The Web Planet

Come along! Drop this hairdryer or whatever it is.

The Web Planet is another of those stories that is talked about a great deal in how one has to try and look past the production design to see the story beneath. I have to say that doesn't fill me with a great deal of confidence, but I've been surprised before. This also happens to be the last First Doctor story that I have not watched. I've one more to review after this but it was also both the first First Doctor story I saw and the first classic story I saw in it's entirety after The Mask of Mandragora so I made a point of saving it for last. So feels a bit strange to know that I'm effectively done with the William Hartnell era given how much of the overall archive he takes up.

Plot Summary

The TARDIS is pulled by a strong force to an alien planet. The Doctor attempts to break free by supplying more power but it fails to work. As he does, insectoid aliens emerge and communicate with each other using high frequency. The high frequencies are painful to Vicki and she passes out.

Barbara sees to Vicki while the Doctor and Ian head out to investigate the power drain. Before giving her a sedative, Barbara shows Vicki a gold bracelet given to her by Nero with a promise to tell her about their Roman adventure later. As Vicki drifts off, Barbara feels her arm tugging involuntarily away from her towards the outside.

The Doctor begins to examine the rocks and surrounding area but Ian becomes unnerved when his gold pen disappears out of his hand. They continue to explore, finding an old pyramid structure and something that looks like a pool of water. The Doctor tests it with Ian's tie and finds it filled with acid.

Barbara is pulled by her arm until she slips into a trance and walks out of the TARDIS. Vicki wakes and finds Barbara missing and the doors open. She calls out for her and the echo alerts the Doctor and Ian. They rush back towards the TARDIS but Ian is trapped in webbing. He tells the Doctor to go on. Vicki panics and begins to try and make the TARDIS dematerialize but only succeeds in closing the doors. The Doctor arrives back at the spot and finds the TARDIS gone.

The Doctor goes back and frees Ian from the webbing, reviving him from a stunned state. The Doctor informs Ian of the TARDIS's disappearance but they find evidence that it was dragged away and follow the trail. After walking for a bit, they come across a chrysalis and the Doctor realizes they are on the planet Vortis. He is confused though as Vortis was not supposed to have a moon but several objects can be seen in the sky.

Barbara walks in a trance until she is taken by a moth-like creature called a Menoptra. The creature removes the gold bracelet from her arm and Barbara wakes up. Two other Menoptra debate on whether to kill her, fearing that she will betray their presence to the Zarbi, the ant-like creatures that created the chirping. Barbara manages to get away but runs into a couple of Zarbi who re-hypnotize her with a gold collar. The Zarbi overrun the Menoptra hideout, killing two of the Menoptra but leaving Barbara and the third alive.

Another group of Zarbi bring the TARDIS into their lair where Vicki emerges and is captured. A Zarbi attempts to enter the TARDIS as Vicki left the door open but that seems to put it in great pain. It's cries attract Ian and the Doctor, who shuts the door of the TARDIS. Vicki and Ian are restrained while the Doctor is placed in a cylinder that communicates with him.

A voice in the cylinder accuses them of being agents for the invading Menoptra and tries to destroy the TARDIS. The attack fails and the Doctor counters with an offer to assist in finding the Menoptra fleet with his star charts. The voice agrees, allowing the Doctor access to the TARDIS. Inside, the Doctor devises a plan to stall the voice while Ian goes to find Barbara, who has been taken to the Crater of Needles.

The Doctor pulls out his charts but informs the voice that he cannot search due to the defenses raised. The voice reluctantly agrees to a lowering in the area which allows Ian to work his way though the webbing. The Doctor picks up traffic signals from the Menoptra fleet and hones in on their signal. Meanwhile, Ian is detected and alarm is raised. He manages to get free where he is rescued by a Menoptra. The voice is angry with the Doctor but he plays coy with the information on the Menoptra fleet and it is unwilling to risk losing that information.

Ian learns that the Menoptra, whose name is Vrestin, was stunned in the attack which captured Barbara but escaped. He also learns that the Menoptra and Zarbi lived in peace on Vortis until a force called the Animus came and brainwashed the Zarbi, who are of a lower intelligence level. The Menoptra were driven off the planet to a recently captured moon but now are prepared to fight to drive the Animus away and reclaim Vortis.

Ian and Vrestin travel towards the Crater of Needles to free Barbara and other Menoptra who have been captured. They are pursued by the Zarbi and they hide in a rock crevasse. There is a cave in and Ian and Vrestin fall through a hole into an underground cavern. They are captured by a group of creatures calling themselves Optera. They are fearful of Ian and Vrestin since they are surface dwellers and threaten to kill them. Ian however realizes that the Optera are descendants of Menoptera who fled underground. At the mention of Menoptra, the Optera react as they are worshiped as gods. Vrestin unfurls her wings and requests that the Optera help her and Ian.

At the Crater of Needles, Barbara toils along with several other Menoptra, who've had their wings ripped off, including Hrostar, who was captured with her. They pour vegetation into pools of acid to feed the Animus. Hrostar also informs Barbara of a fleet of Menoptra who are to arrive at the crater to attack the Animus. He is fearful if the Zarbi are aware as their weapons were designed to attack the Animus and not the Zarbi.

