Doctor Who/Recap/S19/E05 Black Orchid: Difference between revisions

[[File:black_orchid_dance_5670.jpg|framethumb|400px]]

{{quote|''Why do I always let my curiosity get the better of me?''|'''The Doctor''' either lacks [[Genre Savvy]] or is going [[Meta Fiction|Meta Fictional]]al}}

The second serial by writer Terence Dudley, ''Black Orchid'' is nine-tenths [[Scenery Porn]] and [[Fan Service]] and one-tenth the plot for said [[Scenery Porn]] and [[Fan Service]]. Also, it's the first two-part story in [[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]] since 1975: producer John Nathan-Turner didn't like the six-part stories that had been common up until this point, and was experimenting with different story lengths.

It is also the last "pure historical" (a past-set story not featuring aliens or the like) to date, and the last one since ''[[Doctor Who (TV)/Recap/S4 E4/E04 The Highlanders|The Highlanders]]''.

Mystery Killer, now dressed in slacks and and a nice sweater, kidnaps Ann, kills a few more people and is then temporarily subdued while everyone tries to politely ignore the fact that a murder interrupted their pleasant summer banquet and dance. Then Mystery Killer escapes, grabs Nyssa and runs off - apparently having set the entire house on fire to break down a simple door. At this point, Lady Cranleigh decides to confess that the murdering psychopath is her ''other'' son, who was hideously mutilated during the course of his search for the black orchid; and, no longer being one of the Beautiful People, was shut away in the disused corridor. But it's all good, as the Doctor and Lord Cranleigh decide to go up and rescue Nyssa - and in doing so, cause our 'misunderstood' villain to hurl himself from the roof to his death.

Tegan dances the Charleston! Nyssa and Adric are baffled by this weird Earth game "cricket"! Nyssa wears a beautiful dress! Adric eats food! The Doctor sings in the shower! Adric eats more food! A 'good person' kills a lot of people! Most importantly, [[Peter Davison]] spends quite a bit of the first episode in a bathrobe! It's like an entire episode of ''[[Omake|omake]]'' (Who-''make''?).

=== Tropes ===

* [[Breather Episode]]: Somewhat justified in that the previous four adventures often had high death counts, or at least came near grievous personal harm to our TARDIS crew. [[Doctor Who (TV)/Recap/S19 E6/E06 Earthshock|And then there is the next one...]]

* [[The Cast Showoff]]: That's really [[Peter Davison]], a keen cricketer himself, playing cricket in the Doctor's cricket scenes, and doing pretty well--hewell—he bowls out an extra.

** [[Cricket Rules]]: In the [[Doctor Who Novelisations (Literature)|novelisation]], Tegan tries explaining the rules of the game to Adric and Nyssa.

* [[A Day in Thethe Limelight]]: Each of The Doctor's companions was given a story where they could take a bigger role this season. This is Nyssa's. She gets to play her [[Identical Stranger]]!

* [[Gorgeous Period Dress]]: "Black Orchid" is a fine exemplar of a subclass of Classic ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Who]]'' stories: the let's-raid-the-BBC-wardrobe-department serial.