‘TERMINUS’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Terminus with the Vanir and the Garm whilst Nyssa leaves the TARDIS

And here we are on what I consider to be a very significant story in Season 20 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. It’s the fourth story in Season 20 and it’s the second in ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’. It’s the four-part story ‘Terminus’ by Stephen Gallagher. 🙂

Once I first saw ‘Terminus’ on DVD in August 2009, I emailed ‘Doctor Who Magazine’ and I shared my thoughts and feelings about the story. Here’s my very first ‘Terminus’ review. It was published in the Galaxy Forum of ‘Doctor Who Magazine’ #413 in September 2009.

I’m amazed, even after all these years, my name would end up in print in a ‘DWM’ issue. I was delighted to find my ‘letter’ about Nyssa in ‘Terminus’ in ‘DWM’, especially as it was the first time my name came into print in 2009. It’s something I cherish fondly today. 🙂

I’ve had my name in print in a couple more ‘DWM’ issues as well as in ‘Vortex’ magazine by Big Finish, but you never forget your first letter published in print. I’m very pleased that my very first ‘DWM’ letter was all about Sarah Sutton playing Nyssa in ‘Doctor Who’.

It’s what sparked off my interest to go to conventions afterwards, especially as I wrote to Sarah Sutton after seeing my ‘DWM’ letter about Nyssa in ‘Terminus’ in print. I received two photos from her in the post, including one that had a nice pink posit note attached.

My life hasn’t been the same since I saw ‘Doctor Who’ properly in 2006 after first viewing half of Christopher Eccleston’s season in 2005. It’s from seeing the 1980s ‘Doctor Who’ stories with Nyssa and hearing the Big Finish audios that I got to embrace the fandom more.

‘Terminus’ was the turning point for me in my early stages as a ‘Doctor Who’ fan. From seeing the story, to writing a letter to ‘DWM’, to writing to Sarah Sutton, and eventually meeting her at ‘Fifth Element’ in Chiswick, London in February 2010, it’s quite amazing.

I later showed my ‘DWM’ letter about Nyssa in ‘Terminus’ to Sarah at the ‘Timey-Wimey 1’ convention in Brighton in November 2014. Sarah read the letter, and she thanked for me for writing it, saying it was ‘very sweet’ of me. I’m so pleased that she liked the letter.

Sarah and I have become very good friends over the years, especially as I’ve seen her at plenty of conventions. I’ve never been this lucky to get on so well with a ‘Doctor Who’ star like Sarah, especially as she comes across as very open and friendly when I see her.

Incidentally, it’s astonishing the ‘DWM’ issue my Nyssa/Sarah Sutton letter was published in was the one that ranked the then 200 ‘Doctor Who’ stories from best to worst, with ‘The Caves of Androzani’ being a winner and ‘The Twin Dilemma’ being last. 😐

‘Terminus’ ranks at 169 in The Mighty 200 survey in ‘DWM’ #413. Also, I purchased two copies of the issue with ‘The Caves of Androzani’ and ‘The Empty Child’ covers. The other two out of the four covers for ‘DWM’ #413 had ‘City of Death’ and ‘Human Nature’.

Of course, we’ve had more ‘DWM’ surveys and the ranking of ‘Doctor Who’ stories has changed over the years. I don’t usually rank ‘Doctor Who’ stories in terms of what I consider very good and very bad. I enjoy checking out the TV stories in varying measure.

With that said, it’s interesting that ‘Terminus’ is a story that gets overlooked by the fandom and isn’t considered very good. Now, don’t get me wrong, ‘Terminus’ is arguably the weakest story in ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’, concerning the presentation.

However, from watching ‘Terminus’ many times over the years, I appreciate the bold concepts and ideas being delivered in the story, even if there are aspects that don’t work well. This concerns plot elements as well as how production values were handled.

A lot of these are attributed to the fact that ‘Terminus’ suffered a troubled production, especially when industrial action was happening at the BBC at the time. It’s something that upset the story’s director Mary Ridge, but we’ll get into more of these aspects later.

Despite the production issues ‘Terminus’ had, it manages to provide a very heartfelt and emotional swansong for Nyssa’s character in the story, especially as she’d been through so much with the Doctor, both on TV and audio, which we’ll address later in this review.

It helps that ‘Terminus’ happens to be a better contribution to the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series by Steve Gallagher. Previously, he wrote the story ‘Warriors’ Gate’ in ‘The E-Space Trilogy’. I struggled to understand that TV story and I still don’t think I’m any wiser. 😀

Thankfully, I don’t think Steve Gallagher had his TV scripts turned inside-out by script editor Eric Saward so much in the way that script editor Christopher H. Bidmead and director Paul Joyce did when making ‘Warriors’ Gate’. ‘Terminus’ still has issues though.

I think it’s noticeable from watching the TV story how the story tended to suffer in terms of its execution, particularly in the case of Nyssa who becomes ill when contracting a deadly disease, which we’ll get into more. I find this a shame when viewing ‘Terminus’. 😐

‘Terminus’ is also considered a very dark and depressing ‘Doctor Who’ story. In a sense, it needs to be like that, considering how serious the deadly Lazar’s disease is on board the space hospital. Thankfully, there’s a sort-of happy ending for Terminus in the tale. 🙂

Just to go off on a tangent for a bit, there’s not much in terms of stories in-between ‘Mawdryn Undead’ and ‘Terminus’ that feature the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Turlough. There’s ‘Gardens of the Dead’, which is a Short Trip audio story read by Mark Strickson. 🙂

There’s a mini adventure in ‘The Many Lives of Doctor Who’ comic story, featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Turlough. And there’s ‘Doctor Who in Wonderland’, a book adventure featuring the TARDIS foursome. Otherwise, the gap isn’t that huge here.

I’m astonished that there are stories set between ‘Mawdryn Undead’ and ‘Terminus’ to begin with, considering Turlough is still in the employ of the Black Guardian and is struggling to kill the Doctor at this point. It’s a contrast to later Big Finish audios featuring the foursome.

But that’s for another time. Also, the only element featured in ‘Terminus’ to make it part of the 20th anniversary celebrations of ‘Doctor Who’ is that it has the Black Guardian in it. And even then, the Black Guardian makes fleeting appearance throughout the story. 😐

There was a rumour that the Ice Warriors were going to make an appearance in ‘Terminus’, according to what I’ve read in the DVD’s info-text commentary. That didn’t turn out to be the case and I think people were confusing the Vanir with the Ice Warriors.

In ‘Terminus’, Turlough sabotages the TARDIS on the Black Guardian’s instructions, as he tries to remove the Space-Time element from under the console. When it goes wrong, a field of instability threatens to engulf Nyssa’s room, particularly with her inside.

Fortunately, a door appears, and Nyssa is told by the Doctor to go through it. The TARDIS has somehow merged with a space liner in order to save herself. The Doctor goes off to rescue Nyssa whilst Tegan remains with Turlough. They, in turn, get trapped on the ship.

Meeting two space raiders called Kari and Olvir, who tried to plunder the space liner’s cargo, the Doctor and Nyssa discover they’re on a transport ship and the cargo happens to Lazars, sufferers of a leprosy-like disease, and that they’re on their way to Terminus. 😐

Terminus is a space station that’s meant to be a hospital. Unfortunately, Terminus is owned by a company that claims that a cure exists, but no-one has returned from it. It also comes to the Doctor’s attention that Terminus is at the ‘exact’ centre of the universe.

It’s interesting how this story gets unravelled as we go through it, as ‘Terminus’ depicts a bleak futuristic society where the Lazars are being sent to the space station to rot away and die. It’s not ideal as you’d expect Terminus to be a proper working space hospital. 😐

There’s an almost ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’ element to the story, especially with the corridors and walkways being so grimy, and the society is rather corrupt. Some would argue there’s an ‘Alien’ aspect to the story’s design, but I haven’t seen that movie.

