The Visitation

Season 19, Story 4/7, Serial 5X: 4 x 25min episodes, 15th to 23rd February 1982, Writer: Eric Saward, Director: Peter Moffatt, Script Editor: Antony Root, Producer: John Nathan-Turner

MIAAAOOOOOWWWW! Great start to the 80s (Peter Howell) arrangement theme, but then I'm biased. ;-P 

PART ONE

15th February 1982

9.1 million viewers

UK Number 1: "Town Called Malice" by The Jam

Reminds me of the beginning of The Time Warrior this. Shooting starts and all that. 

Always love Paddy Kingsland's soundtracks. I love all the music of this era. A breath of fresh air after deadly dudley understandably got a bit stale. The Season 18 incidental music reminds me of Hitch-hiker's, and it's evolved in interesting ways for season 19.

Fred Elliot getting shirty about strange lights in the sky. Ashley's poshing it up too. 

Bek Hobbes @Greebobek "I say, I say, I say, thems lights are awful strange!"

MAW Holmes @MAW_H "Ah say, ah say!" (Oh no, wait a moment, that's Foghorn Leghorn...) 

Seems like the shooting star was a crashing space ship, and it's come down in the woods. 

Bek Hobbes @Greebobek · I wonder if the Sontarans will be in this one?

Fred decides the best way to keep out the cold is with some hot booze. Fair play. 

MAW Holmes @MAW_H ·proper post-credits pre-story stuff; "and none of them were ever seen again..." 

Tony Calf can't stoke his musket fast enough. Not a euphemism. 

What a waste of John Savident and Anthony Calf. Both fantastic actors.

It's not a Sontaran, though, it's some sort of disco glitter bot! 

They open fire... but are gone by daylight. 

Outpost Skaro @Outpost_Skaro · Disco androids for the win!

Here we go, TARDIS scenes harking back to last week's episode. The short haired 5th Doctor gives Adric a bollocking for his actions last week. 

Adric couldn't give a monkey's about the Kinda he wounded, most likely because he hasn't filmed it yet.

Don't jump to conclusions, Adric, she might *really* hate you. 

Tegan explains to Nyssa that her mind was taken over by the Mara. Excuses, excuses. 

"I haven't always been one of the best companions... but standing next to Adric & Nyssa, I do alright." 

Tegan is less than impressed that the Doctor's got her to Heathrow with plenty of time to spare... about 300 years. 

Davison gets great mileage out of that "fly off the handle" line after Tegan's great "broken clock" putdown. 

Davison totally rocks that hat. He should have worn it MORE. 

Tell you what, this revisitation of #thevisitation is significantly & immediately obviously improved picture quality-wise. Bravo! The film footage in particular looks like it was shot yesterday. Like what Adric should have been. 

Tegan thinks the 17th century stinks. 

The chums go for a wander in the woods, but they've been clocked.

The locals don't take too kindly to the new arrivals. 

Some of the stinky locals give chase, and Adric helpfully drops his TARDIS tracking device. 

SO MUCH BETTER WITHOUT THE CELERY! The original CO figure is obviously specifically from this scene. CANON. 

Ah, the classic Davison misdirection gag... 

Adric eats dirt, putting the others at risk of capture... 

The travellers encounter a rather fruity highwayman perched up a tree, who fires his pistols at their pursuers. 

The Highwayman is none other than "noted thespian" Richard Mace. He explains that the locals thought they were plague carriers; probably the Doctor's celery that did it. 

All cars and officers - theft in progress: Michael Robbins is stealing the show. 

Bek Hobbes @Greebobek ·  I bet he spends his cash on looking flash... #dandyhighwayman 

The devil's taken his stereo and his record collection and left him living in a barn! 

The Doctor suspects alien involvement when told of the shooting star. 

Adric's knee's all better now there's no threat of a fight. Faker. 

The Doctor and Adric search the loft... 

...and Nyssa finds some power packs. 

The Doctor decides to pay a visit Chez Fred Eliott, but Mace is reluctant to be out-hammed. 

