Time-Flight

Dear Gary—

I’m probably a minority of one, but I thoroughly enjoy Time-Flight; I think it is my favorite Davison story to date. I don’t really care that the show’s budget had clearly run out for the season or that the plot is incomprehensible in spots. Perhaps it is the buoyancy of an Adric-less TARDIS; but I think it has more to do with the infectious nature of Captain Stapley’s relentless enthusiasm. Stapley is like a one man cheerleading squad for the Doctor, and by the end I’m full of the ‘Here-We-Go, Doctor, Here-We-Go’ spirit.

It does start out with a bit of a hiccup. Picking up at the dramatic conclusion of Earthshock it is rather unsettling that the Doctor, after his initial “There are some rules that cannot be broken, even with the TARDIS” speech, decides that a fitting memorial to the recently departed Adric is a holiday at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Now I disliked Adric as much as the next guy, but his character deserves better, especially after his touching demise in Earthshock. Apparently the TARDIS thinks so too because they never make it to the Crystal Palace.

“Are you responsible for this box, sir?” Instead they are sidetracked to Heathrow just when Tegan had stopped campaigning to return there.

“Well, I try to be,” the Doctor replies. I’m not sure why the three don’t just duck back into the TARDIS and take off thus avoiding the authorities, but then we wouldn’t have a story.

“UNIT,” the Doctor responds when asked to open the TARDIS. “You’d do much better to check with UNIT, department C19. Sir John Sudbury is the man you want.” The Doctor even remembers his old friend Lethbridge-Stewart. Some nice continuity that further endears me to this fifth Doctor.

The mystery of the vanishing Concorde to open Time-Flight is an excellent diversion from the mourning of Adric, and as I said before, I don’t mind the cheap sets or somewhat dodgy special effects. The concept of an entire aircraft disappearing from time is very Twilight Zone in tone and holds my attention. I want to know where it ends up; I’m just as curious as the Doctor as he follows the path of the first Concorde in a second (with pep squad captain Stapley piloting the way). And by the way, I love the Doctor’s comment regarding the aircraft, “This thing is smaller on the inside than it is on the outside.”

The Doctor is mystified upon debarking from the plane to find himself back at Heathrow instead of “the spatial equivalent of four hundred billion miles from Air Traffic Control.”

“That’s why this tree, doth continue to be, since observed by, yours faithfully, God.” In other words, the Doctor translates, “To be is to be perceived; a naïve eighteenth century philosophy.” In other words, to translate the Doctor, they are not in fact at Heathrow Airport but rather have landed “some a hundred and forty million years ago” and what they are seeing is an illusion. A bit of concerted effort and they are able to break through the trance to the reality of the phony rocks around them.

From this point I kind of stop following the plot, mainly because it doesn’t lead us on a clear cut path. Some bubble wrap Plasmatons engulf people but apparently this is non-threatening behavior, Nyssa starts spouting prophetic warnings, Professor Hayter wanders on camera from out of nowhere, and a fascinating Oriental looking alien being chants into a crystal ball while observing all of this.

I am vaguely interested in getting to the bottom of these mysteries and somewhat disappointed when they are unveiled. The intriguing mystic Kalid, for example, loses much of his appeal once he is revealed to be the Master in disguise. But for some reason I don’t mind too much; I am simply enjoying watching the show, and again the only explanation I can come up with is that the overwhelming gusto of Captain Stapley is carrying me along. He doesn’t know what’s going on either, but he’s not letting that deter him from having the time of his life.

Professor Hayter embodies a skeptical counterpoint that adds another dimension of interest to the program. Positive that they are in Siberia, Hayter scoffs at the Doctor’s claims. While Stapley presents the Doctor with all of the adulation of a magician’s assistant, Hayter huffs at the Doctor, “I’ve never heard such an extravagant explanation.” Slowly, however, Hayter comes to respect the Doctor before literally throwing himself completely into the adventure.

The sleepwalking passengers off of the initial Concorde are of passing interest as they shuffle around, futilely banging at the metal egg like container in the center of the room. I’m mildly curious as to what they are doing and why, but again somewhat disappointed with the reason. However it is the reaction of the others to these zombie workers that is of more relevance to me. Professor Hayter’s advice to Angela to focus on fish and chips as a means of counteracting the spell is priceless, and Stapley briefly getting caught up in the imaginary world of flight checks while trying to snap Bilton out of his trance is well done.

Then we have the Master running back and forth between his TARDIS and the Doctor’s, swapping out parts. I’m not really sure what he’s doing or why and don’t much care. The Master is forever getting himself stranded and having to use the Doctor to get himself out only to have the Doctor send him off to yet another confinement. Stapley and Bilton stowing away on the TARDIS while the Master fiddles about is another story and one that is vastly more appealing. Stapley’s determination to learn to fly the TARDIS, Bilton’s “Oh, I wouldn’t have thought it was that” just when Stapley is about to pull the correct lever to close the TARDIS door, and Stapley’s efforts to throw a spanner in the Master’s plans are all highly amusing.

Tegan and Nyssa making their way into the citadel is diverting as well, especially when confronted with phantom Adric, and I find it humorous that the wall simply opens for them while everyone else is frantically beating away trying to get through.

As for the Xeraphins, they are quite thought provoking but underutilized. The struggle between the good and the bad of this gestalt intelligence is short lived, and I’m not exactly sure why Hayter needs to be devoured by this energy source or how he ends up on the TARDIS just in time to save Stapley and Bilton. The idea of the Xeraphin is wasted, devolving into yet another all-powerful force that the Master is seeking to control, merely an excuse to move the plot along and give some semblance of meaning to the Master’s actions.

“It means the Master has finally defeated me,” the Doctor says as a cliffhanger for episode three as the Master spirits away the Xeraphin into his own TARDIS. I haven’t the slightest clue as to how the Master getting his TARDIS back in working order via the use of the Xeraphin in any way defeats the Doctor, nor do I for one second believe it. And of course episode four bears this out, even though I again have no clue how. It all somehow has to do with the part swapping (really, can’t the Master tell the difference between a temporal limiter and a time lapse compressor when he’s stealing one?) and inhibition factors in the programming.

Again I have Stapley's gung ho attitude to thank for keeping me invested in this story as he works on getting Concorde back into flying shape. If this were another time, another program, I could imagine him saying, "We'll save the orphanage; we'll put on a show." Once the aircraft is back in working order, and after an exchange of parts and passengers (I wonder how they board without the aid of the airport stairway), they are off to traverse the time warp back to the future.

Safely back at Heathrow (have Horton and Sheard really sat in that little room staring at a blank screen for 24 hours waiting for the Concorde’s return?) the Doctor does a bit more wizardry and the Master is once more stuck on an alien planet (this time Xeraphas).

Stapley manages to get in one more “You’re amazing, Doctor” before the Doctor and Nyssa take off in such a hurry that they inexplicably leave Tegan behind.

“Happy landings, Doctor,” Tegan and Stapley both say as the TARDIS disappears.

“Hello; I thought you were going with the Doctor,” Stapley says. “So did I,” Tegan replies with a tear in her eye.

I send this out, Gary, with a ‘happy landings’ and a tear in my eye . . .