The E-Space Trilogy Goth Opera Vampire Science |
BBC State of Decay The E-Space Trilogy Part Two |
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| Episodes | 4 |  |
| Story No# | 113 | |
| Production Code | 5P | |
| Season | 18 | |
| Dates | Nov. 22, 1980 - Dec. 13, 1980 |
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With Tom Baker, Lalla Ward, Matthew Waterhouse,
and John Leeson as the voice of "K9". Written by Terrance Dicks. Script-edited by Christopher H. Bidmead. Directed by Peter Moffatt. Produced by John Nathan-Turner. Executive Producer: Barry Letts. |
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Synopsis: The Doctor, Romana, and Adric land on a planet where the rulers hold strange powers over their subjects, and are the key to the mystery of "the wasting".
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A Story to Sink Your Teeth Into.... by Emily Moniz 18/7/97
I watched State of Decay for the first time a few weeks ago, and I was rather impressed overall. This was my first episode with Tom Baker, Romana and K9, and I liked what I saw.
The plot is simple: the backwards vilagers defeat the vampires with the help of the Doctor with a twist. The twist is that the vampires are from Earth originally, they are protecting the Great Vampire, and they want Adric. (And that's quite a twist.) Of course, having seen all of Adric's episodes with Davison, I knew that he came out still alive. Adric is plain annoying with Romana: "One of my family's died for your lot already, and I reckon that's enough. Sorry, Time Lady". By that point, I was praying thay would kill him and have done with it.
I was impressed with Tom Baker's performance, and I loved his speech to rally the villagers by loosely quoting Shakespeare. And Romana was absolutely the perfect companion for that incarnation of the Doctor. She was intellegent enough to know what was going on, and to try and do something about it. K9 was just plain enjoyable, and I liked him very much.
Altogther, I thought State of Decay was a great episode to watch on a summer afternoon, and I recommend it highly.
No, not Dracula, please! by Andrew Wixon 23/11/00
The recent 'rad' vs 'trad' debate really passed me by, but I couldn't help but notice the way that dear old Terrance Dicks, by common assent, was adopted by all concerned as a touchstone of 'trad'-ness. Personally I remain convinced his strengths are as a script-editor rather than a writer, but he's got his name on an awful lot of TV scripts, and most of them are pretty good. Given that the main bone of contention was basically whether or not 'trad' was bad, how can this be?
Looking at State of Decay again now, one is struck by the realisation that this is just about as 'trad' as Doctor Who gets. Oppressive tyrants. Downtrodden and rather hairy rebels. Some wibbly special effects, and a surprising amount of horror for a Saturday teatime show. All in all, rather less stimulating than Horror of Fang Rock, the story written to replace this one when it was put into turnaround in 1977. There's nothing much particularly wrong with or unusually bad about the story, it's just not in the First Rank somehow.
Perhaps the key to why it seems a bit disappointing lies in its' protracted genesis. It was commissioned as the first story of Season Fifteen, presumably while Hinchcliffe and Holmes were still at the wheel; hence the pastiche of vampire legends in particular and Hammer's 1960s and 70s film series in particular. There was presumably some rewriting after Hinchcliffe's departure to reduce the Gothic quotient, and then the script spent three years on the shelf before being reactivated by an incoming production team desperate for material. And so we end up with a Gothic Hammer horror pastiche script, with added jokes, produced by a production team intent on avoiding raids on literature and upping the hard SF content. Brothers and sisters, if one story exemplifies the Tom Baker era in its entirety, this is it.
All the usual Bidmead/Season 18 motifs occur here. The Doctor and Romana frequently refer to themselves as scientists. Much jargonese appears (what exactly is a sociopathetic abcess, anyway?). The visiting cast, almost without exception, resolutely play the archest dialogue absolutely straight. If anything, this is the story's major flaw. Rather than full-bloodedly (sorry) following the scripts' natural inclination towards ever-so-slightly camp melodrama (very late Hammer, that), this is treated as straight drama. Production and script are pulling in different directions, and neither benefit.
And so potentially witty dialogue falls flat on its face, and scenes that could have been amusingly arch and entertainingly hammy just come across as drab and cliched. It's rather like watching a bunch of farmers perform Gold-diggers of 1937 down the local village hall; you can tell there's quite a promising script but it's been poleaxed by lumpenly indelicate acting and production.
All is not lost. Emrys James rises above the lines he's given to turn in a mesmerising performance as possibly the season's best villain. The direction is occasionally surprisingly imaginative, the obvious example being the slow mix through from Aukon to the slo-mo bat in the first episode. The score is as professional as any in the season, if not quite loud enough to drown out the clang of dialogue being badly performed. And, of course, Tom and Lalla seem charmingly besotted with one another. Aaaaahhhh... (Adric, on the other hand, might as well walk around with a placard saying 'I wasn't in the original script and have been added at the last minute'.)
But let's face it, this script would have been much better realised a couple of seasons earlier. As it is, the cry of 'No, not Dracula, please!' comes from the production team as well of the Doctor. Their lack of enthusiasm is palpable, and that's a shame. The lesson here is surely to capitalise on each scripts' own merits rather than imposing your own agenda on them. So in the end, this isn't Terrance Dicks' finest TV hour-and-a-half by any means. But don't blame the script for that.
The Girlfriend Experiment Pt 2 by Cainim Truax 19/3/01
Having survived Full Circle's Scientific inadequacies with my Newbie, (to Doctor Who that is) girlfriend Larissa, I figured it was smooth sailing into the next bit of Adventure, State of Decay. I mean, it was a simple Vampire horror story, right? No science at all to worry about.
Well, I was sort of right. Larissa as always loved Tom Baker, she says that even if the plot is weak Tom is always entertaining. It's fun to re-live the magic of Doctor #4 through a new fan's eyes. She thought the mood suited the story well and once again that Adric wasn't as annoying as his reputation (We'll see what she thinks a little further down the line).
That's where the magic of the story ended for Larissa. I was informed afterward that she has always found (as do I) the idea of vampires to be silly. So the story had to fight an uphill battle from the beginning. The conclusion bothered her in that she found the accuracy of the Doctor's Rocket shot to be unbelievable. Those seemed to be legitimate complaints.
Then it was revealed what monster was released by our previous viewing of Full Circle.
The cool, if poorly executed concepts in Full Circle have made Larissa look to Who for cool new concepts rather than a fun adventure. The only new concept she found in State of Decay was REALLY LARGE VAMPIRES. That apparently was not enough.
This bodes well for our next adventure, Warrior's Gate, but what lies ahead? Will the magic of some of my other favorites be lost on her? Time and the tapes will tell.
I, personally, have always loved State of Decay. It's got campy villains, the best Doctor, silly natives. and the overthrow of a terrible evil. What puts it over the top for me is that it's one of the few episodes that I actually can remember watching as a child in the mid-eighties. So since there must be some reason I remember it, I give it...
7 Doctors(Out of 8)
Larissa's Score
4.5 Doctors (Out of 8)
By the way, If anyone has experiences introducing the Doctor, to their friends or family. I'd like to hear them (both positive and negative). Thanks
The good old days by Mike Jenkins 31/10/01
I am thankful that John Nathan Turner let us have one last harrah with adventure, intrigue and fun. And unlike later adventure stories such as Earthshock and Arc of Infinity, the acting is good, it doesn't relly on Glossy images, and there is also philosophy and a deep plot.
