"Enlightenment wasn't the diamond, enlightenment was the choice" is one of my favourite lines in the show and the Guardians (and their birds) facing off is such an epic scene. It's a small thing but both Valentine Dyall _and_ Cyril Luckham reprising their roles from the Key to Time season makes it even better. Kudos to the Eternal actors too - Keith Barron's dry blankness as Striker, Lynda Baron's cackling glee as Wrack and especially Christopher Brown's eerie, ethereal 'lust' as Marriner, "Love. What is love? I want existence" another great line - all different but compelling takes on a brilliant conception.
Don't forget Leslie McGregor "Leee" John, playing Wrack's 1st Mate, his casual/sensual delivery was always so much of what gave her crew some character. But yeah RIP Dyall, what an Amazing Voice!
Enlightenment is such a great, brilliantly surreal story. The concept of sea ships flying in deep space is amazing and the visual is actually really well achieved. I also love how this story explores immortality and how it shows the Eternals are hollow, emotionless shells that need ephemerals to actually feel something and entertain them. This manifests itself in some very strange and disturbing ways, such as that guy becoming obsessed with Tegan, but as the story goes on you realise he truly doesn't mean any harm and he's genuinely fascinated by Tegan and doesn't even know what the concept of love is. The moment he fades away at the end is strangely poignant and tragic. With all of this context, it makes sense that the Black Guardian has lured all the Eternals into a race where the winner will achieve enlightenment. They all want some purpose to their lives and some, like Captain Wrack, will go to any lengths to attain it. I love how this intertwines with Turlough's arc. He's still struggling with the prospect of killing the Doctor and in the end is offered the choice of murdering the Doctor and gaining enlightenment or rejecting it and allowing the Doctor to live. He makes his choice and proves to himself once and for all that he's not a cold blooded killer. In the end, as the Doctor says, no one is ever truly ready for enlightenment. This is a truly great story and the best of this season imo. I love it.
The eternals have been referenced a few times in the revival. 10: "My people called it the void; the Eternals called it the howling" in Army of Ghosts. Lilith: "The Eternals found the right word to banish us" in The Shakespeare Code. Zellin: "The Eternals have their games; the Guardians have their power struggles" in Can You Hear Me? and probably more.
Captain Wrack was played by Lynda Baron, who also sang THE LAST CHANCE SALOON in all it's entirety😄from 'The Gunfighters'. Forgot that she also appeared in 'Closing Time'. Not forgetting of course, 'Come Outside' with the polka dot plane and dear ol' Pippin.
@@BrodieVickers-tk9sd it's a shame she doesnt know more about the British scene of the 60s, 70s and 80s as she'd be spotting actors all over the place like we are. Peter Davison himself has certainly done other shows she might like such as All Creatures Great and Small or The Last Detective. He really does have quite a body of work outside of doctor who.
What I love about the first 2 episodes of this reaction is that Jessica started singing the words “imagination, imagination!”And by coincidence Captain wracks 1st mate was played by Leee John (yes he spelt it with 3 ‘e’s) was lead singer in the British Soul band Imagination! They had hits in the 80’s like illusion.
Captain Wrack - played by Lynda Baron. Who is known for playing Aunt Mabel in Come Outside, a British children’s show. Also, she was in Closing Time as a shop assistant and The Gunfighters as the one who sings The Last Chance Saloon.
It used to be commonly remarked that since his first celery was from Adric's mathematical model of Castrovalva, and it was replaced by this stick from the Eternal's recreation of earth food from ephemeral memories, that the Doctor never had any *real* celery on his coat at any stage.
“Enlightenment was the choice.” -Peter Davison WHAT A QUOTE! Anyway, Barbara Clegg did an absolutely fantastic job putting this story into book form! This tv story is pretty good, but as a book in novelization form it’s even better!
IMDB doesn't have much information on Barbara Clegg, though bizarrely mentions her height (5'3")! Shortly before Who she worked on the 1980-81 soap "Together" which was shown a few times recently on Talking Pictures.
I felt like the Black Guardian should’ve been the returning villain for the new series instead of Sutekh. Even Susan and Harriet’s “Angel of Death” forms reminded me of The Guardian’s servant; The Shadow from the Armageddon Factor. I was thinking Mrs Flood was going to be the White Guardian, and Ruby was going to be revealed as a new Red Guardian or something.
Despite what I think about this story, there’s one thing I do appreciate that is the casting of Lynda Baron as Captain Wrack. Lynda Baron you may remember she was in one of Matt Smith’s episodes (Closing Time) but for me I remember her from my childhood in a show called Come Outside. Where she used to fly around in her Polka Dot plane with her dog Pippin.
I do love this story. I remember Lynda Baron from the Ronnie Barker comedy 'Open All Hours'. This was such a departure from how I knew her. She's infinitely adored 😁
@@Problembeing Yup - people who saw this live in the early 80s knew her as a series regular Nurse Gladys Emmanuel, Ronnie Barker's love interest in Open All Hours. But I don't think I knew of Leee from Imagination until I was watching the DVD 20+ years later.
