Timelords Corner: Doctor Who: The Trial of a Time Lord (Stories 144 - 147)

Doctor Who: The Trial of a Time Lord (Stories 144 - 147)



Part two of my now I guess maybe continuing series on why Colin Baker was not the worst Doctor. He only played the part of the worst Doctor, and he did a hell of a job with what he was given to work with. Although his first season and some of his second were butchered at every turn by my arch-enemy John Nathan Turner, his outing as the Doctor returned the character to his roots as a cranky (this time not so old) genius, and he did it with style and grace.

His second season was almost a proto-Children of Earth miniseries. Actually a lot of the mid-eighties stuff, starting with the stab-happy intergalactic foodie cannibals of The Two Doctors reminds me of the dark direction Torchwood allows these days. That and Peri's swimsuits and cleavage shots.



The story of the whole second season is that the Doctor has been recalled to Gallifrey to stand trial for his involvement in events that lead- and this is where it gets good, to Peri getting her head shaved and lobotomized, replacing her personality with that of an evil dying slug mutant. It was super creepy and a most welcome change for the character, and the idea predates Epitaph One by thirty years or so. Isn't that correct, Mr Whedon?

The comments by the Doctor, the Valeyard and the judge during the trial seem half-metatextually to be putting the character of the Doctor, or rather the show itself, on trial. It's almost as if they were daring the BBC to cancel the show. Fortunately, Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred provide a fine rebuttal in the Seventh Doctor and his excellent companion Ace, but sadly their redemption came too late, and Doctor Who finally went off the air in 1989, after 26 years.