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Context Trivia / DoctorWhoS21E6TheCavesOfAndrozani

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2* AuthorsSavingThrow: Creator/EricSaward ''finally'' gave us an explanation for the Fifth Doctor's celery.
3* BillingDisplacement: Creator/ColinBaker receives top billing, above Creator/PeterDavison, for the final episode, despite only appearing for twenty seconds at the end of the episode.
4* CreatorsFavouriteEpisode: Creator/PeterDavison named this as his favourite serial (claiming that if he'd gotten more stories of this quality earlier in his run he would have wanted to stay on longer), Creator/NicolaBryant named it as her favourite from her first series and Creator/JohnNathanTurner named it as one of the highlights of his tenure.
5* CreatorsOddball: The only regeneration story written by Robert Holmes.
6* DeletedScene: Recording was interrupted by a strike, which caused a serious delay in the filming of the serial. As a result, two sequences had to be cut:
7** The first scene would have featured the Doctor and Peri at the opening of the story in the TARDIS. The Doctor was to explain to Peri the reason for their visit to Androzani Minor. Apparently, as a boy, the Doctor had started a "blown glass bottle collection", which was made from the sand of different planets. He had lost his Androzani bottle and decided to return there to retrieve some more sand. It was in this scene Peri was to say "You're such a pain, Doctor."\
8However, when the final cut of the serial was made, it had been discovered that certain lines of dialogue (like the Doctor professing that "I am not a pain" and Peri's comments about needing sand to "make some glass") alluded to the cut sequence. To rectify this, Creator/PeterDavison and Creator/NicolaBryant voiced over part of their conversation while the TARDIS materialises from outer space to the planet.
9** The second scene to be cut would have featured the Doctor battling with the magma beast in Episode Four which, [[SpecialEffectsFailure under the circumstances, the serial is probably better off without]]. Instead, the magma beast is simply killed offscreen by a mud burst.
10* OnSetInjury: This story was rife with on-screen mishaps that ended up causing minor injuries to Creator/PeterDavison, who would later jokingly claim that the staff were actually attempting to kill him.
11** During a scene in which Sharaz Jek backhands the Doctor, the mask Christopher Gable was wearing impaired his vision enough to make him legitimately strike Davison by mistake.
12** As the Doctor carries Peri back into the TARDIS at the end of the story, he flinches at a nearby mud burst. This is because the explosion was prematurely triggered by the technicians, shooting sand into Davison's eyes and forcing him to recoil in pain.
13* ThrowItIn: The scenes where Morgus [[BreakingTheFourthWall faces the camera directly and speaks out his inner thoughts]] came about from John Normington misunderstanding the stage directions he was given. However, everyone liked the theatrical feel of the technique and kept it in the episode.
14* TroubledProduction: This was one of several eighties stories affected by strike action at the BBC (in this case, by the scenery shifters). It lost one of its studio sessions, and one of the sessions for the following serial, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E7TheTwinDilemma The Twin Dilemma]]", had to be reassigned to it (which might have resulted in the cancellation of "Dilemma", although in the event Creator/JohnNathanTurner was able to secure an extra slot for that story on the grounds that it was important as the new Doctor's first full story; however, it also contributed to the poor working climate that resulted in "Dilemma" being recklessly rushed out the door).
15* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
16** According to Music/DavidBowie biographer and Revival Series Dalek operator Nicholas Pegg, Bowie was originally lined up to play Sharaz Jek, only for his manager to turn down the BBC's request due to the scheduled taping dates overlapping with the supporting tour for ''Music/LetsDance''. Other actors considered for the part included Creator/TimCurry, Music/MickJagger, Creator/DerekJacobi, and Creator/JohnHurt (the latter two would go on to appear in the Revival Series decades later as the Master and the War Doctor, respectively); Creator/GraemeHarper stated that while he always had Christopher Gable in mind for Jek and was pleased with his performance, he felt that Bowie was the only other celebrity who would've fit in the part.
17** Creator/IanHolm was offered a role (most likely Morgus).
18** Creator/MichaelGambon was considered for Sharaz Jek and General Chellak.
19** Creator/BrianCox was considered for Sharaz Jek and Salateen. He would later play Creator/SydneyNewman in ''Film/AnAdventureInSpaceAndTime''.
20** Creator/JulianGlover was in the running for Sharez Jek, Morgus, and Chellak.
21** Creator/WarrenClarke was considered for Stotz.
22** Creator/StevenBerkoff was considered for Sharaz Jek, Stotz and Chellak.
23** Creator/MartinJarvis and Creator/MichaelJayston were considered for Sharaz Jek and Morgus. The latter would later appear as The Valeyard in Season 23.
24** Creator/DonaldSumpter was considered for Salateen.
25** Creator/GraemeHarper hoped to bring Creator/MichaelCraze back to play Krelper, only to be vetoed by Creator/JohnNathanTurner, who had felt that casting Creator/JacquelineHill in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E2Meglos Meglos]]" three years previously had been a mistake and decided not to cast former regulars in unrelated guest parts again.
26** In the original script, the Doctor did not regenerate after succumbing to spectrox toxaemia, but simply because of the damage his body sustained in combatting Stotz and his gunrunners.
27* WriterRevolt: This serial is often interpreted as Creator/RobertHolmes criticising the nihilism and violence of the Creator/EricSaward era by saying "[[IWillShowYouX You want grim violence? I'll give you grim violence!]]". Holmes dumps the Doctor in a brutal world of EvilVsEvil where all he and Peri can do is try to survive, but in contrast to many stories of Saward's era, which made the Doctor a [[PinballProtagonist passive and ineffectual figure]], "...Androzani" emphasises the Doctor's [[{{Determinator}} bravery, determination and self-sacrifice,]] as well as his [[DeadpanSnarker wit]].
28* WorkingTitle: ''Chain Reaction''.

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