Things I've Learnt from Watching My Favourite Doctor Who Stories Part 45 - The Caves of Androzani

45: The Caves of Androzani

Best doesn't necessarily mean Favourite! 



I know what you're all thinking "Wait, what? Fan all-time classic Caves is only at no. 46? Quick, get him drug tested! Take away his fan badge! Burn the heretic!" 

Ok, Caves is in my Top 60 at least but it's not near the top. It's not that I don't rate it, of course I do. Few classic Doctor Who stories are this well directed. Newcomer Graeme Harper (who keeps turning up in this list!) was keen to make his mark and he certainly did! In an era where a lot of the directors were safe pairs of hands that got productions in on time and on budget, but maybe played it a bit too safe!

Fans bemoan that John Nathan Turner kept employing the likes of Peter Moffat and Ron Jones, but remember he'd got his fingers burnt in Season 18 with Lovett Bickford overspending on the Leisure Hive and Paul Joyce trying to make Warriors Gate like a film in a multi camera videotape studio. (incidentally Joyce was initially sacked and replaced by his assistant, a guy named Graeme Harper...)

But JNT wasn't averse to finding new talent. Season 21 had three directors new to the show, as well as Harper, Matthew Robinson directed Resurrection of the Daleks while the Awakening was overseen by Michael Owen Morris. It's possibly a coincidence that these three are responsible for the stories that are the more highly regarded of the season. In Harper's case, he, like Joyce on Warriors Gate was keen to direct in a filmic way, on single camera as well as directing on the studio floor rather than the gallery as per most other directors. 

The plus side was Peter Davison being enthused and inspired, giving an excellent performance (although he never gave a bad one in my opinion!) the downside was Harper fell badly behind schedule and writer Robert Holmes and script editor Eric Saward has to do some swift rewriting to help get the production finished. 

The cast is uniformally excellent, with the highlight being Christopher Gable, who gives a powerhouse performance as Sharaz Jek, a character so popular, he was voted both best supporting character and best villain in that years DWM season survey. John Normington as his old enemy Morgus (autocorrect changed his name to Morgue funnily enough!) is also splendid, accidentally talking direct to camera in a Shakespearian-style aside. Apparently this was after a miscommunication between himself and Harper, who decided he liked it and kept it in. 

So why have I put this all conquering classic so low down on the list? As I said, I do think it's exceptionally well made, but here's the reason. 

I think Caves of Androzani helped to kill off Doctor Who... 

Because Caves was such a hit, script editor Eric Saward was inspired to take it as a signal that that's what the fans wanted Doctor Who to be like all the time and consequently he appeared to use Caves as a template and tailored the following season to be similarly gritty and violent. And frankly, he was wrong. At least for me he is, I prefer my Who to have a bit more light. 

Caves works best as a one off; it eschews much of the warmth and good humour that the show has, for something much crueller. Consequently, good guys and bad guys in season 22 aren't so black and white anymore. Characters like Lytton and Orcini - who seem to appeal to Saward far more than the Doctor - are morally ambiguous, while poor Peri (played by the wonderful Nicola Bryant who deserved better!) is lusted after by a succession of unsavoury characters just as she was with Sharaz Jek. 

Unfortunately, along comes new Controller of BBC1, Michael Grade, who hates the show and sees the prevailing violence in the show as a weapon against it. And I can't help thinking Caves was partly responsible, which is why I'm slightly against it, for what some fans might consider a nonsensical reason. 

I think Caves is a fantastic production and worthy to be in every fans top 60 list, I cannot stress that enough. Everyone is at the top of their game especially the director and lead actor. It's fast paced, exciting, moody, atmospheric, violent - ideal to show to a non-fan! But I can't help thinking Doctor Who became a victim of its success. 


Next Time: You can never trust the weather! 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God Bless the Good Ship Atlantis and all who sink in her!

Image
The (waste of) Time Monster  Nietzsche said "life is a choice between suffering and boredom." He obviously never watched the Time Monster... Back in the 1980s, Doctor Who was not as good as it used to be. At least, not according to the older generation of fandom. Season 24 in particular was subject to a barrel of abuse from "the usual suspects" who opined that the series had gone downhill since 1970s. The Pertwee era in particular was held in an almost unassailable high, in comparison to Tom Baker's reign, which was three years of Hinchcliffe highs and three years of wallowing in the Williams era plus one year of him looking miserable in maroon with John Nathan Turner...  JNT came up with the infamous phrase, "The memory cheats" which did very little to quell the argument. In fact it just fed the flames of their hatred and was definitely a case of biting the hands that feed, another cliche JNT used, if memory serves me correctly.  I recently listened...
Read more

Randomiser : Out of Time 1

Image
This blog was set up to review stories in a random order, so here's my thoughts about one of Big Finish's most celebrated stories   Somewhere in an alternate universe, the August Bank Holiday weekend of 2009 saw an extra special with David Tennant, leading into the Waters of Mars. The audience would have whooped with joy at the familiar sight of certain scarf and tall figure, waxing lyrical about Michaelangelo pilfering his ideas as he paints his fresco, talking to a character played by Katherine Drysdale, who played Bliss in Love & Monsters. It also had the Daleks back in their gun metal grey livery as seen in the 1970s along with the red and gold Dalek (Chicken!) Supreme...  OK, in reality, Out of Time is possibly the only benefit I can think of, that was a result of the 2020 pandemic lockdown (apart from an extended period of paternity leave after the birth of our third son!)  Suddenly available thanks to tv and film productions grinding to a halt, David Tennant qu...
Read more

Things I've Learnt from Watching My Favourite Doctor Who Stories: Part 8 - Genesis of the Daleks

Image
 8. Genesis of the Daleks When crossing a wasteland, don't clam up!  Here we go. Iconic, most-repeated classic story, greatest of all time, best villain, tea time brutality for tots, do I have the right, thank you that's what I wanted to know, you don't worry about your jumper if you've got a Dalek up your arse! We've got the novelisation, the LP, the cassette, the CD, the VHS, the DVD, the blu-ray, the Genesis Character Options set, the commemorative coasters...  What can I say about Genesis of the Daleks that hasn't been said already. OK, here goes. I'll tell you the tale of how I met the Thal Politician. Be prepared for a Tale of Youth (copyright Si Hart!) One of my presents for Christmas 1979 was the LP of Genesis, released after the Daleks spectacular return in Destiny of the Daleks. The album was treasured but as a child I was too scared to listen to Side 2 because of the noise of the Dalek guns, an echo of watching the story (my very first memory of t...
Read more