Day 682: Battlefield Part 1

And so it begins. Season 26. The last season of Classic Doctor Who. It begins with Battlefield, which appears to be an action story merging Arthurian legend with UNIT, who are making their first full appearance since Season 13 (there have been name-checks here and there, but this is the first story in a very long time to feature them in such a major role). It's clear from the offset that things have changed in the intervening years with regards to UNIT, in part due to the fact that fresh eyes are now able to look at the concept and re-work it to fit their idea of what UNIT should be.

For a start, there's a new Brigadier: Brigadier Winifred Bambera. She's similar to the old Brigadier, in that she's clearly a military type of person, someone who commands respect and is able to lead their team, but is slightly closed-minded with regards to new ideas (in her case, specifically the nature of the Doctor). However, what she lacks with comparison to the old Brigadier is the sense of warmth and familiarity that we associate with the character, or indeed, that character is allowed to associate with the Doctor and co.. But this is not necessarily a bad thing, as it allows for room for the character to move and grow, and one can expect that if the series continued we would see Brigadier Bambera more frequently throughout the years.

But as we know, things didn't pan out that way. So instead of focussing on the possibilities of the future, let's get back to the present and continue watching Battlefield. For, as the Seventh Doctor is becoming increasingly fond of saying, "We've got work to do!".