Full Circle

Dear Gary—

Full Circle—the start of the E-Space Trilogy. I had vague memories of not being overly fond of the E-Space Trilogy, for the most part because it introduces Adric and I have never been keen on Adric. Also it is the beginning of the end for Tom Baker, and it is this trilogy that I most associate with Romana Mark II, my least favorite of the Fourth Doctor’s companions (excluding Adric since I most associate him with the Fifth Doctor).

But as I started this viewing I was pleasantly surprised. The quality has returned to the show. Some of the previous serials might have been fun to watch, but the production standards just were not up to Doctor Who par. Full Circle, on the other hand, has top notch writing, acting and design, including the rubber suited monsters. Even Adric isn’t that bad, and Lalla Ward as Romana, who has been hit or miss for me, puts in a decent performance. I especially like when she is infected by the spider. She does evil well.

The E-Space Trilogy in many ways is the story of Romana and her desire for freedom. “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life on Gallifrey,” she laments to the Doctor when the Time Lords summon the two of them home. I don’t blame her.

“You can’t fight Time Lords, Romana,” the Doctor tells her as she sulks in her room, which is a fantastically ornamented set that perfectly suits the TARDIS.  “You did, once,” Romana reminds him. “Hmm. And lost,” he replies.

Fortunately for her the TARDIS traverses a CVE (Charged Vacuum Emboitment) and they are now trapped in E-Space. They are at the exact coordinates of Gallifrey, but they are not on Gallifrey. They are on Alzarius. They are in E-Space.

The adventure takes off and Gallifrey is forgotten, for now. Romana has a reprieve.

“Tell Dexeter we’ve come full circle.” With his dying words Decider Draith provides the clue to the mystery of the starliner, the mistfall, the marshmen, the spiders, and the starliner citizens. The very clue the Doctor needs to put it all together. “We’re all basically primeval slime with ideas above its station.”

Full circle. “From spiders to marsh creatures and beyond.” Evolution. I can’t help thinking, Gary, that ‘full circle’ implies the circling from beyond back to spiders. A de-evolution. Instead it seems to be referring to the spiders hatching and the marshmen emerging, which occurs every 50 years and therefore would have been within the experience of Draith and several of the other citizens of the starliner, including the remaining Deciders Nefred and Garif.

Every 50 years Alzarius is taken away from its sun resulting in ‘mistfall’ and the emergence of the spiders and marshmen once the cooling process sets in. The Doctor and Romana have entered E-Space and landed on Alzarius just at this precise moment. And it seems to me that mistfall happens very quickly and without warning. Since this is an established pattern, wouldn’t the Deciders at least have been prepared for it? Do they not have any astronomers on hand to predict such things? After 40 generations on this treadmill, much less 40,000 generations (or is it 4,000—a bit of discrepancy between Romana and the Doctor, but I’ll defer to the Doctor), wouldn’t they be prepared for this moment?

But these are incidental Doctor Who questions that get swept aside with the engrossing story that is unfolding. And that is a sign of a good Doctor Who script. It might have gaping holes in the logic, but who cares?

“Why can’t people be nice to one another, just for a change?” That is an interesting question the Doctor poses. Why can’t people be nice to one another? Just for a change? In Doctor Who, if you have swamp creatures emerging and overrunning your ship you attack them, no questions asked. Even if it is “only a baby one.”

“Oh, how odd. I usually get on terribly well with children.”

The scenes between the Doctor and this marsh baby are extremely touching, and when the Doctor is struck from behind just when he is gaining the trust of this scared and lonely child we feel the full force of the tragedy.

“Dexeter!” The Doctor is aghast when he discovers the fate of this poor creature. “That’s not scientific understanding; it’s cold-blooded murder.” Doctor Who often pits science against religion, but atrocities committed in the name of science are just as heinous as those committed in the name of religion, and Doctor Who has the integrity to acknowledge this.

“Dexeter, please stop! You’ve no right. Please!” Simple and moving.

“Why can’t people be nice to one another, just for a change?”

“You Deciders allowed this to happen,” the Doctor accuses when both Dexeter and the marsh baby are dead. And he is right. “One might argue that Dexeter was overzealous,” the Deciders offer in defense. “Not an alibi, Deciders!” The Doctor will have none of it. “You three are supposed to be leaders.”

But these Deciders are indecisive. In fact the entire spaceliner colony is an exercise in futility. Endlessly replacing perfectly sound parts: “And the fraud of perpetual movement. The endless tasks going round and round. The same old components being removed and replaced.”

For a race that has evolved from creatures with “rapid cellular adaptation” and “amazing powers of adapting to new situations” these starliners are excessively static. They have absolutely no progress to show for their 40,000 generations. Even if it is only the 40 generations their legends tell of, their stagnation is mind boggling. (“Too much patience goes absolutely nowhere.”)

The most unforgiveable part is that their true heritage is known by the First Decider but for some inexplicable reason this is kept from the rest. Dexeter is working blind. “Let science illuminate your inner knowledge,” Dexeter pleads with Decider Draith to no avail. Yet Draith’s dying words are for Dexeter: “We’ve come full circle.” I really don’t understand the willful ignorance on the part of the Deciders, especially in the face of their encouragement of Dexeter in his search for answers.

And whether 40 or 40,000, no one in all of these generations has questioned why it is taking so long to prepare for the embarkation? And only a handful of teens rebel against the endless and meaningless rote that passes for life aboard the starliner? And I’m sorry, but even if only 40 generations have passed since the starliner crashed, am I really to believe that everything is still in perfect working order? Although all the parts have been endlessly replaced and kept in repair, after such a long time there surely would be rust, corrosion, wear and tear. And come on, after all those years they couldn’t figure out how to fly the thing?

Sorry, Gary. I didn’t realize until now how many unanswered questions I had. I always get caught up in the story and let most of these things go by with only a slight shrug.

Because it is a good story, nicely paced with great locations and interesting characters depicted by a solid group of actors. The rebellious teens, or Outlers as they are called, are of special note. Varsh, Keara, or Tylos—any one of them would have made a great new companion for the Doctor. Instead we wind up with Adric.

“Of course I’m better than you,” Adric tells the others. “I’m an Elite.” I rather like this blunt honesty on his part, but I still maintain that any one of them is better than Adric.

“I think I’ve pulled the wrong lever.” Adric the boy genius never seems to get it right.

Between the Doctor and Romana, though, there is the need for a more traditional companion who doesn’t always know what’s going on.

“These short trips don’t usually work,” the Doctor explains to Adric as he tries to reverse course on Adric’s “wrong lever” incident. “And the chances of reversing a short trip are even more remote. Still, here’s hopping.”

And then there is K9.

“Did you find K9’s head?” Poor K9. “We always seem to be repairing him,” Romana says. I have to say that K9’s head is put to most effective and amusing use in this.

In the end, the marshmen are left to their mash, the starliner finally takes off, and Adric stows away on the TARDIS. At least he brings along an image translator so the Doctor can confirm that they are in fact trapped in E-Space. It is a well-rounded story with lots of layers and depths that overshadow the more nonsensical aspects.

And so I send this out, Gary, hoping it finds its own CVE to make its way to you . . .