Ooh new titles… When I originally watched The Time Warrior, I hadn’t seen any of Sarah Jane Smith’s 1970s’ stories. I’d first seen her in The Five Doctors, and I came away without much impression of her really. There are so many faces there that few of the companions get to shine much besides filling their plot functions. I mainly remembered her screaming on the edge of a small grassy incline…
Checking the broadcast dates, I can see that I first saw The Time Warrior a week before School Reunion was broadcast. In that story, I struggled to understand Sarah’s relationship with the Doctor. She seemed so annoyed with him for having left her (in Aberdeen) without ever coming back. She hadn’t been annoyed with him in The Five Doctors, even though he had already left her by then. I didn’t really know her. By now I was used to companions travelling with the Doctor for only a short time – I guess I saw it as a kind of gap year for everyone. But I always assumed that, eventually, all the companions would want to leave and settle down somewhere or with someone. Because wasn’t that what people did? Young me thought so. It didn’t occur to me that Sarah wouldn’t have seen other people come and go from the TARDIS in the same way I had.
Sarah has grown on me the more I’ve visited her later stories. It is her Fourth Doctor stories that I associate with her most though, so I’m looking forward to seeing more of her with the Third Doctor.
Sarah Jane Smith
It makes a change to introduce a companion who hasn’t realised they’ve travelled in time and takes so long to be convinced of it. Most companions are entirely aware of what they’re set to experience – to some extent – and I enjoyed Sarah’s confident, innocent blundering. Even those unaware ones tend to be put straight fairly quickly, and sometimes a little too easily. It’s often because they’re with the Doctor, but Sarah spends the majority of the first two episodes away from him. I liked watching her trying to deduce the most likely scenario for her surroundings: “too elaborate” for a village pageant and ruling out a film set because there are “no lights, no cameras”. I wonder if she ever managed to get her gold back.
From the moment Sarah’s down in medieval England, she’s heading off on her own. I love how strong she is in this story. When a bloke grabs her and starts dragging her off, she doesn’t just scream, but shouts at him and puts up a jolly good fight. She isn’t expecting to be rescued – she’s expecting to have to sort this out herself. Throughout the story, when she’s faced with the sexism of burly medieval men, Sarah isn’t prepared to take any shit without some fight. It’s a contrast from Jo, who could be resourceful but never seemed quite so independent (however, just like Jo, she’s blagged her way in among UNIT, even if it’s not as an employee). Sarah quickly ingratiates herself with Sir Edward and Lady Eleanor and pulls on some contemporary medieval clothes. It’s Sarah who comes up with the plan for a raid against Irongron and she’s keen to be properly involved in things. When Irongron’s men later attack Sir Edward’ castle, both she and the Doctor are clearly enjoying themselves as the Doctor’s stinky smokebombs rain down on the attackers. It’s delightful watching Sarah jumping up like an excited kid to try to get a look at the action over the turrets.
Sarah is actually pretty suspicious of the Doctor when he first comes back to Sir Edward’s castle. They haven’t got off to a good start – he’s a bit pompous and dismissive of her when they first meet – and it’s reasonable for her to assume that it’s him who’s been kidnapping the scientists. She believes it’s him who’s been helping Irongron and is unaware of Linx’s true nature. After all, what are the chances of suddenly finding two time machines? Even once he’s explained the truth to her, she is hesitant as “he could just be changing sides to save his own skin.”
It’s partly a sexist remark from the Doctor that makes Sarah express doubt about him. Her feminist credentials are there from her first few scenes, with her reaction to the Doctor (jokingly?) suggesting she can make the coffee. Medieval England (or medieval anywhere) is an ideal, easy way of having plenty of opportunities to show this part of her character. It’s an element that now feels highly of its time – mostly in a good way. The fact you don’t have to make such vocal feminism a prominent characteristic of more modern companions is because things have changed for women. But the choice to have the Doctor making such remarks feels telling. He’s meant to be our hero and we’re meant to trust him, so whether these lines are serious or purposeful goading, it can feel like he’s mocking Sarah’s expectations for equality. I’m particularly inclined to see it this way coming from the Third Doctor. His manners are often old-fashioned and gentlemanly, but some use those attitudes as a way of patronising women, of being ‘kindly’ and looking after them, but also treating them like people who need looking after. There is a line there between people doing such things from a place of politeness and simply because it’s a nice thing to do, and doing them because they believe they’re needed. The fact that the show is written entirely by men in this period does mean I’m usually less inclined to be generous about this. And yet it is somewhat balanced in this story with Sarah’s action and independent determination, and Lady Eleanor is also another strong female character, even while it isn’t a huge role.
Woods and castles
Sometimes the 1970s feels ones of those ideal times to shoot medieval settings, as there is a ready supply of young male extras with long hair and the odd beard. I also enjoyed the story’s location filming at Peckforton Castle. It blends reasonably well with the studio recordings, and being suitably remote with plenty of surrounding woodland ensures it never feels like the production is having to hide modern infrastructure. They make great use of the courtyard for various fights and we get some lovely high shots looking down on the action.
We must always face our enemies
We get a smashing cliffhanger reveal at the end of Part One, with Linx’s appearance beneath his helmet having been built up a tad. He turns around to give us the full potato, complete with odd hairs and a flickering tongue that makes him just a little animal-like. I think I generally prefer lone Sontarans over an army of them as I often find it more interesting to see them having to deal with other species. Linx can be amusing in his casual dismissiveness of humans: “Ah, I understand. You have a primary and secondary reproductive cycle. It is an inefficient system. You should change it.” If I’ve a fault to pick about the Sontarans’ introduction, it’s that the Doctor only trots out the detail about hitting the probic vent right at the moment it’s needed in Part Four, even though it’s clear from Part Two that the Doctor knows of the Sontarans.
Irongron is a fun villain and Robert Holmes gives him a great deal of fabulous descriptions. No one is simply a “man” or “wench”: Hal is a “treacherous dog”; Lady Eleanor is “that narrow-hipped vixen”; the scientists are “whey-faced ninnines”; Linx is a “scabby faced stoat”; and the Doctor is “a long shank rascal with a mighty nose”. Could you argue it’s overdone a tad? Yes, but I like it. Just as I like that we have a character named Bloodaxe. Is it a nickname? He’s never as blood-thirsty as Irongron. Is it is his real name? What pressure of expectations that must give.
I recall not enjoying The Time Warrior that much in the past. I think I missed having the Doctor in the first couple of episodes, where it’s really Sarah who is our focus. In contrast, this is exactly what I loved this time. I also felt a bit done with historical settings (I’ve written before about generally preferring the Third Doctor with UNIT action), whereas this time I enjoyed the sword fighting, the Doctor swinging from the ceiling, and all the castle-based action. However, more than anything, as well as it being a brilliant introduction for Sarah, I’ve enjoyed the story’s great guest characters. Alongside those covered above, I’m also fond of Rubeish, who is absurdly easy-going given the circumstances (kidnapped, time travel, alien, brainwashed colleagues etc.), and just the right amount of dotty professor – I’m pleased every time we get a little more of him throughout the story.