I don’t know what this Terminus Incorporated company is supposed to be, nor do I know who runs it. We don’t get to meet the company owners either. Perhaps it’s another one of those Usurian companies from ‘The Sun Makers’ we’re talking about in this story.

Or maybe it’s connected to the Sirius Conglomerate that produced the Spectrox substance in ‘The Caves of Androzani’. Which, now I think about it, wouldn’t it have been nice to connect the nameless company in ‘Terminus’ to ‘The Caves of Androzani’?

The futuristic setting of ‘Terminus’ is pretty depressing. The Lazars are badly-treated aboard the space station, and it’s a very run-down place. One wonders who built Terminus in the first place. Surely, it was sparkly and quite brand-new a long time ago. 😐

It’s also quite frightening when you consider what the concept of Lazar’s disease is. It’s a form of leprosy, which was pretty contagious in Biblical times. Speaking personally, I would’ve thought leprosy would have died out in the future. That there’d already be a cure.

And it’s not like leprosy can’t be incurable. There’s a way to treat the disease, especially with the advances in medicine we have. There are organisations like The Leprosy Mission that strive to combat leprosy in many parts of the world, including for children.

But of course, this is a futuristic version of the disease, and the cure can only be provided as long as you’re willing to pay plenty for it. 😐 I’m thankful that we didn’t have to pay anything when many of us had our Covid jabs following 2020 compared to Lazar’s.

Leprosy essentially affects the skin, peripheral nerves, upper respiratory tract, and mucous membranes, leading to symptoms such as disfiguring sores and nerve damage. I assume that Lazar’s disease works the same way, although its execution is confusing.

I think the disease is supposed to be airborne rather than being dependent on physical contact. The Doctor telling Nyssa not to touch the Lazars in ‘Part Two’ is contradicted, especially concerning Tegan in ‘Part One’ and what Olvir says in ‘Part Two’. 😐

Olvir: Whatever you’re planning, you can forget it, because we’re dead. We’re breathing in the disease at this very moment.

It’s not very clear in terms of how it’s scripted and I don’t think much emphasis is made on how the disease spreads. Of course, there are many elements featured in ‘Terminus’ trying to balance out with each other. The balancing of those elements is often uneven.

In watching the story post-2020, there are echoes of Covid-19 if you want to find them. Having been through the pandemic, I appreciate how serious a contagious disease like Lazar’s can be, especially when seeing people locked away in a tank to suffer and to rot.

As I said, the Doctor becomes concerned about the fact that Terminus is at the centre of the universe and that it caused the Big Bang. This is a part of a story that I find a bit confusing, as it contradicts what’s been established before with ‘Castrovalva’ and such.

I’m surprised Nyssa and Tegan didn’t see Terminus when the TARDIS was heading towards the hydrogen inrush in that story. 😀 Also, Terminus being at ‘the centre of the universe’ is contradicted in the radio story ‘Slipback’ by saying a space liner caused the Big Bang.

Now, it’s all a matter of opinion. Whether you believe Terminus is at the centre of the universe and whether it caused the Big Bang is up to you. I personally don’t believe in this concept, due to my Christian upbringing and the belief God created the universe. 🙂

Despite that, it’s an intriguing concept to put into a TV story like ‘Terminus’. I personally prefer the Lazars’ side of the story as well as Nyssa’s journey compared to the Big Bang stuff. I found it fascinating how the ‘Origins of the Universe’ DVD featurette addresses it.

I didn’t really get into Sir Patrick Moore and Dr. John Mason’s theories about the Big Bang and the creation of the universe when I saw ‘Origins of the Universe’. One thing that stood out for me though was the notion of other universes being created alongside ours.

This has been addressed in stories like ‘Army of Ghosts’/’Doomsday’ when establishing the existence of multiple realities and the Void. It’s something I’ve used for multiverse stories like ‘Into the Death-Space’, ‘Interdimensional Rescue’ and ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’.

With the Doctor telling Kari that a Big Bang would destroy a universe as much as create one, I’ve been putting my thinking cap on about how to tackle an epic 70th anniversary ‘Doctor Who’ series. It’s in its early stages of development, but it’s something to look forward to. 😀

I’m not sure how the Big Bang in ‘The Pandorica Opens’/’The Big Bang’ with Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor is connected or whether it’s connected at all, as it was more a reboot of the universe in that two-part story. There appears to be more Big Bangs in ‘Doctor Who’. 😀

Like I said, ‘Terminus’ as a ‘Doctor Who’ story suffered a troubled production when it was badly affected by industrial action. Now, this isn’t uncommon in ‘Doctor Who’, as Season 17 was affected by strike action towards the end, since ‘Shada’ wasn’t finished.

However, for industrial action to occur in the middle of Season 20 and with trying to get every story completed for the 20th anniversary celebrations, it had a knock-on effect in the rest of the season. I’ll return to this topic more in the season’s next two instalments.

It’s something that stressed out Mary Ridge, the story’s director, who makes her first and only contribution to the TV series. It’s a shame, as it would’ve been nice if Mary Ridge had been given a chance to do more ‘Doctor Who’ stories had she not had a very tough time.

In terms of being a director, Mary Ridge previously directed episodes of ‘Blake’s 7’ in its third and fourth seasons. The episodes include ‘Terminal’, ‘Rescue’, ‘Power’, ‘Animals’, ‘Headhunter’ and ‘Blake’. That’s more ‘Blake’s 7’ episodes she did than for ‘Doctor Who’.

Incidentally, my Dad recently remarked that ‘Terminus’ had a ‘Blake’s 7’ feel to it as well as ‘Deep Space Nine’ to it. Admittedly, it’s been a while since I first saw the ‘Blake’s 7’ TV series on DVD, but I’m willing to agree there’s a ‘Blake’s 7’ feeling featured in ‘Terminus’.

The issues that Mary Ridge faced when directing ‘Terminus’ were that the story was marred by an electricians’ strike as well as problems with costumes and the sets. It resulted in the story’s recording overrunning and a remount had to be done weeks later.

It strained Mary Ridge’s relationship with the producer John Nathan-Turner, thus why she didn’t direct for ‘Doctor Who’ again. It’s sad the production wasn’t smooth-running as hoped. Not just for Mary Ridge, but for Sarah Sutton as Nyssa in her swansong story. 😦

I can only imagine how frustrating the production turned out with it being affected by industrial action. I know I wouldn’t like to be in that situation where things were tensed up and everything had to be rescheduled and reworked due to the strikes that occurred.

In a sense, I’m surprised it was a struggle for director Mary Ridge, especially when she directed six ‘Blake’s 7’ episodes beforehand. You’d think she’d be able to cope with those kinds of pressures with being a director. Was ‘Blake’s 7’ easier to make than ‘Doctor Who’?

Talking about the cast, Peter Davison is excellent as the Fifth Doctor in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. It does take a while for him to appear in the story though, as he appears as soon as the instability inside the TARDIS, caused by Turlough’s sabotage, happens in ‘Part One’.

I like how he immediately goes out in search of Nyssa once she’s gone from the TARDIS. The scene where he finds her, and she’s huddled in a corner (She looks so cute in that moment) and they reunite is one of my personal favourites featured in the TV story. 🙂

It also could be a rare opportunity for Peter Davison’s Doctor to receive a hug from one of his companions, even if it’s executed quite awkwardly on screen. Also, the Fifth Doctor has that ability to throw a chair across a room and stops a door from closing.

I like how Harry Hill remarked upon that when he had Peter Davison as a guest in Series 2, Episode 6 of ‘Harry Hill’s Alien Fun Capsule’, shown on ITV1 in May 2018. Apparently, Peter Davison still has that ability to throw a chair and stop a door from closing to this day. 😀

Going back to the story, it’s interesting that Peter’s Doctor has some time to spend with Kari when they’re trying to explore and understand what makes Terminus tick. Mind you, that tended to drag a bit for me, as I wanted to know what was happening to Nyssa then.

