9/3/08I can't discuss this story properly without spoilers, so be aware that this entry will contain many, as it is the final part of the Trial of a Timelord season.
So the Doctor has been accused now of genocide, and we find out that the Valeyard is really the evil part of the Doctor given physical form. Don't ask me how.
Mel is pulled from the future (or past, I'm not sure) to testify in the Doctor's favor. It all makes my head hurt.
There's a lot of metaphysical stuff that reminds me of Kinda and Snakedance, so you know that I'm not really enjoying myself when I reference those two stories. Basically, the Doctor goes INTO the Matrix, the all knowing system that records all of reality. Here he encounters many illusions, but he is able to manipulate them because they aren't real.
The Doctor outwits the Valeyard with the involvement of the Master, and when it's all said and done, he saves the day and is cleared of all charges. And guess what? He's also asked to be the President. Really? Oh, and also, Peri is not only alive and well, but she is married to Yrcanos now back on Thoros-Beta! So off he goes into his TARDIS with Mel, into another adventure, and into history, Colin Baker never to return to Doctor Who on television.
The main thing I have a problem with is Peri. How is it she is still alive? How did it happen? Did the Timelords erase the events and re-write them? If they did, that's far worse than anything the Doctor ever did to land himself on trail. Did they wipe her memory? Here's an earth girl, light years from home, married to a warrior king she only just met. She has to feel pretty abandoned.
And rightfully she should. I think it's a ridiculously lazy ending for the character that I had grown to love and who had become one of my favorite companions. Plus, why didn't the Doctor try to set things right with her? It's enough to give any companion second thoughts about taking a trip in the TARDIS.
I give the Ultimate Foe a 3/10.
As for the whole Trial of a Timelord, I can't believe how disappointed I was by the whole thing. I started off very much in love with the idea, but it quickly left me cold. I give the whole season long arc a 5/10.
It left me so discouraged in Doctor Who that I have decided to take a week or two off from the show. This is definitely not the high point of the classic show.
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