The scenes between Tom and Lalla are so riveting they could make you laugh, cry or even arouse you (I don't care what anyone says, she's bloody well prettier than Mary Tamm). Although the vampires are acted well, it is their voices which are the true highlight. When Zargo says "We will drink your blood slowly" it makes you want to get down and thank the all mighty for such a masterpiece. Terrance Dicks makes Robert Holmes look like a children's writer, and unlike Holmes, Dicks was able to keep his edge. The villagers are a little cliched but acted very well, particularly the elder. It proves that in the Eighties, Doctor Who would be in anything but a State of Decay.
Forgotten? by Mark Irvin 6/11/01
State of Decay is one of those stories that never seems to receive a great deal of attention from fans. And to be honest - I'm not exactly sure as to why. Perhaps it's a victim of the high standard that was achieved during Baker's run. I think that many of his serials a criminally underrated, due to level of consistency that was produced in Doctor Who during this era. This consistency makes many of these stories easy to forget. They transpire from a period when excellence was expected as normality. Dare I say it, for example - if State of Decay was made during Davison or McCoy's runs, it might even have been hailed as a classic. I think I may have found myself slightly guilty in this regard - ranking stories in relation to the standard that surrounds them.
Possibly my favourite aspect of this story - is the deeply serious angle that is achieved by the Fourth Doctor here. This tone was often missing from his earlier seasons with the substitution of humour. This was definitely not a bad thing, just a different approach and incidentally small pieces of humour are still evident here. You tend to share the immense feeling of isolation that confronts the Doctor and his dilemma on this occasion. This time there's no question of receiving any outside help. He is the only one who can save the Universe from the Vampires and it's his responsibility. "If any Timelord should find the Great Vampire, they should do everything within their power to stop him....... even if it means surrendering his own life."
In addition, the theme concerning the Lords subduing resistance by banning knowledge and technology was a good one, if a little unoriginal. I can relate to criticisms aimed at the convenience of the Doctors "rocket shot" but actually I rather liked the idea, albeit poorly realised on screen.
As performances go, the Vampire Lords are well acted and convincing with Aukon leading from the front. At times they go a bit "over the top" but only slightly. Even the fan's perennial "whipping boy" Adric wasn't that bad. (Gee! give the poor guy a break!) Tom Baker and Lalla Ward continued their brilliant partnership here, displaying a wonderful chemistry, illustrated in this short exchange.
Romana - "The information was stored in certain Tardises.....Type 40's"To to be truthful - you have to really see this scene to appreciate it's beauty. I also enjoyed the part where the Doctor rallies the resistance "All rise in the name of E-SPACE" - brilliant stuff.
Doctor - "Psssst.............The Tardis is a Type 40"
Romana (innocently) - "Oh Really"
Doctor - "Psssst...........Do you know that you are wonderful"
Romana (with a smile) - "Well I suppose I am"
Even the music is worth a mention and was well suited to the proceedings.
State of Decay is a high quality serial, which I always enjoy immensely but probably just misses out from the "classic ranking". The whole thing contains a sensational atmosphere and ties in well with the E-space plot structure. Against my better judgement I might give this on a rough rating. How about an 8 out of 10?
A Review by William Berridge 1/11/02
Good Dr Who tends to work in one of two ways. One approach baffles the viewer with a complex and occasionally inexplicable plot, the scientific contents of which have varying degrees of plausibility. This approach is the less common, but tends to produce the most 'classics' (in my humble opinion): Ghost Light, Kinda, Warrior's Gate, and others. The other, more frequently used technique, is to create a straightforward adventure romp, which is to a greater or lesser extent ripped of from some classic storytelling source: Arthurian legends, Frankenstein and Sherlock Holmes, to name but few, have all found their way into our beloved series, rather clumsily disguised by the laser guns, robots and green blobs which provide the sci-fi element. Just a brief glance at State of Decay's synopsis tells us which category it falls into.
It's easy to see how this might disappoint some fans who had seen the former approach being made more prevalent by Bidmead in season 18, and would have hoped the second instalment of the Tardis' trip to an alternative universe would be something a little more original that what State of Decay is, a vampire story of the first order. In fact, State of Decay could easily not have been part of the E-Space trilogy at all, being as it is rather artificially worked in via the idea of the Great Vampire vanishing through the CVE.
Nevertheless, I find State of Decay makes a refreshing change from the... less straightforward approach adopted during season 18 (not that I don't appreciate the show's change in direction, I just think one of the series' strengths has been the complete diversity of each story from the one preceding it). Seeing as Dicks decided he was going to write a vampire story, it would be amiss to leave out the vampire bats, terrified villagers, and stakes through the heart, but fortunately he does not allow the story to be completely derivative. The one exception is the terribly cliched 'Oh! You've hurt yourself... let me sssssee...' line Camilla gets to deliver when Romana conveniently cuts herself. There's really no excuse.
Given the obvious limitations of the story, it would require a great deal of good plotting (within its limits), good production values, and well written and acted characters to make it come anywhere near to 'classic' status. Fortunately, it gets these for the most part, ensuring a special place in my own heart as one of the two stories I still think twice about watching late at night. (Curse of Fenric is the other - spot the obvious connection). The eerie music is a contributory factor to this, and thankfully so is the decision to allow the humour to compliment the plot, rather than vice versa. Little touches like Romana's treading on the Doctor's toe only bring brief relief to the tension in the exploration of the tower/ spaceship. For every piece of light acting by Baker, there's a genuinely scare bit, such as when the Doctor discovers the fuel tanks are full of human blood. This comes second only to the haemovores rising out of the sea in my list of all-time scary scenes.
The vampire's actors also do well, making up for the story's limited budget which could only provide them with some fake fangs and silly face paint (and a silly beard, in Zargo's case.) The way they deliver their lines stays (just) the right side of ham- I love the cold way Zargo states 'we will drain the blood from your bodies slowly', and Aukon's evil callousness is seen when he tells Hebris 'Then die... that is the purpose of guards.' The characterisation is further enhanced by the rivalry between Aukon, the servant of the Great one, and the jealous other two - it's a pity this enmity was rather forgotten as the story climaxed. Unsurprisingly, however, most of the villagers and rebels come across as... well, stock villagers and rebels. Ivo's wife deserves a special mention for saying 'besides, resistance would be useless.' The rebels couldn't possibly seem less effective, lead as they are by a dopey old man who keeps banging on about 'needing more time'. Even in the final battle K9 does all the work for them. Ivo and Hebris are slightly more interestingly portrayed, largely due to the subplot about Ivo's son, especially his realisation what the vampires have done with him. He does, however, drop sadly out of character at the end when he decides to apologise for being rude about K9... though 'Well done, dog!' seems to be more of a congratulation than an apology.
