State Of Decay: Doctor Who: Season 18



SYNOPSIS

DETAILS

CAST & CREW

REVIEWS





Goldby


Grob


Long


State Of Decay SYNOPSIS:

Still trapped in E-Space the TARDIS lands on a feudal planet. Travelling to a village that is presided over by three lords living in a tower who annually take young people from the village for the wasting. The Doctor and Romana find advanced technology among the villagers and are taken to a secret rebel base and wonder why the society seems to be evolving backwards.

It is not long before Romana and the Doctor are captured and brought before the three ruling lords. The travellers realise the tower is actually a spaceship and upon finding vats of blood and wasted humans near the ship's engines that the Lords may not just be descendants of the original ship's crew but the crew themselves. Realising they are vampires the Doctor believes one of the great vampires may be controlling them.

Romana discovers that Adric had stowed away on the TARDIS and was captured in the Village, she frees him from the Lords trance who intend to turn Adric into a new chosen one. The Doctor and K-9 muster the rebels to attack the tower and the Doctor has to figure out how to kill the great vampire that is reviving beneath the tower and rescue his friends.

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State Of Decay DETAILS:

Episode Broadcast Run Time Viewership (In Millions)
Part One 22-Nov-80 22:24 5.8
Part Two 29-Nov-80 23:16 5.3
Part Three 6-Dec-80 24:13 4.4
Part Four 13-Dec-80 24:54 5.4


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State Of Decay CAST & CREW

Stars:
The Doctor:
Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor)

Companions:
Lalla Ward (Romana II)
John Leeson (K-9 Mk. II)
Matthew Waterhouse (Adric)

Guest Stars:
William Lindsay — Zargo
Rachel Davies — Camilla
Emrys James — Aukon
Clinton Greyn — Ivo
Rhoda Lewis — Marta
Dean Allen — Karl
Thane Bettany — Tarak
Iain Rattray — Habris
Arthur Hewlett — Kalmar
Stacy Davies — Veros
Stuart Fell — Roga
Stuart Blake — Zoldaz

Production Staff for Serial 5P:
Writer - Terrance Dicks
Director - Peter Moffatt
Script editor - Christopher H. Bidmead
Producer - John Nathan-Turner
Executive Producer - Barry Letts

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State Of Decay REVIEWS



Goldby

Much like the review schedule (SWIPE!) State of Decay is one that fell behind and almost never got made when Tewwy Dicks submitted it for the Season 15 opener. But that was because the BBC bosses decided to have a vampire based Dr Who would be taking the piss out of their beloved 'faithful' adaptation of Dracula in the same year. Who remembers BBC's Dracula now huh? Being in the actual Gothic horror era it would have complimented it rather than made light of it.

Anyway now State of Decay seems to be almost out of place, it's nice to have a throwback to the gothic horror type of story but can't help feeling it would have been better back in the vintage era, it's not the same with electronic 80's music and the 80's style, seems a bit blander than what it would have been and Tom would have been acting in deadly earnest being at his peak around 1977.

That said it's still a nice nod to the recent Gothic past with all the trappings. A village full of dull peasants, a dark forest populated by bats, three lords who rule with pale complexions and mysterious origins and vampiric tendencies and a hidden threat. The Vampire stuff has the neat Who twist that the 3 rulers are really three astronauts who are possessed by the last great vampire - an ancient enemy of the Time Lords, which expands their mythology and is a nice nod to the whole Dracula and vampires myth.

Tom tries to get deadly serious despite looking very pale and sick, even accidentally being belted with a door being opened too quickly on one occasion. Romana is the perfect foil for him and Adric pops up wearing a wig and acting a lot worse, but that's because State of Decay is Waterhouses' first recorded story . The three who rule obviously have done a lot of Shakespere and this actually compliments their overly theatrical acting. The pace isn't particularly dynamite , it's as slow as Full Circle and the set design and dark location filming give it atmosphere.6.7/10



Grob

State of Decay? State of Bollocks more like. Now, whereas Leisure Hive and Full Circle had interesting and refreshingly different scripts that worked really well with the new production values of the series, and we then had Meglos that was a fuck up in all respects from script to screen, what have we got here? We have a script that is utter bollocks, paired with production values that are too damn good for it. Seriously. Uncle Tewwance is back and he brought his left over scwipt fwom the Hinchcwiff and Holmes era with him! Now what the hell is the matter here, Terrance? You've done a Curiosity Show on us by saying "Here's one I prepared earlier!" and handed in something that has every vampire cliche under the sun. Vampires? Check. They want to suck your blood? Check. They have a larder? Check. Big assed vampire? Check. Poor bastard peasants living in the village huddled around a tower? Check. Tower? Check. Rubber bats? Check. It just goes on. And the story is really dull too. Even at the tender age of twelve I was picking off bits and knowing what was coming up. "Gee, that rocket might come in handy later!" I thought to myself. And four nights later, it did! And how the hell did the Doctor know where the vampire's heart actually WAS to stab it? The thing is underground for a start and he had no idea how big the bloody thing was!

