Doctor Who: Castrovalva (1982) - Review

To commemorate the Blu-ray release of Doctor Who's nineteenth season (from 1982), I thought I'd watch each story and give it a little write-up here. I haven't seen most of Season 19, so this new Blu-ray boxset was a must for me, even if I have previously not been a huge fan of Peter Davison's time as the Doctor. Davison himself is great, but I do think that early 80's Who can get a bit bland at times. Even Season 18 gives us a less interesting rendition of Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor to add to some fairly by-the-numbers stories. Season 19, however, is a bit more fresh and exciting with Davison as our new lead, despite venturing further away from the strong characters and horror-focus seen in the peak of Tom Baker's tenure (or even the more comic nature of his later stories).

Kicking things off here is 'Castrovalva', and I have to say that as enjoyable as it is, it does fall a bit flat by the end. It takes until Part Three to actually get to Castrovalva itself, with the previous two episodes feeling like filler. The Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa spend a lot of time wandering around the TARDIS (with Davison employing his best William Hartnell impression into the mix as a slightly off-kilter Doctor), while Adric seems to be captured by the Master, who just stands around and gloats. Yes, it's a bit silly in true Doctor Who fashion, but it feels very uneventful. None of the characters are developed, and the Master's plan for Adric is a bit confused and filled to the brim with technobabble.

Once events unfold and we arrive in Castrovalva though, the story just plods along with a rather weak mystery plot. It's almost as though we're treading water until writer Christopher H Bidmead can come up with a good story. By the time the Master makes his return into the narrative, it's just too little too late. His ultimate plan is a bit confused and bizarre at the end of the day, giving the story a rather unsatisfying conclusion. When the Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric arrive back at the TARDIS at the end, I felt that a much more exciting adventure was needed. Perhaps 'Castrovalva' could've been a much pacier two-parter as opposed to a plodding four-parter, as it never really achieves much. Peter Davison never gets a real moment to become the Doctor, while his relatively new companions feel like they've been around for quite a while.

Saying all that, it's a fun little runaround, if a bit slow. Paddy Kingsland's music is always a delight to my ears, while the emphasis on TARDIS scenes really showed-off that fabulous set. The film scenes looked fantastic on Blu-ray, while the overall restoration for this release is definitely worth the price. I just wish that 'Castrovalva' had more to offer than running around and technobabble. Next up: 'Four to Doomsday' - a story I've never seen before...