The regulars are predictably excellent (Tom Baker puts Kenneth Brannagh's Henry V to shame), with the obvious exception of the much reviled Adric. Why the production team decided to characterise the next member of the Tardis crew as an obnoxious brat is quite beyond me. Telling Ivo's wife 'whatever you say' is his most cringeworthy moment, though informing Romana 'One of my family's died for your lot already. I reckon one's enough.' comes close. Apparently however, this was all part of his ingenious plan to save them both, though quite how he intended to effect this plan is another matter, with three rather nutty vampires and a bunch of guards to face. Unsurprisingly, his valiant attempt at resistance lasts all of 2 seconds. It is a small mercy he spends one and a half episodes entranced.
Ultimately, Dicks succeed in adding a more original 'who-ish' slant to the plot, with a space-ship filling in for the traditional stake. Also, in that scene in the first episode when the 'backwards peasant' Ivo suddenly pulls out a communicator, he subverts the audience's expectations very well.
Also the notion of 'the Wasting' might have added something to the plot, if we ever found out what it actually was. The again, almost all the elements of the next story, the classic (well I think so) Warrior's Gate, were like this (three gateways being one, Time Winds, etc...), so I won't complain.
The effects are reasonably good, for 1980, especially in the three vampires's 'going to pieces'. The effects team did well to realise the audience's imagination could create the great vampire better then they could, and so mercifully a full-size model never appears in the story. The one that appears on Kalmar's scanner, however, looks like something bought from Toys' r' Us for Halloween.
I'm not going to argue this is a classic - the term is so subjective anyway - but this story is well worth watching at any time, especially after dark.
Bloody good by Tim Roll-Pickering 18/11/02
This story sees the series revisiting the 'Gothic horror' style of the mid 1970s with an extremely dark vampire tale. State of Decay is a welcome return to the series by Terrance Dicks, featuring some strong ideas and execution to tell a strong tale that manages to hide the strong plot similarities to the preceding Full Circle (a spaceship crashing on a planet long ago with a backward society developing around it over generations) and so the tale feels extremely fresh. The writing is competent and the plot logical and the only letdown comes from some poor cliffhangers that don't feel like particular climaxes for the story. This story is the middle part of the 'E-Space trilogy' but could easily have worked by itself as the wider trilogy at the moment feels like little more than an element to enforce random landings on alien planets.
Of the cast the honours have to go to the 'Three Who Rule'. Emrys James (Aukon), Rachel Davies (Camilla) and William Lindsay (Zargo) each bring to their roles a strong sense of authority, whilst at the same time making each distinctive from the other. It would be so easy for them to have played their parts as though they were near-zombies but wisely this has been avoided and instead we the two rulers and the wise man, appropriately straight out of legends. Of the regulars it is absolutely clear in some scenes, most obviously the one where the Doctor and Romana are locked in a cell together, just how close Tom Baker and Lalla Ward were at this stage and the result is an exceptionally close rapport between the Doctor and his companion. Matthew Waterhouse is competent as Adric and manages to break a clich?in the scene where he refuses to risk his life to save Romana, being more concerned with his own. This is a refreshing change from the 'heroic thoughtlessness' of many previous companions and makes Adric more interesting to watch. The rest of the cast have predominantly supporting roles but none of them let the side down.
Productionwise State of Decay is exceptionally competent. Another good score by Paddy Kingsland sets the mood of the story almost perfectly, whilst the locations sequences are handled well. The sets all look good as does much of the modelwork and the only disappointment comes at the end of the story when the Doctor launches the ship and it is clearly CSOed over a background whilst in flight. Otherwise the climax as the ship destroys the Great Vampire, followed by the rapid ageing of the Three Who Rule is spectacular. Ageing is a clear theme emerging in this season, giving a strong sense of foreclosure and it helps to build up expectations for the climax. There's a huge amount of blood in this story which merely adds to the downbeat tone and it never feels artificial at all. All in all this is a very strong tale. 9/10
The fun's about to end... by Joe Ford 2/11/03
I am quite surprised I enjoy this story as much as I do because re-watching recently I have noticed just how much the production is sort cobbled together. Certainly it has the very poor production values for the glossy season eighteen and has the most traditional plot ever seen in the show's history.
However the story manages to overcome these drawbacks and escape any great criticism on the strength of the acting and the enthusiasm of the writer Terrance Dicks.
If you locked Philip Hinchcliffe, Graeme Williams and John Nathan-Turner in a conference room together and asked them to produce a story I should imagine it would turn out very much like State of Decay. The story has several unique flavours that three of the most influential producers of the show adopted during their time. Certainly it is an expression of the gothic horror Hinchcliffe brought to the show being for all intents and purposes a Hammer pastiche (popular with Robert Holmes, top script editor during those wonderful three years) but then it also has a strong comedy flavour favoured by Williams during his fabulous three years of frothy entertainment. State enjoys its sarcastic edge, poking fun at the genre it is mimicking and happy to provide a good backbone to the story where the traditional plot fails. And nestled quite comfortably in JNT's stylish first year as producer it also contains some strong scientific ideas, Chris Bidmead refusing to let the story wallow in melodramatic happenings.
It has possibly the strangest feel of any Doctor Who story, the three influences each taking centre stage sporadically throughout the four episodes but mashing together into something original as a result.
It has pointed out by many people that the show has an almost erotic subtext thanks to the touchy-feely bad guys, the Three Who Rule. Watching it in 2003 there is little that is questionable at all but it certainly highlights the story as one that was willing to be a bit different. Enjoyably, much of the sensual subtext seems to be gay related (up yours Thatcher!) Camilla has an unusual taste for Romana's blood, rushing to tend her hand when she is cut and staring at her with lust in her eyes during their initial scene together. Her "there are compensations" whilst gazing at the aristocratic Time Lady still sends shivers down my spine. Plus Aukon's interest in Adric (oh yuck) is a fine indication of his feelings, I have never heard a man whisper "come" in another's ear quite so erotically before. The ultimate demonstration of just how sensual they are comes in episode four where Aukon holds the Doctor and Romana's hands together whilst Camilla and Zargo touch their shoulders. An extremely revealing moment.
The Three are the stars of the show but not because of their perverted villainy. The performances are near perfect with Rachel Davies taking the honours as the most effective vampire. She has the ability of sending shivers down your spine just with the power of her voice ("Countless inhabited worlds all waiting to feed our hunger!" she seethes) and plays the part with grand, operatic gestures that give her character a dangerous, quietly menacing feel. Emery James chews the scenery fabulously; Aukon is a superb lead baddie using his dialogue to enhance the theatrical nature of his character. I love his scene stealing exclamation "You will drink the blood of TIME LORDS!" Very funny and quite scary too. Impressive. He flits between the jokes and the horror with ease, no wonder Lalla Ward enjoyed working with him so much. William Lindsay doesn't get as many chances to light up the screen being the most subdued of the Three but his quiet "Why am I still afraid?" says everything about his thoughtful character.
We are mere seconds away from Tom and Lalla grabbing each other on set and getting it on! Another delight of this story is the terrific amount of flirting going on by the two leads. It is the last story that they spend any substantial time together and they make the most of it, every scene they share punctuated by a playful attitude that would be sorely missed in the next three years. Episode three comes as close as they dared, sharing a cell, swapping stories and complimenting each other with coy gazes. Have the Doctor and his companion ever been this close? Not even his moments with Susan can touch the warmth expressed between these two and it is wonderful to watch. You get very involved in their relationship and as a result the next story is a real heart breaker (especially when you think who the Doctor will be stuck with).
