Things I've Learnt from Watching My Favourite Doctor Who Stories: Part 27 - The Leisure Hive

 27: The Leisure Hive

I know so little about Tachyonics

Although Destiny of the Daleks was my first full story, it was watching this season opener that my odyssey into fandom began. And what a beauty! The Horns of Nimon ended season seventeen prematurely and it felt like ages before I could sit down on to watch the new series of Doctor Who. And what I surprise I got! 

Gone was the sinister music and the time tunnel with that scary picture of Tom Baker looming towards us. Now there were stars, the music was different, it sounded so modern (for 1980!) and so cool! The interminable tracking shot across the beach passed me by, I was more upset by K9 going into the sea and blowing up!

The Leisure Hive itself is a visual feast (although I suspect some of the walls are garage doors but let's not dwell on that!) And the Argolin are a cool race, in more ways than one. They look stylish and almost glide around with little emotion. Adrienne Corri was the first example of John Nathan Turner's "guest star policy" and she's great, conveying Mena's fading aloofness, as she starts fading herself. Nigel Lambert is good value as her secret lover, Hardin and their scenes together are quite gentle among the hard science all around. Rising star David Haig was extremely memorable as Pangol, going from petulant, to sinister to full-on dictator over the four episodes! 

And of course, we have Tom Baker and Lalla Ward. Tom's performance is a step down from the previous season of course, but he still has that smile from time to time. He wasnt well during production, unhappy that he had a new producer and script editor determined to keep him in check and ad-lib free. Being in aged makeup for half the story probably didn't help so he's argumentative in the famous outtake where he throws the "****ing dreary prop!" The flip side is the smile as he suggests they arrest the scarf, showing he's still got that spark. 

Lalla Ward (fresh from being Ophelia to Derek Jacobi's Hamlet!) is also sparkling. She's still in her Doctor phase for this story after carrying the burden on Horns of Nimon. It's a great performance, she's patient but firm with Hardin, and stands up to Pangol in the closing episode while the Doctor's out of action. By the end of the season she's gone and while I like Tegan, Nyssa et al, I feel there isn't as prominent a companion until Ace, as the production team reduce their status to ensure the doctor, and sometimes guest characters, get the limelight.

Lovett Bickford's direction is a tour de force of images and sound. The glimpses of Foamasi I'm the first few episodes are well done as are the sinister scenes in part two leading up to where Stimson is murdered. Peter Howell from The Radiophonic Workshop takes over from Dudley Simpson and immediately makes his mark. With influences including Jean Michel Jarre and Holst's Mars from the Planets, the wall of sound is incredible. 

I don't think there's a huge difference between Season 17 and 18, apart from the music and Tom Baker being reined in and wearing burgundy. But there's a yawning chasm of difference in style between the Horns of Nimon and the Leisure Hive. I love both but there's clearly a director working his arse off on the latter, making it look more lavish and more expensive than it probably is. Had Meglos opened the season, I dont think it would have felt like such a huge difference. But because Lovett Bickford is doing more than pointing the camera and shouting action, the results are a highly imaginative set of four episodes. 

You mentioned Fomasi? Well, i suppose I have to. I really like the design. They're look weird and alien, particularly in the cliffhanger to part three. Quite frankly more stylish than what the show on the other side was dishing out while this was on, regardless of how much higher their viewing figures were. But I've already posited that ratings don't equal quality and this story is an impressive blast of colour, action and drama. 

Next Time: Don't imprison a Master criminal on an island near a naval base...