Back at the hive, the Doctor's attempts to stall the Animus are making it more angry. It has the Zarbi replace the gold collar on Vicki though the Doctor is able to buy more time with a partial location of the invading fleet. Once the collar is off, the Doctor attempts to short circuit the collar by hooking it up to the projector. The projector short circuits and the Animus finally has enough. It replaces the collar on Vicki and it pulls the exact location of the fleet from the Doctor. With that information, it dispatches the Zarbi and places the Doctor under the same golden collar.

At the end of a work shift, Barbara and Hrostar notice the Zarbi massing towards the attack point of the Menoptra. Fearing for the attack's safety, they attack the lone Zarbi guards, overwhelming them. They make their way up to the top and meet with the initial invasion force. They warn them to leave but they refuse having already been committed. The Zarbi attack and the group is scattered with several rushing into a cave for shelter.

In the cave, they find only one of the original Menoptra attack has escaped along with several de-winged Menoptra. The survivor is despondent but Hrostar rallies them and turns to Barbara for help. They decide to go ahead and try to carry out the attack on the Animus as planned with the isotope weapon the attack force carried.

Also within the tunnels, Ian and Vrestan take command of a group of Optera who are willing to help them. Their group also begins to work its way along the tunnels toward the source of the Animus to try and defeat it. They find their way to cave and break off stalactites to dig their way through a portion where poisonous gas is leaking. One of the Optera uncovers a vein of acid and sacrifices herself by plugging the hole with her body. The others manage to dig a hole and they push further up the tunnels.

At the hive Vicki watches out until the Zarbi are distracted. Her collar had been successfully shorted by the Doctor and she removes his working one. He comes around and forms a new plan with Vicki. One of the Zarbi leave the room and as the second one passes, the Doctor takes the collar and places it around the Zarbi's neck. The collar blocks the Animus' control and it becomes docile, allowing the Doctor to control it with his ring. The Doctor bids it to follow them and uses it as cover to make it look like they are being escorted out. The Doctor and Vicki then make their way with the Zarbi towards the Crater of Needles.

Barbara and the Menoptra make plans in their hiding place when the Doctor, Vicki and the captured Zarbi enter. Together they form a plan where the Doctor and Vicki will take the isotope weapon and try to smuggle it in to the Animus. Barbara and the Menoptra will create a diversion, drawing out the Zarbi and then come in to help the Doctor. The Doctor reluctantly gives his ring to the Menoptra to control the Zarbi as they will be more useful in the attack.

The Doctor and Vicki return to the hive but the Animus has them seized and bound in webbing. It communicates with the Doctor, informing him that for his escape attempt, they will be brought to it and dealt with. Vicki, not hearing this and fearful of capture, hides the isotope weapon in the astral projector. They are then taken to the center of the hive where the Animus blinds them with light and ensnares them in it's roots to absorb their knowledge.

Barbara and the Menoptra successfully draw out the Zarbi, though Hrostar is killed in the feint. With most of the Zarbi out and hunting them, the group makes their way into the hive where they find the TARDIS and the projector. They try to use it to contact the Menoptra fleet but find it isn't working. Checking it, Barbara finds the isotope weapon and the group heads to the center to assist the Doctor.

Ian, Vrostar and the lead Optera find a mesh of roots leading upward at the end of the tunnel. The three climb up though Ian quickly outpaces the other two. As he does so, Barbara and the Menoptra enter the Animus' cavern. It stops it's work on the Doctor and Vicki and attacks this new group. Barbara activates the isotope weapon but cannot get close enough to properly use it. Ian however emerges from a pit just below, distracting the Animus further. Barbara crawls forward and levels the weapon at the heart of the Animus. The radiation kills the creature and the light and resistance fade.

With the Animus gone, the Zarbi return to their docile state and underground streams poke their way back to the surface. Vrostar signals the Menoptra fleet of their victory and instructs them to land. The Optera are also encouraged to come back to the surface where their children may develop wings again and fly as the Menoptra do. With things returning to normal, the Doctor and his party depart in the TARDIS, after the Doctor has recollected his ring.

Analysis

There is a kernel of a good story here, but overall the thing is too bloated, too slow paced and the production is just a bit too far for me to fully take. I think we can applaud taking the risk of doing something this experimental and in the hands of a better director, it might have worked. Here, it just falls a bit flat.

All of the insects had some level of flaw but if things had been directed a bit better, they might have gone alright. Probably the best example of this is the Zarbi. We had seen the use of large ants before with Planet of Giants and although they didn't move as they were dead, there was an acceptable suspension of disbelief with them. Here, that suspension was a bit too much to swallow whenever the human legs of the Zarbi controllers were seen. It worked much better in the few shots where the Zarbi are low enough that these legs are not seen. Then you believe them as giant ants. But when the shots include the whole mass, you see human legs manipulating while the six ant legs just hang out in mid-air. That's a level of disbelief that no one can overcome. I suppose they might have hoped that the smeared lenses might have masked that, but again, the director did nothing to aid the situation by often getting things directly lined up so that the legs were right there.

