Frontios

Dear Gary—

We’re on a mini roll with Frontios, another solid script with good guest actors. The sets are passable too; it’s only the costumes that leave something to be desired. It’s not the monsters; they are acceptable if somewhat limited, and given budget and past disasters, the Tractators will do. No, it is the clothing worn by the citizens of Frontios. The outfits themselves are OK if somewhat drab and uninspired, but they are uniforms. These are colonists—did not one of them think to pack a suitcase when leaving Earth? Why are they all still wearing the standard issue two piece from their space journey? Even if they have stood up well to 40 years of wear and tear in the harsh conditions of planetary life. I wouldn’t mention it, except that the Doctor Who universe seems to be populated by unimaginative dressers; regardless of planet, race, or occupation, all inhabitants tend to dress alike and it is beginning to wear a bit thin. I guess there are no fashion designers in space.

Although, hooray for Tegan; she finally gets a change in wardrobe. I quite like it, too, even if it does seem a tad impractical for dodging asteroid storms and climbing around through underground tunnels. Now if only Turlough can ditch his school boy suit and tie.

Enough of wardrobe; let’s get on with the story because it is very good, even if I am left scratching my head at the beginning when the Doctor insists on adhering to the Time Lord policy of non-interference. I think he is just fed up with Tegan and Turlough and is simply being contrary. They want to see what’s happening on Frontios so he digs in his heels and says no, hiding behind his Gallifreyan heritage to thwart his companions. Fate overrules him, however.

Pulled by a mysterious force of enormous gravitational pull, the TARDIS materializes in the middle of an asteroid storm on the planet Frontios where a colony ship from the doomed Earth crash landed some 40 years prior.

I think what initially pulls me into this story is the practical pursuit of caring for the wounded and the mundane act of providing adequate lighting in the makeshift medical center. This grounds the story in reality. There is an immediacy and relevance to the action that I can relate to. The Doctor does not emerge from the TARDIS and first thing start investigating what went wrong, nor does he step out into the middle of some weird alien threat, nor is he instantly drawn into political intrigue. Those are to come. First we have Flight Attendant Tegan directing the removal of the injured (how she knows authoritatively where to take them is another matter) and we have the concerned Doctor looking after the patients (one of the more overt references to the medical aspect of his title, but why does he assume that Range is not capable, and for that matter, why does Range not take more charge of the situation?).  And then (thank you) we have the acknowledgment of the everyday concern of how the heck one can work under these conditions, and let’s do something about it. And it is not just a passing reference but an actual plot point.

A plot point that allows Turlough to shake up an unstable phosphor lamp, much to the Doctor’s annoyance (those unruly kids), and then later for the Doctor to do the same thing over Turlough’s protest of, “You told me not to do that.” It is these small touches providing warmth and humanity to the story that have been sorely missing for a long time.

It is also a plot point that leads Turlough and Tegan to the discovery that something is wrong with the TARDIS (something that the distracted Doctor is curiously uninterested in), and then leads them to the off limits research room and ultimately to the core of the story—the Tractators.

“And there’s a word that goes with it. Tractators. That’s it.” It is a word that strikes terror in Turlough’s heart. After a promising introduction in his first serial Mawdryn Undead, Turlough has been woefully underutilized as a companion. Frontios makes up in some small measure for this neglect. And it is all that more meaningful because it is so totally unexpected. Previous stories have flirted with tantalizing tidbits and depths to Turlough only to have them forgotten or swept aside as the plot progressed. Now we have a long repressed race memory surfacing out of the blue on a planet with no heretofore suspected link to Turlough or his past.  

“The earth is hungry.” It’s a horrific thing to suddenly assault one’s psyche.

Tegan, meanwhile, starts piecing together evidence of her own. “Curiosity is dangerous on Frontios,” Range tells her, but she has seen the file marked ‘Deaths Unaccountable’ and she can’t help asking questions. Then when she sees the Plantagenet swallowed in front of her she rushes off to find some answers.

It is a good story for both of the companions, again something we have not seen in quite a while. Both have significant parts to play, both have depth of character explored, and to round things out, both have their Doctor moments. From Turlough brandishing the TARDIS hat rack to rescue the Doctor to the Doctor passing Tegan off as a ‘servicing machine’ to fool the Gravis: “I got it cheap because the walk’s not quite right. And then there’s the accent.”

Frontios delivers in more than just the depth and range for the companions, though. The concept of the fledgling colony striving to keep the human race from extinction under harsh conditions combined with the hair raising idea of insects sucking the weak and injured colonists one by one under the ground and converting the remains into cogs of their machinery is gripping even if not exactly as gruesome in practice as it is in theory.

“Frontios buries its own dead.”

The imagery is frightening. Like with many a Doctor Who monster, however, it is hard to picture the actual Tractator as menacing. They don’t have any weaponry. Those purple lines of gravitational pull that can suck people under the ground and force them to move against their will is about the only threat they pose, and I’m sure this could be countered given time. The colonists turn out to be their own worst enemy with a conspiracy of silence concerning the mysterious disappearances. If they had only gotten to the bottom of things early on I’m sure they could have devised a way to overcome their enemy (helium balloons perhaps?).

I do have to love the Gravis, though, the little grub with a poetic soul (“The power of travel is beautiful, Doctor.”) and feel just a tad sorry for him when he is cut off from his little grub friends and passes out on the TARDIS console. The poor little guy is going to be lonely on Kolkokron where the Doctor dumps him. And I have to wonder what will happen to his little Tractator chums, “the appetite beneath the ground,” now that their fearless leader is gone. They are harmless without the Gravis according to the Doctor, but can they get along on their own? I worry about them.

The supporting cast is decent; not particularly memorable but reliable. I especially like the scenes between Norna and Turlough when she calls him out on his somewhat malingering ways. The Plantagenet is sufficiently fresh-faced boy struggling with the mantle of power thrust upon him. Range and Brazen are OK but a bit inconsistent. Brazen in particular can’t seem to make up his mind if he wants to cover things up or uncover them. With the Tractator threat dealt with, these colonists can get back to the business of survival, but given the brief glimpse we’ve had of them (cover-ups, lack of initiative, lack of curiosity, executing deserters, looting in the absence of authority) I can only hope there are other colonists who have escaped the doomed Earth and are representing the human race in space. (Other Doctor Who serials seem to bear this out.)

One last thought. The Gravis states that he knows of the Doctor by reputation. Several William Hartnell serials also had aliens who had heard of him and in fact had been tracking his adventures. After hundreds of years I suppose even all of time and space seems a small world.

I send this out into that vastness of time and space, Gary . . .