"Doctor Who"
Timelash: Part 1 (1985)

Director:

Pennant Roberts

Writer:

Glen McCoy (written by)

TV Series:

"Doctor Who" (1963)

Original Air Date:

9 March 1985 (Season 22, Episode 10)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Space Hero | Scientist Hero | Extraterrestrial | Extraterrestrial Hero | Christ Allegory

Cast

Colin Baker	...	The Doctor
Nicola Bryant	...	Peri Brown
Paul Darrow	...	Tekker
Eric Deacon	...	Mykros
Jeananne Crowley	...	Vena
Neil Hallett	...	Maylin Renis
Robert Ashby	...	The Borad
David Ashton	...	Kendron
David Chandler	...	Herbert
Peter Robert Scott	...	Brunner
Dicken Ashworth	...	Sezon
Tracy-Louise Ward	...	Katz
Martin Gower	...	Tyheer
Christine Kavanagh	...	Aram
Steven Mackintosh	...	Gazak

Runtime:

45 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:U

Trivia:

Jason Littler was cast as Gazak but dropped out.

Quotes:

Tekker: The stories I've heard about you. The great Doctor, all knowing and all powerful. You're about as powerful as a burnt out android.

"You don't seem to realise the effect that time particles colliding within a multi-dimensional implosion field can have." I liked Peri's new hair-do & boots but not much else.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Doctor Who: Timelash: Part 1 starts as the TARDIS enters a time corridor & ends up on the planet Karfel which is being run by someone or something called the Borad (Robert Ashby). The Borad crushes all resistance to him by throwing rebels & all those who oppose him into the inescapable Timelash, the name given to the time tunnel the TARDIS arrived at Karfel through. As the Doctor (Colin Baker) & Peri (Nicola Bryant) step out of the TARDIS they are greeted by the evil Maylin Tekker (Paul Darrow) who manages to separate the two, he then blackmails the Doctor with Peri's life into using the TARDIS to locate a Timelash victim called Vena (Jeananne Crowley) who jumped into the Timelash with an important amulet needed by Borad for it's power. Meanwhile Peri has gotten herself into trouble in some caves & after nearly being eaten by a monster has met up with some Karfelon rebels...

Episode 10 from season 22 this Doctor Who adventure was originally aired here in the UK during March 1985, directed by Pennant Roberts I have to say this is a pretty awful episode of the popular sci-fi series. This two 45 minute part story was written by Glen McCoy & was originally conceived as a Dalek story but was rejected & then rewritten without them, I have to say Timelash is a pretty poor three quarters of an hour even by Doctor Who standards. I'm a fan of the show & I generally overlook a lot of it's faults but there comes a point where you have to say enough is enough & this is just plain terrible, Timelash is that point. The character's & dialogue are poor, lines like 'we will rule this side of the universe with the power of a giant ocean' are just too ridiculous for words & don't make a whole load of sense. Apparently a lot of the original dialogue was rewritten to soften the antagonistic relation between the Doctor & Peri. There also comes a point where I stop laughing with it & start laughing at it, this is just silly, poorly realised & there are many frankly embarrassing scenes here. The plot it boring as well, not much has happened, the story opened with some dull politics & there's not really much here to enjoy I'm afraid.

I'll say it right now, I have the hots for Peri & always have & I'll always find any Doctor Who episode with her in watchable in a strange perverted kind of way & her presence raises Timelash: Part 1 to 3 stars out of 10, I particularly liked her new hair-do & sexy high heeled boots. That's where the praise ends though, the scene in the TARDIS where they strap themselves to the console with what looks like mountain climbing gear is hilarious, the production design is dull without a shred of imagination, the Timelash seems to be decorated with Christmas tree tinsel, the flashing wall panels in the background look daft, bits of the set clearly wobble, the Karfel's seem to be wearing bedsheets, the direction is terribly flat (how does Peri run in those heels?) with people just standing around even when they are in danger, there's a terrible looking dinosaur puppet, there's a stupid looking blue faced, yellow haired android who speaks in a ridiculous voice & every special effect has been rubbish so far including pathetic looking laser beams. I really liked The Two Doctors (1985) the previous story but this just sucks. Apart from Peri.

Timelash: Part 1 has a bad reputation & I can see why, it's pretty bog standard evil tyrannical alien leader taking over a planet type nonsense done in a very dull, predictable & boring way. Thank god for Peri & her, ahem, natural charms...