Search - Doctor Who: Time-Flight (Story 123) on DVD

Mary A. (Who) from ALEXANDRIA, MN
Reviewed on 8/28/2009...

I love all of the old Doctor Who movies. This one was very enjoyable because I have not seen this one before. I can watch Doctor Who movies over and over and over again and never get tired of them.

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Season 19 ends on a bit of a rum story

Daniel J. Hamlow | Narita, Japan | 02/10/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Following Adric's death from the previous story, the Doctor decides to cheer Nyssa and Tegan by taking them to the Great London Exhibition of 1851, but something draws the TARDIS off course, forcing them to...of all places, Heathrow Airport in contemporary England, where Tegan wanted to return (q.v. The Visitation.) After using his UNIT credentials to get them out of trouble with airport security, he is then drawn into the strange disappearance of a Concorde Jet over the British Channel. To that end, he enlists the use of another Concorde to retrace the path of its twin. "The question is where but when" the plane has vanished, as he equates it with the TARDIS trouble they had earlier. The pilot, Captain Stapley, turns out to be a reliable and solid fellow throughout the adventure.They find the answer in the Jurassic Period, which is where the time contour that hijacked them ends. The crew and passengers of the other flight are under some hypnotic influence, all that is except for a Professor Hayter, a university scientist specializing in hypnotism who was unaffected. He thinks that the plane was hijacked by the Soviets and that they are behind the iron curtain.The sight of a crashed spaceship, a citadel, and a grotesque-looking Oriental magician named Kalid, leads the travellers to believe there's more to their predicament.Nyssa plays a larger role by acting as a medium for some aliens divided into good and evil halves, and there's a kind of sixth sense about her, which may come from her being from Traken. And at least Tegan finally gets to be a stewardess, having worn her uniform all throughout the season.I can't tell more without spoiling the rest. Paleontology seems to be a weak case in Doctor Who (q.v. The Silurians, The Sea Devils). 140 million years ago is indeed the close of the Jurassic Period, but then the Doctor says they must be near the Pleistocene Era. Two goofs: he must have meant the Cretaceous Era, and second, it should be the Pleistocene Epoch, which wouldn't occur for another 138 million years after.Some credit should be given to British Airways giving producer John Nathan-Turner permission to feature the Concorde and airport authorities giving him the go-ahead to film at Heathrow.Occasionally, the series has some stories that don't cut the mustard, and sadly, Timeflight is one of them. The regulars come out good as usual, with worthy performances from Richard Easton (Stapley) and Nigel Stock (Hayter). The main problem, though, is the concept of two Concordes being hijacked to the end of the Jurassic Period and the bad story idea and execution."

ESTABLISHMENT VOLES

Thomas E. O'Sullivan | Knoxville, Maryland United States | 11/18/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Tired is a word that will come to mind as you watch TIME-FLIGHT.

The actors look tired, the sets look tired, the pacing, lighting, effects and pretty much everything else in this story all looks to be at the breaking point (money was tight, and partial sets draped with black cloth are common) and at times past it. Just looking at the actors expressions you can see just how much effort it is taking them to struggle through the scenes without either sighing, laughing or simply falling asleep (seriously - I think there's a moment on screen where Sarah Sutton nods off of for about 15 seconds). But, they manage to make it through and for their effort alone TIME-FLIGHT is saved from being a complete waste of time to something only a collector would love and own. It's true, while TIME-FLIGHT is not the single worst story of DOCTOR WHO, it does come close to touching bottom.

As for the story itself, it really feels like a recycle from the Second Doctor's THE FACELESS ONES, missing planes, missing passengers and an alien threat from beyond and that's about it. But, up until it all goes wrong, the first episode actually has a air of mystery that is given strength by the use of locations filmed at Heathrow Airport itself. For a few moments DOCTOR WHO moves into the "feet solidly on the ground" QUATERMASS arena, but shortly after that it loses this footing and slips right into outright fantasy and a troubled mess. Unfortunate.

But, while the story may leave you wanting, the extras help to fill that void. Commentary between Davidson, Sutton, Fielding and Saward is a lot of fun and as always the off the cuff (and often cutting) remarks by the three stars are always tart, adult and often very funny. There is little love for TIME-FLIGHT from all involved here, but the process is both respected and lamented as they simply did not have the time or the money. MOUTH ON LEGS gives us some sit down time with Janet Fielding about her time as Tegan and while a lot of fun, it must be said that some of these stories are now about as old as TIME-FLIGHT itself. While you won't mind hearing some of them again, you will wish they had taken the time to break the surface tension and really mix it up and even mention (at least once) that while Fielding may have given up acting, she has not given up on Tegan, appearing with Davidson in a BIG FINISH audio drama called THE GATHERING.

JURRASIC LARKS and the OUTTAKES are always favorites of mine, being able to see behind the scenes as it's all happening is very entertaining, insightful and sometimes scary (really, when the BBC says LIGHTS OUT at 10:00pm they mean lights out!, also, feel the pain as Matthew Waterhouse struggles to get ONE LINE right in his cameo). TEXT COMMENTARY is tight and worth the time spent reading.

In the end TIME-FLIGHT is for the tried, true and blue fans of DOCTOR WHO. Neo-Fans of the new series will be perplexed and hopelessly lost, but for us old TIME FLIERS it could be worse, but not by much."

Flight across time

G.Spider | 06/01/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Doctor and his companions arrive at Heathrow and find Concorde has gone missing. Before long it transpires the aeroplane has been transported back to the Jurassic where the Doctor soon comes across his old enemy the Master.This was a story which seemed doomed to disaster. The limited budget had to cope with finding a way of making two concordes crash-land (the season had already had problems with bringing a giant snake to life), the storyline is a little confusing (it isn't all that clear what the Master is trying to do, or why he bothers with a disguise when there's nobody there to see him), and the stock footage of concorde and the airport was no doubt seen by Heathrow as more a promotional gimmick than anything else.Strange, therefore, that what we have here is 90 minutes of entertaining, interesting and highly enjoyable sci-fi. The concept of concorde flying through time is an inspired one, the characters are well-written and there are some genuinely haunting scenes. Well worth seeing."