Classic Doctor Who | S21 - The Caves of Androzani - Part Four | Reaction 

The fourth Doctor died saving the entire universe. The fifth died to save one girl. There's a certain poetry there, I think.

I didn't realize that you were unaware that this was Peter's final story. Your genuine astonishment makes this a brilliant reaction. (Not that your reactions aren't always brilliant). Wonderful stuff!

Someone pointed out once that this story is an absolute bloodbath where every male character dies ( including the 5th Doctor ) leaving Morgus’ secretary and Peri as the sole survivors. No lie, it’s incredibly violent stuff for teatime telly. This was the only time where I was unspoilt about the regeneration. As a kid in 1984, this came as a big shock. I knew there was going to be a new Doctor and had seen photos of him in the paper, but I assumed it’d be from the next season. So, having it happen in the second last story of the season was so unexpected. Peter definitely went out on a high.

I wasn't expecting that you were totally unaware how this one ended. A very interesting reaction to witness.

It was slightly heartbreaking to hear you talking about how Peter was getting fully into his stride in the last episode - a view which he apparently shares - and he later went on record as saying that if Season 20 had been like Season 21, chances are he would have stayed on. But March 16th 1984 was the day I effectively lost my Doctor - it was also, rather unfortunately, my 11th birthday - and things thereafter would be quite different. In retrospect it was probably the right time to go; for reasons intangible and largely cultural. Change, my dear - and it seems not a moment too soon...

It’s also quite nice that the 5th Doctor’s final line is “Adric?”

After another BBC strike forced the cancellation of the last story of Season 20, the producer was afraid this might happen again on Season 21 and he’d lose the Fifth Doctor’s regeneration story if he left it to the end as was traditional. (This was the second time in four years that a strike had done this, so it’s a reasonable fear.) He decided to have him go one story early to avoid the possible problem of trying to recall Peter on a special one-story contract the following season to do a regeneration, if indeed he would even be available then. As it happened, there was another strike during Season 21 that did affect the schedule of the next story’s shoot, but they managed to schedule around it this time and get it done.

The regeneration is actually foreshadowed at the end of part three. When it appears the ship's screeen displays unblurs to show the planet? That's the Doctor's vision, and it's the lines of the regeneration effect. He's holding it off the entire last episode as long as he can just to save Peri, so by that point it's unlikely that even the bat's milk could save him.

Ahhh, a classic episode with a classic regeneration into one of the best Doctors. Joyful! (Enjoyment of Colin Baker is not guaranteed and may require Big Finish to confirm)

And so ends the run of my favourite Doctor. I always wished Peter had done one more year because I enjoyed season 21 so much and have always thought a year of the Fifth Doctor and Peri would have been great. It'll be interesting to see how you take to Colin's Doctor. He's very Marmite!

My favorite regeneration story. I was surprised you didn’t know it was coming but it made the reaction very genuine. For me Peter did get better towards the end - people bash on Colin but i love him as a doctor so i am interested to see how you react to his stories. Cheers!

The Fourth Doctor regenerates after saving the entire Universe from destruction by runaway entropy. The Fifth Doctor sacrifices his life to save the life of a young American woman. Both very Doctorish things to do.

It was heart breaking when Peter was gone so soon..just when he hit his stride. He is my favourite Doctor..great reaction!

Classic story - performances, writing, everything is just on form. Peter goes out on an absolute high.

This is the one that still gets me. This and Pertwee's still get me emotional. Also interesting to note that the only two people to survive this are Peri and the assistant. Everyone else dies.

I suppose losing the celery is like losing part of the Doctor, Matt Smith throwing his bow tie away is another example.

The idea was that giving Colin Baker a story at the end of the season would get the audience pumped up waiting for his first full season. Too bad The Twin Dilemma was that story.

"Change my dear and it seems not a moment too soon." Hello to Doctor number 6 the wonderful Colin Baker!

"Caves" is such a good story, and its also kind of "Bob Holmes Greatest Hits". We have a tale of political intrigue revolving around the most precious substance in the Universe (Ribos Operation), an unscrupulous businessman (Sun Makers), a deformed villain in a mask (Talons of Weng Chiang) lots of caves (Ribos again), some gun runners (Power of Kroll) and a monster (most of the above). In short, the keys to a great Doctor Who story - just add Graeme Harper!

I feel your pain. My wee sister was in tears at the end of this when it was first shown.

If only all Peter's Telly stories were this good. Thank heavens for Big Finish.

Peter Davison really went out on such a high note that I can't imagine anyone wanted to see him go. I remember all this from when I was a kid.

