|
143a 'Slipback'
Radio play, first aired 25 July 1985 - 8 August 1985, 6 episodes
Writer: Eric Saward
Director: Paul Spencer
|
Roots: Many SF clichés abound, including an alien in the
hold and a homicidal computer (Alien, also 2001: A Space Odyssey).
As this is a Saward story however, the main influences come from
ex-Doctor Who script editors Douglas Adams (bubbly ship's computer, servile
robot - compare 'Barton' to 'Marvin', space police and GBH by bad poetry,
all culminating in a Captain in a bathtub) and Robert Holmes (Saward's take
on the comedic double act in Seedle and Snatch); pantomime, particularly
Aladdin ('Open!' '-sesame?', 'your wish is my command'). The stock music
from episode 3 is Philippe Entremont's arrangement of 'Satie: Gymnopedie
No. 1' from the LP Bourneville Selection.
Goofs: As the TARDIS materialises on the ship, the sound of something
dropping can be heard. After having fallen 12 metres, how is landing on Snatch
supposed to save Peri's life and not end Snatch's? When sped up, the Maston's
roars are a sound man saying 'Argh!'. Grant recognises the Doctor by his fair
hair and not his overly conspicuous attire (surely an art thief shouldn't
be colour blind or lack an eye for detail?). In episode 5 just after the
Doctor says 'That's right', someone can be heard laughing. Most obviously,
the story's conclusion conflicts with that of 'Terminus' (or possibly not
- see below).
Technobabble: The secure door Grant hides his loot behind is
made of Estidian steel, 'not even a Bastic torpedo would scratch it'.
Dialogue Disasters: 'Look at my pustules grow!'
'You're only programmed to sound like a dizzy dame, not act like one!'
'It's always significant if you find insignificance significant.'
'Frisk him, Snatch!'
Anything said in the Computer's public voice.
Dialogue Triumphs: 'You have the right to remain silent, but
I wouldn't encourage you to do so. Anything you say will be taken down,
altered to my satisfaction and used in a court of law to send you down
for a good many years. So start confessing.'
Double Entendres: Snatch.
'This is no time to play the fool'
'I'm afraid sir, the only position I can adopt is a horizontal one.'
'Big, isn't it?'
Peri's single entendre on the TARDIS time spillage warning signal: 'It started
to wink and flash and grunt like some dirty old man in a park.'
'Don't you think your gun's a little small?'
'I came as soon as I could.'
'I only hope it doesn't prove an anti-climax.'
The Doctor on drinking: 'I am a little naïve when it comes to this sort
of thing.'
'Your pleasure is my pleasure.'
'Your gratuitous use of violence often disturbs me, lad.'
'Shut it off. I find it offensive.'
Continuity: In the TARDIS, the Doctor is contacted telepathically
in his sleep. The TARDIS console winks and flashes and makes a 'grunting'
noise to alert him of local time spillage [is this connected to the Cloister
Bell?]. Upon materialisation, the TARDIS sound is slightly different -
incorporating 'chirps' in its usual noises [a side effect of the time ripple].
The Vipod Mor is a census ship, having now made a galactic survey
of all the known inhabited worlds for 'many years' [possibly connected
with the Census organised by Galactic Centre (see 'The Happiness Patrol'),
thus placing this story in the late 24th Century]. Among its crew are anthropologists
and geologists - half of the crew are carbon-based life forms [it is possible
this may not include the Captain]. The ship is gigantic - so large that
Peri is unable to zoom the TARDIS scanner out far enough to capture its
entire image. It has a gym and ventilation shafts twelve metres deep and
the Doctor speculates that it might be possible to materialise the TARDIS
inside the ship's computer. Aboard the ship and at large is a male Maston,
a creature indigenous to Sentimenous Virgo, which was destroyed 'over a
million years ago'. It is hairy, has eyes and a tail and is carnivorous.
The Doctor has been drinking to excess and suffers a hangover, albeit briefly
(c.f. 'The Twin Dilemma'), after three bottles of voxnic. Captain Slarn
takes lava baths when ill and is able to cultivate diseases [including
viruses] upon his body at will, even mors immedicabilis - 'the incurable
death', to which even he is susceptible.
The ship's Computer has a programmed individual 'female' personality
and an 'inner spirit', created by accident from a technician's oversight
- 'a simple matter of crossed wires'. It is able to detect individuals
by Infra-Red (fire warning) sensors and weight distribution (although the
police device foils it and it initially perceives Peri as a 'Migarian Midget'].
