Written by Stephen Gallagher and Sydney Newman
Directed by Mary Ridge

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series which has been around off and on since 1963. The main character is just known as “The Doctor” and is a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. This means he travels through time to various places. One of his favorite places to visit is Earth. Typically, he has a companion traveling with him, usually female, sometimes male, sometimes one of each. He travels in a time machine known as a TARDIS which is disguised as a British Police booth.

A Time Lord can regenerate if fatally wounded, which has accounted for all the different actors who have played The Doctor throughout the years. In this story arc, the Doctor is portrayed by Peter Davison. He is traveling with two companions.  Tegan (portrayed by Janet Fielding) is a flight attendant from Earth who sort of accidentally ended up in the TARDIS with him.  Nyssa (portrayed by Sarah Sutton) is from the planet Traken and decided to join the Doctor on his adventures.

Terminus is the second story arc in the Black Guardian Trilogy.  In the previous story, The Mawdryn Undead, Turlough (portrayed by Mark Strickson) joined the crew in the TARDIS.  There is a back-story to Turlough as well as involvement with the Black Guardian that is unknown to everyone else.  The Black Guardian has promised to help Turlough with what he needs if he kills the Doctor.

In Terminus, the Black Guardian helps instruct Turlough how to get the time-matrix out of the TARDIS. The plan nearly works until, as a defense, the TARDIS attaches itself to a ship. In the chaos, Nyssa is trapped and must enter the other ship.  That ship is known as Terminus, a leper ship where those afflicted with Lazars Disease, similar to lepers, are sent to die.  By the time the Doctor can get back to rescue her, Nyssa is already affected by the disease, and there’s a complication with a pair of space pirates on board Terminus as well.
In the past, Terminus has largely been disparaged among Doctor Who fans, and I think it’s somewhat unfairly so. The story here is slightly complicated, but in all fairness, it actually works fairly well as long as one pays attention.  It’s not a story to watch while trying to do something else that would divert the attention.  With all that’s going on, it’s the small details that add quite a bit to the story.  Not only is there a mystery to be solved, but the idea of what is the right thing to do is questioned so many times throughout the story arc that it really gives a deep meaning to the expression “lesser of two evils.”

The acting here is great, particularly Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton.  I always felt Nyssa was lost with so many people always in the TARDIS with her.  She would have made a great one-on-one companion with the Doctor.  Here, in what is her final story arc, she finally gets a truly great story and Sutton delivers with what I always was sure she had to give.  Davison works well with her as the two seem to be capable together and play off each other quite well.  It’s a more intelligent interaction for the Doctor, reminiscent of the best from when Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen were together in the series as well as what would come more than twenty years in the future.

The guest cast works quite well too, which is particularly important with as many of them as there are.  The ambiguity of what’s happening leads to difficult choices that aren’t always black and white, and those actors not familiar with the series can’t always convey it as well as the regular cast can.  That’s certainly not the case here.  Credit must go to Director Mary Ridge who brings what feels like a breath of fresh air into the series.  Her camera work is also a bit unique, and it feels like she managed to grab as much as she could with her limited budget and make it work.

As usual, the DVD is chock full of extras.  The commentary was a lot of fun to listen to. I have to say that my belief is that this was better than others from this era because Janet Fielding and her whining and disparaging remarks were noticeably absent.  Instead, it was just a lot of fun.  There are featurettes as well as background to the development of the story arc that were informative and interesting.  I also have to send out a good word to those who did the restoration on the story arc before putting it on DVD.  After watching so many US shows from this same era that were slapped into a DVD release with little or no attention, it’s refreshing to see some devotion to the quality of the picture and sound.

Terminus has an unfair reputation as being a poor story arc from the Peter Davison era.  It’s certainly better than the first story arc in this trilogy.  The only downer for me was the loss of Sarah Sutton, who really never was used to her greatest potential anyway.


BONUS FEATURES:

• Commentary with Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Mark Strickson, Writer Stephen Gallagher
• Isolated Music Track
• Breaking Point
• Origins of the Universe
• Original Storyboards
• Unused Model Shots
• CGI Effects
• Continuity
• Photo Gallery