Ahhh yes Adric, Matthew Waterhouse's debut acting case (although not his first story I might point out before obsessed fans jump down my neck!) on the show. Well he is as spectacularly awful as ever, so bad it is a joy to watch him try. Too complicated a character? Sure thing Matthew, that is a VERY convincing excuse to why you're so crap in the part. Why then can't you even manage a short walk between the console room and the door in your first scene in this story convincingly? The robot dog upstages you in every way! At least he is funny/charismatic/functional... you're just annoying. The production seems aware of the fact and hides him away most of the time and just watch the punch the air scene where Romana suggests they have to rescue the irritating twerp. "Adric!" the Doctor spits out with utter disgust as though the very idea is repulsive. Hehehehe. "I'm sorry Time Lady but one of my family's died for your lot already... I'd say one's enough" Kill the brat! Kill the brat!
When the story remembers its horror roots it manages to pull off some highly atmospheric moments. The chase by the bats through the dark woods is well done (even if the cliff-hanger is a bit useless) and the sequence at the end of episode three where Romana creeps into the cobwebby bed chamber of Zargo and Camilla to rescue the bowler haircut kid is shot for shot perfect. The aggressive rock music, Tarak being thrown across the room, Camilla advancing on Adric, Zargo pulling the knife from his chest and waving it into Romana's face... a big thumbs up from the horror fan in Joe. The last episode rips off every hammer film spectacularly, the SF credentials out the window in favour of entertaining melodrama. Romana about to be sacrificed, Vampires baring their fangs excited at the feast, a terrifying creature about to rise from a long sleep, the massacre of innocent guards... isn't it all gloriously cliched? And done with such childish panache you can't help but get drawn in. The story doesn't really want to scare you but give you a good time and by its climax I was satisfied, greedily so.
My qualms about the production extend only to the special effects, which are extremely disappointing. Doctor Who is infamous for its quaint FX but State of Decay has no real excuse, The Leisure Hive and Full Circle before it both had sumptuous production values. It would appear the money has run out and we're forced to laugh at the pathetic shots of the tower, so obviously a model and how Terrance must have been disappointed when they sabotaged his grand finish involving a scout ship and a Great Vampires heart! Sky ray lolly anyone? Even more subtle effects such as the rock Romana throws at Aukon are sadly inefficient.
The look of the story however is quite appealing. Each set has a jumbled, falling to pieces feel to it that suits the season theme of entropy. The Hydrax is a mixture of grand colourful rooms and cold, metallic access panels... clearly in need of a paint job. The rebel's base with its scientific instruments strewn about is exceedingly dated but suits the story perfectly. Even the TARDIS is looking a bit shabby these days, the queasy console groaning as the column rises and falls. The feeling of lost hope the story suggests is complemented by the design. Good work.
Isn't the music a joy? Why hasn't this score been released on CD like the others in season 18? Paddy Kingsland is making a statement; he refuses to let the show drag you into its horrific material and instead opts for a shocking rock score, filling later episodes with some real pulse racing stuff. The 80's have arrived folks and let's be LOUD and PROUD about it! The music at the climax is extremely exciting. Compare this to Dudley Simpson's cod horror score for The Brain of Morbius (good though it was!) and see how things have changed in the new decade.
I really like State of Decay even if it does stick out like a sore thumb surrounded by all the hard SF tales around it. It doesn't want to impress you with scientific mumbo jumbo but simply tell an effective story. It succeeds, a final stab at experiencing the fun of the universe before all the serious stuff starts.
A Review by Stuart Gutteridge 25/2/04
Generally speaking there are two types of vampire stories, and State Of Decay being written by Terrance Dicks (not known for pushing the boundaries storywise) mixes both traditional and futuristic elements. The result is an enjoyable tale blessed with an atmosphere of oppression.For starters, we have a new take on Gallifreyan lore and their war with the vampires; not only does this add to Time Lord mythology it also makes for entertaining viewing thanks to the characterisation of the three villains (notably Zargo and Camilla`s resentment of Aukon`s greater power.)
Production values are generally high,the tower looks gothic and authentic, whilst the village looks spartan. Only the shots of the tower taking off and the occasional rubber bat mar the show in any way. The regulars are great, Tom Baker is particularly grim,without being dark,and Lalla Ward portrays terror effectively. For once K-9 is used effectively rather than being simply abused too, despite the fact that he largely remains in the TARDIS. Adric enters his annoying phase here, his attitude towards the villagers and Matthew Waterhouse`s acting in general being a case in point.This aside State Of Decay remains a refreshing take on vampires in the Doctor Who universe.
The Great One Rises by Jonathan Middleton 19/8/06
State of Decay is argue ably the most traditional stories of season 18 (not counting Meglos which is just unoriginal and cliched). What I mean is this story could have been made in season 13 with the Doctor and Sarah, thanks to a clever and original script from Dicks (although it my have been re-worked by Bidmead). Blessed with excellent direction from Peter Moffat, State of Decay is truly an underrated classic which, if it had been aired in the Davison era, would have been considered a classic by fandom.
Baker puts in a marvellous performance as the Doctor. By now all memories of "My arms my everything" are now banished and the humour which had been one of the major problems of season 17 is now played at a reasonable level and is actually funny. I laughed my head off at the "you trod on my toe" bit and there is one wonderful scene where he is reading about how the vampires were destroyed and he discovered how the great vampire survived the look on his face says it all: "Oh dear god", continuing his season 18 renaissance. Lalla Ward gives a good performance and unlike in season 17 is not an unbearably smug snob but a funny and nice person who has a superb chemistry with Baker. As well as that, there are good scenes which demonstrate their chemistry and that she is a good actress (namely because she was shagging him at the time). I can see why people despise Adric and Waterhouse so much. To be fair to Waterhouse this was his first story he recorded and isn't his worst performance ever but of his stories with Tom Baker this is his worst. The fact is, he's an annoying brat who betrays the Doctor and Romana. Whether he was doing this as a bluff or out of a desire for power is unclear; however Waterhouse really is terrible. A pity, because in other stories of this season he was a competent actor and Adric was even likeable.
Emrys James is mesmerising as Aukon. He manages to convey how good an actor he is, managing to make Aukon truly dangerous. Unlike Zargo and Camilla he's the power behind the throne who dominates the screen with his performance oozing menace. William Lindsay is also good as Zargo, showing how ruthless he is, yet also he may not want to be part of it as when he says "Why am I still afraid?" and "A ship of state must have a pilot." Rachel Davies oozes menace as Camilla, a voracious animalistic woman with a lesbian undertone; when she wants to hold Romana's hand it's not out of concern. Clinton Greyn does a good job as Ivo showing him as a gruff but sympathetic figure, as someone who hates serving the lords but has no choice and is pushed over when his son's killed. Iain Rattray is reasonable as Habris showing a clear loyalty to the lords but yet a sort of friendship with Ivo. Arthur Hewlett is good as Kalmar, a man obsessed with science. It's because every time I've seen him he seems to be playing very old men. Thane Bettany is all right as the impatient Tarak who is desperate to overthrow the lords but the role isn't that important really. Rhoda Lewis is again all right as Marta conveying the weariness of some people in the village.