The smeared lens themselves didn't bother me as I respected the effort to make it look like the atmosphere was different. I think it actually helped with some of the insect effects, which might have been the point. As for the other insects, I didn't have any problem with the Menoptra. I thought those costumes worked fairly well and the wing design was nice. I didn't care for the constant hand movement but that was a minor distraction. The Optera on the other hand were most irritating. They have six legs shown but they just hop around. I also didn't like the stunted, almost pidgin-English they were speaking. I'm guessing it was to make them seem more primitive (like Tonto) but it just came across as labored and annoying.

There are some other issues that were of the director's purview and I'm curious as to whether he could have altered them or not. There is a lot of background noise in this story. Some is obvious and very difficult to alter, like the clank of feet on the boards. That's a problem in a lot of stories and it's something that you learn to tune out. But there are a few instances of other people talking or making sounds off-stage as well as a few other instances of things bumping into cameras or shots including things that should be offstage. It's just looks and sounds like an amateur production and instead of pumping up the story, it downgrades it.

One thing I can say from a positive point of view is about the actors themselves. I thought everyone did well, even the guest cast when they were clearly not given much to work with. The Doctor was pretty good and I think the sheen of The Romans is still on him as he is rather light-hearted throughout the story, even at dire points. His only moments of hardness are when he is looking out for Vicki and at times, even when threatened by the Animus, he seems almost playful. I would have liked to not be the damsel in distress at the end but he did a lot to set up things so I can't quibble too much with that.

Of the four principles, I would argue the Vicki draws the short straw. She doesn't do a whole lot through most of the story and seems a little more paralyzed by fear than in other stories. Granted, she comes out of it in the second half but that is a bit of a slow development. Her rescue of the Doctor from the golden collar is about the only real action she gets. She does hide the isotope device but it's more of a lucky chance that Barbara recovers it and not any significant foresight on her part. On a more visceral level, I also have to say that I didn't care for Vicki's haircut, but that's rather petty.

Ian and Barbara traded roles through the story. Barbara didn't get much to do while Ian was his typical action man in the first half, though some of that is due to the fact that Jacqueline Hill was on vacation in Episode Three. However starting in Episode Four, the tables are turned. Ian fades into the background and Barbara jumps to the fore. It is Barbara the makes the plans and she is the one that delivers the killing blow against the Animus. William Russell never actually went on vacation but I think that if his scenes had been pre-filmed, he could have easily taken a week off with a minimum of effort on the show's part.

The trade off in Ian and Barbara's strength is reflective of certain flaws in the story. This is a bloated story, something that the writer probably envisioned being four or five episodes but was told to make it six. This meant that instead of having Ian and Vrostar reunite with Barbara and form a combined Menoptra force, we are given the Optera. Yet the Optera do nothing. They refrain from killing Ian and Vrostar and they lead Ian back to where the Animus is, resulting in the death of one of their own. It's very reminiscent of the Thals taking Ian and Barbara for a real attack on the Dalek city in The Daleks, but in that case, you got to know the Thals and they were vital in the overall attack. Here, the Optera are just shoved in and do nothing except act as guides. Ian himself does almost nothing except add to the distraction which allows Barbara to deliver the killing blow and the Optera don't even make it to the surface until the Animus is dead. They do nothing and add nothing and could easily have been cut.

Much of the back and forth could also have been cut as well. The Doctor and Vicki didn't need to find Barbara, especially as Barbara carried the isotope weapon into battle anyway. There are at least two different rallying speeches given before the various parties foray into battle and neither one is really needed. They give a little character depth but are just there for padding. Remove all that superfluous stuff and I think this would have been a tight and fairly action-packed four part story with the interesting twist of it being bugs rather than the random primitives that we get in several other stories.

If you carve away the fat, there is some interesting writing. I think the Doctor has good moments as well as Barbara. I think the characters of Vrostar and Hrostar were reasonably well done and portrayed well, even if they get into a bit too much exposition. I even think the Animus was a decent villain, a dark force that was partially plant like but not truly explained. It only mattered that it was evil and it had control over the Zarbi. Perhaps a little simple but in a story about overthrowing an evil dictator, why give that much depth to the villain? Again, there is potential in this story that is lost in its execution.

I applaud the ambition of this story, but the first major problem is that it should have been given to an innovative director rather than someone who was more of a point and shoot director. He had moments but this story needed more imagination that he was able to give. The second is the bloat. I would imagine that for the money that had to be poured into the sets and costumes, a minimum of six parts was demanded. So the fat is added and that drags this story down immensely. It does not have enough depth to justify anything other than a revolutionary action story and slowing it down only makes the flaws and limitations of the production values stand out that much more. I would not call it the worst First Doctor story, but it is a slog to get through and it's easy to find your mind wandering rather than keeping an eye on the screen.

Overall personal score: 1.5 out of 5

The Leisure Hive

Arrest the scarf then.

The Leisure Hive is the first story of the Christopher H. Bidmede era and if there is any story that defines his era, this may be it. David Fisher wrote this story in the vein of the silly Douglas Adams overseen Season 17, going so far as to envision the Foamasi as Jersey Shore style villains. Bidmede came in and slashed nearly all the comedy out of the story and reworked as much scientific techno-babble as he could. He also cut anything out that he saw as story padding. As such, this story has episodes almost as short as The Mind Robber and that includes reprises that last for 1-2 minutes. But does this slash and burn style help or hurt the overall story?

