"Doctor Who" The Caves of Androzani: Part 1 (1984)

User Rating:

9.0/10   

Director:

Graeme Harper

Writer:

Robert Holmes (writer)

TV Series:

"Doctor Who" (1963)

Original Air Date:

8 March 1984 (Season 21, Episode 17)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

A dying Doctor and Peri are caught up with gun-runners and a drugs war

Plot Keywords:

Time Lord | Alien | Renegade | Companion | Eccentric

Cast

Peter Davison	...	The Doctor
Nicola Bryant	...	Peri
Christopher Gable	...	Sharaz Jek
John Normington	...	Morgus
Robert Glenister	...	Salateen
Maurice Roëves	...	Stotz
Martin Cochrane	...	Chellak
Roy Holder	...	Krelper
Barbara Kinghorn	...	Timmin
David Neal	...	President

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:PG

Trivia:

Christopher Gable was first cast as Major Salateen.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the TARDIS lands on Androzani Minor, mountains can be seen in the background (superimposed). When the camera angle changes (though not very greatly) they vanish from the horizon, and reappear again when it switches back to the original angle.

Quotes:

Perpugilliam 'Peri' Brown: Doctor, why do you wear a stick of celery in your lapel?
The Doctor: Does it offend you?
Perpugilliam 'Peri' Brown: No, just curious.
The Doctor: Safety precaution. I'm allergic to certain gases in the praxis range of the spectrum.
Perpugilliam 'Peri' Brown: Well how does the celery help?
The Doctor: If the gas is present, the celery turns purple.
Perpugilliam 'Peri' Brown: And then what do you do?
The Doctor: I eat the celery. If nothing else I'm sure it's good for my teeth.

A tale of two planets

"The Caves of Androzani" is a "Doctor Who" serial featuring Peter Davison as the Doctor. The story concerns two neighboring planets, Androzani Minor and Androzani Major. Major is a center of governmental operations, but Minor contains a valuable resource. On Minor there is a war between government and resistance resources that is at a lingering stalemate. The situation is altered when the Doctor and companion Peri land in the TARDIS on Minor.

Peter Davison is in top form as the Doctor, playing the character as knowledgeable with occasional touches of sarcasm. Admittedly I always thought Peri was never an especially good companion for the Doctor. She gets better as the serial progresses, but too often whines, screams or squeals. I would say that her character is the only major detractor of the serial. John Normington is memorable as the cold, brooding capitalist that pulls the strings on Androzani Major. Christopher Gable is also notable as the enigmatic resistance leader Sharaz Jek, a masked character surely inspired by the Phantom of the Opera.

The sets for the dark caves of Androzani are well-made and the effects for space travel are amazingly seamless. The serial has many elements that make it an excellent one: political machinations, gunrunners, androids, minor military conflicts, duplicity, ambiguity and plot twists. Even the brief appearances by a rubber monster that terrorizes random British actors are decent. This is definitely a serial worth seeing for those that enjoy serials from the Peter Davison years.