Right time for a review on Doctor Who, and this will cover a story from the Tom Baker era of the classic series, The Deadly Assassin, which was quite a controversial story for its time but more on that a bit later. So in the meantime let's give this story a look....
So the story begins not long after the Doctor (Baker) now in his fourth incarnation, has parted company with Sarah Jane Smith (Lis Sladen) as he travels to Gallifrey he has a premonition of the assassination of the president of the Time Lords. The Doctor arrives on Gallifrey however the chancellory guard are sent immediately to impound the TARDIS, which is classified as a type 40, which is no longer in service. The Doctor manages to sneak out of the TARDIS and make his way to a lift which leads to the main tower, where he is about to be arrested by a soldier, who is killed by a mysterious figure. The Doctor then manages to sneak back to the TARDIS and watches a newscast by a reporter named Runcible (Hugh Walters) who reports that the president is set to retire and to name his successor. Runcible also talks with Cardinal Borusa (Angus MacKay) who is a former teacher of the Doctor from his days at the Time Lord academy. The TARDIS is then transducted into the museum within the Capitol and the Doctor borrows some Gallifreyan Time Lord robes. Meanwhile several floors below the main tower, we see the Master (Peter Pratt) who is now severely emaciated in form, speak with a masked accomplice and the Master tells them that the trap is set and the Doctor must die quickly.
The Doctor then makes his way into the ceremonial chamber, the Panoptican, and he speaks with Runcible before the President appears. The Doctor then spots a camera up at an unguarded catwalk and next to the camera is a sniper rifle, which leads the Doctor to race up toward the catwalk, fighting past the crowd of Time Lords. The Doctor arrives at the catwalk and takes the sniper rifle as he appears to spot the assassin in the crowd, the Doctor takes aim and fires and at that point the President collapses, dead. The Doctor is then immediately assumed to be the killer and arrested and under interrogation he insists that he was framed for the murder. The head of security, Castellan Spandrell (George Pravda) questions the Doctor and starts to believe his story and asks for archivist, co-ordinator Engin (Erik Chitty) to help him in a private investigation into the crime with the Doctor. The Doctor also invokes article 17 at his trial, which allows him to announce himself as a candidate for the presidency, which allows him a stay of execution as well before his sentence can be carried out, much to the chagrin of one of the prime candidates for the presidential role, the ambitious Chancellor Goth (Bernard Horsfall).
The Doctor begins to help Spandrell in his investigation and shows him the sniper rifle he used had the sights fixed so there wasn't a chance that he could have hit the preisdent if he tried. The Doctor also suggests that the access the video camera box next to the catwalk which could possibly reveal who the real assassin might be, however before they can get there the Master removes the tape and kills Runcible and his technician. The Doctor then is shown by Engin, the Matrix, which is a large neural network in which thoughts can be beamed directly into another person's mind and presented as virtual reality, which the Doctor realises the Master himself has used the Matrix and created the premonition of the president's murder and projected into the Doctor's mind. The Doctor then decides to try and track the Master by joining his mind into the Matrix, however by doing so he could risk being killed, as if he dies in the Matrix he will also die in reality and with that the Doctor enters the Matrix where he faces a series of dangers and nightmares, which will eventually lead him to finding the identity of the killer....
As a Doctor Who story, The Deadly Assassin is uniqute in itself as it is one of the few stories and the only one up to this point where the Doctor does not have a companion and its a very entertaining one in its own right, penned by the script editor at the time, Robert Holmes (who singled handedly contributed more to the series history than any other writer). The story also expanded on the background of the Time Lords and it was the first story to exclusively feature Gallifrey as prior to this we had briefly seen Gallifrey in the Jon Pertwee story, The Three Doctors, but the planet was unnamed back then. The Time Lords themselves are presented as a somewhat orderly and pompous race and their somewhat outlandish clothes and robes actually make the story quite stylish and individualistic. But the story is also notable for finally revealing how long a Time Lord can live as they can regenerate 12 times after this time they will die and this is clearly also highlighted in the story that the Master already had used up his regenerations and is on his last legs which explains his decrepit form. It also introduces a few other concepts such as the CIA, which is an amusing take on American acronym, which Engin reveals as the Celestial Intervention Agency, who allegedly played a part in commuting the Doctor's exile on Earth. It also introduced the Eye of Harmony, which is the power source for the Time Lord's time travel, which was later housed in the Doctor's own TARDIS in the US movie. So the story certainly broke alot of new ground for the show and certainly was a landmark in that regard in expanding on the Time Lords mythology and background. You could also say that the story in a way was a precursor to the Matrix film series as the premise of the films aren't all that different in terms of the actual matrix itself in that its a large neural network in which people live in a virtual reality and its the same here with the Doctor in the 3rd episode as he enters the matrix and fights for his survival.
As for the performances well they are all very good here with Tom Baker as usual providing some wonderful stuff as by this time he had grown very comfortably into the role as the Doctor and he has some great lines in the show as well as some great scenes. These include the moment where the Doctor disguised in robes has a chat with Runcible, the reporter, who asks him he has had a face lift and the Doctor says "several so far!". There is also the scene where the Doctor tells Spandrell and Engin of the possibility that the Master could have manipulated the Matrix to beam the premonition of the president into his mind, but Engin insists that the Master would have to have incredible mathematical skill and asks how good was he and The Doctor says "He's brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Almost up to my standard!". Then there is the scene where the Doctor pleads "Article 17. I wish announce myself as a candidate for the presidency!" which causes an outrage. And then there is the great line when the Doctor tries to question the dying Chancellor Goth, and tries to find out what the Master's plan was, but Goth dies, and the Doctor says "Never a straight answer to a straight question! Typical politician!".
