Doctor Who: The Visitation (1982) - Review

I must admit that as much I've not loved any of the stories in Season 19 so far, I have very much enjoyed watching each serial sequentially; its provided much more context for each standalone adventure, and I have a definite newfound appreciation for Peter Davison's tenure on the TARDIS than I perhaps did before. I hope a Season 20 boxset isn't far off (or maybe I'll have to buy those stories on DVD in the meantime).

'The Visitation', despite its issues, is actually a very strong story. It opens with a nice prologue to establish the setting and tease the threat of the Terileptil and its android, and then allows us to spend some time with the TARDIS crew. These kinds of prologues, to me at least, always feel like they should be pre-credits sequences, and I'd love to see an edit of the episode with that. The TARDIS scenes allow the story to slow down and focus on the characters though, something I think Season 19 could've used more of previously. Each character has some time to emote, as opposed to asking questions relating to the story. Tegan's aim to return to Heathrow is reiterated, Adric's desire to be an equal to the Doctor is explored, and Nyssa seems almost stuck between them all. The Doctor himself seems quite frustrated with this many companions, and no doubt all of the writers were. Nyssa's awkward faint at the end of 'Four to Doomsday' is brushed over, while Tegan's possession by the Mara seems to have had a lasting effect on her.

Given the very small supporting cast though, this story doesn't feel the need to force one of the companions out of action. Each of the four leads gets captured and runs around after the others, and while this is quite messy and repetitive at times, it doesn't feel nearly as clunky as 'Kinda'. They're joined by a former thespian (with a wonderfully over-the-top theatrical performance) and have to fight a giant fish man (the Terileptil) and a sparkly android (who dresses up as the Grim Reaper). There's actually some very atmospheric lighting in this story, and the effects are actually quite good. The main issues production-wise are with our villains - they both look a bit silly. At least when the android is dressed up as Death, it looks a bit more intimidating. In the behind the scenes documentary, the costume designer posits that the Terileptil wanted to design a beautiful android to contrast with its scarred form, which is a nice idea that doesn't quite translate to screen. Their lack of choreography doesn't help either, not to mention the hilariously awkward fights. Being a BBC programme though, the 17th century period is recreated very well, and the contrasts with the alien technology add an extra flavour to the story's visuals.

Overall, I think that 'The Visitation' is one of the better stories in Season 19. The upcoming 'Earthshock' might be top, but I thoroughly enjoyed this story, in spite of its silly monsters. After all, isn't that (in a way) what Doctor Who is all about?

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