Doctor Who (TV Series) Time-Flight: Part One (1982) User Reviews

Speedbird Concorde 192. Problems with Concorde?

[Sleepin_Dragon · 6/10 · 15 January 2020]

It's easy to understand why Time-flight has a low score, I get that, but what I would definitely say, is that the episodes vary in quality.

Part one for the most part is rather enjoyable. The idea of Concorde simply vanishing out of the sky is really good, even in this first part you can see the ambition. The scenes of Concorde on the snow are terrific, and i think the sets on the other side are pretty good. On the downside, some of the acting is woeful, Angela and Dave are perhaps not the best, their faces are hilarious, the plasmatons are terrible, and then there's Kalid.

....Kalid, did anyone not know who it was? Why is he in fancy dress shouting sharom shara?

Fans at the time may well have remembered The Faceless ones, I wonder if there were any theories about The Chameleons being behind it all.

It looks terrific on Blu-ray, the quality surprises me.

It's one of those, where the idea was definitely too big for the budget, but this opening episode is pretty good. 6/10

Ambitious story, Whovian frugality

[jamesrupert2014 · 6/10 · 7 April 2017]

"Time-flight" (parts 1-4) finds The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan, and two Concorde jets transported through a time contour to a primordial Earth when a crashed starship contains the essence of a long vanished race, which has split into "good" and "evil" manifestations due to the arrival of the Master, who is having TARDIS troubles. Due a convenient "psychokinetic field ", Triassic Earth frequently resembles Heathrow, which is good because when it does not, it seems to be made up of the Styrofoam rocks that are so frequently found around TARDIS touchdowns. The Master inexplicably disguises himself as some kind of fat Fu Manchu for the first two chapters and then threatens people, already frightened by grey blob-aliens who cause people to disappear (somehow involving soap bubbles), with his shrink ray. Needless to say that The Doctor outwits him and gives the alien gestalt a new hope. Overall: an overly-complex story with lots of talk, little action and dodgy optical effects – typical of Davison's tenure. Mostly for fans, mostly.

Bumpy flight and crash landing.

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 7/10 · 30 September 2019]

Review of all 4 parts:

I think the criticism of this story is a bit exaggerated. Yes it is disappointing with various problematic aspects but it is actually pretty fun at times and has some qualities, mainly at the start.

I actually think the first episode would have been a good, interesting episode if it were not for one problem. That problem is that it begins with the The Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa reacting to the death of companion Adric in the previous adventure. It is seeming reasonable as they are all upset but then they basically decide they have to move on and he is seemingly easily forgotten. The previous story, Earthshock, was SO superb and the death so movingly and effectively done that it was important to refer to it in this story but sadly it is not done well. The way it should have been done is either to have an episode full of them struggling to deal with it or alternatively by the episode starting with time having obviously passed for them to recover. They could then have mentioned him and his sad death throughout the story but got on with things having had time to process the loss. As it is, we are given the indication hardly any time has passed and yet after a scene of upset the adventure continues with them not seeming to pay him any thought. It is jarring.

The first episode, after the opening scene, takes us to Heathrow Airport where a Concorde plane has disappeared and the Doctor is recommended by UNIT to investigate. They take another Concorde on a flight and find they are transported in time to many millions of years in Earth's past where they find the crew and passengers of the other plane all in a kind of hypnotised state. They find a villainous figure called Kalid manipulating an alien psychic race the Xeraphins. The mystery is intriguing, the use of Concorde is nice, Peter Davison is on form and despite what many say I find the dialogue and acting good. If they had not been so clumsy in handling the aftermath of Adric's demise I might rate Part 1 as high as a good solid 8/10. Sadly with this unsatisfying element I rate it only 6.5/10 but it is mainly OK in my opinion.

