Doctor Who - The Deadly Assassin

So begins the only story where the Doctor is without a companion. After seeing the assassination of the president in a precognitive vision, in which he is the assassin, the Doctor lands on Gallifrey and is ordered arrested by Castellan Spandrell. He leaves a note warning them of the assassination, eludes the bumbling Chancellery guards, led by the [fool] Hildred and tries to stop the killing to no avail.

The Doctor buys time by invoking Article 17 of the constitution, in which he announces his candidacy for the presidency. He has the Castellan, an open-minded Time Lord who is a "simple seeker of the truth," as an ally. He tells the Doctor: "I believe you are going to be executed for it [the assassination]"

His old teacher, the jurist Cardinal Borusa, defends the Doctor's use of Article 17 against Chancellor Goth, who as interim leader, wants the Doctor executed. He says to Goth, "All presidents are faced with difficult decisions. It is by their decisions that they are judged." It's when the shrunken body of the PR announcer's soundman is found in the camera that the Doctor recognizes the Master's trademark method of killing.

The latter part of Episode 2 and all of Episode 3 are spent in a dreamland of the Matrix, where the Doctor battles an unknown adversary--the Master's champion. He carries on, saying, "I deny this reality. The reality is a computation matrix." Weird and surreal scenes, such as eyes appearing on a cliff face, a WWI soldier in gas mask, machine guns rattling, and even a Samurai warrior appear.

Funny Tom Baker lines: "Extraordinary. The roof's still on. I could have sworn it fell on me." To Hildred: "I confess you're a bigger [fool] than I thought you were." To Spandrell: "Vaporization without representation is against the constitution!"

The prelude, spoken by Tom Baker after the opening titles, has another context given the events of 11 September. Other quotes from this story that lend credence to this connection: Borusa: "We live in evil times." and he also says in reaction to Goth's reactive move for a swift trial: "This is a time to reflect, for passions to cool." and "A violent action is causing an opposite and violent reaction." If only these lines were applied...

Other elements this story incorporates is the Manchurian Candidate, the JFK assassination, and the investigation of a conspiracy. And then there are term limits. An aging Time Lord remembers a president who served for 900 years, saying: "Now they're chopping and changing every couple of few centuries."

This is one of the most important stories in the series' history, as we get a more detailed look at Time Lord society. We learn what the Matrix is, the lifespan of Time Lords, and the three chapter and associated colours of Time Lords. Prydonians may seem devious but as Goth says, "we simply see a little further ahead than most." There are links to past stories, such as the Doctor's trial (The War Games) and acquittal (The Three Doctors).

Much of the Doctor's time is spent with Spandrell and Coordinator Engin, who assist him in his quest to exonerate himself. They make a good team. Spandrell is the tough-minded and sarcastic one, while Engin has the personality of a chatty and friendly librarian. The Doctor has the rational and imaginative quality they lack. Both George Pravda (Spandrell) and Eric Chitty (Engin) bring their characters alive, with refreshing personalities.

One of the most important stories in the series' history, where we get a bigger view of Time Lord society. Surely Robert Holmes' masterpiece.


Tom Baker's Finest Hour   December 2, 2001
S. Nyland (Syracuse, New York United States)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

Finally. No more sidekicks or distractions. No silly sub plots about stuff not relevant to the central story. No hysterical damsels to rescue, no ridiculous contraptions to rig, and no ubiquetous Alien Menace or Killer Robot or other sort of threat run amok. Finally, an episode that seems to be more concerned about the character of the Doctor than about using him as a storytelling device. Doctor Who follows the Time Lord's summon back to Gallifrey and finds himself caught up in a complex weave of murder and deception unleashed by The Master, a villain so worthy of The Doctor that Baker even concedes "He's absolutely brilliant - he's almost on my level" ... of mathematics. I actually see a lot of little pokes at the Warren Comission and House Select Comittee on Assasination's probes into the JFK enigma in the opening acts. But the "money melon" section of this adventure is where the Doctor enters the so-called Matrix to do battle with the Master's patsy in a kill or be killed deathmatch worthy of a Walter Hill movie. It is simply one of the best sequences from the history of the Who series, and the various acts of the adventure allow Baker to shine forth as an actor capable of several roles -- action hero, crime sleuth, scientific wizard and, above all, a Man who keeps his sense of humor even when being tortured. This is the adventure that also features my alltime favorite line from the whole series -- "Only in mathematics shall we find truth", and don't miss the shrunken body in the camera with the Kung-Fu grip. A must have for any serious Who fanatic and a great introduction to Baker's character: why not start with the best? Very highly recommended.


Creep Solo   September 3, 2003
M. G Watson (Los Angeles)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

This episode is unique among all of Tom Baker's many outings as the Doctor because it is his only turn without a companion. Apparently it came off because following Liz Sladen's departure at the end of "Hand of Fear", Baker wanted to try a one-man show for fun and the prodcuers agreed - provided everybody understood it was a one-time-only thing. The result is "The Deadly Assassin" an entertaining and very revealing episode which takes the Doctor, all by his lonesome, back to his home planet of Galifrey to tangle with his oldest enemy, The Master.

