Peter Davison in 'Time Crash' - the hard stats!

There are so many reviews around for 'Time Crash', many of which cover the same ground & many of which have already covered in blushing detail the ground I would cover, so I think it would be painfully redundant at this point to add another generic review to the slew!

What I have decided to do instead is crunch some numbers relating to Time Crash & Peter Davison in particular, hopefully in a fabulously insightful & didactic manner that will contextualise Davison's return to Dr Who & his performance in Time Crash in a fresh & enlightening fashion...Then I will loudly sigh, smoke a cigarette, roll over & go to sleep with my stuffed yeti...

Anyway,

Peter Davison returns to the role 23 years after his last regular appearance in 1984's 'Caves of Androzani' (no I'm not counting his 90 seconds of inane running around in that dog's dinner 'Dimensions In Time'). I also don't count the 'Big Finish' stuff; not because it's not great or because I contest its canon status (actually I do - but another time!), but because the voice is only half the performance, maybe even less. Davison slots his voice AND his body into the canon, as the 5th Doctor, for the first time in 23 years.

Why am I harping on about 23 years??. Well, it is by far the longest gap between drinks from the furry gallifreyan cup??!! (both as it were AND so to speak) for a returning Doctor. Believe it or not, in the case of Patrick Troughton, the previous record span holder, there was (only) a span of 16 years!! between his last regular appearance in 'War Games' (1969) & his third & final return in 'Two Doctors' (1985). Seven years short of Peter's mammoth 23 years & broken up twice. Pat's gap was divided thus, 3 years forward to the 'Three Doctors', ten hence to 'Five Doctors' & finally a brief 2 years to the 'Two Doctors'. In terms of 'keeping his eye in' as the Doctor, Pat's longest break without dusting off his giddy aunt & stroking his recorder was just 10 years.

The only other returning Doctors, Hartnell & Pertwee, had relatively brief spans of 7 years ('Tenth Planet' in '66 to Three Doctors in '73) & 9 years ('Planet of Spiders' in '74 to 'Five Doctors' in '83) respectively. This seems really quite bizarre to me. At the time of Pertwee's return in 'Five Doctors', it must have seemed aeons since he was the incumbent (let alone Troughton!), years stretching back through the two seasons of Davison & the entire Tom Baker era. 9 years is but a blink compared to Peter Davison's 23 year span. Whoops, I forgot the return of Sylv (a mere 7 years: Survival '89 to 'The Movie''96)...but who cares? The movie was shizen & after watching 'Silver Nemesis' last night, I don't want to think about Sly McCoy at the mo anyway.

Where is all this going? Well I guess I'm saying that for Pat & Jon to have been wonderful & effortlessly slip back into the role was not really such a feat. They were both superb of course, but it really shouldn't have been any other way. They had much shorter times away from the role & were always 'older' Doctors, so the change was never going to be too jarring. Davison however, who through his era embodied youth, vitality & often naive innocence in a refreshing slant on the character, is stuck with the problem of trying to authentically capture the same youthful spirit, 23 years on, lumbered with a (albiet well kept) 56 year old body. The tough question is how to pitch it? By far the youngest Doctor cast in the role in the original series (29 years in 1981), he is now one year older than William Hartnell was when Hartnell, the all-time oldest doctor at the time of his casting, was originally cast in the role. Considering all this, Peter does pretty well with the help of a mostly pretty tidy bit of fanboy fluff from S Moffatt.

The 'time differential' explanation was deftly tossed off so that it didn't seem too pointedly the fix up the 'older doctors' solution that it was. Perhaps with the 'time differential-ed' older body & older voice came the (somewhat out of character) grumpiness as well. I feel Davison's vibe was more 'impotent frustration' than 'stern grumpiness' when under stress during his tenure. However, considering his newly flagging middle aged hormones & 'greying' cells, Maybe the 5th Dr couldn't help being crabby & cantakerous when thrown into a desperate paradox situation with Tennant's charming (in this instance at least) boggle-eyed geek blabbing at him. It was also good to see the character stretched & developed just a little, rather than having it stunted by continuity fascism & the variable & limited writing of the 5th Doctor's own era. Such things should never be allowed to get in the way of good TV & more importantly, good Dr Who. Apart from having to say 'TARDIS' about five times too many for a 7 minute vignette & his first few technobabble lines seeming a bit forced through his smokers husk (not sure if he does?), Peter settles nicely & I smiled broadly watching Dr's 5 & 10 huddle over the console together in feverish Doctorisheness!

