The Caves of Androzani is the sixth serial of the 21st season. It was first broadcast March 8-16 1984. It's the 136th serial and the last one for Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor. Colin Baker pops up near the end as the Sixth Doctor. Nicola Bryant plays Peri Brown. The writer is Robert Holmes and the director Graeme Harper. The Wikipedia says: In 2009 The Caves of Androzani was voted by fans as the best Doctor Who story in history. I wouldn't go that far but it was fairly good. In other fan votes for the most popular serial it's ranked 1, 2 or 4. That's pretty impressive no matter what.
The Doctor and Peri stop on Androzani Minor and find some tracks while taking a look around. It looks like a ship had landed there. They follow the tracks to see what's up. They find some crates of weapons and get caught by a General. He's there to capture Sharaz Jek and take control of the anti-aging drug supply. It's created by the bats that live in the caves. An evil business man has sent some mercenaries to supply Sharaz with weapons for his android army. He's also got power over the General. He's a real greedy power mad creep, who does what he wants to get what he wants, at one point he even kills the President. Don't worry, he'll have a spectacular downfall, thanks to the Doctor getting in there and doing his Doctor thing.
Sadly, the Doc has to die for Peter Davison to get out of the show and the next Doctor to take over. The Doctor and Peri get some organic matter on them and it will soon kill them. The only antidote is the milk of the mother bats. The Doctor gets some but only enough to save Peri. The Doctor goes through his regeneration and Peter moves along to other projects. Peri and Colin Baker take off just in time.
Director Graeme Harper has been listening to The Beatles song A Day In The Life and he was influenced by the crescendo near the end of the song. With swirling images of companions and villains, visual effects, flashing lights and a burst of energy the old Doc will expire and the new Doctor would be reborn. Harper said in the commentary that he got about 70% of what he would have liked. He would return to the world of Doctor Who when David Tennant was the Doctor and finally have the tools to do it right.
There's a nice commentary with Peter Davison, Nicola Bryant and Graeme Harper. There's plenty of the other usual extras spread over two discs. Most of it was fun to watch. Next week I'll see how I like the new Doctor.
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