"Basically JNT described a bad acid trip to me and we filmed it"- Eric Saward on Peter Davison's regeneration scene

The now well-worn story that Peter Davison bumped into Patrick Troughton by coincidence in the BBC car park and was advised by the 2nd Doctor to do 3 years and get out proved to be prophetic. The groundwork had been laid since the previous year, when Colin Baker had impressed JNT at a party and he suddenly seemed like the front-runner, with the Producer taking the decision (in the first instance of its kind since Season 3) to replace the lead actor during the course of the series. Nathan Turner was pretty good at judging how much of a wrench these events could be for the public (and fandom) and chose to let his new leading man strut his stuff immediately - rather than waiting until the following January when Season 22 would be upon us.

The only story where the women survive and the men all die. I love Stotz grinning his face off behind Trau Morgus as Krau Timmin gives him his come-uppance. Maurice Roeves is much missed. Check out Robert Holmes's "The Nightmare Man" (directed by Camfield) or Danger UXB for more of his expertise.

The 6th Doctor did not leave a good impression on those fans back in the day when he took over from Peter. Producer John Nathan Turner decided instead of waiting a few months to showcase the new incarnation he should follow straight after so he has the dubious honour of being in one of the best classic stories Caves of Androzani and then follows it up with The Twin Dilemma. Both Janet Fielding and Mark Strickson chose to leave the same time as Peter so alot of rearranging was done so that we had Tegan and Turloughs departure as well as introduce the new companion Peri who would be not only the 5ths but for most of 6th Doctors single assistant. I can never watch the regeneration scene from Caves as the 6th Doctors attitude and the way he is now portrayed really turned me off until we got the 7th Doctor. This story is Peters favourite and always jokes how he loves it till the part that he changes into Colin Baker. Great last story for Peter to go out on, up until Caves it was always Earthshock that he chose as his number one but with Robert Holmes script, Graeme Harper directing and reunited with Robert Glenister he couldn't have been given a more fitting adventure to end his tenure onscreen as 5th Doctor.

Hard to believe its been 40 years since the caves of androzani came out and yes at the time at 13 years old i was saddened to see peter leave.

"Celery is also an effective sensor of dimensional instability: If I wave it out of the door and it turns into a pineapple I know we're in trouble" -The Fifth Doctor- Omega

Very sad day back in 1984 when this happened. Had no idea then even though i was aware i think a new Doctor Who was coming soon.

One of favourite Peter Davison story’s as 5th Doctor. Goodbye Peter hello Colin

I think the Doctor got enough bat's milk for both of them but dropped the capsule when he stumbled in front of the TARDIS and some was lost. Otherwise they could have both survived.

In a 2015 survey of 12k Doctor Who fans, The Caves of Androzani averaged a score of 8.46 out of 10. That ranks it #4 out of 156 classic Who stories, making Androzani the highest ranked Fifth Doctor story and one of the highest ranked of all classic stories. In the same survey, Fifth Doctor stories received the 5th highest average score (6.64) of all 8 classic. Top 5 Fifth Doctor Stories: 1. Caves of Androzani 2. Earthshock 3. The Five Doctors 4. Kinda 5. Enlightenment Botton 5 Fifth Doctor Stories: 16. Four to Doomsday 17. Arc of Infinity 18. Warriors of the Deep 19. The King's Demons 20. Time-Flight This is Davison at his absolute best and a personal favorite... not sure about #4 but Top 10 for sure. It seems like Peter finally settled into the role during his last season.

A lot forget that the 1st Doctor regenerating into the 2nd happened before the end of a season too... 8 episodes into season 4 (1966).

Well if you’re going to leave then leave on a great story such as this. My favourite regeneration. As a child at the time I was sad that the fifth Doctor had gone. Great reaction.

At least Sharaz Jek had somebody to comfort him as he died.

In a bloodbath of violence everyone dies except the only two female characters, Peri and Krau Timmin. Don't know if they were sending a message at the time, but I still enjoy this little factoid.

Seeing Morgus get his just dessert is so satisfying.

This is quite simply my favourite Doctor Who story [full stop]. Seeing your reaction to it was priceless, especially given you didn't know what was coming. I knew it was 5's finale when it first aired (when I was all of 7 years old) and each cliffhanger basically could have been the end of the Doctor - firing squad, magma beast, crashing spaceship/Stotz. I wish Peter had done another year, and wonder if that may have staved off the end of the original series.

