Who Review: Frontios

“Frontios” was one of those stories that, when it first aired back in 1984, I don’t think I got completely.  It’s possible my interest in Doctor Who was flagging a bit, especially since I knew this was Peter Davison’s last season and in just a few stories he would be regenerating into someone I didn’t know, so I didn’t care as much.  Twenty-seven years later (OUCH!), however, I think I can safely say that I get it.  And it’s really not that bad of a story.

In fact, on the whole, I think “Frontios” had a lot of potential.  Why only potential?  Well, that brings me immediately to perhaps one of the best parts and also the most annoying part of the story.  One of the best things about “Frontios” is the Doctor’s companion Turlough (pronounced Tur-low, in case you’re a Who newbie 🙂 ).  Turlough was already an interesting character, having been chosen by the Black Guardian in the previous season to kill the Doctor.  While Turlough was unable to do this, and ended up joining the TARDIS crew, he still maintained that dark edge to him–you couldn’t always be sure he was totally reliable.  This was good since it gave him depth.  On Frontios, Turlough encounters a malevolent alien that triggers a “race memory”–his people had encountered them before.  This memory scares the willies out of him, and shows us another side to Turlough beyond fear of having to break a sweat.  This is all good stuff, and really does make Turlough one of the most interesting of the Doctor’s companions.  It’s a shame none of the classic female companions received this kind of thoughtful treatment… but that’s another issue. 🙂

And now the most annoying part.  As a result of Turlough having this “race memory” of the evil aliens, all of a sudden, at the eleventh hour, with barely minutes of part four to spare, he announces that he knows how to stop them.  The story is rolling along just fine, then with this sudden proclamation, it jars.  Horribly.  Sorry, but I just don’t buy it.  Up to that point, Turlough had been nearly insane with fear and dread–and now, all of a sudden, he has a stroke of rational inspiration.  Of course, Turlough’s idea solves the problem, and they can all then go off to face the Daleks next week.  NO!  No no no no no!!!  There is a term for this kind of resolution: deus ex machina, which is Latin for “I haven’t a clue how to resolve this and I only have ten minutes of the story left… um… um…” 🙂  Apparently, the term originally derived from ancient drama when the Greeks (or Romans) would solve a difficult plot situation by lowering a god to the stage to make everything right.  Turlough’s sudden moment of clarity and inspiration was just that.  Oh, how much more they could have done with this!  In fact, I would venture to say that this was one of the few 1980s stories that could have been a six-part story.  The Doctor could have spent time trying to get Turlough to face his fear, and gradually build his confidence where, between the two of them, they figure out the antagonists’ weakness and exploit it.  This could have been an important step in Turlough’s character development, so when he departs a couple of stories later, we really feel as if the Doctor has helped him become a better person.  An opportunity missed, in my humble opinion.  Oh well–it’s stuff like this that keeps the fan fiction going.

Some other things about “Frontios.”  The part one cliffhanger was a little blah: the TARDIS has been destroyed.  I was a little bemused at this.  Apparently John Nathan-Turner (the producer) seriously floated the idea of doing away with the TARDIS.  This is, of course, utter blasphemy to even the most casual Who fan.  Besides, the twenty-first century Who fan knows the TARDIS is virtually indestructible (see New Series Season 4’s “Journey’s End”).  And even the 1980s Who fan had seen the TARDIS survive much worse than this.  So, yeah, possible I guess… but not really cliffhanger-worthy.  The part three cliffhanger, on the other hand, had much going for it–let down only by production values.  If this had been done with a 2011-Who budget, this would have been quite shocking.  Without giving too much away, it reminded me of the 2007 Christmas Special “Voyage of the Damned” (I wonder if Russell T. Davies had this in mind?).  Watching it on DVD even today I grimaced (in a good way).

It goes without saying that the main antagonists (“The Tractators”) suffered with the tight budget typical of 1980s Doctor Who, and some bad costume design decisions (and I don’t doubt the costume decisions were informed largely by the budget constraints).  Made with today’s Who budget, they could have joined the ranks of memorable Who monsters.

The “Making of” extra on the DVD is interesting.  Often these things can turn into “love fests” (“Oh, I loved working with him, he was delightful”, “she was a dahhhling” “We had such a good time…” etc.), but this one has some real drama to it.  Aside from the disappointments with the execution of the script, there were deaths–including a murder–that cast a dark shadow over the production.  A “Making of” worth watching.  In fact, despite my gripes, I would certainly commend “Frontios” to your viewing.