Doing Classic Capitology here at THT University is not for the faint of heart, for every classic story such as The Ark in Space capped a short while ago, there’s always the lurking menace of The Horns of Nimon, which will dishearten even the stoutest of Doctor Who fans. Fortunately the good far outweighs the bad, but in the Tour’s quest to light every corner of televised Doctor Who, brave decisions must be taken.
The decision to regenerate the Doctor before the end of a season has only been taken once in Doctor Who (and for argument sake we’ll exempt the nu-Who Christmas Specials). JN-T misread the Hartnell to Troughton transition as mid-season back in 1966 because The Tenth Planet was the last story of a season-long recording block (it and The Smugglers were held back for Autumn transmission). So JN-T gave incoming Doctor Colin Baker one story in 1984 to impress before the long break until 1985, and The Twin Dilemma is what he came up with.
There simply aren’t two adjacent stories in the whole of Doctor Who more varying in quality than The Caves of Androzani and The Twin Dilemma. This isn’t just limited to the decisions made to contrast Peter Davison and Colin Baker so completely, it’s rather to hang the story mostly on the Doctor-Peri dynamic, with a pantomime villain along for plotting needs. Add to everything else the central casting of twins who regrettably couldn’t act and it’s all a terrible mess, one which left a lasting impression of Colin Baker all right, one which lingered throughout the whole of his time on the show.
Anyone pining for TARDIS scenes will be more than sated watching The Twin Dilemma, filled with enough bickering, strangulation, and overly dramatic acting (on purpose) to serve at Easter as the main course. If seven days instead of seven-plus months had separated The Twin Dilemma and Attack of the Cybermen (a story, though far superior, which is not without it’s own problems) then things might have been different. As it was…
The caps for The Twin Dilemma are completely new for the Tour, but the therapy sessions afterwords…
Classic Capitology of late, has moved through every classic Doctor’s era save one. Betcha can’t guess where it’s heading next?