@@paulhammond6978 I knew he was a pop star at the time, but I couldn't pinpoint who, though I knew his name at the time. Weirdly. It's such a great ensemble cast. Definitely one of Davison's best stories imo. Really imaginative and visually striking. Lynda Baron really upped the energy of the story when she comes into it, however pantomime villain she is, it's great to see her playing against type :D
The scene where Captain Wrack is talking to the camera or the audience i should say it's called a "soliloquy" like a shakespeare play when characters are talking to themselves in their head but in reality talking the audience which is not an unusal thing and Dr. Who has done it before Tom Baker would often do it and in one of the missing episodes of "The Daleks' Master Plan part 7: The Feast of Steven" which was the only christmas episode had William Hartnell break the fourth wall and wished everyone a merry christmas to everyone at home as Classic Who is basically a theatre play but on television. The actress who plays her Lynda Baron has also been in Dr. Who once before as a different character in the story "The Gunfighters" who sings that annoying song "Last chance saloon" she was also best known for Nurse Gladys Emmanuel in the 70's and 80's british sitcom series "Open All Hours".
Beatrice is a moment of imaginative genius - Dante's guide through Paradise. As for Keith....can't help you, my mind's as blank as an Eternal. So, it's off to the howling void of Eternity with me!
Lynda Baron as Captain Wrack is easily the best thing in this story for me, as she livens things up no end and really embraces the 'hammy pirate villain' thing, which could apply to her character in-universe as well. Her villainous monologuing to the camera at the end of part 3 was a thing of beauty. They actually had some 'wardrobe malfunctions' with Tegan's fabulous costume as it wasn't really designed for modest while running, to the point that there's a take where Peter Davison supposedly ad-libbed ending a line with "Oh and Tegan put your boobs back in". As for Turlough, they probably could have done more with him after this point, lets put it that way. After watching your reaction to the first two parts it occurred to me that this story has at least some similarities with the War Games, with aliens taking humans, making them think they were in their own time and setting and acting as their officers. Their motivations were obviously very different though and in this case it was more for amusement and as manpower in the race.
Although both the Eternals and The Black Guardian have been mentioned in Nu-Who, Valentine Dyall's death in 1985 (he was well into his seventies) robbed us of more screen time with the actor, whose voice was his fortune. I was gratified to read in Tom Baker's autobiography his memories of listening to Dyall - as the narrator known (appropriately) as 'The Man in Black' - on the radio. Something which my mother also recalled, in the days when she recalled anything.
Let's go Beatrice! Biggest star of the episode. This is probably my favourite Fifth Doctor story. The Eternals are so hateable, in a good way. The way you're supposed to hate a bad guy. I love how epic the scale is and Lynda Baron is so awesome as Captain Wrack. She's a scene-stealer. And I loved your reaction to Tegan's dress! I was excited to see what you'd think of it and you didn't disappoint. But I do think that the final scene is a bit of a cop out. The Black Guardian's deal with Turlough was "you kill the Doctor, I take you back to your home planet". He shouldn't have had any claim over the big diamond and Turlough rejecting it shouldn't have made the Guardian burn to a crisp. I also think they wanted us to be more sympathetic to Marriner than we were because Tegan has moments where she's sympathetic towards him too. But he just comes across as a big creep.
This is one of my favourite episode from 5 - This one, Caves, Kinda and Visitation are my favourites. Maybe Enlightenment and Snakedance as favourites from this season.
I remember Mark (Turlough) saying that the crystal was really hot when lit and that his acting pain was actually real pain. He was very happy to let go of it.
I love Peter's almost smug unimpressed look at Turlough at the very end, like he knew all along Turlough was against him and now he's got the black guardian off his back the Doctor kind of sees him as a little pathetic really.
Great story. And love how the Eternals are introduced in this story. I love to see the Black Guardian return. Hopefully portrayed by Charles Dance and has the Trickster working for him. Recently there has been theories that the Doctor is the God of Life. The number of genocides associated with him makes me beg to differ. 'Others will recharge (the White Guardians powers) for me' makes me see the Doctor's role in the grand scheme of the universe as an unwilling agent of the White Guardian.
Great reaction Jess. Yet another great story from the Fith doctors era. I just love the abstract concept of sailing ships flying through space. As the cyberman would say, Excellent!!
You may know Lynda Baron (Wrack) as the singer of your favourite song from The Gunfighters, The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon! As for the forth wall breaks, it's not too long before you see the most egregious example in Classic Who (from one of 5's best stories). Pretty sure some people will know who I'm talking about.
The endless wastes of eternity. Back to your echoing voids! Classic Who was so well written. A surreal masterpiece. My favourite 5th Doctor story. Great reactions.
Really enjoyed this whole trilogy of Keith/Black Guardian stories! My favorite thing though is that the 5th Doc seems to have already known, at some point, what was going on with Turlough. Maybe not specifically, but he really showed in this story that he was nobody's fool, he was just betting on the Turlough's character being basically good, even if tempted by evil. I mean his own best friend was tempted by evil (the Master) so there is always a part of him holding out hope that better angels will prevail, and he's often right.
