“The Visitation” is an adventure of the nineteenth season of “Doctor Who” classic series which aired in 1982. It follows “Kinda” and it’s a four parts adventure written by Eric Saward and directed by Peter Moffatt.

The story

Tegan (Janet Fielding) is still shaken up by what happened on the planet Deva Loka. The Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) tries to bring her home but the Tardis lands about three centuries too soon. Tegan runs out of the Tardis and the Doctor can only follow her along with Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) and Adric (Matthew Waterhouse).

The travelers are attacked by a group of residents of a nearby village. Running from them, they meet Richard Mace, who claims to be a highwayman but also an thespian. Mace tells them that recently a comet fell nearby. The Doctor realizes that it can’t be a comet and starts investigating a probable alien presence.

Extras

This DVD contains a good amount of extras. There are typical contents such as production subtitles and a gallery of pictures from this adventure.

There are comments in the adventure alternative audio track by protagonists Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and Matthew Waterhouse and director Peter Moffatt.

Directing Who. Peter Moffatt talks about his work as a director of this but also other “Doctor Who” adventures.

Writing a Final Visitation. Writer Eric Saward talks about the origins of this adventure and the changes made between the script and the recording.

Scoring The Visitation. Composer Paddy Kingsland talks about the music he composed for this adventure.

Film Trims. Some outtakes cut from the final version of this adventure.

Music-only Option. The option to listen to the music specially composed by Paddy Kingsland together with this adventure.

There’s also an “Easter egg” but it contains just BBC announcements for this adventure.

One of the writers that former script editor Christopher Bidmead was able to recruit for “Doctor Who” was Eric Saward, who proposed a story set in England during the time of the bubonic plague outbreak. Producer John Nathan-Turner, however, saw similarities between this idea and the adventure “The Talons of Weng-Chiang” and it contained elements of comedy he wanted to avoid.

It wasn’t until several months later that it was decided that Eric Saward’s idea had potential and the writer was commissioned to develop it. Meanwhile, the Doctor had regenerated and had three companions so the script included those updates. John Nathan-Turner had him include the destruction of the sonic screwdriver, which in his opinion allowed the Doctor to get out from almost any trouble too easily.

In the new series the use of the sonic screwdriver is almost a requirement to produce a story with a pace fast enough to be completed in an episode lasting little more than 40 minutes but in the classic series the adventures were much longer. John Nathan-Turner thought that the elimination of this instrument would’ve forced the authors to use more imagination in solving the Doctor’s problems filling up the time of the events in a better way.

Eventually, the destruction of the sonic screwdriver became one of the reasons why “The Visitation” is remembered along with the Great Fire of London. These events are part of a pseudo-historical adventure, meaning that it’s set in the Earth’s past but contains science fiction elements. Eric Saward got inspired by the “Doctor Who” adventures of the previous years but the result is a bit dull.

The plot is fairly straightforward, perhaps even too much because “The Visitation” ends up being one of those adventures in which the Doctor and his companions spend a lot of time going from one place to another. On the other hand, the three companions don’t have much to do but argue and follow the Doctor. In the adventures of the ’60s with three companions the plot was generally quite complex and typically the protagonists are separated so there were subplots, this adventure is instead inspired in a way I found a little superficial.

Producer John Nathan-Turner had decided to make Nyssa a companion after her first appearance but it seems that no one had determined how to develop her character. In “The Visitation”, Nyssa spends a part of the story in the Tardis though less than in “Kinda” and at least she has something to do.

Eventually, the character of Richard Mace becomes a protagonist almost more than the Doctor. Eric Saward had invented this actor for some radio plays that had nothing to do with “Doctor Who” and were set in the 1880s. In “The Visitation”, Saward adapted the character to an earlier time turning him into a highwayman after the theaters got closed because of the plague.

Actor Michael Robbins plays Richard Mace with a very threatrical style and this is one of the elements a bit controversial of “The Visitation”. Personally, I think it’s one of the good parts of this adventure because I find it distinctive, different from the standard performances you can see on TV.

Certainly a positive element of “The Visitation” is in its production values. When it comes to producing a story set in the past, it’s easy to find in the BBC warehouses costumes that are more than adequate and locations where they can record it. The costumes of the aliens Terileptil are so-so, let’s say on average in the classic “Doctor Who” series.

People who appreciates historical adventures usually like “The Visitation”, even a lot. I’m not a fan of this kind of stories so for me the merits of this adventure don’t compensate its flaws enough to consider it among “Doctor Who” classics. I consider it an average adventure and the extras included on the DVD seem targeted especially to the show fans so it’s especially to them that I recommend buying it.