Season Two@60 The Crusade

 

The early years of Doctor Who did seem to like wholly historical stories which in theory were easier to produce than sci-fi ones. While there would be no issue with the Tardis landing amongst ordinary or fictional people, constant encounters with well-known historical figures creates limitations on the storylines. The BBC’s educational remit could be tested by depictions of the likes of Marco Polo or Nero interacting with the Doctor while not all stories are as strict about the effect the travellers have on history as `The Aztecs` is. Its probably why the wholly historical adventures were replaced by pseudo historical ones mixing supposedly real history with some alien antagonist. Though generally intelligently written and made `The Crusade` harbours these issues. All the way through you do get a sense that the production would be more interesting without the Doctor and his companions in it at all. It sits at the point where adherence to facts crashes into the need for some drama.

 

Doctor In Distress

 In March 1985 Doctor Who was paused. As the previous post makes clear this was initially intended as a cancellation but because the BBC has never been the most robust decision maker and also due to a tabloid led outcry (partly orchestrated secretly by the series' production office) the halt became a hiatus. Doctor Who would be back, said Bill Cotton, the King of the BBC, but not for eighteen months. We may smile now that this gap caused such consternation; in 2025 two years is the average gap between seasons of many major fantasy shows. In 1985 however, at least as far as fans were concerned, it was simply too long to wait and they wanted to do something about it.

Thus a plan was hatched to make a high profile song to highlight an issue which, as far the wider public was concerned, had already been sorted. The people to whom this task fell were Ian Levine and Fiachra Tench. Levine had a track record as a DJ and producer of HI NRG records that were popular in clubs and were also starting to infiltrate the charts.  As the name suggests HI NRG music is supposed to be powerful, up tempo and pulsing with intense vocals. Ian Levine’s own superb production of the song `High Energy` by Evelyn Thomas the previous year is a textbox example of the musical genre. `Doctor In Distress` is not.

Season 7 Collection: Extras

 

The Collection season seven doesn’t have as many new extras as others only because the DVDs of individual stories were replete with additional features. Even the usual shelf space saving isn’t possible as the width of the box is more or less the same as that of the four individual dvds together but there should always be ample room for one of the cornerstone seasons of Doctor Who. It’s no exaggeration to say that season seven saved the series at a moment when its future was in doubt. Yet it’s also a unique quartet of stories as season 8 onwards boiled the show down to primary colours so remains an outlier in the series’ style. 

I reviewed these four stories in detail on this blog five years ago, to read those reviews go to January- May 2020 posts in the Archive.