I like how these reactions (and the comments) have formed the hypothesis that the true guardians are in fact Keith and Beatrice, and that the people wearing them are just non-sentient appendages of some kind
Great reaction, Jess. Arguably the best serial of Season 20. The first time in Who history a serial was written and directed by women - Barbara Clegg and Fiona Cumming, respectively. The show had been directed by women before - EastEnders co-creator Julia Smith directed two serials near the start of her career in the 60s (The Smugglers and The Underwater Menace) and on four occasions the show was steered by the brilliant Paddy Russell, who gave us The Massacre, Invasion of the Dinosaurs, The Pyramids of Mars and The Horror of Fang Rock.
Enlightenment was originally to be directed by Peter Moffat. However he was given Mawdryn Undead and Fiona Cumming, who incidentally would have been 87 this week, was given the serial instead.
Wow a young Lynda baron much loved and missed rest in peace (nurse Gladys). they stare into the camera (audience) as most of the actors are of classical stage tradition.
Absolutely love this story, easily the best of the Black Guardian Trilogy as this set of three is referred to as, and aesthetically I'd argue one of the strongest stories Doctor Who has ever had (including the modern era, although with weaker special effects) And there is no way the 'creepy stalker vibes' as you put it weren't intentional, at least in how Janet Fielding played Tegan's response to his advances.
Idk if you take non-Patron suggestions, but you should check out The Avengers from 1961-69. For series 1, only 4 episodes exist, but there isn't much of an overarching story, so you can read the plot synopsis for the missing episodes, as well as 8-minute recons for the missing episodes starting from episode 13.
I do say the female villain Captain Wrack is awesome the actress Lynda Baron, was a well known actress at the time and she is cold and vicious and also Captain John Striker was well cold and emotionless he in the previous episode was along with Marriner not concerned about the deaths of the crew on the ship that blew up.
Lynda Baron (Captain Wrack) has also appeared in Doctor Who in Closing Time, as the saleslady who thinks Eleven and Craig are a couple. She is also heard but not seen in The Gunfighters as the singer of The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon, which is played ad nauseum throughout that story. Janet Fielding's dress looks nice, but was also prone to wardrobe malfunctions leading to Peter Davison teasing her a lot about her boobs popping out. The Doctor took his original stalk of celery from Castrovalva, where everything had been created via block transfer computation. He replaces it here, where everything has been created via the Eternals mental powers, so when you think about it, he only wears imaginary stalks of celery on his lapel.
Captain Wrack is one of my favorite villains, I can't say why. Maybe because she's a swaggy pirate? If they had brought back the Eternals during the classic era, I'd have loved seeing them all return! I think Turlough is underrated as a companion. He's not brave, but he will come through at times when he needs to. Also, is he the1st Ginger companion? Mark Strickson had to color his hair his whole time on the show.
The way the eternals vanish is awesome and as the white guardian, said they must go back it has taken 12 episodes for the Doctor and the black guardian to meet in person and after the black guardian is defeated the white guardian strongly advises the Doctor to be viligant and not to rule out the chance the black guardian will return to get revenge on the Doctor like he said he woul after the Key to Time affair.
I do say the actors playing the Guardians Valentine Dyall and Cyril Luckham were awesome in billions of ways, I also learnt Seska that Valentine Dyall was once considered for the role of the first Doctor back in the year of 1963 when classic Dr Who first started on bbc1 in monochrome. I do say the Guardians are more powerful and infinitely superior to the Time Lords themselves.
Great story, with an interesting premise. Captain Wrack is one of the jolliest antagonists in the show's history, and we finally get rid of birdbrain...
Heyhey Sesska; I see a multitude have beat me to it, but just came here to ask if you saw through the abominable Captain Wrack of Enlightenment to the lovely Val of Closing Time. Loving your reactions as always, but especially for the Tegan Dress!
Enlightenment was both written by a woman AND directed by a woman. I think that explains why the vibe is slightly different than anything before. This is my favorite overall serial of the classic series by a hair. It's a yacht race in space, how can it not be?
So much of the story could have gone wrong due to the large concept of it. But it manages to be such an engaging and finish of the black guardian trilogy on a high.
I wish they would have kept the White Guardian vibe from the Key to Time: no ridiculous bird hats or costumes, just two archetypes playing chess, commenting on the action. Otherwise, definitely a top serial for 5!
Turlough started as a villain type character. But again we lack a back story so we must guess by his actions or what he says who is was on his home planet. So far, he is not very good at being a villain as you can see. Enjoy the 20th anniversary season What we just completed was a mini-arc with a universal threat.
Beatrice was the female bird that Keith was trying seduce when the TARDIS startled her and she flew off. Seeing Keith's reaction and the dastardly things he and the black guardian have done together, she joined with the white guardian in the hopes that she bring him back to the light and they can live together.