Plot Summary

The Doctor and Romana relax on Brighton Beach when K-9 short circuits himself by chasing a beach ball into the water. Romana takes him back to the Doctor and requests to go to a place with legitimate entertainment: the planet Argolis, which was turned into a recreation planet after a devastating nuclear war.

On Argolis, the chairman of the board, Morix, is trying to get additional investment from his human banker Brock. Brock is unwilling to invest himself but has an offer to buy the planet outright from the reptilian race, the Foamasi, with whom the Argolans had their nuclear war. Morix refuses to sell but dies before negotiations can continue further. Morix's wife, Mena, takes over as chairman and plans to revitalize their facilities by using anti-aging techniques developed using their expertise in tachyonics with an Earth scientist named Hardin.

The Doctor and Romana arrive on Argolis as Mena's son Pangol is giving a demonstration of their experiments in tachyonics. A member of the audience is curious and he is invited in to test it but something goes wrong and he is mortally injured. The Doctor rushes forward to help but is pulled away by a guard who mistakes him for Hardin. He and Romana are taken to Mena who suspects them of being spies (as they have no identification) and orders their arrest.

The Doctor and Romana run back to the main hall unaware that a group of Foamasi have infiltrated the hive. Romana gets back to the TARDIS but the Doctor is drawn to the Tachyonics machine where he appears to be pulled apart. Romana yells for him, alerting the guards. The Doctor emerges having used his sonic screwdriver to escape, but still revealing that it was an illusion by the machine. When brought before Mena, the Doctor and Romana reveal that they are very familiar with tachyonics and Hardin, who has just arrived, is eager for assistance, not wanting to reveal to Mena that he falsified his data and hasn't made the experiment work right yet.

Even with their help Hardin thinks about confessing the whole thing but his financial backer, Stimson, compels him to try and make it work. Stimson goes to talk to Brock in his quarters but finds them empty. He does however find a human mask and suit in the closet. Panicked, Stimson runs away into the main hall where he is strangled with the Doctor's scarf.

The Doctor, Romana and Mena all review the layout and plans for the rejuvenation techniques but encounter technical problems due to Foamasi sabotage. Mena briefly collapses due to accelerated aging brought on by the fallout of the war, but she recovers. The Doctor goes to look for the source of the sabotage while Romana goes to assist Hardin. The Doctor enters the main hall and finds his scarf around Stimson's neck. He is arrested by the guards and brought before Mena for trial. As none but circumstantial evidence can be found, Pangol suggests trial by test. Mena scoffs at this but changes her mind when Hardin and Romana enter stating that they've made the process work but only require one more test.

The Doctor is put into the tachyon machine while Hardin transfers the information from his lab. Romana goes back to the lab and discovers that their experiment reverted itself in a bad way. She runs back to stop it but Hardin has already begun the process. They stop in the middle but the Doctor emerges having turned into an old man. Pangol has the Doctor and Romana placed under house arrest and confines them to an empty suite.

Pangol does a little investigating and determines that Hardin faked his results. Mina confronts Hardin and he admits to fudging the final results but that he and Romana did make the process work. He requests and is given leave by Mina to have access to the lab to continue working. She does deny his request to have Romana assist him. Hardin however sneaks into their quarters and frees the Doctor and Romana to determine what went wrong.

With guests leaving rapidly, Brock brings up the Foamasi offer once again. Mina is still hesitant but agrees to look at the offer. Pangol suspects forgery as the documents are not issued by the government and the Foamasi government owns everything. Brock demurs, suggesting that a form of private enterprise still functions. Pangol becomes incensed and informs Brock that he is not actually a biological child of Mina (the Argolans having become sterile after the war) but a clone produced by the generator. Showing off a view of the generator, he sees the Doctor sneaking around and alerts the guards.

The Doctor, Hardin and Romana had snuck into the generator room to investigate what went wrong. Romana snuck in while the Doctor and Hardin took care of the guards. They are forced to flee when Pangol enters with his troop. He observes someone in the generator and activates it, turning the aging up to 10,000 years. However the generator is empty as a Foamasi had pulled Romana out before Pangol activated the machine.

The Foamasi takes Romana back to the lab with the Doctor and Hardin. It speaks with the Doctor and the whole group heads to the conference room. Pangol has returned to the conference room where Brock is still trying to get Mina to sign the papers. As the Doctor and his group enter, Brock panics at the sight of the Foamasi. The Foamasi grabs Brock and pulls off his mask to reveal that Brock is actually another Foamasi in disguise.

The original Foamasi reveals himself as a government agent while the fake Brock and his associate were representatives of a crime family attempting to gain control of Argolis to use it as a base of operations. The agent arrests the two and takes them to his shuttle with the intention of taking them back to the home planet for trial.

Pangol, now having whipped himself in to a frenzy with Mina's impending death, refuses to let the Foamasi go and orders the shuttle destroyed when it attempts to take off without clearance. He then sets up the tachyon generator to create a clone army of himself, prepared to go to war with the Foamasi and any other system that would oppose him.

