Castrovalva

"I'm the Doctor. Or will be, if this regeneration works out."

Writer: Christopher H. Bidmead
Format: TV
Broadcast: 4th-12th January 1982
Season: 19.01

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan

Synopsis

The Doctor defeats the Master's plans to hold the Universe to ransom, but at a high cost to himself - plummeting from the Pharos Project radio telescope, the Doctor regenerates. The time travellers escape the Master's clutches, but the Doctor's regeneration is failing, and Adric goes missing in the depths of the TARDIS. Only Nyssa and Tegan can save the day, steering the timeship towards the city of Castrovalva, renowned for its healing powers. But evil lurks at the heart of this rural paradise...

Verdict

Castrovalva was a wonderful story and served as a brilliant debut for Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor. It continued right where Logopolis left off as one might expect and it also concluded the Master trilogy that started with The Keeper of Traken. Both of those stories were expectedly referenced and I have really liked that despite the Master being the villain in all three stories, he's acted very differently in each. Here, we didn't see him doing much outside of his TARDIS but that was because the groundwork for his latest dastardly scheme was well under fruition. Following on from the chaos of the Doctor's regeneration, the Master used the confusion surrounding the Pharos Project to gain an ally of sorts in the form of Adric. This obviously gave him great bargaining power over the Doctor but he was in no position to barter with the way his regeneration was going. It was  anything but a smooth process and he really was feeling the effects of his change more than we've seen on previous occasions. I thought Peter Davison gave a stunning performance for his debut, although I think that might have been helped by the fact it wasn't his first story to be filmed. That would seem to explain the sudden hair colour change of our heroic Time Lord. I liked how the regeneration scene acted as a pre-titles sequence and that's obviously something that would become a lot more common in the modern episodes of the series. The Doctor having to deal with the effects of regeneration was excellent and I absolutely loved the temporary moment where he took on the persona of the First Doctor. That really was a terrific moment and a superb throwback to William Hartnell, the man who started this whole thing nearly twenty years prior to this story's broadcast. The Doctor also paid homage to Patrick Troughton which was terrific as he took on the trait of the Second Doctor in playing the recorder. I also liked how he coined the oh so familiar catchphrase of the Third Doctor at one point in the serial. The regeneration was also having an adverse effect on the Doctor's memory and he was clearly getting his current companions mixed up with those of the past by wonderfully mentioning Vicki, Jo, K9 and Jamie. As well as that he seemed to be thrown back to an old meeting with the Ice Warriors that involved the Brigadier and in trying to place some hold on his recent memories, Full Circle and Warriors' Gate were nicely referenced. The Doctor's need for the zero room was good and I liked how noticeably different he was when in the confines of the room where he could even levitate. Tegan thinking she had piloted the TARDIS was good and she actually seemed so proud of herself, despite the slanted landing. The plan of the Master though was excellent and his efforts to send the TARDIS back to event one were brilliant. That revelation provided a superb cliffhanger I must say. His control over Adric was also very good and the Master really was too powerful for the companion's fightback. Nyssa and Tegan's relationship grew during this story which was nice and I liked the former's new costume. There was quite a lot of humour around their efforts to get the Doctor from place to place. Castrovalva folding in on itself provided a good platform for the climax and I loved how the Master had pulled off another ludicrous disguise. He would end up trapped in his own collapsing creation though with the TARDIS team just about escaped. Overall, an excellent story and great way to debut the Fifth Doctor!

Rating: 10/10