The 5th Doctor The Doctor

Background

The Fifth Doctor continues on much as the Fourth. He comes under pressure fronm the Black Guardian in an attempt to punish him for denying the Key of Time to the Guardian.
The twentieth anniversary of the series fell within Peter Davison's tenure, and the series producer tried to include all the monsters from his past.

Season 19

Castrovalva introduces us to the Fifth incarnation as he attempts to come to terms with his regeneration.
Historical Note - this was actually filmed after the next three stories in order to let Davison to get a handle on the character before playing with it as things start going wrong with the regeneration.

Four to Doomsday. The Doctor is trying to get Tegan back to Heathrow in an attempt to let her finally catch her first flight. Unfortunately, he'd let Adric do the navigating so while they ended up on the right date, they missed their target by several million miles...
What does Monarch want with the four travellers, and what's with the crew?

Kinda.The Companions find themselves on the planet of Deva-Lock where the native poulation are generally supposed to be a fairly friendly bunch if a bit on the quiet side. There is also a party of investigators from a nearby world who's belief in the peacefulness of the natives is about to be rudely shattered. While Nyssa gets a nice quiet rest in the TARDIS, Tegan's dreams are disturbed, not to say disturbing!

The Visitation. We find out who really started the great fire of London...

Black Orchid. The Doctor plays a game of cricket and the girls get to go dancing. Adric's left on the sidelines. Fairly rare at this stage, this is a purely historical story.

Earthshock. Adric gets an explosive exit. The cybermen make an attempt to take ove the galaxy by crashing a frieghter into a peace conference.
Almost the best thing about this story is Beryl Reid's rather crazed performance as the captain of the vessel.

Time-Flight. The Doctor finally gets Tegan back to Heathrow, but they're almost immediately back on their travels as they try and find out who's kidnapping Concordes.

Season 20

Arc of Infinity. Omega is back and, apparently, the Doctor is his best chance of retaining a stable form this side. While the Time Lords are wiling to credit Omega with honours as long as he was safely stuck on the other side of his black hole, they aren't keen to see his revival, and they intend to take drastic measures against the Doctor in order to make sure everyone stays where they should...

Snakedance. After the events in 'Kinda' the Companions arrive on the Mara's home world where the Doctor learns that he is not always as persuasive as he might be. Tegan (Janet Fielding) comes somewhat more to the front than is usual and shows she would have made a great crazy person.

Mawdryn Undead. The Doctor meets an old friend though the Brigadier doesn't immediately recognise the Doctor. The Doctor gets a new Companion, though perhaps the crew might not know what they're getting...

Terminus. Nyssa decides helping out a colony of plague victims will be more fulfilling than travelling with the Doctor.

Enlightenment. In which the Doctor finds Beings even more powerful that the Time Lords.

The King's Demons. The Doctor is introduced to another travelling companion as the travellers put paid to a plot against the Magna Carta.

The Five Doctors. The Doctor is forced to return to Gallifrey where he and his previous incarnations are forced to compete in the Game of Rassilon. But is winning a good thing?
The Doctor is accompanied by his regular companions (excluding Kamelion). The Master tries to help but finds his reputation has preceded him...

Season 21

Warriors of the Deep. Up in the future, the world is split into two power blocs once more and the crew of the TARDIS find themselves in a base on the bottom of the ocean that's just waiting for the call to war. Instead, what's coming is a coalition of sea devils and silurians.
It's very carefully never said just which side the base belongs to, and with the TARDIS's automatic translation circuits, what language people appear to be speaking is no guide either. The story has some fun with the idea that the commander of the base has to try and talk peace with the invaders while being prepared to wage the war they want him to launch.

The Awakening. In which Tegan decides they ought to go and visit her grandfather in England and yet another relative bites the dust. Won't she ever learn!

Frontios.

Resurection of the Daleks. The Daleks are back, and they want Davros, though there are a load of other factions as well.
Tegan decides she'd rather stay on Earth after all.

Planet of Fire. Turlough gets to go home and the Doctor is joined by Peri Brown
The Master has a final attempt to attack the Doctor.and his companions.
[This is one of the more memorable stories in Doctor Who thanks to Peri's first scene...]

The Caves of Androzani. The Doctor ends his regeneration in order to give Peri the chance of life after being poisoned by a giant bat.

My thoughts on the character:

After the craziness of the Fourth Doctor, the Fifth is an introvert, much more like the architypical Edwardian Englishman that his costume suggests than an alien traveller. He also involves his Companions more in his decisions than any previous Dotor, not in an attempt to pass off mistakes onto them, but because he desires to be seen to be doing the right thing and a lack of certainty that he is capable of seeing this as a Time Lord so his end in sacrificing the continuation of this regeneration is completely in character. This involvement of his companions is in almost opposite contrast as to why the tenth Doctor is so keen to have someone with him; in the latter case, the Doctor wants a companion to ensure that he is applying some, uh, humanity (not quite what I want...), to his decisions, that he doesn't act without mercy.

The actor:

Peter Davison was probably the best immediately known of all the actors to take on the role thanks in large part as the playboyish Tristan Farnon is 'All Creatures Great and Small'. He had also played relatively small parts in The Tomorrow People episode 'A Man for Emily' and as 'the meat course' in an episode of the BBC TV version of Douglas Adams' 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'.
After leaving Doctor Who, he has been involved in the fan scene and has had little difficulty finding other work, particularly as the star of 'A Very Peculiar Practice' and as Albert Campion in 'Campion'.

Episodes on DVDs

These DVDs are available from Amazon

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