Doctor Who: Battlefield: Part Two starts as Mordred (Christopher Bowen) summons his mother Morgaine (Jean Marsh) a powerful & evil sorceress, she appears & sets about her plan. Meanwhile the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) & Ace (Sophie Aldred) head down to the archaeological dig near the shore of Lake Vortigren, there Ace blows a hole in the ground & uncovers a tunnel which leads down beneath the surface of the lake. The Doctor & Ace follow the tunnel & find themselves in a bio-engineered spacecraft at the bottom of the lake, inside they find what looks like the body of King Arthur & his sword of Excalibur as the mystery deepens...
Episode 2 from season 26 this Doctor Who adventure originally aired here in the UK during September 1989, directed by Michael Kerrigan one has to say that Battlefield isn't too bad a story considering a lot of the output from Doctor Who during the 80's. The script by Ben Aaronovitch uses the tried & tested idea of taking some factual historic event or legend & putting a Doctor Who style spin on it & having the Doctor caught up in the events or character's like in The Aztecs (1964) from season one, the battle of Culloden in season four's The Highlanders (1966) & the legend of Atlantis in The Time Monster (1972) during season nine to name but three. Here in battlefield it's King Arthur & Merlin the magician which get the Doctor Who treatment, the story is actually quite fun so far with the legend of King Arthur, Exacilbur & Merlin fairly well known so I don't think the plot will confuse anyone & by putting an elaborate if silly sci-fi angle to things it doesn't need to be 100% historically accurate. I still hate Brigadier Bambera & just want her to die, thank God she only ever appeared in this one solitary story.
This episode belongs to Christopher Bowen who plays Mordred, his over-the-top pantomime villain laugh has to be heard to be believed. Imagine the most exaggerated 'evil' maw ha ha ha ha type laugh you can & then triple it, that's how cheesy & over-the-top his laugh is. When released on home video Battlefield was extended with some extra footage originally cut for timing purposes, while Part One was the same as the broadcast version Part Two had one scene edited back in where the Doctor explains the organic nature of the spacecraft under the lake. While shooting the cliffhanger ending to this episode in which Ace is trapped inside an airlock filling with water the glass front fractured & broke, Sophie Aldred was lifted out of the tank moments before it broke & sent water everywhere & across electrical cables on the floor. Aldred suffered from cut hands apparently but the incident was widely reported in the press & I think the footage has actually turned up on blooper type TV show's in the past.
Battlefield: Part Two is a fun Doctor Who story so far, it's not going to make anyones top ten list but it's entertaining enough with a fairly interesting & imaginative story. It also has one of the all time worst/best (whichever way you want to look at it I suppose) pantomime villain laughs in it, ever.
0 out of 1 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
