It’s hardly be going out on a limb to say that Leela’s departure wasn’t very well handled onscreen. To a large extent, as Shannon Sullivan details, this was thanks to Graham Williams’s hopes that he wouldn’t have to write the character out:
Williams was enthusiastic about the character and, despite Louise Jameson's insistence that she was not interested in returning for Season Sixteen, Williams remained optimistic that he could change her mind. […] he gave little thought to Leela's departure in The Invasion Of Time because he was anticipating a last-minute rewrite to retain her. As a result, Leela's abrupt decision to remain on Gallifrey with Andred came as an enormous disappointment to Jameson
Shannon Patrick Sullivan, A Brief History of Time (Travel), shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/4z.html
However, the broadcast episodes still have Louise Jameson, so it would be asking a bit much of Dicks to try and surpass that. He does, however, sneak in some nice touches:
As the Doctor takes Leela and Rodan round in circles in the Tardis, Louise Jameson’s portrayal of exasperation gets translated into a nice bit of internal monologue, ‘“We're close to store-room twenty-three-A if I'm not mistaken. Come on!” Leela was almost certain that the Doctor was mistaken’, as well as a nice new line, ‘Leela held up her hand. “Please, no directions, Doctor. It will be easier without them!”’
In a similar vein, early on Leela reflects how she’s ‘quite convinced that the Doctor was far too impractical to take care of himself’
On her expulsion from the Capitol, there’s a line that pretty much sums Leela up: ‘Leela […] was used to danger, and was positively exhilarated by it’
There’s also some excellent self-awareness: ‘Talk is for the wise or the helpless, and I am neither’. This is slightly different from on TV – ‘The discussion is for the wise or the helpless, and I am neither’ (chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/15-6.htm) – and makes it sound like a much more general statement, like this is her doing her thing
Perhaps most developed of all is the scene where Leela retreats to the swimming pool. Here, we hear how she ‘used it often now, especially when she was worried’ – in this case because The Doctor's strange behaviour seemed to be getting steadily worse. She couldn't shake off the feeling that he was heading blindly into terrible danger’. There’s something about her retreat to physical exercise when anxious that feels like an assertion of her personality and so also a rejection of the Doctor’s desire to change her. Her reflection that the pool ‘seemed the nearest thing the TARDIS could provide to the open air’ gives the same impression, though it’s sad to think her home still feels so alien to her
Above all, the attraction between Leela and Andred gets a little more attention. The first moment he sees her, ‘His voice tailed away’ and ‘He stood staring at her open-mouthed’ (which, admittedly, might just be shock); and, when tasked with preparing her for the Doctor’s ordination, he’s happy because ‘It meant that he would be seeing more of Leela’ (which is definitely a sign of his sexual attraction – knowing, from the ending, that he’s attracted to women – because he specifies how she’s ‘so much more vital and alive than the cool, remote Time Ladies’ rather than comparing her with Gallifreyans in general, and indeed reflects on her ‘savage beauty’). Leela’s attraction to Andred is rather less developed, though she does admit ‘She rather liked Andred,’ even if it’s in the same breath as considering that ‘she was quite prepared to kill him if he stood in her way’. The ending, however, makes it clear that this is very much her decision: ‘In Leela's tribe, females as well as males could choose their mates, and Leela had chosen. Andred looked pleased, but a little startled’. However awkward the clear assumption that females getting to choose is somehow unusual, I like the detail that Leela’s interest is in a mate rather than a relationship.
‘The Invasion of Time’ also sees the original K9’s departure, though understandably less is made of this considering the replacement K9 is essentially the same and is revealed immediately. However, considering K9’s continual insistence that he’s devoid of all emotion, despite the fact this is constantly transparent bollocks, it’s nice to get not just an acknowledgement of how prey to emotion he is – his decision to remain by Leela’s side causing the Doctor to reflect ‘Clearly an automaton could have feelings after all’ – but to the fact that the Doctor’s clearly known this well all along, having long kept his ‘new improved K9 […] hidden for fear of hurting the feelings of the original’.
Anyway, that’s enough of the stuff I couldn’t be bothered to write up properly. On with a more grammatically sound look at everything else in Doctor Who and the Invasion of Time…
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