Peter Moffat in my opinion is an underrated director who deserved more praise than he got for his work. His work on State is superb: the bat superimposed on Aukon's face, the revelation of the room where people get drained of their blood, the opening shot the rocket taking off, the cliffhanger to parts one and two, the three who rule's deaths and the waking of Camilla and Zargo.
Paddy Kingsland's score is his best score for the programme. I cannot believe Clayton Hickman called this "Cheesy Synth Music". CHEESY SYNTH MUSIC? This is a haunting, moody, atmospheric which perfectly captures the gothic feel of the story. One moment which is just wonderful is when Zargo and Camilla enter the inner sanctum the music is just perfect and captures the feel of the story.
Christine Rusco's excellent design work for this story is truly magnificent, capturing the period gothic appeal of the story and the Hammer feel which is truly excellent and with the inner sanctum and the throne room being particular standouts.
Now then a scene that is often criticized is the scene where Zargo and Camilla use a key card to enter the inner sanctum yet they forbid technology. It's perfectly normal for dictatorial regimes to be blatant hypocrites and they probably forbid it to prevent opposition from springing up.
So a good story which is truly underrated by fandom and deserves more praise than it gets from some quarters. So despite one or two flaws it's a good story.
8/10
A Review by Tom Marshall 3/5/10
Of the three stories which comprise the E-Space Trilogy, State of Decay is certainly the most 'normal'. That isn't to say this is as bog-standard, formulaic a Who story as you are going to find: not at all. That would be Robot. However, it does follow set patterns, which we might expect from a standalone story: it borrows heavily from SF and horror films, it has a sense of mystery leading up to a climax, and it mashes well the horror, humour and science-fiction of Tom Baker's tenure as the Doctor.
If you think of each story as having four areas, State of Decay scores very well in three. It gets top marks in conception, production/direction and acting; where it chiefly fails is in execution (and by that I mean Dicks' plot). Even here it would probably get four out of five, but there are just a few too many flaws in the narrative to go unnoticed.
For example, although the scenes in the TARDIS are by their nature pretty wonderful, the scriptwriter comes across as a little at a loss for what to do if halfway through Part Three the lead character returns to the TARDIS for a bit. Continuous toing-and-froing to the laboratory run by the peasants also gets a little tedious after a while, whilst K9 does far too little (that, I suppose, could be misconstrued as a blessing depending on your outlook on robot dogs; I guess he might ruin the overall 'tone' of the story). Adric, meanwhile, reasonably promising in Full Circle, has very obviously been shoehorned into the script at a late stage and seems very out of character with his other appearances in later stories. Some of the early scenes in the village drag a little too.
However, that's fortunately all that is wrong with State of Decay and for the most part one cannot fail to be entertained by the end of Part Four. It boasts a lavish production; perhaps not as visually stunning as Full Circle but that was exceptionally cinematic and if this four-parter did not sit next door to it then I feel sure it would be held in higher esteem. The acting is for the most part high, particularly from the regulars and the villains (with only one exception and I'll try not to mention him in this review because he gets slated too much as it is). The concept is also fantastic; looking back it's hard to believe it took the show a full 18 years to do a vampire story!
Coming after the greens and mossy browns of Full Circle, the chilling forests and swirling greys and browns on display here are an excellent visual contrast. The opening forest shots after the the Doctor and Romana leave the TARDIS are slightly too similar to Alzarius, but that's a minor niggle and some of the dusk filming is particularly evocative. The world of the peasants is reasonably well created (if a tad cliched; as the Doctor himself says, the tower and village is a very typical medieval scene) and their clothing is also in keeping with their technology.
The Tower itself, quite a central part of the narrative in some ways, is served well. It might be a blatant model, but any classic story with an exciting set-piece or a stunning alien vista is going to be done using a model, so get over it! The shots of the Tower are quite exciting and foreboding, particularly the one at night in Part Four - and having it actually a spaceship rather than a gothic tower is typical of the sci-fi ideals Bidmead and Nathan-Turner were ushering in with the new decade. Inside the tower itself, the guards are also a reasonable part of the script and their garb feels typical of the medieval society the story is set in; they could've walked straight out of The Ribos Operation. The design within is moodily lit and impressive in a small-budget, claustrophobic way, directed imaginatively by Peter Moffatt (always was an underrated director).
In fact, continuing the directing theme, some of the direction here is incredible. Perhaps not quite enough to match the sheer classiness of Full Circle but parts are simply perfect and others are very, very imaginative. I absolutely adore the slow-motion fade from Aukon's sinister face to a flapping bat in Part One: helped all the more by Emrys James' silky delivery of the dialogue "My servants will find them..." Part One's cliffhanger is badly scripted although Moffatt makes of it what he can, whilst Part Two is much better, a really tight moment and with a wonderful final shot of Aukon's eyes. The other two things I would have mention from the director would be every time Zargo and Camilla go a bit wilder and more bestial (including the tremendous Part Three cliffhanger) and their graphic age-to-death scene which was much better done than I'd expected (later blatantly copied by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, I reckon). And Paddy Kingsland's rocked-up score is also marvellous.
Matthew Waterhouse as Adric (damn I said I wouldn't mention him) fares badly in his acting debut, and it's obvious he was a late addition to the script. He has very little to do and, incredibly, the Doctor and Romana don't realise that he's even in the story until Part Three: he's definitely the weakest part of the characterisation. The peasants aren't all that bad, if a tad cliched like most parts of the story, but it's with the two leads and the villains that the acting becomes almost electric.
Tom Baker and Lalla Ward have quite stunning chemistry. I enjoyed their romping about in City of Death, but this is almost in a different league. Every moment is just how the Doctor's relationship to the companion should be: friendly, familiar, a tad flirty but not too much. Their "You're wonderful" scene in prison is just marvellous, and their almost double-act moments ("Inspection hatch!") had me in stitches. Some of the comedy, in fact, could've been taken right out of City of Death and the much-maligned previous season; it's very much that sort of humour. But the more serious presence of Tom Baker in his final year is ever-present: his sombre, sonorous voice perfectly lends itself to lines such as "It isn't rocket fuel, it's blood..." and the three speeches, one about vampire legends on almost every planet, one the ancient and poetic words of the Record of Rassilon, and the last arousing the peasants with a Henry V quote.
Three particular actors all give stunning turns as Aukon, Zargo and Camilla, the Three Who Rule: among the greatest 'human', if human these can be called, villains the show has ever seen. Both Zargo and Camilla - which makes sense as they're king and queen - are played with a sense of royalty and dignity, and yet sheer unadulterated bestiality when they are hungry for blood. Aukon, however, is the one who is really in control: you can tell that just by looking at him. He is more steeped in mythology, softer spoken, less straightforward a villain. And yet when the script calls for it Emrys James hams it up to the charming max: the best line being "You die. That's the purpose of guards." Marvellous!
Some fans might feel a little let down by the climax, but the shot of the hand emerging from its resting place (the hand! It's huge!) is quite a definitive one of the vampiric nature of the story, and while the FX is bad, it's Doctor Who, and this is only a slight sour taste in the mouth after the marvellous gateau we have just sampled. In conclusion, then, State of Decay is a charming example of Tom Baker on fine even in his final year, and it perfectly encapsulates the gothic horror, charming humour and tough science fiction of the three eras of his Doctor.
