Holistic Review: With a series of tranquil yet intriguing settings, lots of screen time devoted to developing Nyssa and Tegan, and a worthwhile plot that caps off the trilogy nicely, Castrovalva is easily my favorite regeneration story thus far — and that's without even mentioning Peter Davison!

Castrovalva is in an interesting, and rather unenviable, position. It has to introduce the brand-new Doctor, it needs to give the two new companions a chance to settle down in the TARDIS and prove their worth, and on top of all that, it also has to wrap up the most recent trilogy. Laundry lists of this sort can often scupper a story right from the start, but in this case, writer Christopher Bidmead handles it beautifully. For me, Logopolis apparently was not a very good sample from which to judge Bidmead's writing, because although I was ambivalent about it, I find Castrovalva utterly enjoyable from beginning to end.

The main reason for my rapturous delight, I am quite certain, is the story's treatment of Tegan and Nyssa. Castrovalva is another of the stories that really puts the companions front and center, which always predisposes me favorably. This is also one of the rare stories in which I find Tegan to be not only tolerable, but very likeable. She's level-headed, clever, determined, and — when she needs to be — pleasantly assertive ("I demand to see him!"), yet not overly aggressive. There's a nice moment, in the superheating TARDIS, when Tegan tugs on her collar as a way of illustrating the stifling temperature. I also like her pride at having parked the TARDIS ("Who landed this?" "I did, Doctor!") and her subsequent dismay at learning she was in no way responsible for its success ("Oh, how disappointing."). I always giggle when Janet Fielding raises her eyebrows, and her entire hairdo moves with them. She gets to wear some lovely red nail polish, too, as shown in extreme close-up when she really presses that button on the TARDIS console. But, unsurprisingly, it's really Nyssa who steals the show, for me anyway. After her flimsy storyline in Logopolis, here she follows up beautifully on the promise she showed in The Keeper of Traken. Her intellect and technical skill really come to the forefront, as does her analytical nature, as Nyssa manages to piece together the various puzzles presented to them throughout the story. She even gets stroppy with the Master at the end! I'm also secretly tickled that Nyssa gets the chance to go off and explore Castrovalva on her own, even if she doesn't get to carry the plot for all that long. When Nyssa and the Doctor are arguing over Tegan piloting the TARDIS, I love the prim way she delivers "Then who's controlling the ship?" and her resigned "Don't you worry about it, Doctor." Then of course she gets the classic line "I know so little about telebiogenesis." And I love love love the fact that not only does she finally lose that bulky fur-lined jacket and muff, and the odd-looking tiara gets pulled out of her hair, but she ditches the diaphanous skirt for some fetching velvet trousers. The resulting outfit looks far more fitted and sleek than the previous version, and it's really delightful to watch as each element of her original Traken outfit that I dislike is tossed by the wayside (or snagged by a tree). The really wonderful thing is the way that the writers strand Tegan and Nyssa together, on their own, in a situation far removed from their usual expertise, and then watch how they react. As it turns out, the two of them complement each other beautifully. They feel (surprisingly, given the amount of time they've spent together, although unsurprisingly in terms of production order) like quite firm friends already — perhaps they've bonded quickly as a result of shared tribulation. Nyssa's calm rationality counterpoints Tegan's impulsive hotheadedness, but they both clearly respect and like one another, and neither one is much of a shrinking violet, though Nyssa certainly tends to be more diplomatic. There's a nice moment at the start of part three, in which they look at each other, apparently read each other's mind, and both break into a run simultaneously.

