Rate and Discuss: The Deadly Assassin

[SiHart]

Through the millenia, the Time Lords of Gallifrey led a life of peace and ordered calm, protected against all threats from lesser civilisations by their great power. But this was to change. Suddenly and terribly, the Time Lords faced the greatest challenge in their long history...

The Doctor has had the call to return home and is quickly embroiled in one of the Master's more elaborate plans.

Faeturing no companion, a chase through the bizarre meta-space of the Matrix, The Deadly Assassin is a bit different to your standard Doctor Who adventure. But what do you think of it?

[duncan]

Loved it and for a long time I considered it to be the very best from the classic show's run. I was just 10 years old and at that time it was right up my street. The cliffhangers are all excellent and my favourite was the one with The Doctor trapped on the railway line and the train was bearing down on him. I just couldn't wait until the following week to see how he got out of that one.

Then of course the following week, we got THAT cliffhanger. The one that upset Mary Whitehouse so much. I have to say that the use of the freeze frame with the Doctor's head under the water didn't upset or affect me in the way Whitehouse claims it did. Of course there would have been some kids out there that were but I honestly didn't see what all the fuss was about at the time.

10/10.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

9/10 from me. One of the first stories I ever saw on UKGold. This was pretty much around the time in 2002 when I properly became a fan.
Leaving nostalgia aside the story itself is very strong and clearly very influential.

[Andrew Curnow]

As a 5 year old I remember feeling a sense of occasion about the Doctor going to Gallifrey, and it's certainly a story I remember as producing many striking images - the look of the Timelords, the look of the Master, the train sequence, etc. I'm not sure I'm so fond of it now, somehow it's not quite the epic I remembered as a kid, and in fact the plot is pretty shaky in places.

[Antony Cox]

I'm never bothered about shaky plots (which is just as well, being a fan of Doctor Who... ), so I love this one! I adore the Matrix sequences - it's like watching a 1960s Hitchcock thriller!

[Dino]

So what was DWAS problem with this story? Did they have one? I'm sure I read on here somewhere it wasn't well received. (And I voted 9)

[Jon Masters]

So what was DWAS problem with this story? Did they have one? I'm sure I read on here somewhere it wasn't well received. (And I voted 9)

IIRC it was the switch in the depiction of the Time Lords from ' allknowing superbeings' to 'crotchety old men corruptly hanging onto power ' that they objected to.

[Dino]

IIRC it was the switch in the depiction of the Time Lords from ' allknowing superbeings' to 'crotchety old men corruptly hanging onto power ' that they objected to.

Aww, but that's the best thing about this story though! Co-ordinator Engin and the fabulous Runcible. (the fatuous)
I don't think this story should be blamed for the encouraging the "soap opera" of Gallifrey onwards, though.

[J.R. Southall]

Yes, it's not as if you can blame the original Star Wars for its sequels, nor the original Jaws for Jaws 3D (and so on). The Deadly Assassin is an almost fantastic story, which would be a 9 or a 10/10 with just a little more of Robert Holmes' mordant humour. The change of pace and scenery towards the end of Part Two is brilliant but unbalancing, and sadly Part Four (like so many of Robert Homes' stories before and after it) is a touch disappointing. But there is a great, great deal to enjoy here!

[Jon Masters]

Hey, I only answered the question. I didn't say I agreed with them !!

[J.R. Southall]

Hey, I only answered the question. I didn't say I agreed with them !!

I was agreeing with you!

(At least, I assume I was...)

[Stephen Morgan]

I love this story, it always gives me a warm nostalgic feeling of autumn evenings, lights out and the glow from firelight and a lava lamp. Doctor Who was made for dark evenings I think. The Deadly Assassin part three made those dark evening all the more memorable for its surrealism.
I don't know what Mary Whitehouse had to complain about when she said that the cliffhanger of "Doctor Who, drowning" would have given kids nightmares, the cliffhangers were never really about the Doctor or companion getting killed or seriously maimed, we knew they'd survive to fight another day, I think it was always about how they were going to get out of the situation next week.

[Dino]

Hey, I only answered the question. I didn't say I agreed with them !!

No it's cool! I can remember reading some letters in DWM yeeeaaaars ago where they complained about how Gallifrey was being handled. I thought they were using The Deadly Assassin as a punchbag for starting it.
Did they ever make an audio about the collapse of Gallifrey? It got overrun but all their time science went up in smoke? Pity the classic series never went there.

