"Doctor Who" The Visitation: Part 1 (1982)

User Rating:

8.3/10   

Director:

Peter Moffatt

Writer:

Eric Saward (writer)

TV Series:

"Doctor Who" (1963)

Original Air Date:

15 February 1982 (Season 19, Episode 13)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

1660s | Australian | Time Lord | Alien | Renegade

Cast

Peter Davison	...	The Doctor
Janet Fielding	...	Tegan
Sarah Sutton	...	Nyssa
Matthew Waterhouse	...	Adric
Michael Robbins	...	Richard Mace
Peter Van Dissel	...	Android
John Savident	...	The Squire
Anthony Calf	...	Charles
John Baker	...	Ralph
Valerie Fyfer	...	Elizabeth
Richard Hampton	...	Villager
James Charlton	...	Miller

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:U

Filming Locations:

Tithe Barn, Hurley, Berkshire, England, UK

Trivia:

This serial was released by the BBC on video cassette in the UK in July 1994 as part of a double video pack with the two-parter that followed it, "Doctor Who: Black Orchid: Part 1 (#19.17)" (1982).

Quotes:

Tegan Jovanka: Is that supposed to be Heathrow?
Adric: It is.
Tegan Jovanka: Well, they've certainly let the grass grow since I was last there.
Adric: Actually they haven't built the airport yet. We're about three hundred years early.
Tegan Jovanka: Terrific. Maybe I can go out, buy a claim on the land. When they get around to inventing aircraft I'll make a fortune!

"The next time you want to escape from somewhere, walk." Good start.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Doctor Who: The Visitation: Part 1 starts as the Doctor (Peter Davison) attempts to return Tegan (Janet Fielding) to Heathrow during 1981, he gets the Heathrow part right buy ends up in the year 1666. There the Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) & Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) explore their leafy surroundings & are attacked by some local villagers, an actor named Richard Mace (Michael Robbins) saves them & takes them back to the barn where he has been hiding. He tells them that a deadly plague has ravaged the country, everyone is scared & strangers are not welcome. He also talks about the strange lights seen in the sky just before the first case of plague was reported, the Doctor explores & finds some alien artifacts which leads him to believe there is an alien presence in the area...

Episode 13 from season 19 this Doctor Who adventure originally aired here in the UK during Februray 1982 & was Peter Davison's fourth story from his first season as the infamous Time Lord, directed by Peter Moffatt the four part story The Visitation is a big improvement on the previous story Kinda (1982). Also known as 'Invasion of the Plague Men' & 'The Plague Rats' during various stages of the production the script by Eric Saward has thrown the Doctor & his companions into an intriguing mystery which this first episode sets up but doesn't reveal, I always like these mysterious starts as they peak ones interest for the the next part. The 17th Century setting is nice, there's a cool opening as the local Squire & his family are attacked & the character of Richard Mace is pretty good with some nicely amusing lines. The cliffhanger ending isn't that special here & feels a bit forced like they didn't know what else to do. I'm liking it so far & hopefully that will continue.

After the terrible looking jungle sets of Kinda during the previous story The Visitation is a huge improvement on the production design front, the 17th Century period setting is impressive with well realised with nice detail & locations. The aliens have not yet been revealed during this episode although we get to see some multi coloured robot of some sort wearing a pair of badly decorated cricket gloves!

The Visitation: Part 1 has started out promisingly enough but then you can say that about a lot of Doctor Who stories & they end up going off the boil so it still has work to do to totally convince me but I am looking forward to Part 2. A good episode.