Nyssa and Tegan's fleshing-out is certainly helped by the fact that both the Doctor and Adric are sidelined for, respectively, the first two episodes, and basically the entire story. In Matthew Waterhouse's case, this is kind of a shame, because in this story — for the last time, really — the entire TARDIS crew is getting along and functioning like a well-oiled machine, and Adric is still the Doctor's confidante and resident TARDIS genius, rather than the chauvanistic whiner into which he would shortly devolve. When he's part of the plot, Adric actually does quite well for himself, yet again providing a useful diversion ("We're what you've been looking for! Alien intelligences.") and working well with his fellow travellers. Waterhouse's delivery of "Get off me!" as the police manhandle him is surprisingly feral. Sadly, his scenes in the Master's hadron web do seem to highlight the supposed lack of acting skills that everyone bashes him about — he does admittedly have difficulty making Adric's distress seem genuine ("Me! I'm the trap!"), although I certainly bought into it when I was younger (and his determination to keep the Doctor's survival shielded from the Master is a nice touch). There's also the oft-cited matter of the Master's web, which, if the name were slightly rearranged, would telegraph the effect which it apparently has on poor Adric. Personally, I've never been able to figure out where people see this. There is a possible moment at the start of episode 2, but honestly I think it's just an unfortunately-positioned fold in his trousers. (A similar effect occurs near the beginning, as the guards restrain Adric, and his tunic bulges in a most regrettable feminine way.)

Although he's largely incapacitated for two and a half episodes, this story still showcases Davison well by having him periodically regain consciousness and/or lucidity for the odd scene here and there. Impressively, Davison manages to easily distinguish between the Doctor's mentally confused state, his hyperactive state ("Smoke! Heat! Noise! Adrenalin!"), and his normal state (as seen in the Zero Room and mostly on Castrovalva). And put me in the camp of people who actually likes Davison's outfit, particularly the long beige jacket. There's a nice, subtle moment when the Doctor happens to feel his hair and suddenly realizes it's no longer curly. (He looks a bit disappointed!) He also gets a great look on his face when he realizes the Castrovalvans outside the city are about to spot him, and so ducks out of sight; and there's a nice reaction shot when he thinks he's lost the annotations to the Castrovalvan history. Overall he delivers his lines superbly, and he's quite good at channeling past Doctors, although his line "Or perhaps I should ask, what would I do if I were me?" has always sounded really strange. A little too Australian, or something! Was he imprinting on Tegan?

As the other major player of this episode, Anthony Ainley turns in a nice performance as the Master. But as the Portreeve, he really makes an impression, successfully disguising his posture and his voice in a move which probably fooled a large percentage of the audience at the time (although there's one shot, when he's peering through his glasses at the tapestry with the Doctor, when his face is unmistakeably Ainley!). He does, unfortunately, get some giggle-worthy dialogue toward the end (primarily "My weeeeeeeeeeb!", which he then repeats, followed by his bizarre instruction to Adric: "Bring it to me, boy!") And in his Castrovalvan Master scenes, he does look rather heavily made-up. As Shardovan, Derek Waring gets to employ a nice bit of misdirection in making us think that he is the villain of the piece. Of course, once the scales fall off our eyes, and we realize that Shardovan was, in fact, the only Castrovalvan who was astute enough to realize that something was amiss, he becomes both likeable and admirable. The ever-reliable Michael Sheard actually doesn't make much of an impression for most of his time as Mergrave, but things change during the awesome scene in which he realizes that his perception of Castrovalva is skewed. (It's a shame about his bizarre eye makeup, though!) And I must mention all the enjoyable (if relatively absurd) Castrovalvan hats!

