“Full Circle” is an adventure of the eighteenth season, the first of the mini-arc known by the global title “The E-Space Trilogy”, which aired in 1980. It’s a four parts adventure written by Andrew Smith and directed by Peter Grimwade.
The story
The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) is bringing Romana II (Lalla Ward) back to Gallifrey when the Tardis encounters a space-time anomaly. The consequence is that the two end up in E-space, a universe separate from their one.
After landing on a planet in E-space, the Doctor and Romana get involved in the attempt of the descendants of victims of a shipwreck to make their spaceship take off again while scary creatures come out of nearby swamps.
Extras
This DVD contains a good amount of extras. There are typical contents such as BBC continuity, a PDF file with the Radio Times Billings, production subtitles and a gallery of pictures from this adventure.
There are comments in the adventure alternative audio track by actor Matthew Waterhouse, author Andrew Smith and script editor Christopher H. Bidmeade.
All Aboard the Starliner. A documentary on the production of this adventure with interviews with cast and crew.
K-9 in E-Space. A look at the role of K-9 in the adventures in E-Space.
E-Space – Fact or Fiction? A look at the science behind the concept of Exo-Space.
Swap Shop. An interview with Matthew Waterhouse of the time with calls for him from the audience to ask him a few questions.
Isolated Score. The option to see this adventure with music by Paddy Kingsland in an isolated audio track.
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Andrew Smith was only seventeen when he wrote the story that would become “Full Circle”. Producer John Nathan-Turner was making several changes to the series so he was happy to get new writers involved. Script editor Christopher H. Bidmeade found the story interesting and had Andrew Smith make some changes to satisfy the production needs.
Thus “Full Circle” was born, the adventure where the Doctor and Romana arrive in E-Space. The beginning is dedicated to the protagonists’ attempt to understand where they are giving us some clues about the universe they reached by accident while the Doctor was bringing Romana to Gallifrey. The Time Lady has changed a lot since she started traveling with the Doctor and after all the adventures she experienced she’s sad at the prospect of returning to her planet to remain there for the rest of her life.
“Full Circle” also marks Adric’s debut. He’s not exactly the most beloved companion in “Doctor Who” history and many blame Matthew Waterhouse for the failure of his character. It’s true that the actor was inexperienced at the time but honestly seeing the material he was given to impersonate Adric it would be difficult for anyone to pull off a character memorable in a positive way.
The biggest change made to the original story made “Full Circle” a story centered on evolution, both biological and social. In this adventure the planet Alzarius’s ecology is partially built and the Doctor must understand it to find out what’s the relationship between some of the planet’s creatures. Honestly if you analyze this part under a strictly scientific point of view there seem to be some logical holes but in the story’s context there’s a sense.
The story of the humans who try to leave with their ship is an example of social evolution gone wrong. Their attempt to repair the craft fallen on the planet leads in the long term to a fossilization of the mini-society that is created.
Over the generations the crew went ahead with the repairs of the ship becoming more and more reliant on manuals and reports written centuries before turning a blind eye on their inconsistencies. Humans have adapted so well to their circumstances that they go on with their work to survive on the planet and the ship’s maintainance that their departure has become almost a mirage.
It’s clearly ironic that the crew leaders are called Deciders when actually they decide nothing but merely continue a status quo that covers up the fact that even they don’t know how to leave the planet. The disparaging remarks by the Doctor when he realizes the situation are inevitable.
Thus in “Full Circle” there’s a solid story but there’s also a good visual quality considering the budget and the images of the creatures coming out of the marshes in the mist are memorable. It’s true that the spiders are far from convincing but it’s an unavoidable problem with “Doctor Who” special effects due to the low budget. For these reasons “Full Circle” is overall a really good start for the E-Space Trilogy.
Because this DVD is part of “The E-Space Trilogy” box set – available on Amazon UK
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