The Twin Dilemma

[Matthew T]

OG have this as their story of the week for discussion this week, which got me thinking about it.

Whilst I'm with the consensus that it's terrible, it's the same as Battlefield for me in that it's "so bad it's good" with endless quotably bad lines, and doesn't commit the cardinal sin of dullness like Time-Flight or Underworld.

Like always, I'm more interested in the views of PS than OG, so what do you think of this story? So bad it's good or just B-A-D?!

[Andrew Curnow]

That sounds like my cue...

In 1984 I really didn't like it much, but then a couple of years later I relistened to my off-air audios and was more than pleasantly surprised. No question, some of the visuals are a bit tacky and gaudy, but underneath that the story itself is actually not that bad, and I genuinely, genuinely enjoy it.

But... it's a story of such contrasts. There are some appalling slips in the Doctor's character, I'm not particularly thinking of the 'strangling scene', but bits like the cowardice scene in the tunnels in part 2 really don't sit right. The strangling might provoke us to either worry about or fear the Doctor, but at least that's a strong reaction - watching him be a coward just weakens him, and detracts from what we expect of him.

Then on the other hand, there are some perfect Doctor moments - there's his treatment of the dying Azmael, the flurry of activity to save their lives near the end of part 2, and (my particular favourite) the scene in part 4 where he's cross-legged considering Mestor's plan. "Look on it as a mental stroll, in a park of psychic tranquility." Beautiful.

The guest cast are the same - Maurice Denham gives Azmael some much-needed dignity, whereas Helen Blatch is just awful! And the cliffhangers too - part 1's is lazy, part 3's makes no sense (although, fair dos, they kind of get away with it until you think about it logically), but part 2's is one of the very best.

So - it's a story that needed much more considered and thoughtful direction (imagine the TARDIS scenes in part 1 played in a dimly-lit console room, filmed from low angles, with the snarling Doctor's face seen split through the glass of the time rotor column). It's a story that has some good ideas alongside some naff ideas. It's a story of inconsistent tone and performance. It's a story where the villain needs to be big and impressive, but is sadly an immobile cross-eyed slug costume.

I enjoy it, but maybe I don't respect it - The Twin Dilemma is effectively Doctor Who's one night stand. Watch it tonight and enjoy it, but be prepared to hate yourself in the morning!!!

[Jason Thompson]

I think it's badly executed and apalling in view of its context. It has some great bits in it. but given that it's supposed to finish off a season, introduce a new Doctor, and comes after a run of frankly great stories it sits very poorly and can only be considered a massive error of judgement.

The bad:

Hugo's outfit, and the fact that in an entire wardrobe he picks up the one item of clothing in which the power pack for his gun has been hidden.

The twins. Apalling acting from the pair of them.

Mestor's costume. The new series could carry off a giant slug as the main villain if it wanted to. It was a hell of a stretch in 1985.

'And may my bones rot for obeying it'.

The whole atmosphere of the story jars terribly after the preceding run, and especially after The Caves Of Androzani.

Colin tries too hard in many of the scenes, and the cowardly moment is simply dire.


The good:

Maurice Denham, but that goes without saying.

The strangling scene starts badly but the following scene where the Doctor is mortified to realise Peri is actually frightened of him is very well done, up until his OTT reaction and decision to become a hermit.

The Jocondan outfits are not bad, but it's a shame their guns are obviously Bostik glue guns.

The death of Azmael.

That's from my memory of seeing it twice, and the last of those times nearly three years ago. I might re-watch it soon and re-evaluate, but for now it doesn't readily spring to mind as one I'd reach for when I fancy some 80s Who.

I'd still choose it over Timelash though.

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

I like Timelash.....................................I'll get my coat!!!

[SiHart]

There's some excellent model work but it's mostly accompanied by Malcoms Clarke's farting incidental music, so it doesn't register as much as it should.

There's some excellently acted moments by Coilin, but they're counteracted by the moments where he's forced to do something over the top. That might be the idea, but it gets a bit wearing after a while. He very good when he's actually allowed to be the Doctor, but those moments seem few and far between.

The guest cast are by turns good and very bad, with nothing inbetween. I rather like Edwin Richfield as Mestor, but he's saddled with a grey/ brown duvet of a costume and a cross-eyed mask which makes him look ridiculous. Maurice Denham is dignified as Azmael and I like Hugo too, but the twins are terrors, Helen Blatch is BAD (and my my bone's rot for mentioning it) so we go from one extreme to the other sometimes in the same scene.

Nicola Bryant is good and bad too- the start of the argumentative Peri isn't ideal, but I think she's rather good in the epsiode 2 cliffhanger when she thinks the Doctor has blown up, and she does a great job of being stunned and shocked by the regeneration in a way that no-one since Ben and Polly really had been.

The big problem is the plot is hackneyed and nothing special. It could be argued that perhaps introducing a Doctor in a not too demanding story is a good idea, but really, what were they thinking? I know Eric Saward had to do a top down rewrite of it to make it work,but even so, this is just a sloppy story really.

And they had no money. And it shows.

Si xx