Michael Falkner

Doctor Who: Resurrection of the Daleks (2 episodes, s21e11-e12, 1984)   This story gets dark fast and leaves a lot of room to think in the end. In a disused modern day alley, several men in anachronistic costumes run from police officers and their machine pistols. When the runners (and

Doctor Who: Frontios (4 episodes, s21e07-e10, 1984)   Base under siege… again. An expedition is studying minerals underground when the mine shaft collapses around them, killing the team (and colony) leader, Captain Revere. Chief Orderly Brazen, head of security for the colony, swears the remaining members to secrecy. His scientific

Doctor Who: The Awakening (2 episodes, s21e05-e06, 1984)   A new adventure starts by showing us that “it’s just a joke” often isn’t. A schoolteacher named Jane Hampden is being harassed by English civil war re-enactors. She thinks they’ve taken things too far, but Sir George and his band blow

Doctor Who: Warriors of the Deep (4 episodes, s21e01-e04, 1984)   Welcome to the dark ethical corner. We last saw the Silurians and the Sea Devils in the Third Doctor’s era, and now they’re teaming up to attack an underwater base. From the opening and the title, I assume that’s where the base

Doctor Who: Twentieth Series Summary   It’s a bump up at the very least. The Nineteenth Series was a low water mark, and this group of serials recovered enough to join several others in a grouping just below the to-date average. The focus of the Twentieth Series appeared to be

Doctor Who: The King’s Demons (2 episodes, s20e21-e22, 1983)   It’s half a nod to the black and white era with a pseudo-historical story. In medieval Europe, King John of England feels that his reception at Lord Ranulf Fitzwilliam’s castle is insufficient, leading to the challenge of a duel between

Doctor Who: Enlightenment The Black Guardian Trilogy, Part III (4 episodes, s20e17-e20, 1983)   Mawdryn high and Terminus low, finish strong by Enlightenment‘s glow? In true K9 style, Turlough is playing chess with Tegan while she helps the Doctor diagnose the TARDIS. For whatever reason, the time capsule is losing

Doctor Who: Terminus The Black Guardian Trilogy, Part II (4 episodes, s20e13-e16, 1983)   The trilogy gets stuck in the mud. Picking up right where we left off, Turlough is wandering the corridors of the TARDIS, sabotaging the time capsule at the Black Guardian’s guidance. A skeptical Tegan stumbles across him

Doctor Who: Mawdryn Undead The Black Guardian Trilogy, Part I (4 episodes, s20e09-e12, 1983)   The Key to Time comes home to roost. A schoolboy named Turlough steals (and totals) the Brigadier’s car, offering quite the introduction to a new companion. He has an out of body experience after the

Doctor Who: Snakedance (4 episodes, s20e05-e08, 1983)   Someone felt a need to revisit Kinda? The adventure opens with a mysterious man and his necklace as they sit on a barren planet. Creepy and kooky, but not particularly ooky. On board the TARDIS, Nysssa tries on a new outfit while the

Doctor Who: Arc of Infinity (4 episodes, s20e01-e04, 1983)   A Time Lord is fooling around with the bio-data extracts of the Doctor and communicating with a mysterious holographic figure, an act that only a High Councilmember can perform. When he is discovered, he kills the security guard and disables