While Pangol is setting this up, the Doctor, Romana and Hardin try to figure out how to both stop Pangol and fix the generator. The Doctor takes the randomizer out of the TARDIS and sneaks into the generator to counteract the previous sabotage. Romana realizes what the Doctor has done and tries to stop it but Pangol enters the generator and begins to make his clones. The clones, masked, step out and take her away. Once they are down the corridor, the clones take off their masks to reveal a rejuvenated Doctor. Since he had been in the machine, his essence was replicated while taking on Pangol's outfit. However, the clones are unstable and they disappear, except for the original Doctor.

Hardin discovers Mina passed out and dying in the conference room. He picks her up and decides to try and put her in the generator as a desperation attempt to keep her alive. Pangol sees what he is doing and runs into the generator after Hardin places her in and the door closes behind them. The Doctor arrives, noting that he left the generator in regeneration mode and it begins to work on both of them. The Doctor smashes the controls and a youthful Mina emerges holding Pangol, who has been reduced to a baby.

Mina vows to raise Pangol correctly this time and asks to contact the Foamasi to avoid another war. The Foamasi agent emerges, noting that the destroyed shuttle was launched by the fake Brock before the agent could board in an escape attempt. The two go to discuss arrangements between their two planets while Hardin looks after Pangol. The Doctor and Romana slip away in the TARDIS with the Doctor dismissing the threats of the Black Guardian and refusing to reinstall the randomizer.

Analysis

Despite some flaws, I rather like this story, although I can't say that much of that credit goes to either David Fisher or Christopher Bidmede. The plotline, for the most part, is fairly good but I think it is the overall atmosphere and tone that really help sell it and credit there must be given to Lovett Bickford. I also think they got a rather good cast for this story as nearly everyone sells themselves in a very believable way.

This story kicks off the season of entropy and nowhere is that better exemplified in the form of the Doctor. The producers actually got somewhat lucky in that Tom Baker had a bad case of illness in the period between seasons and came back looking rather badly. It ties in rather nicely with the way things worked out for this whole season and even beyond that, you can tell that he's pulling in his A-game. After running with just about whatever he wanted in Season 17, Tom Baker is heavily clamped down and it suits him. He presents himself in a serious manner and that adds a level of gravitas that might have been lost given the changes that were made. It also adds a bit more punch in the few and far between instances of comedy. If Bidmede made one major error, it was in cutting out the comedy completely. A few jokes sprinkled here and there (such as the scarf line) would have lightened things a touch and made the story much more palatable to regular viewers.

Romana gets a nice little arc and some good scenes here and there, although I feel like she had more scenes cut for time. Hardin always seems so insistent in working with Romana that you can't help but think they might have had a couple of more scenes showing their interaction while the Doctor did his own thing. But even with those scenes absent, it's nice to see Romana in full scientist mode and especially nice to see her being consulted as the scientific mind rather than the Doctor, freeing him for more intrigue. I do think her K-9 short circuiting reaction was a bit over the top, especially in contrast to how blasé she was when talking to the Doctor while carrying him back to the TARDIS. Still, a strong performance that I enjoyed.

Mina was the standout among the secondary characters. It's actually something of a shame that she had to spend a good portion of two and a half episodes acting like she's dying (which was well acted) because her performance when fully lucid is excellent. She's a hard driven yet compassionate woman, trying to die with dignity and grace. She does fall a bit flat in the final scene where she comes out of the generator. The whole scene is very rushed and both her and the Foamasi representative sound like they are doing a quick run through rather than a proper performance. You have to wonder if the union was threatening to cut the lights in five minutes when they filmed that scene.

I rather liked the Foamasi and I also liked the slight mystery angle where you have two criminals trying to get a deal while being pursued by a government agent. That was the better story and I rather wish that it had been drawn out just a bit longer rather than indulge in the whole bit with Pangol. I liked the design of the Foamasi and the fear that they seemed to inspire in Mina as well as the rage in Pangol. I thought they worked well as the primary villain in the first three episodes.

But then we come to Pangol and the oddity that is Episode Four. Pangol, through the first three episodes, has been shown to be arrogant and chafing for leadership. But in Episode Four, he goes totally off the rails into full totalitarian mode. With the plot revolving around finding about the Foamasi sabotage and their plans to take control of the planet, Pangol's sudden declaration of himself as the next Alexander the Great and the creation of a clone army is just a complete and total surprise.

What's more, the whole thing is a giant fizzle as it is resolved in less than fifteen minutes of show time. They are clones of the Doctor but you get the impression that even if they had been clones of Pangol they wouldn't have lasted long either. So the whole deviation is an exercise in futility. All it does is allow the Doctor to be made back to his normal self and that could easily have been done as a tie in with trying to revive Mina as the groundwork was laid for Hardin's age reversal experiments. Pangol could easily have been left as the skeptic that we've seen in many different stories only to be shocked at the end. I think it was just a very clumsy deviation.

It also might not have been that good but a better stretch would have been trying to save Mina as well as a temporary escape by the criminal Foamasi, destroying part of Hardin's work and adding that much more tension to trying to save Mina. You could have also added that the rapid aging and instability of the original tachyon experiment was causing the Doctor to become weak and die, thus the race becomes to save both him and Mina, which would actually unite Hardin, Romana and Pangol. The Foamasi agent could also contribute as it would be something of an interplanetary incident if it was known that Foamasi criminals acted in ways that led to the death of the Argolan leader. What's more, the interaction between the agent and Pangol would have formed a more natural bridge of the two planets looking to create a stable peace and comradery rather than the patch job that was shown in the last minute of the show.

