The Deadly Assassin

You know, just every so often, if I’ve a quiet afternoon — and I’ve more of those than I’d like, recently — I’ll quite happily watch a dvd.   And, geek boy fan that I am, a vintage “Doctor Who” story always goes down well.

And, if you hadn’t already guessed what’s sitting in my DVD player at the minute, it’s the 1976, Tom Baker era story, “The Deadly Assassin”.

It’s from something of a golden age for the original series.   Mind you, that’s a very subjective opinion; I was quite young, back then, and well written TV will always make an impression.

Much like “Genesis of The Daleks”.   Which, although written by Terry Nation, had quite a lot of contributions from Robert Holmes, the man who wrote “The Deadly Assassin” and generally agreed to be the best writer the original version of the series saw.

I’m also can’t help but think the only writer on the new series who comes near is Russell T. Davies.   But that new head writer Stephen Moffat’s the only one on a par with Holmes.   Seriously.

Go check out “Blink”.   Then sit down with “The Talons of Weng Chiang”.

And then let me know.

At any rate, Robert Holmes, at his peak, was superb; and, although “The Deadly Assassin” isn’t necessarily his best, it is bloody good, i think.

I’m told Holmes loosely based it on “The Manchurian Candidate”.   I couldn’t tell you.   At least not until I read it.   It does, however, follow the efforts of a much decayed version of the Master — played, in this story, by Peter Pratt — to try and seize power by assassinating the President of the Timelords.   It also, much like like “Genesis” before, gives something of an overhaul to part of the “Doctor Who” universe.   In this case, the Timelords, the Doctor’s own people.

Up ’til “The Deadly Assassin”, it’s easy to have seen them as an almost godlike people.   Especially going on the few occasions we’d seen them; “The Three Doctors” and “The War Games” are good examples here, I think.

But “Deadly Assassin” shows us otherwise, I think; it shows us a people who are powerful, ancient … and riddled by corruption .

Just as an example up until this story, we’d been told that the Timelords never interfered with less advanced peoples.

And, in one throw away line, Holmes has Castellan Spandrell — played by George Pravda — tell us the Timelords has an organisation called the Celestial Intervention Agency, known to poke their collective noses in where they’re not wanted, and do dirty deeds, dirt cheap.

Lord knows where Robert Holmes was going with that one …

It also re-introduces the Master back to the series, after the character had been last seen during Jon Pertwee’s time as the Doctor.   As part of his return, “The Deadly Assassin” establishes that Timelords may only regenerate a total of of 12 times — thirteen bodies, in other words — and this tells us why he is scheming and plotting.   The decayed form we see him in, is a result of his reaching the end of his regenerative cycle; it’s his efforts to gain more life that drive what he does.

We can probably start talking about “Bladerunner”, here, can’t we?   After all, both feature an antagonist who wishes to live for longer than is normally possible.   But I feel that that’s all they may have in common.

After all, Rutger Hauer is portraying someone who, whilst he does evil, is doing evil because he and his group have ultimately been wronged in being created with shortened life, and seek to correct this.   

Peter Pratt as The Master is doing evil for selfish reasons; he has come to the end of his life and, in assassinating the Timelord President, does evil for selfish reasons.

It’s also something that implicitly can be worked round; in “The Five Doctors”, Anthony Ainley’s version of the Master is offered an complete new regenerative cycle, as an incentive to rescue the Doctor from the Death Zone.   And we learn in “The Sound of The Drums” that this was done, to secure the Master’s help, in the Time War, against the Daleks.

At any rate, “The Deadly Assassin” is a story I could happily watch again; and write more about, as well.

But I’d also encourage you to see this for yourself.   This is, I feel, the origin of much of the modern series’ back story, something that I believe that has contributed to to how Russell T. Davies has shaped the remake, and how Stephen Moffat will build on it.

Enjoy!

Cast
The Doctor	Tom Baker
The Master	Peter Pratt
Chancellor Goth	Bernard Horsfall
Castellan Spandrell	George Pravda
Co-ordinator Engin	Erik Chitty
Cardinal Borusa	Angus Mackay

Director	David Maloney
Producer	Phillip Hinchcliffe
Writer	Robert Holmes
Script Editor	Robert Holmes