Cool factoid about Adric's appearance here - Matthew Waterhouse was publicly billed to appear in this in Radio Times so nobody would suspect his departure would take place in the previous story. Another sneaky move from the production team ensuring Earthshock achieved maximum impact...much like Adric himself on the planet. Also Captain Stapley appreciation squad let's gooo!
However the fact that he was listed last in the overall cast, way past the other regulars, sort of gave the game away. Fandom knew for months he was going, albeit not the manner of his departure.
@@johntomlinson6849 Maybe some fans involved in organised fandom did (or thought they did), but that would only have been a tiny fraction of the audience. Also, there are various examples from earlier episodes of companions being billed after other actors.
@@andrewgwilliam4831 Nope, organised fandom absolutely knew - it was a headline months before in Celestial Toyroom. All of the departures and arrivals were always announced. I concede it was only a small part of the audience but would question how may others assiduously check the RT billings.
It's incredibly heartwarming that The Doctor thinks The Brigadier is worthy of being promoted to a General. After everything they've been through together, the Doctor knows his friend deserves it.
An intersting Note: Anthony Ainley is credited under the pseudonym Leon Ny Taiy in part one's credits to disguise the fact that Kalid was actually the Master. "Leon Ny Taiy" is an anagram of "Tony Ainley", a similar trick to disguising the identity of the Portreeve in Castrovalva.
For those questioning the amount of grief shown for Adric at the beginning. This script was written well before Earthshock, paid for, and pre production was already in progress. They didn't know Adric would be killed. The short scene we did get was all they could fit in at the very last moment. They also added the ghost Adric part.
@@papalaz4444244 Oh, I know. It's also a miracle we've got one of the studio recordings for this story, and seeing Davison getting upset about the dialogue is GOLD.
In the big finish audios it covers more of the 5th doctor's grief for Adric and shows how much he struggled with his death and the fact he will always keep it with him the grief
@provisionalhypothesisif I remember correctly not only were the results mixed, and ultimately more tragic than good. I'm trying not to be too spoiler here. Partly I don't remember all the details either. To me it was more of a Coda to his story than an actual ending
The Fifth Doctor's telepathic blindness amused the Master to no end. For once his collection of wigs, makeup, and false noses didn't just fool the humans...
Something that's always bugged me about this episode is why the Master is wearing his disguise. The aliens are telepathic and aren't deceived by it, the people from Concorde are under his hypnotic control, he could just tell them he's a fat, vaguely oriental wizard if he wanted them to view him as such and they'd believe it without going to the trouble of putting the costume on. Presumably he's just doing it to f**k with the Doctor, but he's already wearing the full outfit when the second Concorde arrives and before he knows the Doctor's on board. Is he worried about being recognized by a dinosaur? Why a fat, vaguely Oriental wizard in the first place? It makes one long for the simplicity of Roger Delgado's rubber masks.😅
Hitherto untold fact! He only turned evil after he was denied the lead role in the Time Lord academy's class production of Springtime For Davros. As a frustrated thespian he often dressed up and entertained himself reciting Shakespeare, Gox of Voopa, Nimm the Lesser and other famous playwrights from across the galaxies.
Ah yes, the episode that only put Adric in part 2 so they could hide his death in the last episode from the press. “he won’t die this week, here’s this weeks cast list”! Also this trip of a story is the best one to do whilst ill!
Looking back, this was the most trauma bonded TARDIS team the show ever had with each of the companions suffering from the death of loved ones. Consider the following: 1) Adric lost his brother and was separated from his universe for good 2) Tegan's Aunt is murdered at the hands of the Master 3) Nyssa - Give this poor girl a lifetime of free therapy. In one fell swoop, her stepmother is murdered, her entire home world and surrounding star system wiped out of existence and her beloved father has now been taken over by the Master And given how young they were, the scars would have run incredibly deep. Their travels with the fifth Doctor (looking back) were one of discovery and wonder but at a deep, personal cost to each of them.
'"Us", like I'm a part of it.' Well, you are in the spa! I also really like the captain in this story. He gives me Brigadier vibes, supporting the Doctor's plans against stuffy protestors. And it was cool that Matthew Waterhouse replied to one of your tweets!
I hope you feel better soon, Jess! If I recall correctly, "Time-Flight" was nearly Tom Baker's final story, but it was held over to the next year. Featuring Concorde in Doctor Who was a huge coup at the time and afforded the series a lot of publicity. Part One managed to gain 9 million viewers! Coming at the end of the season, it's painfully clear the budget was severely strained, and it resulted in a less than stellar production.
to be honest… i totally forgot this episode existed :’D I always like when doctor who features things that were new-ish or topical at the time, so i guess including concorde as part of the plot gives me some joy.
I love that classic Who never let its budget stand in the way of ambitious stories although putting it at the end of the season when money is lowest may not be the best move. I have no idea why the Master is pretending to be Khaleed as it doesn't serve any real purpose. I do love the fact that whilst Anthony Ainley is spouting his magical speech that Peter Davison looks like he is trying hard to contain a laugh. Great supporting cast.
