From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated
From Address: jphalt@aol.com
Subject: Re: jphalt's Doctor Who reviews

Season 22 (and my second set of 6th Doctor reviews) comes to a close
with the best, if most atypical, story of the season:


REVELATION OF THE DALEKS

2 episodes. Approx. 90 minutes. Written by: Eric Saward. Directed by:
Graeme Harper. Produced by: John Nathan Turner.


THE PLOT

The planet Necros is home to Tranquil Repose, a facility in which
people with enough money and status have themselves stored in
suspended animation until a cure is found for their assorted diseases.
The Doctor and Peri have come because Arthur Stengos (Alec Linstead),
a professor and friend of the Doctor's, has died and his services are
to be held at Tranquil Repose.

But something isn't right here. The two have barely arrived before
being attacked by a hideous mutant, a pathetic figure who croaks about
the experiments of "The Great Healer" before he dies. A great wall
separates the outside from the facility within: A wall with no door.
Inside, Jobel (Clive Swift), the chief embalmer, prepares for the
funeral of the President's wife, even as the staff worries that
Tranquil Repose's best days are behind it.

Meanwhile, the wealthy Kara (Eleanor Bron) has hired the infamous
assassin Orcini (William Gaunt). Orcini is a former Knight of the
Order of Oberon, and he has dreamed of ending his career with an
honorable kill to make him feel like a knight once again. Kara has
such a kill for him. On Necros, at the heart of Tranquil Repose, the
Great Healer resides. But the Great Healer has another name, one he
refuses to use on an open channel. That name... is Davros!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Much has been made about the Doctor's limited screentime
in this story. Perhaps too much, given that he does have a sizable
role in Part Two. But instead of focusing on the size of the part, I'd
like to observe just how much Colin Baker does with it. His
performance is noticeably softer and more subdued than in most of the
rest of the season. In a fairly typical "bickering" bit at the start,
he avoids delivering his lines as barbs, even responding to Peri's
question about whether the local animals bite by putting a note of
sympathy in his voice as he says, "Only each other." Even when
confronting Davros, Colin remains subdued, showing as much with a
glance at a dead body as with his voice. It's very good work, one that
stands in stark contrast to his reputation in some circles as "the
shouty Doctor."

Peri: Nicola Bryant is also more restrained here than in previous
stories, which leads me to think director Graeme Harper was pushing
the actors to embrace the funereal atmosphere. Her interactions with
the Doctor continue to show that, for all the spikiness, these two are
quite fond of each other. When she thinks the Doctor is dead, Jobel
asks if the Doctor was a friend. Unhesitantly, she says he was "the
best." When they are reunited at the story's end, the Doctor
immediately expresses sympathy to Peri for the death of a friend she
made in the course of the story.

Davros: "He sits like a spider at the heart of this planet, using the
money he extorts from us to rebuild his disgusting creatures." Davros
is the dark heart of this story. He lurks, watching the interactions
of those who work at Tranquil Repose. Like any group, there are
weaknesses, imbalances, and Davros pushes at the weakness of
Tasambeker (Jenny Tomasin) at just the right moment to make her do her
worst. He doesn't even have any real purpose: It simply provides a
diversion while salving his wounded ego. When he's done, he disposes
of Tasambeker like a child might do to a used-up and broken toy. Terry
Molloy's performance is the best of his three televised showings
(bettered only by the Big Finish audio story, Davros); he dominates
the proceedings with a gloriously malevolent glee.


THOUGHTS

Doctor Who's final serial before the infamous 18-month hiatus that
would cripple the show, that makes this the final classic Who story
that was made when the series was  still at full strength. Thankfully,
this is no "so-bad-it's-funny" runaround, but rather a meticulously-
crafted, wonderfully shot piece that demonstrates that this series was
far from the tired husk its fiercest critics made it out to be.

Revelation has an ambitious script, the most ambitious of Eric
Saward's writing efforts by a considerable margin. Saward does an
enormously good job of making Tranquil Repose into a place that feels
convincing and real. The personalities of the egotistical Jobel (Clive
Swift), the fawning Tasambeker (Jenny Tomasin) and the stable and
steady Takis (Trevor Cooper) feel right, not just as characters in
their own right, but as characters who fit into this setting and who
fit in their relationships with each other.

The structure is made up of strands: Character pairs and interactions
that form a tapestry as we see them building on each other, even when
they don't directly intersect. Like everything about this serial, this
structure is ambitious: Jobel and Tasambeker's strand has no
connection with Orcini's story, and both characters only lightly brush
up against the Doctor and Peri. But all of the strands feel like parts
of the same whole, because they all "fit" within the setting.

I'm no fan of Eric Saward's, but this is his best work and shows that
he did have real ability. No punches are pulled - This is Season 22 at
its purest, with black comedy and grim horror intertwining to ghoulish
effect. It also gets an incredible boost from director Graeme Harper,
who constantly finds ways to keep things visually interesting within
his meticulously framed shots. Whether by color schemes emphasizing
the coldness of Kara (Eleanor Bron)'s ship, or by color tints on the
lighting, or by smoke in the frame, there's almost always something to
push the visual element and keep the action dynamic. This is one of
the best-looking stories of the classic series, with very little here
that invites the viewer to laugh at the cheapness.

Harper's direction emphasizes the greatest strength of Saward's
script: The atmosphere. The cold and somber mood of a funeral home in
decline. That atmosphere can be felt in every scene, every
performance. More than any other element, the craftsmanship behind the
camera pushes this from simply being a good story into being a great
one.


Rating: 10/10.

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