Part 2 continues to be interesting and fun and I find Stapley and Hayter very good, well acted characters. Bilton and Scobie are OK and Nyssa is good. Tegan is a shadow of her best and is annoying in this adventure. Kalid turns out to be the Master in disguise. Whilst this can be worked out by fans due to the character stealing the TARDIS and plotting evil events involving time you would not know it was Anthony Ainley as his acting as Kalid is suitably different and unrecognisable through the weird make-up. It shows again Ainley can do more than just play the Master's smooth, sneering character. There are aspects that start to be a bit off as we are told the Concorde is pretty undamaged after landing on a rocky plain, the Plasmatons are unimpressive and events begin to get complicated.

In parts 3 and 4 there is still some good character interplay, some good fun and interesting aspects but the plot gets too complex and muddled and the Xeraphins are not a great creation. The ending is pretty flat and there are bits of plot left seeming less than clear. I can see why the story is not popular but I do not find it awful at all, I think it has some decent ingredients and some enjoyable parts. I do think it gets muddled and silly and agree it has issues throughout so overall it is a disappointment, especially following the fantastic Earthshock.

My ratings: Part 1 - 6.5/10, Part 2 - 6.5/10, Part 3 - 5.5/10, Part 4 - 4.5/10. Overall - 5.75/10.

Better than expected

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 9 December 2023]

I was expecting to hate TIME-FLIGHT but I found it better than expected given its reputation as one of the worst of all the classic-era Whos. It has much to recommend it, not least plenty of action, a tribute to the much-missed Concorde, and some interesting character work as the companions grieve for the lost Adric. Anthony Ainley has a fun pantomime role in this one and the cheesy special effects, although obviously dated, are always a draw for me - and I'll forever take them over the likes of the appalling CGI killer wheelie bin in Christopher Ecclestone's first outing as the Doctor. No, it's no classic, but it is watchable.

Cool

[ianweech · 7/10 · 24 January 2021]

Interesting start, hopefully it gets better because it isn't amazing. Good, but not great.

Sometimes you feel like a mild viewing experience.

[dylanstaxes · 7/10 · 7 June 2021]

Admittedly, I'm not a fifth doctor fan, but I definitely enjoy this story. It feels nice but it is quite mild. Concordes and Tegan and Peter Delgado's master are cool, though it is not the Master's scariest hour.

What the hell did I just watch?

[poolandrews · 4/10 · 28 February 2008]

Doctor Who: Time-Flight: Part One starts as Concorde 192 from New York suddenly disappears from radar on it's approach to London Heathrow, the air traffic control are stumped. Meanwhile the Doctor (Peter Davison) decides to try & cheer Tegan (Janet Fielding) & Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) up after the death of Adric by taking them to London 1851 & the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, however due to problems the Doctor is forced to materialise the TARDIS sooner than he had expected & ends up at Heathrow shortly after the disappearance of the Concorde. Questioned by airport security the Doctor insists they contact Department C19 & Sir John Sudbury of UNIT, the airport authorities are then ordered to inform the Doctor about the missing Concorde & he has theories that it has entered a time vortex...

Episode 23 from season 19 this Doctor Who adventure originally aired here in the UK during March 1982 & was the seventh & final story from Peter Davison's first season playing the Doctor, directed by Ron Jones one has to say I'm not quite sure what to make of Time-Flight. Originally called Zanadin & then Xeraphin the script for Time-Flight by Peter Grimwade has been stark raving mad so far & one could maybe say far too ambitious for the meagre budget & resources the production team had. The whole notion of an entire Concorde along with it's passengers & crew having been abducted through time back 140 million years to the Pleistocene period through a time corridor is a little hard to swallow & then the idea that Heathrow & British Airways would quite literally give the Doctor, Nyssa & Tegan another Concorde complete with flight crew to investigate the disappearance of the first is just taking things that little bit too far. I'm a sci-fi, horror, cult, trash, exploitation fan but there comes a time when even I cannot suspend my disbelief long enough not to see all the gaping plot holes, inconsistencies & downright silliness that's going on here. Time-Flight is one of those programs you have to see to believe & words simply cannot do it justice. This opening episode at least tries to present the missing Concorde as a mystery which works until British Airways gives the Doctor a Concorde of his own (I mean like yeah, I am sure British Airways has loads of the things just lying around to hand out), once Time-Flight goes back 140 million years in the past it gets even sillier with some awful dialogue, odd behaviour (the cabin crew take the situation very well, Tegan just running off into the distance, Nyssa disobeying the Doctor for no reason) & a poor cliffhanger ending.