It’s good when Peter’s Doctor acknowledged the Garm’s request to destroy the control box that the Vanir had used on him in order to be free. This is especially after the Garm helped to pull and push the lever to prevent Terminus exploding and destroying the universe.

With Mark Strickson as Turlough, this ‘Doctor Who’ story isn’t as significant or a good strong outing for him compared to ‘Mawdryn Undead’. Mainly because Turlough spends most of his time on his hands and knees crawling after Tegan when they’re in the ventilation tunnels.

One of the issues concerning Turlough’s character, particularly in ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’, is how you keep up the story of him being on a mission to kill the Doctor. Nowadays, that would be made a big deal of in terms of developing a character journey.

But in terms of how ‘Doctor Who’ was made in the 1980s, particularly under producer JNT’s reign, character study and character development weren’t a huge priority, which is a shame. It’s pretty evident when not much thought was put into Turlough’s character. 😦

Turlough could have had a meatier role to play in ‘Terminus’ that challenged his loyalties to the Black Guardian as well as to the Doctor. But since this is a Nyssa-centric story, particularly with it being her swansong, Turlough was put more towards the sidelines. 😐

The only way you could keep Turlough away from the Doctor and not have him kill him in ‘Terminus’ was to lock him up. It’s also sad when not much is handled in terms of the fiery relationship that’s between Turlough and Tegan when they end up trapped together.

There are touches of it now and again in ‘Terminus’, particularly when Turlough asks Tegan about ‘cold-bloodedly’ killing people, but it doesn’t go anywhere. I did like the first scene featured in ‘Part One’ where Turlough and Tegan argue over trusting each other. 🙂

It’s one of those rare scenes to happen in ‘Doctor Who’ where character development is explored between Tegan and Turlough and how their relationship is established. I think the scene was added in to pad out the episode length by Eric Saward, but it’s still good.

Talking about Valentine Dyall as the Black Guardian for a bit, like I said, his appearances are fleeting in this story. He makes brief physical appearances in ‘Parts One and Four’, particularly towards the story’s end, and is mostly a voice-over in ‘Parts Three and Four’.

I suppose when Steve Gallagher originally wrote ‘Terminus’, the characters of Turlough and the Black Guardian were added in at the last minute. Like when Jamie was added in at the last minute in the scriptwriting for ‘The Underwater Menace’ and ‘The Moonbase’.

But that’s not really a big issue to gloss over. The thing that gets me is me wondering why the Black Guardian selected Turlough to kill the Doctor in the first place. If he really wanted to get someone to kill the Doctor, he’d have had someone actually do it for him.

When the Black Guardian had the Shadow working for him in ‘The Armageddon Factor’, he had a willing and obedient servant. Granted, the Shadow failed in his mission to collect the Key to Time for his master, but at least he was obedient to him throughout. 😐

With Turlough, he hasn’t done a good job in terms of trying to kill the Doctor and quite often, he’s reluctant and unwilling to serve his master. It’s aspect of Turlough’s character that’s not fully explored much in what made the Black Guardian select him. 😐

Is it because Turlough had a black heart when he was at Brendan School on Earth that made the Black Guardian choose him? I’m not sure. Even the Black Guardian admits he finds Turlough useless regarding his attempts in separating the Doctor from his TARDIS.

Black Guardian: You represent a poor investment of my time and energy…

And yet, even when he has Turlough knocked out as punishment for his failure in ‘Part Four’, the Black Guardian still keeps him on and orders him to kill the Doctor at the story’s end to lead into ‘Enlightenment’. Surely, the Black Guardian would’ve killed him.

Or at least get someone to do the job for him instead of Turlough. It’s not made clear why the Black Guardian wants Turlough to kill the Doctor in the first place, apart from revenge for what happened in ‘The Armageddon Factor’. Would it be answered next time?

Well, that’s a matter of opinion for when we get to ‘Enlightenment’ next time. But the logic behind the Black Guardian’s usage of Turlough as an assassin to kill the Doctor is something that’s not strongly written in ‘Terminus’ to follow up on in ‘Mawdryn Undead’.

Janet Fielding as Tegan has a similar problem to Turlough in terms of her character development, especially when she’s being sidelined with Turlough. Now, that’s not to say her character has a bad outing. Far from it. She fares well as far as I’m concerned. 🙂

However, ‘Terminus’ is a story that could’ve explored Tegan’s relationship with Turlough in a profound way. I know she’s suspicious of Turlough, which began in ‘Mawdryn Undead’, but maybe she could’ve grown to trust him when on the space liner in this tale.

Perhaps unknowingly, she could have emphasised with Turlough and the struggle he’s going through with trying to not go through with the Black Guardian’s request to kill the Doctor. It’s something that could have been followed on in ‘Enlightenment’, but sadly wasn’t to be.

It’s also a shame that Tegan didn’t get to spend much time with Nyssa, apart from the beginning and at the end of the story. Had Tegan spent more time with Nyssa, it could have justified the huge possibility of her staying behind with her best friend on Terminus.

That way, ‘Farewell, Sarah Jane’ would have made more sense, but I won’t go into my rant about that here. It’s also interesting that Tegan got touched by Lazars coming out of a cargo cell on the space liner and yet she wasn’t infected with the disease like Nyssa. 😐

Tegan seemed immune once touched by the Lazars. Perhaps Lazar’s disease doesn’t affect humans severely compared to Trakenites, or does Tegan have a high immunity level compared to the humans of Terminus’ time? 3480 in the 35th century, I believe. 😐

Again, whilst Lazar’s disease is arguably an airborne infection than being dependent on physical contact like Covid-19, it doesn’t help answer how Tegan wasn’t infected and yet Nyssa was, as surely the story could have explained that aspect of the tale a lot better. 😐

Incidentally, I think another popping out moment happened for Janet Fielding in that scene of Lazars’ hands touching Tegan in ‘Part One’. Apparently, the Lazars were very enthusiastic grabbing her and…well, you can imagine what occurred next, can’t you? 😀

It’s also lucky that when Tegan stopped the space liner departing from Terminus, she angrily thumped her fist on a control bank, telling the tannoy to “Shut up!” And it worked! Tegan must’ve picked that up from the Doctor thumping the TARDIS console. 😀

Sarah Sutton as Nyssa is, of course, the highlight for me in this her TV swansong in ‘Doctor Who’. I found Sarah lovely as Nyssa, and whilst it’s a shame that this was her last story in the TV series, I’m very glad this story was at least focused on her departure.

Nyssa as a character, for me, has developed significantly, especially in the TV series and the Big Finish audios. I like how she makes the noble decision to stay behind on Terminus to help save the sick and injured, which is very in keeping with her character. 🙂

I feel it’s a shame that it wasn’t Sarah’s decision to leave the TV series, as that had been made for her. JNT didn’t seem to think there was much to do with Nyssa, which I disagree with. It doesn’t help when adding Turlough as a new companion in the series. 😐

I feel that if Season 20 had just been about the Fifth Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa, there’d be plenty to do with Nyssa’s character. Also, because it wasn’t Sarah’s decision to leave, it endears me to her more. I feel she could have been given the chance to prove her worth.

In ‘Terminus’, I’ve greatly enjoyed and love her scenes with Peter Davison’s Doctor. It’s nice they get to spend some time together in this story, even if they’re separated from each other in ‘Part Three’. Nyssa is also closer to the Doctor in terms of their friendship.

I found it funny when Nyssa got to read off some ticker tape at a computer bank on the space liner that she, the Doctor, Kari and Olvir were on, as she explains the layout of the ship in order to get back to the TARDIS. The print-out is so small when she holds it, isn’t it? 😀

Even Colin Baker remarked on how small that piece of ticker tape is when viewing ‘Terminus’ in the ‘Behind the Sofa’ item with Sylvester McCoy. Even my parents commented on how funny the moment was. It’s not meant to be funny, but it is funny. 😀

I did feel for Nyssa when she was infected with Lazar’s disease. It’s quite upsetting you see her being taken away to be stored with the Lazars and the Vanir keep ignoring her, as she claims to not be one of them. Seeing Nyssa in a tank with Lazars is gut-wrenching. 😦

Mind you, there’s an aspect of Nyssa’s journey that I find baffling. And it’s what some people take away from watching this story when they remember Nyssa. I didn’t talk about it much in my initial review, as I didn’t want to come across as creepy or weird.