Fiona Cumming delivers an assured directorial job with a nice flair for framing shots. There's a beautiful shot of Tegan pondering the ambulance key as the Doctor is carried past in the background. In the Zero Room, there's a perfect moment when Nyssa and Tegan step back to avoid the digitally-levitating Doctor (although it's a shame that the effect is spoiled by the Doctor's coattails, which stubbornly remain stuck to his body even though he's horizontal, and the fact that Peter Davison elects to bow his head rather than leaning it back, which makes it look as if the Doctor is determinedly defying gravity to hold his head up... not restful at all!). A lovely example of tying the direction into the narrative (probably also thanks to Christopher Bidmead) occurs when the Doctor protests that when flying the TARDIS, "you don't just flick a switch!" and we then cut to Tegan just flicking a switch. I'm also impressed with her handling of the wonderful scene in which Nyssa's tiara is lifted by a light-fingered tree, which must have been a pain to shoot given that the tree branch had to be lined up with the tiara just right. When Nyssa watches Adric being consumed by lightning, I love Cumming's choice to let us watch Adric's fate in the mirror next to her. She also composes a beautiful frame in which the Doctor gazes out over the absurd landscape of Castrovalva as Nyssa and Tegan emerge from behind him on either side to look out the window. It's great the way she indicates the Doctor's mental state by showing the Castrovalvan window swimming out of focus. Finally, I really like the image of the Doctor framed in the aforementioned window, as shown in the Master's tapestry. Her use of split screens (or something akin to it) to represent the disorientating configuration of Castrovalva is interesting... certainly not what Bidmead had in mind, I'm sure, but it works well enough. It doesn't look much like an Escher print, but it's certainly overwhelming and confusingq.

And, oh oh! The other thing I adore about this story: the music! Paddy Kingsland turns in what is probably my favorite non-Ayres score, in particular the fantastic Castrovalvan theme so prominently featured as Nyssa and Tegan trudge through the sylvan undergrowth, and also the music that accompanies the images on the tapestry, and the escape from Castrovalva. (I do love the music during the early 80s in general, but really the only other competition Castrovalva has, in approaching the greatness that is Mark Ayres, is from City of Death and some of the Howell scores.) I remember way back when they first started releasing Doctor Who scores on CD, there was a rumor that Castrovalva would be the next one to come out after the three Ayres CDs, so I went straight to the local CD store and put in a pre-order for it. Of course, it was never actually released, so to this day, I'm still waiting! (Even one lousy track on one of the compilation CDs would make me as happy as a lark! C'mon!)

I'm also quite fond of all the settings featured in Castrovalva. The beginning, which wraps up the bits left dangling from Logopolis, always feels a little out of place, but only because I know what's coming. Subsequently, we're treated to a lingering exploration of the TARDIS corridors. I think we must surely see more of the TARDIS interior in this story than in any other, short of The Invasion of Time, which doesn't really count because drab brick walls are nothing next to bright white roundelled ones. Somehow the idea of exploring the TARDIS' labyrinthine corridors really really appeals to me, so I thoroughly enjoy the first episode. (although I think it's a grand shame that, having just jettisoned Romana's room, now we have to get rid of a whole quarter of the TARDIS! Besides worrying about what might have been lost — Zero Room, sniff sniff!... that would've come in so handy in future — it's also a bit of a shock to the system when one tends to think of the TARDIS as being infinitely large.) Then we move to the Castrovalvan forests for episode two, which one friend of mine claimed could be excised from the story entirely without really affecting it. This may be true, but I think episode two serves up a great big dollop of calm relaxation, tranquil atmosphere, and quite a bit of fun as we watch Nyssa and Tegan bond while they work to get the Doctor to a haven of rest. Personally, it's probably my favorite part of the story. The location work is beautiful, in particular the fern-covered undergrowth, as well as the rocks of Buckhurst Park — and who doesn't adore the moment when poor Nyssa falls into the water? (Her "Eeyuh!" is priceless!) In the last two episodes, we get to explore the city of Castrovalva, which comes across as a genuinely pleasant place which doesn't actually hide any menace whatsoever (once the mistaken-identity of the hunters is resolved)... it's just mysterious, which is really appealing!

