worse. And look, if you’re going to call someone fat, maybe it might be a good thing if YOU yourself (meaning her!) wasn’t fat, too!

 

The cliffhanger, being caught between the lamest robot in the history of robots in TV before and after (and I would even include any robots given in the 1940s FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE) and the lamest “savages” since IT’S ABOUT TIME or something. And another Doc’s face in worried look. Sigh.

 

The interior sets of …all of it look cheap. The smaller robot looks cheap despite the camera man’s efforts to make it look dangerous.

 

Oh and WHAT was that android looking thing (I believe it was Grell) in the hallway?

 

The train boys wear helmets that are splashed with red and rather than making them look tough, it makes them look tacky.

 

And what is Merdeen’s plan? Send Balazar up above to meet up with…others he sent up there (do we ever see them?). A thin boy who hasn’t ever been outside and who barely believes there is life up there? And then the Doc just reluctantly agrees to take him?

 

And BTW, getting ahead of myself, WHY on Earth or on Gallifrey would the Time Lords devastate the Earth to rid themselves of three aliens who knew secrets about them? In the past they might have done that to the Master but never did or even the Rani but never did and they knew about at least the Master. Surely they could have found less drastic ways to stop these unseen “sleepers”?

 

Sigh. This is lame writing either way, though not without a bit of charm here and there.

 

Still, the villains have the threatening status of the most laughable…POWER RANGERS villains and monsters.

Also BTW 2: the Time Lords in the jury or the court room ALL looks like they are sleeping, some of them with their eyes open but a few with their eyes closed and who can blame them. This is really shoddy no matter how positive you try to look at it.