Doctor Who: Trial of a Timelord- Fact or Fabrication?

Post Reply New Topic

Having just recently purchased the DVD set of Doctor Who: The Trial of a Timelord, I am curious about people's opinions, not just of the story itself, but also how much of the 'evidence' was fact and how much of it was fabricated or distorted by the Valeyard. (Spoilers follow)

Some opinions:

The Mysterious Planet: Almost exactly the same as seen, Glitz's mentioning of the Matrix secrets notwithstanding.

Mindwarp: We can be fairly certain that, up until the Doctor was 'zapped' at the end of the first episode, the events were the same. My opinion is that the Doctor was, initially, affected by the attempted interrogation and his morality was inverted. However, after the end of the second episode, I think that the Doctor had managed to recover his mind, and was working with Crozier and Sil to try and find a way of stopping the experiments from within, as well as rescuing Peri. The evidence was also distorted, with emphases changed, to show the Doctor in the worst possible light.

Terror of the Vervoids: The Doctor encourages Mel to look at the Hydroponics section while he investigates something else, rather than being morose. It is also fairly obvious that the saboteur of the comms room was the murderer (Doland).

It has been some time since I have watched this story (and managed it over three days). I never really liked Mindwarp, though The Ultimate Foe is good, if you can ignore Mel...

Last edited by Quatermass on 02 Jan 2009, 6:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It's Science-fiction, therefore it's all fabrication.

Don't be a smart-arse. If you're not going to discuss this seriously, then don't reply at all.

It all sounds pretty much right...

I'd like to have seen how Robert Holmes would have ended it.

The first few minutes of episode 13 are brilliant... then it goes a bit sad...

I really love the end of Mindwarp too. It's interesting and different.

Remember that Eric Saward (after Holmes kicked the bucket) wanted to end the serial on a cliff-hanger, with the Doctor and the Valeyard fighting to the death while plummeting through the time vortex.

As things turned out, that would have been a better way to end it.

I think that Eric had a much better grip on who the Sixth doctor was than JNT did.

I'd have been interested in some form of reconciliation which allowed the 6th Doctor to "split off" some of his "badness" and become more settled - less aggressive. I think it was his abrasive personality and dress-sense which led to the character being unfairly maligned by the end of his tenure.

Listen to one of the Big Finish audios. I've listened to The Juggernauts, and, wonder of wonders, not only is the Sixth Doctor a good character, but so is Mel and Davros. In the audio, anyway.