Rate and Discuss: Full Circle

[SiHart]

Part 2

I threw one of a very rare childhood tantntrums when this epsidoe was first broadcast. We were due at the school fireworks display and had to miss the end of the episode. There were big, heavy tears.

Anyway, this is a pretty good episode. There's some great detail here- notably how they change Alazarius from the welcoming warm place of the first episode to the weird alien version after Mistfall. the dry ice gives it loads of atmosphere, as do the weird plants and the wet, marshy areas. Good stuff.

K9 does remarkably well on location too. There's a few wobbles, but he copes with the location pretty well really, especially as there are no obvious boards or anything. I love the little theme Paddy Kingsland writes for him. It's very like the theme he'd get for K9 and Co the following year.

I always feel sad when his head gets knocked off though.

There are a couple of nice Tom moments- especially the "how odd! I usually get on terribly well with children" line and of course the "And I'm the Doctor!" line too, but watch out for him giving the Deciders a rather sly, judging, look or disapproval when they're talking about the use of propaganda to stop the citizens straying too far. It sets up his outrage next episode very well.

James Bree is very good this episode too. From the tired and shocked performance he gives when Nefred has first seen the System Files through the insatnt putting on of confidence when login enters to the polished rhetoric of his speech to the Citizens, he's playing this really well, especially compared to the rather one-note performance he gave in The War Games.

It's a shame they never redorded the Marshmen carrying the TARDIS. That could have been a defining image of the season of they had. It may have been a bit more convincing than the running from side to side acting in the control room set!

The music is really good throughout- complementing the action very well.

Si xx

[SiHart]

Part 3

What a revelation Tom is in this episode. The Doctor's righteous indignation at everything around him is something not seen inm the show for a very long time at this point. The looks he throws at Dexeter in their first scene in this episode are wonderful, setting up the anger the Doctor explodes with when he walks into the middle of the experiment.
That's the highlight of this episode. He's suddenly the moral traveller in time again, standing up for what's right, defending the creatures who can't defend themselves. It's an astonishingly powerful scene (and Lalla's scream hurts. She gives it her all and you can see the power of it, really bestial) and the death of the Marshchild is really moving. Maybe it's down to the squeals of fright and then calm as he sees the Doctor. A good job from Dick Mills.

I love the revelation that they can take the ship apart and put it together again, but can't fly it. It's a brilliant bit of plotting and takes the viewer by surprise as much as it takes the Doctor. "The willful procastination of endless prcedure" is sadly not what it appears to be (though it is reinforced nicely by Varsh and co removing a component and then shortly afterwards putting it in somewhere else- nicely done)

George Baker comes to the fore in this episode- siding with the Doctor and detrmined to find out the truth of things. He plays Login very well.

Si xx

[Stephen Morgan]

Part 1

There's a real sense of melancholy and of an era coming to an end in the little scene in Romana's room. I don't know if it's the real life realtoinship breaking through, but it feels ever so real and it's quite affecting.

The move onto location adds something that's been missing all year. We've been indoors too much and it helps a great deal to get outside. It helps the season move up a notch and makes it feel very different to The Leisure Hive and Meglos. It makes it all look more expensive.

Who is this Adric then? Matthew Waterhouse doesn't deserve the criticism he gets. He's not bad at all in this episode, despite being written as a bit brash, cocky and full of himself. He's an elite you know. I thought he was fine and he swims very nicely!

Si xx

I agree with those points Si. There genuinely is a sense of melacholy in those first few scenes. Romana believes that she's going back to Gallifrey, she doesn't want to go and it's almost as if she wills K9 to lose control of the TARDIS to have one final adventure.

The move onto location makes the story seem fresh and summery, just as the evenings are closing in. It's 6.15 on a Saturday evening and the light is fading into an Autumnal sky, and this episode, so bright, so summery, until Mistfall settles in the closing moments and the Marshmen rise from the swamp in slo-mo to provide an iconic, and memorable cliffhanger. Episode two, after Mistfall, and with the mysterious presence of the Marshmen, is darker in tone, something which I suspect will carry into the final two episodes.

Matthew Waterhouse is actually quite good in this episode, he plays Adric as a young, mischievous adult, maybe led on a little bit by his brother and his friends, who, incidentally seem to have copied the contemporary fashion for the New Romantic look.
I was watching some of the DVD extras, particularly the Swap Shop clip, (always a sucker for the swappie) Matthew seems very nervous on that, faltering slightly in his answers to Noel Edmonds, and seems a little out of his depth while talking on the phone. But he soon recovers and seems a bit more confident towards the end of the clip. But WOW! didn't he have a lot of goodies on offer. I think the only thing I had there was the then current annual, I would have liked that day with the producer book, I don't remember that at all.

edited to add

I'd forgotten that just two days before the first episode of Full Circle, Matthew Waterhouse was introduced as the new companion on that weeks edition of Top of the Pops. He was introduced by Dave Lee Travis in between a video of Kate Bush and just before a live performance from Orchestral Manouvres in the Dark. Waterhouse says how much he's enjoying being on Dr. Who and shows off the new theme single, (which plays in the background throughout) before DLT tells him he can't kiss the gathered girls because he's too short.

Surprised it didn't turn up as an extra on the Full Cirlcle DVD.

[Jonno]

Watched this 3 weeks ago, but after spending most of the last 2 weekends away, I've fallen rather behind with my posting!

I think I love this story just a little bit more every time I see it. I really can't see much to fault in it at all, and the whole season moves up a massive gear with this story. You just know it's written by a fan when in the first few minutes you've got mentions of Andred, Leela, K9 Mark 1, the Key to Time etc. But it's not forced continuity references for the sake of it and it all helps to make this one of the most cohesive seasons ever.

