KO Round 1.2

 

The Knockout competition moves onto a battle between Season 26, and Season 11.

Season 26 was the final one of the classic era of the programme, and as such marks the last appearances by Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor, Sophie Aldred as Ace, Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier, and Anthony Ainley as the Master. 

They're the last episodes to be produced by JNT, the programme's longest serving producer, and script edited by Andrew Cartmel.

Everyone agrees that the series was on an upward swing at this point - an improvement in quality which had begun with the previous season.

We have four stories per season by this stage, and this year's are: Battlefield, Ghost Light, The Curse of Fenric and Survival. There is a story arc of sorts - Ace's character development.

Battlefield sees the return of UNIT and the Brigadier after a long absence, and there are nods to the Pertwee era with the inclusion of "Bessie", and the appearance of Doris as the Brigadier's wife - someone first mentioned in Planet of the Spiders. Jean Marsh makes her final appearance in the programme, following two roles alongside William Hartnell.

The main inspiration is Arthurian legend, and there are some great idea here - but even its author wasn't happy with the execution. Things weren't helped when he was asked to change it from a three episode story to a four-parter.

Ghost Light was the final story to be recorded. It is a slightly confusing story, thanks to huge chunks of it being cut before transmission. Lots of things happen which aren't explained. It looks great, however, as the BBC were very good at period drama.

Probably the strongest story of the season is The Curse of Fenric - a tale of vampires in World War II England, with a lot of Norse mythology thrown in for good measure.

Survival brings the Doctor and Ace down to earth, in the everyday environs of suburban West London. Many see this as a precursor to the modern day settings of the programme when it returned in 2005. As well as Perivale, the action also takes place on the planet of the Cheetah People, where the Doctor encounters the Master. Ainley is far better here than he has been in a long time - less the pantomime villain. A great shame he couldn't have been allowed to tone it down this much in earlier appearances.

Not knowing that the series was going to be cancelled, there's no big finale. The story ends with the Doctor and Ace simply heading back to the TARDIS to continue their travels.

Season 11 marks another ending - this time the end of the Third Doctor, as played by Jon Pertwee. Katy manning had left at the end of the previous season, and Roger Delgado had been killed in a road accident. Producer Barry Letts and Story Editor Terrance Dicks were packing their bags and about to move on, so it really was the end of an era.

Just arriving, however, was Lis Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, and we would get our first glimpse of Tom baker before the end.

Stories this season include appearances by the Daleks and the Ice Warriors, as well as the debut of the Sontarans.

Season 11 comprises: The Time Warrior, Invasion of the Dinosaurs, Death to the Daleks, The Monster of Peladon and Planet of the Spiders.

The Time Warrior sees the introduction of both Sarah Jane Smith and the Sontarans, in the person of warrior Linx, played by Kevin Lindsay. It's a Robert Holmes story, and a very good example of the pseudo-historical story type. Pertwee rarely got to play in history.

Easily the weakest story of the season is Invasion of the Dinosaurs, mainly due to the terrible model work, but the conspiracy background tale isn't all that bad. If Season 26 was about Ace's character arc, then this season is about Mike Yates', as he turns to the dark side in this story.

Death to the Daleks is a typical Terry Nation Dalek story - not the greatest but certainly not the worst. It's the last "ordinary" Dalek story before Davros turns up and they are relegated to background characters.

The Monster of Peladon is the weaker of the two Peladon stories, though we do get the Ice Warriors going back to their old villainous ways. Nice to see Alpha Centauri and Aggedor back, and it's great that they made sure that the sets and costumes matched the earlier story, making it a genuine sequel.

Planet of the Spiders took the place of what should have been Roger Delgado's final outing as the Master (another mirror to Season 26). It's as much Barry Letts' swansong as it is Pertwee's. Lots of actors who had worked with both are brought back, Letts gets to write and direct the story as well as produce. Both the Doctor and Yates get resolutions to their story arcs which began in Season 9 and Season 10 respectively.

And the winner is...? A tougher choice than last time, but I have to plump for Season 11. Season 26 has two very strong stories, but Season 11 has just as many, plus some better quality middling ones. I like the mix of old and new as well. They didn't know Season 26 was going to be an ending, but they did know Season 11 was going to be one, so it has a slightly elegiac feel to it (especially if you know what's going on behind the scenes as well).

Next time, it's Tom Baker versus Peter Davison as Seasons 13 and 19 compete.