The plot is also quite nice, building as it does upon the theme of recursion that's been bubbling under the surface of the entire trilogy. It makes the whole trilogy feel more well-linked than it would have if the only link had been the Master's presence. And I think that one of the reasons that I like it so much is that I've never seen anything like it in any other television program; it even defies Doctor Who conventions. The only thing is, as I mentioned in my review of Logopolis, I'm not really sure when Adric had time to learn the block transfer computation that he uses here to create Castrovalva; but, as the Master never directly states that Adric was responsible for it (only that he was using the boy's genius), maybe he's the one who actually did the creating? He certainly might have had a chance to absorb the basic principles. I love that Bidmead took his inspiration from Escher prints; I've always thought it would be nice to get Relativity and Castrovalva double-matted and framed (except that the second drawing is remarkably difficult to come across). For that matter, it would be great to visit the city itself — in Abruzzo, apparently, so it doesn't seem to be on the major tourist routes, but it would be fun to get there sometime. Castrovalva also benefits from a series of great cliffhangers. In each case, it's really the dramatic music and the tense performances from the cast that sell it. Episode one gradually builds to a terrifying revelation, whereas two and three spring sudden surprises on us... none of which should probably be all that scary or tense, but somehow they are. I think part of the reason I like them is that they're so atypical — no monsters lunging toward the companion, or the Doctor facing certain doom... just impending doom, which is a little more interesting because the Doctor and companions aren't in trouble right now, but we know something terrible and probably inescapable is coming. The cliffhanger to episode two, in particular, has a nice resolution, as we discover that all that blood wasn't actually the Doctor's at all!

Effects are hit-or-miss. On the negative side, we have the aforementioned restless-looking Doctor in the Zero Room; the overlay of the Master's TARDIS as it hovers above the ground is unfortunately very shaky; the strobing effect as the Portreeve mask fades away is not entirely successful (although it does make for a very nice reveal of the Master); and, when the Master directs the TCE onto the Zero Cabinet, the beam appears to be emanating from his crotch. On the positive side, the wisps of steam that infiltrate the control room as the TARDIS hurtles back toward Event One look superb, and really add to the atmosphere of the shot. If lighting counts as an effect, then I must definitely praise the Castrovalvan sunlight, which looks surprisingly realistic!

One definite contribution that Castrovalva made to my childhood is that, for some time, I thought the Doctor travelled through space and time in a TARTUS. It wasn't until Castrovalva, when the console helpfully displayed the title screen for the TARDIS Information System, that I learned my mistake. (I guess I must have been around six or seven?) I can still remember the "oh!" feeling I had upon first seeing it.

Minor points:

• I like the idea of reprising the end of Logopolis as a pre-credits teaser, particularly since they rescored the music to make it a bit happier and more up-tempo.

• So the guards are still after the TARDIS crew, but now there are only three of them!

• I always giggle a bit when Nyssa runs headlong into the others and causes them to topple like dominoes. But watch Adric — he stands there watching, quite stable on his feet, as Tegan and the Doctor tumble over, and then suddenly he drops to the ground, too, for no apparent reason!

• It's always irritated me that as the police are hauling Adric, Nyssa and Tegan away, they each get to protest one at a time in a very orderly way. It's not so noticeable with Adric and Tegan, but when Nyssa waits for them to finish speaking before she cries "Leave me alone!", it strikes me as being pretty unnatural.

• Nyssa and Tegan, carrying the Doctor between them, time their run into the TARDIS just perfectly — the door slams right in the guards' faces!

• As Adric declares that he is, in fact, from Alzarius, the Doctor replies, "It's a small universe, isn't it?" I think Adric should have said, "Well, compared to N-Space, yes, E-Space is a small universe."

• One of the other very rare irritants in this story is all the abstract mumbo-jumbo about the power of the word 'if' (it sounds nice, but it doesn't really mean all that much), capped off with Tegan's sudden realization (watch that hair move!) that "I-F! Stands for Index File!" First off, whoever calls it an index file? Secondly, what are the chances that that's the exact code that access the databank index? (I-F could probably stand for lots of things! Like... um... Indigenous Flora! or Inverting Forcefields! or Inappropriate Feelings!) And, worst of all, there are only a total of 9 keys for inputting commands into the databank, four of which are D, F, I and S. What if Nyssa had wanted to look up information on Quantum Xerophytes? Tough cookies, that's what!

• I wonder what exactly is posted on the message board in the TARDIS cricket locker room? And how long have they been there?