The thing I love the most about this is how game the Alpha Charlie crew are to just go along with the insanity. We've time-travelled into prehistory with a crazy alien dude battling yet another crazy alien dude and are in a fight for survival? Cool, we're in! Get the toolkit!
Here's a story very much of its time! Concorde was very famous around then for being the first ever passenger airline that broke the sound barrier, and of course that iconic design etc. So it was shoehorned into Dr Who!
Great reaction Jess. "Timeflight" is a story that tends to be held in rather low regard among Doctor Who fans, but personally I liked it. Not among the very best Doctor Who stories, but I found it entertaining and interesting at least.
Many people think the master's disguise in this does not make sense, but if you consider the purpose may have been to mess with the Doctor, it not only makes sense but actually suceeds at acheiving that goal.
Some commentators suggest that 1980s Doctor Who never recovered from the success of 'Earthshock'. And while there would be plenty of highlights to come that decade, it did set a ridiculously high bar - which 'Time-Flight' sadly fails to reach. The central irony, of course, is that it's written by the man who directed the previous 4 episodes - Peter Grimwade - but while he managed to create tension from behind the camera, this script is way too full of conceptual 'stuff' to fully engage. I guess you win some, you lose some.
Season 20 definitely dipped a fair bit but the true peak for me was The Five Doctors. That was the high watermark and it never seemed quite the same after that.
I am enjoying the Captain Stapley actor in The Brothers on Talking Pictures TV at the moment (via the wonders of the internet), made about 7 years before this but he looks and acts just the same! It's a series which Colin Baker made his name in, though Colin hasn't shown up yet...
Despite competition from both Russia and America (who abandoned their grand supersonic plane to concentrate on space), the Anglo-French Concorde was a real technological triumph for the UK and its nearest continental neighbour. My aunt lived down on the south west coast and you could hear the boom as it lanced through the sound barrier, on the way to a country you're much more familiar with...
Tegan is right. The ship didn't have to have Adric on it. The highly rated Waters of Mars has a similar issue. I think the lady in it only has to appear like she's died. She could have been brought to the other end of the galaxy.
Adrics appearing in an illusion was solely to keep his name in the credits of tv guides and not ruin the surprise. The story moves on from his death extremely quickly but that was the nature of tv in those days. Thankfully modern who has fixed this in very recent times making it clear that both Tegan and The Doctor are still affected by his death.
The characters obviously felt strong emotions when they had to but the series mostly kept those moments private and off-screen. It’s clear from 5 saying that the members of the Freighter had been returned home that there is a gap between Earthshock and this in which Nyssa and Tegan got over the worst of their grief…
I enjoyed this one my second now I am a 5th Doctor fan confirmed story. It does look rushed and not complete. You get to experience an industry that no longer exists - supersonic passenger flight. That did not end well, another story.
The Master's disguise choice is a bit problematic, probably even back then, but nowadays... it is not an appropriation that has aged well. My headcannon is, this is the Master, he doesn't care about being offensive. Always been a little underwhelmed by the emotional fallout of the previous story not being explored at all, but then this was Saturday afternoon viewing, not prime time drama. Glad Big Finish audio and The Power of the Doctor covers this again, and Tales of the TARDIS too.
They seemed awfully quick to discontinued them all considering there one only one fatal accident. 747s seemingly drop out of the sky every few years and no-one bats an eye-lid. I guess ultimately it must have come down to money rather than loss of life.
The most notable actor in this story is Michael Cashman, now Lord Cashman, who plays one of the pilots. He went on to a long-running role on Eastenders, where he performed the first gay kiss on a British soap. He is a leading campaigner on LGBT rights, and was appointed to the House of Lords as a Labour peer.
Talk about going from the sublime to the ridiculous! The real Concord aircraft apart, coming straight after Earthshock this is pretty bad with some of the worst 'monsters' to ever appear in Who, and that's saying something! It's not even the last time in Peter Davison's era that we get subjected to the indignity of these 'end of season blues'.
I do say Seska it is worth viewing science fiction series such as , Blake,s Seven, Sapphire and Steel, the Tomorrow People form the 1970s Lost in Space and also Star Maidens if you have not see these sci-fi series yet Seska,
Considering what the 13th Doctor did to bring Clara back, it really doesn't make sense why the 5th Doctor didn't consider Tegan's idea of going back in time and rescuing Adric seconds before the freighter exploded.
They knew Adric was an active player aboard the freighter, I treating with it, trying to change its course. Changing that could wipe Earth history. Did not know that eventually a Cyberman shot the console stopping him
When Tegan mentions rescuing, Adric I find the doctor's response puzzling. Unless Adric's death was part of a fixed moment in time, rescuing a character moments before the death wouldn't make any difference to the timeline or change history
It could be that the Doctor is reluctant to interfere because he doesn't know exactly what was taking place onboard the Freighter, and if interfering with it, it would cause too much change to history.
