Season 19, Episode 1 | 4 parts | First broadcast: 4–12 January 1982 | Writer: Christopher H. Bidmead | Director: Fiona Cumming
Cast
- Peter Davison as the Doctor
- Matthew Waterhouse as Adric
- Sarah Sutton as Nyssa
- Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka
- Anthony Ainley as the Master
Summary
Freshly regenerated and dangerously unstable, the newly minted Fifth Doctor is bundled into the TARDIS Zero Room by his companions to recover, only for the Master to send the Doctor and the Zero Room itself hurtling into the void via a sabotaged flight. Seeking refuge, the group materialises in the peaceful, recursively strange town of Castrovalva, where the Doctor’s fragile recovery is threatened once again as the true, illusory nature of the town and its gentle inhabitants is gradually revealed.
Interesting Facts
- This serial marks Peter Davison’s first full story as the Doctor, following his introduction at the very end of the previous story, Logopolis.
- Castrovalva’s impossible, recursive architecture was directly inspired by M.C. Escher’s lithograph of the same name.
- The regeneration recovery period depicted here, including the unstable “Zero Room,” was an unusually vulnerable and drawn-out portrayal of the process compared to earlier regenerations.
- Writer Christopher H. Bidmead, the previous season’s script editor, returned to pen this story specifically to establish the new Doctor’s characterisation.
No Responses