TEGAN DR WHO SERIES

But amid that idea it’s story of dualities: black and white light and dark Doctor and Turlough Eternals and Ephemerals Wrack and Striker Tegan and Marriner. It floats around in the Doctor Who canon set slightly apart from everything else.Įnlightenment centres around a novel but slight concept – a race among the stars in ancient sailing vessels.

TEGAN DR WHO SERIES

You never hear Moffat or RTD discussing Enlightenment in glowing tones, it’s never mentioned as someone’s favourite story, nor has it ever really been referenced again in the series or (to my knowledge) in spin-off media. Barbara Clegg’s sole contribution to the series is very much under the radar, ranking a lowly 75 in Doctor Who Magazine’s latest fan survey. In a 50-year history of Horrors and Terrors, not to mention ‘Of Deaths’ there are very few enigmatic story titles, those that are tend to be fictional names or places, but Enlightenment? It’s heavy with suggestion but vague too – it’s no real surprise in a way that it ranks so lowly, it’s too hard to pigeonhole. And although it shares some similar notes with these stories and can be roughly lumped in with them, there’s another story that’s unique in the era: frankly it’s unique in Doctor Who’s 50-year run. There are occasional sidesteps into the esoteric, such as Christopher Bailey’s two Mara tales and Christopher H Bidmead’s own Castrovalva. There’s another sub-genre the show returns to from time-to-time, however.

Although the lack of a touchstone to return to arguably leaves the series rootless, it’s nothing if not eclectic. Over the course of the Fifth Doctor’s era Doctor Who takes in slow-burn psychological horror such as Kinda and Snakedance macho shoot-em-ups such as Earthshock, Resurrection of the Daleks, Warriors of the Deep and Caves of Androzani quasi historicals such as Black Orchid, The Visitation and The Awakening, and ‘hard’ sci-fi such as Frontios and Terminus. A publicity-chasing producer, a clear lack of strong scripts, engaged directors, appropriate cast – they all conspire to make the show tonally erratic. They’re desperate for them.”ĭoctor Who becomes increasingly adrift in the 80s under Eric Saward confused as to its identity, schizophrenic in tone.

Tegan dr who