To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the longest-running science-fiction show in the world, I’ll be taking weekly looks at some of my own personal favourite stories and arcs, from the old and new series, with a view to encapsulating the sublime, the clever and the fiendishly odd of the BBC’s Doctor Who.
Full Circle originally aired in 1980. It was the first instalment of the E-Space Trilogy.
Why can’t people be nice to one another, just for a change?
– the Doctor is still an optimist at heart
I have to admit, I’m kinda a bit frustrated with these “arcs” that Doctor Who was so fond of in the late seventies and into the eighties, with themes like The Key to Time, or The Black Guardian Trilogy or even Trial of a Timelord serving as an excuse to tie a bunch of distinct stories together with a few shared elements, mostly confined to intrusive opening and closing scenes rather than anything especially substantive. In particular, The E-Space Trilogy feels especially odd, because it’s located inside a larger arc exploring the final year of Tom Baker’s tenure, with entropy and decay evident everywhere. Being entirely honest though, it does help that Full Circleis a solid and clever little story, which genuinely feels like something quite different than the typical Doctor Who adventure.
Forget the spy who came in from the cold, it’s the Marshmen who came in from the mist!
Filed under: Television | Tagged: Adric, Andrew Smith, bbc, doctor, DoctorWho, E-Space, Full Circle, Lalla Ward, Peter Grimwade, Romana, Sarah Jane Smith, Smith, tardis, The E-Space Trilogy, Tom Baker | Leave a comment »
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