Escape To Danger No.17

With Ms Monoid currently spending lengthy periods of time away coping with an impending family bereavement, I have found myself temporarily in control of my own environment again.

 

But contrary to expectation, there have been no Hammer marathons or anything like that. A wasted opportunity perhaps, but the lure of uninterrupted reading and sleeping won out in the end.

 

Anyway, none of that is at all relevant as we go back to January 1983, as Doctor Who launches its twentieth season with style and panache...

Sorry, that last bit was a lie.

 

Despite occasional attempts down the years to look kindly upon it, "Arc of Infinity" has so far proved immune to any rehabilitation on my part. Putting it simply, it's just not very good. (And like the first printing of the Target novelisation, you see I have chosen to lead with a spoiler picture. Michael Gough dunnit, kids).

 

 

To be fair to the serial, Johnny Byrne was dealt a bit of a bad hand. I seem to recall some story of a Traken sequel falling through, and then Byrne being given a typical Nathan-Turner shopping-list script commission (Foreign filming! Gallifrey! Bring back Omega! Reintroduce Tegan!).

 

The standard fan euphemism for such a script is "ambitious". Unfortunately, "Arc of Infinity" is just a bit of a mess.

 

Crap Omega, there. Just in case you think I'm getting too down on the whole thing.

 

And here's this season's new look for the TARDIS ladies...

 

 

Janet Fielding should have sued.

 

My memory must have expunged any publicity shots of the Ergon that were doing the rounds at the time, but I'm sure there were some. Lazy research prevents me from bringing them to you now, but here's another picture of Leonard Sachs as Crap Borusa instead.

 

 

Apart from having flu when I watched on original transmission, my strongest childhood memory of Serial 6E is Councillor Hedin's bizarre endorsement of Nabisco's E.T. Cola Creams ("Like Nothing Else On Earth") on the back cover of a contemporary issue of Doctor Who Monthly. (Which means I've forgotten which one. Pardon the lapse into colour, here). 

 

 

I can confirm that these biscuits were indeed Cola flavoured, and much like "Arc of Infinity", promised much but were an ultimately unpalatable experience. (Despite their "unearthly colours" - brown, green and orange, if memory serves).

 

 

Peter Davison there, thinking about Cola creams.

 

And to think I've managed all this without once mentioning Colin Baker's silly helmet...