There was some interesting and arty direction in this story. There was also some very shoddy direction so it's an odd mix there. Any time the story went into noir, especially with close ups and shadows, it looked really good and intense. There are also some very nice long shots from the exterior into the hive itself which I enjoyed. But then there were also other shots where there was too much lighting, giving a harsh appearance to everything. There was also the very bad blue screen of the Doctor and Romana retreating to the TARDIS in Episode One as they passed through the racquetball court. I think Barry Letts would have chided them for that shot.

The other significant problem is editing. Bidmede clearly went through and slashed everything he could that was not part of the bare bones story. That led to a number of transitions where you could just feel that more had been discussed and shot but that we weren't privy to it. In a story like this, because it was so straight-forward, that's less of an issue; but when a man who is supposed to be interested in emphasizing the science can't explain what this magic box is actually doing or why it's doing things wrong, I would say that you can take an extra minute or so to explain it. They could have had even more time by cutting back on the reprise time as well so the slash and burn that was done actually created confusion rather than effectively streamlining the story.

I got rather harsh towards the end but there is still a lot to like in this story. It's just frustrating when you see a story that could have been the stand out story of the season be reduced to a middling state. I think it also says a lot for Christopher Bidmede's approach that the story that I found the best of his season was the story that was leftover from the Philip Hinchcliff/Graham Williams transition days (State of Decay). But I do like this story a bit more than some fans and I could easily watch it again. Even the stupidity that is Episode Four has a bit of entertainment and gives enough of a run around to keep you engaged. Not a horrible start to the JNT era but less than it could have been.

Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5

Resurrection of the Daleks

I am very difficult to kill. You should already know that.

Resurrection of the Daleks is a fairly well known story both for it being Tegan's final story and for also being the most death soaked story in Doctor Who history. You could argue that other stories (such as Logopolis) had greater death tolls with the destruction of planets, but this story gets up close and personal with all the deaths. From what I've been able to tell, it seems to have a fairly good reputation although some fans find it a bit too grim to full enjoy.

Plot Summary

A group of soldiers and scientists attempt to escape from an abandoned warehouse in London in 1984. Almost all of them are gunned down by guards dressed as police men who then vaporize the bodies. Two men escape but one is later found by a patrol and also killed, leaving Stein as the sole survivor.

The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough try to fight their way out of the time corridor that sucked the TARDIS in at the end of Frontios. The Doctor is able to perform an emergency maneuver that gets them out and they materialize outside the warehouse where Stein has collapsed. They tend to him and he takes them inside when the Doctor asks about the time corridor.

Elsewhere, a dilapidated prison ship is holding location in space as a new junior officer, Lt. Mercer, rotates on. While he is on duty, the ship is attacked by a Dalek battle cruiser. The Dalek ship overwhelms the defenses but the initial boarding wave is repulsed. A second wave, led by a mercenary named Lytton, overwhelms the defenses and they secure the primary prisoner, Davros, who has been held in suspended animation.

While exploring the warehouse, Turlough is accidentally sucked into the time corridor and finds himself on the Dalek ship. He hides as a Dalek is dispatched from the ship down the corridor to recover the Doctor, whom they have detected at the other end. The Dalek materializes just as the Doctor, Tegan and Stein are confronted by a small group of army personnel who had heard the Doctor shouting for Turlough. The Doctor directs the soldiers to shoot the eyestalk of the Dalek. Blinded, the Dalek is unable to defend itself as the soldiers push it out the window where it explodes upon crashing to the ground.

Tegan is injured in the fighting and is taken to a makeshift hospital area. The man in charge, Colonel Archer, leaves the warehouse to call in for reinforcements as well as medical supplies to assist the wounded. The outside phone has been disabled but he finds two police officers and asks to use their radio. They however, are the same policemen who killed the escapees and attack Archer.

On the ship, the Daleks are aware of Turlough but leave him alone, hoping to use him as bait to lure the Doctor. Turlough instead runs into the last of the crew who killed a group of Dalek-allied humans and stole their uniforms. They interrogate him but finding he knows nearly nothing about what is going on, take him with them in their plan to destroy the ship.

Davros is brought out of suspended animation and informed that the Daleks lost their war with the Movellans due to the implementation of a virus. Davros is being brought back to concoct a cure, although neither Davros nor the Daleks trust the other. Davros agrees but only if he can set up a lab on the prison ship. He manages to inject the engineer who had been repairing his chair with a serum that brings him under his control and then takes him with to the lab.

The Dalek mutant survived the explosion and crawls out of the wreckage. It attacks a soldier, injecting him with an agent. The Doctor and soldiers find the creature and kill it. The Doctor and Stein then head to the TARDIS to trace the time corridor to find Turlough. The Doctor locates the source when a group of Daleks travel down the corridor and invade the warehouse. The Doctor materializes the TARDIS on the Dalek ship but once on board, Stein turns his gun on the Doctor as he is a Dalek agent.

Stein and the Daleks take the Doctor into a lab where the Daleks have made duplicate versions of the soldiers on Earth and of the Doctor's companions. They intend to make a controlled copy of the Doctor to infiltrate Gallifrey and murder the High Council. The machines are activated and they begin to copy the Doctor's thought patterns. The Doctor appeals to Stein, who's copy is beginning to fight the control and reintroduce his original thought patterns.

