The Doctor reveals to Leela that they’re heading for the planet Telos. And K9 has new masters…
On Telos, in the past, the Second Doctor and Jamie are exploring the ‘tomb of the Cybermen’.
Meanwhile, the Cyber-Controller and Cyber-Planner consolidate their plans. Spare parts from Krelos are being used to construct a mighty Cyber army. The Doctor must be captured.
Out of control, the TARDIS tumbles down a chasm and the Doctor and Leela find themselves caught up in full-scale planetary invasion.
RETURN TO TELOS
After “The Fate of Krelos,” a slow-paced tone piece that actually tried to feel different, it was natural to expect “Return to Telos,” the final story of the fourth series of Fourth Doctor Adventures, to feel similarly innovative. Yeah, it’s by Nicholas Briggs, but so was “Krelos,” so this could still be good despite being yet another series-ending “spectacular” featuring the return of old enemies, right? Well, it COULD be, but it isn’t.
I’m not sure what’s worse: a Doctor Who story completely devoid of interesting ideas or one that takes an interesting idea and completely wastes it in the least imaginative way possible. “Return to Telos” is an example of the latter. The idea is indeed interesting: what if something that happened during “The Tomb of the Cybermen” had unforeseen consequences for the Doctor in a later incarnation? In fact, why not show a couple of “deleted scenes” from “Tomb” that illustrate how this happened? And why not get Frazer Hines in to play both Jamie and the Second Doctor? It’d be a perfect follow-up to the scene from “Krelos” in which the Doctor and Leela discover a scrap of Jamie’s clothing – just imagine the Doctor’s two warrior companions finally meeting. Perhaps two Doctors meeting would be a step too far, but imagine the potential of a future Doctor trying desperately to correct the mistakes of his past self.
Keep imagining, because “Return to Telos” will give you none of that. The deadly mistake by the Second Doctor and Jamie? Yeah, Jamie brushed up against something in the tomb and got “cyber-particles” on his kilt. That’s the entirety of the conflict, and through a Rube Goldberg-ian series of events, those particles lead to the destruction of Krelos by the Cybermen. There’s still potential, though: what about the growing conflict between the Doctor and Leela, between her desire to help and the Doctor’s knowledge of the laws of time? As usual, that conflict is entirely ignored – the Doctor decides that because the Cybermen were using time travel to interfere, he is justified to change history.
Briggs doesn’t stop there. It’s commonly accepted that in drama, actions should have consequences – well they certainly don’t in “Return to Telos,” because the Doctor’s plan is to change history and undo everything that happened. You remember that this all happens because of something stuck to Jamie’s clothing – well, get ready for the epic climax, in which K-9 desperately tries to get Jamie in contact with a vacuum cleaner! Thrill as the long-awaited meeting between Leela and Jamie never happens! And marvel at the conclusion, in which everything is undone, nobody remembers anything that happened, and the Doctor and Leela enjoy a fish dinner!
I understand that these are “missing adventures,” slotted in between television stories, and that massive changes to the status quo generally aren’t possible. I also understand that Briggs is driven by the desire to recapture the joy he felt watching Doctor Who as a child. But this is utterly cynical storytelling. To tell a story in which everything is undone by the conclusion is to tell a meaningless story: it is literally true that nothing happens in either “The Fate of Krelos” or “Return to Telos.” You could even do another “Leela meets the Cybermen” story if you wanted – it wouldn’t contradict anything here. It’s also the sort of thing that Doctor Who should never do because it flags up one of the central problems with time travel stories: if the Doctor can just go back and change history so that the conflict never happens, why doesn’t he do that every time? The whole dramatic point of the “laws of time” is to prevent plots like this from being written because they are utterly unrewarding, and Briggs should know that.
For what it’s worth, “Return to Telos” is fairly dramatic as it goes along, and certainly builds tension as it presents the Doctor and Leela with what appears to be an unsolvable situation. Briggs directs his own script, and the story is paced quite well as a result. The performances are very good, as is the sound design and music from Jamie Robertson. But when a story prioritizes nostalgia and convenience over drama and consequence, it’s never going to be very good. Overall, “Return to Telos” isn’t very good, and it’s a huge flop at the end of what had otherwise been a fairly entertaining series. But honestly, do you expect any different at this point? I certainly don’t.
Poor.
3/10