Doctor Who (season 21)
| Doctor Who (season 21) | |
|---|---|
 Cover art of the Region 2 DVD release for first serial of the season | |
| Starring | |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of stories | 7 |
| No. of episodes | 24 |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One |
| Original release | 5 January – 30 March 1984 |
| Season chronology | |
The twenty-first season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 5 January 1984 with the 5th Doctor (Peter Davison) serial Warriors of the Deep, and ended with Colin Baker's first serial The Twin Dilemma. For only the second time (the first being during season 4), the entire TARDIS crew changed over the course of a single season.
Casting
Main cast
- Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor
- Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka
- Mark Strickson as Vislor Turlough
- Gerald Flood as Voice of Kamelion
- Nicola Bryant as Peri Brown
- Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor
The Doctor
Peter Davison makes his final regular appearance as the Doctor in The Caves of Androzani. Colin Baker makes his first full appearance as the Doctor in the final serial The Twin Dilemma.
Companions
Janet Fielding (Tegan Jovanka) and Mark Strickson (Vislor Turlough) continue their roles as the Fifth Doctor's companions for their final season, Janet Fielding leaves in Resurrection of the Daleks and Mark Strickson departs in Planet of Fire. New companion Peri Brown played by Nicola Bryant makes her first appearance in Planet of Fire.
The Shape-shifting Android Companion Kamelion, played by Gerald Flood, makes his second and final appearance in Planet of Fire, though the character itself – along with other Fifth Doctor companions who left by this story (Tegan, Nyssa, Adric, and Turlough) – all make illusionary cameos as the Doctor regenerates at the climax of The Caves of Androzani.
Recurring stars
Anthony Ainley returns yet again in Planet of Fire as the Master, which was intended to be his final appearance. Ainley, like other departed fifth Doctor companions make illusionary cameos as the Doctor regenerates.
Guest stars
Davros makes his first appearance since Destiny of the Daleks (1979) this time played by Terry Molloy.
Serials
Episodes were broadcast twice weekly on Thursday and Friday evenings, with Resurrection of the Daleks broadcast on two consecutive Wednesday nights.
Resurrection of the Daleks was planned as a standard four-parter. However, the BBC's coverage of the 1984 Winter Olympics meant that Doctor Who's normal timeslot was unavailable. Rather than delay broadcasting the story, the decision was taken to produce it as a pair of double length episodes and broadcast it in the unfamiliar Wednesday timeslot.
The Caves of Androzani was the first time since Season 4's The Tenth Planet that the introduction of a new Doctor had taken place before the final serial of the season.
| Story | Serial | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code | UK viewers (millions) [1] | AI [1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 130 | 1 | Warriors of the Deep | Pennant Roberts | Johnny Byrne | 5 January 1984 6 January 1984 12 January 1984 13 January 1984 | 6L | 7.6 7.5 7.3 6.6 | 65 64 62 65 |
| The TARDIS materialises in a seabase in the year 2084. Earth in the late 21st century is divided between two power blocs waging a bitter cold war, forever threatening to escalate into violent conflict. Mysterious accidents have been occurring on the seabase, including the deaths of key personnel. Investigating, the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough discover that not only have double agents infiltrated the seabase, but the Doctor's old foes, the Silurians and Sea Devils, are plotting to use the seabase to set off a war which will decimate humanity. | ||||||||
| 131 | 2 | The Awakening | Michael Owen Morris | Eric Pringle | 19 January 1984 20 January 1984 | 6M | 7.9 6.6 | 65 63 |
| The Doctor takes Tegan to the village of Little Hodcombe to visit her grandfather. The villagers, led by Sir George Hutchinson, are reenacting events from the English Civil War, including skirmishes which took place near the town. But the recreations have revived the Malus, an alien entity buried beneath a ruined church which feeds on the passions inflamed by war and death. Time is becoming distorted while Hutchinson – who has fallen under the Malus' influence – works to set the creature free, putting Tegan's life at risk in the process. | ||||||||
| 132 | 3 | Frontios | Ron Jones | Christopher H. Bidmead | 26 January 1984 27 January 1984 2 February 1984 3 February 1984 | 6N | 8.0 5.8 7.8 5.6 | 66 69 65 65 |
| The TARDIS arrives on the planet Frontios in the far future, where the last vestiges of humanity crashlanded years earlier. The struggling colony is beset by disasters, including deadly meteorite showers and the disappearance of several prominent colonists who have been sucked down beneath the ground. The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough discover that the culprits are the Gravis and his Tractators, giant insects with incredible powers over gravity. The Gravis intends to transform Frontios into an enormous spaceship, and spread the terror of the Tractators across the galaxy. | ||||||||
| 133 | 4 | Resurrection of the Daleks | Matthew Robinson | Eric Saward | 8 February 1984 15 February 1984 | 6P | 7.3 8.0 | 69 65 |
| The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough are nearly torn apart in a Dalek time corridor which connects a warehouse on modern-day Earth with a spacecraft in the future. The Daleks have lost the war with the Movellans due to a virus which affects only their kind. Now, with the help of the mercenary Lytton, they intend to free the imprisoned Davros and force him to create an antidote. Once successful, the Daleks will at last be in a position to destroy the Movellans and rampage across the cosmo. | ||||||||