If Davison's 5th Doctor was a few yards of scarf & a few teeth & curls short of iconic prior to Time Crash (pretty much only Tom is truly iconic in the role, with the 'twee a distant second) he is now, at least in Britain. The biggest small-screen star in Britain, David Tennant (although I'd listen to you if you argued Davison himself is, or perhaps 'best loved' is more his mantle?), deliciously fetishised the 5th Doctor before the eyes of a mammoth 11 million viewers. He reminded us of Davison's very own 'teeth & curls'; "the hat, the coat, the crickety-cricket stuff, the stick of celery". This was done very pointedly. Moffat (ably helped by Mr Harper) has now lovingly established the 5th Doctor, his own favourite, as the charming british flavoured small screen sci-fi icon that he wasn't quite. Probably I didn't need quite so many qualifiers, 'Iconic' is perhaps enough on its own now when it comes to Davison's 5th. All done in just over 7 minutes.

Well done loves. The Doctor AND the TARDIS!! Congratulations & well played!!

Lucozers' DVD release wish-list

Doctor Who stories that should be released on DVD asap (with asterisks to indicate pressing urgency of release!!)


** Decent story. A worthy addition to the DVD shelf
*** Good story. slightly surprising it has been passed over thus far
**** Get it the #%&* out on DVD already!!! &*^%# to the wall classic!


In chronological order...


TIME MEDDLER **
A snappy little 4 parter & it would be the first full Steven/ Vicki release

WAR MACHINES **
A modest charmer & the only complete Ben/ Polly adventure

ICE WARRIORS ***
With animation (or preferably CGI) for the missing episodes 2 & 3

WAR GAMES ****
The extra star for the lavish packaging & bonus feature possibilities. The story perhaps only worthy of 3 & a half

THE SILURIANS ****
!!!!! My most anticipated release at the moment

TERROR OF THE AUTONS/ MIND OF EVIL/ CLAWS OF AXOS/ COLONY IN SPACE/ DAEMONS ****
A masterful Master box set. He appeared in every story in Season 8 so it makes perfect sense. A fitting tribute to wonderful Rog. This is really the only way I would buy Axos & the best way to flog off the dreary Colony

FRONTIER IN SPACE/ PLANET OF THE DALEKS ***
As the double header it really is, this 12 part space opera would be a superb anorak filler

DEATH TO THE DALEKS ***
Can't wait to hear the striking incidental music restored!

TERROR OF THE ZYGONS/ ANDROID INVASION ****
Linked by being the final two appearances for both Benton & Harry & also the final UNIT story proper (not including the brief scenes in 'Seeds Of Doom'). Zygons contains some of the finest incidental music in the shows history, as does the wonderful...

SEEDS OF DOOM ****
All hail Geoffrey Burgen! Best TB story not out on DVD as yet

FULL CIRCLE/ STATE OF DECAY/ WARRIOR'S GATE ***
A superb set that would be more than the sum of it's parts. The only way I would buy Full Circle

MAWDRYN UNDEAD/ TERMINUS/ ENLIGHTENMENT ***
A fab triple set of the Guardian trilogy. Enlightenment is the only individual story I'd rush out for, but together they are almost a match for the E-Space trilogy

PLANET OF FIRE **
A modest story. A polished production if a little bland. Certainly one of Ainley's best showings

TRIAL OF A TIME LORD ***
The bonus features & packaging will lift this one above its station

HAPPINESS PATROL ***
This should be considered the 'Rocky Horror' of the Who canon. People should have dress up parties to watch it & lay on hors d'oerves & champers!


Cheers, The 'Cozer

Oh..and as for the Animated/CGI Hartnell/ Troughton missing story reconstructions. GET MOVING BEEB!!!!PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!

Power, Evil, Masterplan, Fury, Web...the palette waters!!!