Whodunit?

"We've all got something to hide, don't you think so Commander?"

--Poul to Uvanov

Murder mysteries in Doctor Who are about as mystifying as "who mislaid the scissors?" in my house (I'll give you a hint: there are two of us and one of us is left-handed). By the beginning of episode 3 of The Robots of Death, it's pretty obvious who is behind the body count (or at least controlling the robots), even though the production team persists in halfheartedly hiding his identity.

But it's not really the point, is it? Whether it's The Rescue, Black Orchid, Terror of the Vervoids or The Unicorn and the Wasp murder mysteries are almost always merely the backdrop to a good Doctor Who story. The Robots of Death is a rich story full of incident, humour, mild social commentary and most of all interesting characters. Chris Boucher also gives us tantalizing bits of world building that aid the narrative rather than hinder it. Uvanov and Tilda are locked in conflict that springs from the elitism of "first families" which we can well imagine, and this weaves together nicely with the sub-plot of robot-phobia (aka Grimwade's Syndrome--a nice little in joke referring to Production Assistant Peter Grimwade's propensity for being assigned to Doctor Who stories featuring robots).

Doctor Who doesn't really suit the format of a true murder mystery. Whodunits are inherently talky and lacking in much action. They're more psychological in nature. By the time we'd been given a proper back story for Chub or Cass, you'd have a seven-parter! What Doctor Who does brilliantly is pastiche the atmosphere of a good mystery. The Doctor getting trapped in the mineral sorter while discovering a body or the use of the chilling corpse markers.

The design and production values still look so sumptuous and inventive all these years later. Because of the art deco look, they just don't seem to date (I noticed for the first time though, that Zilda's headpiece was used by the short little Romana during the Time Lady's regeneration scene in Destiny of the Daleks).

Tom and Leela are so brilliant together and offer such a different dynamic to Tom and Sarah. One can forgive the few scenes where Leela seems to suddenly act like a more sophisticated version of herself (like when she turned in her chair fingering a folder, and questioned D84).

Whether 14 or 41, this is Doctor Who at it's best!

Original viewing date: December 25, 1983.

Wine: A Pinot Noir from Chateau des Charmes in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Music: "Mr. Roboto" by Styx. And yes the choice is a bit on the nose, but it's my blog!