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. This was the era of the fourth Doctor, portrayed by Tom Baker.  He is traveling with Sarah Jane (portrayed by Elisabeth Sladen).

While traveling through space the Doctor and Sarah Jane encounter the Mandragora Helix. After a burst of helix energy, they and the TARDIS ended up in Italy at the end of the 1400s.  A peasant revolt has just been violently suppressed by Count Frederico (portrayed by Jon Laurinmore).  Nearby, the Duke is dying, something foretold by the Court Astrologer, Hieronymous (portrayed by Norman Jones).  The Duke is the brother of Frederico who is in collusion with Hieronymous.  Heironymous, as the leader of a secret religious cult, has his own agenda.

The TARDIS lands in the midst of all this and the Doctor and Sarah Jane soon find themselves caught up in events.  Also traveling around is a fragment of the Mandragora Helix, which followed them there and is now attempting to use the situation to take over the Earth. Can they save the Earth and set events in this time right?

This era of Doctor Who was what I grew up on and is my favorite.  The stories are exceptionally well-written with well fleshed-out characters who work well.  In the case of The Masque of Mandragora, the story is fairly predictable in terms of the political intrigue that’s going on.  The science-fiction element adds a bit of surprise to it, but it’s the acting that really makes this so great and so much fun.

Baker is becoming the Doctor that I would love so much here.  He takes the role into him and it’s easy to see how he made us all love the Doctor.  Despite the predictability of the plot, he acts the role with all the eagerness of having no idea of what’s really going on.  He’s ready to fight when he has to be and at the same time delivers lines with that clever indifference that always led me to believe he knew it would work out fine in the end.  Sladen is good as Sarah Jane, although to be fair this is primarily a Doctor story, she’s more along for the ride.  The guest cast really gels well with the two regulars.  Norman Jones shines as the nefarious Hieronymous who is playing so many people for his own purposes, and I’m glad they didn’t do something like make him turn out to be The Master.  I like stories like this where evil is inherent in the characters much better.

With the low budget, there aren’t many special effects to speak of.  The Helix is bouncing around and there’s the initial materialization of the TARDIS, but that’s about it.  The rest is character and story-driven.  The costuming is good, especially considering what Doctor Who fans are used to. 

The DVD is chock full of extras including a commentary led by Tom Baker.  There’s a bunch of featurettes as well.  I particularly liked the Now and Then segment where they looked at filming locations back when this was filmed versus how they look now.

If you haven’t watched much of the classic Doctor Who, this is a good story, particularly if you aren’t a huge science fiction fan.  This is a well-written piece that doesn’t rely on special effects to draw in the audience but does so with great characters and a good story. 


SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Commentary with Tom Baker, Producer Philip Hinchcliffe, Production Manager Chris Dori-John 
• Info Text
• The Secret of the Labyrinth
• Bigger on the Inside
• Now and Then
• Beneath the Masque
• Trails and Continuity
• Photo Gallery