7. "I must speak to the people who invented it"
OK, I totally admit - this is probably not a moment that makes anyone's list but mine. But hear me out on this one. The story is The Visitation - The tale that gave the series Eric Saward (for good or ill, I come down on the side of good - mostly - but there's an argument to be made either way...) Arguably also the first actual story of the 5th Doctors era when you consider the production order, e.g. this was the first story after the Production crew and cast had all had a bit to settle down and figure out how they wanted things to pretty much run from them on. Unfortunately, one of the most influential factors in the production side of things was John Nathan Turner's deep and all consuming need to be make the show his and not Tom Baker's. There's probably an interesting psychological study to be had interpreting JNTs actions in light of needing to be more important in the eyes of the viewership than Tom. You're not going to get that here, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be fascinating. What IS important for the moment is that upon finally getting himself and the program rid of Tom Baker, John Nathan Turner's overriding instruction was that any and all elements of humor needed to be eliminated from the program so that it could be 'taken seriously'. What this meant in practice was that Peter Davison - who actually has a quite nice sense of comic timing - was absolutely forbidden from ever saying or doing anything funny. And so in the Visitation as scripted we find the following situation - The Doctor has found a hologram covering a secret door and found a way through it (Standard S.F. stuff). Richard Mace makes the standard primitive human comment that one could make a fortune in the theatre with such a trick. The Doctor, as scripted, states his intention to continue with their current task of finding the aliens responsible. How Pete Davison
plays it however.... The Doctor has found a hologram covering a secret door and found a way through it. Richard Mace makes the comment that one could make a fortune in the theatre with such a trick. The Doctor quips that he'll be sure to mention that to the people that invented it. By sheer force of will alone Peter Davison found a way to get a freakin' joke in there, JNT be damned. I loved him for that.