Doctor Who: Season 23 Recap

The Trial of a Time Lord was an ambitious idea, that doesn't make it a good idea. It starts off promisingly, but ultimately falls apart in the end. At this point John Nathan-Turner was not doing the show a service, he was detrimental. He was stubborn, it was his way or the highway. All in all, despite it starting off stronger than Season 22, it ends up being no better by the confusing and pointless finale.

Colin Baker's time in the TARDIS was cut short, as the BBC decided to let him go after this story ended, meaning that all of the bad decisions made over the past two years were blamed on Baker. That is unfortunate, because when you look past the coat, he is the strongest thing keeping the show together at this point, especially in this season.

But with a bad costume, bad writing, back stage turmoil, the death of the strongest writer the show still had, the bad directions being taken by JNT, the leaving of Eric Saward, the bad companions, the terrible sets, the bad special effects, and the poorly written plots and characters...its really hard to take one man and make him the fall guy.

Colin Baker was the unfortunate casualty of all the bad work created in the last 2 or 3 years. JNT tried to leave as well, but the BBC refused his resignation, since they couldn't drop the show without a stink, and they wouldn't be able to find someone else to take the job. So he reluctantly stayed, to keep the show on the air. It wasn't good for the show.

NEXT TIME: New Doctor, Same Problems