Wednesday, 28 March 2012

Art Gallery: The Caves of Androzani


Art Gallery


(Whispers) Welcome to the Target Art Gallery. Here in front of you is a genuine Andrew Skilleter, one of the most prolific Doctor Who artists of all time. This is his Caves of Androzani, a late masterpiece from his oeuvre, and a rendering of one of the finest Doctor Who stories of them all.

Note the breathtaking simplicity of the composition, and yet it is an image that says so much. The face of Sharaz Jek, a madman with a boob fixation, caught forever in appreciation of Peri’s most splendid rack. His eyes convey his yearning as he gazes up at a poster of Miss Brown in her Planet of Fire bikini tacked to his bedroom wall, wishing that John Nathan-Turner had kept his strange decision to keep the companions in the same costume beyond Season 19. His hands clutch up at his face as he plots the downfall of Morgus, wistful and lonely, his desk litter with screwed up paper from his attempts to find something – anything – to rhyme with Perpugilliam.

Yes, that’s right. Above his head is that most unique of images. Mr Colin Baker, in his only cover appearance, the mix of clashing colours a clear prelude of what is to come. It is the finest image of the lesser-talented Baker in what was ironically his finest story.

It is, I’m certain you’ll all agree, a masterpiece.

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