One of the sticks with which fans beat 1980s producer John Nathan-Turner was the idea of 'celebrity casting'. It was never very clear, beyond a certain degree of snobbishness, what this meant; perhaps that certain actors employed on the show hadn't spent 40 years in repertory or trod the boards at the National Theatre. Lynda-with-a-Y Baron (Wrack) is a strange kind of example of this, in that she was one of the regular cast in a very big 1980s BBC sitcom - and you can't have comedy in Dr Who of course. Her previous brush with the world of Who was singing 'The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon' in 'The Gunfighters' (a story which fan orthodoxy told us to hate) - and decades after this she would mistake The Doctor and Craig for a gay couple in 'Closing Time'. But her appearance is less gratuitous than that of 1980s British synth-soul star Leee John (Mansell), who had several hits with Imagination. Something he doesn't use much of here.
And we never saw the Guardians again...well there was 1 name drop right? Considering how the current run is all about cosmic gods, etc. they are really overdue for an appearance.
@@markleneker9923 The eternals get referenced in Doomsday when they talk about the void, the Carrionites mention the eternals. I think the Guardians only get brought up in Can You Hear Me? and The Giggle though.
Not a favourite of mine also missing nyssa around here tegan and turlough didn't have same pairing together ps the next story is poor but the anniversary story is around the corner
I really hope RTD hasn’t watched this story recently - the last thing we need is him getting the idea of bringing back the Black Guardian for a third time to face the Doctor! I can just imagine Ncuti’s first scene with him, “Hey, The Black Guardian. Long time no see, babes!” (Shudders) I would say season 20, whilst not as good as season 19 IMO, still has some outstanding stories, with Enlightenment being the pick of the bunch. It’s just a pity that the next story isn’t a patch on this one, and of course season 20 should have ended with a story featuring an old foe, but due to BBC strikes at the time, it was meant to go into production but had to be shelved until the following season. Even though Doctor Who is primarily a sci-fi show, in its classic run of 158 stories it’s still amazing that there had only been 3 women writers for the show, and all of them were in the 1980’s. There was supposed to be a 4th female writer of a story during the classic run, but it seems to be common knowledge that the name was a pseudonym for the then script editor Eric Saward, who many believe actually wrote the story in question using the name of his then girlfriend, Paula Moore. Thankfully, times have changed and NuWho has added a few more female writers to the roster, but it still seems (and certainly in Doctor Who’s case), that there aren’t a lot more female writers trying to bang the door down, wanting a crack at writing for the best sci-fi show ever!
I saw an interview recently where Eric states that "Paula made a significant contribution, but gets all of the royalties, which doesn't seem fair". Elsewhere he's stated that she really liked the character of Lytton and wanted to see him again, so Eric suggested she write something for him. I guess we'll never know whether she just did a story outline, a first draft, or what.
"Enlightenment wasn't the diamond, enlightenment was the choice" is one of my favourite lines in the show and the Guardians (and their birds) facing off is such an epic scene. It's a small thing but both Valentine Dyall _and_ Cyril Luckham reprising their roles from the Key to Time season makes it even better. Kudos to the Eternal actors too - Keith Barron's dry blankness as Striker, Lynda Baron's cackling glee as Wrack and especially Christopher Brown's eerie, ethereal 'lust' as Marriner, "Love. What is love? I want existence" another great line - all different but compelling takes on a brilliant conception.
Don't forget Leslie McGregor "Leee" John, playing Wrack's 1st Mate, his casual/sensual delivery was always so much of what gave her crew some character.
But yeah RIP Dyall, what an Amazing Voice!
Enlightenment is such a great, brilliantly surreal story. The concept of sea ships flying in deep space is amazing and the visual is actually really well achieved. I also love how this story explores immortality and how it shows the Eternals are hollow, emotionless shells that need ephemerals to actually feel something and entertain them. This manifests itself in some very strange and disturbing ways, such as that guy becoming obsessed with Tegan, but as the story goes on you realise he truly doesn't mean any harm and he's genuinely fascinated by Tegan and doesn't even know what the concept of love is. The moment he fades away at the end is strangely poignant and tragic.
With all of this context, it makes sense that the Black Guardian has lured all the Eternals into a race where the winner will achieve enlightenment. They all want some purpose to their lives and some, like Captain Wrack, will go to any lengths to attain it. I love how this intertwines with Turlough's arc. He's still struggling with the prospect of killing the Doctor and in the end is offered the choice of murdering the Doctor and gaining enlightenment or rejecting it and allowing the Doctor to live. He makes his choice and proves to himself once and for all that he's not a cold blooded killer. In the end, as the Doctor says, no one is ever truly ready for enlightenment. This is a truly great story and the best of this season imo. I love it.
🎵And it's curtains for Turlough at the Last Chance Saloon🎶
The eternals have been referenced a few times in the revival.
10: "My people called it the void; the Eternals called it the howling" in Army of Ghosts.
Lilith: "The Eternals found the right word to banish us" in The Shakespeare Code.