Never seen you so shaken by an ending but it was clear you were not expecting it even with the funereal tone of the music in the last episode. Caves is one of the GREAT Stories Full of twists and turns and complex characters.Probably Robert Holmes at his best Brilliantly directed by Graham Harper. A wonderful sendoff for Peter Davison who was superb in the story. It leaves the sixth doctor with a lot to live up to.

Great reaction. This is one of the 5 or 6 best Who stories period. Simply marvellous stuff. Holmes’ best script (out of so many great scripts), Graeme Harper’s ahead of its time direction, the acting is brilliant across the board The fifth Doc goes out doing, as you said, a very Doctor thing and saving a companion he’s only just met, at the cost of his own life. And within a few seconds we realise how absolutely vital Peter Davison has been to Who. The decline starts from here…. On the other hand it did give Pete a lifelong story to tell on how he spent two hours filming the regeneration scene having to stare at Nicola Briant’s cleavage Ps. One other thing of note, it’s a male bloodbath, the only characters to survive the story are Peri and Krau Timmin

You can clearly hear "The Undertaker's bell" tolling for the Doc. 7:50

This story catches a lot of first time viewers off guard since it is a regeneration episode, but not the last episode. Most times viewers get that "sense" when a Doctor's era is ending, but since this isn't the last adventure for the season, the viewers usually don't consider the possibility it is going to happen before the finale

I know that this is an old reaction, but I think you probably missed when the Doctor put Peri down to reach for his key to the TARDIS, he actually dropped the vial of bat's milk and spilled half of it. There's a quick shot of him picking it up and staring at it in horror, but then he just gets back to saving Peri. I think if you'd caught that, the ending might not have been as surprising for you because at that point, he and everyone else watching knew he was a goner.

“ Is this Death “

Brave heart. This is one of the best episodes ever. Peter Davison later regretted leaving after three seasons. He said one more season would have been okay. Take a break yourself. The show’s writing gets really bad now, but Colin Baker will have some good episodes too. Like Davison, Colin gets better and better too.

Peter's hair looks darker in this, almost like they'd stopped bleaching it (see also Logopolis).

One of my top three fifth doctor stories I liked the fact if Peter Davidson knew all his stories was had strong as his third season he would have stayed on longer but sadly was not the case

Sixth Doctor: "WEell, I must say . . HAH! tTHat was quite the welcome! Don't you judge so harshly young lady, you may not find my new persona quite so disagreeable after all. And I will TRY not to be insulted!"

Like Jon Pertwee after Peter said he was leaving fan pressure made him change his mind and do one more series but it was to late they already cast Colin Baker and the scripts were written etc. Jon Pertwee also wanted more money so they refused his offer .

I wish we'd had another year of Peter - for me, he got better as he went along, and his last few scripts (as shown, rather than as produced) were brilliant. Still, onwards and... um...

The end of Peter as The Doctor was horrible for me; I had seen Jon & Tom as introductions but Peter was the one I grew to love the show with. The public broadcaster that showed Doctor Who here was so far behind the BBC broadcast that I ended up seeing an interview where Colin Baker was introducing Sylvester McCoy while I was still seeing 'new' Peter adventures.

Was wondering if you knew anything about this season and that Peter was in his way out. I love seeing someone getting to know theses stories for the first time.

Still a story that I find difficult to watch - as it is so tragic. It was my first regeneration story(I was I think 7 at the time) - and didn't know what was going on with the Doctor. It's a powerful and strong story for Peter - it is basically being in the wrong place, at the wrong time - and there's nothing you can do to stop something bad happening to you - that is what really makes it unique. There's good side characters in the the form of Jek(if a little melodramatic at times), Morgus, etc. The political intrigue. Those murky dark cave interiors. The use of machine guns rather than ray guns add a gritty realism to this tale. Like is said elsewhere, Peter was really starting to find his stride with his Doctor and the type of stories that he needed - he should of done at least one more season.

Many fans consider this to possibly be the best story in the history of the show. Personally I'm not sure if it's the best, but it's definitely in my top 3.

That's my reaction to the introduction of Colin Baker as well, funnily enough! ;) Great channel. Hope things are well.

And thus ends the story that's been consistently voted as one of (if not) the best of classic who all together. Though will say big finish in a weird way arguably slightly reduces the heroicness of the doctor's actions. Like with the Davison doctor and peri's big finish adventures you lose the fact that the pair have just met and are still relatively unknown to each other dynamic that was there in 1984/ if you don't listen to Davison doctor and peri big finish.

I watched this reaction a number of times I still cant believe you didn't see it coming and the reaction fantastic.

