October 29: Enlightenment Parts One & Two

Well, it only took twenty years, but Doctor Who finally gets its first female writer for the show in the form of Barbara Clegg.  (Remember, by all accounts Lesley Scott did no actual work on The Ark.)  And so far, what she's written has been really wonderful indeed.  I like the slow build in part one, as the TARDIS arrives on a sailing ship that nevertheless has some oddities about it: the crew don't remember signing up, there are wetsuits for the crew, and the officers are decidedly peculiar.  And it's interesting how the officers are similar yet different from each other: none of them seem to be terribly good at understanding people, but where Captain Striker is incredibly calm and collected, First Officer Marriner comes off as incredibly creepy in his pursuit of Tegan.  Of course, they all seem to know what our heroes are thinking before being told, which might be extremely good anticipation or something else entirely.  And then it all leads into that gorgeous first cliffhanger, where we learn that this sailing ship is in fact a spaceship, racing against a number of other sailing ships from Earth's history through the blackness of space...

There are some great moments throughout these first two episodes, of which that first cliffhanger is only one.  There's also the interaction between the Doctor, Turlough, and the crew -- the crew's mistake of thinking the Doctor is in fact the ship's cook, and Turlough's cackling joy when the Doctor figures this out, is a particular highlight; the way the Doctor wants to finish his dessert before heading off after dinner; Turlough's decision not to kill the Doctor, in defiance of his deal with the Black Guardian ("I can't kill him!" Turlough cries), which leads to his desperate attempt to get off the ship, in the second cliffhanger, after the Black Guardian tells him he'll never leave Striker's ship; the nature of the Eternals, and their dependence upon Ephemerals -- those who live in one time and place -- and Striker's dismissal of the Time Lords ("Are there lords in such a small domain?"), even as he acknowledges that the Time Lords are more than mere Ephemerals; the way the scenes on deck are shot on film, suggesting location filming in an impossible locale...  Enlightenment is filled with things like this, which add to a sense of groundedness even as we're told this is an unreal situation.

So there's been some fabulous acting and some sterling writing, and the whole thing looks beautiful as well -- so kudos to director Fiona Cumming, designer Colin Green, and costumer Dinah Collin for their work on that front.  It's all especially impressive when you consider that this story was plagued by the same sort of industrial action that killed Shada and nearly ended The Invasion of Time.  The whole thing is beautiful and a joy to take in -- it'll be good to see what's in store for the final two episodes.