Time-Flight

"Time-Flight" as a whole doesn't stick the landing for the season at all so much as jump headfirst into a pile of trash taking several good Who elements along with it. Taking place in the aftermath of "Earthshock" (but not really),  the Doctor inadvertently manages to get the team back to Heathrow airport but is pulled into an investigation surrounding the disappearance of Concorde airplanes and an alien presence who wants a mysterious power source for his own ends.

It sounds decent on paper especially with some ok location shooting that kind of works even if it feels like a bad 80's commercial. But everything good about this story suffocates in a mire of noticeably idiotic plot holes, god awful acting, and bad cinematography and effects. The script by Peter Grimwade is also boring and laughable trying to force in the appearance of another classic villain in his worst appearance by far in all of Classic Who while giving absolutely no reason for it other than just coincidence.

All of these problems could've kept this story at the level of bad that "Four to Doomsday" ended up being. But then you count the fact that it casually dismisses the ramifications of one of the most tragic events of the Doctor's life and saves them for essentially another time, another place. No matter how you feel about that particular plot point, that insulting element is what truly sinks this story despite any attempts to salvage it by the cast. Janet Fielding returns to being obnoxious as Tegan, Sarah Sutton's Nyssa again doesn't get much to do, and the Doctor is kind of just left struggling to justify any of this with Davison himself clearly not being able to believe how bad the story is even as he films it. There are multiple times where I caught him clearly out of his element despite him trying to keep control and command of the situation and it really makes you laugh and not in a good way. You can't even say this story is in 'so bad it's good territory' and it feels like after the success and power of 'Earthshock', everyone just called it a day and jumped off a cliff quality-wise until the next season.

The time that this one probably took to create could easily have been used to extend "Black Orchid" or even create an entirely different and altogether better story and no one would've been the wiser and the saddest part of it all? In terms of quality, it's still not the worst Fifth Doctor story out there. But even that particular story "Warriors of the Deep" is at least utterly hilarious with how bad it gets at moments. "Time-Flight" is just a boring nigh incomprehensible mess that insults all of the characters involved that doesn't deserve a DVD release much less a Blu-ray one. It's a shame that this season ended on one of the lowest notes possible but thankfully there are one or two seeds planted that do keep you curious and wanting to see more from this cast which work a bit less well but far more consistently in Season 20. 

Total stinker, bereft of the 'so bad its good charm' of other infamous serials. Even after the target novelisation, the problems with timeflight go beyond the visual and deep into the script. Namely - its utter incoherence.

The Master, disguised and trapped on prehistoric earth, uses time-machinations to bring a Concorde flight back through time, to abet his breaking into an alien sarcophagus to harness the mental powers of an alien race (who also happened to crash land). To achieve this goal, the Master disguises himself (why?) as a jaw-dropping blobby quasi-racialist Chinese caricature magician. The Concorde crew of both the first (chosen by the Master... Why?), and rescue flights, are incredibly bland and lack any memorable quality.

The plot is incoherent, performances howlingly average and nothing immediately memorable in the dialogue department.

Of course, the effects are laughably poor which really doesn't help proceedings. CSO is somehow far worse than its execution in the early years of Barry Letts - after a decade of experience and technological progress. The sets are almost satirical (ala Garth Merenghis dark place) and lazy editing so poor, that cars and modern buildings can be seen on the flats of prehistoric earth... at the climax of the serial.

Even the commentary track of the DVD is lame, with no joyful reminiscence or kind-hearted dig at effects not quite holding up, but being passable due to the strength of the script. On every level from performances to sfx, there's just a sense that at the end of season 19, everybody gave up. Its one saving grace is that its utterly forgettable and makes no impact on canon at large - if it did (namely getting rid of Tegan for good.. perhaps I'd give it 3/10!)

This story is not nearly as awful as its reputation.There are several things to like. First of all, Peter Davison's Doctor has never seemed more in command during Season 19 than in this episode. The supporting cast is good. I loved the Captain and rest of the flight crew who took such an active part in the story.

Yes, there are plot holes (such as the Professor's reappearance and magical ability to land the TARDIS) and some dodgy effects. But I found myself more entertained watching this than an earlier story from Season 19, the Visitation. Overall, this was quite enjoyable and again not nearly as bad as its reputation.

What the hell happened here? The plot makes no sense (read the recent DW magazine which tries to decipher it!). The Master entertains dressed as a mythical wizard like character but why?? Despite Concorde the money clearly ran out on this one and it shows. How Eric Saward passed this one from the script editor desk beats me. It makes no sense, answers on a postcard...