N.B. there might (or might not) be spoilers in this article!
Season Twenty-Two seems to me to be unfairly maligned.
“The waves of time wash us all clean.”
The Doctor, Timelash: Part Two
The tone, following on from the previous season’s Resurrection of the Daleks and especially The Caves of Androzani is noticeably darker with many of the stories having scenes that made you wince — the Lytton moment as I rather glibly have been calling it.
Unfortunately, the crushing of the mercenary’s hands in Attack of the Cybermen, the acid bath scene in Vengeance on Varos, the killings of Oscar and Shockeye in The Two Doctors and the various stabbings and shootings in Revelation of the Daleks are precisely the kind of incidents the censorious mind loves to pull out of TV shows and movies and use them out of context to illustrate a wider criticism of their general unsuitability. That this is often the same person who would then go on in the next breath to defend the violence in plays such as King Lear and Titus Andronicus as suitable given the context is somewhat infuriating (but I’m straying into straw man territory there).
Not that Doctor Who is Shakespeare, of course (except when it’s pretending to be), but it’s clear from the season overall that there was a different approach to tone and that the violence, themes and often bleak humour have to be taken in context of the story. It’s not the first time the show has come a cropper this way. The Hinchcliffe and Holmes era met with its own share of criticism for pushing the boundaries of what could be seen in a family show.
It’s been commented that the difference with season 22 was that the criticisms also came from fans and the general public (and not just Mary Whitehouse), but it’s not as though the show’s viewing figures were suffering unduly. Indeed, they seem to have fared pretty well compared with the later Davison years.
While the increasing over-reliance on continuity and / or old monsters is perhaps a fair criticism, for me the quality has held up. In many ways, I’ve preferred it to season 21. (And yes, I even enjoyed Timelash.)
“And I thought I was good for a few more regenerations.”
The Doctor,
Revelation of the Daleks: Part One
What of Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor. Well, he was pretty much the best thing about The Twin Dilemma, and he’s been similarly excellent here. I like to think I share his Doctor’s sense of humour, love of an excruciating pun and disdain for poor grammar even if I do, however, lack the beautifully enunciated diction.
At times, the adjustment to 45 minute episodes has the unwanted effect of sidelining the Doctor somewhat, perhaps most noticeably in Vengeance on Varos and Revelation of the Daleks, although I’m sure another season with the format would have ironed out those issues. You’d probably have to go back to the 60’s and The Space Pirates to find an opening to a story where the Doctor takes such a long time to reach the main action.
But it’s a shame that the rug was swept from under Colin Baker’s feet just as he was settling into the role nicely.
Overall, although I missed this season back in 1985, I wouldn’t have minded another run of episodes along these lines, with the Doctor continuing to soften his character as planned.
As it was the show was about to go on trial …
"My favourite Sixth Doctor stories so far are Vengeance on Varos and The Two Doctors."
"My least favourite Sixth Doctor story so far is The Twin Dilemma."
