OK, time for a new review on this blog and I have chosen to do a Doctor Who story, which I have recently watched for the first time, which is Frontios from the Peter Davison era of the show.
So, after nearly 35 years how does Frontios hold up??? Well, let's take a look.
And yep the usual warning is coming...
SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!
STORY
So it begins on the planet of Frontios, where some of the last remnants of humanity are struggling for survival. Frontios is also often ravaged by meteor showers that are orchestrated by an unseen enemy, which is also responsible for the disappearance of some prominent colonists. And the colony leader, Captain Revere, during an investigation, is eaten up by the ground and his body disappears. This is witnessed by Security Chief Brazen (Peter Gilmore) who decides to cover up the captain's disappearance as dying of natural causes. As a result of this, Brazen informs Revere's son, Plantagenet (Jeff Rawle) that he will be the new colony leader.
Meanwhile, the TARDIS is forced to land on the planet of Frontios as it is dragged down by gravity and the Doctor and his two companions, Tegan (Janet Fielding) and Turlough (Mark Strickson) on exiting the TARDIS are caught in the bombardment of meteors. The Doctor, who was at first insistent that he wouldn't get involved with helping the colonists (as it is deemed to violate a cardinal rule of the Time Lords) then decides to go ahead and help as he gives medical assistance to some colonists members.
The Doctor, however insists that he need better light to operate in, so he get's Tegan and Turlough to go and get better lighting from the TARDIS but the two of them discover that the TARDIS's inner door is stuck, so they can't access the lighting equipment they need. Tegan and Turlough instead with the help of one of the colonists, Norna (Lesley Dunlop) obtain an acid battery from the research room to power the lights. On the way back however, another meteor bombardment occurs, which seemingly destroys the TARDIS with only the Doctor's hatstand remaining.
Plantagenet then orders the Doctor's execution but Turlough manages to save his life by brandishing the hatstand like a weapon (as the colonists clearly don't know what it is!). Plantagenet later tries to attack the Doctor with a crowbar but he suffers a heart attack before he can and the Doctor then manages to save his life by using the battery. However, Plantagenet himself is soon dragged under the ground by an unknown force.
The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough soon go underground to find out what is behind all this and discover an alien race, the Tractators are responsible, who insectoid creatures, who have incredible powers over gravity. Turlough also had previously encountered the Tractators on his own home planet and as such has a nervous breakdown when he re-encounters them, as he shared a horrible "race memory" of an attack by the Tractators.
And so from here, the Doctor must find a way to stop the Tractators from causing more damage and havoc and if possible, a way to restore the seemingly destroyed TARDIS....
THOUGHTS
Frontios is something of a hidden gem in the Peter Davison era (well for me anyway) as it is easily one of his most enjoyable and solid stories. It also helps of course that it has a very well written script by Christopher H. Bidmead, who had previously written another two fine stories, Logopolis (Tom Baker's finale) and Castrovalva (Peter Davison's debut). Bidmead himself however initially refused to write in a monster for script as he felt they always looked cheap on the show but he came up with the idea of the Tractators from the fact that his apartment was infested with woodlice and dancers were hired to actually wear the Tractator outfits.
PERFORMANCES (No notable scenes as such this time round!)
As for the performances, they are all very good here as the cast are in fine form.
Starting with Peter Davison, who is excellent once again here as the Doctor and he has a good command over the role by this time and plays him with a sense of boyishness yet also real authority when it matters.
Peter also get's some good lines in the story but for the sake of typing and time, I will only mention one scene (shocker I know!) where the Doctor decides to help out the colonists. So, one of the colonists, Range is grateful to the Doctor for his help but the Doctor warns him "I'm not helping, officially. And if anyone happens to ask whether I made any material difference to the welfare of this planet, you can tell them I came and went like a summer cloud!".
Janet Fielding is also very good here again in her role as Tegan, the Doctor's feisty companion, who at this point was nearing the end of her run on the show and her following story, Ressurection of the Daleks, would be her last. Still, Janet does as well as she usually does in her role here even if she isn't given quite as much to do here as she has in the past.
Mark Strickson is excellent here also, as the Doctor's other companion, Turlough and he delivers his best performance here and his character is given the most he has ever had to do in this story as Turlough relives the trauma he lived at the hands of the Tractators, who invaded his home planet years ago.
And I will mention one of Mark's scenes where Turlough encounters the Tractators again and he is heard screaming in terror and soon runs out toward Range and Norna and shouts "Tractors!! I've seen them!!". And he then later tell Range and Norna "My home. Tractators. I've seen all this before. They were there, waiting. Destroying us from inside. Once, long ago, on my home. We remember them! The people of my planet will never forget! Tractators! Once, long ago, my home was. An infection!".
As for the guest cast of the story they also provide very solid performances.
Starting with Jeff Rawle as Plantagenet, the new leader of the colony, who takes over after his father, Captain Revere mysteriously disppears underground, is very good in the role and plays him at first like a spoilt brat, who takes a disliking to the Doctor but soon comes around after the Doctor saves his life.
Peter Gilmore is also pretty good in his role as the officious security chief Brazen, who tries to cover up the disappearance of Captain Revere as death by natural causes and he tries to mantain control over the situation throughout the story. Lesley Dunlop is also good in her role as Norna, who is the daughter of the scientist, Range and she helps out Turlough and Tegan throughout the story aswell.
William Lucas also provides a fine performance as the scientist, Range, who helps out the Doctor throughout the story. In fact Lucas's casting had a tragic reason behind it as Lucas replaced an actor, who was previously cast in the role of Range, Peter Arne, who was murdered.
WARNING: THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH REFERS TO A BIG SPOILER!!
And last of all is John Gillett as the Gravis, the villainous Tractator, who leads the other Tractators and is responsible for the disappearance of the colonists and is essentially the only real villain in the story, who controls the other Tractators but without him they are harmless. So, it is actually the Gravis's hunger for knowledge and also to dominate the galaxy by turning Frontios into a large spaceship in order to spread the Tractators terror.
DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
As for the director, Ron Jones, does an excellent job here with the story as he paces it out very well and given it is a four part story, it is the perfect length for any Doctor Who adventure, so it never outstays its welcome here. Jones himself had already directed three stories from the Davison era, which were Black Orchid, Time-Flight and Arc of Infinity and would later go on to direct two from the Colin Baker era, which were Vengeance on Varos and Mindwarp.
And lastly moving onto the music score, Paddy Kingsland provides a rather leisurely sounding one for the story, which isn't entirely inappropriate to the tone of the serial but at the same time is perhaps a bit too fluffy and light aswell. However, there is something reassuringly pleasant about Kingsland's scores and they are rarely bad or offensive, so this is certainly one of his better ones.
FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)
As for flaws...well yeah OK, Frontios isn't quite perfect.
For starters, I had an issue with Plantagenet as a character, as he is pretty pig-headed when it comes to realising that the Doctor is in fact trying to help him and the colonists. Yet, despite the Doctor giving medical aid to the colonists, Plantagenet at one point, gives an order to have the Doctor killed! But of course its only when Plantagenet suffers a heart attack (after attempting to attack the Doctor no less!) and the Doctor saves his life that he finally comes round to realising the Doc is no menace and is here to help.
Another daft thing is the scene where Turlough uses the hat stand from the TARDIS to save the Doctor from being killed, as he brandishes it like a weapon and the colonists have no idea what it is and just assume it is a weapon! I mean they are obviously not very bright when it comes to realising what hat stands are in the first place! It also made of wood and surely they should realise that it is just a tall object carved out of wood and as such not a proper weapon!
I also felt that when the Doctor discovers that the TARDIS has apparently been destroyed during a meteor bombardment, he didn't look that phased or worried about it, especially given that it is his permanent home! So, rather than a more alarmed reaction such as "Oh, no! The TARDIS has been destroyed!" its more a "Oh, the TARDIS has been destroyed. Ah well, never mind!". And for me that remains one of the lazy moments in Peter Davison's performance here, which is certainly worth of being mentioned as a flaw.
And last of all is of course the Tractators themselves, as they are pretty ridiculous looking and not too convincing as menacing aliens given of course that is another case of men (or women) in rubber suits! The movement of the Tractators however isn't too bad at times but there are still some laughable moments with them, particularly when (SPOILER!!) the Gravis is subdued near the end in the TARDIS and it simply conks its head on the console when it is! Its pretty silly to say the least!
Anyway that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So, in summing up, Frontios is a very enjoyable story from the Peter Davison era and it certainly is one of the strongest of that time. The story is well written by Christopher H. Bidmead and it features some interesting supporting characters and as well as solid performances by the regulars, particularly Mark Strickson, who is given alot to do here as Turlough and the supporting are all very good also.
And yeah OK it does have some plot niggles here and there and yes, the Tractators are also pretty silly looking alien creatures that are basically dancers in rubber suits. However, if you can forgive all that, then Frontios is still a very solid Doctor Who story that is well worth checking out.
So, that's it for now and I will be back with another post soon.
Till the next one, its bye for now!
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