SEASON TWENTY-ONE AT FORTY: 'THE CAVES OF ANDROZANI'

Tragedy and danger lurk within The Caves of Androzani, the series' finest adventure. Art by Phil Bevan exclusively for DWB magazine.

"Curiosity's always been my downfall."

Captured for arms-running on the mining planet of Androzani Minor, the Doctor and Perry (SIC) are under sentence of death. Then, a mysterious masked intruder comes to their aid. But is Sharaz Jek, master android creator, really their saviour? The rulers of the planet are certainly desperate for his head. But then, he does control Andozani's supply of spectrox and it's a substance men are prepared to die for...

Original VHS release sleeve synopsis - 1992

The darkest, dangerous, most thrilling story conceived not just for Peter Davison's satisfying era of Doctor Who but all its eras, and featuring the greatest regeneration sequence ever created for the series, much has been said about Robert Holmes' genuinely stunning and breath-taking The Caves of Androzani over forty years by fandom worldwide, and it has become rightly regarded, literally from its original transmission in March 1984, as one of the finest, if not THE finest, Classic Who series adventure ever made. Such an accolade doesn't come lightly within the show's original twenty-six year duration and its many all-time greats, but I firmly believe it is thoroughly deserved and well earned.

Caves is damned near perfect in my opinion, even overcoming its sometimes obvious low budget and the infamous 'Magma monster'. The great script of world-building, tragedy and greed, the superb cast, the evocative music score and dynamite direction from Graeme Harper (it's like he was destined to do this particular story) transcend everything to make it a true masterpiece of TV production, and one that really blew my near fourteen-year old self away on original transmission. With the totally intriguing first episode, it was clear that the direction was outstanding from the start, but when the macabre face mask of Christopher Gable's tragic and frightening Sharaz Jek was fully revealed with its near cliffhanger, I knew that something special was really beginning to take shape here. And as the story developed, the quality of the scripting (so strikingly depthful) and its intense characters (the majority of them totally unlikeable but compelling to watch nonetheless) made this a joy, if a sad one. As with all departing Doctor stories, but even more so with Davison, now at the peak of his powers in the role (even more so through the talents of Holmes, giving the Fifth Doctor more attitude and wit), I was genuinely not wanting to let go of seeing the Fifth incarnation after a run which I felt had been far too short, especially with his episodes all having been transmitted twice weekly. And time was running out now with the never-to-be-forgotten third episode cliffhanger, followed by the finale's pure edge-of-your-seat race against time qualities, as the wounded, near-death Doctor saves Peri (Nicola Bryant, shining brightly in that all too rare great second script for a companion back in the day) and ultimately sacrifices the last remnants of his life, and the small amount of vital bat's milk acquired, to save her. And as his previous companions urge him to survive, and the spiteful Master demands that he perished, I genuinely wept for Davison's departing incarnation, and was further gob-smacked watching the spectacular video effects regeneration that exploded around him.

Peter Davison and Nicola Bryant proved a well-matched onscreen team.

A story that gets better and better with every viewing, the return of Robert Holmes prolific name to the series with Caves was a genuine crowd pleaser to me (at a point in my Who-dom when I was starting to fully discover or re-discover much of his work for the series at that point), whilst the late, great director Douglas Camfield was surely looking down from heaven with pride at his former protege of sorts in newcomer director Graham Harper and his stellar accomplishments, whose creative instincts on Who proved acutely sharp and never less than perfect. Despite disappointment that he wouldn't have an entire season run - imagine if we'd had Philip Martin's original version of Vengeance of Varos (originally titled Domain), or the ultimately much-troubled Song of the Space Whale added to the impressive twenty-first year story mix - all-in-all, Peter Davison couldn't have had a better adventure to depart on, but everything after this was never going to be quite the same again for me as both a fan and regular viewer, despite my curiosity on Colin Baker's upcoming Doctor. Looking back, if Doctor Who as a series had ended there with Caves, though with a potential resurrection for more someday in the future, I actually would have been content.

The Caves of Androzani ★★★★★ | Radio Times

Newly arrived on the barren world of Androzani Minor, the Doctor and Peri soon go off to explore some blow hole caves.

They encounter a lethal Spectrox Nest in the cave, unaware of its doom laden properties. Writer Robert Holmes was pleased with the idea of literally killing the Doctor off in the opening minutes of the story.

Gun runner Stotz (Maurice Roeves) is supplying arms for refined age sustaining Spectrox through the Android rebel Sharaz Jek.

General Chellak (Martin Cochrane) and his trusty second-in-command Salateen (Robert Glenister) assess the situation in their seemingly fruitless ongoing cave war with the Android scientist Sharaz Jek.

Arrested as gunrunners, our now ill heroes are brought before Chellak, pending declared execution.

The cunning businessman leader of the Sirius Conglomerate, Trau Morgus (John Normington).

Morgus with his trusty assistant Krau Timmin (Barbara Kinghorn) .

The Doctor and Peri, seemingly ready for the firing squad.

But their slain bodies are soon revealed to be android replicas.

Sharaz Jek (the impressive Christopher Gable) reveals his visage to the Doctor and Peri.

Jek reveals his tragic past to the pair.

Jek and the Doctor face off.

The best of companions to Jek!

The darkness within Jek is a constant factor in his thirst for revenge on the duplicitous Morgus.

The Doctor confused Jek's android with his non-human biological diffrencies, which allows him, Peri and the captured Salateen time to escape.

Peri must help the army capture Jek's base, but the real Salateen is later killed in a violent and unexpected way.

Once again captured, the dying Doctor is in the hands of Stotz and his men, but soon manages to escape and get control of the ship to fly back to Androzani Minor.

"I'm not gonna let you stop me now!"

Stotz has comrade Krelper (Roy Holder) and his colleague pursue the weakening Doctor across the desert regions.

The Doctor comes under fire!

As the terrifying mud bursts begin on the planet, the Doctor will return to the cave to save Peri.

Before killing Krelper, Stotz enters into a new business arrangement with the now exiled Morgus.

The Doctor and Jek work to save Peri's life.

The Doctor gets the information needed to save Peri...

... and soon travels to the lowest cave levels to retrieve the vitally needed Queen Bat's milk. The ominous use of a death bell in this sequence adds to the race against time sequence.