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Season 23 (Doctor Who 1963): Difference between revisions
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'''Season 23''' of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' ran between [[6 September (releases)|6 September]] [[1986 (releases)|1986]] and [[6 December (releases)|6 December]] 1986. It starred [[Colin Baker]] as the [[Sixth Doctor]]. Though produced as four separate serials from a practical standpoint, it aired as a single, connected serial entitled '''''The Trial of a Time Lord'''''. With this season the BBC returned ''Doctor Who'' to an autumn season start for the first time since [[Season 18]]; this scheduling would remain for the rest of the original series' run. | '''Season 23''' of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' ran between [[6 September (releases)|6 September]] [[1986 (releases)|1986]] and [[6 December (releases)|6 December]] 1986. It starred [[Colin Baker]] as the [[Sixth Doctor]], [[Nicola Bryant]] as [[Peri Brown]] and [[Bonnie Langford]] as [[Melanie Bush]]. Though produced as four separate serials from a practical standpoint, it aired as a single, connected serial entitled '''''The Trial of a Time Lord'''''. With this season the BBC returned ''Doctor Who'' to an autumn season start for the first time since [[Season 18]]; this scheduling would remain for the rest of the original series' run. | ||
== Overview == | == Overview == | ||
This season had a unique format, never again repeated in the show. ''Doctor Who'' had returned to production after a near-cancellation and an eighteen month production hiatus. For the first time, a season consisted of a single story, ''The Trial of a Time Lord'', although this was made up of four serials from a production perspective: each serial was written by a different person (save for ''[[The Mysterious Planet (TV story)|The Mysterious Planet]]'' and the first part of ''[[The Ultimate Foe (TV story)|The Ultimate Foe]]'', both of which were written by Robert Holmes) and featured a different story presented as evidence, excluding the final two episodes which concluded the ongoing story of the trial; the trial storyline itself acted as a {{w|framing device}} to bracket the first three serials. As a result, whether ''The Trial of a Time Lord'' should be considered one story or four has been intensely debated. This single-story format, sometimes referred to as a "miniseries", would later be utilised for [[Series 3 (Torchwood)|the third]] and [[Series 4 (Torchwood)|fourth series]] of ''[[Torchwood (TV series)|Torchwood]]''. In an interview in ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' [[DWM 448|448]], ''[[Timelash (TV story)|Timelash]]'' author [[Glen McCoy]] said that he came up with the idea of the Doctor being put on trial. | This season had a unique format, never again repeated in the show. ''Doctor Who'' had returned to production after a near-cancellation and an eighteen-month production hiatus. For the first time, a season consisted of a single story, ''The Trial of a Time Lord'', although this was made up of four serials from a production perspective: each serial was written by a different person (save for ''[[The Mysterious Planet (TV story)|The Mysterious Planet]]'' and the first part of ''[[The Ultimate Foe (TV story)|The Ultimate Foe]]'', both of which were written by Robert Holmes) and featured a different story presented as evidence, excluding the final two episodes which concluded the ongoing story of the trial; the trial storyline itself acted as a {{w|framing device}} to bracket the first three serials. As a result, whether ''The Trial of a Time Lord'' should be considered one story or four has been intensely debated. This single-story format, sometimes referred to as a "miniseries", would later be utilised for [[Series 3 (Torchwood)|the third]] and [[Series 4 (Torchwood)|fourth series]] of ''[[Torchwood (TV series)|Torchwood]]''. In an interview in ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' [[DWM 448|448]], ''[[Timelash (TV story)|Timelash]]'' author [[Glen McCoy]] said that he came up with the idea of the Doctor being put on trial. | ||
The experiment of forty-five-minute episodes having been deemed a failure, the BBC reverted the series to twenty-five-minute episodes, but kept the episode count at fourteen, effectively halving the number of episodes in a season. The last episode, however, ran thirty minutes. This format lasted for the remainder of the classic series. | The experiment of forty-five-minute episodes having been deemed a failure, the BBC reverted the series to twenty-five-minute episodes, but kept the episode count at fourteen, effectively halving the number of episodes in a season. The last episode, however, ran for thirty minutes. This format lasted for the remainder of the classic series. | ||
This was the final season to feature [[Colin Baker]] as the [[Sixth Doctor]]; he was fired following its conclusion. He did not return to play the Doctor for the [[regeneration]] scene in ''[[Time and the Rani (TV story)|Time and the Rani]]'', the first story of the [[Season 24|following season]]. It was the last season to use the [[Doctor Who logo#Logo Six|"neon tubing" logo]] introduced in [[1980 (releases)|1980]]. A new arrangement of the [[Doctor Who theme|''Doctor Who'' theme]] by [[Dominic Glynn]] was introduced this season | This was the final season to feature [[Colin Baker]] as the [[Sixth Doctor]]; he was fired following its conclusion. He did not return to play the Doctor for the [[regeneration]] scene in ''[[Time and the Rani (TV story)|Time and the Rani]]'', the first story of the [[Season 24|following season]]. It was the last season to use the [[Doctor Who logo#Logo Six|"neon tubing" logo]] introduced in [[1980 (releases)|1980]]. A new arrangement of the [[Doctor Who theme|''Doctor Who'' theme]] by [[Dominic Glynn]] was introduced this season but was only used for these fourteen episodes, before being replaced by another new arrangement. | ||
The final serial of Season 23 turned out to be veteran writer [[Robert Holmes]]'s last contribution to the series, falling gravely ill and passing away before he could finish the script. It was then passed to [[script editor]] [[Eric Saward]], who tried to finish the script but got into an argument with [[producer]] [[John Nathan-Turner]] over its ending. Eventually, Saward gave up and quit working on ''Doctor Who'' altogether, withdrawing his contributions to Holmes's script as he left. The script was then passed along to [[Pip and Jane Baker]], who completed it as they saw fit. | The final serial of Season 23 turned out to be veteran writer [[Robert Holmes]]'s last contribution to the series, falling gravely ill and passing away before he could finish the script. It was then passed to [[script editor]] [[Eric Saward]], who tried to finish the script but got into an argument with [[producer]] [[John Nathan-Turner]] over its ending. Eventually, Saward gave up and quit working on ''Doctor Who'' altogether, withdrawing his contributions to Holmes's script as he left. The script was then passed along to [[Pip and Jane Baker]], who completed it as they saw fit. | ||
With this season the BBC returned ''Doctor Who'' to an autumn season start for the first time since [[Season 18]]; this scheduling would remain for the rest of the original series' run. | |||
=== Television stories === | === Television stories === | ||
