While Sylvester McCoy's last two seasons (Season 24 can go fuck itself) are generally the consistently best of the eighties and hold some pretty fine Doctor Who, it's difficult for me to make the argument that the stories they contain make much sense, because they very rarely do. And that's fine - most of them are entertaining despite that, but I think it's valid to point out some of the inconsistencies and holes in the stories, while still acknowledging that they're pretty damn good Doctor Who. Case-in-point: Battlefield.
Battlefield is a ton of fun - for a start the Brigadier is back which automatically awards the story a hell of a lot of godwill. All of the side characters are a ton of fun, including the hilariously OTT villains, The pace is good, some of the story beats are clever, there's some decent character work littered throughout, and hey, any story with space knights can't be too bad, right?
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| "WE'RE THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE, WE DANCE WHENEVER WE'RE ABLE" |
The issue is that the audience is told painfully little about why and how the things that are happening are happening. Simple questions like why is the Doctor Merlin?, how does the legend of Arthur take place in a different dimension with other beings?, what exactly is the Destroyer and his relation to the whole affair? These are questions that probably can be answered by inference but they're littered throughout the story - Part One is easily the weakest episodes as pretty much nothing is explained - things just happen without any clue of how they're all connected or what the main thread is. It's a bit of a shame, as it is definitely a fun ride, but you're left scratching your head at so many plot elements it distracts a bit.
It also feels like a lot of the plot elements are being put together without much thought as to why - the Brigadier's not really here for any reason other than to be here. And that's fine - I'd watch the Brigadier in anything, but his lack of connection to what's going on makes his final confrontation with the Destroyer weaker than it should be. I get what it's going for - the everyman fighting for his world up against the mighty God, and it works to a decent extent, but you could honestly shove any character in there and the story wouldn't change.
Still, it is the Brigadier, which is, again, worth a lot of godwill points.
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| No funny caption required. It's just the mother f-ing Brigadier. |
It's probable I'm quite shockingly overthinking it, but I suspect that this probably wasn't meant to be a turn-your-brain-off-and-enjoy story, given the concepts involved and the whole Cartmel Masterplan thing, and I'm not sure if it becoming that is a particularly great reflection.
Still, don't let my obvious overthinking put you off - it's a good bit of fun Doctor Who with some cracking fights (for once), a great Nicholas Courtney performance and some interesting plot points.
My favourite scene in the story is actually where he (spoilers) threatens to kill Mordred but can't bring himself to do it. McCoy really pulls it off, the scene is surprisingly subtle, and when he obviously relents, the Brigadier turns up and puts a gun to his head without hesitation, reflecting precisely what the Brigadier's relationship to the Doctor really is - he'll do what the Doctor never will, but not without good reason. It's miles better than the 'THE MAN WHO NEVER WOULD' rubbish from the RTD era, although it's probably better this isn't getting lots of cringey Tumblr gifs made about it.
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| "Now remove the Tumblr gifs or I won't hesitate. And don't tell me it's not right, Doctor!" "Actually Brigadier I'm kind of with you on this one tbh" |
Also, I'm not sure if this is a common opinion, but the late 80s production values do stories of this era no favours at all. I don't like the cheesy music at all, the studio sets are pretty naff and the effects usually equally bad - a lowlight of this story being a weird green flying worm rendered in very bad CGI which proceeds the knock the Doctor out in the same away about three times.
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| It hit the Doctor so hard this time he turned into Luke Skywalker from The Last Jedi. |
So in the end, you're not going to go wrong with Battlefield, unless you're looking for a deep complex meticulously woven plot that comes together perfectly, in which case you're probably not in the right place. If you're not, then I don't think you'll be unhappy with what's on screen here.
Final Score: 6/10. The plot can leave you scratching your head sometimes, but terrific performances from McCoy and Courtney with some great scenes, ideas and supporting characters, mean that Battlefield is generally a triumph, albeit far from an unqualified one.
Next Time: Black Orchid (although I wish it wasn't)
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