Why you forgot it:It's the third part in a trilogy, and it's pretty hard to explain or sell someone on in a sentence.... Why you need to see it (again):It's what this show can do, and is boundless in its imagination. So, here's the simplified version of Peter Davison, the Fifth Doctor's time on the show: He followed the most popular actor in the role to that point but had a (mostly) solid first year with a crowded TARDIS. His second year was uneven but was the 20th anniversary year - Which saw him as the incumbent Doctor in the celebration special, "The Five Doctors". His third year saw him start at an absolute low and gradually pick up to end with one of the best stories the Classic Series ever had. If you watch any of his stories, most tell you to see either "The Five Doctors" or "The Caves of Androzani" (his swan song). This generalization ignores "Enlightenment" though. And that's not fair. First things first: Yes, this story is the third in the "Black Guardian" trilogy. He's a villain that the 4th Doctor burned over the Key To Time, and now he's back for revenge. (Or as he'd say it - REVENNNNGE!!!!!) He basically finds a stranded alien boy on earth, Turlough, to join up with the Doctor and then kill him when the time comes. Here's the thing: That this is "part 3" doesn't really affect your overall enjoyment of the story. If you MUST understand it completely, watch the first part ("Mawdryn Undead", which is a good, if flawed, story). It introduces the Black Guardian and Turlough. The second part, "Terminus", is pretty dire and only noteworthy as regular companion Nyssa leaves. You can skip it, as she really didn't do much with the Doctor anyway. So, "Enlightenment". It's a VERY adventurous story, and builds things as it goes. First we deal with the Black and White Guardians, who get the Doctor to where he needs to be. Next we SEEM to be on a sailboat in the early part of last century. What seems to be a "Period historical with aliens" is totally thrown for a loop though. Check out the picture below: The ships are actually a "diversion" for a powerful race of beings called "The Eternals" - who immediately put the Doctor and the Time Lords in their place as lesser beings. They're amazingly powerful and capable creatures - But EXTREMELY bored. Right off the bat, it's refreshing to have a conflict (They really aren't villainous) with an alien who just doesn't understand our motivations or existence. They don't want to conquer earth or kill the Doctor (There's already a plot strand dealing with that!) - They're just BORED, and trying to understand human passion and sport. In terms of what's going on, there's a lot - The race between the Eternals, Turlough's conflict and deception over the Doctor, and the Black Guardian's looming threat. But on top of all that, this looks like NOTHING the program would do again. And if you're one of those New Series pedants who laughs at models as looking cheap, fine - The DVD has a 70 minute edit with CGI effects that tighten up the story and leave it looking as epic as any Tennant or Smith episode. Now the ships really do race through space and against planetary atmospheres, exploding violently as the stakes get higher. Science Fiction SHOULD be boundless and not adhere to a formula. "Enlightenment" does that with a show that, at 20 years old, was definitely looking like it had rules for how things were done that were mostly set in stone. If the rest of the 20th year had been this good, it'd be a "How-to" guide for the New Series. If you want to see the best Davison story, that's still "Caves of Androzani". But if you want to see the most daring and imaginative story between 1980 and 85 - That's "Enlightenment" - I don't want to spoil the rest of it, as I suspect MANY New Series fans in particular haven't seen this. But I will say this - Davison's conflict and face-off at story's end is exactly what the show has trouble doing now: He is heroic, intelligent, and empowering of his companions. Oh, and it makes SENSE without being spectacle. New Series fans - Buy/rent the DVD, put the special edition in, and you'll completely understand why David Tennant went all goggle eyed for Peter Davison in "Time Crash" - This is exactly what "Doctor Who" should do, and usually Sci-fi novels this ambitious NEVER get made into movies/screenplays - That this did is why we should be proud of this show as fans.
In a parallel universe where game shows' final jackpots and consequent fortunes depend on knowledge of obscure music trivia and Jon Pertwee/Tom Baker Doctor Who episodes, I've probably gone rich, insane, and am now a powermad despot. But happily we're not there, so I'm actually rather pleasant. Really.