He knows Adric is trying to change the freighter's course, so he is actively doing something. Does not know that eventually a Cyberman shot the console stopping him
I've never understood how Tegan was wrong - we know the freighter crashed but not that Adric died, but it's plot armour I guess. And they spent so long filming with the Concorde, yet that interior shot of the plane at the start looks absolutely nothing like it!
The Time Lords were forbidden to cross their own individual time trails which is why the Doctor reacted so angrily when Tegan asked him to go back for Adric.
I always appreciate that first scene in the TARDIS. But I always crave more. 😕 Fortunately several audio dramas by Big Finish as well as the references in The Power of the Doctor have dealt with the outcome of Adric's death. They greatly underplay it on TV, mostly so the usual weird and wonderful Doctor Who plot can get along. But... but... Adric.
As I recall, this story only exists because BBC execs worked out a quid pro quo to feature the Concorde and script changes in exchange for free flights. British Airways had some dialogue changed to make the British Airways characters sound better and had a bunch of names changed to avoid using names that coincided with actual Airways employees. It's also pretty notorious for being a "We ran out of budget" story, that no one enjoyed making.
No need for apologies, you seemed perfectly normal to me and we appreciate you recording despite feeling below par. If this story had been done during the Davies or even especially during the Moffat era they wouldve had the Doc just go back and save Adric but this was when the show had the guts to keep events changed and not just have the Doc wave his maguc wand to undo them like youd get now, removing any stakes or real danger. Ofcourse the actual reason Adric died was cos they wanted to write the actor out but still. Main characters are never in real danger these days. Even Clara was given a get out of jail card.
This is one of the episodes in which I feel that the Master starts to descend into self-parody, using an elaborate disguise for no good reason other than because he's the Master and the Master uses disguises. They do the same thing in a later episode (hint: straw).
Wait, I thought that shot at 6:12 was the Concorde that disappeared. Showing that they've landed in the ice age, or something. But a plane? About to take off? With snow on the ground? In Britain? Impossible!!!
It’s plain to see that the budget for season 19 ran out after Earthshock was completed, which is why Time-Flight as a story looks cheap and tacky. Even the story doesn’t have much going for it, with the only draw to hook the viewer in being the use of Concorde. JNT as producer liked to think big in ways to promote the show, and getting permission from British Airways to use Concorde was a real coup when this story was made back in 1981. Only 5 years previously, Concorde had begun its daily flights to New York and Bahrain, so using the world’s first supersonic airliner in a Doctor Who story suited both parties: British Airways got additional exposure regarding the Concorde, and the use of Concorde gave the story a shot in the arm in what otherwise seemed a very run of the mill idea that the show really shouldn’t have commissioned. The return of the Master wasn’t that much of a surprise and dressing Anthony Ainley up in robes and oriental make-up to disguise himself only to the audience watching from home (The Master wouldn’t have needed to disguise himself to anyone other than The Doctor), seemed pretty pointless. All in all, a poor story to end what was a great season overall.
I do say Earthshock would have been, a better season finale than this story and also it was a shame in billions of ways Dr Who during the 5th Doctors era was no longer on Saturday like it had been when it stated in 1963 in black and white with Bill Hartnell if Dr Who had stayed on its usual Saturday tea time slot it would have been better.
This story . . . is a story. It feels like, since Adric and Tegan had had "their" stories, this was Nyssa's turn to be possessed/controlled. My biggest question of this will always be, WHY is The Master in disguise?!? As many times as I've seen this, I just don't see what difference it made, except, "Surprise!!". This does have very good side characters and some good ideas, but especially after Earthshock, it's mostly meh.
The professor isn't just a skeptic at least at the beginning, he's more like what I would call a debunker. Any truly legitimate scientists is going to have an open mind to things they don't know or understand despite whatever history or knowledge they already have.
I will never not laugh at John Nathan Turner's conceit for billing Anthony Ainley as Leon Ny Taiy (an anagram) in this. It's a kind of meta-device in a way. After all, Roger Delgado's Master was always hiding behind aliases like 'Mr Magister'. It's entertaining - but whether it's real drama is open to debate.
This story was apparently according to many sources of information a possible Tom Baker, story and it was brought about two years before the story was aired and the Master was not the original choice of principal villain to appear in Time Flight. The chinaman Kalid was originally to be the principal villain and it would IMO have been billions of times better the reveal Kalid was the Doctor,s Time Lord arch-enemy the Master was very disappointing and there was really no need for the Master to appear in this story.
This one isn't great but it's not the worst like a lot of people say. Too much ambition and not enough money describes it perfectly. Completely forgettable fluff, nothing more nothing less. Nice reaction Jess. Hope you get better soon.❤
Yeah... I really can't defend that one. It's one of the biggest drops in quality from one story to another in "Doctor Who." From the brilliance of "Earthshock" to the boring mess that "Time-Flight" is. That said, the captain is a good character.
