Written by Robert Holmes
Directed by David Maloney

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series that 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 Tom Baker.

The Doctor returns to Gallifrey with the intention of protecting the President of the High Council of the Time Lords from assassination.  He has always been considered something of an outsider among the Time Lords, and his unexpected arrival does nothing to mitigate this.  He soon finds himself at the center of the investigation as the prime suspect.

The plot of The Deadly Assassin is fairly simplistic, even by Doctor Who standards.  If you’ve viewed any of the Doctor Who story-arcs over the years, you’ll likely be able to pick out who the villain is from the start.  Now that we’ve done it, shouldn’t it be that simple for the Doctor and the rest of the Time Lords to do so as well?  At least the audience’s intelligence isn’t insulted to have a Scooby-Doo revelation when we know for most of the story who is behind it.

What saves The Deadly Assassin from mediocrity is the setting.  For the first time after all these years of hearing about the Doctor’s home planet of Gallifrey, a story-arc is set there.  Much of what we’ve gleaned over the years from the Doctor himself pans out nicely with a few surprises.  Despite their higher intelligence and abilities, it soon becomes apparent that Gallifrey is not exempt from the same political infighting that plagues us humans, something that will be built on quite spectacularly in the newer run of the series.

There’s no companion here as The Deadly Assassin segues between Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane and Louise Jameson as Leela.  These were two very strong and well-liked companions from the traditional series, which is a tribute to the writing of the era.  That writing is also evident here, with a story that has a lot going for it but is also quite obvious at times. There are elements of The Matrix evident here as well as The Manchurian Candidate, although The Deadly Assassin was crafted in between these two films.  The audience won’t be all that surprised while watching it, but at the same time, it’s quality.

The sets are terrific.  For a show with a low budget, The Deadly Assassin managed to do just enough with the sets and costuming to create the feeling of a different world where the Doctor’s eccentric and off-beat ways don’t quite jibe with the air of propriety with which the Time Lords seem to conduct themselves.  The show sometimes gets labeled as cheesy, but really, it’s commendable that they managed to do so much with so little in an age before CGI.

The DVD has a good number of extras.  The BBC has never been lacking in that area, and this is no exception.  The commentary was enjoyable despite not having a companion for Tom Baker to bounce off of.  The featurettes are enjoyable and provide insight into this particular story-arc as well as what was going on behind the scenes at the time.

I wouldn’t start watching the traditional run of the Doctor Who series here, but The Deadly Assassin is a quality story-arc for those who are familiar with the series.  I enjoyed it quite a bit despite a few shortcomings.


SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Commentary with actors Tom Baker and Bernard Horsfall and Producer Philip Hinchcliffe
• Information Text
• The Matrix Revisited
• The Gallifreyan Candidate
• The Frighten Factor
• Photo Gallery