 MAW Holmes @MAW_H · "I shall go forth and partake of a pie and a hotte potte at ye Rovers..." he enunciated flamboyantly.

Tranmere Steve @Tranmeresteve · good choice today my 11 year old self loved Richard Mace. All heroes need a touch of cowardice. 

Tegan wants to come but the Doctor takes Nyssa through the window instead. 

The Doctor and Nyssa have managed to climb into the studio. 

The Doctor's still preoccupied with offloading Tegan. 

"I hope they have arms to twist." "I'll find something." FILTH! 

Inside the house, the evidence of a gunfight is all around: gunpowder, power packs, Lynda Barron singing...  

MAW Holmes @MAW_H ·"There's powder in the barrels and packs on the floor, and the squire and his household won't be singing no more..."

The Doctor and Nyssa find a staircase to nowhere, and the Doctor engages in some amateur ballistics with a ball of string as a mysterious figure creeps about the house... 

Nyssa lets the others in... 

...but when they look around, the Doctor's vanished! 

The figure locks them in... 

...so they stand around and shout for the vanished Doctor like that'll help. 

That wall is a rubbish cliffhanger & the floor in Death to the Daleks is a rubbish cliffhanger, but which is worse? Only one way to find out... 

(The only mystery of the Death to the Daleks one is "who the hell thought that would make a good cliffhanger?"!)

PART TWO

16th February 1982

9.3 million viewers

UK Number 1: "Town Called Malice" by The Jam

The Doctor pops his head out of the wall, which is just a mirage.

"How do you do that?" 

"CSO, actually." 

They find their way into the cellar... 

Where the aliens are making powerful emissions... 

But at least there's some booze for Mace. 

"You stupid boy!" "And what does *that* taste like?" 

Oo-er! It's death! 

The cloaked figure gives Tegan a bit of zap... 

so the Doctor fiddles with the gas... 

"You fire that beam of yours and you'll turn this house into an inferno... a Disco Inferno!" #BurnBabyBurn 

...and legs it. My hero!  

Disco Glitterbot takes Tegan to an underground lair... 

The Doctor shows Mace how to spark up using an alien duracell. 

Grilled by the growly flippered alien, Tegan riffs some Hitch-Hikers fanfic about the Doctor coming from Guildford. 

The Terileptil looks fantastic, if only it were that little bit more moveable. 

Ah yes, we're into that era where they're happy to tell the world & his wife about the TARDIS. 

Loving that green lighting in the Terileptil base. Such a simple effect, but distinctive. 

Activate the poacher! 

The Doctor decides to investigate the massive space ship hatch in the woods no one else has noticed. 

Love the slightly green tinged lighting in the otherwise white studio setting of the escape pod. Works well. 

Adric and Tegan get bored of waiting for the Doctor to save them and try to escape themselves. 

MAW Holmes @MAW_H ·Well THAT's bound to end well!

The Doctor's sent Nyssa to her room. How will she amuse herself? 

The Doctor and Mace find the Miller's stable, where Mace is intent on frightening the horses. 

The Miller's descendant will live in Paris, making a living sketching Time Ladies. 

MAW Holmes @MAW_H ·"Draw me like you draw those Time Girls..."

Adric & Tegan's escape is detected so Disco Glitterbot's dispatched to recapture them. Adric escapes. Tegan doesn't. 

Bek Hobbes @Greebobek · "Dear diary, locked up again by some drongo."

The villagers sentence alleged plague carriers the Doctor & Mace to beheading... 

Orf with 'is 'ead! Again! End of part 2 

Bek Hobbes @Greebobek ·Doesn't the Glitterbot's skull mask end up in Adric's bedroom? 

It did, yes. & Kinda artefacts. These are Adric's trophies from "his" kills. Worst serial killer ever. 

PART THREE

22nd February 1982

9.9 million viewers

UK Number 1: "Town Called Malice" by The Jam

Mace and the Doctor are temporarily reprieved when the Terileptil orders the head man to keep them alive... 

Nyssa is enjoying some personal time when she's rudely interrupted by Adric's arrival. 