No, the professor was played by James Hayter who died in 1983 only 2 years after this story was made. He was in films from 1936 including some Hammer horrors and was briefly one of the regular cast of Are You Being Served?
Ok going from Earthshock, the best story from the 5th Doctor’s era to one of the worst from of his era. Time-Flight! I hate Time-Flight it’s absolutely tedious and Rubbish, although there is a story from 5th Doctor i hate even more but more on that when we get there.
Shame this one and four to doomsday was the lowest and worst of this season the aftermath of adrics death was low-key this was a bad season finale for the 5th doctor it should have been earthshock
Interesting is not what I would probaly describe this story it's ok but it's not the greatest i feel "Earthshock" should had been the last in the season finale jess sometimes i feel your just being polite you can say it's crap if you think it's crap or you don't like a story we won't be offended just be honest but if you did really like it then great too but it's ok to say you didn't.
I maintain that The Doctor could easily have gone back and saved Adric (his presence on the Freighter or lack of it wouldn't matter either way) he just didn't want to.
Time-Flight is not only one of the absolute low points of the Fifth Doctor's Era, it's also one of the worst Doctor Who stories ever. Misguided and over-ambitious considering that they almost practically ran out of money by that stage, resulting in an inexplicably boring and badly written story. The idea of planes flying back in time to prehistoric Earth is a good idea on its own, but the execution leaves something to be desired. Even Peter Davison has stated that this was the biggest disappointment of his era.
Also, extremely complex exposition in order to get the 'plot' across. I well suspect there was a moment or two there when Pete was thinking, "I wish I was back in The Drovers with a pint!"
The next one is worse than this. At least this one is engaging despite the plot being pure unfiltered crap… Jess might as well fall asleep through the next one, would be more interesting…
Khalid is... yeah, at best completely unnecessary. At worst, galloping racism and utterly bizarre strangeness just for strangeness' sake. Why in world would the Master need to do that? As an evil wizard of prehistoric Oz, he needed no Arabian melty face disguise and silly character.
@joshuaverran9443 seriously? I mean, I saw it as racist in the 80s, and I was a kid. Why is an Arabian guy in the era of dinosaurs? What the hell is he doing? Oh, wait. He's not that? I later learn it's basically pantomime tradition. Aladdin is big in pantomime. And I didn't learn about British pantomime for a few more years. Not til I was about 13. But it never made Khalid make sense or not seem strangely culturally specific.
Cool factoid about Adric's appearance here - Matthew Waterhouse was publicly billed to appear in this in Radio Times so nobody would suspect his departure would take place in the previous story. Another sneaky move from the production team ensuring Earthshock achieved maximum impact...much like Adric himself on the planet.
Also Captain Stapley appreciation squad let's gooo!
However the fact that he was listed last in the overall cast, way past the other regulars, sort of gave the game away. Fandom knew for months he was going, albeit not the manner of his departure.
OK, that's a brutally funny line about impact!
@@johntomlinson6849 Maybe some fans involved in organised fandom did (or thought they did), but that would only have been a tiny fraction of the audience. Also, there are various examples from earlier episodes of companions being billed after other actors.
@@andrewgwilliam4831 Nope, organised fandom absolutely knew - it was a headline months before in Celestial Toyroom. All of the departures and arrivals were always announced. I concede it was only a small part of the audience but would question how may others assiduously check the RT billings.
Lovely Canadian actor who sadly passed a few years back -- would NEVER have guessed her wasn't British until I looked him up! :-)
I always like the Doctor referencing Adric’s brother at the beginning.
The writer directed "Full Circle", too.
This is the most airporty story since "The Faceless Ones"🎩
Possibly the nicest thing anyone's ever said about Time-Flight :)
It's incredibly heartwarming that The Doctor thinks The Brigadier is worthy of being promoted to a General. After everything they've been through together, the Doctor knows his friend deserves it.
"So bad that i go delirious and start calling Tegan Susan" lmao.
Or perhaps so delirious she sees Adric... :)
An intersting Note: Anthony Ainley is credited under the pseudonym Leon Ny Taiy in part one's credits to disguise the fact that Kalid was actually the Master. "Leon Ny Taiy" is an anagram of "Tony Ainley", a similar trick to disguising the identity of the Portreeve in Castrovalva.
For those questioning the amount of grief shown for Adric at the beginning.
This script was written well before Earthshock, paid for, and pre production was already in progress. They didn't know Adric would be killed.
The short scene we did get was all they could fit in at the very last moment. They also added the ghost Adric part.
Nuts to think this was written by the DIRECTOR of "Earthshock" -- you'd think THAT would've given him a head's-up!
@@blofeld39 It's just the "unique" way BBC made tv lol. No time given for plans. Nothing :) It's amazing anything was watchable.
@@papalaz4444244 Oh, I know. It's also a miracle we've got one of the studio recordings for this story, and seeing Davison getting upset about the dialogue is GOLD.
