Doctor Who (TV Series) Terminus: Part Four (1983) User Reviews

Farewell Nyssa.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 6/10 · 28 October 2019]

The Doctor must stop the end of the Universe.

It's a bit of a disappointment if I'm honest, up until now it had been a dark, enjoyable tale, it fades away quite badly here, with some rather odd behaviour from some of the characters. I won't say nothing happens here, but it can be accused of being a dull episode, with only the departure of Nyssa being of interest.

For me, Nyssa was the best of Doctor number five's companions, she always shone in an overcrowded TARDIS, perhaps peaking in Arc of Infinity, a real shame she moved on. It wasn't the best way they could have written her out, but at least in put her centre stage.

Sarah Sutton deserved better. 6/10

The Big Bang Theory

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 7/10 · 21 November 2019]

This is the second story of The Guardian Trilogy following Mawdryn Undead.

An ambitious story is a good thing and this certainly has ambition in its concepts and script provided by writer Stephen Gallagher which I give credit for. Unfortunately if those ambitions cannot be realised properly on screen it detracts from the quality of the entertainment and for various reasons this fails to fulfill its potential.

The concepts involve a complex mix of ideas involving Turlough tampering with the TARDIS causing dimensions of the capsule to break down, the team finding themselves in a place called Terminus at the 'centre of the universe' , discovering a plague there and ideas of the origins of the big bang which created the universe. Such big ideas are impressive but they are not put across sufficiently well to make this a success.

The first issue is that there were production problems with delays and disruption causing unavoidable pressures on filming schedules and therefore quality control. The budget was not high enough to do the ideas justice anyway but with added problems and some poor decisions it makes the production look weak. The costumes are impractical, unsuitable and sometimes silly and the director Mary Ridge is unable to cope with the requirements, particularly under the strain of time and budget constraints. Her decision making was wrong and caused some of the issues - for instance choosing to show the Garm creature in all its inadequate detail instead of hiding it in the shadows - her direction is sadly lacking with some stilted filming of events/reactions and the fight scenes especially are bad. The special edition revamp with very nice special effects is a real visual plus but it does not cover up the other flaws in the production.

The better aspects stop this from failing completely because there are still interesting ideas and some quality elements. The story is a bit muddled but OK, the dialogue is attempting to be intelligent and sometimes succeeds, sometimes not, the acting (apart from some poorly directed action) is decent, Nyssa gets a decent last story before she (rather inexplicably) is written out, Peter Davison is good as The Doctor and there is good, appropriate incidental music from Roger Limb which evokes Blade Runner with its cool synths.

The best thing about this story is the dark, macabre feeling that comes from the plague subplot, the Black Guardian's influence on Turlough and the threat of impending doom. There is a shadow of gloomy horror which adds to the atmosphere and lifts some of this to more compelling levels of drama.

This was up against it as a production and is not very strong as a result but it is certainly not all bad.

My ratings: Part 1 - 7/10, Part 2 - 5.5/10, Part 3 - 6/10, Part 4 - 6.5/10. Overall - 6.25/10.

Almost as bad as Time-Flight.

[poolandrews · 3/10 · 18 June 2008]

Doctor Who: Terminus: Part Four starts as the Doctor (Peter Davison) & Kari (Liza Goddard) manage to recruit the help of the Garm (R.J. Bell) in order to help prevent Terminus from jettisoning it's remaining fuel tanks & causing an explosion that would destroy the known Universe. Meanwhile Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) has realised that the cure for the leper's disease is flawed but could be made to work properly & so decides to stay behind & help. Back on the TARDIS & Turlough (Mark Strickson) is given one last chance by the Black Guardian (Valentine Dyall) to kill the Doctor...

Episode 16 from season 20 this Doctor Who adventure originally aired here in the UK during February 1983 & to be brutally honest I think Terminus is almost as bad as Time-Flight (1982) from season nineteen which I consider to be the worst Peter Davison serial. The plot of Terminus has been poor, we never find out who the diseased people are or where they came from likewise the Garm, why they keep paying this company to cure them if everyone supposedly know's the cure doesn't work & why bother sending people there in the first place anyway? The back-story about the Terminus space station creating the known Universe makes no sense & sucks & when the Doctor & Kari suddenly realise they need the Garm's help how did they know about it/him? As far as I can remember up to that point they had never seen the Garm or heard it's name so how did they know about it? The ending with Nyssa leaving the TARDIS & saying goodbye seems rushed & comes out of nowhere & as a whole Terminus has been really boring with lots of wandering around in corridors, a poorly thought out plot, three lame cliffhanger endings & a story that neither excited or interested me.

Terminus was an entirely studio bound story with no location work, the sets were OK but nothing amazing while the special effects could be described the same way. In fact Terminus is a rather unremarkable four episodes which are quickly forgotten. With the end of Part Four of Terminus it sees two thirds of the Guardian Trilogy completed which started with the previous story Mawdryn Undead (1983) & will finish with the next story Enlightenment (1983) which I hope for a great improvement in.

Terminus: Part Four is a poor end to a really poor story that if it wasn't for Time-Flight would rank down there as the worst fifth Doctor four parter. Overall I will give Terminus a lowly three stars out of ten across it's four dull as dishwater parts.

Nutty But Beautiful Enough

[godzilla77 · 8/10 · 18 December 2015]

Four talking Vanir really aren't enough. But it does tell the story.

The blooming heart of Nyssa's new Terminus,healing there at the center of the universe, a sweet and technically minded princess there in the rough -- it does play a lovely chord. And then there's her tearful departure scene with her lovely theme.

The Black Guardian straight up clobbers Turlough for not doing something he was totally unable to even attempt. To say the Black Guardian is a tough master is a vast understatement.

The end of the universe stuff adds up to a nice scene of freeing the heroic Garm. He's good in that scene. But in the scene with Olvir a little earlier, his voice and his mouth clearly don't align in use. Still, the later scene is a fine payoff. Much of this episode is.

In the end, Terminus is a tone poem about finding a rotten core for all things, and then giving your sweetest hero to repair it and let some flowers grow in that rotten core. It carries along the themes of Mawdryn Undead, allowing the the TARDIS crew to continually explore issues of fate and opportunity. This story could have been a really great masterpiece, but industrial action issues limited sets, props, and shooting time. "Lackluster" is indeed the apt word, but it's primarily a case of a great dark nightmare poorly served rather than a dull mess poorly served -- as often is asserted. Terminus still enchants me a good bit.

Also, the commentary track on the DVD is pretty terrific. Gotta love the brutal honesty of these folks some 30 years after the story is over. It's Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Mark Strickson, and Stephen Gallagher.