“Terminus” is an adventure of the twentienth season of “Doctor Who” classic series, the second of the mini-arc known by the global title “The Black Guardian Trilogy”, which aired in 1983. It follows “Mawdryn Undead” and it’s a four parts adventure written by Stephen Gallagher and directed by Mary Ridge.

The story

Turlough (Mark Strickson) sabotages the Tardis following the Black Guardian’s instructions. The instability that follows triggers an automatic emergency response that determines an anomalous materialization in a spacecraft. Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) is in her room, which is threatened by the instability and the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) tells her to go through the door that has materialized.

As soon as possible the Doctor follows Nyssa but Turlough and Tegan (Janet Fielding) follow him too. The starship is carrying a group of sick people to Terminus, a station at the center of the universe that hides many secrets.

Extras

This DVD contains a fair amount of extras. There are typical contents such as BBC continuity, a PDF file with the Radio Times Billings, production subtitles, a gallery of pictures from this adventure and the announcement of the DVDs to be published shortly.

There are comments in the adventure alternative audio track by protagonists Peter Davison, Mark Strickson and Sarah Sutton and writer Stephen Gallagher.

Breaking Point. A documentary on the production of this adventure with interviews with cast and crew.

Origins of the Universe. A look at the science behind the Big Bang.

Original Storyboards. The original drawings of the spaceships and how the models were created.

Unused Model Shots. Some shots of models of the starships that weren’t used in the final version.

CGI Effects. The option to see the adventure with some new special effects. Fundamentally they remade the outer shots of the starships and the Terminus station. The possibilities of special effects in “Doctor Who” were limited so the new version radically changes those scenes. The drawings of the new special effects are available among the PDF files.

Isolated Score. The option to see this adventure with music by Paddy Kingsland in an isolated audio track.

There are also two “Easter eggs”: they’re nothing special but you can look for them through the menus.

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“Terminus” production was hampered by several technical problems. A dispute between the electricians union and the BBC forced a reschedule at the beginning of filming, which started late anyway due to some electrical problems in the studio.

The Terminus station guards’ anti-radiation armors were noisy and the actors’ voices couldn’t be heard if their face mask was lowered so they where forced to lift it every time they had to say something. It seems like a trivial detail but it doesn’t help the flow of the story considering the importance of these characters.

One of the sets was assembled in the wrong position so in some scenes the lighting isn’t as expected. Again it may seem a detail but a different light results in a different atmosphere in the scenes.

Producer John Nathan-Turner promised director Mary Ridge some extra time to make up for the time lost due to other people’s faults but he didn’t keep his promise. Evidently some executive over his head vetoed that decision. Several scenes had to be shot quickly, without adequate rehearsing.

“Terminus” is an adventure with a good potential, even if the story of this station at the center of the universe is rather depressing. Unfortunately, in addition to the technical problems that made its production difficult, the script has some flaws that diminish its value. The presence of two space pirates – one of which played by Liza Goddard, who for some time was married to Colin Baker – is of little use to the plot. Tegan and Turlough spend most of this adventure in the starship’s maintenance tunnels so their story is pretty boring. The automatic sterilization which is initiated at some point was supposed to be a danger but it fails to create a real atmosphere of threat.

The Garm, inspired by Norse mythology, doesn’t look particularly threatening either, just a creature with a canine head and shining eyes.

“Terminus” is the last Nyssa’s adventure. Her presence went on far beyond what was originally scheduled and though her character was never well developed the majority of “Doctor Who” fans liked her. There was good chemistry between the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa and the fact that she’s also very pretty certainly helped. For this reason Nyssa has appeared in recent years in several “Doctor Who” audio adventures produced by Big Finish.

In “Terminus”, Nyssa’s behavior is contradictory: in some moments she looks like a frightened child, in others she seems to miraculously regain her normal rationality. At some point she feels sick and takes her skirt off: I think that noone has ever objected and for someone that’s the most memorable moment of this adventure. 😉

Overall, “Terminus” is a mixture of positive and negative elements and that’s why it’s one of the adventures with the most discordant opinions among fans. Without the production issues and with an improved script it would’ve been a good adventure, as it is you need to ignore its flaws to appreciate it and it’s not easy. If it weren’t Nyssa’s last adventure with her bit of strip-tease it might be just an average adventure that only fans really remember.

Because this DVD is part of “The Black Guardian Trilogy” box set – available on Amazon UK, Amazon Canada and Amazon USA – a global judgement must necessarily be given only at the end of the reviews of this mini-arc’s adventures.