[SiHart]

It's one of those stories that i really want to like, but I don't think it's that brilliant I'm afraid.

It's Episode 3 that does it for me. It's just a chase. A big old chase. After the surreal bits are done with at the start of the episode, it just becomes increasing dull. I'm with Tom on the violence, it may be real, but it's dull to watch. It doesn't feel much like Doctor Who. It's too grim.

The Time Lord stuff is a bit better. Indeed, O really like pt 4, where the Doctor and his new team of old men band together to sort out The Master. It's far more entertaining than it ought to be. I really like Engin and Spandrell. Good companion substitutes.

I can see that Peter Pratt's Master must have been scary if you were young in 1976, but to me he's a bit ridiculous. The vocal work is a bit OTT at times, and I find it hard to take him entirely seriously when he's there proclaiming at the Shower Cubicle of Rassilon (Woah boy!) at the end of pt 4. He's not as scary as Geoffrey Beevers in Keeper of Traken.

So, feeling generous it gets 7/10 for me. There's better stuff on the way though.

[Larry]

It's one of those stories that i really want to like, but I don't think it's that brilliant I'm afraid.

.

pretty much the same for me - I've never really understood why it always seems to get rated so highly yes it's got some nice moments but it just dosen't do it for me . I think one of the probles is that I have a dislike for Gallifrey based stories. The Time Lords are always made out to be all powerfull yet every time we have a story based on Gallifrey they are made out to be weak and incompetent and living in a shabby run down city and it dose rather annoy me.

[Terry Leptil]

The same goes for me too. I saw it ages ago and wanted to like it but didn't live up highly to what I was expecting. 6/10

[Jon Masters]

8/10 - how can I not love The Deadly Assassin, when it's one of the best scripts written by my favourite DW writer ?

But there's so much more. For one, its unlike any other story we've seen before (although it gets aped in later stories, to lesser effect). We have a Doctor on his own, babbling to himself and apparently swinging from full on crazy to deadly serious. Episode one is an exercise in tension because we know what its building towards, and yet there are all these little obstacles to get over, AND at the same time we're being fed delightful little details of plot and backdrop. Episode 2 gives us the jaw-dropping revalation of the Master - and I disagree, I found Peter Pratt much scarier than Mr Beavers in the decaying flesh (though Geoffrey is much scarier as just the voice of Melkur).

Episode 3 isn't just a big runaround - it's a story that almost every serial does at some point (hero alone and fighting for survival in duel against old enemy), and yet it's almot unique for DW. And as an 8 year old I loved all the violence (so boo to you, Whitehouse).

Finally Ep 4 gives us the big switcheroo - there's method to the Master's madness and he pretty much wins.

Production and performances are almost faultless, although I would dare to suggest that a more hawklike figure for Castellan might have been better. I disagree completely with Jan V-R - the Time Lords were shown throughout the Pertwee era to be a bunch of petty minded hypocrites, and Bob Holmes just takes that to its natural progression. I love the two old doddery Time Lords, and the whole facade of pomp and ceremony. And Angus Mackay is the best Borusa by far.

And the reason I don't give it 10 ? - the last 10 minutes or so. For such big ideas, the finale is let down by the limitations of budget, time and resources. A few polystyrene blocks falling and a giant black toblerone that couldn't fit through the hole in the floor do not do justice to what was an epic confrontation. Imagine what it could have been like if it were made now.

[Stuart Wallis]

I agree with every word, Jon.

[MacNimon]

The story has some great moments, but while I once considered it a classic I now think it's rather over-rated and dull. 6/10.

[johnnybear]

I love the Deadly Assassin. It has our first real look at Gallifrey and the hierarchy of the Time Lords. We learn a few snippets of info about the Doctor and his quarrels with his superiors plus it is never clearly revealed that this is the same Master from the Pertwee years (we know it is of course but not new viewers) plus his seething hatred for the Doctor and especially the Time Lords is well played in this story and Peter Pratt's voice is fantastic! The thirteen lives limit is revealed here too and also our first glimpse of Borusa, the Doctor's old teacher at the Academy! More info on the Black Hole from the Three doctors to which the Time Lords seem to think is a myth and they appear to be degenerating into a less than superior civilization! (How long was it since the Three Doctors? Three years or three thousand? story wise anyway!!! 10/10 from me even now and many have tried to imitate this beauty over the years but none have succeeded! Except that none of you shall need a grave!
JB