Doctor Who - The E-Space Trilogy (BBC DVD)
Picture: C+ Sound: C+
Episodes/Extras: Full Circle: B-/B+;State of Decay: B-/C;Warrior's Gate: B+/B
The new box set of The E-Space Trilogy
is a welcome addition to the Doctor Who mythos, as set of adventures was a
return to form after a noticeable downturn in quality. Originally
broadcast from October 1980 through January 1981, there are the traditional 12
episodes making up the three distinct, yet related story lines: "Full Circle," "State of Decay", and "Warrior's Gate."
The first disc, "Full Circle,"
begins with The Doctor and Romella being unexpectedly recalled to their home
planet, Gallifrey. Suddenly they are caught in a rent in space (CVE or a
Charged Vacumm Emboitment) and find themselves lost in Exo-Space or E-Space, a
smaller parallel universe. On the planet Alzarius, they discover a
culture of colonists, Terradonians, who crashed in their ship, the Starliner,
which they are attempting to repair so they may leave. There is also a young group,
the Outlers, who have rebelled from the rule of the three Deciders and live
outside the space ship. The Doctor and Romella arrive just in time for
the reappearance of the Marshmen, who during the period of Mistfall (every 50
years), reappear and threaten both the inhabitants of the ship and the Outlers.
This is classic Who in every way, starting of course with the ebulliant Tom
Baker in the title role and one of his best companions, the brilliant, if
biting, Romella. There is lots of action over the 4 episodes as the
Doctor slowly unravels the threads of truth behind the real story of the
evolved culture of Alzarius. I won't give away the key but suffice it to
say that it involves an interesting take on evolution, spiders, The Creature from the Black Lagoon-like
Marshmen, and the Terradonians themselves. Notable in this adventure is
the performance of veteren BBC and TV actor, George Baker, who puts in a fine
turn as one of the three Deciders and the introduction of Adric, played by the
young Matthew Waterhouse, who would become one of the Doctor's future
companions.
The second in the E-Space Trilogy,
"State of Decay," is
decidedly strange and, though uneven, interesting for its introduction of a
"traditional" vampire storyline into Doctor Who. Adric, one of
the Outlers from "Full Circle,"
has stowed away on the TARDIS and has, de facto, joined Romella as a second
companion to the Doctor. Many of the elements of a traditional horror
story are present in "State of Decay."
The inhabitants live in fear of the Three Who Rule, who summon villagers to the
tower from which they never return. The Doctor and Romella discover that
the three are actually vampires, serving the Great Vampire who is the last of
the race of vampires exterminated in the Great Vampire War with the Time
Lords. They also discover that the tower is actually their spaceship and
that the Great Vampire is also trapped in E-Space as is the Doctor. The
Doctor hatches a plan and is able to dispatch the Great Vampire, and as a result
his three lackeys, with an ingenious turn just at the "Time of Arising."
The story which has plenty of excitement and chills for Doctor Who, rather
unfortunately mirrors some of the plot elements of "Full Circle" (colonists from another planet living in their
spaceship, a culture oblivious to its true nature, one set of inhabitants
preying on another, similarly titled phenomenons "Mistfall" and
"The Wasting, as well as "The
Time of Arising," and planets ruled by a triad of leaders), although
written by Terrence Dicks, while "Full
Circle" was scripted by 19 year old newcomer, Andrew Smith. Ever
incongruous, the medieval setting inside the space ship actually works and the
production values seem better than usual. The three vampire helpers pull
off their assigned roles well, with Emrys Jones classical turn as Aukon nicely
walking the fine line between quality and camp. A number of the special
effects, alas, do not rise to this level, particularly the cheesely realized
"Arising" of the Great Vampire at the conclusion. However, as
the legion of stalwart Who apologists would attest, this actually adds to
rather than detracts from the fun.
The final adventure in the E-Space
Trilogy is "Warriors' Gate"
and it starts out in a bit of muddle, but its complexity ends up being its
strong point. While still lost in E-Space, the Doctor, Romana, and Adric
are hijacked in the TARDIS by a member of a time sensitive race known as the
Tharil. They find themselves in a great white space (keeping those
production costs down, mate) where the only things beside the TARDIS are a
slave transport ship and a mysterious ancient gateway, once again reminiscent
of the Middle Ages. In the convoluted telling, it is revealed that the
Tharil, now enslaved to humans led by Rorvik, captain of the slave ship, once
enslaved humans themselves. Their domain, an ancient banquet hall,
resides inside the gateway, which in turn is the gate between E and N-Space
(Normal Space, the universe). This is the key to how the Doctor
escapes back to N-Space as ultimately the Thrail are freed when the slave ship
is destroyed.
Much of the difficulty with this story lies in its inception and execution, as
both the script and the directorial responsibilities passed through many
hands. Paul Joyce, predominately a feature director, pushed the show in
directions, literally and stylistically, not previously attempted and, though
some things don't work here, the overall contribution to the Who mythos is a
positive one. The episode concludes with the departure of both
Romella and K-9, who remain in E-Space to help free the remainder of Tharils,
who are still, well, in thrall. Fittingly, Romana's departure is
particularly moving and, overall, this is an episode that is near and dear to
Doctor Who fanatics everywhere.
The extras, always of primary importance in a Doctor Who box, do not
disappoint. Besides the raft of usual commentaries, there is a making of
"Full Circle" feature, a
very brief (4 minute) but interesting "K-9
in E-Space" (very nice to actually see John Leeson, the voice of K-9),
an endearing segment from the show "Swap
Shop" with Matthew Waterhouse, and the standard production notes,
stills gallery. The feature "E-Space
- Fact or Fiction?" gives the viewer the theoretical science of
alternate, parallel, or multiverses, with various experts such as authors
Stephen Baxter, Mat Irvine, and Paul Parsons. The theoretical hooey
occasionally dovetails with the Doctor Who (w)hooey, making for a nice short
exercise in what-if and a brush up on your quantum mechanics and general
relativity background. The extras on "The State of Decay" disc include the usual but, aside from the
Making of "The Vampire Lovers"
seem both a bit thin and beside the point. "Leaves of Blood" is a 17 minute history of vampires in literary
fiction which really has little to do with the episode. Two others,
"The Blood Show" and "The Frayling Reader," bear
virtually no relation at all, one being a cultural history and the other a
pseudo socio-political interpretation of the vampire myth in less than 5
minutes (even throwing Marx into the mix; unfortunately Karl and not
Groucho)! The extras for "Warrior's
Gate" will be the one fans will flock to and they are worth
it. The making of feature, entitled "The Dreaming," gets the confused on track and the initiated
deeper into the mystery. Matthew Waterhouse fans will enjoy "The Boy With the Golden Star" which
chronicles his look back years later on his time on Doctor Who. By the
title, "Lala's Wardrobe"
sounds like a clunker yet it is anything but, providing an interesting glimpse
on the input into character designers have when attempting to
"fashion" an actress or actor. The disc is rounded out with 4
minutes of extended/deleted scenes from episode two.
All in all, The E-Space Trilogy box
has lots to recommend it, documenting as it does the run up to the final arc of
stories for the 4th and perhaps most popular Doctor of all, Tom Baker.
- Don Wentworth
