The Doctor begins another new adventure with his four friends – Ian, Barbara, Vicki and Jospa.
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Styre
on November 25, 2016 at 5:28 PM
THE EARLY ADVENTURES: THE FIFTH TRAVELLER
The second Early Adventure in the third series is “The Fifth Traveller” from Philip Lawrence, a story that attempts to put an interesting twist on the Hartnell era. The marketing materials mention a new companion named Jospa (James Joyce), and it sounds like he’s been around for a while. Unfortunately, while the story is competently written and performed, it has very little of interest to say or do.
Jospa is part of the TARDIS crew. The Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Vicki all seem to know him, and they even remember how they met him: picking the Doctor’s pocket in the slums of 30th century Earth. There’s some interesting potential here – imagine introducing a new companion in medias res, jumping in to his or her tenure and then relating their origin in flashback. We haven’t seen that before, and I’d be interested to see how it would work. The problem is that between the title and the story’s focus on misleading memory, it’s screamingly obvious from the start that Jospa is an imposter. We don’t know specifically what he wants until the final episode, but there’s no mystery here, no reason to trust him. It puts the story in a holding pattern until his treachery can be revealed – and that means that we spend three episodes with a character with no apparent history or raison d’être. This is boring, basically.
Fortunately, there’s a significant subplot; unfortunately, that subplot isn’t much more interesting than the Jospa plot. The TARDIS lands on an unnamed jungle planet inhabited by the Arunde, telepathic apes with four arms, no legs, and a powerful fear of the ground. Their society faces conflict: their old Matriar fell to her death, and now her inexperienced daughter Sharna (Kate Byers) is forced to lead the tribe in the face of resistance from Gark (Elliot Cowan). This plays out exactly as you might expect, with lots of theatrical confrontations, appeals to the voiceless members of the tribe who are always just out of shot, and so forth. The death of the old Matriar is presented as a mystery, and the responsible party is exactly the one you’re expecting. It’s reminiscent of the final three episodes of “An Unearthly Child,” honestly – but it’s 53 years later and we know how that story goes by now.
Don’t get me wrong: “The Fifth Traveller” is not badly written or badly made. Lawrence has a strong grasp of the Hartnell era and accurately captures each of the regular characters. The structure of the story is evocative of the early days of Doctor Who, and it’s easy to picture the ambitious, failed attempts the production team would have made to bring this script to life. William Russell’s Doctor is sounding more and more similar to Ian, but the performance is still effective. Maureen O’Brien shines – Vicki is deeply involved with the story and she gives a compelling, enthusiastic performance. And Jemma Powell is fine as Barbara, though the story doesn’t give her a great deal to do. Joyce does a good job as Jospa, and Byers and Cowan are stagey but believable as Sharna and Gark.
The production is strong as well. Toby Hrycek-Robinson’s sound design is effective, while his score is one of the best in this range, capturing the essential weirdness of early Doctor Who music. Lisa Bowerman directs with her usual skill. Overall, whether you like “The Fifth Traveller” depends on what you want from it. If you’re looking for a skillful recreation of the Hartnell era, in terms of the storytelling, performances, and design, this is the story for you. If you’re looking for something interesting, unpredictable, or innovative, look elsewhere.
THE EARLY ADVENTURES: THE FIFTH TRAVELLER
The second Early Adventure in the third series is “The Fifth Traveller” from Philip Lawrence, a story that attempts to put an interesting twist on the Hartnell era. The marketing materials mention a new companion named Jospa (James Joyce), and it sounds like he’s been around for a while. Unfortunately, while the story is competently written and performed, it has very little of interest to say or do.
Jospa is part of the TARDIS crew. The Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Vicki all seem to know him, and they even remember how they met him: picking the Doctor’s pocket in the slums of 30th century Earth. There’s some interesting potential here – imagine introducing a new companion in medias res, jumping in to his or her tenure and then relating their origin in flashback. We haven’t seen that before, and I’d be interested to see how it would work. The problem is that between the title and the story’s focus on misleading memory, it’s screamingly obvious from the start that Jospa is an imposter. We don’t know specifically what he wants until the final episode, but there’s no mystery here, no reason to trust him. It puts the story in a holding pattern until his treachery can be revealed – and that means that we spend three episodes with a character with no apparent history or raison d’être. This is boring, basically.
Fortunately, there’s a significant subplot; unfortunately, that subplot isn’t much more interesting than the Jospa plot. The TARDIS lands on an unnamed jungle planet inhabited by the Arunde, telepathic apes with four arms, no legs, and a powerful fear of the ground. Their society faces conflict: their old Matriar fell to her death, and now her inexperienced daughter Sharna (Kate Byers) is forced to lead the tribe in the face of resistance from Gark (Elliot Cowan). This plays out exactly as you might expect, with lots of theatrical confrontations, appeals to the voiceless members of the tribe who are always just out of shot, and so forth. The death of the old Matriar is presented as a mystery, and the responsible party is exactly the one you’re expecting. It’s reminiscent of the final three episodes of “An Unearthly Child,” honestly – but it’s 53 years later and we know how that story goes by now.
Don’t get me wrong: “The Fifth Traveller” is not badly written or badly made. Lawrence has a strong grasp of the Hartnell era and accurately captures each of the regular characters. The structure of the story is evocative of the early days of Doctor Who, and it’s easy to picture the ambitious, failed attempts the production team would have made to bring this script to life. William Russell’s Doctor is sounding more and more similar to Ian, but the performance is still effective. Maureen O’Brien shines – Vicki is deeply involved with the story and she gives a compelling, enthusiastic performance. And Jemma Powell is fine as Barbara, though the story doesn’t give her a great deal to do. Joyce does a good job as Jospa, and Byers and Cowan are stagey but believable as Sharna and Gark.
The production is strong as well. Toby Hrycek-Robinson’s sound design is effective, while his score is one of the best in this range, capturing the essential weirdness of early Doctor Who music. Lisa Bowerman directs with her usual skill. Overall, whether you like “The Fifth Traveller” depends on what you want from it. If you’re looking for a skillful recreation of the Hartnell era, in terms of the storytelling, performances, and design, this is the story for you. If you’re looking for something interesting, unpredictable, or innovative, look elsewhere.
6/10