“The Leisure Hive” is the first adventure of the eighteenth season of “Doctor Who” classic series which aired in 1980. It follows “Meglos” and it’s a four parts adventure written by David Fisher and directed by Lovett Bickford.

The story

When the holiday of the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) and Romana II (Lalla Ward) is interrupted by an incident in which K9 enters sea water and explodes, the two Time Lords go to the planet Argolis, where there’s a facility devoted to leisure. The natives who built it are the survivors of a devastating war that occurred forty years before and made the planet radioactive so the facility is completely indoors.

The Doctor is fascinated by a demonstration of a tachyon technology but a tourist is killed when the equipment is sabotaged. The facility is having economic problems and this event might push it to bankruptcy. Together with Romana, the Doctor starts investigating what lies behind the use of that type of technology and starts uncovering various secrets of the Argolin.

Extras

This DVD is rich in extras. There are typical contents such as production subtitles and a gallery of pictures from this adventure.

There are comments in the adventure alternative audio track by protagonist Lalla Ward, script editor Christopher H. Bidmead and director Lovett Bickford.

Optional Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Mix. The option to activate the sound in the Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Mix version created for the DVD.

A New Beginning. A 30-minute documentary that talks about the radical changes made by John Nathan-Turner after he became “Doctor Who” producer. Inevitably, the judgments of the people interviewed are diplomatic, also considering that Nathan-Turner is dead, but they make us understand that many of his ideas weren’t approved.

From Avalon to Argolis. “The Leisure Hive” author David Fisher and script editor Christopher H. Bidmead examine the creation of this adventure from the screenwriter point of view.

Synthesizing Starfields. The creation of the new title sequence used for the first time for this adventure.

Leisure Wear. Costume designer June Hudson talks about the inspirations she had in the creation of the costumes for this adventure.

Blue Peter. A segment of the show “Blue Peter” from April 3, 1980 concerning an exhibition about “Doctor Who” and an interview with John Nathan-Turner.

Music-Only Option. The option to see this adventure with the music composed by Peter Howell.

There’s also an “Easter egg” but it contais only BBC announcements.

This is the first adventure produced by John Nathan-Turner and it shows the first changes he wanted to make in “Doctor Who”. The most striking is the title sequence, which until then had little changes in the music while it had undergone various changes, sometimes important, in the pictures. “The Leisure Hive” marked the debut of a sequence completely renovated, with a very different sound arrangement accompanied by new visuals. Personally, I never liked this title theme.

Another change made by John Nathan-Turner was to reduce the presence of K9, who in “The Leisure Hive” is seriously damaged at the beginning and no longer appears. In general, Nathan-Turner thought that in the previous seasons there was too much comedy in “Doctor Who”, a reaction to the criticism suffered during the gothic horror years. Curiously, however, he introduced the question mark on the Doctor’s shirts, an element considered ridiculous by Tom Baker.

John Nathan-Turner had no experience as a producer therefore the role of executive producer was created and the job was given to Barry Letts, who had great experience from that point of view and had been “Doctor Who” producer in the past. However, Letts was basically a mentor and eventually it was Nathan-Turner who took the decision to set the lines of the show according to his vision.

With these changes “The Leisure Hive” was produced, a story that was intended as dramatic though it was written by David Fisher as a satire of the decline of tourism in the UK in the ’70s. The Foamasi, the enemies of the Argolin, were initially conceived as a criminal gang – Foamasi is almost an anagram of mafioso – but they were changed along with the tone of the script.

The result was a complex story in which various subplots are more or less developed to eventually combine allowing the Doctor and Romana to discover the secrets of Argolis. The problem is that the development is sometimes chaotic and uneven, ending up being a bit convoluted.

I think one problem is that the beginning of “The Leisure Hive” is very slow with a long scene that has the sole purpose of eliminating K9 from the story and then throughout the first episode the story takes off very slowly. The consequence is that only in the second episode the various subplots really start to be developed, a little late given the complexity of the plot.

In the following episodes, The Doctor and Romana slowly start understanding what are the plans for the future of the Argolin who survived the war, what is the involvement of the Foamasi in the story and the ultimate goal of the development of the tachyon technology. The two Time Lords get involved in the intrigues of the resort and must understand them to save their lives.

In other adventures of the original series, the Doctor and his companions were little more than spectators but we could always feel their presence. The Fourth Doctor in particular always showed his wit and Tom Baker was brilliant in playing his part. In “The Leisure Hive” the Doctor is duller than usual, sometimes making us feel his presence in a limited way even when he’s directly involved.

In general, the whole adventure suffers from a certain dullness, resorting to more technobabble than brilliant dialogues. From the visual point of view it’s well made and only the Foamasi costumes are rather low-level but it gives the impression that something is missing. The production is technically good but maybe some elements that made the show and in particular the Fourth Doctor great are missing.

I can’t say that “The Leisure Hive” is bad because it’s technically well made and generally well performed by the cast, especially by the actors playing the Argolin. Inevitably, it’s controversial among “Doctor Who” fans because some of them appreciate its tone being more dramatic than the previous adventures while others find it boring and/or convoluted.

It’s a suitable start to the era of producer John Nathan-Turner, who remained in office until the end of the classic “Doctor Who” series. His work is still the subject of controversy among fans because many consider him responsible for bringing the series to ruin.

Personally, I find “The Leisure Hive” all in all good because I appreciate hard science fiction stories but it’s not extraordinary. It has a role in the series because it marks the beginning of John Nathan-Turner’s era. The extras on the DVD, which are of good quality, reflect this fact and are interesting for “Doctor Who” fans. For this reason, it’s to them in particular that I recommend buying it.