The Friday Docback Dislikes The Fragrance Of 'Black Orchid'!! DOCTOR WHO Story #120, A New Promo For 2012's Christmas Special, S7 Teases, And More!!

“In my meanderings, I’ve come across something rather unpleasant...There’s a body through there...a dead man in a cupboard...I’m afraid it’s true...May I show you?”  - the Doctor, Black Orchid Episode Two 

Black Orchid is directed by Ron Jones, who brought us the infinitely more compelling Frontios (Davison, Stroy #132) (and Vengeance on Varos (C. Baker, Story #138) - both both advanced efficiently mounted narratives.  In the case of Vengeance in particular, Jones showed a deft hand in folding in germane (and even poignant) subtext - as imperfect as that episode may be, it’s also not an easy one to forget.  Alas, in Black Orchid, no such layering is evident...if for no other reason than it simply does not exist in Dudley’s often plodding script.  Resulting in a dry affair which is as painfully uninvolving, geriatrically paced, and altogether stuffy as the stilted aristocracy it portrays. 

While Black Orchid never really finds its full heartbeat, the bludgeoning we endure in the first episode is at least partially dissipated in its second part, when the full extent of its manor house mystery homage/parody Jones and Dudley are going for becomes apparent.  When this does happen, Black Orchid is at last imbued with some sense of purpose and destination, although the relatively limp mystery it puts to us befits neither a solid ‘Whodunit?’ nor even an average DOCTOR WHO.  

Character development almost no-existent.  Which, given the large number of players involved in this tale, is a tad surprising.  One of the strongest qualities of DOCTOR WHO in general is the shows’ frequent penchant introducing well-drawn and impeccably performed supporting characters, who are effectively developed with astonishing (even unprecedented) speed.  No such joy here.  As characters, the lot of them here feel flat and disengaged.  And perhaps this is the point of the whole tale - a murder mystery set amongst uninteresting people doing uninteresting things...i.e. death comes to the already dead?  If this was the intent of Black Orchid, Dudley’s script is a few revisions off from fully landing such undercurrents.  

Despite the relatively dire nature of this story, it does bring about one gleefully fetishistic upshot worthy of mention herein.  Tegan  and Nyssa duo is already a whole lotta hot for one TARDIS...

...and for one Doctor as well,I should think.  And when a Nyssa lookalike added into that equation?  The imagination goes wild...and such conjurings are infinitely more provocative than anything you'll find in Black Orchid.  

Black Orchid is available on DVD HERE in the US and HERE in the UK.