Doctor Who does Agatha Christie - quite literally, in a fashionable and quite pure-historical, along with cricket, dancing and a pretty shallow murder mystery. The mystery also doesn't work when a) we know the culprit isn't the Doctor and b) we sere the face of the killer even before the Doctor is suspected. I can't help but think this story feels like filler.
While the actors seem to slip quite naturally into their period parts, none of them seem particularly good. Sarah Sutton appears in a double part and seems to have the best time, but you can sense that the regulars don't seem to enjoy themselves. The Nyssa lookalike hook isn't used particularly much, so I don't see why they included it, other than to make the Doctor a suspect (and they could have come up with plenty of other ways to reach the same conclusion).
The Doctor wanders off into trouble for no good reason while the companions hang out and have a good time for once. Oh, and Five is finally allowed to play proper cricket.
This is probably one of the better episodes for the companions. Tegan is happy dancing around while Adric is a little bit less in the way of things. Nyssa meets her lookalike and Sarah Sutton gets plenty to do. They're all so happy and careless you almost forget you're watching Doctor Who.
Not only does the villain here feel underwhelming, but they are also so underdeveloped that I simply didn't care for what happened to them.
The period look is nothing short of perfect, just as expected. With no need for model work or visual effects, this serial still looks convincing today.
Considering this story is technically equal in length to every post-2005 episode, it feels slower. The main plot of the murder mystery isn't developed properly until Part Two, and the script has 20 minutes to reach the climax and resolve it all.
This serial feels like the most relaxed one Doctor Who has ever done - filled with happiness, dancing, music and the like. It's as swinging as the 1920s. The murder mystery almost feels secondary and there isnät much dramatic tension to it.
Black Orchid is a brief affair that feels like filler. It hardly brought anything more to the table other than possibly functioning as a teat to see whether 80s audiences felt comfortable watching Doctor Who without aliens.
This is a passable two-parter, and along the better two-parters overall, so a good time to spend again if one has 50 minutes to spare.
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:
The Doctor always wanted to drive a train as a boy. He was seemingly very familiar with Earth technology already at that point.
The idea of a companion looking like somebody else isn't a new one. Romana I had a lookalike in Princess Astra in The Androids of Tara (1978).
Peter Davison pulls a priceless facial expression when he thinks that the Master is present as well.
Black Orchid is the first pure historical since The Highlanders (1967) and the last one Doctor Who has done for TV so far.
Review by Theo KallströmVIP 6BlockedParent2020-07-07T05:41:04Z
Doctor Who does Agatha Christie - quite literally, in a fashionable and quite pure-historical, along with cricket, dancing and a pretty shallow murder mystery. The mystery also doesn't work when a) we know the culprit isn't the Doctor and b) we sere the face of the killer even before the Doctor is suspected. I can't help but think this story feels like filler.
While the actors seem to slip quite naturally into their period parts, none of them seem particularly good. Sarah Sutton appears in a double part and seems to have the best time, but you can sense that the regulars don't seem to enjoy themselves. The Nyssa lookalike hook isn't used particularly much, so I don't see why they included it, other than to make the Doctor a suspect (and they could have come up with plenty of other ways to reach the same conclusion).
The Doctor wanders off into trouble for no good reason while the companions hang out and have a good time for once. Oh, and Five is finally allowed to play proper cricket.
This is probably one of the better episodes for the companions. Tegan is happy dancing around while Adric is a little bit less in the way of things. Nyssa meets her lookalike and Sarah Sutton gets plenty to do. They're all so happy and careless you almost forget you're watching Doctor Who.
Not only does the villain here feel underwhelming, but they are also so underdeveloped that I simply didn't care for what happened to them.
The period look is nothing short of perfect, just as expected. With no need for model work or visual effects, this serial still looks convincing today.
Considering this story is technically equal in length to every post-2005 episode, it feels slower. The main plot of the murder mystery isn't developed properly until Part Two, and the script has 20 minutes to reach the climax and resolve it all.
This serial feels like the most relaxed one Doctor Who has ever done - filled with happiness, dancing, music and the like. It's as swinging as the 1920s. The murder mystery almost feels secondary and there isnät much dramatic tension to it.
Black Orchid is a brief affair that feels like filler. It hardly brought anything more to the table other than possibly functioning as a teat to see whether 80s audiences felt comfortable watching Doctor Who without aliens.
This is a passable two-parter, and along the better two-parters overall, so a good time to spend again if one has 50 minutes to spare.
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:
The Doctor always wanted to drive a train as a boy. He was seemingly very familiar with Earth technology already at that point.
The idea of a companion looking like somebody else isn't a new one. Romana I had a lookalike in Princess Astra in The Androids of Tara (1978).
Peter Davison pulls a priceless facial expression when he thinks that the Master is present as well.
Black Orchid is the first pure historical since The Highlanders (1967) and the last one Doctor Who has done for TV so far.
Score: 66/120