So this is an interesting one.
'The Leisure Hive' is the start of Tom Baker's final season as the Doctor, which is kind of big in itself. Baker had been around for six years at this point, which is a long time for anyone to be in anything, regardless of how demanding a role like the Doctor must be. It was the eighties, things were changing, and what was to prove a most important change was the handover of Doctor Who from producer Graham Williams to Jonathan Nathan-Turner. If you've read this blog's look at 'Horror of Fang Rock' you'll know that I don't really like the Williams era. Things got bad. I mean, 'Underworld' happened. 'The Invasion of Time' somehow occurred. It's hard to love the era that took us out of Hinchcliffe and Holmes, we're still missing the heady highs of the dark and stormy night before. Williams was the hangover of Hinchcliffe, but now Williams was gone - and something very different was on its way.
Considering this is the beginning of pretty much a ten-year run as producer for Nathan-Turner, it's an inauspicious start beneath the window dressing. And I say window dressing because to mask the truth of the matter (which is that 'The Leisure Hive' isn't the best story ever - spoilers) there is a metric tonne of mad makeover to distract the unwary audience with pretty lights and smoke and mirrors. Tom Baker has a new costume. The opening sequence is flashy and modern, K-9 explodes in literally the first five minutes. It's all in motion and a huge upheaval to launch Doctor Who into 1980, to treat the wounds of the Williams dip and reinvigorate the traditional elements of the show, like the titles and the music. It's like regeneration. And despite 'The Leisure Hive's number of flaws (which will be expanded on, because they make me sad), what we have here is actually a really exciting transition story, a move into the future, a breath of fresh air if you're used to the restrictions of the previous three seasons. Let's see how it all went.
So I suppose I should get this bit out of the way, because everybody goes on about it. The opening shot of this story is madly long. It just doesn't end. You keep thinking it will, but it doesn't. The camera just keeps crawling on, across all the pretty beach tents. Seemingly forever. The viewer will be found a skeletal husk lingering in a musty armchair before they can finally glimpse the rest of this four-part story. Beach tent, beach tent, beach tent.
This aside, the first scene of 'The Leisure Hive' is actually really nicely done. The Brighton Pier setting feels well-tailored to our Romana/Doctor dynamic, and K-9 is always fun - just not for very long, here, as he's soon trundling contentedly towards his salty doom. But we can live with that, K-9 will be repaired in a few stories time. The real thing to watch out for here is the banter between Tom Baker and Lalla Ward, who are lovely together when they're given the chance. The misty pier in the background, the mention of a trip to the legendary Leisure Hive, the Doctor's new maroon coat and scarf (which I love, unconditionally) - it's all shaping up to be a grand adventure. And then they started talking about tachyonics.
Now, I'm sure I don't have a problem with tachyonics. Apparently it's the study of some kind of science about regenerative technology and biological interfaces and a... a biological... tachyonics... regeneration...
I really have a problem with tachyonics.
This story is pretty much built up around tachyon science, the study of it on Argolis, our setting, by the Argolins, our alien hosts, and the consequences of... doing something with it. That would be fine if they ever really explained what tachyonics are. Because they don't. We don't know what they are. Nobody at any point really sits down and spells it out for us, and so we have to try and keep up with terms like 'FIFO stack' and 'tachyon image' to get the weight of the whole rest of the story. It's not like writer David Fisher is a scientist! There is the line 'reptiles are immune to radiation'. Agh, David! Stop writing nonsense!
But beyond the silly science, there are some nice touches to Argolis. The lifespans and deaths of the Argolins are novel, and add a healthy level of tension to proceedings. I like the idea of the Hive, a survival-bunker-cum-holiday-hotspot-cum-science-hub, I like the history of the planet, the shuttles arriving every few minutes, I like the dark secrets and hidden agendas. I love that these people were pretty much wiped out in a war that lasted twenty minutes. I just wish I knew what the hell was going on most of the time.
