One fat geek's SUCCESSFUL attempt to regenerate into a not-so-fat geek by watching the entirety of Doctor Who while walking on a treadmill

Turlough Doomed

Jan 08 2018
Turlough Doomed

I wasn't sure if I was going to hit the treadmill today. This morning I wasn't quite up to it, so I put off my decision until the end of my work day. By 6pm I felt about 80% better, and decided I could push through a workout without damaging myself. Surprisingly, I made it through the entire hour at just one notch below my normal speed. I feel pretty good about that. Of course, I also now feel exhausted, so I am headed to bed directly after I hit the Post button.

So let's talk Doctor Who so I can fall into bed.

Enlightenment - Parts 1 & 2

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

With Nyssa left behind on Terminus, the TARDIS crew is now reduced to the Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough. Of course, Turlough is still under the thumb of the Black Guardian, and as such is sort of half-companion and half-villain. As fo the TARDIS itself, its power is being drained away by some unknown force, which turns out to be the White Guardian trying to warn the Doctor about the forces aligned against him. Unfortunately the signal is weak and garbled, but at least the Doctor is finally aware that the Black Guardian has found him and is attempting to kill him.

They all end up aboard a mysterious Edwardian era racing ship, with a crew that can't remember how they got there or where they are going and officers who are just.... weird. Much time is spent trying to figure out what is going on (it's really a spaceship, the officers are really immortals), and by the midpoint Turlough finally hits his breaking point. Rather than murder the Doctor or be left for all eternity on this doomed vessel, Turlough elects to jump overboard into deep space and certain death.

This is the first story where I have started to genuinely like Mark Strickson's character of Turlough. He was nothing but annoying in Mawdryn Undead and he was effectively sidelined for most of Terminus, so this is the story where he finally gets to stretch as a character and show some real depth. 

Tegan also gets some real emotional angst to work with here, and it seems like she is still psychologically reeling from her experience with the Mara. Again, some nice depth to work with.

After the weakness of the last story, Enlightenment seems a return to form for the Fifth Doctor era with a story that is imaginative and esoteric, and relies upon subtlety and implied threat instead of just monsters and explosions. It is also noteworthy as being the very first story in the entire history of the show to be both written by and directed by women. So that's pretty cool.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Fifth
Companion(s): Tegan, Nyssa, Turlough
Episode(s): Enlightenment - Parts 1 & 2
Steps Walked: 7,435 today, 2,092,714 total
Distance Walked: 4.21 miles today, 1,070.65 miles total
Weight: 246.24 lbs (five day moving average), net change -61.06 lbs


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