To put it into context, when Nyssa is infected with Lazar’s disease, she’s wearing half of the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ outfit. Basically, she’s not wearing the grey jacket and is wearing only a cream-white vest, her skirt and boots. Now I think she should’ve worn the jacket in this story.

You see, in ‘Part Two’, once she starts showing signs of being ill when with Olvir, she has a high temperature and…(cough)…she takes her skirt off. If she had her ‘Mawdryn Undead’ jacket on, it’d make sense for her to take off her jacket when she’s feeling hot. 😐

But no! Instead, Nyssa takes off her skirt, and for the rest of the story, we see her in her frilly undergarments. Granted, we should be thankful we’re not seeing Nyssa in her knickers nor panties, but it’s still a very weird moment for Nyssa to do when she takes off her skirt.

I believe Steve Gallagher originally scripted Nyssa to be in her Traken outfit from Season 19 and ‘Arc of Infinity’, as she would unpin the Traken brooch when she’s feeling hot. Thus, the Doctor finding blood on her brooch, not on her skirt, when she cut her thumb.

Honestly, I wouldn’t have minded if it was the Traken outfit or the full ‘Mawdryn Undead’ outfit Nyssa wore. In fact, why wasn’t Nyssa wearing the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ jacket when she was in the TARDIS? Why didn’t she take her jacket with her when escaping the TARDIS?

And look, I know that producer JNT gave a reason to Sarah on why Nyssa took off her skirt by saying she had a tummy ache. But I don’t think that’s justifiable for Nyssa to take her skirt off, especially when doing it in front of Olvir, who she barely knows here.

Now, with all these things said, it doesn’t mean I don’t find Nyssa glamorous in ‘Terminus’. Far from it. In my original review for ‘Terminus’ on ‘Bradley’s Basement’, I stated I found Nyssa to be at her sexiest in ‘Doctor Who’. I still stand by that statement.

In ‘Mawdryn Undead’ and ‘Terminus’, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa has come across as lovely, glamorous and sexy in the outfit she wears. It’s probably what got me, and I’m sure a lot of ‘Doctor Who’ fans, interested in Nyssa when she gets to show off her glamour. 🙂

But in terms of the context of the story and how it’s all meant to fit together, the whole business of Nyssa taking her skirt off in ‘Terminus’ is nonsensical and wasn’t necessary. It lessens the credibility of the moment, especially if you try to theorise how it all works.

According to what I’ve read on Wikipedia, it was suggested in the book ‘Doctor Who: 25 Glorious Years’ that Sarah dropped her skirt as deliberate fan service. It was ‘a parting gesture’ to the fans who had written in to complain about Nyssa being ‘too covered up’. 😐

However, that statement has been denied by Sarah when she and Janet Fielding were interviewed by Matthew Sweet for their ‘In Conversation’, and she regrets about not having spoken against it at the time. So, there you are. Thus goes a debunked statement.

I’m sure many people have fond memories of the Nyssa skirt dropping scene and I can’t deny smirking a bit when that happens. But it’s such a bizarre moment in the story, as it’s one that could’ve easily been avoided had common sense been put into the TV tale.

It also doesn’t help when there are an inappropriate upskirt shots of Nyssa when she’s lying on the floor in ‘Part Four’ and you can clearly see what might be under her undergarments. You can also see her cleavage at times. Again, Sarah is quite sexy in this.

But in narrative terms, it doesn’t make sense and you wonder why it’s included in the story. I’m sure it’d have lasted on people’s minds when watching Nyssa in her swansong story, but I would’ve liked Nyssa to go out on a dignified note than on a scandalous note.

The guardians of the Terminus hospital are the Vanir and are mostly male. The Vanir are based on a set of Norse gods. Yeah, Steve Gallagher went for a Norse mythology approach when it came to writing ‘Terminus’, which is interesting if not a little confusing.

For one thing, the Vanir wear skeletal-like armour aboard Terminus. I don’t know why they would wear armour like that, apart from it protecting themselves from high radiation levels. The costumes worn by the actors who played the Vanir caused problems on set.

From watching the story, you can clearly hear the armour clunking when the Vanir are walking about. I suppose nothing could have been done about it with editing out the clunking armour then, but it’s a misstep in terms of the costume design by Dee Robson.

I find this is strange, since the costume design for ‘Arc of Infinity’ by Dee Robson was pretty decent. Mind you, there’s the Ergon to consider. 😀 Like that example, the Vanir suffered in terms of execution concerning costumes, especially in doing fight scenes. 😐

The suits are supposed to protect the Vanir, but why would they wear armour like that? And why does it have to be Norse armour? This is meant to be the future, so how come society has reverted to a semi-medieval style in terms of clothing. Not with flashy suits?

That doesn’t apply to Kari and Olvir in what they wear as raiders, but we’ll get back to that. It’s one of the frustrating aspects of ‘Terminus’ with the world the story is set in. It’s never explained why the Norse mythological aspects seem to be occurring in the future.

The issues of the Vanir are made up for in terms of the characters. The Vanir are led by Martin Potter as Eirak, who’s rather cold-hearted when conducting matters aboard Terminus. He doesn’t seem to care about assisting the Lazars nor looking after his kind.

He’s a rather weary and corrupt soul, especially when set in ways with storing Lazars in tanks and summoning the Garm via a control box. Incidentally, Martin Potter went on to guest star in an original ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ episode called ‘Two of a Kind’.

There’s Andrew Burt as Valgard, who stands out more as a character among the Vanir in ‘Terminus’ compared to Eirak. He’s a rather grumpy soul and can be aggressive and suspicious, but his heart is in the right place, especially by the time the story concludes.

He’s cheered up when Nyssa offers a solution to resolve the Vanir’s hydromel problem and making changes to Terminus. Andrew Burt previously did a ‘Blake’s 7’ episode and went on to work with Peter Davison in ‘Campion’ and a ‘Miss Marple’ with Joan Hickson.

Tim Munro guest stars as Sigurd, a Vanir who cautions Valgard about going against Eirak when he’s in command. This isn’t Tim Munro’s first association with ‘Doctor Who’, as he portrayed one of the caveman-like bandits named Ainu in ‘The Creature From The Pit’. 😀

I enjoyed him more as Sigurd in ‘Terminus’ than as Ainu in ‘The Creature From The Pit’. Sigurd can be quite harsh, especially to Nyssa when he thinks she’s one of the Lazars, but he does have this compassionate heart, especially when he looks after a very poorly Bor. 🙂

Speaking of which, Peter Benson guest stars as Bor, a Vanir who ventures into the Forbidden Zone aboard Terminus where there are high radiation levels, and he suffers badly from it. I like that Bor is the nicest of the Vanir compared to the other three Vanir. 🙂

His discovery of the Terminus engines being unstable and him knowing of the Big Bang about to happen again is quite interesting. I liked his scenes with the Doctor and Kari. Peter Benson later did ‘Heartbeat’ and I’ve seen him in a ‘Jeeves & Wooster’ episode. 🙂

Like I said, some Vanir like Eirak, Valgard and Sigurd can be quite ruthless, especially when they seem pretty weary working aboard the space station. Understandable, since the working conditions for the Vanir aboard Terminus are terrible when it’s so run down.

Also, for a space hospital, the Vanir aren’t actually ‘medics’. Valgard tells Nyssa that they’re ‘baggage handlers’ and that they simply ‘receive and pass on’. The Vanir also seem to be past caring regarding the Lazars when they store them away in their tanks. 😐

Another interesting fact about the Vanir is that they seem to be dependent on a drug called hydromel. Apparently, it’s a drug that’s meant to keep them alive. Not sure if it’s meant to protect them from the Lazar’s disease too, since that isn’t properly confirmed.