And that other genius, Toby Whithouse, is giving us vampires this year too. Can't wait...
A Review by Matthew Clarke
17/7/11
Disconcertingly, after the attempt to break into 'hard science'
territory with Full Circle, we are back in Hammer
Horror territory with a story about old-fashioned fanged vampires. This
story seems like it is in the wrong season and ought to be a
Hinchcliffe-era story. (Terrance Dicks originally wrote it to open Season
15, but it got shelved until it was picked up again by the
economically-minded John Nathan Turner.) What sets it apart from all those
Hinchlife Hammer re-workings is its magnificent production values which
put the Seventies' stories to shame.
I find it remarkable that fans, in general, do not consider this story
to be a classic. The usual verdict tends to be that State of Decay
is a good story, but not that interesting. In my opinion, it is better
than Brain of Morbius, much better than Pyramids of Mars and easily the equal of Horror of Fang Rock (which Dicks hastily wrote to
replace this story in Season 15). Like all of the classic stories, it has
faults, but these do not stand out because of its well-paced narrative and
highly effective production.
Terrance Dicks has a reputation as a 'traditionalist' Doctor Who
writer and certainly State of Decay takes many stock elements of
Doctor Who: tyrants needing to be overthrown, 'Creature Feature'
horror, the value of scientific knowlege and ancient evil. This risks
cliche, but Terrance Dicks knows them well enough to make them work. The
revelation that the tower is a spaceship is brought out early on in the
story. Other Doctor Who writers would probably have made this
overly dramatic and brought it out towards the end, under the misguided
notion that this is something of great interest to the viewers. State
of Decay has a much faster and more exciting pace than the Seventies'
stories in a similar style. Dicks was a master of his craft.
A good deal of Doctor Who fails to generate atmosphere and this
is always a big failing. In contrast, State of Decay is dripping
from bucketloads of atmosphere. The woodland and the gothic sets both
contribute to this, as well as the script's descriptions of the ancient
menace involved. This is the perfect story to watch on a cold, dark winter
evening, with a glass of red wine or a pint of ruby ale in one's hand.
Thanks for this go to Nathan-Turner's push for strong production values.
We see some marvellous camera-work and effective use of location filming,
as well as some brilliant sets: the gothic tower and the rebel HQ with its
abandoned machinery.
I love the fact that this story ties into the lore of Gallifrey. The
idea of the powerful Time Lords having an ancient arch-enemy in the
vampires is very inspired. Despite the clear 'trad' leanings of this
story, the Virgin New Adventures have been considerably inspired by it. I
am a huge fan of Neil Penswick's The Pit that deals
with the theme of horrors from the Gallifreyan Dark Times. It is not made
clear in that story whether the Yssgaroth Old Ones are the vampires or
some other Lovecraftian extra-dimensional monstrosity. Strangely, when
Terrance Dicks himself used this story in his New Adventure novel, Blood Harvest, he re-wrote the background of State
of Decay, introducing the idea that there were far more inhabitants of
the planet, including other vampire lords. I suppose this makes a bit more
sense than there being just one village on the planet.
I think that it was a very smart move to leave the Great One largely to
the imagination of the viewer. Imagined terrors are always better than
clumsy monster props and suits. We could probably have done without the
fleeting image on the scanner, though I think the claw emerging from the
ground is more effective than some people allow.
The vampires are brilliantly characterised, with the cunning and
ambitious Aukon and the more venal Zargo and Camilla. Aukon seems to be
the real power amongst the Three Who Rule. He also comes close to stealing
the show with Emrys James' camp but chilling performance. Their final
disintegration is very convincingly done. The peasents are a little
cliched, but they fit perfectly into the pseudo-medieval world of the
story.
Tom Baker and Lalla Ward are at their best, with Romana showing genuine
terror and the Doctor clearly chilled by the thought of horrors from the
Dark Times. There is plenty of humour and Baker's 'St. Crispin's Day'
speech is a classic moment. Adric is a little annoying, but it is more
interesting to have a companion who does the dirty on the Doctor instead
of turning into an instant hero. What makes him work here is that he gets
an instant telling-off by Romana. Adric's blaming his brother's death on
the Doctor would probably have evoked sympathy from the soft-hearted Fifth
Doctor. Adric was a companion for the Fourth Doctor and Romana who needed
them to keep him in line. Without them, he became a nuisance.
There is something of an irony in this story in that while it
supposedly holds out the value of learning and scientific knowlege, in the
end it is the brute fore wielded by an ex-guard and his fellow rebels that
brings down the vampires' misrule. The scientific studies of Kalmar are
shown to be rather useless.
Two obvious faults with State of Decay stick in my mind.
Firstly, what in E-Space is the 'Wasting?' It sounds an intriguing idea,
but it is never explained. It reminds me a little of 'The Nothing' from
the film NeverEnding Story, a kind of unstoppable force of existential
decay. What the theologian Karl Barth had in mind when he wrote of the
'Nothingness'. Or maybe some kind of cosmic terror, a vague entity we
might see in a H.P. Lovecraft story, like The Colour Out Of Space. Sadly,
we never learn anything about what it is meant to be. The second fault is
the bizarre desire of Kalmar to return to Earth. There has never been any
suggestion in the story that his people are from Earth; they are certainly
not descendants of the Hydrax crew.
Maybe it's because I am a bit of a Goth at heart, but I love this story
despite my preference for more 'rad' elements in Doctor Who.
"Stake in the ground" by Thomas Cookson
6/12/15
State of Decay is the one unambiguous success of Season 18. It's
not senseless drivel like The Leisure Hive or Meglos, it's got more meat on the bone than Full Circle, it's not on the boring side like The Keeper of Traken, nor is it Warriors' Gate or Logopolis' mixed
goodbyes that left us wanting something better for Tom and Lalla's
departures.
It is like The Five Doctors, a perfect example of
how, when Terrance Dicks got the JNT production aesthetic behind him, we
got the best of both worlds. This story is almost a mocking indictment of
how easy it should be to laud 80's Who and how well it could be
done when done with the right experienced talents, as a collaborative
process. Nothing's more testament to what went wrong in the 80's than
JNT's seemingly belligerent resistance to allowing for either.
As one of JNT's earliest productions, it's baffling how we ever went
from this to the philistine likes of Delta and the
Bannermen. But then JNT didn't so much start high and end low as
inherit a high point from others and drag it to the ground by discarding
the talent. This is almost a case in point example of this. This,
alongside The Five Doctors, is the one seeming peace
offering between the Williams and JNT era schism. Proof that Tom and Lalla
could work brilliantly and iconically with Bidmead's hard-science
approach. Adric doesn't at all, yet somehow JNT decided to get rid of
Romana fast and keep Adric.
Now mostly Season 18's Adric was nothing like his obnoxious Season 19
persona, who was an argumentative, petty, sexist brat who was unpleasant
to know. I think this is largely down to Bidmead's input. Adric actually
feels like good companion material in The Keeper of
Traken. He's an effective point of audience familiarity in a TARDIS
full of strangers in Castrovalva. Even in Full Circle and Warriors' Gate, he
conveys an eeriness, alienness and vulnerability, which might be down to
Bidmead's input, emphasizing the coldness and disconnection.