• Awww. A sad little quote, delivered sweetly by Sutton, as Tegan and Nyssa step into the Zero Room:

  Tegan: "Doctor, it's like -"
  Nyssa: "Like Traken. Used to be."

• The slowly increasing level of heat inside the TARDIS is portrayed nicely — I've already mentioned Tegan tugging at her jacket and the steam effect, but I also really like the bright light reflecting off the instruments in the console room, and particularly the scene in which Nyssa sees the lipstick melting and dripping down the walls, and touches the wall only to recoil from the heat.

• I'm a bit perplexed that the little TARDIS medicine cabinet is equipped with an auto-eject feature! Surely that's more often inconvenient than helpful, as you reach for your ibuprofen only to have it go sailing over your left shoulder!

• A couple of nice quotes from the Doctor:

  Doctor: (reading the labels on medicine bottles) "The Potion... the Solution. Oh, my little friend, if only you were."

  Doctor: (upon spying a wheelchair) "Transport of delight!"

• "As Tegan would say..."

  Tegan: "You mean, zap?"

• In the scene after Adric agrees to help the Master, were Matthew Waterhouse's lines dubbed? His mouth doesn't quite seem to match up with the dialogue!

• On the databank screen, Castrovalva is immediately described as "the central habitation of the planet that forms the Andromedan Phylox Series." So what does Nyssa say as soon as she reads it? "Castrovalva... Where's that?"

• The angled console room floor after Tegan lands the TARDIS is an interesting touch — although, again, one wonders what the orientation of the outer shell has to do with the orientation of the interior dimensions.

• Nice delivery by Fielding, as Tegan surveys her parked TARDIS:

  Tegan: "Not up to CAA standard, but... a landing's a landing!"

• Tegan is kind of silly when she looks around and declares that "Castrovalva can't be far." For all she knows, she's materialized on the wrong side of the planet! (She clearly has a lot of faith in either her ability to land the TARDIS, or the TARDIS' ability to home in on its destination!)

• As sad as I am to have lost the Zero Room, I must admit that the Zero Cabinet is pretty cool, particularly the door.

• What reason do Nyssa and Tegan have to lift the Zero Cabinet off the Doctor's wheelchair? (aside from causing it to fall into the river, thus necessitating their carrying it the rest of the way.)

• Awww, I like Nyssa's ion bonder. I hate that it gets wet! I hope she was able to fix it when she got back to the TARDIS.

• It's a nice touch when we suddenly discover that the natives of Castrovalva are actually literate men rather than wild savage hunters.

• When Tegan asks Nyssa for a bunk-up so that she can climb up the wall beside the main entrance to the city, how does Nyssa climb up after her? There's nobody there to give her a leg up! Does Tegan dangle by her high-heeled shoes to pull Nyssa up after her?

• Hee, funny quote:

  Shardovan: "You will notice I am tall."
  Doctor: "I suppose that's why they made you librarian."

• The bright green medicine that Mergrave gives the Doctor looks quite appealing, even if the Doctor's expression indicates that it is not. Maybe it was absinthe!

• The Doctor goes straight to bed after drinking the medicine, without even brushing his teeth! Ack! Bad Doctor, teaching irresponsible dental hygiene to children!

• For some reason, I've always rather liked this line:

  Doctor: "Tegan, Nyssa and, uh, Tegan. No, that's silly. Uh, Nyssa, Tegan... and Nyssa. Nyssa... Tegan... You know, I'm sure there's someone missing."

• Love Sarah Sutton's frustrated delivery:

  Nyssa: "Small technical section. There weren't any technical books at all."

• And a superb quote rolled up with a superbly mad image:

  Doctor: (to a group of Castrovalvan washer-women) "Which is the quickest way out of here?"
  (the women point in every possible direction!)
  Doctor: "Yes, well, that's democracy for you."

• One of the many great scenes in this story: when the Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa continually try to escape Castrovalva and continually find themselves winding back up at "that wretched square again!" (Incidentally, Tegan seems to like that phrase: later we get "that wretched tapestry!")