| 134 | 5 | Planet of Fire | Fiona Cumming | Peter Grimwade | 23 February 1984 24 February 1984 1 March 1984 2 March 1984 | 6Q | 7.4 6.1 7.4 7.0 | — |
| Turlough rescues a drowning botany student named Peri Brown and brings her to the TARDIS to recuperate. Before Peri can bid her farewells, Kamelion – once again under the Master's control – takes the TARDIS to the planet Sarn. There his mission is to find the Master, who has been diminished to just inches in height following a mishap with his tissue compression eliminator, and restore him using the healing properties of Sarn's miraculous numismaton flames. But Sarn hides a mysterious connection to Turlough's past – a connection which may prove to be the catalyst in the Master's scheme. | ||||||||
| 135 | 6 | The Caves of Androzani | Graeme Harper | Robert Holmes | 8 March 1984 9 March 1984 15 March 1984 16 March 1984 | 6R | 6.9 6.6 7.8 7.8 | 65 — 65 68 |
| After landing on the planet Androzani Minor, the Doctor and Peri develop lethal spectrox toxaemia poisoning. As the two search for a cure before it is too late, they become enmeshed in a decades-old feud between the disfigured roboticist Sharaz Jek and businessman Morgus. Jek falls in love with Peri, but the situation only degenerates when the girl rebuffs his affections. Between threats from mire beasts and gun runners, it quickly becomes apparent that the Doctor will never find a cure in time to save both himself and his companion. | ||||||||
| 136 | 7 | The Twin Dilemma | Peter Moffatt | Anthony Steven | 22 March 1984 23 March 1984 29 March 1984 30 March 1984 | 6S | 7.6 7.4 7.0 6.3 | 61 66 59 67 |
| The Doctor experiences serious regenerative instability, causing him to attack Peri and then decide to live as a hermit on the barren asteroid Titan 3. There he stumbles upon a plot by his old friend, the Time Lord Azmael, who has kidnapped twin mathematical geniuses named Romulus and Remus. Azmael's adopted planet, Jaconda, has been taken over by the sluglike Mestor and his Gastropods, forcing the Time Lord to do Mestor's bidding. But even Azmael is unaware of Mestor's true plan – to destroy Jaconda's sun, and thereby scatter Gastropod eggs throughout the universe. | ||||||||
Production
During this season, the title card was slightly modified for the final serial The Twin Dilemma, and continued during Colin Baker's reign as the Sixth Doctor until the end of the season 23 14 episode epic The Trial of a Time Lord.
Broadcast
The entire season was broadcast from 5 January to 30 March 1984.
DVD Releases
All season 21 serials had individual DVD release between 2002 and 2011.
| Serial name | Number and duration of episodes |
R2 release date | R4 release date | R1 release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warriors of the Deep Only available as part of the Beneath the Surface box set in Regions 2 and 4. Available individually or in the box set in Region 1. | 4 × 25 min. | 14 January 2008 | 5 March 2008 | 3 June 2008 |
| The Awakening Only available as part of the Earthstory box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1. | 2 × 25 min. | 20 June 2011 | 4 August 2011 | 12 July 2011 |
| Frontios | 4 × 25 min. | 30 May 2011 | 7 July 2011 | 14 June 2011 |
| Resurrection of the Daleks Available individually or in The Complete Davros Collection box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1. | 4 × 25 min. (original version)[notes 1] | 18 November 2002 | 3 February 2003 | 1 July 2003 |
| Resurrection of the Daleks – Special Edition Only available as part of the Revisitations 2 box set in Regions 2 and 4. | 4 × 25 min. (original version) 2 × 46 min. (broadcast version) | 28 March 2011 | 5 May 2011 | 12 June 2012[2][3] |
| Planet of Fire Only available as part of the Kamelion Tales box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1. | 4 × 25 min. (broadcast version) 1 × 66 min. (special edition) | 14 June 2010 | 5 August 2010 | 7 September 2010 |
| The Caves of Androzani | 4 × 25 min. | 18 June 2001 | 7 January 2002 | 2 April 2002 |
| The Caves of Androzani – Special Edition Only available as part of the Revisitations 1 box set in Regions 2 and 4. | 4 × 25 min. | 4 October 2010 | 2 December 2010 | 14 February 2012[4] |
| The Twin Dilemma | 4 × 25 min. | 7 September 2009 | 3 December 2009 | 5 January 2010 |
- ↑ Resurrection of the Daleks was originally made in 4 25-minute episodes, but broadcast as 2 46-minute episodes due to the BBC's coverage of the 1984 Winter Olympics. The DVD contains the story in its intended 4-part format.
In print
| Serial name | Novelisation title | Author | First published |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warriors of the Deep | Warriors of the Deep | Terrance Dicks | 24 May 1984 |
| The Awakening | The Awakening | Eric Pringle | 14 February 1985 |
| Frontios | Frontios | Christopher H. Bidmead | 20 September 1984 |
| Resurrection of the Daleks | Never novelised^1 | ||
| Planet of Fire | Planet of Fire | Peter Grimwade | 18 October 1984 |
| The Caves of Androzani | The Caves of Androzani | Terrance Dicks | 15 November 1984 |
| The Twin Dilemma | The Twin Dilemma | Eric Saward | 10 October 1985 |
:^1 As of March 2018, Resurrection of the Daleks is one of two serials by Eric Saward never to have been novelised.
References
- 1 2 "Ratings Guide". Doctor Who News. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
- ↑ "Doctor Who: Resurrection of the Daleks – Special Edition – DVD". Bbc americashop.com. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
- ↑ "Doctor Who: Story 134 – Resurrection Of The Daleks (Special Edition): Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Mark Strickson, Terry Molloy, Maurice Colbourne, Matthew Robinson, Eric Saward: Movies & TV". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2012-07-19.
- ↑ "Doctor Who – 1st Doctor Story 'The Sensorites' Among 5 Classic DVDs Slated for February and March". tvshowsondvd. 5 October 2011. Archived from the original on 8 October 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2011.