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== Story notes == | == Story notes == | ||
* Working titles for this story were ''Wasteland'' and ''The Robots of Ravalox.'' | |||
* Despite the change to the 'Doctor Who Theme' arrangement, the title sequence introduced in ''[[The Twin Dilemma (TV story)|The Twin Dilemma]]'' remained unchanged for the season. | * Despite the change to the 'Doctor Who Theme' arrangement, the title sequence introduced in ''[[The Twin Dilemma (TV story)|The Twin Dilemma]]'' remained unchanged for the season. | ||
* Beginning with this story, ''Doctor Who'' returned to its original 25-minute episode format, which it retained for the remainder of the original series. However, the total length of the broadcast season remained fixed at about three months annually, resulting in about a 50% drop in seasonal output as compared with previous seasons. | * Beginning with this story, ''Doctor Who'' returned to its original 25-minute episode format, which it retained for the remainder of the original series. However, the total length of the broadcast season remained fixed at about three months annually, resulting in about a 50% drop in seasonal output as compared with previous seasons. | ||
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* [[Lynda Baron]], [[Honor Blackman]], [[Isla Blair]], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Bennett_(British_actress) Jill Bennett], [[Brenda Bruce]], [[Adrienne Corri]], [[Sheila Hancock]], [[Janet Henfrey]], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eartha_Kitt Eartha Kitt], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosemary_Leach Rosemary Leach], [[Jean Marsh]], [[Siân Phillips]], [[Dinah Sheridan]], [[Elizabeth Spriggs]], [[Wanda Ventham]] and [[Fiona Walker]] were considered for the role of Katcyra. | * [[Lynda Baron]], [[Honor Blackman]], [[Isla Blair]], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Bennett_(British_actress) Jill Bennett], [[Brenda Bruce]], [[Adrienne Corri]], [[Sheila Hancock]], [[Janet Henfrey]], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eartha_Kitt Eartha Kitt], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosemary_Leach Rosemary Leach], [[Jean Marsh]], [[Siân Phillips]], [[Dinah Sheridan]], [[Elizabeth Spriggs]], [[Wanda Ventham]] and [[Fiona Walker]] were considered for the role of Katcyra. | ||
* [[Brian Blessed]], [[James Bolam]], [[The Who|Roger Daltrey]], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Gothard Michael Gothard], [[Del Henney]], [[Gareth Hunt]], [[Alfred Lynch]] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Thaw John Thaw] were considered for the role of Glitz. | * [[Brian Blessed]], [[James Bolam]], [[The Who|Roger Daltrey]], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Gothard Michael Gothard], [[Del Henney]], [[Gareth Hunt]], [[Alfred Lynch]] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Thaw John Thaw] were considered for the role of Glitz. | ||
* [[Nicholas Mallett]] considered casting [[Dawn French]] and [[Jennifer Saunders]] as Glitz and Dibber. | * [[Nicholas Mallett]] considered casting [[Dawn French]] and [[Jennifer Saunders]] as Glitz and Dibber, but they weren't available. | ||
* [[Colin Baker]] admitted that the script wasn't the greatest and didn't like the "junkyard, railyard" remarks, either. | * [[Colin Baker]] admitted that the script wasn't the greatest and didn't like the "junkyard, railyard" remarks, either. | ||
* [[Roger Brierley]] was supposed to | * [[Roger Brierley]] was originally supposed to deliver his lines as Drathro while inhabiting the robot costume constructed by the BBC Visual Effects Department. However, he found the outfit claustrophobic and unwieldy, and he soon became adamant that his involvement be limited to providing Drathro's dialogue. [[John Nathan-Turner]] initially believed that the role would have to be recast at short notice, but visual effects designer [[Mike Kelt]] had anticipated this development. Instead it was agreed that Kelt's assistant, [[Paul McGuinness]], would operate Drathro, while Brierley read in his lines from off camera. | ||
* [[Colin Baker]], [[Tony Selby]] and [[Joan Sims]] had pudding eating competitions. Baker won after the other two gave in after three. | * [[Colin Baker]], [[Tony Selby]] and [[Joan Sims]] had pudding eating competitions. Baker won after the other two gave in after three. | ||
* [[Tony Selby]] described Glitz as "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minder_(TV_series)#Arthur_Daley Arthur Daley] in space". | * [[Tony Selby]] described Glitz as "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minder_(TV_series)#Arthur_Daley Arthur Daley] in space". | ||
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* [[Jonathan Powell]] hated the story. In an unusually detailed commentary, he took issue with the slow reveal of the trial scenario, the lack of clarity as to the nature of the crisis on Ravolox, and the extent of the Doctor's involvement in its resolution. Most frustratingly for [[John Nathan-Turner]], Powell seemed to contradict [[Michael Grade]]'s edict that humour feature more prominently in Season 23, reserving some of his most stinging criticism for elements such as the Doctor's taunting of the Valeyard and the comic banter between Glitz and Dibber. [[Robert Holmes]] was deeply hurt by these criticisms. | * [[Jonathan Powell]] hated the story. In an unusually detailed commentary, he took issue with the slow reveal of the trial scenario, the lack of clarity as to the nature of the crisis on Ravolox, and the extent of the Doctor's involvement in its resolution. Most frustratingly for [[John Nathan-Turner]], Powell seemed to contradict [[Michael Grade]]'s edict that humour feature more prominently in Season 23, reserving some of his most stinging criticism for elements such as the Doctor's taunting of the Valeyard and the comic banter between Glitz and Dibber. [[Robert Holmes]] was deeply hurt by these criticisms. | ||
* [[Robert Holmes]] was in ill-health when he wrote the script. [[Eric Saward]] thought that he could write good dialogue. | * [[Robert Holmes]] was in ill-health when he wrote the script. [[Eric Saward]] thought that he could write good dialogue. | ||
* At one stage, Drathro was joined by another L3 robot called Jethro who had been severely damaged. This character was later replaced by Humker, Tandrell and the L1 service robot. | |||
* [[Robert Holmes]] rehashed the plot of his first serial [[The Krotons (TV story)|''The Krotons'']], while the banter between conmen was lifted from [[The Ribos Operation (TV story)|''The Ribos Operation'']]. | |||
* [[Nicholas Mallett]] informed [[John Nathan-Turner]] that episodes three and four were badly underrunning. With [[Robert Holmes]] too sick to contribute the necessary material, Nathan-Turner himself wrote two and a half minutes' worth of content, extending some of the courtroom material while adding an extra scene in which Broken Tooth and Balazar argued about the route to Drathro's “castle”. | |||
* When the cast and crew arrived in the studio to film the trial scenes, the courtroom set was nowhere to be found. It transpired that it had been erected in the wrong studio and, when hurried attempts were made to assemble it, it was found to be too large and in need of modification. As a result of these delays, [[Nicholas Mallett]] was unable to record the Doctor's arrival on the space station, so it had to be remounted. | |||
=== Ratings === | === Ratings === |
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