@@blofeld39where can you find the studio recordings I'd love to see that?
@@mikalmos369 They used to be on TH-cam. They certainly are on the Blu-ray box set for Season 19 I own!
In the big finish audios it covers more of the 5th doctor's grief for Adric and shows how much he struggled with his death and the fact he will always keep it with him the grief
@provisionalhypothesisif I remember correctly not only were the results mixed, and ultimately more tragic than good. I'm trying not to be too spoiler here. Partly I don't remember all the details either. To me it was more of a Coda to his story than an actual ending
Spare Parts has a powerful moment where Nyssa brings up Adric to Five
The Fifth Doctor's telepathic blindness amused the Master to no end. For once his collection of wigs, makeup, and false noses didn't just fool the humans...
I really appreciate the Master uses disguises still
Something that's always bugged me about this episode is why the Master is wearing his disguise. The aliens are telepathic and aren't deceived by it, the people from Concorde are under his hypnotic control, he could just tell them he's a fat, vaguely oriental wizard if he wanted them to view him as such and they'd believe it without going to the trouble of putting the costume on. Presumably he's just doing it to f**k with the Doctor, but he's already wearing the full outfit when the second Concorde arrives and before he knows the Doctor's on board. Is he worried about being recognized by a dinosaur? Why a fat, vaguely Oriental wizard in the first place? It makes one long for the simplicity of Roger Delgado's rubber masks.😅
Hitherto untold fact! He only turned evil after he was denied the lead role in the Time Lord academy's class production of Springtime For Davros. As a frustrated thespian he often dressed up and entertained himself reciting Shakespeare, Gox of Voopa, Nimm the Lesser and other famous playwrights from across the galaxies.
I think he just got off on it, lol.
Ah yes, the episode that only put Adric in part 2 so they could hide his death in the last episode from the press. “he won’t die this week, here’s this weeks cast list”!
Also this trip of a story is the best one to do whilst ill!
Looking back, this was the most trauma bonded TARDIS team the show ever had with each of the companions suffering from the death of loved ones. Consider the following:
1) Adric lost his brother and was separated from his universe for good
2) Tegan's Aunt is murdered at the hands of the Master
3) Nyssa - Give this poor girl a lifetime of free therapy. In one fell swoop, her stepmother is murdered, her entire home world and surrounding star system wiped out of existence and her beloved father has now been taken over by the Master
And given how young they were, the scars would have run incredibly deep. Their travels with the fifth Doctor (looking back) were one of discovery and wonder but at a deep, personal cost to each of them.
'"Us", like I'm a part of it.' Well, you are in the spa!
I also really like the captain in this story. He gives me Brigadier vibes, supporting the Doctor's plans against stuffy protestors. And it was cool that Matthew Waterhouse replied to one of your tweets!
I hope you feel better soon, Jess! If I recall correctly, "Time-Flight" was nearly Tom Baker's final story, but it was held over to the next year. Featuring Concorde in Doctor Who was a huge coup at the time and afforded the series a lot of publicity. Part One managed to gain 9 million viewers! Coming at the end of the season, it's painfully clear the budget was severely strained, and it resulted in a less than stellar production.
to be honest… i totally forgot this episode existed :’D
I always like when doctor who features things that were new-ish or topical at the time, so i guess including concorde as part of the plot gives me some joy.
I love that classic Who never let its budget stand in the way of ambitious stories although putting it at the end of the season when money is lowest may not be the best move. I have no idea why the Master is pretending to be Khaleed as it doesn't serve any real purpose. I do love the fact that whilst Anthony Ainley is spouting his magical speech that Peter Davison looks like he is trying hard to contain a laugh. Great supporting cast.
The thing I love the most about this is how game the Alpha Charlie crew are to just go along with the insanity. We've time-travelled into prehistory with a crazy alien dude battling yet another crazy alien dude and are in a fight for survival? Cool, we're in! Get the toolkit!
Here's a story very much of its time! Concorde was very famous around then for being the first ever passenger airline that broke the sound barrier, and of course that iconic design etc. So it was shoehorned into Dr Who!
Great reaction Jess. "Timeflight" is a story that tends to be held in rather low regard among Doctor Who fans, but personally I liked it. Not among the very best Doctor Who stories, but I found it entertaining and interesting at least.
As a Frasier fan, it was great when the actor who played Captain Stapley appeared in an episode 🙂
Think he also plays a policeman in the movie Pride
"I qvit!"
Best known as one of The Brothers, a long running prime time soap.
You're great Jess, wouldn't have known you're not feeling well! Thanks for soldiering on :)
Many people think the master's disguise in this does not make sense, but if you consider the purpose may have been to mess with the Doctor, it not only makes sense but actually suceeds at acheiving that goal.
Some commentators suggest that 1980s Doctor Who never recovered from the success of 'Earthshock'. And while there would be plenty of highlights to come that decade, it did set a ridiculously high bar - which 'Time-Flight' sadly fails to reach. The central irony, of course, is that it's written by the man who directed the previous 4 episodes - Peter Grimwade - but while he managed to create tension from behind the camera, this script is way too full of conceptual 'stuff' to fully engage. I guess you win some, you lose some.