"Assassin" has a lot of unusual qualities. In addition to the solo appearance of the Doc, it is an unusually physical and violent episode, and also sheds some light on the society of the Time Lords and on Doctor's (delinquent) youth on Galifrey.

In this episode, the Master has passed his twelfth and supposedly final regeneration, and is now basically a disgusting animated cadaver. He lures the Doctor back home by planting a vision in his mind of the assassination of the Lord President of Galifrey, but when the Doctor returns to foil the plot, he not only fails but becomes the prime suspect. Scheduled for execution ("Vaporization without representation is tyranny!") he has just twenty-four hours to expose not only the real assassin but discover who is pulling his strings.

Much of the episode takes place in a disturbing 'dream reality' in which the Doctor battles Garth, the Master's homidical power-grasping flunky, who stupidly believes serving the Master will lead to something other than a horrible death. The dream reality is more of a nightmare: part swamp, part quarry, part fog, and all ugly. The final confrontation between the Doctor and Garth in the swamp is graphically violent, at least by "Who" standards, and caused some controversy in Britain when it was first aired. Of course, when the Doctor comes back to reality, he still has the Master to deal with, and this rotting, robe-clad version, unlike the previous (and later) portrayers, has all of the viciousness, egotism, and homididal mania we expect from the character with none of his usual charm or humor. What is it about putrefying while still alive that takes all the spring out of a man's step?

"Assassins" is an enoyable episode, but unusually dark, and its very premise -- having the Doctor operate without a companion -- works against it to a degree. Somehow the show's formula doesn't achieve the right chemistry without this missing element; it helps to have a "fish out of water" for the Doctor to play off of (and rescue), not to mention to divide screen time with. It was an interesting experiment, and helped serve as an interlude between the departure of Sarah with the arrival of Leela, not to mention set up the Master's return in a less decrepit form later on, but I'm glad that during Baker's run at least, one experiment in this direction was enough. Three and a half stars.


"I deny this reality!"   April 13, 2000
Brian May (Australia)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

This is a landmark story in Doctor Who's history - a story that shaped the direction of the show from then onwards, and one that destroyed a few myths while creating others. "The Deadly Assassin" is the first in-depth look at the life of the Time Lords and their planet, Gallifrey. Since their introduction in "The War Games" viewers have only seen glimpses of their power and their world. Now Robert Holmes shows us their sheltered, cloistered and bureaucratic way of life. "The Deadly Assassin" is a very good story, although some die hard fans of the show would venture otherwise. It is a political thriller and murder mystery - the first episode is excellent (the cliffhanger is astounding!). This story is also remarkable in other ways - it is the first story to feature a companionless Doctor, and hails the return of the Master, last seen portrayed by Roger Delgado before his tragic death in 1973. The charismatic and charming villain of the Pertwee era is here seen as a decayed, emaciated near-corpse, full of hatred and hellbent on revenge. The story has some great moments; most would agree the sequence in the Matrix being the most memorable. This has Doctor Who at its most psychadelic; when the Doctor enters the dreamscape there are some frightfully surreal scenes - the clown, the soldier and horse, and the surgeon, to name a few. The third episode is highly acclaimed, taking place entirely in this computer reality. Personally, I feel it drags on a bit (although I am not denying its substantial impact). I also feel the final episode to be a bit of a letdown after what has happened before. The acting is mostly good - Tom Baker is at his best, in a physical role unusual for his more whimsical Doctor. Of the Time Lords, Chancellor Goth, Cardinal Borusa and Coordinator Engin are terrific. The main letdown is Spandrell - an interesting character marred by a wooden perforance from George Pravda. However, "The Deadly Assassin" is a fine story. It is also very controversial - the cliffhanger to episode three arousing the ire of self proclaimed moral watchdog Mary Whitehouse. But it is hardly a violent story, especially not as much as the so called bastions of family values ranted about. This story is classic Doctor Who; brilliantly written and directed, its finer moments outweighing its flaws.


Action, adventure, satire and sets - Doctor Who's best story   August 26, 1998
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

"You'd delay an execution to pull the wings off a fly."

If you only buy one Doctor Who video, this should be it. Tom Baker's Doctor has never been more dark and powerful, and the series' most famous villain - the Master - is at his best here, stripped of all the charm and left only with smouldering hatred (and a really nasty make-up job, later borrowed by Mr Morden in Babylon 5's Hour of the Wolf).

The Doctor returns to his home planet of Gallifrey, a cynical mixture of Westminster, the Vatican and New York, beautifully designed and infinitely corrupt. He's plagued by nightmare visions, and in a stunning cliffhanger episode climax, is shown to be the cause of them himself...

The dark tone of murder and cynicism mixes with the satirical camp of Cardinal Borusa, a gloriously devious Time Lord politician who decides to market the villain as a 'hero' for public consumption, and a sudden dive into a scary, action-packed fantasy world of gritty surrealism.

In many ways a re-launch and re-defining of the series, this was the most expensive and highest-rating story up to that point; many stories since then, including the 1996 TV Movie, have followed the same formula, but this remains the best. END