George Pravda is also excellent in his role as Castellan Spandrell, the head of security in the Capitol who has a rather amusing cynical word weary quality to his performance and he also has some good scenes in the story. Pravda also get's one the story best lines where at the end when he notices the Master leave Gallifrey, Engin asks him where does he think the Master went and Spandrell says "Out into the universe and between you and me, I don't think its big enough for the both of them!". Bernard Horsfall is also great in his role as the ambitious Chancellor Goth who (PLOT SPOILER!!!!!!) turns out to be the assassin who is used by the Master for his own nefarious ends. Horsfall has some good moments where Goth is in the Matrix fighting the Doctor and at the climax of the 3rd episode, Goth attempts to down the Doctor in a marsh and he says "You're finished, Doctor! You're finished!". This scene itself caused big controversy at the time of its broadcast as Mary Whitehouse, the president of the then National viewers and listeners association said it was one of the most frightening scenes that featured in the show. As a result the master tape for the episode had the ending trimmed for future broadcasts but it still exists in other recordings and was restored for the VHS and DVD release.
Angus MacKay also does a great job as Cardinal Borusa, the pompous and authoratative figurehead in the Capitol who looks down on those around him and tries to play down the reality of the assassination so public perceptions wouldn't tarnish Goth's reputation. MacKay also get's one of the best lines in the story when he tells off the Doctor for his flippant attitude: "As I believe I told you long ago, Doctor, you will never amount to anything in the galaxy while you retain your propensity of vulgar facetiousness!". MacKay also has another amusing moment where he dismisses the reporter, Runcible, one of his former students when Runcible tries to ask him a question. And Borusa says "Runcible, you mhad ample time to ask me questions at your mispent years at the academy. You failed to avail yourself of the opportunity then and it is too late now. Good day!".
Peter Pratt on the other hand is the weak link in the cast as The Master, as he simply cannot live up to the menace and charm that Roger Delgado originally brought to the role so well during the Pertwee era and delivers a rather more serious one note performance in what is really a far more complex and colourful character. Pratt however does make decent use of his dramatic voice as well as the mask of the Master's emaciated features. And lastly Erik Chitty provides a charming performance as the affable Engin who is the archive co-ordinator who works for Spandrell and also helps the Doctor and Hugh Walters also provides some amusement as the hapless Runcilbe, who has an amusing scene where he tries to interview Cardinal Borusa is rudely rebuffed by him.
As for the direction, David Maloney does a great job with Assassin and he keeps the story's pace quite taut throughout and in particular he creates a great sense of tension and suspense during the story's nightmare sequences in the Matrix where the Doctor is involved in a psychological game of cat and mouse. These sequences feature some memorable moments such as the Doctor getting his foot caught in a railtrack only to face an oncoming mini railtrain coming straight at him as well as nod to North by Northwest where the assassin tries to gun down the Doctor in a plane armed with machine guns and also the climactic fight scene between the Doctor and the assassin (Goth). As for the story's score Dudley Simpson provides an excellent score which features some organ music, which perfectly suits the dramatic tone of the scenes in the Panoptican.
So regarding flaws.... does The Deadly Assassin have any worth moaning about??? Well nothing too serious except that maybe the story features the Time Lords as yet another pompous (not to mention all English accented!) race with high opinions of themselves, which makes for a somewhat narrow minded view of what could very well be a very diverse race of aliens, but again this was a introductory story to Time Lord society. Another problem possibly lies in the fact that the Doctor's lack of a companion threatened to see the show take a turn to head that way and even Tom Baker at that time was all for it, but the show's then producer, Philip Hinchcliffe decided the show really needed a companion to make it work and for someone act as a foil for the Doctor who would asks the important questions to help the story move along for the audience to get it. The story also does feature one or two comical moments such as the scene in the nightmare sequence where the Doctor supposedly falls over the edge of a cliff but we in fact just see that Tom Baker is dangling from a very slight and small ledge and then all of a sudden a samurai warrior turns up and pulls out his sword and cuts the Doctor's scarf in two, which he was using to try and climb back up. The climactic fight scene between the Doctor and Goth in the matrix is also a bit comical as during the fight scene we can clearly see Tom Baker's stunt double (most likely the series stalwart stunt actor, Terry Walsh) wearing a curly black wig, and the fight scene in those moments looks pretty daft and undercuts the effectiveness of the fight scene. And lastly I thought the Master's potrayal as previously mentioned, by Peter Pratt, was pretty one dimensional and the Master here lacks any kind of real menace and charm and is just reduced to withered villain who lacks any real impact, although the story's final image of the Master's face starting to slowly regenerate is quite interesting and memorable as he dematerialises in his TARDIS (which takes the shape of a grandfather clock because unlike the Doctor's TARDIS the Master's chamaeleon circuit, which allows the TARDIS to adapt to its environment still works!).
But all that aside The Deadly Assassin remains one of the show's most entertaining and unique stories, which is well worth watching after nearly 40 years.
And with that I shall dematerialise right there.... :-)
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