The team with Turlough make their way to the self destruct mechanism. The Daleks become alerted to this development and dispatch Lytton and his team to deal with them. Before they arrive, Turlough and Lt. Mercer leave to see if they can access the time corridor and escape before the prison ship blows up. They map the access but upon returning, find Lytton's men have overrun the position and killed the rest of the team.

On Earth, Tegan and her nurse, Professor Laird, come to the conclusion that Col. Archer and his men have been taken over by the Daleks. Laird sets up a covering that makes it look like Tegan's asleep and then has her run out. Archer discovers the ruse quickly and orders a search. Tegan is apprehended by the two Dalek allied policemen outside, killing a local fisherman whom Tegan tried to flag down for help. She is taken back inside to be transported through the time corridor to the Dalek ship with Laird. Laird tries to fight and is shot by Archer.

Davros works quietly in his lab requesting samples of Dalek tissue and a sample of the Movellan virus. However, as new people come in, they are injected with the same serum and brought under his control. He takes control of a technician, one of Lytton's men and two Daleks, with whom he plans to reform the Dalek race in an image loyal only to him.

Tegan is sent to the Dalek ship on her own where she is nabbed by Turlough and Mercer. They enter the room where the Doctor had been held to find he has been set free after Stein fought off the Dalek's programing of him. The Doctor destroys the information recorded and the whole group heads to the TARDIS. Inside, the Doctor orders Tegan and Turlough to stay while he goes to kill Davros. Mercer and Stein come with him.

Davros, unaware that the Doctor was captured on the Dalek ship, sends his Daleks and converted soldiers down through the time corridor to capture the TARDIS. He also sends out his technician with a sample of the Movellan virus to kill the original Daleks. The Supreme Dalek becomes aware of the Doctor's escape as well as Davros' plans. He dispatches Lytton and his men to kill Davros and his converts.

The Doctor arrives to kill Davros but hesitates as Davros explains his plan to change the Daleks. However, even after learning that they will still be killing machines he still hesitates in pulling the trigger. He is distracted by the sounds of gunfire in the hall. Stein and Mercer have killed four of Lytton's men but Mercer was also killed and Stein is finding the Dalek control reasserting itself. Davros locks the Doctor out and the Doctor is forced to flee for the time corridor.

With Davros barricaded in, Lytton and his men are sent down the time corridor to deal with the renegade Daleks instead. These have already destroyed Colonel Archer and his men. Lytton and his men manage to kill the humans with them but are massacred by the actual Daleks, though Lytton only feigns death.

While all this is going on, the TARDIS is transported back through the time corridor to the warehouse based on a preset timer. Deciding to help as best they can, Tegan and Turlough sneak through and steal a canister of the Movellan virus that had been placed in the warehouse for safekeeping. They carry it back to the TARDIS and wait for the Doctor.

With the failure of Lytton's men, the Supreme Dalek sends Daleks to deal with Davros. They break through the doors but Davros smashes a vial of the virus, infecting and killing them. He begins to make his way to an escape pod but shows signs of the virus infecting him as well. Another group of Daleks kill the technicians who had been carrying the other sample of the virus.

The second group of Daleks is sent to the warehouse to destroy the renegade Daleks and they begin to fight. The Doctor follows them down the time corridor and destroys one with a makeshift bomb. He then takes the virus canister and sprays the virus into the air. Those Daleks that survived the initial battle are killed by the virus. In the carnage, Lytton kills one of his own men and sneaks out. He disguises himself as a police commander and then meets up with his two remaining men, the police officers from earlier, and slips away.

On the Dalek ship, Stein, still fighting with the Dalek control, finishes priming the self destruct mechanism begun by Mercer's group originally. The Supreme Dalek becomes aware of this and sends a third team of Daleks to deal with Stein. They kill Stein but he falls on the control panel, activating the mechanism. The explosion destroys the prison ship and the Dalek ship still docked with it.

The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough exit the TARDIS to survey the damage and Tegan breaks emotionally. Unable to enjoy the experience and surrounded by death, she informs the Doctor that she is staying behind. She shakes their hands and then runs off. She comes back for a brief glance as the Doctor and Turlough depart in the TARDIS.

Analysis

This is the first story that Eric Saward wrote on his own since Earthshock and it is rather obvious that he is trying to recapture what he had there in this story. This time however, it is with the Daleks and he increases the body count dramatically. He doesn't get the splash this time of killing a companion, but he does send one off (I wouldn't be shocked if he didn't have at least one draft where Tegan did get killed) and it's almost as despairing as if she were killed given the tone of the goodbye. I'm of a rather mixed mind on this one as it moves along nicely, there's a lot of action and a dark tone. But at the same time, it doesn't feel like there is much depth to the story and it is nothing more than a slog to see when each person is going to die.

If I had to peg a single problem with the development of this story it is that there is very little time for explanation. Earthshock waited until the end of Episode One to reveal the Cybermen and in that time there was development of the other characters. What's more, the teams were relatively small with just the one military team and then a small freighter crew. Here you have the space prison ship crew and a rather sizable crew on the ground. None of them are given much time to develop except for Stein. Styles and Mercer are given a bit of development but it doesn't stick that well. I didn't even remember Styles' character's name and know her only as Rula Lenska due to the number of references made to her by the fans.

