Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series which has been around off and on since 1963. The main character is just known as “The Doctor” and is a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. This means he travels through time to various places. One of his favorite places to visit is Earth. Typically, he has a companion traveling with him, usually female, sometimes male, sometimes one of each. He travels in a time machine known as a “Tardis” which is disguised as a British Police booth.

A Time Lord can regenerate if fatally wounded, which has accounted for all the different actors who have played The Doctor throughout the years. In this episode, he is portrayed by Tom Baker, who has always been a favorite of fans. He is traveling with fellow Time Lord, Romana, portrayed by Lalla Ward, as well as a robotic dog known as K-9.

In The Leisure Hive, the Doctor and Romana are on a vacation of sorts on Brighton Beach. When K-9 short circuits, Romana admonishes him for his choice of locale. She suggests they travel to the planet Argolis, which is the first of the leisure planets.

Argolis became a world of leisure following a devastating nuclear war. When the Doctor and Romana arrive, they learn the planet is in a crisis. The computer systems haven't been functioning properly and there are cost overruns to deal with as well. There are also hidden consequences of the nuclear war that the Argolins are working on a solution for - a solution that may in the long run be worse than the problem.

An Earth agent arrives and offers to buy the planet outright. Unfortunately, he is a front for a race known as the Foamasi, who can live on the radiation-infected surface of the planet, but who were the foes of the Argolins in the nuclear war.

The newest “attraction” at the vacation destination is a regeneration generator. The generator kills one human in an apparent malfunction.

And you know what, there’s still more I could recap of the plot. The main problem with The Leisure Hive is it tries to cover too much ground in a short period of time. With a running time of 86 minutes, there was too much story to cover in too little time with the plot being so convoluted.

This story marked a change of series producers. This new direction John Nathan-Turner took the series, away from the comedy that marked the seasons before it and more toward drama, was made clear in the first few scenes with how he quickly disposes of K-9 for the entire story. The character would eventually be phased out altogether.

While The Leisure Hive was definitely meant to impress with the new tone to the show, it was too much too fast. There almost seemed to be a tone of superiority in the way things were handled; as if the last few seasons were somehow work that was beneath this new team. More to the point, the plot of the show is utterly confusing. David Fisher muddied the whole thing with way too much happening: plot points that just as you understood them got resolved, preaching about the morality of war and cloning, raising the issues of xenophobia and ageism. All of these subjects would have been fine taken one on one or even paired with another. All put together makes me scratch my head. I was thankful for the commentary as it provided me a second opportunity to watch the story-arc and I felt like I picked up on a lot that I had missed previously.

What makes The Leisure Hive watchable are several factors. The first is the acting. The guest cast is impressive, especially the mother and son who fight over the fate of the planet. Lalla Ward was hardly my favorite companion to the Doctor, and I enjoyed the actress who originally portrayed Romana much more, but she grew on me quite a bit here. She shows concern without being just window-dressing to scream when things aren’t going well.

Tom Baker has to switch gears quickly from where he had the Doctor going during the previous season. Here, he is much more reserved and thoughtful, with the bombastic personality he had developed curtailed. Humor does ebb through at some moments, although I thought it could have allowed for more humor. With all of the plot to push through, though, I don’t suppose there was time. When the Doctor ages rapidly and multiplies later in the story, he handles it all well. I quite enjoyed Tom Baker as an elderly Doctor.

Which brings me to what else was good – many of the effects. Yes, cheesy effects are what fans have grown to love in the series. Don’t worry – it hasn’t improved that much. But here the make-up is terrific and the sets look like they have been given more thought than being simply cobbled together to try to look like something other than a set on a soundstage.

While The Leisure Hive was definitely not my favorite Doctor Who adventure, I did find it entertaining. It’s not a DVD I would seek out again to watch multiple times as I can other story-arcs, but it is decent. This is not a classic episode to start non-fans of the series watching to get an appreciation of the show back when many of us use to watch it originally. I would rate it probably one of the lowest of the DVDs that I’ve seen from the Tom Baker years.



SPECIAL FEATURES:

• A New Beginning
• From Avalon to Argolis
• Information Text
• Synthesizing Starfields
• Leisure Wear
• Blue Peter Gallery
• Picture Gallery
• Who's Who


Doctor Who on DVD: 



The First Doctor (William Hartnell) 

The Beginning Collection ~ The Keys of Marinus ~ The Aztecs ~ The Dalek Invasion of Earth ~ The Rescue/The Romans ~ The Web Planet ~ The Time Meddler ~ Lost In Time ~ The War Machines

The Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) 

Lost In Time ~ The Tomb of the Cybermen ~ The Mind Robber ~ The Invasion ~ The Seeds of Death ~ The War Games

The Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) 

Spearhead from Space  ~ Doctor Who and the Silurians ~ Inferno ~ The Claws of Axos ~ The Sea Devils ~ The Three Doctors ~ Carnival of Monsters ~ The Green Death ~ The Time Warrior 

The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) 

Robot ~ The Ark in Space ~ The Sontaran Experiment ~ Genesis of the Daleks ~ Planet of Evil ~ Pyramids of Mars ~ The Brain of Morbius ~ The Hand of Fear ~ The Deadly Assassin ~ The Robots of Death ~ The Talons of Weng Chiang ~ The Horror of Fang Rock ~ The Invisible Enemy ~ The Invasion of Time ~ The Ribos Operation ~ The Pirate Planet ~ The Stones of Blood ~ The Androids of Tara ~ The Power of Kroll ~ The Armageddon Factor ~ Destiny of the Daleks ~ City of Death ~ The Leisure Hive ~ The E Space Trilogy ~ The Keeper of Traken ~ Logopolis 

The Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) 

Castrovalva ~ Four to Doomsday ~ The Visitation ~ Black Orchid ~ Earthshock ~ Time-Flight ~ Arc of Infinity ~ Black Guardian Trilogy ~ The Five Doctors ~ Warriors of the Deep ~ Resurrection of the Daleks ~ The Caves of the Androzani 

The Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) 

The Twin Dilemma ~ Attack of the Cybermen ~ Vengeance on Varos ~ The Mark of the Rani ~ The Two Doctors ~ Timelash ~ Revelation of the Daleks ~ The Trial of a Time Lord

The Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) 

Delta and the Bannermen ~ Remembrance of the Daleks ~ Battlefield ~ Ghost Light ~ The Curse of Fenric ~ Survival 

The Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) 

Doctor Who - The Movie

The Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) 

Doctor Who 2005 - The Complete First Series 

The Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) 

Doctor Who 2006 - The Complete Second Series ~ Doctor Who 2007 - The Complete Third Series ~ The Infinite Quest ~ Doctor Who 2008 - The Complete Fourth Series ~ The Next Doctor  ~ Planet of the Dead ~ The Waters of Mars ~ The Next Doctor ~ The End of Time

The Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith)

Doctor Who 2010 - The Complete Fifth Series


DOCTOR WHO MOVIES

The Doctor Who Collection: Doctor Who and the Daleks ~ Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.


OTHER RELATED SERIES:

Torchwood Series One ~ Torchwood Series Two ~ Torchwood Children of Earth

The Sarah Jane Chronicles

 
© 2007 Patti Aliventi

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD