So, with that said let's take a look at the two remaining stories of the E-Space trilogy...
And the usual warning is coming up...
PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD FOR BOTH STORIES! (BUT NOT TOO MANY!)
STATE OF DECAY
STORY
OK, so first up is State of Decay and the story for this one sees the Doctor, Romana and their stowaway companion, Adric arrive on a planet with a feudal society. The villagers live under the thrall of three lords—Zargo, Camilla, and Aukon—who dwell in a shadowy Tower, and experience a yearly ritual called "the Selection", in which young villagers are taken to the tower, never to be seen again.
And it soon transpires that these lords are in fact vampires, who feed on the chosen ones and unfortunately for Adric, he is selected to be one himself. And its up to the Doctor and Romana to try and find a way to stop the lords from their plan to revive their giant leader vampure, the "Great One"...
THOUGHTS
I have to say that I found State of Decay to be a bit disappointing even though I had heard good things about the story, I wasn't that interested in it as the characters weren't that appealing. The story also echoes the plot of Full Circle in that an alien society are being held back from their potential at the hands of their masters, the only difference is they are in fact vampires here!
PERFORMANCES
Performance wise, things are actually pretty good overall as the cast do their best with that they are given in the story.
Tom Baker and Lalla Ward are both very good as usual in their roles as the Doctor and Romana and they work well together as normal (they were actually both married at this time although their marriage only lasted a couple of years!). Matthew Waterhouse on the other hand is the weak leak here as Adric and he plays him in a more obnoxious manner than usual as Adric gives Romana some lip in one of the later episodes although it is later revealed to be just a ruse but it doesn't make him that much more likeable! John Leeson also does a fine job in his voice acting role as K-9 although I don't think he is given that much to do here as it was clear that John Nathan-Turner was keen to dispose of K-9 from the series at this point!
As for the supporting cast, they are all very good although I will mention only the three principal cast members. Starting with William Lindsay and Rachel Davies who are very good in their role as the bloodlusting vampires Zargo and Camilla and you get pretty quickly what they are all about! And lastly Emrys James is excellent as Aukon and he is arguably the strongest cast member overall here in the story as his performance is suitably creepy and sinsiter.
DIRECTION
Direction wise, Peter Moffatt does a fair job here but I have to say that I am not overly impressed with the story's pacing as it does plod along a bit and for a four-parter it did drag somewhat. So, even though Moffatt would go on to direct better stories, I still think State of Decay isn't one of them. It is however interesting to know that the 5th Doctor actor, Peter Davison's real name is infact Peter Moffatt, so obviously it was easy not to confuse them! ;-)
MUSIC
As for the music, Paddy Kingsland provides the electronic score for this story and its OK but nothing really special. In fact I felt there were times were Paddy's music just didn't suit the series as it was always a bit too jaunty and leisurely sounding and lack much in the way of dramatic weight that say Dudley Simpson brough to ther series. Overall its OK but it could have been better.
FLAWS
Flaws wise...not too much to say other than I just think the story is a bit dull, despite the vampire trio of Zargo, Camilla and Aukon there were no other characters that made the story that interesting or gripping, which is a pity.
I also felt that the reveal of the "Great One" was a bit stupid as we got no more than a giant claw emerge from the ground later on in the story. It just looked pretty silly and I don't think it was that threatening or well executed in the story for what is supposed to be a menacing mastermind villain.
And lastly, I thought Adric was a bit too obnoxious in this story as he really does give Romana some crap later on even though he did say it was all a ruse to gain the confidence of the vampires, so he could fake his selection for their cause. However, I don't think Adric's "ruse" did much for his likeability as a companion as it made him appear more like an irritating little dweeb than anything else!
SUM UP
So, to sum up, State of Decay for me was middle of the road story that didn't really hold much interest, which is a shame because it does have some potential but in the end this one wasn't for me.
So now we go on to Warrior's Gate...
WARRIORS' GATE
STORY
So, the story begins with the TARDIS continuing its passage through E-Space but becomes trapped in a while null space between the universes of E-Space (Exo-Space) and N-Space (Normal Space). Meanwhile, a slave vessel, also caught in the null space, loses its navigator, Biroc, who escapes the ship and makes his way to the TARDIS via the winds of time. Biroc warns the crew of the vessel's captain, Rorvik and his treachery as he has been using Biroc's race, Tharils, as their navigator.
And its from here that the Doctor explores outside the null space and soon stumbles upon a gate that leads into what appears to be a castle filled with robotic armoured knights known as the Gundans. However its not long before Rorvik and his crew catch up with Romana and Adric at the TARDIS and then make their way to the Doctor to confront him...
THOUGHTS
Well, unfortunately I have to say that Warriors' Gate is easily the weakest of the trilogy as the story is very confusing and hard to follow. Its also rather poorly paced and slow and filled with unappealing characters that don't make the story any more likeable. And that's pretty much all I have to say about my thoughts on that!
