Timelash

 In a nihilistic season packed with implied or actual violence, `Timelash` stands apart as being a more traditional Doctor Who story. A regular near the foot of fan votes it seems to be written off as a bit of a mess. Yet like such stories there is something of worth if you watch it with an open mind and try to forget all the brickbats that have been hurled towards it. With Pennant Roberts again lumbered with bright sets (as he was in `Warriors of the Deep`) the story is already hamstrung while Glen McCoy’s script feels like it needed more work and production values are not the best. There are interesting concepts within it but the resulting production doesn’t always do justice to them. I’ve heard `Timelash` summarised variously yet almost always in the negative but I would say its middling. I don’t even think it’s the worst story of this season but I would agree that it’s presentation does not help its case.

 

Not that it’s without faults. For one thing there’s not enough narrative to sustain the two forty -five minute episodes; the antagonist is seemingly defeated with twenty minutes to go (early in part 4 to use old money) and though he does pop back at the end it’s after a significant lag in which filler material is obvious. That lengthy debate in the Tardis for example adds nothing new and seems solely written to fill several minutes. Even the impending arrival of a Bandril missile is drawn out too long to keep any tension going.

The story sometimes seems over verbose but often with little purpose; beyond exposition scenes conversations are banal. Early on there is promise that the Doctor and Peri’s relationship has become less needly – Baker in particular is excellent in stretches of this story. Yet this Doctor’s off-putting arrogance keeps creeping back while poor Nicola Bryant gets little to do except moan and be captured. I’m not sure why writers thought this dynamic would be appealing; she can clearly do so much more while he is at his best when the bellowing is replaced by a more considered approach. So the lengthy scenes in the Tardis early on are the story’s most trying moments even if the juddery camera effect used for the time corridor is effective. I do think it looks a bit silly to have the Doctor and Peri tied to the console like mountain climbers, what’s wrong with the tried and trusted falling from one side of the set to the other! This is one of those parts of the story that seems to re-use recent ideas- there was a time corridor last season, the Borad’s fascination with Peri seems to echo Sharaz Jek as does his unfortunate countenance and fear of seeing it.

While I’m not always a fan of the idea that the Doctor somehow or other was the cause of most significant historical and cultural developments, the inclusion of a young HG Wells works rather well here. Aspects of the adventure he takes are clearly intended to later inspire the idea of a time machine (albeit one whose look is more suited to the author’s time period) while the Morlox provide an alternatively spelt name for his underground dwellers. Was it deliberate too that Glen McCoy named the character of Vena, to whom Herbert seems to take a shine, to sound similar to Weena? The Borad and his experiments could be the foundation for the Island of Doctor Maorau. David Chandler’s light hearted portrayal of Hubert really conveys a character who never allows fear to overtake fascination. It’s absolutely plausible to believe this will be a man who writes some of the earliest science fiction, a phrase he even mentions in the story. You wonder why the dialogue for some of the other guest characters could not be as good as his.

The other stand out guest actor is Robert Ashby as the Borad, a villain I found quite fascinating even if he is not fully developed. For the most part he is calm and collected yet his voice betrays a malice and purpose. We don’t actually see him fully till later in the second episode and it is an impressively gruesome visage he presents. Half his face is covered in prosthetics resembling some aquatic creature, the other allows the actor to express the Borad’s somewhat evil intent. Like many elements of this story, the Borad’s background is somewhat hazily sketched- we don’t even know why he is called that though we do find out his real name is Magelen whom the Doctor has met before. Given this period’s propensity for The Master turning up in elaborate disguise those early scenes of the back of his chair and muttering about how he knows the Doctor might have led some to incorrectly identify the Borad’s true identity.

What we don’t rely discover is how he managed to rise to such power and get the Timelash built. Indeed, it’s not really certain what the Timelash is. It is feared and used as punishment – people are flung into it presumably to be scattered randomly in any era? There are elements of 1984 here, the constant surveillance, the false image of the ruler but these are not really followed through. Instead, it seems regime change can be executed in a single room.

Unfortunately, production shortcomings mean the Timelash itself never looks in the least bit powerful enough to even boil a kettle, never mind fling people through time. In house BBC designers probably dreaded being assigned to Doctor Who with it’s bizarre requirements but it didn’t necessarily need more money spending to make this key device after which the story is named a bit more convincing. It is just sparkly lights and what looks like tin foil. Even worse, when the Doctor clambers inside it- the previously powerful forces seemingly unable to snap a rope- there are bits of tinsel in between the rather better designed crystals. I can see why the plot needed to explore the mechanics of the device but it doesn’t work. It would have been better to have had those crystals visible in the entrance as well because it doesn’t even look like the same machine once the Doctor is inside it.

Yet some of the visuals are really good. The single Android is quite earie and like much of 80s Doctor Who would look even better if the lights were lower. Dean Hollingsworth does a great job using body popping movement and mechanical speech while never blinking. It’s a shame the budget couldn’t stretch to two of them though the one they have is deployed well enough to distract from that. The Bandril- only seen on a monitor- is effective while the Morlox is impressively tactile even if the camera lingers a little too long. Quicker cuts here would make it more menacing. The appearance of a somewhat arty portrait of the third Doctor is a nostalgic touch though why is it implied the third Doctor had more than one companion?

Underground, the rebels seem remarkably well informed on events as they already know Tekker has taken over as Malin which has only just happened. It would have been more interesting to have spent some more time with them rather than the somewhat one note elite whose conversations never sound natural. Dicken Ashworth was a familiar TV actor at the time appearing in many tv shows but he gets very little to do here while Tracy Louise Ward is at least given some decent material. What most fans remember `Timelash` for is Paul Darrow giving what he himself said he based on Richard the Third. It is totally out of sync with everyone else yet it sort of works given that Tekker is clearly a bit of a bootlicker. Darrow is clearly having fun with his demonstrative strutting about and hand gestures. By the way, at the start there is a teenage Steven Mackintosh in one of his earliest roles.

`Timelash` has ideas but not quite enough of them, it has an interesting story but it is poorly paced and looks quite cheap in some aspects. If we can excuse time and money it does feel as if this is a story that needed another pass at the writing stage to shore up what is actually a decent enough concept.