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From: Agent Jakanov <mouth@onlegs.org>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.drwho
Subject: A Real Person reviews Season 22
Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2024 05:08:53 -0000 (UTC)
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This is an actual review written by an actual person, not some fake 
ChapBot.

I'm going to take a more holistic approach, and I won't be rating 
individual stories or getting too deep into them.

Season 22 often gets derided by fandom as the point where things "went 
wrong" in 1980s, and many blame the creative decisions such as making 
the show darker and grittier, and having the Doctor be more erratic and 
self-centered.

To be sure, this didn't come out of the blue.  The show became 
progressively darker leading up to it. In the previous season, the Peter 
Davison's Doctor was becoming less patient and less of a nice-guy 
schmuck.  And a very important foreshadowing was one of his last lines 
before regenerating: "It feels different this time."

As a series of adventures, most of the stories were very strong, 
especially the first two and the season closer.  In fact, I remember 
reading academic articles which used both "Vengeance On Varos" and 
"Revelation of the Daleks" as examples of good television scripts.

Many heavy, allegorical themes were dealt with.  Unfortunately, one of 
the valid criticisms that can be leveled at it is that it was too much 
of a slow and intense burn, and it didn't feel like it was leading up to 
anything.  Even the companion complained about their journeys feeling 
like aimless wanderings, to which the Doctor gave a bullying response.

Another criticism commonly leveled at this season was that it was too 
continuity heavy.  It did feel excessive to bring the Master back and 
not even explaining how he managed to survive the Planet of Fire, and 
also retconning the 2nd Doctor era.  But apart from that, the contuity 
with past Doctor Who actually worked pretty well and enhanced the 
stories.

More problematic was how this season treated the historical setting in 
The Mark of the Rani (implying the Luddite uprising was caused by the 
Rani's interference) and H.G. Wells in Timelash (very unflattering 
portrayal, and also implying he got his ideas from encountering the 
Doctor).

Overall, despite its flaws, this season felt more consistent in tone 
than many of the others did in the 1980's.  The strong opening and 
closing stories, which were both crafted by the same writer, make it 
comparable to some of the 21st Century Doctor Who series.