Zellin: "The Eternals have their games; the Guardians have their power struggles" in Can You Hear Me?
and probably more.
I think they mentioned in the last few minutes of 'The Legend Of Ruby Sunday'
Ah Yes, My favourite episode, The Everlasting Battle of Keith and Beatrice XD
Beatrice... Dante's Divine Comedy?
Captain Wrack was played by Lynda Baron, who also sang THE LAST CHANCE SALOON in all it's entirety😄from 'The Gunfighters'. Forgot that she also appeared in 'Closing Time'. Not forgetting of course, 'Come Outside' with the polka dot plane and dear ol' Pippin.
And ofcourse she was mainly famous for playing nurse Gladys Emmanuelle in Open All Hours for years but Jess won't know that sitcom I'm guessing.
@@Jeremy-f3s Doubt it.
@@BrodieVickers-tk9sd it's a shame she doesnt know more about the British scene of the 60s, 70s and 80s as she'd be spotting actors all over the place like we are. Peter Davison himself has certainly done other shows she might like such as All Creatures Great and Small or The Last Detective. He really does have quite a body of work outside of doctor who.
@@Jeremy-f3s Though his stint on 'The Tomorrow People' should probably be avoided😂
@@BrodieVickers-tk9sd dare I ask why? I've not seen it, wasn't that a show about inventions of the future or something?
"I hate it when people use accessories for evil!" 😂
What I love about the first 2 episodes of this reaction is that Jessica started singing the words “imagination, imagination!”And by coincidence Captain wracks 1st mate was played by Leee John (yes he spelt it with 3 ‘e’s) was lead singer in the British Soul band Imagination! They had hits in the 80’s like illusion.
Captain Wrack - played by Lynda Baron. Who is known for playing Aunt Mabel in Come Outside, a British children’s show. Also, she was in Closing Time as a shop assistant and The Gunfighters as the one who sings The Last Chance Saloon.
Probably best remembered as Nurse Gladys Emmanuel in Open All Hours.
I loved Come outside so much as a kid 🥺
@@robalexander8065 Depends on the generation.
@@KatEtoile Come Outside was a good show, relaxing.
@@KatEtoile I watched it with my daughter, it was great!
I completely forgot about the celery exchange. Classic!
It is a proper exchange not (as in The Visitation) the Doctor simply removing his celery than reattaching it a scene later.
It used to be commonly remarked that since his first celery was from Adric's mathematical model of Castrovalva, and it was replaced by this stick from the Eternal's recreation of earth food from ephemeral memories, that the Doctor never had any *real* celery on his coat at any stage.
@@paulhammond6978 Hadn't considered that before.
@@paulhammond6978 Quite right too, celery is disgusting stuff!
"Fire walk with me". We all love a Twin Peaks reference.
“Enlightenment was the choice.” -Peter Davison
WHAT A QUOTE! Anyway, Barbara Clegg did an absolutely fantastic job putting this story into book form! This tv story is pretty good, but as a book in novelization form it’s even better!
IMDB doesn't have much information on Barbara Clegg, though bizarrely mentions her height (5'3")! Shortly before Who she worked on the 1980-81 soap "Together" which was shown a few times recently on Talking Pictures.
"The everlasting battle of Keith and Beatrice!" 😆
I felt like the Black Guardian should’ve been the returning villain for the new series instead of Sutekh. Even Susan and Harriet’s “Angel of Death” forms reminded me of The Guardian’s servant; The Shadow from the Armageddon Factor. I was thinking Mrs Flood was going to be the White Guardian, and Ruby was going to be revealed as a new Red Guardian or something.
What a wonderful story. Peak Classic Who.
They should've throw the carpet rug overboard. Instead picking all the pieces of broken crystal. 😂
Despite what I think about this story, there’s one thing I do appreciate that is the casting of Lynda Baron as Captain Wrack. Lynda Baron you may remember she was in one of Matt Smith’s episodes (Closing Time) but for me I remember her from my childhood in a show called Come Outside. Where she used to fly around in her Polka Dot plane with her dog Pippin.
I do love this story. I remember Lynda Baron from the Ronnie Barker comedy 'Open All Hours'. This was such a departure from how I knew her. She's infinitely adored 😁
She also sang one of Jess's favourite songs, The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon, in The Gunfighters.
@@Problembeing Yup - people who saw this live in the early 80s knew her as a series regular Nurse Gladys Emmanuel, Ronnie Barker's love interest in Open All Hours. But I don't think I knew of Leee from Imagination until I was watching the DVD 20+ years later.
@@paulhammond6978 I knew he was a pop star at the time, but I couldn't pinpoint who, though I knew his name at the time. Weirdly. It's such a great ensemble cast. Definitely one of Davison's best stories imo. Really imaginative and visually striking. Lynda Baron really upped the energy of the story when she comes into it, however pantomime villain she is, it's great to see her playing against type :D
@@djco5782 I did not know that! That's wonderful.
