"Doctor Who"
Mawdryn Undead: Part 2 (1983)

Director:

Peter Moffatt

TV Series:

"Doctor Who" (1963)

Original Air Date:

2 February 1983 (Season 20, Episode 10)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Military Officer | Memory | Second Part | Flashback | Recovered Memory

Cast

Peter Davison	...	The Doctor
Janet Fielding	...	Tegan Jovanka
Mark Strickson	...	Turlough
Angus MacKay	...	Headmaster
Stephen Garlick	...	Hippo Ibbotson
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
David Collings	...	Mawdryn
Nicholas Courtney	...	Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart
Valentine Dyall	...	Black Guardian
Sarah Sutton	...	Nyssa

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Didn't do much for me at all.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Doctor Who: Mawdryn Undead: Part Two starts as the Doctor (Peter Davison) on Earth during 1983 with Turlough (Mark Strickson) manages to disable the transmat beam that is preventing the TARDIS from leaving the alien spaceship, however with Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) & Tegan (Janet Fielding) on-board the TARDIS actually travels back to the same location on Earth but lands six years earlier during 1977 leaving the Doctor stranded in 1983. In 1983 the Doctor meets up with Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) who has no recollection of him while in 1977 Nyssa & Tegan searching the transmat pod find the charred body of someone they believe to be the Doctor as the real Doctor finds himself stuck in 1983...

Episode 10 from season 20 this Doctor Who adventure originally aired here in the UK during February 1983, the second part of the first story in the Black Guardian Trilogy I have to say that Part Two of Mawdryn Undead is a slight improvement over the limp Part One. The script by Peter Grimwade is quite self referential just like Arc of Infinity (1982) was at the start of the season, there are name checks for Jo Grant, Sarah Jane, Liz Shaw, Harry Sullivan & Sgt. Benton along with short clips from The Web of Fear (1968), The Invasion (1968), Spearhead from Space (1970), The Claws of Axos (1971), Day of the Daleks (1972), The Three Doctors (1972), Robot (1974) & Terror of the Zygons (1975) although confusingly these clips are supposed to be from the Brigadier's perspective & his memory of the Doctor even though many of the clips shown come from scenes for which the Brigadier wasn't present & therefore wouldn't have been able to remember since he wasn't there to start with. The fourth Doctor's long red coat also makes a somewhat pointless cameo appearance. The actual story is opening up a bit & is more interesting than in Part One, here the Doctor & his companions are separated by six years as past events influence the future although not much has been made of either plot. The other thing of note in this episode is are we really supposed to believe that Nyssa & Tegan would think that burnt person in the transmat pod was the Doctor? I mean he looks nothing like Peter Davison, he's the wrong build, height, his hair is the wrong colour too & his voice is different so why do they initially think it's the Doctor? Strangely despite featuring heavily in Part One Turlough takes a backseat here & doesn't really have much presence.

The burn make-up on Mawdryn is alright, in fact it looks quite good although when at the end of the episode Nyssa, Tegan & the Brigadier walk in & see him after having regenerated where did he get his clothes from? Moments before he was half naked wearing ripped rags so where did he get his clothes? The location filming under director Peter Moffatt is adequate if hardly stimulating, the location chosen for the boarding school was Trent Park campus of the Middlesex Polytechnic at Cockfosters in Hertfordshire. There really hasn't been any special effects or monsters so far in this story but that green & blue computer block background of the Black Guardian still looks awful.

Mawdryn Undead: Part Two is an improvement on Part One for sure, the Doctor & his companions being trapped in different time-lines is an interesting idea but so far nothing has been done with it & there are one or two extremely questionable plot points.