Who Review: Meglos

Finding himself in the vicinity of the planet Tigella, the Doctor gets in touch with his old friend Zastor, leader of the Tigellans. His contact is timely, since Tigella is having problems with its power source, the “Dodecahedron.” This mighty crystal is worshiped by one faction of Tigellan society, and used for its energy potential by the scientists of the other faction. The scientists (“Savants”) want to run tests on the Dodecahedron to find out why they are having power fluctuations. To the religious Deons, this is blasphemy, and they won’t let the Savants anywhere near it. Zastor invites the Doctor to come and help mediate the situation, and assist with their troubleshooting. But this isn’t the only problem for Tigella. The Dodecahedron is actually from neighboring planet Zolfa-Thura, and Meglos, the cactus-like last of the Zolfa-Thurans, wants to reclaim it and use its power to exact revenge. He has recruited a band of space pirates to assist him, but the Doctor’s arrival could cause problems, so he traps the TARDIS crew in a time loop. When they break free from that, Meglos uses a captured human to adopt humanoid form. He then takes on the likeness of the Doctor, and arrives on Tigella ahead of the TARDIS. Meglos know that the Tigellans anticipate the Doctor’s arrival, so they won’t be suspicious when the Meglos-Doctor shows up. And then, when the Meglos-Doctor steals the Dodecahedron, they will capture the real Doctor when he arrives, leaving the way clear for Meglos to complete his plan…

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen this serial. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

For the eighteenth season of Doctor Who, as the show entered the 1980s, new producer John Nathan-Turner gave the aging program a much-needed overhaul: new titles, new theme music, more “modern” sounding incidental music. As part of this eighties renovation, Nathan-Turner and new script editor Christopher H. Bidmead were eager to find new talent to write stories for the show. This is how television newbies John Flanagan and Andrew McCulloch got the opportunity to write “Meglos” for Doctor Who, though it would be their only contribution to the series.

It seems Nathan-Turner wasn’t all that impressed with the story, but pushed forward with it due to time constraints. I don’t think it’s at all bad, to be honest. Sure, the science vs. religion thing is a bit of an old trope (and one that continues to annoy me), but that’s just one of the tension points in the story. Indeed, once the Doctor arrives, the Deons are more cooperative–at least until the Meglos-Doctor steals the Dodecahedron, at which point they capture the real Doctor and offer him as an appeasement sacrifice. Naturally, the sacrifice is drawn out, consisting of being tied below a large boulder suspended by four ropes that are gradually burned until the last one gives out and the boulder squishes the victim. I’m not entirely sure, and it’s never explained, why this elaborate process is necessary, other than to buy time for Romana and Zastor to come and save the day, which they do.

Another thing that bothered me is the fact that the Doctor suggested there was a “doppelganger,” and the Tigellans appeared to understand what this German word means. But how? This isn’t a unique phenomenon to Doctor Who, of course. I’ve seen plenty of sci-fi shows and movies where aliens throw around French and German phrases. Why would the Tigellans understand the word “doppelganger”? Why did the Doctor even use that word, as opposed to talking about a “double”?

Unfortunately, the plants are a bit of a design failure. A nice attempt, but they don’t look organic. The cactus is probably the best fake plant, and the best effect has to be the cactus-human and cactus-Doctor. It’s pretty creepy, actually. And Tom Baker relishes the opportunity to play the bad guy, which adds to the creepiness of the hybrid. Having the human inside the Meglos-Doctor struggle for control was a good twist, especially since the human in question appeared initially to be a bit weak. When Meglos is eventually forced out of the human, he resumes a cactus form, but this time he’s deflated and squirms away. A nice idea, but not very well done, I’m afraid. Again, the costume fails to look anything other than a costume.

At the end of the story, the Doctor is summoned back to Gallifrey. This gives us a link into the next story, and spells the beginning of the end for Romana…

As I said, “Meglos” is a good story, though not spectacular. While some of the effects leave a lot to be desired, many others are at least acceptable, if not good. Tom Baker’s performance is, as always, top-notch, though he looks a bit sickly (I think Baker was ill at the time). We have some glimpses of humor, just enough to remind us that he’s still the Doctor. Since I recommend the season, of course I recommend “Meglos.” But it doesn’t rise to the level of “must-see.”