Season 20 definitely dipped a fair bit but the true peak for me was The Five Doctors. That was the high watermark and it never seemed quite the same after that.
I am enjoying the Captain Stapley actor in The Brothers on Talking Pictures TV at the moment (via the wonders of the internet), made about 7 years before this but he looks and acts just the same! It's a series which Colin Baker made his name in, though Colin hasn't shown up yet...
Delirious, headachey - perfect conditions for watching Time-Flight
Proving once and for all The Master went to the school of method acting
So bloody ridiculous, why does the Master even bother to have that Chinese guy disguise beyond being bored 😂
Concorde was the most expensive prop in Doctor Who history
Despite competition from both Russia and America (who abandoned their grand supersonic plane to concentrate on space), the Anglo-French Concorde was a real technological triumph for the UK and its nearest continental neighbour. My aunt lived down on the south west coast and you could hear the boom as it lanced through the sound barrier, on the way to a country you're much more familiar with...
Tegan is right. The ship didn't have to have Adric on it.
The highly rated Waters of Mars has a similar issue. I think the lady in it only has to appear like she's died. She could have been brought to the other end of the galaxy.
To be fair, he never liked him.
All the way through Hell Bent, all I could think was; blimey, he really didn't like Adric!
Maybe it did because he was doing tweaks to its course. They don't know that a Cyberman eventually shot the console stopping him
Adrics appearing in an illusion was solely to keep his name in the credits of tv guides and not ruin the surprise. The story moves on from his death extremely quickly but that was the nature of tv in those days. Thankfully modern who has fixed this in very recent times making it clear that both Tegan and The Doctor are still affected by his death.
The characters obviously felt strong emotions when they had to but the series mostly kept those moments private and off-screen.
It’s clear from 5 saying that the members of the Freighter had been returned home that there is a gap between Earthshock and this in which Nyssa and Tegan got over the worst of their grief…
@@thetalonsofwaynechiang can you imagine if this happened with the 15th Doctor, he'd never stop crying! 😭
You say "solely", but the Adric illusion scene is nicely a further piece of dealing with it
I enjoyed this one my second now I am a 5th Doctor fan confirmed story. It does look rushed and not complete. You get to experience an industry that no longer exists - supersonic passenger flight. That did not end well, another story.
The airport bits would have made for an interesting edition of Airline had they been shot 20 years later…
I don't know if there's a word for being overambitious and underambitious simultaneously, but if there was it would be Time-Flight
5th Doctor: I Don't Understand
The Master: No Doctor You Never Do Understand HAHA You Never Do HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
*cough cough* HAHAHAHAHAHA
The Master's disguise choice is a bit problematic, probably even back then, but nowadays... it is not an appropriation that has aged well. My headcannon is, this is the Master, he doesn't care about being offensive.
Always been a little underwhelmed by the emotional fallout of the previous story not being explored at all, but then this was Saturday afternoon viewing, not prime time drama. Glad Big Finish audio and The Power of the Doctor covers this again, and Tales of the TARDIS too.
If anything the Master would take delight in being offensive! Especially as he regards human beings as a lower form of life than a Time Lord.
Not Saturday afternoon viewing in the UK. This season was broadcast on weekday evenings.
the Adric illusion scene provides a bit
The 'final' Concorde crashed in July 2000 killing all on board.
They seemed awfully quick to discontinued them all considering there one only one fatal accident.
747s seemingly drop out of the sky every few years and no-one bats an eye-lid.
I guess ultimately it must have come down to money rather than loss of life.
The most notable actor in this story is Michael Cashman, now Lord Cashman, who plays one of the pilots. He went on to a long-running role on Eastenders, where he performed the first gay kiss on a British soap. He is a leading campaigner on LGBT rights, and was appointed to the House of Lords as a Labour peer.
Talk about going from the sublime to the ridiculous! The real Concord aircraft apart, coming straight after Earthshock this is pretty bad with some of the worst 'monsters' to ever appear in Who, and that's saying something! It's not even the last time in Peter Davison's era that we get subjected to the indignity of these 'end of season blues'.
I do say Seska it is worth viewing science fiction series such as , Blake,s Seven, Sapphire and Steel, the Tomorrow People form the 1970s Lost in Space and also Star Maidens if you have not see these sci-fi series yet Seska,
Considering what the 13th Doctor did to bring Clara back, it really doesn't make sense why the 5th Doctor didn't consider Tegan's idea of going back in time and rescuing Adric seconds before the freighter exploded.
They knew Adric was an active player aboard the freighter, I treating with it, trying to change its course. Changing that could wipe Earth history. Did not know that eventually a Cyberman shot the console stopping him
I always like the start of this one.