The scene where Captain Wrack is talking to the camera or the audience i should say it's called a "soliloquy" like a shakespeare play when characters are talking to themselves in their head but in reality talking the audience which is not an unusal thing and Dr. Who has done it before Tom Baker would often do it and in one of the missing episodes of "The Daleks' Master Plan part 7: The Feast of Steven" which was the only christmas episode had William Hartnell break the fourth wall and wished everyone a merry christmas to everyone at home as Classic Who is basically a theatre play but on television.
The actress who plays her Lynda Baron has also been in Dr. Who once before as a different character in the story "The Gunfighters" who sings that annoying song "Last chance saloon" she was also best known for Nurse Gladys Emmanuel in the 70's and 80's british sitcom series "Open All Hours".
Tlotoxl does it in a cliffhanger for The Aztecs...
The pantomime villain cackling was extra in these last two parts. Looking forward to round 3 of Keith v Beatrice.
Beatrice is a moment of imaginative genius - Dante's guide through Paradise. As for Keith....can't help you, my mind's as blank as an Eternal. So, it's off to the howling void of Eternity with me!
Lynda Baron as Captain Wrack is easily the best thing in this story for me, as she livens things up no end and really embraces the 'hammy pirate villain' thing, which could apply to her character in-universe as well. Her villainous monologuing to the camera at the end of part 3 was a thing of beauty. They actually had some 'wardrobe malfunctions' with Tegan's fabulous costume as it wasn't really designed for modest while running, to the point that there's a take where Peter Davison supposedly ad-libbed ending a line with "Oh and Tegan put your boobs back in". As for Turlough, they probably could have done more with him after this point, lets put it that way.
After watching your reaction to the first two parts it occurred to me that this story has at least some similarities with the War Games, with aliens taking humans, making them think they were in their own time and setting and acting as their officers. Their motivations were obviously very different though and in this case it was more for amusement and as manpower in the race.
and indeed The Guardians playing the Time Lord's role of expelling the Eternals from time / existence.
Tegan: "The console blew up!"
The Doctor: "Oh, I'm sure it did it the world of good."
Although both the Eternals and The Black Guardian have been mentioned in Nu-Who, Valentine Dyall's death in 1985 (he was well into his seventies) robbed us of more screen time with the actor, whose voice was his fortune. I was gratified to read in Tom Baker's autobiography his memories of listening to Dyall - as the narrator known (appropriately) as 'The Man in Black' - on the radio. Something which my mother also recalled, in the days when she recalled anything.
He was also in the sixth doctor audio story from the 80's called "Slipback"
Let's go Beatrice! Biggest star of the episode.
This is probably my favourite Fifth Doctor story. The Eternals are so hateable, in a good way. The way you're supposed to hate a bad guy. I love how epic the scale is and Lynda Baron is so awesome as Captain Wrack. She's a scene-stealer. And I loved your reaction to Tegan's dress! I was excited to see what you'd think of it and you didn't disappoint.
But I do think that the final scene is a bit of a cop out. The Black Guardian's deal with Turlough was "you kill the Doctor, I take you back to your home planet". He shouldn't have had any claim over the big diamond and Turlough rejecting it shouldn't have made the Guardian burn to a crisp. I also think they wanted us to be more sympathetic to Marriner than we were because Tegan has moments where she's sympathetic towards him too. But he just comes across as a big creep.
This is one of my favourite episode from 5 - This one, Caves, Kinda and Visitation are my favourites. Maybe Enlightenment and Snakedance as favourites from this season.
Glad you enjoyed this story, excellent reaction as always.
This is comfortably in the top five of all classic doctor who stories for me.
I remember Mark (Turlough) saying that the crystal was really hot when lit and that his acting pain was actually real pain. He was very happy to let go of it.
Yeah the health and safety department would be aghast these days
I love Peter's almost smug unimpressed look at Turlough at the very end, like he knew all along Turlough was against him and now he's got the black guardian off his back the Doctor kind of sees him as a little pathetic really.
Until 2018, this was the only episode/serial both written and directed by women.
Great story. And love how the Eternals are introduced in this story.
I love to see the Black Guardian return. Hopefully portrayed by Charles Dance and has the Trickster working for him.
Recently there has been theories that the Doctor is the God of Life. The number of genocides associated with him makes me beg to differ. 'Others will recharge (the White Guardians powers) for me' makes me see the Doctor's role in the grand scheme of the universe as an unwilling agent of the White Guardian.
If the Black Guardian has taught us anything, it's to always ensure your evil laugh begins with an N.
Great reaction Jess.
Yet another great story from the Fith doctors era. I just love the abstract concept of sailing ships flying through space.
As the cyberman would say, Excellent!!
You may know Lynda Baron (Wrack) as the singer of your favourite song from The Gunfighters, The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon!
As for the forth wall breaks, it's not too long before you see the most egregious example in Classic Who (from one of 5's best stories). Pretty sure some people will know who I'm talking about.
The endless wastes of eternity. Back to your echoing voids! Classic Who was so well written. A surreal masterpiece. My favourite 5th Doctor story. Great reactions.