This story's the exception to the rule, where Adric is a horrid brat,
and it's also the story Bidmead was forced to take his hands off because
Peter Moffatt preferred Terrance Dicks' original script. And rightly so.
Bidmead's icy touch was suited well to the science and concepts in motion
of Full Circle and Warriors'
Gate. However, with the Williams leftovers of The
Leisure Hive and Meglos, you can tell he has
contempt for them and just wants to rush them out the way quickly.
Likewise The Keeper of Traken is a fairy tale story
that doesn't really work with Bidmead's approach so we get a square peg
forced into a round hole. A story that hangs and clunks in stasis until
the science bits, and feels far too cold and technophiliac to work as the
warm folk story it wants to be. It's almost certain that had Peter Moffatt
not pulled rank, then State of Decay would have suffered the same
fate. Instead, it works as something mythological enough to feel like it's
doing something solidly new and long-precedented at once. It feels natural
and warming.
Except when it comes to Adric's characterization, because he's
characterized by Dicks as a duplicitous, smug artful dodger character, but
he's far too horrid about it and Matthew Waterhouse's performance by
default draws nothing sympathetic from him.
Adric is horrid here. The most horrid he was in Season 18. He rubbishes
the Doctor and Romana's efforts to rescue them and even rubbishes the fact
that one man died in the attempt. And whilst I can somewhat put that down
to Dicks' input, Dicks had nothing to do with Season 19, and Adric was far
worse there, so this feels far more like an omen. And it's this that
bothers me about JNT's decision. The contemptful complacency that Adric is
such a worthy replacement to Romana whom JNT doesn't want, that no effort
seems necessary to actually endear him to viewers or show why he's more
suited for the role of companion; i.e., 'I don't care who replaces her, so
long as she goes.' And it's this inarticulate, inept but overwhelming
spite towards the show's previous golden period of popularity that makes
me so often wish the show could have ended on Logopolis just to stop it going any further.
When Dee Wallace was interviewed about E.T., she said how she was
initially miffed at her role getting so cut down and marginalized in the
final film, but that in hindsight she realized the film had to be about
the kids not the mother. I wouldn't be surprised if Lalla Ward was still
bitter about being pushed out of the show, because there was no greater
reason or success story to it. Not when she and Tom were such a big part
of the show's charm, and everything done since then by JNT's set-up of
obnoxious new companions destroyed that charm and brought the show to
cancellation.
The thing is, I can look back on State of Decay and think maybe
the changeover doesn't seem so abrupt in hindsight. The same way I can't
quite see why so many new fans are complaining that Series 5 was 'too
different', when honestly I don't see how it's any less the show they were
enjoying for the previous five years.
I think it's mainly because State of Decay preserves a bit of
the bridge. Indeed, it feels like the one missing piece of Baker's golden
period being belatedly restored and feels like an essential part of the
show's narrative thus far about the Time Lords that's been running through
The War Games, Genesis of the
Daleks and The Deadly Assassin. In short, it's
the one part of JNT's regime that feels natural and inevitable, as opposed
to a complete derailing of the show's progress.
It was of course originally abandoned in Season 15 to avoid comparisons
or clashes with the BBC's exquisite production of Count Dracula. And
having this story back is almost like a companion piece to it, with the
same kind of tantalizing atmosphere and production and classy cast (sans
Waterhouse) but more family friendly and comforting, and even little
moments like Romana breaking the act of being prisoner under escort just
to fit the guard's key card into the lock properly show it as being a
distinctively different animal.
It's perhaps the last time prior to Colin's era that the show was
genuinely playful, and it was far less disturbing or harrowing than the
Dracula production was, and as such I tend to see it as its distant
long-lost younger, more jovial sister. I say 'sister' because I always
tend to think of Dracula as a distinctly feminine story, a romantic
horror. After all, it was pretty much the Twilight of its day, in terms of
being a kind of lady-porn. That is, it was about sex and lust and desire,
but from a more female perspective that was about the psychological,
spiritual side of sexuality rather than the purely physical. State of
Decay isn't and never was going to be under JNT, but I like its
innocence all the same.
Just as Romana makes a more feisty, shrewder Mina, the Doctor makes a
slightly warmer Van Hellsing who hasn't yet gone completely strange and
morbid through the affinity of exposure to death and evil. He is of course
the dark shaman who knows how evil operates and how defeating evil
requires looking into it and embracing a bit of that violence and
ruthlessness into yourself. It baffles me how the Doctor's
characterization degenerated from this into the Hitler-sympathiser of Warriors of the Deep.
A hand like Terrance Dicks, as pat as his writing can often be, does
know how to deliver a great ending. The conclusion to Seven Keys To Doomsday pretty much beats Remembrance of the Daleks' climax by 14 years. Likewise,
The Five Doctors' conclusion is unforgettable stuff.
Robot's ending is oddly poignant, and Horror of Fang Rock is one of the most perfectly plotted
resolutions in Classic Who. And that's true here.
Despite my snarking about the show's declining popularity, it was made
clear by the Come In Number Five documentary that initially the early
Davison era was well received by viewers, with one particular woman
writing in that she thought the show was now better than ever and had her
on the edge of her seat. This is significant. Many did feel that the
show's element of suspense had been lacking ever since Horror of Fang Rock and that JNT's regime reasserted the
suspense. Particularly in Earthshock, but, as Matthew
Brenner pointed out, there seemed a fixation with story cliffhangers at
the expense of story meat during Season 19. But if it was a boost to the
show's viewing reception then that should be a good thing.
However, the problem is that very quickly it became a case of the
makers determined to just 'make it suspenseful' without having a clue how.
State of Decay demonstrates the right approach. Starting with a
given plan, the Doctor learning the strategy whereby he finishes the
Vampires off. Then, at the moment of climax, something goes wrong and hope
briefly seems lost. The Doctor looks on the verge of running out of
rockets to launch. Then, when he finally launches the right one, it shoots
upwards for longer than it should, and for a moment it looks like it's not
going to turn down. But then at last it does, and hope is restored.
This is typical. Any heist movie like Reservoir Dogs is going to
involve a planning-out scene where they discuss how they'll do the
robbery, and the more clearly the hypothesis is described, the more the
actual event will go wrong from it. Likewise, Back to the Future would be
a weak film if things went exactly according to plan during the race to
the pylons, rather than the cable collapsing and the fuel momentarily
conking out. Likewise Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home would be a weaker film
without the moment Kirk releases the whales only for them not to sing,
making hope seem lost. Even the recent Argo followed this formula to
effective results.
The problem with Season 21 on is the losing sight of hope, of the goal
or the point. The Doctor often enters stories with the foreknowledge of
how it's going to turn out and ends as the same Captain Obvious declaring
what a disaster it was. He doesn't have to achieve anything but let the
other factions kill each other. There was much talk of getting rid of the
sonic screwdriver to reassert the danger and put the Doctor into more
difficult positions, but this claim falls flat once the Doctor starts
having easier, crasser plot devices like the Hexacromite gas and Movellan
plague fall abundantly into his lap. And that's the problem. The solution
was so easy that there was no plan to go wrong. If there's a gaseous
solution that can kill the invaders and save the day, it'll be used and do
what it says on the tin. The only way to prolong the suspense then is by
forcibly making the Doctor himself difficult and indecisive with an easy
solution that's going to get used anyway. The Doctor no longer chases the
answer, and in fact drops the ball deliberately just to force the danger
to prevail. It ceases to be compelling on a human level.