When Tegan mentions rescuing, Adric I find the doctor's response puzzling. Unless Adric's death was part of a fixed moment in time, rescuing a character moments before the death wouldn't make any difference to the timeline or change history
It could be that the Doctor is reluctant to interfere because he doesn't know exactly what was taking place onboard the Freighter, and if interfering with it, it would cause too much change to history.
He knows Adric is trying to change the freighter's course, so he is actively doing something. Does not know that eventually a Cyberman shot the console stopping him
@@conscienceaginBlackadder possibly not as the freighter crew would've told him what they accomplished prior to escaping
I've never understood how Tegan was wrong - we know the freighter crashed but not that Adric died, but it's plot armour I guess. And they spent so long filming with the Concorde, yet that interior shot of the plane at the start looks absolutely nothing like it!
The Time Lords were forbidden to cross their own individual time trails which is why the Doctor reacted so angrily when Tegan asked him to go back for Adric.
Adric was actively making a difference aboard the freighter, tweaking it's course. They don't know a Cyberman eventually shot the console stopping him
I always appreciate that first scene in the TARDIS. But I always crave more. 😕 Fortunately several audio dramas by Big Finish as well as the references in The Power of the Doctor have dealt with the outcome of Adric's death. They greatly underplay it on TV, mostly so the usual weird and wonderful Doctor Who plot can get along. But... but... Adric.
the Adric illusion scene is more
@@conscienceaginBlackadder but still so not enough. It's nice.
I just wonder how the Master escaped Castrovalva, since his tardis was stuck in there, too.
As I recall, this story only exists because BBC execs worked out a quid pro quo to feature the Concorde and script changes in exchange for free flights. British Airways had some dialogue changed to make the British Airways characters sound better and had a bunch of names changed to avoid using names that coincided with actual Airways employees.
It's also pretty notorious for being a "We ran out of budget" story, that no one enjoyed making.
THANKS for this, @sesskasays!!! #DoctorWho #FifthDoctor #PeterDavison
No need for apologies, you seemed perfectly normal to me and we appreciate you recording despite feeling below par. If this story had been done during the Davies or even especially during the Moffat era they wouldve had the Doc just go back and save Adric but this was when the show had the guts to keep events changed and not just have the Doc wave his maguc wand to undo them like youd get now, removing any stakes or real danger. Ofcourse the actual reason Adric died was cos they wanted to write the actor out but still. Main characters are never in real danger these days. Even Clara was given a get out of jail card.
I've seen every episode of Doctor Who, classic and new, and I've never watched this one before.
The Master of disguise
This is one of the episodes in which I feel that the Master starts to descend into self-parody, using an elaborate disguise for no good reason other than because he's the Master and the Master uses disguises. They do the same thing in a later episode (hint: straw).
Wait, I thought that shot at 6:12 was the Concorde that disappeared. Showing that they've landed in the ice age, or something. But a plane? About to take off? With snow on the ground? In Britain? Impossible!!!
It’s plain to see that the budget for season 19 ran out after Earthshock was completed, which is why Time-Flight as a story looks cheap and tacky. Even the story doesn’t have much going for it, with the only draw to hook the viewer in being the use of Concorde.
JNT as producer liked to think big in ways to promote the show, and getting permission from British Airways to use Concorde was a real coup when this story was made back in 1981. Only 5 years previously, Concorde had begun its daily flights to New York and Bahrain, so using the world’s first supersonic airliner in a Doctor Who story suited both parties: British Airways got additional exposure regarding the Concorde, and the use of Concorde gave the story a shot in the arm in what otherwise seemed a very run of the mill idea that the show really shouldn’t have commissioned.
The return of the Master wasn’t that much of a surprise and dressing Anthony Ainley up in robes and oriental make-up to disguise himself only to the audience watching from home (The Master wouldn’t have needed to disguise himself to anyone other than The Doctor), seemed pretty pointless. All in all, a poor story to end what was a great season overall.
The slowest, slow moving monsters. You're welcome, Jess
I do say Earthshock would have been, a better season finale than this story and also it was a shame in billions of ways Dr Who during the 5th Doctors era was no longer on Saturday like it had been when it stated in 1963 in black and white with Bill Hartnell if Dr Who had stayed on its usual Saturday tea time slot it would have been better.
This story . . . is a story. It feels like, since Adric and Tegan had had "their" stories, this was Nyssa's turn to be possessed/controlled. My biggest question of this will always be, WHY is The Master in disguise?!? As many times as I've seen this, I just don't see what difference it made, except, "Surprise!!". This does have very good side characters and some good ideas, but especially after Earthshock, it's mostly meh.
The professor isn't just a skeptic at least at the beginning, he's more like what I would call a debunker. Any truly legitimate scientists is going to have an open mind to things they don't know or understand despite whatever history or knowledge they already have.
I will never not laugh at John Nathan Turner's conceit for billing Anthony Ainley as Leon Ny Taiy (an anagram) in this. It's a kind of meta-device in a way. After all, Roger Delgado's Master was always hiding behind aliases like 'Mr Magister'. It's entertaining - but whether it's real drama is open to debate.