Seeing the Vanir being dependent on the drug hydromel did put me in mind of the Jem’Hadar from ‘Deep Space Nine’ when they’re very dependent on the drug called ketracel-white. Though the Vanir aren’t as violent as the Jem’Hadar are in being drug-addicts.

The Vanir and the Jem’Hadar did inspire me with the creation of the Dwaxi with them being drug-addicts on Yentias that makes them ultra-violent. It’s something I’ve explored in the upcoming story called ‘Orionis’ with the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy. 🙂

These aspects of the Vanir are interesting when revisiting the story again and again. Although I do wonder why no-one has considered hydromel as the key to providing the cure to Lazar’s disease if it can prevent the Vanir contracting the disease in the TV story.

Maybe there’s more to this than I already know when watching the TV version of ‘Terminus’ again and again. Unfortunately, it’s not explained enough properly and it’s not helped when the story’s production struggled to get everything done on time and intact.

In the story, the Vanir have a hulking dog-like beast called the Garm, played by R.J. Bell. Like the Ergon in ‘Arc of Infinity’, it’s very easy to make fun of the Garm when he’s supposed to be a scary presence in the story. He ends up being rather loveable and such.

Now, don’t get me wrong. The Garm does have a towering presence when he appears in the story, but his actual form wasn’t quite what writer Steve Gallagher intended. Initially, he considered to have a silhouette presence, which would have worked quite well on TV.

Instead, the production team went on to present the Garm in all his glory. Even in ‘DWM’ #413, the Gallifrey Forum had a picture of the Garm with the caption going “Woof!” at the end. Even Katy Manning made fun of the Garm when seeing him in ‘Behind the Sofa’. 😀

Although, I did like her impersonation of the Garm, and she seemed to like him enough as a character. And I get the Garm is meant to be a gentle soul in a huge dog’s body (pardon the phrase) and maybe the story’s is going for the Horta approach from classic ‘Star Trek’.

But even if that is the case, I probably would have made the Garm a lot more threatening at first before unveiling his gentler side. Maybe in the growls he makes like a dog would. Or as Steve Gallagher would have it, keep him in shadow to stop him being seen a lot. 😐

I admire R.J. Bell for donning the Garm outfit because it must have been really hot and uncomfortable to wear. I also wonder whether he could see through the outfit with it being so towering. Judging from the story, he must have been a very tall actor to wear it.

Incidentally, for your information, the Garm is the name given to the dog in Norse mythology that guarded the entrance to Hel, the land of the dead. Bit of an unfortunate name in my opinion, but still. Also, I think the original spelling is Garmr, not Garm. 😐

It’s also good that the Doctor and Kari were willing to trust the Garm to pull and push the lever for them to stop Terminus from exploding and destroying the universe, since he has ‘the strength of a giant’. Otherwise, I don’t know how else they would’ve resolved things.

Liza Goddard guest stars as Kari, the leader of the raiding party that includes her and Olvir. Apparently, Liza was married to Colin Baker from 1976 to 1978. Colin Baker briefly confirmed this to Sylvester McCoy when seeing ‘Terminus’ in the ‘Behind the Sofa’ item.

Also, Liza was in the children’s TV series ‘Woof!’, which I saw in the 1990s via CITV. It’s been a long while since I’ve seen ‘Woof!’ and I can’t recall Liza’s acting from it. I do recall the schoolteacher that she played in the TV series and I quite liked her when I saw ‘Woof!’. 🙂

It’s interesting how Kari spends a lot of time with the Doctor when they’re exploring the Terminus station and finding the control room with the dead pilot in it. Kari starts off being quite tough and sceptical, but she has her moments of compassion in the story. 🙂

Dominic Guard guest stars as Olvir. Apparently, Dominic Guard is the brother of Christopher Guard, who later went on to play Bellboy in ‘The Greatest Show in the Galaxy’. Not that I’m not expecting you to know that, but it’s an interesting connection. 🙂

It was interesting to see Olvir being initially a coward when he hears that the space liner he and Kari boarded is heading for Terminus. He has his reasons for being afraid of Terminus, which were fascinating to unravel. Also, he has this incredible cliffhanger line.

Olvir: This is Terminus, where all the Lazars come to die! We’re on a leper ship! WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!

Tim: (panics) We’re going to die! We’re going to die! WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!

Sorry, I couldn’t resist putting that in. 😀 Apparently, Olvir’s sister died from the Lazar’s disease, which is a shame. I like that Nyssa gets to connect with him in the story and that she encourages Olvir to come out of hiding when help is required about Terminus. 🙂

Initially, Olvir is reluctant to help Nyssa when she’s being taken away by a robot drone aboard the space liner to Terminus. Thankfully, he overcomes his fears and is determined to rescue Nyssa in ‘Parts Two, Three and Four’ of the story, which he clearly does.

Interestingly, this story could have easily ended up with Nyssa and Olvir being together as a romantic couple had the story gone in that direction. You know, like when Jo ended up with Professor Clifford Jones in ‘The Green Death’, having met him in only one story. 🙂

Thankfully, the story didn’t go in that direction, and Sarah Sutton was happy she didn’t go off to be with someone in the end. It would have been too soon for Nyssa to form romantic feelings for Olvir then. It’s just as well Nyssa’s exit wasn’t similar to Leela’s. 😀

Now if she had Billy staying with her at the end of ‘Terminus’, like I established in my ‘Unbound’ story ‘Into the Death-Space’, it’d make sense for her to stay on Terminus to help the sick and to have a romantic partner if they had known each other quite a while.

It’s something that didn’t happen with Tegan when she said farewell to Nyssa. I know, I know, I’m criticising ‘Farewell, Sarah Jane’ again, but it’s easy to do that when Nyssa left before Tegan left in ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’, and them being a couple is debatable. 😐

One of the reasons why I wrote ‘Into the Death-Space’ was to illustrate the point that Nyssa could have had someone from the TARDIS to keep her company since she was going to stay behind on a space station that required rebuilding and plenty of hard work.

It’s quite sad and depressing that Nyssa ended up being alone on Terminus, apart from the Vanir and perhaps Olvir, if he and Kari stayed, whom she didn’t know very well. Had either Billy or Tegan stayed with Nyssa on Terminus, maybe her life could’ve been easier.

Ah well, at least she ends up marrying Lastari and had two children in Neeka and Adric, according to ‘Circular Time: Winter’ and the older Nyssa audio stories. Or maybe they didn’t happen. I’ll have to explore that when doing a 70th anniversary ‘Doctor Who’ series.

Going back to Kari and Olvir, it’s amusing to see them in their white outfits when they’re meant to be space raiders. They’re not as convincing as we would expect. As Malcolm Stewart has said in his Galaxy Forum email in ‘DWM’ #413, they have a ‘Japanese’ look.

Also, when boarding the space liner in ‘Part One’, Kari and Olvir wear those huge goldfish bowl helmets. 😀 Thankfully, they take them off as soon as possible in ‘Part One’, but surely, they could have worn smaller helmets compared to the ones they wore in the story.

The story’s cast also includes Rachel Weaver as Inga, who’s the only Lazar victim that talks in the story and she’s the one that Nyssa gets to talk to in ‘Part Three’. A pity this story didn’t have Nyssa and Inga bond when being locked up in a tank as one would expect.

There’s also a tannoy, voiced by Martin Muncaster, that speaks aboard the Lazar space liner announcing the arrival at Terminus at the end of ‘Part One’. I don’t know why it wasn’t called a computer voice instead of a tannoy voice. That would’ve been better.

