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THE VISITATION

4 episodes. Approx. 96 minutes. Written by: Eric Saward. Directed by:
Peter Moffat. Produced by: John Nathan Turner.


THE PLOT

The Doctor's attempt to return Tegan to her own time fails miserably.
He reaches the right place, but the wrong time - missing his
destination by about 300 years, materializing the TARDIS in a wooded
area near a quiet English village, circa 1666.

Before they get a chance to simply leave and try again, they find
themselves the target of a mob of paranoid villagers. They are rescued
by actor-turned-highwayman Richard Mace (Michael Robbins), who tells
them of strange lights in the sky. That's when the Doctor discovers
alien technology. The lights were a ship, crash landing. Now the
survivors of the ship, members of a species known as the Terrileptils,
plan to wipe out all life on Earth. And far from proving an
impediment, the Doctor's arrival actually helps their plans - because
it gives them access to his TARDIS!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Though I'm no fan of writer/script editor Eric Saward, I
will give credit where it's due. In his first serial for Doctor Who,
he gets the Doctor right. We see a Doctor who is temperamental. When
Tegan has a minor meltdown at his failure to return her to Heathrow
Airport, the Doctor is not inclined to forgive her - at least, not
until Nyssa and Adric press him to. He does play favorites with his
young charges, clearly preferring Nyssa's company to the other two,
and equally clearly finding Tegan the least agreeable of the trio.
When the alien technology is found in Episode One, he becomes
instantly transfixed on the thought of alien survivors in this
village. But he only explains why to Nyssa, not pausing to explain
himself to the others. Davison remains terrific, and seems energized
by the character beats in the script.

Nyssa: After largely sitting out the previous story, The Visitation
gives Nyssa a larger role in the proceedings. She acts as the Doctor's
most reliable support, with the first two episodes seeing him treating
her almost as an apprentice. He keeps her with him when he enters the
deserted house, insisting that his other companions wait for them
outside. Upon discovering some Terileptil technology, he snaps at
Tegan and Adric to touch nothing; then he and Nyssa take a closer look
and exchange observations. Though Nyssa is less than pleased at the
Doctor's plan to "improvise with an armed android," she ends up being
the one to carry out his plan - which ends up working very well when
she finds herself in close quarters with the android.

Adric: Senses Tegan's dislike of him, and there's an amusing early
beat when the Doctor tries to evade the issue by very awkwardly
reaching out to touch Adric's shoulder. He behaves impulsively at
several turns, ignoring Nyssa's very reasonable arguments to stay in
the TARDIS and promptly getting himself captured by villagers. His
headstrong nature does help the Doctor near the end, however, when his
need to act by moving the TARDIS overcomes the Terrileptils' attempts
to seal the Doctor and Tegan inside the house.

Tegan: Though her opening meltdown seems a particularly unwarranted
"stroppy Tegan" moment, the script does at least provide some context.
We first see her recalling what happened to her with the Mara,
grappling with the idea of her body being taken over by this creature.
In this way, we are shown that she is already in an emotional state
when confronted with the disappointment of the TARDIS' missed landing.
The rest of the serial sees her being barely tolerated by the Doctor,
who clearly prefers Nyssa's company. However, her emotional nature
does make a good contrast to her companions' more clinical responses,
and she's the only one who seems genuinely appalled at the aliens'
plans.


THOUGHTS

The Visitation is a noteworthy story, in that it was the first
contribution of Eric Saward. Saward clinched the post as script editor
on the strength of this story, apparently largely because it was a
rare script that did not require any significant rewrites.

I've already given Saward credit for his characterization of the
regulars, particularly the Doctor. And I will admit that showing
understanding of the characters is a significant quality. Add to that,
The Visitation is well-structured, with each episode building on the
information established in the one before.

Unfortunately, it is also the very definition of a bog-standard
average Who story.

This is my third viewing of it, and my reaction remains unchanged. As
I sit in front of the screen, viewing it episode by episode, it isn't
long before I find myself getting just a bit sleepy. There's an awful
lot of tromping back and forth between the house and the TARDIS, the
TARDIS and the village, the village and the house, making the pace
feel very leisurely, even downright sluggish. The final episode
manages to eke out some momentum - but even then, there's no sense of
urgency. It feels very much as if Saward had enough plot for a 2-
parter, and then just stretched it out until he reached 4 parts.

That said, decent direction would have overcome a lot of the problems
here. This story cries out for a bit of atmosphere: some clouds, some
fog, some darkness. Instead, the Doctor and his friends tromp around a
very pleasant-looking bit of woods on a very clear and pleasant day
(and usually do so in long shot). Peter Moffatt's stagy direction is
just ill-suited to this kind of piece. Fiona Cumming, Peter Grimwade,
or even John Black would have gotten much more out of this. Moffatt
appears to be afraid of the close-up, and keeping distance from the
characters puts the audience at a distance from the action as well.

I emphasize that this story isn't at all bad. It all hangs together
and is perfectly watchable, and it does get better as it goes. It also
has a terrific performance by Peter Davison, who is firmly the Doctor
by this point, and an engagingly campy one by Michael Robbins as a
theatrical actor-turned-highwayman. But with no spark of inspiration,
a sluggish pace, and outright lifeless direction, it's hard to see how
this ever gained such a high reputation. I enjoyed all three of
Davison's previous stories considerably more than this one (yes, even
Four to Doomsday).

As for Saward? Well, on the strength of this story's characterization
and structure, I would certainly have re-commissioned him for another
story. But with the lack of inspiration on display here, it wouldn't
even have crossed my mind to make him the series' script editor...


Rating: 5/10.

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