” Ahhh… a noble brow. Clear gaze. At least it will be given a few hours sleep. A firm mouth. A face beaming with a vast intelligence. My dear child what on Earth are you complaining about? It’s the most extraordinary improvement.”
The Sixth Doctor.
The astonishing arrogance of the sixth Doctor. His brusque crotchety attitude must have been like diving from a warm comfy bed into an icy cold bath in comparison to the charming friendly fifth Doctor. But isn’t that what defines the show when the Doctor regenerates, he completely changes, isn’t that one of the aspects that has made the show so compelling over the course of fifty years? It gives the opportunity to branch off in a completely different direction, to lead the audience down a dark alley and mug them of their preconceptions and hang ups about a character.
Every Doctor Who fan has their own particular favourite. It’s impossible not to, mine’s Patrick Troughton, or is it Tom Baker, or David Tennant? I can never decide. But the truth is, everyone has preferences. Each one has a loyal following that reveres each and every minute of “their” Doctors time on screen. But let’s be honest, having a favourite usually means you have a least favourite. For many that “honour” usually goes to one of the 80’s Doctor’s, a much maligned period in the shows history, as fans became less tolerant of shoestring special effects and the grand old show became less and less cool. The show was almost constantly under attack during the decade, with BBC director generals and Mary Whitehouse nipping at its heels. It didn’t help matters when Star Trek The Next Generation launched in 1986 and made the BBC’s efforts at special effects look like they were from the dark ages. And the producers really didn’t help themselves when they decided to dress their leading man as a clown.
Colin Baker was a distinguished actor of stage and screen when he took over the title role on Doctor Who, and he puts in some stellar (if at times over the top) performances as The Doctor. He was blessed with some great stories too. Vengeance on Varos, when you look at the bones of it, is a gritty sci-fi allegory for the video nasty culture that was becoming more and more prevalent in the eighties. It even has some pass-able production values. Personally I think at times the production team did not realise their own limitations, and failed to play to their strengths. Sometimes they tried to be too ambitious rather than using a little bit of cunning to hide the short comings of a costume or a special effect. Slug creatures and bug-eyed monsters never ever looked good, and on the budget afforded to them the 1980’s Doctor Who production team never managed to pull them off. Maybe on a grainy black and white TV in 1963 a show could get away with the kind of thing we saw in episodes like the Twin Dilemma, or The Visitation. But not on the hi-tech colour tubes of the 80’s. And they look even worse on the HD screens of today.
Some things work really well though, the dirty second-hand look of episodes like Vengeance on Varos, Earthshock, Attack of the Cybermen, Resurrection of the Daleks, and Caves of Androzani (Magma creatures aside.) Completely look the part and fit the bill, they match the zeitgeist in contemporary sci fi films like the Star Wars films, the grubby look of Aliens, and the militaristic look of the Star Trek films. Couple that with lavish period pieces like Black Orchid or Mark of the Rani and you have a variety of styles and stories to tell. They were never going to match the big budget productions on effects, but they could at least do so on atmosphere and tone.
The building blocks for success were there, Doctor Who had garnered a loyal following of kids during the seventies, a grittier more action orientated Doctor should in principle have appealed to the now teenage fan base. You can only wonder how many were put off by that coat. Imagine if Colin Baker had been allowed to pick his own costume, in recent interviews he’s said he originally wanted something akin to what Chris Ecclestone wore as the doctor. Imagine him in a more sombre costume and suddenly his arrogant darker character starts to make sense and work.
If you look past the costume Colin Baker nails the role as a slightly damaged and almost psychotic Doctor, maybe his technicolour dreamcoat helped show his madness in some ways, but I think it was just too much, and it hamstrings him. It’s far to easy to write off Colin Baker as an over the top pantomime character without even giving him a chance. Imagine what could have been, a cool, edgy Doctor, at times angry and at times dangerous. Give the show a much darker tone, eliminate some of the comedy special effects and focus on what the 80’s production crew did best. And this is before you even consider the mysteries of the Seventh Doctor and the “Cartmel masterplan.”
It could have been glorious.
The Brain Leak 