Really enjoyed this whole trilogy of Keith/Black Guardian stories! My favorite thing though is that the 5th Doc seems to have already known, at some point, what was going on with Turlough. Maybe not specifically, but he really showed in this story that he was nobody's fool, he was just betting on the Turlough's character being basically good, even if tempted by evil. I mean his own best friend was tempted by evil (the Master) so there is always a part of him holding out hope that better angels will prevail, and he's often right.
That is a fresh looking new sprig of celery!
Keith and Beatrice are a true power couple.
I like how these reactions (and the comments) have formed the hypothesis that the true guardians are in fact Keith and Beatrice, and that the people wearing them are just non-sentient appendages of some kind
Great reaction, Jess. Arguably the best serial of Season 20. The first time in Who history a serial was written and directed by women - Barbara Clegg and Fiona Cumming, respectively.
The show had been directed by women before - EastEnders co-creator Julia Smith directed two serials near the start of her career in the 60s (The Smugglers and The Underwater Menace) and on four occasions the show was steered by the brilliant Paddy Russell, who gave us The Massacre, Invasion of the Dinosaurs, The Pyramids of Mars and The Horror of Fang Rock.
And Mary Ridge directed the previous story , Terminus.
Enlightenment was originally to be directed by Peter Moffat. However he was given Mawdryn Undead and Fiona Cumming, who incidentally would have been 87 this week, was given the serial instead.
Wow a young Lynda baron much loved and missed rest in peace (nurse Gladys). they stare into the camera (audience) as most of the actors are of classical stage tradition.
Absolutely love this story, easily the best of the Black Guardian Trilogy as this set of three is referred to as, and aesthetically I'd argue one of the strongest stories Doctor Who has ever had (including the modern era, although with weaker special effects)
And there is no way the 'creepy stalker vibes' as you put it weren't intentional, at least in how Janet Fielding played Tegan's response to his advances.
still one of my fave stories. i LOVED Wrack. keep up the great work.
Idk if you take non-Patron suggestions, but you should check out The Avengers from 1961-69. For series 1, only 4 episodes exist, but there isn't much of an overarching story, so you can read the plot synopsis for the missing episodes, as well as 8-minute recons for the missing episodes starting from episode 13.
rip Lynda Baron fantastic actress
I actually guessed you would name the other bird "Beatrice" about two seconds before you did!
I do say the female villain Captain Wrack is awesome the actress Lynda Baron, was a well known actress at the time and she is cold and vicious and also Captain John Striker was well cold and emotionless he in the previous episode was along with Marriner not concerned about the deaths of the crew on the ship that blew up.
Lynda Baron (Captain Wrack) has also appeared in Doctor Who in Closing Time, as the saleslady who thinks Eleven and Craig are a couple. She is also heard but not seen in The Gunfighters as the singer of The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon, which is played ad nauseum throughout that story.
Janet Fielding's dress looks nice, but was also prone to wardrobe malfunctions leading to Peter Davison teasing her a lot about her boobs popping out.
The Doctor took his original stalk of celery from Castrovalva, where everything had been created via block transfer computation. He replaces it here, where everything has been created via the Eternals mental powers, so when you think about it, he only wears imaginary stalks of celery on his lapel.
So sesska, what do you think of davisons run so far? Are you liking it more than the last few seasons of toms run?
Are you going to do a Tom Baker retrospective like you did for the previous Doctors?
Captain Wrack is one of my favorite villains, I can't say why. Maybe because she's a swaggy pirate? If they had brought back the Eternals during the classic era, I'd have loved seeing them all return! I think Turlough is underrated as a companion. He's not brave, but he will come through at times when he needs to. Also, is he the1st Ginger companion? Mark Strickson had to color his hair his whole time on the show.
I'd completely forgotten that Leee John (from the pop group Imagination) was in this... My memory is like one of those things with holes in :-)
Leee was a last minute replacement when actor David Rhule became unavailable due to recording dates being moved on the back of an electricians strike.
Linda Baron there as 'Wrack", this time not singing "The last chance saloon".
The way the eternals vanish is awesome and as the white guardian, said they must go back it has taken 12 episodes for the Doctor and the black guardian to meet in person and after the black guardian is defeated the white guardian strongly advises the Doctor to be viligant and not to rule out the chance the black guardian will return to get revenge on the Doctor like he said he woul after the Key to Time affair.
Now I want a New Who episode where the Guardians pop up using the aliases Keith and Beatrice. Make it happen RTD!
I do say the actors playing the Guardians Valentine Dyall and Cyril Luckham were awesome in billions of ways, I also learnt Seska that Valentine Dyall was once considered for the role of the first Doctor back in the year of 1963 when classic Dr Who first started on bbc1 in monochrome. I do say the Guardians are more powerful and infinitely superior to the Time Lords themselves.
Sesska saying she doesn't like the actors looking at the camera in Classic Who makes me wonder how she will react to THAT story... (you know the one).
Great story, with an interesting premise. Captain Wrack is one of the jolliest antagonists in the show's history, and we finally get rid of birdbrain...