Purely in terms of design and aesthetic, I find it hard to know where I stand with this story. I like the design of the Argolins, because it's new and original, and I like the exterior shots of the Hive because it's spiky and cool and memorable, but beyond that... I just feel like the sets don't have ambition. There aren't enough new ideas, bar some little things like the video link to Earth and the windows which provide for some nice lighting effects. This place is supposed to be a Hive, isn't it? Make it more subterranean, more natural and organic, that would look cool. It would suit the Argolins. Pull a 'Curse of Peladon', contrast the modern and clean with the ancient and alien. Build us a world that feels real, not like five studio sets. Everything is too produced and colourful, and though the Argolins are supposed to be great intellectuals, I don't buy it. It looks like a science museum from the nineties in a film from the sixties, redesigned in 1980 but on a budget that couldn't buy half a Freddo and a smelly sticker. It's distracting.
Despite the lack of character in the sets, though, there's a good atmosphere throughout most of this story, and that's largely due to the various stages of lighting we get to see. The evening sun spilling into the boardroom, the shady main hall at night, the Argolin Dawn. To be able to observe this world all through a day is really a treat, and a lot of credit has to go to director Lovett Bickford for his really very unusual work here. The shots are interestingly composed. Characters are in shadow and things happen from angles we're not used to, lit spectacularly. It's a wonder Bickford never came back.
Now however much the casual viewer might be baffled by the tedious technicalities of tachyonics, there is certainly something to be swayed by in 'The Leisure Hive', and that's the Foamasi. From the off, the Foamasi are by far the most gripping part of the story, shot only by their chubby shadows and twirly nipply eyes and sequinned badger claws until the entry of one later on, which is unfortunately hashed. What makes the Foamasi great, though (despite the sumo-chaffinch-Wirrn-spawn-pin-cushion look), is their sheer authenticity as a race - their chittering birdcall language is endearing but also menacing, their design the same when shot from the right angles. The very fact that there are splinter groups and political parties and individuals makes them more tangible and exciting. The West Lodge is a threat. The discovery of Klout and implied murder of Brock and Stimson is chilling, the way it's shot and dealt with horrific. They find Klout's skin in a wardrobe, empty. It's absolutely engaging.
Unfortunately, despite the Foamasi being so pivotal to the viewer's continued endurance of the story, they appear to be existing on a separate plane, and their share of the mystery is dealt with by the end of episode three, leaving tachyonics and Pangol and the time experiments. You remember, those things we don't understand and aren't interested in.
Really, our investment in the story plummets for the last twenty-five minutes. We don't know what a jargon wafer is, we don't care anymore what Pangol is up to, because all the science stuff crucial to his plan is so desperately incomprehensible we have no idea what to think. We're just watching as things happen, without much interest, until the end, which feels almost rushed. There's some nice music work and continued direction, David Haig and Adrienne Corri are still wonderful as Pangol and Mena, but it just drops, and drops out of our reach. And though it's new, and fresh, and a riot compared to some of the lesser Williams stories, it just ceases to work. Which is a shame, because the first three parts were actually quite good.
Last Words?
As minute one for the Jonathan Nathan-Turner era, this story can be a little underwhelming.
That isn't to say it's bad. It's not bad, it's excellently directed and acted, exquisitely lit and interestingly plotted. There are some lovely character moments, especially concerning the aged love of Mena and Hardin, which is really nice. Tom Baker and Lalla Ward shine together, as usual. The Foamasi are great fun.
It just gets a bit lost.
It's a real shame, because 'The Leisure Hive' actually does get a lot of things right, but we can't be expected to invest totally in a story we can't understand. David Fisher's script works well with the Foamasi and that conflict, but when it comes to tachyonics and the whole time thing it just becomes too centred around making itself look clever with big science and long words. But it's a point that this might be down to incoming script editor Christopher Bidmead, who liked all that 'high concept' stuff. And, under the influence of JNT and Bidmead, that's often a weakness of the era as a whole, so maybe this is actually a good ambassador for what's to come, who knows. It's just damaging to this story though, because all that stuff with the Foamasi? The twenty-minute war, the West Lodge? That's all damn good.
Ah, pif paf. C'est la vie. I'm done here.
