"I Would Like a Hat Like That!" No.13

Season Seventeen of yer Who has had a rough ride over the years, in and out of fanboy favour more times than I care to contemplate.

 

Originally viewed as cheap, silly and best forgotten, the season underwent something of a renaissance in the early 1990's (when everything to do with Doctor Who was constantly re-evaluated on an almost weekly basis by people like me), and for a while it was regarded as the pinnacle of knowing wit and sophistication.

 

The truth is more likely that it falls firmly between both notional stools. It is neither a progtamme in terminal decline, nor is it a programme operating at the peak of its powers. Much like the Dross Continuity Guide's musings over "The Creature from the Pit" being either a spoof of bad science fiction or simply bad science fiction, perhaps it's a bit of both.

Or in that case, neither.
 

But whatver the critical fashion, Season Seventeen holds a special place in my personal mythology, due to it being the first occasion I was allowed to regularly watch the series. (Continued nagging on my part eventually wore my parents down, and I obviously managed to convince them that the Fendahl induced nightmares of Autumn 1977 would not be repeated).

 

In fact, on my very first day at Junior School (or Year Three as we have to call it these days, apparantly), I drew a picture of the TARDIS landing on Skaro as an example of something good that had happened to me over the weekend.

And despite my well-known aversion to the trite and self-satisfied humour of script editor Douglas Adams, I find it hard condemn the season. Some comedy filler aside, Adams' presence is not felt all that strongly. Scripts were delivered by experienced writers, and apart from the extensive rewrites that transformed "A Gamble with Time" into "City of Death" (where Adams kept the vast majority of the plot), not much work was required.

 

Only the unfinished "Shada" is the fly in the proverbial ointment, and as David Fisher has pointed out in interview, narrative was never Adams' strong point. Reading the script book included with the original VHS release makes one realise that strike action inadvertantly ensured that the season ended on a high.

 

And what better high than a June Hudson hat?

Anyway, if Season Seventeen existed only to galvanise incoming Producer John Nathan-Turner to screw his courage to the sticking place when creating Season Eighteen, then surely it deserves your love simply for that alone?