Heyhey Sesska; I see a multitude have beat me to it, but just came here to ask if you saw through the abominable Captain Wrack of Enlightenment to the lovely Val of Closing Time.
Loving your reactions as always, but especially for the Tegan Dress!
Enlightenment was both written by a woman AND directed by a woman. I think that explains why the vibe is slightly different than anything before. This is my favorite overall serial of the classic series by a hair. It's a yacht race in space, how can it not be?
So much of the story could have gone wrong due to the large concept of it. But it manages to be such an engaging and finish of the black guardian trilogy on a high.
So ends The "Black Guardian Trilogy"!!
I wish they would have kept the White Guardian vibe from the Key to Time: no ridiculous bird hats or costumes, just two archetypes playing chess, commenting on the action. Otherwise, definitely a top serial for 5!
Turlough started as a villain type character. But again we lack a back story so we must guess by his actions or what he says who is was on his home planet. So far, he is not very good at being a villain as you can see.
Enjoy the 20th anniversary season What we just completed was a mini-arc with a universal threat.
Beatrice was the female bird that Keith was trying seduce when the TARDIS startled her and she flew off. Seeing Keith's reaction and the dastardly things he and the black guardian have done together, she joined with the white guardian in the hopes that she bring him back to the light and they can live together.
One of the sticks with which fans beat 1980s producer John Nathan-Turner was the idea of 'celebrity casting'. It was never very clear, beyond a certain degree of snobbishness, what this meant; perhaps that certain actors employed on the show hadn't spent 40 years in repertory or trod the boards at the National Theatre. Lynda-with-a-Y Baron (Wrack) is a strange kind of example of this, in that she was one of the regular cast in a very big 1980s BBC sitcom - and you can't have comedy in Dr Who of course. Her previous brush with the world of Who was singing 'The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon' in 'The Gunfighters' (a story which fan orthodoxy told us to hate) - and decades after this she would mistake The Doctor and Craig for a gay couple in 'Closing Time'. But her appearance is less gratuitous than that of 1980s British synth-soul star Leee John (Mansell), who had several hits with Imagination. Something he doesn't use much of here.
You should watch a show called From. It’s soooo good, and extremely thrilling!
And we never saw the Guardians again...well there was 1 name drop right? Considering how the current run is all about cosmic gods, etc. they are really overdue for an appearance.
@@markleneker9923 The eternals get referenced in Doomsday when they talk about the void, the Carrionites mention the eternals. I think the Guardians only get brought up in Can You Hear Me? and The Giggle though.
Smashing end
Mariner reminds me horribly of a creep who stalked me for three years. He talked like that too.
He definitely gave stalker vibes. Almost immediately, you can see Jess having the same reaction to him.
Captain Wrack’s incessant kackling is nearly as awful as Kamala’s. 😂
In those days there was no such thing as arcs particulary with the companions that's more of a NuWho thing.
The Black Guardian Trilogy with Turlough totally negates what you just said?!
Not a favourite of mine also missing nyssa around here tegan and turlough didn't have same pairing together ps the next story is poor but the anniversary story is around the corner
...I think that you would look lovely in a formal dress, and long gloves (And a wig, if you wish).
It's the TARDIS, do you expect ot to go to where they want?
One more reaction, and then…
E!
You beautiful 😍
I really hope RTD hasn’t watched this story recently - the last thing we need is him getting the idea of bringing back the Black Guardian for a third time to face the Doctor!
I can just imagine Ncuti’s first scene with him, “Hey, The Black Guardian. Long time no see, babes!” (Shudders)
I would say season 20, whilst not as good as season 19 IMO, still has some outstanding stories, with Enlightenment being the pick of the bunch. It’s just a pity that the next story isn’t a patch on this one, and of course season 20 should have ended with a story featuring an old foe, but due to BBC strikes at the time, it was meant to go into production but had to be shelved until the following season.
Even though Doctor Who is primarily a sci-fi show, in its classic run of 158 stories it’s still amazing that there had only been 3 women writers for the show, and all of them were in the 1980’s. There was supposed to be a 4th female writer of a story during the classic run, but it seems to be common knowledge that the name was a pseudonym for the then script editor Eric Saward, who many believe actually wrote the story in question using the name of his then girlfriend, Paula Moore.
Thankfully, times have changed and NuWho has added a few more female writers to the roster, but it still seems (and certainly in Doctor Who’s case), that there aren’t a lot more female writers trying to bang the door down, wanting a crack at writing for the best sci-fi show ever!
I saw an interview recently where Eric states that "Paula made a significant contribution, but gets all of the royalties, which doesn't seem fair". Elsewhere he's stated that she really liked the character of Lytton and wanted to see him again, so Eric suggested she write something for him. I guess we'll never know whether she just did a story outline, a first draft, or what.
I'd rather they would just leave the classic villains in Classic Who and make up their own villains.
Try not to look at the title of the story after the next one. It'll be a nice surprise if you don't know it.
Already up on Patreon :)
She knows already.