SEASON TWENTY-ONE AT FORTY: 'THE TWIN DILEMMA'

The new Doctor faces the monstrous Mestor in The Twin Dilemma. VHS release cover art (later used for a 1990's Target reissue) by Andrew Skilleter.

Is the Doctor really losing his mind? After his fifth regeneration his behaviour certainly seems to point that way. Having tried to strangle Peri, he's landed the Tardis on the asteroid Titan 3, determined to pursue the quiet life of a hermit. But the giant dome on the horizon seem set to shatter his peace. Just who are its mysterious inhabitants? What is their connection to the kidnaping of the twins Romulus and emus, famed for their mathematical genius? And where are the giant Gastropods?

Original VHS release sleeve synopsis - 1992

Whilst the Peter Davison era closing The Caves of Androzani has a status worthily and indelibly regarded as an All-Time Classic, the reverse is the case for the proceeding adventure launching Colin Baker's ultimately turbulent period on the show, the infamous The Twin Dilemma. Which is a genuine shame really, for the then eager, amiable and enthusiastic new star of the series taking the mantle from Davison, and whose debut would prove to be a bomb with both fans and the general audiences - each episode registering viewer losses on a large scale, with a million having deserted the Season Twenty-One closer by its four-part conclusion in March, 1984.

The Sixth Doctor revealed!

I remember watching the opening episode at the time and thinking it was okay, primarily due to the exciting opportunity to see a fresh new Doctor in the TARDIS, and to see how Colin Baker (a truly unexpected casting choice to me) would likely play the role for what he thought was going to be at least a seven-year run. Alas, such dreams were not to be. When not throttling Peri (Nicola Bryant, in one of her weakest performances, saddled with a weak script for her character - the sign of things to come...) due to his unstable regeneration awakening (an interesting idea stretched too long over the story, and which, in hindsight, would ultimately prove a major mistake and turn-off for regular audiences), the Sixth Doctor, though energetic and resourceful, often comes across as a blustery egotist in this premiere outing. Baker, playing on the script, would here remind me of a character from another more earthbound series, the pompous and often foolish comedic character of Doctor Frasier Crane, as played by Kelsey Grammar, only his role was specifically played for often alienating laughs. Also hindering our star badly would be the now infamous 'yuk' costume gimmick. Again, I was okay with it with its publicity debut for the first story (and it is a lovely design from Pat Godfrey), again due to the thrill of something new as part of the process, but it soon became an eyesore and diminished the work of the actor in credibly realizing his role through the following seasons. Whoever was the head of drama by then, really should have reined in producer John Nathan-Turner's key ideas for this specific incarnation, of which Colin really deserved better. All opening regeneration story's deserve such creative input from the upper echelons so as to critically make any new era work.

The new TARDIS team enjoys a special publicity photo session.

After the whirlwind ride of Caves, the entirety of Twin ultimately reeks of competency rather than anything exciting or memorable, with a script from Anthony Steven (heavily rewritten by script editor Eric Saward) that had potential (one idea from of it, that the Doctor becomes a hermit of sorts, having been prior considered for a story by an intrigued Douglas Adams during Season Seventeen) but fails to make an impact, brought to TV reality with little to no atmosphere, nor blessed with any kind of satisfying sense of pace to its telling. In fact, it's slower than the Gastropod monsters residing on Jaconda! Chosen primarily because he worked well with the other Doctors and was considered 'a safe pair of hands' for JN-T, popular director Peter Moffat proves out of place within the purely science fiction trappings he has to bring to life here, and it shows. After all the greatness of Caves, it feels so staid.

And it's the opening episodes that showcase the biggest problems, with the most disagreeable batch of cobbled together, overly lit sets ever seen in the series, featuring no pleasing design aesthetic tones at all, whilst the supporting costume designs look equally poor and tatty for the premiere story of the new Doctor (I recall JN-T stating in a TV interview a few months earlier that, after the gorgeous The Keeper of Traken, that Twin was going to be one of his other favourite stories. I'm still flabbergasted by that statement even today!). In an attempt at counter-balance though, the filmed model effects work is excellent, alongside a reasonably effective Malcolm Clarke score that tries to create some menace and atmosphere, even if some of it sounds a little too familiar to his earlier work in the season with Resurrection of the Daleks.

A memorable publicity image of Colin baker during chilly location filming.

There's a fine group of guest actors in this story working hard to keep interest and bring conviction, but it's like professional seaman braving a perfect storm. Maurice Denham is notably good here as Edgeworth (establishing some fine moments with Baker). The key factor of the story, the two mathematical genius twins (played by Gavin and Andrew Conrad) are not quite the disaster that legend has them to be, ultimately proving adequate rather than excruciating as the reasons for the unique space kidnapping are later revealed and their roles are substantially, mercifully, reduced in the storytelling. Female twins would surely have been a better acting choice by far, but it was not to be.

The Sixth Doctor's first onscreen nemesis: Mestor, the slimy leader of the Gastropods.

Things pick up reasonably better with the final two episodes, thankfully, as our heroes arrival on the mostly underground realms belonging to the ravaged former paradise of Jaconda. This is where the big villain of the piece, the slimy Mestor of the Gastropods, gets more to do, too. Comparisons (on a smaller, cheaper scale of course) of Mestor to Jabba the Hutt are inevitable, what with Return of the Jedi's cinematic release only a year before, though it lacks the ability to make any proper movements or facial articulation in the way that make-up genius Stuart Freeborn's incredible filmic creation would. Popular character actor Edwin Richfield tries hard to bring menace and gravitas to the role, but it's a near thankless task, with similar monsters like the tractators having been done better in the early season story Frontios.

Definitely the 'craggy nob' jutting out from a hugely successful season, The Twin Dilemma is not the gem we all wanted it to be sadly, but at least regular viewers would get the chance to ignore it as best they could as the season's ender. Despite such a poor launch, I certainly wanted to see Baker succeed in the role, and at least he got a second chance of sorts a year later via the action-packed and far more appealing Attack of the Cybermen, a Season 22 launcher that would prove far more effective and successful for Doctor Six's era, and garnering superior ratings.

The Twin Dilemma ★ | Radio Times

The clothes maketh the Time Lord in his new sixth incarnation.

The Doctor shockingly strangles Peri with the beginning of his post regeneration problems.

On Earth, the genius twins Romulus and Remus (Gavin and Andrew Conrad) are captured by Edgeworth, the former Time Lord known as Azmael (Maurice Denham).