• A wonderful way to illustrate the Castrovalvans' altered perceptions, as Tegan tries to find out if Ruther perceives anything wrong with his surroundings:

  Ruther: "There are, as you have observed, steps that rise from the square and others that lead downwards from it, while other walks debouch laterally. An equitable arrangement, surely, allowing for much variety of movement."

• I'm intrigued that apparently even block-transfer silver, which is part of the recursion trap, can ward off the mental effects of the recursion.

• Mergrave draws such a lovely square on the back of the mirror, except for that slightly-lopsided upper-right corner. I bet Michael Sheard wanted to do a re-take!

• The scene that follows is so wonderful, I must reproduce it in its entirety:

  Doctor: "Now, where's your pharmacy?"
  Mergrave: (indicating its location with chalk Xs) "Up here, sir. And down here. And round here... and along here, also."
  Doctor: "Four pharmacies, in a small place like this?"
  Mergrave: (troubled) "No, sir. I have but one."
  Doctor: "You've positioned it four times."
  Mergrave: (seizes upon an explanation) "It may be approached, sir, by many different routes."
  Doctor: "Mmm." (he sips his medicine) "Ah. Valeriana officinalis anticular europea. And just a hint of rosemary."
  Mergrave: "You... understand medicine, Doctor?"
  Doctor: "Oh, not as well as you. But I'm afraid one of us is deluded about geography."

• There's a wonderful reveal that the Castrovalvan history books have been faked because although the books are hundreds of years old, the history is current to the present day. What makes it really great is that Shardovan states the very same thing outright, when he first gives them the books! So anybody who was paying attention could have figured out the problem just as easily... very nice. (although maybe everyone assumed the books were recent printings.)

• "Would you mind waiting outside?" asks Tegan, in her very best stewardess voice!

• When Mergrave asks the people outside to be quiet, I'm amused that you can hear a couple of the women say, very softly, "Yes!" "Okay!"

• When the Doctor beckons to Shardovan from behind a pillar, his hand gesture looks positively sultry!

• I find it hard to believe that Tegan was out of the room long enough for the Doctor to get out of the Zero Cabinet, help Nyssa pile the history of Castrovalva into it, and then hide! She couldn't have been outside for more than a few seconds, surely.

• When the Master aims the TCE at the Zero Cabinet, Nyssa looks alarmingly like she's standing in the direct line of fire of the beam! Even with the Zero Cabinet between her and the TCE, I don't think I'd have wanted to risk it!

• Somehow, even though we now know that Ruther isn't real, it's still a pretty horrible moment when the Master makes him just vanish from reality altogether. Shudder.

• A clever plot point that the collapse of a mathematical construct like Castrovalva would create a breach through which escape becomes possible... and also nice that Adric, who apparently created Castrovalva, is the only one with the clarity to see where it is.

• However, this line could have been delivered a bit better:

  Adric: "What exactly am I looking for, Doctor?"
  Doctor: "Anything you don't recognize as Castrovalva."
  (Adric looks around to his right, then suddenly turns and points to his left.)
  Adric: "Over there, the hillside."

• And then we get everything capped off with a lovely creepy end, as the inhabitants of Castrovalva trap the Master inside the collapsing city. But how does he escape from his trap, exactly? It would be nice to know! Apparently he realized that the Doctor's TARDIS was going to materialize outside the city, so perhaps he was banking on the Doctor being without his time-ship. The Master's TARDIS certainly didn't help while Castrovalva was collapsing, but perhaps once it was gone, he was able to pilot himself free.

For me, Castrovalva is a comfort-food story. It's one of those stories that I can turn on when I just want to relax and soak in the atmosphere. It's the perfect example of a story that's cerebral without being boring — partly because it places a lot of emphasis on characterization, and partly because it uses its cerebral ideas to tell a story that's both fascinating and terrifying. Combining all of that with beautiful location footage and a strong emphasis on the regulars, and we end up with a story that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend. (Kind of a shame that anyone watching it really needs to see the previous five stories first!)