Part II, Chapter XV: "You Say Goodbye"
“Our third and final season is either our worst or best, depending on who you ask, really. Some fans really liked the overarching plot of the season, especially having the first half all being one very large story, but others felt that that was a departure from what Doctor Who ‘was supposed to be’. Personally, I’m in the former category, not least because all of the courtroom scenes meant that we got the whole thing filmed a lot quicker.”
- Denise Crosby speaking about Season 24 of
Doctor Who in
An Adventure in Space and Time. [1]
Doctor Who had spent two seasons on NBC now, and seemed to be holding steady in ratings. Any fears that the show would be a one hit wonder were allayed, and the production team were gearing up to make
Doctor Who’s biggest season yet.
The increased budget over the classic series was not going amiss, with more notable guest stars beginning to appear. Following the main trio’s guest appearances on
Star Trek: The Next Generation’s third season, some of that show’s main cast would return the favour for
Doctor Who’s twenty-fourth. [2]
But while all seemed well from the outside, 1990 was to be a year of large change for
Doctor Who. Heeding the advice that had been given to him by Second Doctor actor Patrick Troughton, shortly after production of Season 24 began, Hugh Laurie announced his intention to depart at the end of the season. His contract expired then, and he was keen to avoid being typecast into roles similar to that of the Doctor. [3]
Without Laurie, neither Hanks nor Crosby were overly interested in staying for more time. In addition, veteran producer John Nathan-Turner was growing tired of his role, one that he had only begrudgingly taken. It would seem that season twenty-five would involve great changes for the show. Despite this, production continued on the upcoming season twenty-four. [4]
There had long been a dispute between two factions of the writing and production team over whether to start doing longer story arcs over the course of a season. Up until this point, there had been very few, and the arcs tended to be smaller. A compromise was once again reached. The first half of the season would be comprised of one larger story, split into smaller stories, themselves split into separate episodes, while the second half would consist of stand-alone stories, with the exception of the finale, which would tie into the arc.
The arc was taken from an idea that the late Robert Holmes had proposed, that the Doctor is taken back to his home planet to be punished for breaking the rules of his people. This had somewhat been tackled with the Second Doctor’s final story
The War Games, but Holmes wanted to devote an entire season to it. [5]
The season would open with the Doctor’s TARDIS being overridden to take him to Gallifrey, where he would be put on trial. The ‘evidence’ presented at the trial would be the individual stories of the first half of the season. The accuser, named ‘The Valeyard’, would, at the climax of the arc, be revealed as an amalgamation of the Doctor’s darker tendencies that had been promised the Doctor’s remaining regenerations should he be found guilty.
The final episode of the season would feature the Doctor forging an uneasy alliance with the Master to defeat the Valeyard once and for all on the planet Karn, where unbeknownst to any of them, Morbius’ legendary weapons lie forgotten. [6]
Anthony Ainley, the actor portraying the Master, had expressed interest in leaving the role, as it now involved regular flights to the US for filming. He requested that he be written out of the show after the twenty-fourth season, possibly to be replaced by another actor as the Master.
For the twnety-fourth season, the producers decided that they wished to focus on primarily making new enemies for the Doctor, rather than relying too heavily on older ones. As a result, the only recurring villains to appear in the season other than the Master would be the Tractators and the Ice Warriors. [7]
Guest stars would be a real selling point of the season, with Patrick Stewart, Marina Sirtis, Jonathan Frakes and Christian Slater of
Star Trek: The Next Generation fame appearing in roles throughout the season. [8]
They would not be alone, as upcoming star Gary Oldman would be cast as the Doctor’s to-be adversary the Valeyard, shortly before his mainstream Hollywood success. In the aftermath of the announcement of Laurie’s departure, there had been speculation that Oldman may be cast as the Eighth Doctor, but this put an end to those rumours. [9]
The release date of Season 24 of
Doctor Who was set to be the 13th of May 1990, following the tradition of airing the episodes on a Sunday. This season, like its two predecessors, would consist of 26 episodes, each 45 minutes in length.
Given
Doctor Who’s strength in ratings, there had been some discussion about moving the time slot and airing date, but this was stopped, as it might have caused issues with production, and resulted in a truncated or delayed season. [10]
[1] I'd like to specify that the quote refers to her time on the show, not the show on NBC.
[2] What's the point in having Doctor Who in the US at the same time as TNG if you don't have a little cast crossover every now and then?
[3] And this is why I wasn't telling you what that update is about. Three updates' time will cover the casting of Season 25 of Doctor Who and getting a new showrunner.
[4] I don't see either of them sticking around when they've spent so much time with Laurie.
[5] Alright, so it's Trial of a Time Lord. It was poorly executed in OTL, but I think it had real potential.
[6] A plot idea I have my good friend James W to thank for. I won't reveal how Jim and Ace leave until the plots update, but they've both left by now.
[7] I think that this is reasonable. They're taking a similar approach to Series 11, in trying to forge a newer image for themselves.
[8] I didn't want to use the entire TNG cast, so I only used a few. They were pretty much chosen at random.
[9] He's not quite a big star as of yet. He's yet to have a massive breakout role, with JFK, which does get butterflied by this. We may not see much of the Valeyard going forward because of this though.
[10] They've got a slot that works, and they don't want to ruin the show by moving it.
Right, this is an update I've been waiting to write for a while. This is the first of a four part Doctor Who mega-update. Next three updates are: Release of S24, Plots of S24, Casting the Eighth Doctor and their companion(s). I'll do my best to do these three next ones daily.