Colin Baker: The Beginning, End and In-Between (Part 2)
John Hussey continues his series, this time reviewing stories from the Sixth Doctor era.
‘The Trial of a Time Lord’
By Robert Holmes, Philip Martin and Pip and Jane Baker (1986, 14 Episodes)
“There is some evil in all of us Doctor, even you. The Valeyard is an amalgamation of the darker side of your nature, somewhere between your twelfth and final incarnation.”
‘The Trial of a Time Lord’ would sadly be Colin Baker’s final story after the unfortunate circumstances that befell his era. Nonetheless, it was a great one to go out on because it was filled with intriguing ideas and a solid plot that felt fresh to the show. The idea of having a season-long story was interesting and played out well. It was divided into four segments (The Mysterious Planet, Mindwarp, Terror of the Vervoids and The Ultimate Foe). The premise reflected the show’s current condition, in which it was on trial for its own survival, by having the Doctor once again on trial by the Time Lords for his interference in the affairs of others.
The first three segments separated the narrative within three different adventures that formulated as evidence for and against the Sixth Doctor. The final segment served as the conclusion of the previous story-threads. Parts One to Four had us travel to the mysterious planet known as Ravolox where the Sixth Doctor and Peri got caught up within a battle between the Tribe of the Free and the slaved humans under the control of robot Drathro. This wasn’t one of Robert Holmes’s best scripts but it was certainly entertaining. This narrative introduced us to Sabalom Glitz, a character that was drawn to profit and acted as a comedic uplift to the seriousness nature surrounding him. The important element of this part of the narrative was it held great importance for later on.
Parts Five to Eight certainly contained the darkest elements to ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’ through the return of Philip Martin and his grotesque character Sil. This time round the Sixth Doctor and Peri went to his home-world and were confronted by Sil’s boss Kiv, a creature of ambition and money. The entire plot revolved around experimentations into granting Kiv a brain transplant in order to allow him to survive the increase of his brain’s size. The Sixth Doctor was shown to be at perhaps his darkest through his manipulation to gain Sil’s trust in order to survive, leading him to leave Peri unguarded and at the risk of danger. He practically betrayed her on countless occasions and at one point interrogated her on a beach whilst the sea drew closer. The incidental music created a very gothic vibe, as did the music within the main trial segments (creating some amazing backing throughout the serial), added further by the imagery which ended with Peri being supposedly possessed by Kiv and then killed by the Time Lords to prevent the creature from taking over the universe. Also, how can I go without mentioning the brilliant Brian Blessed. He really did fit in well and added some great scenes to the story through his loudness and sheer energy. The death of Peri really struck a turn within the narrative and made the Sixth Doctor all the more determined to discover the evil truth behind the trial and the meddling within the evidence in order to excuse him of terrible acts of irresponsible nature.
The Sixth Doctor decided to give his own evidence within Parts Nine to Twelve by showing the jury an adventure from his own future in which he had to prevent humanities destruction at the hands of one of their own creations; the plant-like creatures the Vervoids. Pip and Jane Baker weren’t the best writers on the show but this simple but effective whodunit was an entertaining narrative which, in my eyes, places it as my favourite segment within ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’ (though Mindwarp is a close second). This was a very traditional story and granted the Sixth Doctor some easy going scenarios that felt fitting. It was a lot lighter as well; something that allowed a sense of progression (similar to The Mysterious Planet). The downside of this segment was Mel Bush, a companion that I have distaste for because she screamed far too much. And not just screams, Mel shrieked until your ears bled out in pain! Despite this annoying element she was a good character through her intelligence, but it must be noted that her voice got annoying and the whole keep-fit thing was a dire character trait, to which I felt sorry for the Sixth Doctor because he was forced to undergo fitness and carrot juice. Also it was different to see a new companion introduced without an introductory episode. This segment didn’t in fact showcase their first meeting and instead showed them together mid-way through their adventures.
The final two parts (Thirteen and Fourteen) had perhaps the greatest revelation within the show; the Valeyard was in fact the Doctor’s evil manifested. The look on the Sixth Doctor’s face said it all. It was a moment of shock and handled with extreme care and precision. Unfortunately, this final segment wasn’t fully completed due to Robert Holmes dying part way through writing it and Eric Saward wasn’t allowed to finish it to his late friend’s original designs. Instead, Pip and Jane Baker were called in to finish the script, but it has to be said it finished on somewhat unsatisfactory terms. I don’t know what it is about the final part of this serial but it just doesn’t sit right with me. I like it, but I’m left feeling betrayed somewhat. Nevertheless, the Valeyard was a fierce foe and it was one of those rare moments where you felt the Doctor was in true peril because of the odds he was facing. Also the dark revelations continued to unfold through the High Council of the Time Lords being revealed to have caused horrible events in which they tried to cover up, to which the Sixth Doctor called them out on in the most triumphant of speeches.
Sadly the serial ended on an underwhelming note, but not one that dampened the serial too much. ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’ stands as a unique specimen and will always be a great idea that is worth watching. The other sad note, as mentioned at the beginning of this review, was that this would be C. Baker’s swansong as after this he was rudely fired by BBC executives.
‘Time and the Rani’
By Pip and Jane Baker (4 Episodes, 1987)
“Carrot Juice. Carrot Juice. Carrot Juice…”
Though these words weren’t spoken within ‘Time and the Rani’ they were in fact the Sixth Doctor’s final words onscreen, seen at the end of ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’ as he entered the TARDIS with Mel and dematerialised. Colin Baker refused to come back to film the regeneration scene after his reasonable requests to return for at least one more episode were ignored. Instead, Pip and Jane Baker wrote in (to the best of their abilities) an explanation for the change. At the beginning of ‘Time and the Rani’ the TARDIS was attacked by the Rani and caused to crash, leading to the poor explained regeneration in which Sylvester McCoy [in a wig] changed into Sylvester McCoy. It was always hinted that the attack caused the regeneration, but sadly was shown unsuccessfully onscreen.
The great news is that Big Finish have finally got round to granting Colin Baker the departure he deserves (The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure). This special box-set, due out in September, will showcase his final journey before he regenerated, in which he will have one final battle with the Valeyard. Hopefully Nicholas Briggs and the team will explain why the Sixth Doctor was weakened before the Rani’s sudden attack and grant C. Baker some true closure on the show.
To give you even further hope, I actually spoke to Colin Baker about it myself during a convention last month, and he told me ‘it would be good’ (though jokingly said ‘he would no longer be the Doctor’, referencing his in-joke that everyone after him were fakes because he didn’t actually regenerate). Perhaps in the future I will be able to return to this article and add in a section about Colin Baker’s regeneration episode. Until then, it must remain blank…
