The Black Guardian Trilogy

Mawdryn Undead (Five, Tegan, Nyssa, Turlough)

First off, Turlough confuses me. He talks about wanting to leave Earth all the time, he has all this non-Earth knowledge, but yet he seems to be *from* Earth. Like, 1980s Earth. If they ever mentioned he was actually an alien, I blew right past it.
I loved the whole dual time-line plot. Now *that's* how you do multiple timelines. *swats SG-1*
Was a wee bit sketchy on what Mawdryn and Co. could do. Seemed like they could temporarily regenerate/shape shift, but it wasn't overly clear. But for the split second Tegan believed that Mawdryn was the Doctor regenerated, I'm sure she was getting ready to tell him to either wear a hat over his brain or she was leaving.

And side note - getting back to my belief that the Doctor *really* needs to have a list of rules/notes posted on the inside of the TARDIS door. One of them being, "Yes, I do regenerate, so don't get used to this body. Here's this week's rotating verbal password so you'll be able to tell it really is ME." This is right under the note of, "The dishwasher doesn't load itself."
How fun was having the Brigadier in this episode? Loved how he took charge of the situation. Too bad he couldn't have encountered Adric... Hmm. Adric should have become the Brigadier's ward. Straighten up and fly right, boy! But I chuckled at the Brigadier's odd need to touch his other self. :D
I found myself emotionally engaged in this one, just because of the situation at the end. The Doctor was 100% right about not having to give up his lives for these people, in my opinion. They made their bed and so on. They *stole* Time Lord technology so they could gain power and immortality, and it bit them on the ass. And so I was hrrumphing when they forced the Doctor to do it anyway because of Tegan and Nyssa. Oh, I knew it would end up okay, since *obviously* we're up to Ten now. But still. Hrrumph.

Terminus (Five, Tegan, Nyssa, Turlough)

Oh, man. I was having Nyssa angst throughout this whole episode. Another one I got emotionally engaged in. Probably because I knew it was her last, but I couldn't remember exactly *how* she left. And everyone was being so cold to her when she got that disease! *pats Nyssa* And, poor dear - she kept losing her clothes...
Heh. Fuel dump was what caused the big bang, as this ship just "happened" to have time travel ability for...some reason. You know, I should have started a list of all the things Doctor Who has credited with the creation of the universe. :D
Tegan and Turlough spent most of the episode in a crawl space together. Ha! I suppose so they could bond or something. The only way Tegan's line of, "You are weird" to Turlough would have been better, was if it had been, "You are deeply weird." Mwah. And speaking of Turlough, I'm not exactly sure *why* the Doctor keeps him around. He's quite Adam-like. Maybe the Doctor knew he was being controlled by the Black Guardian, and so wanted to eventually help him on a redemption path. The Doctor often knows much more than he lets on.
Nyssa's departure felt more emotionally resonant, just because it echoed Susan a *lot.* Nyssa comes on board basically as the Doctor's ward - she's a kid orphaned by the Master. And at the end, you have a bittersweet departure. Everyone knows that Susan/Nyssa wants this life without the Doctor - a hard life, but a noble one - and so the Doctor has to let go. There's some sadness, but also some pride that they've now grown up.

Enlightenment (Five, Tegan, Turlough)

You know, if it was such a bad idea, you'd think that the White Guardian would have never allowed the prize of enlightenment to be offered to an immortal in the first place. I'm just sayin'.
Right up until Turlough's "enlightenment," he kept being weaselly. :D I'm curious to see what he'll be like now. Only other Turlough ep I've seen was The Five Doctors, and I don't remember that he was in that much.
Tegan! Run away from the creepy serial killer! RUN!
Immortals are odd ducks. Don't remember hearing about them before, or how they came into being. Or where they hang out and how they interact with the rest of the universe.
Heh. Nice little existential bullshitty type ending. Wax on, wax off, grasshopper!