Alzarius is for my money one of the best realised alien societies ever in the show - it's a fascinating society with the Deciders doing anything but and the young rebels outside. I've waxed lyrical about the gorgeous incidental music elsewhere on this forum. The location filming is gorgeous and as others have pointed out changes so effectively from sunny and beautiful to misty, cold and chilling.

Loads of TARDIS action, Tom at his angry best (the whole stuff with the Marshchild and its oh so sad demise still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up). Super cliffhangers too (must write about those elsewhere), poor K9 being beheaded and effective "monsters" which aren't really monsters, great cast.

I'd only watched this early last year when the boset came out, but it really was a delight to watch it again. For my money, I reckon it's the most under-rated gem in the show's history. 9/10

S18 rankings

Full Circle
The Leisure Hive
Meglos

[Simon R]

We're halfway through this one at the moment. A lovely little story that looks great apart from the plasticy marshmen and the dodgy light bulb eyes of the spiders. I don't think "Full Circle" is the most exciting name for it though. "The Planet That Slept" was a much better title.

We'd never noticed how oddly Matty Waterhouse pronounces "door" before...he says it like "deur". Which is almost as good as his "Why is he never around when you wunt him?" line from The Visitation.

[Simon R]

I would have liked that day with the producer book, I don't remember that at all.

Oddly we had that in my school library in the 90s. The first time I looked at the cover I somehow missed the TARDIS console and it took me a few seconds to realise it was a Doctor Who related book. I don't remember much about it apart from lots of black and white pictures of JNT in his office approving merchandise and looking at bits of paper.

I should have stolen it really.

[Si Hunt]

I always liked Full Circle, today it has its pluses and minuses.

Pluses - it looks fantastic. The shots of the Marshment, some in slow motion, crawling out the swamp amid the sunlight and dry ice are breathtaking. The scene of K9 in charge of the TARDIS I find wonderful and camp and always makes me smile - especially when he says "I have lost control of the TARDIS!". The idea of the negative coordinates and the scanner showing the absolute value of them is very inventive too. Adric, although of limited acting ability, is great and I must be alone in being glad it's him and not the sour Varsh or that crap girl then ends up aboard the TARDIS. It's really well cast, the Deciders are a buffet of acting experience. I just love the way James Bree stands up, amid a dazzling light in his big gold collar, and declares "I aaam the keeper of the system faaaailes!". The sequence with the Marsh Child is really novel, and the way it screams is quite disturbing. Tom plays the moment when he makes contact with it really well.

Oh, the bad things. The continuity at the start now makes me wince; it's the sort of unwelcome, "fans welcome, everyone else screwed" type that is just wrong, with retrospect. Mentioning Andred is just one step away from "And I must pop back and see Dodo - and I hope things have turned out well for Peter Purves." I don't like Romana in his story - she comes over a bit like Lalla apparently was in real life; snooty. She speaks down to Adric like he's a ten year old for no good reason. The model of the starliner is a bit woeful and there's no real attempt to integrate it with the location footage (which they seem to be aware of, as it's shots seem deliberately brief). The TARDIS being pushed off a hilltop is the sort of challenge the writer should have laid down and the production team should have seized, but no-one seems ready to step forward and have a go - we don't actually see it being hauled around by the Marshmen at all; a shame, as it would have been a lovely iconic image that no other show could have attempted. Someone should have struck the spiders out the script knowing the BBC wern't allowed to make convincing ones - the ones here wind up looking like Tomy toy ones.

So a serene, beautiful, well written story with some fine acting talent. But production wise, despite some lovely shots, there's a sense of everyone being a bit too relaxed. It's great - but somehow not outstanding.

Si.

[SiHart]

Part 4

Lalla Ward does a good job with the possessed acting, her body language is really alien and quite spooky at times in this episode. I like the way she defends the TARDIS, swatting the other marshmen away from it after the Doctor reminds her of it. Lovely moment.

There are some dramatic moments in this episode- the deaths of Tylos and Varsh are good, as is that of Mefred, but I can't help feeling more emphasis should ahev been placed on the Doctor's conversation with Login and Garif, where he reveals the marshmen are the ancestors of the Starliner crew. Tom throws away the big line as a quiet aside, which is a shame as the whole story hinges on it.

Login and Garif are a good double act in this episode. I can't help feeling the crew are in trouble with Garif to lead them, and it's possible Login knows this too, as he's subtly taking charge all the way through this episode. Watch how he's desperate to take off right from the moment the Doctor shows them how to do it, and it's Garif who takes his hand away and asks them to thik about it. That's good character stuff.

So we end on a somewat gloomy note with the Doctor staring morosely at the green void on the scanner. hey ho.

If push comes to shove, I have to admit this is my favourite story of the season. I've seen to lots of times, and even now I'm finding nmew things to appreciate in it.

Si xx

[Stuart Wallis]

So we end on a somewat gloomy note with the Doctor staring morosely at the green void on the scanner. hey ho.

Reminds me of when ITV were on strike in 1979. It was that or City Of Death. But that, dear friends, is another story.

[SiHart]

Life was easy back then!

Si xx

[Stuart Wallis]

Well some of us were just plain thick!

[Leah Betts]

I wouldn’t mind some more planets in E-Space. Big Finish might try to have Four and Co. trapped in Exo-space for months or years though. I’d like an Unbound with Keara as the companion just to see if Aukon would be more romantic or sexual in attracting a young girl to be Vampirised.