Have you thought about doing a rewatch reaction video of all the regenerations, that could be interesting. I remember seeing a very lovely video of one to seven at the Museum of the Moving Image (M.O.M.I), and would love to know who's got it now, seeing as some footage has been restored since, especially stories like Power of the Daleks. Just thought I'd mention it.

That's the tragic part. Five, Six and Seven have such short Eras, so when the regeneration happens it really hits different than the previous ones.

My favorite regeneration. Loved your reaction

This is why this was voted as the Greatest Episode for years. And even with New Who this one is still up there in top episodes of all-time.

What a fantastic reaction! I will say, however, welcome to 6! 6 is fantastic.

Caves of Androzani - what happens when you let Peter Davison *eat all the ham!* Also - *IT’S A SURPRISE TEGAN!*

I did not know the Doctor would regenerate at the end of Logopolis .

You weren't expectig that, what a time to regenerate.

Such intense and bold AF drama. It gets better with rewatches. First time out it's mostly just jaw dropping.

its a shame that Peter's best acting and stories come from his last stories, by the sounds of it he regretted leaving after the quality of recent scripts love how surprised your reaction was, Tegan leaving, Turlough leaving, Kamelion dying and Peri joining, you probably weren't expecting the Doctor to regenerate so soon after

many people tie Caves with 4th doctors Genesis of the Daleks as the best doctor who story of all time. Not sure how I feel about that, but I will admit this is the best of 5ths stories. I loved the 5 doctors, for seeing them all together again, but as an actual story it was great but not fanastic. Peter pulled all the stops out with this one!!! And had one of the most unusual regenerations of ANY doctor!!!!

Glad it wasn’t spoilt for you. Been waiting for this reaction.

As a kid I knew Tom was gonna regenerate I had no idea as a 10 year old that Peter was going too So it was a big shock But Colin was brilliant Introduction I loved all the old companions coming and I didn’t cry at the time but your reaction reduced me to tears And live the fact as a kid like now there’s 1 more story this season

A great story to finish the 5th Doctors era butI always thought they should have had another story with Peter and Nicola in between Planet of Fire and this as she only got two with him. Having the new Doctor take over for the final story of the season was a gamble that I'm not sure paid off. I'll be interested to see wat you make of Colin Baker.

Didn't have a clue :)

The references to celery, Praxis spectrum gases, and Spectrox Toxaemia has never been better expressed in song than this Blue Peter wonderment: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nKmwrMODLWQ.html

Peter was disappointed too. Not quite getting 3 complete seasons is like Troughton, who started 2 stories into a season. But still, Peter wanted his complete 3 years, and he was right. Doing this turned out very wrong for JNT, it was the start of the drawn-out endgame of Classic Who..

First Aeryn Sun, and now this. It's been a rough week.

Time for Colin

The memories of the ending of this story are real. I was four and Doctor Who was dead. I burst into tears and vowed never to watch the show again. This new imposter wasn't the real Doctor Who. By the time I was cajoled into giving the show another try (a new series, you never know, you might like it!) it was 1987 and I watched the 'imposter' turn into yet another guy. I managed to miss an entire Doctor. Obviously, I caught up later with VHS and DVD and quite like Colin Baker's Doctor, but I'll never forget the childhood trauma of this episode

This is true after Tom Baker the producer JNT Felt have 3 companions drive the story away from the Dictor RAs the de trek character which had dominated the 1970’s And planet of fire is my neglected gem of classic who Caves obviously has a lot of respect from fans as does kinda and snake dance With Frontios Visitation mawdryn, awakening earthshock Up there

The only two who didn't die in this story were the two women. Peter Daviosn and Nicola Bryant are atonishing in this story.

It was a big risk changing the Doctor with another story left in the series. They really needed to nail Colin's first story, especially given his desire to make his Doctor more abrasive and therefore harder for the audience to take to. Unfortunately not only is it a dud script, but after the relatively high quality of the preceding stories they'd also run out of money and the production values are dreadful. Following on from this story (which is really only let down by the appalling magma creature - why JNT why?!) at the time just served to emphasise how bad The Twin Dilemma is. I never really took to Colin's Doctor, but he deserved better.

surprise regeneration...always hoped they could do it again....could they????

Btw most was disappointed with the sixth doctor apperance at the time

If someone can confirm, did Peter Davison WANT to stay for another series? I get the impression that he did.

And it's pretty much all downhill from here on, largely due to the deliberate sabotage of the series.

My advice. Quit now watching classic Who.