On both the DVD and the Blu-ray discs for ‘Terminus’, there is an impressive CGI effects option for the story, which I highly recommend seeing. The CGI effects for ‘Terminus’ are way impressive than the original model effects, which I found pretty bad when I saw them. 😐

Some might disagree with me on that, but I found the original model effects for ‘Terminus’ rather dodgy. The space liner shots and Terminus space station shots don’t match to how spaceship shots were done in ‘The Invasion of Time’ and ‘City of Death’. 😐

The story concludes with Nyssa saying farewell to Tegan and the Doctor when she decides to stay behind on Terminus to help rebuild the station, make it a proper working hospital and save the Lazars. I found that farewell scene very heartbreaking when I saw it.

I didn’t want Nyssa to leave. After enjoying Nyssa in the TV series and the Big Finish audios, it made me realise how much I loved her as a character and how much I loved the performances Sarah Sutton gave as her character when seeing her farewell scene.

It would be easy to dismiss the Big Finish audios, and perhaps ‘Doctor Who’ viewers only focus on the TV series than other mediums. Whilst that’s likely to be the case, there’s no denying that Nyssa won over lots of fans in being a compassionate and caring character.

Despite the criticisms I’ve made about ‘Farewell, Sarah Jane’ coming after this, I’m glad Nyssa gets to share an emotional farewell with the Doctor and Tegan, as I was in tears from watching it. This is especially in viewing the story for the first time on DVD in 2009.

Nyssa gets to give the Doctor a kiss on the cheek. It’s something that rarely happens in the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series where a companion kisses the Doctor. And it didn’t have to be on the lips. 😀 Nyssa’s connection with the Doctor as a close friend is evident. 🙂

It’s also nice that Nyssa and Tegan hugged each other when saying goodbye. Whatever your views are on Nyssa and Tegan as characters, it’s clear how much their friendship means to each other. This is also evident in Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding’s friendship.

Tegan: She’ll die here.
Nyssa: (tearfully) Not easily, Tegan. Like you, I’m indestructible.

In my opinion, this is one of the best ‘Doctor Who’ companion departures I’ve seen in the classic TV series. And it’s done so well when seeing it performed between Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding, as they clearly get on so well with each other.

It’s a shame Janet Fielding didn’t get that same treatment in terms of her departure as Tegan from the series in ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’, as her departure in that was rather rushed. This is despite how it was quite emotional with how she parted from the Doctor.

But that’s something to discuss when we get to ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’ in Season 21. For now, this is where I feel a ‘Doctor Who’ companion’s departure should be handled properly, especially as the build-up to Nyssa’s departure had been done well. 🙂

I feel that the story should have concluded on a note where we see Nyssa hugging Tegan or the Doctor looking sad as Nyssa departs, since it’s marred by the closing scene where Turlough is in the TARDIS, and he’s still ordered to kill the Doctor by the Black Guardian.

I know it’s meant to continue the story into the next instalment of ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’. But personally, I was more concerned about Nyssa’s wellbeing and the fact she had just left the TARDIS than Turlough’s continuing struggles with the Black Guardian. 😐

The original DVD special features were as follows. There was a dual mono sound audio mix option for the story, a DVD audio commentary with Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Mark Strickson and writer Stephen Gallagher, and an isolated music option of the story by Roger Limb to enjoy. There was an info-text commentary option to enjoy, and the making-of documentary ‘Breaking Point’, featuring behind-the-scenes cast and crew interviews. There was the ‘Origins of the Universe’ featurette with Sir Patrick Moore and Dr. John Mason, original storyboards of the story, and unused model shots. There was the CGI effects option of the story to enjoy, BBC continuity announcements of the story, a photo gallery of the story, and PDF materials, including a ‘Radio Times Listings’ of the story and CGI storyboards. There was also a ‘coming soon’ trailer for ‘The Twin Dilemma’, starring Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant. There were two Easter Eggs to look out for on the ‘Terminus’ DVD, including a TARDIS Information System item and VT countdown clocks for the story.

On Disc 4 of the ‘Doctor Who – The Collection – Season 20’ Blu-ray, the dual mono sound audio mix option, the DVD audio commentary, the isolated music option, the ‘Breaking Point’ making-of documentary, the ‘Origins of the Universe’ featurette, the original storyboards, the unused model shots, and the CGI effects option can be found on there. The info-text commentary option and the photo gallery have been updated for 2023 on the Blu-ray. The BBC continuity announcements of the story have been updated as BBC trailers and continuity announcements of the story. The two DVD Easter Eggs, including the TARDIS Information System item and the VT countdown clocks have been combined into one Blu-ray item.

The new special features on Blu-ray include the ‘Behind the Sofa’ feature on ‘Terminus’ with Peter Davison (the Fifth Doctor), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Janet Fielding (Tegan) and Mark Strickson (Turlough) as well as Colin Baker (the Sixth Doctor) and Sylvester McCoy (the Seventh Doctor) as well as Katy Manning (Jo) and Sophie Aldred (Ace). There’s the ‘Janet Fielding & Sarah Sutton: In Conversation’ interview conducted by Matthew Sweet, and there’s the ‘Finding Sarah Sutton’ featurette, taken from Disc 2 of the ‘Enlightenment’ 2-disc DVD set in ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’ DVD box set. There’s also an audio archive item, which is a BBC Radio interview with Sarah Sutton, conducted in September 1984.

On the PDF front, as well as the ‘Radio Times Listings’ of ‘Terminus’, there are production documents, four editing scripts, four rehearsal scripts, four camera scripts, four transmission scripts, Stephen Gallagher’s notes on ‘Terminus’, a recording schedule, studio floorplans, design drawings (not sure if the CGI storyboards from the DVD release are included), and costume designer Dee Robson’s costume designs for the story. You need a special Blu-ray computer drive for that.

‘Terminus’ is a deeply gut-wrenching and heartbreaking ‘Doctor Who’ story for me in featuring Nyssa’s exit from the classic TV series. I didn’t want Nyssa to go, as Sarah Sutton is a lovely actress. I also find her a lovely person when meeting her at conventions. 🙂

I’m very thankful I’ve been able to see Sarah at conventions over the years as well as enjoy her as Nyssa in the Big Finish audios. I recommend checking out ‘The Darkening Eye’ to find out what happened to Nyssa when she decided to stay behind on Terminus.

I know I tend to get very emotional and share a lot about Nyssa when reviewing her ‘Doctor Who’ stories, especially with updating my review on ‘Terminus’ featuring Nyssa’s exit from the TV series. But it shows how much she’s my favourite companion. 🙂

Sarah Sutton shines throughout as Nyssa and I’m pleased her character didn’t die. Her staying behind on Terminus to help the sick and to work on the cure for Lazar’s disease is definitely in-keeping with her character and truly defines her compassionate nature. 🙂

When I first saw ‘Terminus’, the emotional departure for Nyssa between her, the Doctor and Tegan was quite overwhelming. I was and still am in tears from watching it. I’m very glad my ‘letter’ about Nyssa was featured in an issue of ‘Doctor Who Magazine’ in 2009.

It was a happy time for me, and it prompted me to write to Sarah Sutton and see her at conventions. ‘Terminus’ will always hold a special place in my heart. Despite its flaws, there’s no way it can stop me appreciating it with featuring a nice departure for Nyssa. 🙂

‘Terminus’ rating – 8/10

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‘BREAKING POINT’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

‘Breaking Point’ is the second in a trilogy of making-of documentaries focusing on ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’ of ‘Doctor Who’. The focus of course is on ‘Terminus’. This is a special making-of documentary for me, as it’s about Nyssa’s departure from the TV show.

Floella Benjamin, who narrated the ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’ making-of documentary for ‘Mawdryn Undead’ on DVD and Blu-ray, continues her narration duties on the making-of documentaries for ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’ with ‘Breaking Point’, which is amazing.

The interviewees include Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Mark Strickson. I’m pleased Sarah Sutton is interviewed for this documentary, since ‘Terminus’ is her swansong story as Nyssa. I did miss her when she wasn’t in the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ making-of documentary.

There’s Stephen Gallagher, the author of ‘Terminus’. It was nice for him to have more of a voice in the ‘Terminus’ making-of documentary. He wasn’t interviewed much in the ‘Warriors’ Gate’ making-of documentary, as I believe his bits were from his ‘Myth Makers’.

