I saw this at TARDIS Wiki: Gareth Roberts, the writer of this episode, revealed in an interview in Doctor Who Magazine Issue 423that he had planned to use the classic enemy Meglos in this story, but decided against it after the similar-looking aliens the Vinvoccimade an appearance in TV: The End of Time. The magazine also showed an early draft of the script which showed the meeting of the Eleventh Doctor and Meglos in which Meglos remembered the Doctor but the Doctor didn't remember Meglos.
Is it just me or is Castrovalva really, really, really boring? I'm seriously struggling not to fall asleep here.
A lot of people don't like it. I didn't watch it today (too busy with uploading videos and I only have so much bandwidth) but I always enjoy watching it. But what do I know? I also love Logopolis and a lot of people don't like that one either.
It was a bit slow at start, but it was an interesting concept, and I liked the bit with Peter Davison impersonating the previous Doctors. The science was horribly shoddy even for Doctor Who though. A hydrogen explosion that created our Galaxy at the beginning of time? That's not how it happened...
I always thought that would've been as obscure a reference to a Tom Baker story as you could get. It does seem unlikely, but considering how forgettable the actual villain is, I wouldn't mind, and am sad Roberts didn't keep the reference.
Yeah, I don't like it. I like Logopolis, and I love Keeper of Traken. But Castrovalva feels like it was hastily written to replace a previously scripted opening story - which it was, and it did! Its not bad, per se, but not a lot of things happen in it. Davison, however, is such a good actor, he sells the part despite it being so woefully underwritten (I genuinely believe no other OldWho Doctor could've sold the part in this story other than him).
I liked how he had was "channeling" his previous incarnations in the first episode, but he didn't really do a whole lot in the second part. I have to admit, I have no recollections of the second half of the serial.
In my opinion it's rather representative of Davison's run. I think only Earthshock, Resurrection of the Daleks and the Five Doctors were particularly exciting.
I really loved Keeper of Traken. It felt like they created an entire society, but did that in an very efficient manner given the low budget. It felt more like a real place with a history than many of the other locales in the show. I also enjoyed Logopolis. But, no Castrovalva was pretty boring. It also suffers from the keep the Doctor hidden syndrome. At the time, we had waited so long to see him and then they keep in a box! I think the Davison years had many great stories, including my favorite of all DW, old or new--The Caves of Androzani!
I found that episode captivating and slightly scared as a two year old. I haven’t seen the streams since last week, but I did get Arc on DVD a few years back. I think it holds up ok.
Castrovalva was inspired by a posh housing estate with tower blocks, and possibly Escher. I have never seen it, but the book was good.