The Terileptils have hypnotised Tegan into filling eggboxes for them. Typical exploitation of interns. 

Nyssa wishes the Doctor would hurry up, apparently he knows more than her about building massive space vibrators. 

The Disco Android puts in another graveyard shift to scare off the yokels and round up the Doctor and Mace. 

Adric's found some nice thick tubing for Nyssa. 

The Doctor finally comes face to scarred face with the Terileptil leader. 

What *is* Disco Android doing to Mace in the background of that shot? 

These Terileptils are fugitive criminals & cannot return home.

They're interesting, the Terileptils. Obssessed with beauty, but war-like. Due a return?

The Space Pirate @SpacePirateOz · And ruin another perfectly good classic monster? Not on your nelly...

Nyssa pleads with Adric not to go down to the woods today, and sure enough he walks straight into a big surprise. 

The Doctor's mind could resist the hypno-braclets, so it's good old fashioned handcuffs for him. 

Nyssa gives her machine a kick when it fails to even raise a smile. 

Locked in the Terileptil's dungeon, the Doctor tries to get through to Tegan, but his escape's about to go awry... 

"I feel as though you've just killed an old friend." He's more gutted about the sonic screwdriver than he will be in a few weeks time when Adric takes the Cybermen's one-way ticket to Jurassic Park. 

"It is Survival Doctor!" 

"That's hardly an argument, it's the one with the Master and a bunch of pussycats." 

Major cliffhanger there; real jeopardy. Can the Doctor persuade Tegan to do as she's told for once? Rats! 

PART FOUR

23rd February 1982

10.1 million viewers

UK Number 1: "Town Called Malice" by The Jam

Tegan is zapped out of it when the Doctor shocks Mace and knackers her electric bracelet. 

MAW Holmes @MAW_H ·  "Zapped out of her knickers?" I think that I missed that. Oh "knackers" (misread that, sorry...)

Don't know what you're doing reading knickers anyway... 

MAW Holmes @MAW_H ·  I keep getting sent these briefs...

The Terileptil prepares to take Ratty and the Black Death to the O2. "Remember, lads, what goes on tour stays on tour." 

"How do you feel?"

"Groggy, sore and bad-tempered."

"Oh, almost your old self."

BURNED. (Unfortunate in this one). 

Nyssa puts on a pair of fluffy earmuffs and turns her space vibrator up to 11. 

Adric escapes the village people when Disco Glitterbot goths it up with his death mask & they all cack themselves. 

Disco Glitterbot casually walks into the TARDIS (we are in the Davison era, after all) so Nyssa welcomes him with some good vibrations! 

Whole lotta shakin' goin' on in Nyssa's bedroom... 

He needs a fire extinguisher to cool down afterwards, though. 

Nyssa is relieved, at last. 

Let's be honest, Nyssa, if you need to wear earmuffs and it shakes androids to bits, you've probably got it on too high a setting. 

"Such a magnificent machine." 

"That machine tried to kill you."

Not sure Nyssa & Adric are on the same page. 

Now Nyssa's joyriding in the TARDIS. She's really gone off the rails. It's always the quiet ones. 

The Doctor's ungrateful that Nyssa & Adric have brought the TARDIS back. "I like long walks." 

Then he totally burns Adric. "You know where it is?" "Yes, yes, that's why I'm searching." *shakes head* 

The Doctor scans an early version of the Eastenders titles to locate Pudding Lane. 

How odd does the Pudding Lane set look? I mean, it's on film, but still looks studio-bound. Grand scale, though.  

The Terileptils definitely did inhale...

The Doctor takes a burning torch to his gas-filled confrontation with the Terileptil leader. Great plan... for a great fire. 

Sure enough, in the struggle, although the Terileptils are overcome a fire is started... 

"Quick - Chuck these egg boxes into the flames while the Terileptil blows snot bubbles!" 

So it's a farewell to Richard Mace, then off to scarper in the TARDIS. 

"I'll explain some day," says the Doctor, marking off London next to Rome on his "list of cities to burn." 

He's quite the arsonist. 

TTFN! K. 

Coming Soon: Black Orchid