Fiona Cumming, who directed ‘Doctor Who’ stories like ‘Castrovalva’, ‘Snakedance’, ‘Enlightenment’ and ‘Planet of Fire’, is interviewed for the documentary, as she was a work colleague of director Mary Ridge. Fiona represented Mary Ridge in the documentary.

It was interesting to hear from Fiona how stressful Mary Ridge found the process of directing ‘Terminus’, especially with the industrial action going on and the promise of another recording day provided by producer John Nathan-Turner being broken in the process. 😐

The story’s designer Dick Coles is interviewed for the documentary. Dick Coles worked on two ‘Doctor Who’ stories, including ‘Underworld’ and ‘Terminus’. It was interesting to hear from him how he provided rough design plans to Mary that actually went into the production.

Martin Potter, who played Eirak in the story, is the only guest star that’s being interviewed for the documentary. It’s a shame that people like Andrew Burt, Peter Benson, Liza Goddard and Dominic Guard weren’t interviewed. Janet Fielding isn’t interviewed either.

I found it interesting that Twiggy was originally considered for the role of Kari before it was given to Liza Goddard instead. I’ve only seen Twiggy in an episode of ‘The Muppet Show’. I don’t know how differently Twiggy would have played Kari compared to Liza Goddard. 🙂

It’s nice Sarah Sutton got a chance to shine towards the end of the documentary, with sharing her memories of playing Nyssa in ‘Terminus’ and doing her leaving scenes. It’s touching Sarah was in tears whilst making ‘Terminus’ and when seeing the story on a DVD.

‘Breaking Point’ rating – 9/10

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‘FINDING SARAH SUTTON’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

When I first saw the ‘Finding Sarah Sutton’ featurette, it was on Disc 2 of the ‘Enlightenment’ 2-disc DVD set in ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’ DVD box set. Now the featurette can be viewed on Disc 4 of the Season 20 Blu-ray box set containing ‘Terminus’.

Back in 2009, ‘Finding Sarah Sutton’ was the highlight of the ‘Enlightenment’ 2-disc DVD set for me. I’m pleased it’s been transferred onto the ‘Terminus’ disc for the Season 20 Blu-ray box set. It suits the tale there instead of ‘Enlightenment’, which I found confusing.

It wasn’t something I minded much, as it was coupled with the ‘Finding Mark Strickson’ featurette on Disc 2 of the ‘Enlightenment’ 2-disc DVD set, but it was unusual. I’m pleased the featurette is focused on Sarah, as she shares her life and career in general. 🙂

At the ‘Timey-Wimey 1’ convention in Brighton in November 2014, I asked Sarah to sign the back of the ‘Enlightenment’ DVD cover for me. Sarah was happy to do so, as she signed it close to the text where her interview was displayed in the ‘Special Features’ box.

This has pleased me very much, since Sarah as Nyssa wasn’t in ‘Enlightenment’ at all and I wish she stayed on for the rest of the trilogy. Then again, ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’ is generally Turlough’s story, so perhaps it was best that Nyssa left in the second instalment. 😐

‘Finding Sarah Sutton’ is a lovely featurette with the actress who played Nyssa of Traken. Sarah shares her memories of being an actress, including her various works before ‘Doctor Who’ like ‘Alice Through The Looking Glass’ and ‘The Moon Stallion’, which I liked.

Sarah also talks about her work in the Big Finish audios she’s done. I liked it when three CD covers of her audio stories as Nyssa were shown in the featurette, including ‘The Land of the Dead’, ‘Primeval’ and ‘Circular Time’. Those three audios are a few of my favourites! 🙂

I’m pleased ‘Finding Sarah Sutton’ is available to see on DVD and Blu-ray. At the end of the featurette, I had the impression that Sarah thought no-one would ever remember her as Nyssa. Well, after the conventions I’ve seen her at, I’ll always remember dear Sarah! 🙂

‘Finding Sarah Sutton’ rating – 10/10

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‘DOCTOR WHO – TERMINUS’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Breaking Point with Nyssa

Back in December 2014, I received the ‘Terminus’ Target novelization for Christmas! 🙂

I found the ‘Terminus’ Target novelization a lovely book that I enjoyed reading. I wanted to own this book when I asked what I wanted for Christmas from my parents. I was amazed and thrilled to have the book on Christmas Day. I couldn’t wait to read it. I eventually read the novelization in May 2015.

I later had the ‘Terminus’ novelization signed by Sarah Sutton at the ‘Carlisle Comic Con’ in March 2018. I’m very pleased that Sarah signed the book for me, as ‘Terminus’ is a very special story for me. It got me to attend ‘Doctor Who’ conventions and meet Sarah Sutton in person. It comes ‘full circle’ for me.

This is of course the direct novelization of the ‘Terminus’ TV story from ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’. The story features the final TV appearance of Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ companion, from the Fifth Doctor era. Whilst it was her last TV story; Nyssa would return in the Big Finish audios.

Throughout the Target novelization, I wanted to discover more about the ‘Terminus’ story. I’m glad I did. Reading the book helped me to appreciate Nyssa’s swansong and I enjoyed more of the world of ‘Terminus’. It’s also one of the longest books in the Target novelization range of ‘Doctor Who’. 😀

The book is by Stephen Gallagher writing as John Lydecker. It was published in September 1983 – seven months after the TV story was shown on BBC1. John Lydecker is a pseudonym that Steve Gallagher used for his original Target novelization. Why he used a pseudonym instead of his actual name is a mystery to me.

The novelization is 159 pages long and contains no chapters. In my opinion, this is an odd way to write a book. It’s strange to read the book in a chapter-less way and with few appropriate breaks in the story. You’d have to make your own chapters, as I did with placing my bookmark in the novelization.

Despite this misgiving, I found the book very enjoyable to read. The author writes descriptive detail for the characters and the places in the story. He immerses you into ‘Terminus’ far better compared to what was featured in the TV story. The author also improves scenes compared to what’s in the TV story.

The ‘Terminus’ novelization can now be an enjoyed as an audiobook by BBC Audio. Unlike the ‘Warriors’ Gate’ audiobook, which was totally different to the actual published novelization in 1982, the ‘Terminus’ audiobook is a direct, unabridged reading of the original 1983 Target novelization. 🙂

I’m happy with this. There’s no need to change anything in the ‘Terminus’ Target novelization, as it was a pretty straightforward TV story and in novelization form compared to ‘Warriors’ Gate’ in TV and original 1982 novelization form. I find ‘Terminus’ a more enjoyable adventure than ‘Warriors’ Gate’.

I purchased the ‘Terminus’ audiobook from Amazon.co.uk in its 5-disc CD set rather than purchasing it as a download from Audible. I hoped that one day the BBC would do an audiobook version of ‘Terminus’ in novelization form and I hoped that Sarah Sutton would be the narrator of the audiobook.

Sarah has a lovely reading voice, as I enjoyed ‘The Moon Stallion’ audiobook. It would’ve been fitting to have her be the reader of Nyssa’s swansong in novelization form. Sadly, that’s not the case here. Instead the ‘Terminus’ audiobook is read by…Steven Pacey? The guy who played Del Tarrant in ‘Blake’s 7’?

Okay, now this is particularly interesting. BBC Audio is renowned for casting various actors to read certain ‘Doctor Who’ audiobooks. Sometimes they get an actor or an actress to read an audiobook of a story which they had no part in. This seems to be a very reoccurring pattern in Target audiobooks.

Now, there are some instances I can forgive here. I’m fine with Geoffrey Beevers reading some Third Doctor Target audiobooks because the Master’s in them and he played the Master in ‘The Keeper of Traken’. I’m okay with Jon Culshaw reading the ‘Warriors’ Gate’ 2019 Target audiobook, since he does a good Tom Baker voice.

