STACK #208 Feb 2022

TV FEATURE

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Douglas Adams

DoctorWho ‘s 17th season saw the brilliant creator of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy , Douglas Adams, join the production team as script editor during a turbulent time for the programme. Words Scott Hocking O riginally broadcast September– December 1979, the last season of seventies’ Doctor Who is notable for a number of reasons. action shut down production. THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO DOCTOR WHO

LallaWard andTom Baker

COMING SOON The next series of classic Doctor Who to be collected in a limited edition Blu-ray set is Colin Baker’s debut season as the sixth Doctor. Season 22 features a host of iconic monsters – Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans – as well as the return of second Doctor Patrick Troughton and his companion, Jamie (Frazer Hines). The box set will contain all six stories – Attack of the Cybermen , Vengeance on Varos, The Mark of the Rani, The Two Doctors, Timelash and Revelation of the Daleks – along with all-new and archival bonus material including a brand copies of the Mona Lisa so that his future self can sell them to fund time travel technology. It also features an amusing cameo from John Cleese as an art critic. The result was one of the all-time classic Who stories and received the highest-ever ratings for an episode at the time, with 16.1 million viewers tuning in for Part Four. Things get decidedly bonkers in The Creature from the Pit , not least the eponymous monster, while Nightmare of Eden features muppet-like creatures but another strong sci-fi concept – storing living alien specimens on laser crystals in an electric zoo. And pantomime-like story The Horns of Nimon a whole lot of fun. Ultimately, Adams was unable to juggle his Hitchhiker’s Guide commitments and Doctor Who simultaneously, departing the position of script editor at the end of the season. His tenure may have been short but this late, great and wildly imaginative writer left an indelible production values and over the top performances make penultimate imprint on the series.

Fortunately, the recent trend of animating lost Doctor Who stories meant that Shada could finally be completed by combining the existing footage with animation

It was the last hurrah for producer GrahamWilliams after three years at the

City of Death

helm; it introduced newly regenerated companion Romana in the shape of Lalla Ward (who would ultimately marry Tom Baker); and K9 didn’t sound quite right following the

voiced by the original cast. The version included in the Season 17 Collection Blu-ray Set has been updated from its previous stand-alone release, featuring enhanced animation and presented in six episodes for the very first time, alongside the original 1992 VHS edit and 2017 version. The release of Star Wars in 1977 would also influence the direction of Doctor Who that year. A game changer for visual effects, the BBC subsequently requested flashier FX for “tea money”, according to visual effects designer Matt Irvine. Season 17 may feature some shoddy sets and daft looking monsters, but that’s always been part of the appeal of classic Doctor Who . It’s the writing that really stands out, and many of the stories in S17 are no exception. Adams’ love of high concepts is particularly evident in City of Death (which he co-wrote with producer Williams), about an alien (played by the great Julian Glover) who commissions Leonardo Da Vinci to paint multiple

departure of regular voice actor John Leeson. But it’s the involvement of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams that really gives Season 17 its shine. Adams had written a story for the previous season of Doctor Who, The Pirate Planet , which displayed his sharp wit, flair for killer one-liners, and intellect for hard science fiction concepts – elements that would infuse the 26 episodes of Season 17. Kicking off with the return of

Davros and the Daleks in Destiny of the Daleks , the six stories that comprise Season 17 are a mixed bag, but that’s more a reflection of the turbulent time in which the show was being produced. The late 1970s saw the UK economy in meltdown and consequently, the Doctor Who budget (never a lot to begin with) was drastically cut. Moreover, the epic six-part finale, Shada – written by Adams – was left unfinished after industrial

new documentary on The Two Doctors , updated special effects for Timelash , exclusive new audio commentaries, extended episodes, and much more.

PRE-ORDER your copy today.

• Doctor Who : Season 17 Collection is out on Feb

23 for a limited time only, while stocks last

Doctor Who images © BBC

20 FEBRUARY 2022

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