Spiral Mutterings 5: Doctor Who and The ....

"And with the time at 5.20, its time for a new adventure with Tom Baker as Doctor Who..." (cue the music).

Oh, how I used to yearn for those words, just after the news and sport. Having spent 7 days revelling in the relief that the Doctor and his companion had managed to escape the evil (insert name of monster/villain here), all that remained was to find out what new and thrilling dangers they were going to face this time. Rule number 4 of "Dummies Guide to Writing Dr Who" states that Episode 1 should end with the briefest glimpse of the villain of the piece, just enough to send the viewer scurrying behind the sofa, and living in fear for the Doctor's/Companion's life for a whole week. This simple plot device led to many memorable cliff-hangers; the sucker arm advancing on Barbara in "The Dead Planet", Lynx removing his helmet in "The Time Warrior", and Count Scarlioni revealing his true nature in "City of Death" are just 3 examples. Its a crucial part of what makes any drama series, not just Dr Who, a success. Keep the audience guessing, about who, what, when, where until the next episode. But, and it happens all too often in Dr Who, it don't half spoil it when you get the announcer saying "...and now on BBC 1, Tom Baker is Doctor Who, in part one of a new adventure, Destiny of the Daleks..."Fantastic. Cliff-hanger of episode one is now completely redundant. We don't NEED a taster shot of the monster at the end, because we already know who it is. 25 minutes of the Doctor et al chasing around trying to find out what's going on and who's behind it all is completed wasted.And the producers KNEW about this. That's why the onscreen titles for "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" just reads "Invasion" - to keep that suspense. Perhaps even more annoying is that in the various Episode Guides that are all over the bookshelves and the internet, you discover that a lot of the titles in question had more discreet working titles: for instance "Resurrection of the Daleks" was originally called "Warhead".

Now, I admit, there are some instances where it doesn't matter that much. "Terror of the Zygons", for example, worked fine, because at the time of its transmission, we'd never seen a Zygon, so there was still the suspense factor of "ooh, what must they look like?". Interestingly, the only recurring villains/monsters who have not befallen this fate are The Master, Sil and The Yeti. The Silurians & The Sea Devils actually underwent the reverse, named in their debuts, but not in their subsequent appearance.

"Is it that important?", I hear you ask. Well, possibly not. However, when you watch "Frontier in Space" and the Daleks turn up right at the end, isn't it a bit more of a thrill than when they turn up the first time you watch "Planet of the Daleks"? I think perhaps it is.

(Apologies to anyone who hasn't seen Frontier in Space - I think I may rather have spoilt the ending for you....)

...and still they do not learn. Although to be fair, last year's Dalek, and this year's Rise of the Cybermen, was probably more to do with publicity than spoiling your enjoyment - and of course, with the 45 minute format, the cliffhanger is largely a thing of the past...see you next time.