Its inner spirit is capable of thought transference and sends out a 'time
ripple' to lure a Time Lord in order to the collect the contents [i.e.:
the knowledge of temporal physics] of their mind to complete its own understanding
of time travel. This would suggest that at this stage the Time Lords are
known to human society. The Computer's inner self intends to travel back
in time to the creation of the Galaxy before life existed and to influence
evolution to reprogram away all aggression from life. Once the Vipod Mor
is in temporal travel the 'public voice' of the computer makes a mistake
with the co-ordinates, causing the ship to slip back (hence the title)
to the creation of the Universe, which, at this time, is a 'mono-block
of condensed matter'. The 'public voice' activates the self-destruct [it
is 'the first computer to commit suicide'] and the ship explodes at the
heart of the mono-block, triggering the Big Bang.
Peri claims that the Doctor never lies, and has told her that his real
name is unpronounceable [c.f. 'The Trial of a Time Lord' episode 1]. Perhaps
this is only to humans. Or Peri. Time experiments are illegal [a Gallifreyan
law enforced by Time Lord agents?]. Shellingbone Grant is an art thief,
using the Vipod Mor as a cover and hideaway whilst stealing famous
art treasures from throughout the galaxy. At the end of the story a member
of the High Council of Time Lords intervenes [it is not explained how,
as everyone can hear him, and so it might not be telepathic as in 'The
Hand of Fear' or 'The Five Doctors', his voice is deepened like Rassilon's
in 'The Five Doctors Special Edition' - perhaps he is a hologram?].
Saward reuses some lines from two of his previous stories: 'You're
destroying my mind!' ('Resurrection of the Daleks'), and 'On this ship
we...' ('Earthshock').
Location: The Vipod Mor, deep space (see Continuity).
Future History: Mention is made of 'ancient Earth music' - either
'music from ancient Earth', or 'ancient music from Earth' [probably the
latter]. As most of the crew is human, it could be inferred that this story
is set in a time when human colonies are located throughout the galaxy
(see above).
Untelevised Adventures: The TARDIS has just visited Zaurak Minor,
where after asking for directions (to an unspecified location), the Doctor
got drunk in 'a small drinking establishment'. At the story's conclusion
he vows to visit 'the largest library [he knows]' - though this may be
a joke. Presumably the Doctor and Peri drop Grant off at the same time,
or turn him in - although the lack of evidence against him might prove
difficult.
The Bottom Line: 'I think I need to read up on my history.' The
first of the radio plays, 'Slipback' is famous mainly for its noticeable
similarity and subsequent clash with 'Terminus' and its Big Bang creation
idea, made even more blatant by Eric Saward's presence during the latter's
scripting and production. Besides this though, no other continuity is breached
and thus far this play is the most faithful of the three to its era. All
the Sawardian elements are here, usually for the worse, and the script
doesn't appear to take itself too seriously, if at all. Colin Baker is
great though, despite such an irritating supporting cast, although it's
a shame to hear obvious violence and dwelling on Snatch's death. This is
the second Eric Saward story in which a character with the name Bates is
killed horribly.
BIG BANG VERSUS EVENT ONE
The Doctor is present, or close to the creation of various parts of
the Universe at some points in his lifetime. In 'The Edge of Destruction'
the TARDIS is taken back via its Fast Return switch to the creation of
a solar system.
Taking the various references into a likely chronological order of
occurrence: at 'the dawn of time' there exist only two forces, Good and
Evil ('The Curse of Fenric'). The Terminus, a craft travelling from
another universe, jettisons its fuel tanks after an accident into the void
where the forces exist; potentially it is the explosion of the Vipod
Mor (which is travelling backwards in time from the future which ignites
the jettisoned fuel. The explosion causes the Good and Evil forces to shatter
until only echoes remain. The Doctor likely witnesses all of this happen
(in 'Destiny of the Daleks' he says that Oolon Colluphid's book The
Origins of the Universe 'got it wrong on the first line. Why didn't
he ask someone who saw it happen?'). A side effect of the explosion is
an in-rush of hydrogen, in which the TARDIS becomes caught due to the Master's
sabotage using Adric in 'Castrovalva'.
It is clear from the dialogue that Event One in 'Castrovalva' is supposed
to be the creation of a [Earth's?] galaxy. The Doctor confirms in 'Four
to Doomsday' that 'the Big Bang' relates to the origin of the Universe.
But the Doctor later uses the term 'Event One' in 'Terminus' to describe
the Big Bang. This is either a total contradiction of 'Castrovalva', or
we might infer that Adric [and by association the Master?] is hopeless
at astrophysics as he is the one who programmed the TARDIS data bank to
impart the information about the Hydrogen Inrush in the first place.