One aspect of Time-Flight which the production team could never succeed with are the special effects, from awkward looking stock footage of Heathrow & Concorde to some truly dire CSO (colour separation overlay) that is as bad as anything from the Jon Pertwee era. The sets are cheap looking as well with a grounded Concorde represented by the Doctor standing next to it's front wheel & don't even get me started on those hysterically bad looking Plasmaton creatures that resemble a block of cement on legs! Amazingly producer John Nathan-Turner managed to persuade British Airways to allow them to film on their back-up Concorde which is probably the highlight of Time-Flight so far. I also noticed a goof here, when the TARDIS is above Heathrow looking down the ground is clear yet when the Doctor, Nyssa & Tegan board Concorde there's snow everywhere!

Time-Flight: Part One is a bit of a mess, the production is really poor on all fronts & the story is just plain convoluted & bizarre. It's entertaining in a so bad it's good sort of way but at the same time this is the sort of Doctor Who that makes you feel embarrassed for liking the show.

A Turkey Makes A Crash Landing

[Theo Robertson · 3/10 · 28 January 2014]

Refers To All Four Episodes . Suggestive Spoilers

Still grieving at the death of Adric the Tardis crew land at Heathrow airport and find out a concord has disappeared on its approach to London . Trying to get to the bottom of the mystery The Doctor suggests loading the Tardis on to another concord and flying on a similar flight path .

A week after seeing Earthshock this audience member was still in something of a daze . That adventure would surely have grabbed the casual viewer by their sensitive bits and would have hooked them in to watching more of the same so the audience would be expecting a delicious dessert after the main course feast of Earthshock

Unfortunately what we got was lukewarm vomit and sums up what would be a fundamental flaw from producer John Nathan Turner - creating an audience buzz then following it up with a debacle . This would be most evident in 1984 with The Twin Dilemma following on from The Caves Of Androzani and we see something very similar here . Timeflight is one of the worst stories from the 1980s broadcast a week after one of the very best stories from the 1980s

To be fair the first episode is intriguing and contains a production coup in that it contains extensive filming in Heathrow airport . The problem is that this location filming merely exists as a publicity coup . It must have also cost a few bob because when the story cuts to London 140 million years earlier it's obvious that all the money is spent by the first episode . The scenes set during the Jurrasic period are amongst the most poorly realised in the history of the show . You might have been able to get away with this in 1964 with 405 line television but not in 1982 . I've sat in living rooms that are bigger than the sets seen here and it should have been obvious that this story would be unfilmable . You want to see a concord fly over a Jurrasic landscape ? Then watch a Hollywood movie because anyone thinking they can realise this image on DOCTOR is suffering from quixotic delusion , a fact reflected on screen

There's also a lack of thought gone in to the plotting . Kalid isn't who he claims to be so why does he feel the need to disguise himself ? There's a lack of internal logic to this except to set up a cliffhanger . As for the masterplan ( Geddit ? ) I'm somewhat confused as to what his aims were and how they tied in with capturing concord and the crew and passengers . The story also ends on a totally limp note with the Doctor giving an explanation as to how he's defeated the villain . Since the script was written by an established director , the highly acclaimed Peter Grimwade , you'd think he'd know better than to show and not tell

Timeflight ends Season 19 one of the most enjoyable , contrasting and experimental seasons the programme has given television . Not every story can be a classic but if you're going to make a very below par story it's better to broadcast it mid way through a season where it'll be quickly forgotten . As it stands having a turkey at the end of the season means it'll stick out in the mind of casual viewers who may not be so forgiving when the new season comes around

Weird finale..

[wetmars · 4/10 · 3 March 2020]

Meh, really boring and it has a weird cliffhanger.. The plasmatons are so terrible lmao.. even low budget.