Time-Flight

Of all the stories of Season 19, Time-Flight stands out the most, for one reason- it's bad. Time-Flight drives home how well the John Nathan-Turner era started- from The Leisure Hive to Earthshock, there was not a single story that was not wonderful on at least one level. Time-Flight breaks this remarkable winning streak. The first episode is actually quite good, very reminiscent of The Faceless Ones. However, as we carry on it is obvious that there is very little plot for the next 72 minutes. Basically, the Master (sorry to let the cat out of the bag) has been stranded on Jurassic Earth and has discovered the Nucleus- the collective intelligence of the people of the planet Xeriphas- is also there. To help him gain control of it, he kidnaps humans from 1982.

This could have been made into a run-of-the-mill Doctor Who story in the hands of a skilful writer. However, the script is overloaded with technobabble- there are times when you realise that the Doctor and the Master are, basically, intoning random collections of words at each other. The Master is disguised as Kalid- a mysterious magician. The trouble is, there is no more reason for a tubby conjurer to be on Jurassic Earth than a goateed baddie and there is certainly no reason for the Master to keep up the silly voice when he's on his own. The portrayal of the Nucleus as a collective intelligence with a split personality is an intriguing, if not very original idea, but it emerges too late in the narrative and is not adequately developed or even properly integrated into the story. There is also one criticism I have held since I first watched this story at the tender age of six- this is the second story where we are teased with mentions of dinosaurs, but none appear!

However, a patchy script can be invigorated by a good production and, again, the first episode looks great, with good location filming in and around Concorde. However, the production team was fighting a losing battle when the story had to portray Concorde crashing on Jurassic Earth. The sets have all the greyness of lumps of rock without any of the other features that would make it a convincing rocky landscape. The Plasmatons bring to mind the Gel-Guards with the added 'advantage' of also being a dull grey colour. Ron Jones's work in the first episode is very good- Nyssa's vision of the dead Xeraphin is a real 'behind the sofa' moment. However, he seems to lose interest in the story after the first episode and pretty much directs on autopilot.

The performances are competent enough, if a bit lifeless- only Nigel Stock is memorable amongst the guest cast. It is here, however that we see Peter Davison's tremendous strength in the title role. Davison plays it like he believes it and it is this that lifts the story from unwatchable to barely watchable. Janet Fielding continues to impress and Sarah Sutton puts in a nice performance.

There are worse stories than Time-Flight- but after typing this review, I have lost the motivation to actually name them.

NEXT: Arc of Infinity