TV Review: Doctor Who: The Caves of Androzani (1984)

Doctor Who: The Caves of Androzani (1984) written by Robert Holmes and directed by Graeme Harper

The Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) and his companion Peri (Nicola Bryant) land on Androzani Minor where they stumble into a small war. The miners who were extracting a valuable mineral have taken up arms against the corporation sponsoring the dig. The corporation is clearly evil because they are ready to execute the Doctor and Peri as rebel spies with no proof or trial. The leader of the rebels is a disfigured scientist named Sharaz Jek who invented the mining androids and wants revenge against the corporation. He's pretty evil too, trying to stiff the arms dealers who fail to make a delivery. And Jek wants to keep Peri in his base as the most beautiful creature he's seen. Full points for taste but negative points for not respecting her personal dignity. If the situation wasn't bad enough, the Doctor and Peri have been exposed to a local toxin and will die in a few days unless they can find the antidote (bat milk!) deep in the caves.

The plot is interesting enough even though it's hard to find a sympathetic character aside from the Doctor and Peri. Neither the corporation nor the rebels are in the right. The caves, where much of the action happens, are fairly dark, giving some sympathetic lighting to the one creature hiding in the lower depths of the caves. The monster has little to do with the plot other than checking the box for "rubbish-looking monstrosity" that's part of most classic Doctor Who episodes. Some of the other effects look dodgy, as does the parts recording on videotape rather than film. I always think it's weird they decided to blend the two filming formats. The show ends with Peter Davison's regeneration into the Sixth Doctor, Colin Baker, so that's a nice bonus (though the effects are also very 1980s).

Recommended. Not great, but of historic value for the transition.