![]() The show struggled to create convincing and emersive alien worlds on a shoestring budget, but the crew really got a chance to shine when they were allowed to work with more common surroundings. Much like the length of the story, the production seems relatively restrained – and I’d argue it’s the better for it. Apparently the serial was shot across three different villages, and they all look absolutely sublime – to say nothing of the rather wonderful visual thrill of seeing troops on horseback marching through a quaint little village with its telephone polls and red phone booths. It’s very clearly footage from the BBC in the eighties, but it’s about as good as one could expect footage from that era to look. Even today, the location footage looks pretty nice. Still, I think The Awakening has a far more interesting central premise than either The King’s Demons or Black Orchid, even if the latter perhaps benefits more from the BBC’s stylish period design. You need something really fascinating to justify that, and it’s not easy to come by (that said, there are any number of well-paced Doctor Who episodes running to and beyond six episodes). I’d argue that one of the reasons Jon Pertwee is so underrated is because even a good story suffers if it runs to six episodes. ![]() The King’s Demons revealed that we can forgive even a fairly flawed and banal little adventure if it’s told with brevity. We’ve seen much slighter premises expanded to fill four-part episodes, so it’s nice to see a story that is just the right length for its material. Confining the action to two half-hour episodes concedes that there’s not really too much that can be done with the premise, but it’s an endearing sort of modesty. In fairness to this two-parter, it does boast a rather nifty concept, with the idea of “a confusion in time” somehow linking seventeenth century England with 1984.
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