But in this instance, it’s rather odd to have the guy who played Del Tarrant in ‘Blake’s 7’ reading the Target audiobook of ‘Terminus’, since he didn’t appear in ‘Terminus’ at all. I don’t recall him playing one of the Vanir or one of the Lazars in the TV story. So why should he narrate this Target audiobook at all?

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed Steven Pacey’s reading of the story and he does a good job being a good narrator. But I’m surprised by the BBC’s weird choice for a ‘Terminus’ narrator. I even shared this with Sarah at a comic con in Glasgow in August 2019 and she agrees with me on how very odd that choice is.

The only thing I can connect Steven Pacey to in ‘Terminus’ is that he worked with the director Mary Ridge, since she directed six of the ‘Blake’s 7’ episodes he was in. Okay, that would make sense, but even then, it’s still a pretty weak connection to cast Del Tarrant’s actor to read the ‘Terminus’ audiobook.

If I was given the choice, I would have chosen Sarah Sutton, Peter Davison, Mark Strickson or Janet Fielding to read the audiobook. They were personally involved in the making of the story. I wouldn’t cast someone uninvolved with ‘Terminus’ simply because he worked with the director of the story once.

Sarah herself said to me that Steven Pacey wouldn’t be able to carry the emotional aspects of the story as he was reading it. I concur. Steven Pacey’s a very good actor and a good reader, but he’s totally miscast here. And this isn’t the last time that BBC Audio would do something like this either.

I know that Michael Cochrane is the reader of ‘The War Machines’ audiobook, and I do like him as an actor and narrator. I’ve enjoyed seeing and hearing him in ‘Doctor Who’ stories like ‘Black Orchid’ and such. But Michael Cochrane isn’t ideal as that story’s narrator, since he didn’t appear in ‘The War Machines’ himself.

Anyway, rant over. Going back to the novelization itself, I noticed that Stephen Gallagher as the author altered the dialogue between characters compared to what was in the actual TV story. This does make the story feel very stronger and more character-driven compared to just being functional.

I’ve noticed that Steve Gallagher as the author does well with the scene setups throughout the novelization, especially with descriptions of the space liner and aspects of the Terminus hospital. It enriches the world the characters inhabit, as layer gets unravelled about what’s going on during the tale.

As on TV, the story’s subject/context in novelization form is intelligent and very science-fiction-driven. This is especially in connection to the space station and the futuristic scenario of the Lazars, the Vanir and the Garm. More specifically, the build-up to the Big Bang reveal is well-detailed in the book.

The Terminus space station being revealed as the centre of the universe is interesting. Whilst I don’t agree with the concepts put forward by Steve Gallagher on TV and in novelization/audiobook form, it’s an interesting notion that someone could have rebooted the universe and we didn’t realise it during all that time.

Turlough’s character gets given more depth in the novelization. I like how the author goes into his mindset with what he thinks of to be deceptive, sabotage the TARDIS, associate with Tegan and keep in contact with the Black Guardian. You learn more about why Turlough does what he does in the story.

You get to understand his motivations and possibly why he’s anxious to fulfil his part of the bargain with the Black Guardian and killing the Doctor. It’s interesting how Steven Pacey voices the Black Guardian, not sounding like Valentine Dyall and how the character is not fully revealed until the end.

I also like how the author develops some of the supporting characters such as Olvir. It gets mentioned that Olvir comes from a rich family background before it went into poverty. I like how Valgard the Vanir gets developed and how his hatred towards his leader Eirak gets explored in the book.

The author makes certain changes to improve the story. One of these changes is Turlough using the abacus beads for him and Tegan to find their way back to the TARDIS aboard the space liner. This works well in story terms, especially before the robot drone picks them up and discards them.

A very notable change is how the Garm is portrayed in the novelization. Steve Gallagher wasn’t happy with how the Garm was visualised on TV. So, he reverted the Garm back to having him in his shadowy form with glowing red eyes and for it to never to be seen in full view, which works effectively in the book.

There’s also a scene change where Eirak challenges Valgard to bring the intruders – the Doctor and Kari – back from the Forbidden Zone. Eirak does this by offering his hydromel to Valgard. This is rather different in the TV version, since Eirak offered Valgard to step down as the leader of the Vanir.

Now, this does sort of happen by the story’s conclusion where Valgard takes over from Eirak once he and Sigurd agree to Nyssa’s plan of making hydromel for themselves aboard Terminus and improve the hospital’s conditions. But it did seem to come out of nowhere when I revisited the novelization with the audiobook.

The author also avoids including too many cuts to scenes in the novelization, as it happened a lot in the TV story. He focuses on the character’s perspectives and sometimes focuses on one character in one scene rather than multiplying it with too many characters’ perspectives via the various cuts.

An example is the focus on the TARDIS interior’s disintegration from the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough’s perspective in the console room. This was intriguing, as we don’t see it from Nyssa’s perspective in her bedroom. I would’ve liked to have known what Nyssa thought and felt in those scenes.

Another example is the build-up to Olvir rescuing Nyssa on Terminus. In the book, we don’t hear much from Olvir after a Lazar-infected Nyssa is being taken away by the robot drone. Eventually, he does turn up to rescue Nyssa and we have a brief explanation on what happened to him in-between.

Oh yeah, incidentally, throughout the book, Steve Gallagher doesn’t refer to the titular space hospital as simply ‘Terminus’. He refers to it as ‘the Terminus’. This is rather odd and disconcerting, considering the characters in the TV version called it ‘Terminus’ instead of ‘the Terminus’. Very odd.

There are additional scenes featuring the Doctor, Nyssa, Kari and Olvir. The two space raiders debate over whether to trust the Doctor and Nyssa, before the Doctor find a way to persuade them. There’s also an extra scene where the Garm escorts Olvir to the Recovery Room where Nyssa is recuperating.

Of course, the highlight of the novelization for me is Nyssa. I’m very pleased with how the author develops Nyssa’s character in the book, especially as this is her last story in the TV series. In the book, Nyssa is the one who realises that Terminus is at the centre of the universe instead of the Doctor.

I found Nyssa’s journey with being infected by Lazar’s disease and witnessing the horrors of Terminus very moving. It’s gruelling in both in the TV story and in book form. I felt for Nyssa and the novelization handles this effectively with what happens to her and whether she’ll get cured from the disease.

Nyssa’s departure is well handled in the novelization. It’s intriguing how the Doctor knows Nyssa will be staying on Terminus after going through a dreadful experience. Sadly, she doesn’t kiss the Doctor on the cheek to say goodbye like she did in the TV story. But I still found it a touching farewell in the book.

‘Doctor Who – Terminus’ has been a great Target novelization/audiobook to read and listen to. Stephen Gallagher writing as John Lydecker does a brilliant job with novelizing his TV story. It’s far better than the original 1982 novelization of ‘Warriors’ Gate’ and I’m very pleased to have read it and heard it on audio.

Steven Pacey is miscast as the reader for the ‘Terminus’ audiobook, but I still enjoyed him reading it since he does a good job. The novelization enhances the story greatly and it provides a moving departure for Nyssa of Traken in ‘Doctor Who’. This however would be Nyssa’s first ‘Doctor Who’ exit. 😀

Incidentally, the Target audiobook’s cover has the skull that appears on the doorway linking between the TARDIS and the space liner compared to the original Target novelization that just had photo images of Peter Davison’s Doctor and Valentine Dyall as the Black Guardian. An intriguing difference between the book and CD covers. 🙂

‘Doctor Who – Terminus’ rating – 8/10

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The previous story For the Fifth Doctor was ‘The Many Lives of Doctor Who’ (Comic) For Nyssa is ‘The Many Lives of Doctor Who’ (Comic) For Tegan is ‘The Many Lives of Doctor Who’ (Comic) For Turlough is ‘The Many Lives of Doctor Who’ (Comic)	The next story For the Fifth Doctor is ‘Enlightenment’ (TV) For Nyssa is ‘The Darkening Eye’ (Audio) For Tegan is ‘Enlightenment’ (TV) For Turlough is ‘Enlightenment’ (TV)
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