State of Decay

"State of Decay" continues the E-Space trilogy with the TARDIS team (now including Adric) landing on a Transylvania-like planet in tone and vibe. The populace of a local town is being subjugated under the heel of a mysterious trio of lords living in a dark tower and a remnant of Gallifrey's past quite literally out for blood.

It's a silly and fairly predictable story especially if you're familiar with horror films involving vampires and bloodsuckers of the night. There are also plenty of stupid and cheesy effects that will indeed break your immersion if you aren't prepared for them. But it all works in giving it a Universal / Hammar horror vibe to the whole thing and there is a darker and more primitive vibe in the atmosphere very reminiscent of the Phillip Hinchcliffe era from a few seasons past. This does give a bit more edge and bite than other stories in the season despite the lower budget the show had at that point and none of its flaws really hamper it enough to where you don't enjoy the ride.

Most of the acting continues to be fine across the board with Tom Baker and Lalla Ward once again being on point. As their second to last story together, you are constantly reminded of how close these two were and how great they work together and it all adds a lingering sense of dread that just adds on to the dire tone and atmosphere.  K-9 also gets a lot more to do in the adventure and actually play more of a vital role than he has before to lasting and memorable appeal.

Unfortunately, the weak link is again Matthew Waterhouse's Adric whose emotional journey and impact is completely side-stepped in favor of his egotistical personality that we would grow to know and loathe. It's here that he really starts to become unlikable and nasty as a character and every scene he's in works to hamper the entire adventure. Thankfully, his impact on the course of the plot is fairly minimal in a way that's difficult but not impossible to get past and he's not as much of a focus to where it's too distracting. The gothic texture of the story combined with the good acting of the rest of the cast still shines through when it has to and it does have ties forward towards the New Series that make this one a fun treat particularly for those who like the Time War and Gallifrey.

While it's true that the script and plot by Terrance Dicks are predictable to the point of absolute absurdity and Adric's presence looms of the story like a dead weight, "State of Decay" still remains the highlight of the season and my personal favorite. It's not quite a classic and there are plenty of issues to nitpick if you really want to get down to it. But as a horror fan and someone who loves to see the series tackle this kind of dark and macabre matter, I have a personal soft spot for it. 

Good old Terrance Dicks , he’s one of my favourite writers for both the show and the novels range of doctor who.
Here in one of his last and latest entries he’d make to the show, the Doctor, Romana and stowaway Adric fund them sleeves on a backwards world with a humble gold inslabed by lords.
These lords are intact vampires, but merely servents of a higher threat, a great vampire and an old enemy of Gallifreyans of any sort.

This makes for a rather hinchcliffe era story and although it’s very much the eighties in a number of ways... it shows that it was intended earlier.
I personally love doctor who when it does gothic or hammer horror themed stories. A gripe I could make is that in E space it does feel a little like it could have just been in our universe but bah!! I loved it. A strong centre story for the fun e space trilogy.

Oh how we've missed you Terrance! Like a homecoming: from tone; to charm; to comic moments; to simple (yet intriguing) mystery and plot structure, Uncle Terry knocks the ball out of the park again.

It's a godsend that Terry's original rather than the Bidmead draft was shot - it could fit smugly aside Horror of Fang Rock in some fabled season never produced. Hypothesising and dreaming aside, State of Decay is quality Doctor Who with a chain of mysteries unravelled. A pastiche of low sci-fi and high gothic melodrama, a ragtag bunch of peasants and malevolent grouping of Vampiric devotees have our protagonists do battle with the last of the canon / lore expanding Great Vampires.

From building on lore, to effective use of macguffins (ala Fang Rock) this whole piece feels incredibly solid with a top notch guest cast just falling short of hamming it up, whilst still revelling the hammeresque elements. Even Adric works, written as the artful dodger which he never really grew to be - I'm convinced if Adric was written with the aplomb of Decay from Full Circle to Earthshock, his impact on fans would've been nowhere near as poor.

Few minor gripes, sets not meshing together, some elements considerably less thought through than others and some peasants being too 'stock' for their own good. Minor gripes aside, it's a solid story and well worth a good viewing. Cracking DVD documentary extras too!

State of Decay has the Doctor and Romana landing on another planet (with Adric having stolen away without their knowledge) in E-space where Vampires have taken over and ruled for a thousand years plunging the native civilization into ignorance. The piece is scary and atmospheric, it gives some nice back story on the Time Lords, and is an enjoyable story despite a few plot contrivances at the end and a somewhat redundant search for a message from Rassilon.