An Hour of Who a Day: 12/19/14

December 19: Battlefield Parts One & Two

Battlefield marks the start of Doctor Who's 26th season -- and, it would turn out, its last until 2005. (Not that anyone really knew that at the time, for reasons we'll get into when we reach Survival). Battlefield Part One also bears the unfortunate distinction of having the lowest audience ratings ever for a debut broadcast of a Doctor Who episode, at 3.1 million viewers. (This was a combination of three factors, it seems: the continued scheduling of the series opposite Coronation Street, the airing of a World Cup qualifier for England on BBC2, and the fact that John Nathan-Turner has decided to hold back publicity spending until The Curse of Fenric -- which means the public aren't really aware that the show is back on the air.)

This is something of a shame: I quite like Battlefield, and these first two episodes have a lot going for them. On the one hand, it opens with a decent chunk of continuity, as we see Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (ret.) pottering around a garden center with his wife, reminiscing about his days in UNIT; on the other hand, this sequence doesn't really required a detailed fan knowledge to enjoy -- it acknowledges the links and moves on (as opposed to, say, Attack of the Cybermen, which does require prior knowledge and goes through a lengthy and tedious sequence providing the information for anyone who's not up-to-date). All you need to know is that this guy used to be in UNIT, and now he's not -- and you don't even need to worry about what UNIT is, as we (sort of) get an explanation in the next scene with the modern version. And like the '70s UNIT stories, Battlefield is set in the near future, so we get some futuristic details as well -- a lot like The Invasion in that regard (although no one seems to want to tackle the off-hand mention by the Brigadier of a King, despite seeing Queen Elizabeth II in both Silver Nemesis and "Voyage of the Damned").

Now, there are some awkward moments in these episodes, to be sure; the initial knight battle near the TARDIS is a bit weak, and Brigadier Bambera's use of the euphemism "shame" seems a bit forced. And some of the special effects shots aren't quite up to par (such as the knight rising out of the crater, or the establishing shot of the castle that Mordred is in that I'm never quite sure where it's supposed to be in relation to everything else). But these duff bits are overshadowed by all the good stuff: Ace's explosion at the dig site ("Ace?" the Doctor says quietly, after the nitro-9 goes off prematurely. "I think the timer needs work," she replies lamely. "One of these days we're going to have a nice long talk about acceptable safety standards," the Doctor responds), the embedding of the scabbard into the woodwork (even if the actual flight is a bit ropey), Ace and Shou Yuing's conversation about how Ace destroyed the art room (which is both entertaining on its own and fills in some backstory we heard about in Dragonfire), the Brigadier's encounter with Morgaine and her troops... there's quite a bit to enjoy about this story.

But perhaps the most interesting thing about Battlefield is its use of the Doctor himself. Now wearing a dark brown jacket, we're presented with a Doctor who has to deal with the aftereffects of events he hasn't experienced yet -- it seems that in his future he'll be known as Merlin, adviser to King Arthur and his knights and enemy of Morgaine and her soldiers. It's a surprisingly original idea for a show that's been about time travel for 26 years, but although we've seen the Doctor deal with the effects of events he's previously caused in unseen adventures (The Face of Evil and Timelash, to name but two), this is the first time where his future catches up with him. It's a really lovely idea that trickles down into the Wales version -- in particular stories by Steven Moffat (which have Battlefield in their DNA more than anyone seems prepared to admit), but it's used very well here. Not only do we get fun scenes like the ancient inscription at the archaeological dig site ("No one's been able to decipher the carving." "It says, 'Dig Hole Here.'" "Extraordinary. What does it say that in?" "My handwriting"), but we also get the sense of the Doctor wrong-footed as he works out what's going on -- which is something of a nice change for a Doctor who's recently seemed completely in control of events around him.

So far these two episodes have been very entertaining. I can't wait to see how this wraps up.