Number 6

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you still get picked last for the team. You're sort of the least of the best. Like Aquaman in the Super Friends. You can't blame The Masque of Mandragora for the fact that season 14 is one of the best in Doctor Who's history.

Lovely set design, reasonably interesting characters and fantastic location filming at Portmerion: there is much to love about The Masque of Mandragora.

And the Doctor is fascinating to watch in the story. He seems so in control; he’s a man with a mission, he’s gonna clean up his mess, dodge the local political intrigue, and put out the red firecracker. In some ways it’s a very unusual Doctor Who story with its diffuse, triangulated plot: Count Fredrico wants to do away with his nephew, the rightful heir of San Martino, and he employs the help of the local astrologer Hieronymus, who in turn (with Helix help) has bigger aspirations to be head cheese of the world. Fredrico seems to sense the bearded one and the cult of Demnos are a bit of a threat so he tries to take them out too. Many peasants get slaughtered, and Sarah’s on sacrificial lamb duty.

I must confess that the ending thoroughly confused me. I get the basic idea that the Doctor saves the day by using himself as a human grounding wire, draining the Mandragora Helix. But doesn't the Helix have a central intelligence? So once he drained off the Hieronymus part, didn't the rest of it inhabiting the other acolytes know what was going on?

The cliffhanger at the end of episode three is fantastic, mind you, with Hieronymus removing his mask to reveal blank light and then Fredrico being stuck down in all his arrogance. Maybe that's the problem, the subsequent ending to the story never really surpasses that moment. Ultimately, the whole thing suffers from being too diffuse. Instead of one big show-stopping finale, we got stages of defeat for the Doctor's antagonists. And when the end finally came, I never really doubted for one moment that it was the Doctor behind Hieronymus' mask. I guess I just wanted something more clever. Or perhaps for Giuliano to play a more pivotal part in the big showdown. In a Davison story he would have been the pseudo-companion!

But Doctor Who’s difficulty with endings could be viewed as a by-product of one of its great strengths—it always, always (well almost always) shoots for the moon. Star Trek TNG or other sci-fi series are mere procedurals by comparison, concerned with reasoned, neat stories that make a clear point, with no greasy fingerprints on the door-frame. Doctor Who is messy and inventive like play. With great whimsy, romance and imagination comes great corners to be backed into.

When you're nicking gorgeous costumes from the BBC wardrobe department and mingling with the ghosts of The Prisoner on the grounds of Portmerion who has time for tediously laid tongue twisters of technobabble. Scary, faceless cultists and a bon vivant Doctor tripping executioners with his scarf and jumping onto every horse in sight is what you pays yer money for.

What really would have made the story more interesting, besides a better ending, was if Guillermo had had more of a personality or even just a few more character beats. But I suppose he was a goody in the classical sense (where actors talk about how they’d much rather play a baddy).

Of course season 14 is about to ramp up and I’m quite excited about the weeks to come. Doctor Who is at its height and if Mandragora isn’t quite stellar, it has much to recommend it.

My 14-year-old opinion: Back then the plot never really held my attention. My memories are of creepy Hieronymus and his funky beard, the masks, Sarah picking oranges and the copious use of horses in the story.

Original viewing date: November 20 or November 27, 1983

Wine: What else, a half decent Chianti (served without fava beans) from the Rocca delle Macie.

Music: "Eyes Without a Face," by Billy Idol.