5:10: Mawdryn Undead

In which Doctor Who’s chronology goes horribly, horribly wrong.

Broadcast: February 1983

Watched: December 2020

Mawdryn Undead, Part One

“Take it from me, boy, a solid object can’t just materialise.” Lovely to see the Brig pop up without preamble, and the subtle clues like that that something’s wrong; and I love the set up of a naughty school boy tasked with killing the Doctor. I really like this one, though it might be because I saw it at a vulnerable age.

Turlough and Hippo both very clearly far too old to be in school. The former is such a little shit, bullying his friend, getting him into trouble and then blaming him. The look he shares with the Doctor when they first meet in the TARDIS, and the fact the Doctor seems quite happy to trust him all the same, both lovely. For once a “someone threatens to kill the Doctor” cliffhanger works because we’ve been given a reason to care about the attacker too.

Strange title, not even close to explained in episode one. Lot of other weird things. Doesn’t explain the Black Guardian – almost treated like a new character. Turlough back story entirely unexplained – just drops into dialogue that he’s an alien and then moves straight on; we never find out who the strange solicitor is do we?

Nyssa’s outfits are a lot more interesting this season. Her and Tegan dragging chairs into the console room because there aren’t any already is hilarious.

On the other side of the balance sheet… Giving the Doctor the line “Warp ellipse cutout” is a load of old bollocks; the effect of ship on the TARDIS view screen is rubbish. Nice design work on the ship though – tour of the deserted ship properly spooky.

Top incidental music in this one, too.

Mawdryn Undead, Part Two

“If I was suffering from amnesia, I'd be the first to know about it wouldn’t I.”

The way the Doctor gets out of trouble by accidentally falling over backwards is great.

Love that Nyssa and Tegan just assume the injured guy in the transmat capsule is the Doctor – it’s the joke about the Hagunemnon assuming Trillian and Zaphod are the same person because they look different.

Have they aged Courtney up or down for this? (Cut to: 1977 Brig appearing) Okay it’s definitely down, they’ve covered his head in boot polish.

The clips show from which the Brig regains his memory is basically The Name of the Doctor isn’t it. On screen he’s only lost it for about 10 minutes, which is a lot less than I expected. Actually, the time travel stuff makes me wonder if this is a big story for Moffat. The intercutting of conversations six years apart and so on.

I wonder if this was too weird and continuity heavy for the casuals though. That’s also very Moffat.

The scene in which the headmaster seems to tell Turlough to commit murder is kind of awesome.

Tegan starts on the brandy halfway through. Tegan loves a drink.

Is that the season 18 coat they wrap Mawdryn in?

Mawdryn Undead, Part Three

“Who is that person?” “Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart of course.”

[Random friend] pointed out that they sort of rule out the fact the Doctor will regenerate into David Collings quite quickly. I’m not sure. It’s still plausible, if unlikely, here until he says his name is Mawdryn – so it’s about an episode.

Tegan being a pain in the arse continues to be far more compelling than Nyssa being a wet rag.

They start building the “is the Brig gonna meet himself” tension quite early too. An episode and a half before it happens.

The regenerator is like the one from Shada. Oh wait it’s stolen from Gallifrey, actually that’s probably deliberate.

The Black Guardian’s various manifestations are rubbish effects but quite creepily done. Ditto Turlough’s various out of body experiences, actually.

“HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID?” The 5th Doctor is often an absolute prick isn’t he.

I like that Mawdryn’s crime is theft and hubris: nothing that seems to require this punishment, he’s quite sympathetic. The Time Lords are also pricks, and the Doctor, despite himself, is one of them.

The meaning of the cliffhanger isn’t massively clear. But I quite like that the thread is basically, “The cancellation of Doctor Who”. 

Mawdryn Undead, Part Four

“And the Doctor won’t be a Time Lord any more.” Is this the first time that “being a Time Lord” is explicitly equated with “being able to regenerate”? It’s a nice threat for the 20th year – “Oh no, can Doctor Who possibly continue” – but it is a bit wanky.

The bit where Nyssa and Tegan unexpectedly start melting must have been terrifying if you saw it when you were seven. Although, erm... Why not send them in the transmat? 

Mawdryn’s concern for the Brig’s welfare is a reminder that the Doctor is kind of being a dick with his “You definitely deserve it” act. It’s also a bit weird that his happy ending is “Finally being allowed to die”.

So, the Brig’s part in this story was originally intended for Ian Chesterton, right? [This is what messes up the show’s internal chronology, by having the Brigadier retire in 1977, in direct contradiction of the long-established idea the UNIT stories were set in the future.] Reaching back to the show’s start like that would have been awesome – but would you lose something by not setting up the Brig as a character who the Doctor always (at least, until c2000) comes back to?

Anyway. Love that. Right up to the “No one trusts Turlough but we’re stuck with him now” ending.

Other thoughts. “They are harmless. They only threaten the Doctor.” Hmmm.

“Don’t you understand” – nobody does, Doctor, the stakes are quite badly articulated.