PERFORMANCES (Warning: this section may contain the odd spoiler or two!)
Performance wise however, Warrior's Gate isn't bad at all with a decent supporting cast.
Starting with the regulars, Tom Baker is very good as the Doctor although he doesn't exactly shine in this story as it certainly isn't the best but he does what he can with that he is working with. Tom also gives an all too brief farewell to Romana, which was not too bad and it does give the story its best dialogue.
So, in the scene Romana tells the Doctor she isn't coming with him, so the Doctor gives her K-9 as a parting gift and he tells her "Wait, there's something else! K-9. He'll be all right with you behind the mirrors!" which refers to the dimensional mirrors in the story as K-9 was damaged as he passed through them. So, Romana says to the Doctor "I'll take care of him" and the Doctor quickly says to her "I'll miss you!" and he shuts the door but then quickly opens it again and tells her "You were the noblest Romana of them all!" and closes the TARDIS door.
Lalla Ward is also excellent in her farewell role as Romana and its a pity to see her go out on such a weak story as she really did deserve better than this one. In fact it was even said that Lalla argued with John Nathan-Turner over the briefness of her departure scene and how it was handled, which is understandable as it is too brief. Despite this though, Lalla did a great job in her tenure as the second Romana and in my opinion the best one even though Mary Tamm was almost as equally good.
Matthew Waterhouse however as usual is pretty so-so in his performance and he actually really isn't given that much to do here and spends a bit more time with K-9 than the actual cast (although I might be wrong about that!). But to be fair to Matthew, from here, Adric does take a more prominent role as begins to improve his performance a bit as he progressed in the part although Adric didn't become that much more likeable!
As for the supporting cast, they are pretty good for the most part.
Starting with Clifford Rose, who does a fine job in his role as the unscrupulous Captain Rorvik, of the slave vessel even if he isn't given the best script he does his best with what he is given here. David Weston also does well in his role as the vessel's navigator, a member of a feline-like race of creatures known as Tharils although again he isn't given the best material to work with here. And last of all is Kenneth Cope who also does very well in his role as the slave vessel crew member, Packard and he of course is better known as Marty Hopkirk from the detective series, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).
DIRECTION
Direction wise, Paul Joyce is at the helm here and unfortunately he doesn't fair too well here but to be fair he has been given a mess of a story to deal with but the pacing is slow and its a very boring story for the most part with little of interest.
Joyce however does deserve some credit for the story's opening camera sequence as it moves continually throughout the set of the spaceship in one take and he tries to add a unique visual style to the story but in the end overall the style misfires against the script itself, which needed to have been better. Joyce interestingly enough, clashed regularly with JNT during the production and he was temporarily replaced by Graeme Harper but eventually he was re-instated to finish the serial but he never worked on the show again after this.
MUSIC & SOUND EFFECTS
As for the music score, it was composed this time by Peter Howell and its pretty good and it has more of dramatic weight to it than the more light and fluffy scores by Paddy Kingsland. Howell also composed the new theme for the show during Tom Baker's final season and would go on to be used throughout the Peter Davison era and first season of Colin Baker's time on the show as well.
I also would like to mention the sound effects on the story, which were done by the long term sound designer for the show, Dick Mills and they are excellent and very atmospheric. The sounds for the time winds in null space are very effective and are one of the few aspects of the story that really work well, so I think Mills really deserves much credit for them.
FLAWS
As for flaws...yes Warrior's Gate has plenty but I will keep it brief!
For starters, I just think that this story is an incoherent mess and it really has a very complex plot that is difficult to follow. I also don't think the story is very interesting as the struggle between the slave vessel members and the Gundans and even the Tharils are just a bore fest. And that is the main issue here with the characters of the story as they are simply not memorable or interesting.
I also felt that Romana's departure from the show as handled pretty poorly as it is reduced to quick "goodbye!" between the Doctor and Romana and its far too rushed. Romana was an excellent companion to the Doctor and she really did deserve a better send-off than she got here and in fact even a better story would have been a bonus! Ironically at this time, Lalla Ward and Tom Baker were in a relationship, which starting to go sour even though they were married around this time it would only last a couple of years before they divorced in 1982.
And lastly while the story has a unique visual style and that is to be commended, its just let down by the script and a very uninteresting story, which is a pity as there could have been a great mix between its visuals and an imaginative storytelling but it just doesn't gel.
SUM UP
So, to sum up, Warriors' Gate is very disappointing end to the E-Space trilogy as it is a boring and uninvolving Doctor Who story with an overly complex plot, dull characters and a very rushed exit for Romana. To its credit however, the director Paul Joyce did try and give the story a unique visual style but he was let down by the script itself and its a pity we didn't get a better combination of story and visuals.
So, in the end, I can't really recommend Warriors' Gate or even the full E-Space trilogy either for that matter as it is definitely hit and miss with more miss than hit.
Right, well that's it for now and I will be back with another post soon.
Till then its bye the now!
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