Doctor Who: The Deadly Assassin (Episode 88)
Starring: Tom BakerStudio: BBC Warner
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Format: Color, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Running Time: 95 minutes
DVD Release: September 1st 2009
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User Reviews
The Doctor returns home and finds it and himself in jeopardy! - Rating: 4/5
"Through the millenia, the Time Lords of Gallifrey led a life of peace and ordered calm, protected against all threats from lesser civilizations by their great power. But this was to change. Suddenly and terribly, the Time Lords faced the most dangerous crisis in their long history."
At the end of the previous story, "The Hand of Fear", the Doctor got an urgent call from his home planet Gallifrey to return at once. This story takes place soon after that. The Doctor is on his way back home when he starts getting visions of the President of the High Council being assassinated. Now he must race against time to stop the assassination before it's too late. But as he latter finds out it was a trap set by his old enemy, the Master, who is on his last life and is now dying and disfigured. The President is dead, and the Doctor accused of killing him. Now to save both his life and Gallifrey, he must enter the dream-like world of the Matrix where if he dies there, he dies in real life (now you know where Hollywood got their idea for "The Matrix" movies). In the Matrix, the Doctor finds himself in a fight to the death against a mysterious masked killer who has complete dominion over the Matrix and keeps manipulating the odds at every turn. It ends with a climatic battle between the Doctor and the Master over the very survival of Gallifrey itself.
This was a great "Doctor Who" story, but it did have its problems. The court room scenes in Part Two were a bit boring, Part Two's cliffhanger is a joke, and I did not like the fact that the Doctor is companionless in this one either. But other than that, this was a pretty damn good one. This is really nothing more than a political thriller. The plot is brilliant (as they usually are when Robert Holmes is the writer), it starts out with a great deal of mystery in Part One, and Parts Three and Four are action-packed, the acting and directing are top-notch, the special effects are pretty good too, and you learn a lot about Time Lord history and their society in this one as well. In all, I would highly recommend this one to any true Whovian!
Vital Episode!!!! - Rating: 5/5
This is one of the more important episodes of Doctor Who in terms of enlightening us about Gallifrey and Time Lord society. This episode expands on ideas from "The Hand of Omega". We get more information about Rassilon and his masterpiece, The Eye of Harmony. This is also quite possibly one of the best crafted episodes in terms of pitting The Doctor against The Master. Some find the "dream sequence" boring but it is, in fact, an interesting comment on psychological warfare. This episode also make the transition between the Sarah-Jane Smith era and that of Leela the Barbarian. Anyone who wants to be a serious Doctor Who fan absolutely must become familiar with this episode!
Once Upon a Time Lord... - Rating: 5/5
Every once in a while a TV show decides to put out something different and special, perhaps for better ratings or to stir up the stagnant continuity. In many ways, this is Doctor Who's big moment, smack dab inbetween the two most memorable companions of the Fourth Doctor, and running during the show's midpoint, the 13th anniversary.
Many things make this story stand out from the others-- the Doctor has no companion; the journey to his homeworld for the first time since "The War Games"; the colorful High Council costumes; the unusual method by which the Doctor gets out of his death sentence; a decrepit and decaying foe from the past...
But even with these things, what will strike today's viewers the most is that this story contains the first ever mention of a virtual world called THE MATRIX, some 20+ years before it was shamelessly ripped off for a movie.
I wasn't bothered by the controversial "drowning" incident as much as by the unresolved plot holes that dot the story like singularities. I won't bother the reader with excruciating details, but they'll be easy enough to find. However, this story shines on its own just for being different and is a real treasure.
This is where Tom Baker gets his wish-- to appear in a story with no companions-- and as a result he is surrounded by them the rest of his scarfbearing days. He also gets to narrate, which he doesn't do again until "Shada".
I would recommend this story to anyone wanting to know more about the Doctor's homeworld. Of course, no single story contains everything you might need to know, so I would also recommend "The Invasion of Time" as a companion piece.
Doctor Who at its most controversial - Rating: 5/5
What can be said about The Deadly Assassin? It's great. It's full of mystery and intrigue, action and suspense, and Tom Baker fortunately not having a companion to upstage him. I daren't talk about the story further; rather, I shall discuss both the DVD and the controversy the story created during transmission.
Ever hear of Mary Whitehouse? I suspect most Americans don't know her, but since this is a British show and she didn't really like it, I feel the need to talk about her. She was an ultra-conservative bint who complained from the 1960's through the 1990's about how so-called "depravity" in BBC programmes (that is, sex, violence and profanity) was culturally retarding the UK. Strangely, she never seemed to complain about anything on ITV (the other major UK broadcaster at the time); I guess it's because they aren't funded by the government, and therefore don't matter. Pink Floyd ripped on her in their album Animals in 1977 (and in America, Tipper Gore hilariously misinterpreted the line "Hey you, Whitehouse" from the album as anti-American).
She started to get her knickers in a twist about Doctor Who in the early 1970's (probably not long after Terror of the Autons was broadcast), but most people didn't listen to her. But then, after part three of this serial was broadcast, she unleashed a vicious attack. She was not very happy about the cliffhanger, where the Doctor's head is held underwater in a memorable freeze-frame shot. The BBC apologized and removed the shot from the master tape.
However, recordings made during the original broadcast exist with the original ending intact, and have been used to restore the ending for the DVD. Speaking of, the DVD includes an audio commentary featuring Tom Baker, Bernard Horsfall and producer Philip Hinchcliffe, along with three documentaries concerning the production of the story, the influence that "The Manchurian Candidate" had on the episode, and the most frightening moments in Doctor Who respectively. Whitehouse (who died in 2001) is featured in the former documentary; it should be a real hoot to hear her attack the show, like that footage of Michael Grade in The Trial of a Time Lord's special features.
All in all, a great episode wrapped up in a nice DVD package. Recommended.
