Meglos DVD NTSC Region 1 for North America DVD PAL Region 2 for the U.K. VHS Video NTSC PAL

(Doctor Who Story No. 111, starring Tom Baker) written by John Flanagan and Andrew McCulloch directed by Terence Dudley produced by John Nathan-Turner music by Paddy Kingsland (part 1) and Peter Howell (parts 2-4) 4 episodes @ ~25 minutes each Story: The scientific and religious factions on the planet Tigella are too busy squabbling with each other to realize that a body-snatching cactus creature from a neighbouring planet has plans to reclaim the mystical power source that fell into the heart of Tigellan culture. After inviting the Doctor to help sort out their problems, things are made worse when his prickly doppelganger shows up instead....

DVD Extras include:

• Audio commentary by Lalla Ward (Romana), Christopher Owen (Earthling), co-writer John Flanagan,
  and composers Paddy Kingsland and Peter Howell.
• "Meglos Men" retrospective featurette (18 min.) with writers John Flanagan and Andrew McCulloch
  and script editor Christopher H. Bidmead.
• "The Scene Sync Story" special effects featurette (11 min.) with visual effects designer Stephen Drewett, and
  cameramen Peter Leverick and Roger Bunce.
• Retrospective featurette (13 min.) on the life of Jacqueline Hill (Lexa / Barbara Wright), with ex-producer Verity Lambert,
  actors William Russell (Sir Ian Chesterton) and Ann Davies (Jenny), and husband Alvin Rakoff.
• Isolated Music by Paddy Kingsland (Part 1) and Peter Howell (Parts 2-4)
• Photo Gallery music montage (4 min.)
• Pop-up Production Note Subtitles by Stephen James Walker
• "Entropy Explained" featurette (5 min.) on the science behind one of season 18's running story arcs.
• Easter Egg

I find myself absorbed in "Meglos" in a way that "The Leisure Hive" (the previous story) never approached. Chiefly, the characters, settings, and thematic elements are all introduced with greater care in this story, and fare particularly well in the first episode.

A common theme from Barry Letts' previous era reasserts itself, as we witness a society neatly divided between science and religious mysticism. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this is the fact that the society's leader belongs to both factions - he leads by understanding both points of view and integrating them, and he says that he holds the Doctor in high regard for being able to do the same. Costume design enhances this by putting all the scientists in white and the mystics in red, while leader Zastor has his own unique purple robes. It actually looks as though the story is set to promote a harmonious integration between the two factions as a model for resolving the conflicts that arise between them.

However, we end up with a more basic action story that is considerably less philosophically powerful. It is chiefly Jacqueline Hill's strong acting, alongside the season's most innovative music scoring, that encourages the audience to continue to respect the mystics' and their culture.

The TARDIS interior features quite heavily as another John Nathan-Turner era upgrade shows itself - all the joins between the wall panels feature corrugated pillars. At last the console room feels perfect. Well done. The story doesn't skimp on materialization, so the TARDIS is quite well represented in this one.

As with "The Leisure Hive", the Doctor would be better off with more to do. Tom Baker himself is quite busy, but he spends half of his screen time playing the villain as well, and the later episodes are extremely short to begin with. The middle episodes in particular seem to be really lacking in substance, but I think they get away with it more easily than "The Leisure Hive", because they do keep moving characters through environments they've never encountered before, which keeps the level of exploration and sci-fi discovery high, and makes for a good action plot. I'll have to save much of the discussion of plot for the in-depth analysis version to avoid spoilers here.

The final episode manages to make up for what earlier ones may be missing, as the Doctor gets his due. It is quite interesting to note how Baker portrays his two roles here differently: Meglos is typically sour and resentful, with a reverence for power whether it comes from physics or political control. The Doctor, by contrast, is in jovial happy-go-lucky spirits for the most part, smiling as often as possible, and tackling his challenges with optimism and enthusiasm. This is a Doctor I thoroughly enjoy. It is interesting to note that the Doctor we saw in director Paddy Russell's stories like "Pyramids of Mars" (story no. 82) and "The Horror of Fang Rock" (story no. 92) more closely resembles Meglos than the Doctor of this adventure, another reason why I tend not to rate those adventures as highly as many others.

General Grugger and Lieutenant Brotadac turn out to be a great pair of comedic characters in themselves - and the balance between humour and threats seems to be more carefully done and successful than was typically the case in previous seasons. I find Frederick Treves as Brotadac to be particularly enjoyable. But I think the guest star who shines brightest in this one is Jacqueline Hill. I can't say I cared much for her character Lexa when I first saw the story, but after having a chance to see Hill help shape the program in its first two years as Barbara Wright, it is wonderfully nostalgic to see her take on yet another strong female role and do it such wonderful justice, reminiscent of Barbara's imitation of the goddess Yetaxa in "The Aztecs" (story no. 6), but this time played with even more conviction. Most thankfully, the Deons prove far, far more interesting than all of the cookie-cutter cults that plagued the show from Hinchcliffe's era up to "The Stones of Blood" (story no. 100).

I think we have here the best incidental score of the season. Peter Howell and Paddy Kingsland are certainly the dominant musical voices of season 18, and with Kingsland filling in for Howell on the first episode, the final product is blessed with a successful collaboration that uses both of their talents and creativity. The Deon music certainly stands out most, thanks to the wonderfully atmospheric and innovative work from the vocoder, providing a very refreshing change from the usual organ music that Dudley Simpson often used to back religion and organized ritual. But the rest of the score is always beautifully varied and highly interesting as well, beginning with Kingsland's more melodic establishing pieces from the first episode, through Howell's fascinating and ever-enjoyable moody action cues later on.

The complete Musical Score by Peter Howell and Paddy Kingsland is available on: Audio CD - Doctor Who at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop Volume 4 - Meglos and Full Circle More info & buying options Special Sound by Dick Mills from this story is available on: Audio CD - Doctor Who at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop Volume 3 - The Leisure Hive More info & buying options

Onto the effects, I think the model work deserves mention as well. The Screens of Zolpha-Thura are realized quite excellently, for although the edges introduced around the characters during the CSO / green screen compositing gives away the illusion a bit, this is more than made up for by both the shadows that the human characters are able to cast onto the model ground, and by the wonderfully computer-synced camera pans across both actors and models during the composite shots. Very well done.

Unfortunately, we only get one shot of the thugs' spacecraft in flight when the story could easily have done with more, and this one shot is extremely lame. Indeed, the design of the craft itself seems to be more concerned with making something for which one can easily build a door in the studio, rather than in making something that looks like it could actually fly.

The story also features some laser effects - thankfully Dave Jervis took time to add visual beams in post-production. The sound for most of the laser fire turns out to be so wimpy, however, that many scenes have considerably less dramatic power than they ought to. Thankfully, the best is saved for last....

In the end I think I have to say that I prefer Terence Dudley's directing of this tale to Lovett Bickford's work on the previous one - Dudley does a much better job of staying on story, thus proving why tried and true methods have become as popular as they have. John Nathan-Turner has produced another tasty tidbit of a story with a lot of new-improved stylistic factors going for it, but JNT's era still has yet to shine, particularly where story content and writing is concerned....

DVD NTSC Region 1 for the North American market: in the U.S. in Canada	DVD PAL Region 2 for the U.K.	VHS Video NTSC in the U.S. PAL for the U.K.

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