Resting on the planet Davidia, Romana and Leela encounter a horribly mutilated time traveller. Is he just a victim or the bait in a trap?
Resting on the planet Davidia, Romana and Leela encounter a horribly mutilated time traveller. Is he just a victim or the bait in a trap?
GALLIFREY: SPIRIT
I’ll admit, I wasn’t expecting this from the next chapter of the Gallifrey series. Stephen Cole’s script diverges significantly from the pattern seen thus far: it has almost nothing to do with political maneuvering or with Gallifreyan intrigue, opting instead to present a character piece focusing on the relationship between Romana and Leela. And in this regard it works rather well, serving not only to teach us more about these familiar characters but also to foreshadow upcoming events in the series.
It’s genuinely interesting to listen to this play in ways not seen in its predecessors: these two characters exist at possibly the most extreme ends of the spectrum of Doctor Who companions, and thus their approaches to and opinions about life and existence are radically different. The idea of Leela living on Gallifrey for this long has always sat uncomfortably, and here the tensions come to a head, as she longs to depart the ordered society and return to her preferred way of life. Naturally, then, she and Romana retreat to a secured planet that features both the amenities of Gallifrey and the wilds known to Leela. Cole then puts both characters together in both environments and lets them spark off one another — and it’s entertaining, enlightening stuff.
Naturally, though, I have a couple of complaints: first, the debate about evolution is so simple and obvious as to almost be embarrassing. Perhaps it would have sat better if Lalla Ward wasn’t married to Richard Dawkins, but Romana’s lines and Leela’s counter-arguments are copied almost word-for-word out of “The Blind Watchmaker.” As a result, Leela doesn’t come across as enlightened, she just appears ignorant, which substantially undermines the intent of their scenes together. Second, there’s a great idea here in which Romana and Leela switch personalities during a group hallucination — but unfortunately Ward is laughably unconvincing as a “savage” Romana, using a high-pitched, breathy voice to represent a lack of refinement.
Despite these complaints, though, “Spirit” is the best Gallifrey story yet, one that bodes well for its successors. For the first time, I found myself thinking “I genuinely enjoyed that” as the credits rolled — it probably shouldn’t have taken six attempts to reach this point, but I won’t complain too much now that it has.
7/10