Doctor Who: Ranking Debut Doctor Stories From Worst To Best
8. Castrovalva - The Fifth Doctor
Change my dear, and not a moment too soon! Ok so its the wrong story but the words ring true. After seven years of scarfs and jelly babies, you can imagine people were getting a tad bored of Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor. So along comes Peter Davison only hes asleep for the first two episodes and then the whole story makes absolutely no sense when he wakes up. But what do you expect from Christopher H Bidmead? Named after the Escher painting, the story itself features a city with moving staircases, eventually. The first two parts of Castrovalva are the better half. Its fan service galore, with quotes and references to the previous Doctors and most of the action taking place inside the TARDIS. Adric is kidnapped by The Master, and The Doctor escapes in his TARDIS, without Adric (oh the horror) . Thusly he enters post regeneration trauma and has to sleep for an episode, in the Zero Room. Team Nyssa/Tegan discover that the TARDIS is being forced into Event One (The Big Bang, for you lot out there who arent Brian Cox) as a trap by the not-done-yet Master. As a last resort, the Doctor jettisons ¼ of the TARDIS, including the zero room. Tegan decides, after reading a bit of info, to send the Doctor to the planet of Castrovalva AND FINALLY THE STORY BEGINS. Its a lot of nothing. Its Saving graces are Peter Davisons debut, Antony Ainleys brilliant Master portrayal, and all the references I talked about earlier. All in all, not bad, a bit dull but could be a lot better.
Massive Doctor Who fan, guitarist, chubby fella with a passion for long coats and heavy metal. Journalism graduate, and comedy fascist. Occasionally spotted in dark alleys dressed as The Undertaker. Tweet me.
