Terminus: Ranking - 257

  Terminus

(Season 20, Dr 5 with Nysa, Tegan and Turlough, 15-23/2/1983, producer: John Nathan-Turner, script-editor: Eric Saward, writer: Stephen Gallagher, director: Mary Ridge)  

Rank: 257

''You know, I was so excited to be at the centre of the universe that do you know what happened? me leg dropped off!' 'Pull the other one' 'I'd really rather not - I'm frightened that one might come off too!' 

This is another of those stories that makes for a pretty decent novel but kind of a ho-hum 100 minutes of television. Like all of Stephen Gallagher's other DWs (Warrior's Gate, various novels) it's a cerebral, thought-provoking piece with lots of big abstract concepts, this time focussing on illness and slavery. Unlike Warrior's Gate, though, nobody on screen seems to have the first clue that something deeper is going on. The story is set in the exact middle of the universe, which is a bit of a shaky start given that the universe is forever expanding and contracting and therefore can't have an exact middle for any length of time - as a concept though, of the universe turning 'heartless' and rotten from the core it works in the books in a way it doesn't on screen. I also love the fact that, rather than a big theme park planet, as other scifi series might do, in DW the middle of the universe is a spaceship stuck in orbit carrying leprosy sufferers. This story caused quite a stir at the time, with debates over whether space leprosy was really a good idea to use for teatime family entertainment but I think its valid - the suffering is shown sensitively without being lingered on. Like it or not, illness is a big part of the human condition and likely to exist even in the future - it makes sense it would appear in a DW story somewhere. While we don't get to know or really care for any sufferers up until (spoiler alert) Nyssa contracts it, we do see through her eyes how society mishandles it and turns a blind eye to people in pain. that's a strong basis for any scifi plot and gives Nyssa one of the more believable farewells in DW as she rallies to the patients' cause even when cured, using all the lessons of assertiveness and resilience her travels with the Doctor have taught her, alongside her wisdom and compassion. I'm still not entirely sure why getting leprosy makes her pull all her clothes off down to her underwear when no other sufferer does though (perhaps only Trakens develop fever from leprosy?), storywise at least - in production terms it was because fans kept writing in asking her to show some skin after years in elegant dresses and producer and actress thought the viewers should get what they wanted, a thought that now seems so mind-bogglingly wrong you can't believe it was only 40 years ago. 'Terminus' has some great ideas then, but the problem comes with turning those into a workable script. There's not much actually said out loud in this one. no real B-plots to keep momentum going and very little for everyone to do with Tegan and Turlough stuck in a ventilation shaft for two episodes purely to get them out the way because the script doesn't know what to do with them. The supporting cast are quite a forgettable bunch too, with the exception of Peter Benson's understated and dignified Bor. The token 'monster-who-isn't-a-monster', The Garm, is cute too - a big space dog whose much more likeable than the Karvanista who turns out to be the kindest being on the shop despite looking as if he's about to gobble everyone up. Liza Goddard is in the cast too in her only appearance five years after her divorce from Colin Baker and only a couple of stories before his first work for the series (and not as the Doctor). The end result is a story with some nice ideas and some strong scenes at the very beginning and very end but which is, for most of it, terminally dull.

Positives + A lot of other DW plots show what I want to happen with the future of the universe but this is one of the few brave enough to show it as I fear its going to be. It's basically the American health system in space: a company controls all the drugs and charges a fortune for them, not caring who lives or dies until they can pay for treatment and those who can't pay work as slaves for the rich to stay alive despite being too sick to do that work. I can't but help have this nasty feeling that someone in Margaret Thatcher's cabinet saw this story at the time of transmission and instead of being horrified went 'wow, what a good idea!'

Negatives - What's happened to the Black Guardian trilogy? For those who don't know in his second appearance Valentine Dyall wants revenge on the Doctor and has saved Turlough at the point of death by getting him to kill the Doctor, brainwashing him with lies about what our favourite timelord is really like. This is Turlough's second story and he's already tried to top the Doctor repeatedly in his first. In 'terminus' though he mostly wrestles with his conscience and gets stung by the crystal the Black Guardian uses to communicate with him, but doesn't actually do anything. He might as well not be here at all.