Gonna keep trying to recommend that you react to The Expanse! I hope you decide to since you completed 2 shows recently. I know you’ll love it Jess!
27:22 Zahi Hawass in a nutshell.
This story was apparently according to many sources of information a possible Tom Baker, story and it was brought about two years before the story was aired and the Master was not the original choice of principal villain to appear in Time Flight. The chinaman Kalid was originally to be the principal villain and it would IMO have been billions of times better the reveal Kalid was the Doctor,s Time Lord arch-enemy the Master was very disappointing and there was really no need for the Master to appear in this story.
The Plasmaturds are an appalling design lol
they'd get on well well with Omega's blob things I feel.
@@TheZodiacz At least the Gelguards don't look like faeces LOL
This one isn't great but it's not the worst like a lot of people say. Too much ambition and not enough money describes it perfectly. Completely forgettable fluff, nothing more nothing less.
Nice reaction Jess. Hope you get better soon.❤
From the sublime.....
I love Time-Flight, it's such a fun story with some of the best and funniest supporting characters in the show in my opinion.
Yeah... I really can't defend that one. It's one of the biggest drops in quality from one story to another in "Doctor Who." From the brilliance of "Earthshock" to the boring mess that "Time-Flight" is.
That said, the captain is a good character.
Comparatively speaking, yes Time Flight falls to the bottom... but I don't mind the serial itself.
12:04 Kidnapped by boogers.....
Is the professor the doctor from Space Force?
No, the professor was played by James Hayter who died in 1983 only 2 years after this story was made. He was in films from 1936 including some Hammer horrors and was briefly one of the regular cast of Are You Being Served?
@@TheZodiacz thank you! This actor’s voice is so familiar tho.
Ok going from Earthshock, the best story from the 5th Doctor’s era to one of the worst from of his era. Time-Flight! I hate Time-Flight it’s absolutely tedious and Rubbish, although there is a story from 5th Doctor i hate even more but more on that when we get there.
hmm, best?
@@TheZodiacz sorry I should say in my opinion, my bad
There are a lot of problems with the story, but some of the writing is pretty good
Yeah...this one's a lot...
oh this one… sorry
7…
Shame this one and four to doomsday was the lowest and worst of this season the aftermath of adrics death was low-key this was a bad season finale for the 5th doctor it should have been earthshock
Interesting is not what I would probaly describe this story it's ok but it's not the greatest i feel "Earthshock" should had been the last in the season finale jess sometimes i feel your just being polite you can say it's crap if you think it's crap or you don't like a story we won't be offended just be honest but if you did really like it then great too but it's ok to say you didn't.
😁😁😁😁😁😅😅😅😅👏👏👏👏
I maintain that The Doctor could easily have gone back and saved Adric (his presence on the Freighter or lack of it wouldn't matter either way) he just didn't want to.
How does he know that won't wipe out human history ? They know Adric had an active purpose aboard the freighter, trying to change its course
Time-Flight is not only one of the absolute low points of the Fifth Doctor's Era, it's also one of the worst Doctor Who stories ever. Misguided and over-ambitious considering that they almost practically ran out of money by that stage, resulting in an inexplicably boring and badly written story. The idea of planes flying back in time to prehistoric Earth is a good idea on its own, but the execution leaves something to be desired. Even Peter Davison has stated that this was the biggest disappointment of his era.
Also, extremely complex exposition in order to get the 'plot' across. I well suspect there was a moment or two there when Pete was thinking, "I wish I was back in The Drovers with a pint!"
The next one is worse than this. At least this one is engaging despite the plot being pure unfiltered crap…
Jess might as well fall asleep through the next one, would be more interesting…
It's not that bad. More recent ones are worse
OK story ,loved watching as a kid ,the masters reveal
That is utter garbage. This isn't a great ep but is lots of fun, imaginative and has vast ambition.
Khalid is... yeah, at best completely unnecessary. At worst, galloping racism and utterly bizarre strangeness just for strangeness' sake. Why in world would the Master need to do that? As an evil wizard of prehistoric Oz, he needed no Arabian melty face disguise and silly character.
Oh for christ sake no one one saw it at as racism plus it was a different time.
@joshuaverran9443 seriously? I mean, I saw it as racist in the 80s, and I was a kid. Why is an Arabian guy in the era of dinosaurs? What the hell is he doing? Oh, wait. He's not that? I later learn it's basically pantomime tradition. Aladdin is big in pantomime. And I didn't learn about British pantomime for a few more years. Not til I was about 13. But it never made Khalid make sense or not seem strangely culturally specific.
@@meropetied Well you must be the only one then because I never heard anyone complain about it.
God it’s bad….
Time-Flight one of the worst ever ever ever Classic Stories!
It's funny that three of the worst stories all have "time" in the title.
The most pointless disguise in doctor who history. Lol but fun anyway. 😂
No that would be his next one...