Still a good beginning for the 7th Doctor who has to figure out the difference between his companion Mel, and the Rani who impersonates her.
That was one of the better parts of the story. Kate O'Mara's performance as Mel was a quite spot on, and the manipulation of The Doctor that way was a nice touch. It is a shame the rest of the story wasn't as good.
reminds me of the 2nd Doctor
That was the original intent. I think you will quickly see him get into his own style. The McCoy Doctor is one of the better ones, and I hope you like him when he comes into his own.
I understand we never learn how Mel became a companion, that sucks
Here is part of her description from John Nathan Turner, which contains her origin. It is a shame that Pip and Jane Baker apparently never bothered to read the part about her being a computer programmer.
"
Melanie is scintillating, fascinating, and irritating. She has a mane of red hair, fierce blue eyes, and freckles. She is twenty-one years old and a computer programmer from Pease Pottage, Sussex.
In 1986, when the Master attempted a massive computer fraudinvolving all the banking houses in the world, Melanie joined forces with the Doctor, helping to defeat the Master's dastardly plan, and has now been with him for some three months (in Earth time)."
I am in the camp that believes Peri is really and always Dead. That doesn't sit well, and also learning the reason Why Colin was let go, even though he wanted to stay on... Actors only play a role and when the showrunner says you're gone, you are gone
Nicola Bryant's contract expired, because the "hiatus" pushed her termination date into taping of the season, and Colin Baker was fired by Michael Grade, the then head of Drama. There was no Showrunner position then. Just Producer and Script Editor. The Producer determined the look and feel of the show(and who to cast), while the Script Editor determined the kind of stories and who wrote them. Still, I would have liked Colin to have gotten another year and be written out properly, and I also prefer the Peri is dead ending.
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pferreira86
8 years ago
I think I talked about this story on a previous thread. It's not a great start but the creature effects, the music and the visual effects are probably some of the show's best. The latter especially was quite groundbreaking at the time.
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