141: The Two Doctors

8/26/08

The 2nd Doctor and his companion, the Scottish Highlander Jamie, are taken captive by a duo of unlikely captors. The Sontarans, and the Androgums. The 6th Doctor, sensing something wrong with his past self, travels to uncover the source of the disturbance.

This is the fourth and final appearance of the Sontarans in classic Doctor Who. To me, they looked pretty bad, if I'm being honest. I much preferred the way the Sontarans looked in their past stories. Here, the masks that they wore seemed to be just a hollow rubber mask set atop the actors heads, and they dimple and cave in all the time here. But having said that, it's good to see them again. That's about all I can say is good about this story...

For me, the Second Doctor is fantastic. He's full of wide eyed wonder, innocence, and a likability. Patrick Troughton played him as a sort of intergalactic hobo, his clothes too big, always moving from one place to the next. I love that. But here, Troughton just doesn't get the chance to shine. He is tremendously mishandled and wastefully written by Robert Holmes, perhaps one of the three greatest writers of Doctor Who, along with Eric Saward and Terrance Dicks (a personal preference, mind you). He shines like a diamond in the first 45 minute episode (first of THREE very long 45 minute episodes, I should say) but then is relegated to backgrounds in the second episode and comic relief in the third.

Colin Baker does his thing as he always does, playing the Doctor with a mixture of arrogance and friendliness. The two do not blend well, in my humble estimation. Nor is the story worthy of the two hour plus running time. There is some nice Spanish scenery (this was filmed on location there) and that provides a nice change of pace, but again, the scenery feels mostly wasted to me.
I hate to sound like a naysayer, but I just found very little to like about this episode.

I give it a 5/10. The five points come from the Sontarans and the presence of the ever watchable Patrick Troughton, even though he was misused.