September 25: Meglos Parts One & Two

Meglos doesn't look quite as strikingly different as The Leisure Hive did -- hardly surprising, given all the work Lovett Bickford put into it -- but enough of the changes are carried over to make it clear that, no, The Leisure Hive wasn't a fluke; this is how things are going to be now.

Yet Meglos is a bit of an odd story; while there continues to be some new technical trickery used here (The Leisure Hive introduced Quantel, which allowed digital manipulation of the video, Meglos introduces a technology called Scene Sync, where two cameras move in sync with each other -- in other words, you can now pan across CSOed backgrounds without the actors appearing to slide around), the actual storyline seems rather perfunctory.  We get two storylines, both of which we're introduced to in the middle of events -- the Gaztaks (aka space pirates) have kidnapped a human and brought him to the planet Zolfa-Thura for some reason, while the civilization on the nearby planet of Tigella is on the brink of collapse.  This latter plot seems mainly to provide a rather tedious argument about science versus religion -- particularly since neither side's views are presented in any sort of interesting manner, but instead consist of each side literally shouting at the other.

But holy hell, it's Jacqueline Hill, not seen on the show since 1965!  And not as Barbara this time, but as Lexa, the leader of the Deons (the religious side).  It's a first for the show, bringing back one of the stars in a different supporting role (and a last for the show, as John Nathan-Turner decided he only wanted old stars back in their former roles¹¹¹), and Hill is very good as the unhappy Deon leader.  She's certainly a lot more watchable than any of the Savants (the scientist side), who're all wearing blonde wigs that make them look like Sela, the Romulan-human daughter of an alternate universe Tasha Yar from Star Trek: The Next Generation.  Crawford Logan, as Deedrix, only seems capable of sarcasm and angry yelling at the Deons, and while Colette Gleeson, as Caris, is rather better, she doesn't get much screen time in these first two episodes.  Zastor (as played by Edward Underdown) often looks like he can't quite believe he has to try and mediate between these two sides instead of just sending them both to their rooms.

And while all this is going on, the Doctor and Romana are in the TARDIS, initially fixing K-9 but then caught in a "chronic hysteresis" (because apparently "time loop" doesn't sound exciting enough for the new scientifically-minded script editor, Christopher H. Bidmead) that's been caused by Meglos of all people -- Meglos being the cactus that the Gaztaks brought the human to Zolfa-Thura for.  Meglos apparently has the ability to affect time, yet he's relying on the grubby Gaztaks for help.  Oh, and it seems he can shape-shift (with the human's help), turning into the Doctor at the first cliffhanger.

The cactus part of Meglos is breaking through his Doctor form.
(Meglos Part Two) ©BBC

So part two involves Meglos impersonating the Doctor in an effort to steal the Dodecahedron, the source of Tigella's power, while the real Doctor is stuck in a time loop which is escaped from in an incredibly silly manner.  You can sort of see what they were going for with the mention of phase cancellation, but as shown it's really astonishingly stupid, as both the Doctor and Romana ham their way through a recreation of the beginning of the time loop in order to cancel out the hysteresis.  It also means that our heroes are sidelined from the action for the vast majority of these first two episodes, which means that lots of things are happening without their knowledge.  Still, it does mean that Tom Baker gets to play the baddie, as Meglos-as-the-Doctor, and it does look like he's enjoying it ("I, swear allegiance to Ti?" he says in a very un-Doctor-like manner after Lexa tells him he needs to do so to see the Dodecahedron) -- although I'll bet he was less happy about the spiny make-up required at times.

So these first two episodes are best summed up as a bit fun but ultimately inconsequential-feeling, and while there are some good moments (such as Zastor's description of the Doctor: "He sees the threads that join the universe together and mends them when they break"), it's hard to truly stay engaged with this story.  Let's hope things pick up in parts three and four.







¹¹¹ A policy that's continued thus far in the 21st-century version -- allowing both for Billie Piper technically playing a different character (but one that's meant to look like Rose Tyler) and for the deliberate ambiguity of the identity of Tom Baker's character in "The Day of the Doctor".