It's a frustrating glimpse into a parallel universe where 80's
Who got it right. But with this missing puzzle piece filled, once
Warriors' Gate capped off this linked trilogy, the
show was done. It had nowhere left to go. It could only regress, kept on
in an unstable state of erratic metamorphosis that occasionally, briefly
achieved something beautiful, but mostly was just ugly and regressive.
Ultimately, nothing after this point really proved the show should have
done anything but stayed and ended this way.
Enter the Moff by Jason A. Miller
16/12/21
The name Moffatt, or slight variations thereupon, has been with us for nearly 40 years in the Doctor Who universe. Peter Moffatt, the director, entered that universe by directing State of Decay in 1980. At right about the same time, a similarly-named actor, Peter Moffett, was being cast as the Doctor himself, under a stage name, and would later act in stories directed by Moffatt. And then there was that other fellow. Steven something-or-other?
While Peter (Moffett) Davison generally holds the esteem of fandom, the other Moffat(t) Men are more divisive figures. Director Moffatt's work on The Five Doctors, was the first story to be heavily recut by the original Restoration Team and turned into a Special Edition -- in order to correct mistakes in judgment that the Team thought they'd detected in Moffatt's version.
State of Decay, though, remains something glorious, and much of that has to do with Peter Moffatt in his directorial debut.
Some stories don't require great direction in order to work, but the behind-the-scenes turmoil here pretty much promised a train wreck, if a good director wasn't on board to smooth things over. This is a Terrance Dicks script, so the quality should have been high. Few writers "got" Doctor Who's formula, or few were better at storytelling, than Uncle Terry. The wrinkle is that Dicks' script was three years old when it finally got pressed into service for Season 18, and script editor Christopher H. Bidmead did a rewrite, in order to bring the story in line with the hard science and other recurring themes Season 18 themes. And those rewrites caused eternal (dare I say, undead?) controversy.
I like the idea behind Bidmead's rewrites. Like Full Circle immediately before it, State of Decay is basically a colony-ship-gone-wrong story, about the descendants of the survivors of a crashed ship, still living on board, aware of the remnants of their ancestors' beliefs but ignorant about a whole lot else, and not progressing in terms of society or technology (and, as in Full Circle, an oddly miniscule population, after so many generations...)
The kerfuffle came when Dicks saw Bidmead's changes. Bidmead wanted to emphasize that the descendants were living on a spaceship. Terrance didn't like that -- he was writing Gothic, not Harry Harrison. Bidmead made unflattering comments about Dicks' purported reactions for the original DVD release. Dicks wrote in a snippy letter into DWM some years later, after he'd finally seen the DVD. Dicks contends that Moffatt didn't like any of Bidmead's changes and fully reinstated the original script. Dicks's fiery letter went viral in the small corner of Twitter reserved for Doctor Who fandom.
But I love both those guys -- I don't want them fighting! And, amusingly, the DVD production notes assure us that both men were wrong. Yes, Moffatt did undo some of Bidmead's ideas -- so the tower looks like a Gothic castle and not a crashed spaceship -- but, come to find out, left in much of Bidmead's hard science after all. All the business about society losing its grip on level-two civilization status, sociopathetic abscesses, a technakothaca (a term Dicks openly mocks in the novelization) and the Doctor using magnetic punch cards in the TARDIS to liven up a Part Three exposition sequence? All Bidmead. So this is a gothic Dicks script with a techy Bidmeadian gloss -- something we'd never seen before in Doctor Who, and the result is unique.
It's mostly thanks to Moffatt's direction that this script, being pulled in one direction by the author and in the complete opposite direction by the script editor, stands tall as a terrific story. Such as with his casting.
A Doctor Who script of this era rises and falls on its acting. In an era when most Doctor Who was essentially just plays for television, filmed in the fourth-wall and with actors honing their performances over literal weeks of rehearsal, using largely Shakespearean actors taking a break in between seasons to do a bit of telly... State of Decay has moments where it's just a great bit of theatrical drama. Take Emrys James. Listen to his line readings as Aukon, the primary bad guy, and look at the smile that he affects in most of this scenes. He's the villain who thinks he's the hero of the piece and who savors his words. Man, I wish I could deliver lines like that. Check that -- I wish I could just talk like that! The made-in-post-production Part Two cliffhanger, scripted and filmed as just a regular mid-scene moment, works because every line James spoke was in Cliffhanger Acting -- and that makes for fine theater.
Thane Bettany as Tarak, a doomed rebel, is let down by his fake beard; the DVD production notes cock a metaphoric eyebrow at what Bettany has to wear on his face. Now, Bettany does not deliver the best performance in the piece, not by a long shot, but his son Paul -- my Brooklyn neighbor (give or take six subway stops) and the owner of the most expensive housing in the entire borough (not that my own rent isn't ridiculously high) -- has certainly gone on to a much finer career. So it's nice to have his dad on Doctor Who, in a short-lived but heroic part.
Now, Adric is still a problem, but Moffatt didn't cast him. I love State of Decay too much to complain about Adric's negative effect on the story. Let's blame JNT for that, not Dicks or El Bid.
What else is down to Moffatt? The pas-de-deux between the Doctor and Romana versus Zargo and Camilla in Part Two is one of the most commonly praised bits of this story, and that's thanks to Moffatt on the choreography. Note how Zargo and Camilla move in unison. Note how they move gracefully between the Time Lords, moving in quadrille, while Tom Baker -- always the scene stealer, and I say that in the best possible way -- counters by just lurching about them in circles.
Moffatt also adds some really neat directorial flourishes, to cover the dull patches. Lots of superimposed shots; the bat over Aukon's face, Romana hurling a stalagmite as Aukon hypnotizes the Doctor. I needed the DVD production notes to point out to me how Moffatt uses a crane to circle around the Doctor during a TARDIS exposition scene in Part Three, but that's really cool to look at, once you notice it. The moments in Part Four where the Three Who Rule stand in formation and stare down the camera, cackling about their evil plans, might have been ludicrous in Season 17, but stand as chilling here thanks to the incidental music.
Oh yes! The music, of course. Paddy Kingsland, my favorite composer in the 56-years-and-counting of the program. There are elements of his later funereal march from Logopolis, and the pulsing melody that accompanies the Doctor and Romana through their ghastly search of the lower levels of the Tower in Part Two adds as much to the atmosphere of horror and fright as does Baker's and Ward's superior acting.
As for Tom and Lalla, the DVD notes point out when they are, and are not, on speaking terms with one another, depending on the filming date. The notes describe their little moment in Part Three ("You're wonderful") as the series' first love scene -- I prefer the "Yes. Yes. Yes!" sequence in The Creature From the Pit for that honor, but I agree that this scene here, with all that sexy whispering, works remarkably well, too.
You know what? Never mind the vampires, with Aukon's promise of power and swarming. Lalla Ward's glowing smile is pretty much the only thing that would lure me into accepting the promise of eternal life...