So while the script has packed its bags and won't be back until next week, the production team have pulled their finger out and do some lovely location work at the local park and there is some nice spooky (if kooky) acting from the three who play the vampires. So, I guess in this case its not what it is but what you do with it. At times they are quite menacing - particularly in their throne room scenes where they wake up and want Romana's blood, but on the other hand they have more ham in them than the local deli. Of course its a pity they didn't draw straws and suck the redness out of Adric's ass and save us the hassle that was his acting ability.

However, if the vampires make the most of their roles, the peasants certainly didn't. I guess there is only a limited scope in a peasant from an actor's perspective (I played one in our school nativity play so I speak from experience. And even then I managed to add a really long scarf into the costume). Quick word on the two leads; Tom does a very dark and mesmerizing speech about vampires in Time Lord history but Lalla has reverted back to her screamy self from before. State of Decay is an okay story but everything is going in different directions. 6/10



Long

You could see how State of Decay would have fit nicely into season 15… in fact, it's probably a lot better than most of what we got for season 15!

I think the only thing that holds this one back are the less than inspiring cliff hangers. Episode one is full of everything - an interesting medieval sort of society… with computers, a new stowaway on the TARDIS and some different (and excellent) direction - the scene where we fade from Aukon into the bats (almost flying out of his beard) is excellent - welcome Peter Moffat. Then we get a very uninspiring cliffhanger of bats flying into a cave… sure they're in a nice formation, but it's no cliffhanger.

Second part is a bit of a gabfest, but the discovery of the spaceship is interesting (and both Tom and Lalla are really at their best during this episode), and the ongoing heart beat in the background is great - and the cliffhanger isn't too bad I suppose… the realisation of the heartbeat in the ground works very well.

Part three we get the history of the Great Vampire - which I found enthralling. I was thinking that maybe this could have been a better showdown for Tom's regeneration as the legendary battles with the Great Vampires, coupled with the ominous feel of the setting all build to a nice crescendo… which is spoilt by a cliff hanger that, if they went an extra 30 seconds to where Romana was about to get killed, would have been much better. Part 4 has a lot of great ideas too - but they are very difficult to realise, and the story suffers a little because of it… although the realisation of the Great Vampire (and only seeing his hand appear from the ground), works well… better than the realisation of other large monsters (ROBOT, Kroll, Skaarsen).

The bits that were added to State of Decay, which I'm guessing were the Adric bits, work well… and for the first half of the story, they are possibly the most interesting part as we really get a feel for this young kid looking for adventure, but finding himself in all sorts of strife, first as a replacement son for a couple who have lost their son to the cause… and then as the next to be harvested. He does it well - and in his scenes with K9 shows that he can act… anyone who can crouch and talk can act… that takes talent goddamit!!

Casting wise there isn't much that lets State of Decay down either - the 3 to rule are all played well, Aukon has the right mixture of scary and crazed while Camilla is just a little bit hot… like all chick vampires should be. The leader of the bad beard brigade (some of the worst fake facial hair you'll see this side of Journey's End here!) has a tendency to go all Zastor from Meglos (you feel that he might just doze off at any second), but doesn't… and there's also the obligatory Neil Barnett in his posse! Tarak's pretty shit though.

All in all, an enjoyable vampire tale… let down by some lacklustre cliffhangers and a difficult ending to realise, but enhanced with some excellent direction and performances.

8/10

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Screen Shots:

State Of Decay Titles



State Of Decay the Doctor and Romana



State Of Decay Aukon and bat



State Of Decay k9 in Tardis



State Of Decay Zargo Aukon and Camilla attack



State Of Decay the tower



State Of Decay Adric



State Of Decay bats



State Of Decay Kelmar



State Of Decay Camilla the Doctor and Zargo



State Of Decay Adric and Aukon



State Of Decay Camilla sees blood



State Of Decay Ivo Adric and wife



State Of Decay Queen Camilla and King Zargo



State Of Decay Doctor and the rebels



State Of Decay Doctor and Romana arrive



State Of Decay Lord Aukon



State Of Decay Habris and guards



State Of Decay the great vampires hand



State Of Decay Adric stopped by Aukon



State Of Decay the great vampire



State Of Decay Romana bitten by bats



State Of Decay end of the three who rule



State Of Decay the Doctor