Classic Doctor Who - Season 26 - Battlefield (1989) - Review
Starring: Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Nicholas Courtney & Jean Marsh
Written By: Ben Aaronovitch
Directed By: Michael Kerrigan
After
celebrating twenty-five years of the show in 1988, Season 26 of
Doctor Who was to look more towards its future. While the
first entry, Battlefield, continued to celebrate some
of the most loved things about the show, this change was clear and
script editor Andrew Cartmel's goal of bringing back the mystery that
once surrounded the Doctor began to take effect. But as we now know,
despite just celebrating its silver anniversary, Doctor Who wasn't
to survive into the 90s, and so began the last few classic stories.
In
response to a distress signal, the Doctor and Ace arrive on Earth,
near the village of Carbury. A nuclear missile convoy under U.N.I.T's
control has run into difficulties, and the peaceful area soon becomes
the backdrop for war when hostile knights from another dimension
arrive looking for Merlin and the legendary sword Excalibur. Led by
the evil Morgaine, U.N.I.T and the knights go to battle, and
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart is called out of retirement to help.
Furthermore, Morgaine and her knights appear familiar with the
Doctor, and know him as 'Merlin'...
Battlefield
is based off a great concept and I love the meeting of Doctor
Who and
Arthurian legend. The stories surrounding King Arthur and his Knights
of the Round Table are a rich and interesting tale on their own, but
when combined with Doctor
Who,
there are tons of story-telling possibilities. In fact it shows, as
writer Ben Aaronovitch doesn't have time to explore everything in
great detail, but can only hint at them. Such things include an
implied romance between Arthur and Morgaine, Morgaine and the knights
referring to the Doctor as Merlin, and not forgetting the fact that
this whole story is put into motion by events that take place
off-screen and sometime in the Doctor's future. While you could argue
that this is a result of Battlefield
biting off more than it can chew, I'd personally argue that it allows
us to use our imagination and makes events feel bigger and more
important – as though there's a whole mysterious and unseen world
where the Doctor is still having adventures away from us.
It's
no lie to say that Battlefield works as an undeniably
fun action romp. Just from the very premise, its clear that this
story is designed to be a fun and entertaining time. Featuring
knights with guns who go flying through the air whenever there's a
nearby explosion, Brigadier Bambera shooting at those same knights
from the roof of a car, as well as U.N.IT going to battle against
them – it's all goofy and cheesy fun. That isn't to say that it's
all particularly well-made fun. From Part 1, it's clear that the
scenes of knights fighting look quite cheap and not at all
well-choreographed. It does get better as time goes on though, and by
the end of Part 3 when U.N.I.T get involved, it even gets pretty
good, and I can see that a young audience will enjoy it.
As
queens of evil go, Morgaine makes for a really good character. While
she is an utterly watchable and menacing presence, you can also see
that Jean Marsh is having a huge amount of fun in the role. Who can
blame her? I know we're having just as much fun watching, and whether
it be through evil laughs or long drawn-out pronunciation of certain
words, this is such a great villain. However, it isn't always just
fun and there are time where Jean Marsh balances enjoyment with the
occasional darker and more serious moment. Perhaps the darkest of
these is when she kills a young U.N.I.T soldier in the pub and
reduces the body to ash, before returning the landlord's blind wife's
sight. The same applies to Battlefield as a whole, and
while it is fun, it can be serious when it wants to be. It even takes
the time to make a statement about the then-present Cold War, but
that still bears relevance today: “All over the world fools are
poised, ready to let death fly. Machines of death Morgaine, screaming
from above. Light brighter than the sun. Not a war between armies,
nor a war between nations, but just death! Death gone mad!”.
It's
a shame then that it's sometimes difficult to take Battlefield
seriously in moments like this, given what surrounds it. Even
by my very open standards, characters like Ancelyn and Mordred suffer
from ridiculous overacting. Ancelyn and particularly Mordred take the
1st Place trophy in this area, and Mordred's evil laugh
while summoning Morgaine is unintentionally hilarious. Not only do
these two characters do little more than pump up the story with
unneeded overdoes of testosterone, they feel as though they've just
stepped out of a pantomime. There isn't an ounce of subtlety in
either performance and they really just ended up pulling me out of
the experience.
While
Battlefield launched Season 26 with a new sense of
direction (which is cruelly ironic when we remember this was to
become the last season of Classic Doctor Who), the story still
pays an effective tribute to the show's past. Not only do U.N.I.T and
the Doctor's old car Bessie show up, so does the Brigadier. Now
retired, the Brigadier in Battlefield feels more at
ease and comfortable away from the military life of U.N.I.T, at least
until he's called back into action. The Brigadier is as great as
ever, still the Doctor's good friend and I still really love this
character. Though he would show up again once more in The Sarah
Jane Adventures, this was the Brigadier's last appearance in
Doctor Who … and it feels right. It feels like one last
adventure before the Brigadier enjoys life at home with his wife
Doris. His stand-off against the Destroyer, possibly his defining
moment, seems to cement this: “'Pitiful. Can this world do no
better than you as their champion?' 'Probably. I just do the best I
can.'”.
Speaking
of the Destroyer, it was such a shame that such an amazing-looking
creation and potentially one of the Doctor's most powerful foes ….
did nothing. While the effects used for the explosions that surround
him in the castle are very questionable, the Destroyer himself looks
amazing. The prosthetics work is fantastic and up there with the
likes of Draconians, the voice is deep and gruff and the dialogue
makes sure we know just how powerful he is. So why doesn't he get to
do anything?! (Spoiler Warning!) It's frustrating because the
Destroyer doesn't even get entered into the story until the end of
Part 3, and even then he spends half his time in chains. Even when
he's freed, he gets killed by the Brigadier before he can do
anything! If you're going to big up an enemy like that, at least show
him getting to use his powers!
In
conclusion, Battlefield often finds itself with a
reputation it doesn't quite deserve. Especially when compared to
other stronger stories in Season 26, such as Survival and
The Curse Of Fenric, Battlefield does get
overlooked. It's far from perfect and it has its fair share of
problems, but I'd be lying if I said I don't really enjoy this story.
Call it a guilty pleasure if you will, but with ambitious action
sequences, a light-hearted tone balanced with serious moments and the
Brigadier on form, Battlefield is a story I really
enjoy.
Battlefield
7/10
Comments
Post a Comment