Another problem of this story compared to Earthshock is that some of the guest cast survived there. Even with Adric's death, there was the redemption that took place through the survival of the crew. After all, it was Adric's own stupidity that got him killed rather than any direct actions of the Cybermen (despite one blowing up the control panel). Here, there are no survivors except Lytton and two of his men. If any one other person of the forces allied with the Doctor had survived, whether on the ground or the prison ship, it would have felt like there was something else that was gained, but instead we get only the Doctor and his companions surrounded by the dead. That's a bit too much hopelessness for me.

The performances were good. I enjoyed the Doctor for the most part and even liked that he got his hands dirty with the killing of a Dalek. However, he was the wrong choice for trying to kill Davros. Nearly every other Doctor you could believe in taking that step, but the steps the Fifth Doctor takes to avoid killing, despite the exceptionally high body count that surrounds him, just makes his threat to kill Davros feel false. Davros was quite correct when he pointed out that the Doctor's failure to pull the trigger did represent a level of weakness. Because it didn't suit the Fifth Doctor, it just felt like something that had been tacked on for drama rather than a genuine outgrowth of no other choice.

In the same vein, I do wish the Fifth Doctor didn't have such an inept feel about him in this story. The Doctor has been trapped and needed to be rescued by his companions or others before. But I don't recall specific instances where it felt like the Doctor was in such a weak position. If he was in some sort of death trap or it might be a form of noble sacrifice, that's one thing. But here, he is going to be stripped of his mind to create a weapon to be used against his own people. That seems like something he should be fighting harder against. I realize he was working on Stein's mental conditioning the whole time, but it still felt like the Doctor was completely helpless and I would have liked a stronger vein of resistance from him.

Tegan and Turlough were pretty good. Turlough actually seemed braver here than in other stories and I can't fault him for always looking out to save his neck. I would have appreciated a scene showing him transported to the Dalek ship as that was a little confusing but otherwise he worked fairly well. Tegan was also alright although she was rather whimper-y in this story. There had been stories in the past where she felt stronger but this was more of a fearful and off-put Tegan. Some of that was probably part of the performance given that she was supposed to be recovering from a concussion, but having had good performances from her, I would have liked something a little stronger: a grim determination that breaks at the end perhaps.

I think I also would have liked a stronger breakdown at the end. In the end, you had Tegan trying to hold it together but it seemed a bit stilted. I think I would have liked a bit more raw emotion and even more crying breakdown by her. She is crying as she runs off but could you imagine her beating her fists on the Doctor's chest and screaming about how their all dead and that she can't do this anymore? He tries to comfort her but she shoves him away and runs off. I think I would have cut the "Brave heart, Tegan" line as well. That cuts away at the emotional rawness of the running off scene, like she had a change of heart or wistfulness rather than the emotional trauma that she is supposed to be dealing with. It's a good leaving scene, but not as good as it had the potential of being.

The Daleks worked pretty well and I thought they worked well as villains. I think my biggest appreciation was that they were well aware of most of the goings on and either dismissed them or tried to turn it into a trap. Granted, they should have been a bit more aware of Davros' schemes but that's a small niggle. What makes less sense though is why the Daleks were so bent on staying on the prison ship. Lytton continuously pointed out that he had planned for a get in/get out operation. But the Supreme Dalek seemed all too eager to go along with Davros' plan to stay. It's a small flaw, but one that you can't help but feel is a little too convenient for the plot.

This was a very good Davros in my opinion. Still not up to Michael Wisher in Genesis of the Daleks but a close number two. He appears a bit more thoughtful and resourceful. He does go on a rant at one point and near another when talking about remaking the Daleks, but those more underlie his madness. He has a number of quiet moments and it is in those moments that he has that strong level of menace and where he is so threatening. The only real undercut to him is that he was so short-sighted as to not foresee that his Kaled DNA would make him susceptible to the Movellan virus designed to kill Daleks. Davros should be smarter than that and that was just a bit of lazy writing to offer the possibility that Davros was killed in the event that the character was to be retired.

Under normal circumstances, Lytton would be ignored or just lumped in with the generic bad guys evaluation but given that he returns in Attack of the Cybermen, he needs to be looked at a bit. I was rather surprised because many fans seem to think of Lytton undergoing a vast character change in the two stories, aided by the Sixth Doctor's harsh reaction to him. But the Doctor never actually meets Lytton so that's a bit odd to start with. Second, I saw almost no difference in Lytton's characterization between the two stories. Lytton is a mercenary who has been hired by the Daleks and who has a strong inclination towards self-preservation. He was cold toward the crew of the prison ship but that was his job. His hire job in Attack of the Cybermen allows him to show a bit more compassion and selflessness, but it's not different when you get down to brass tacks. I liked Lytton both in Attack of the Cybermen and here. He was the person who had the brain to think in the long term and about how to outwit the enemy rather than just try to overpower. It's rather a shame that he was killed off in his second story as he would have been an interesting character to bring back on occasion. Sort of a darker Captain Jack if you were.

Speaking of darker, it should be pointed out that not only did this have a darker tone in the volume of bodies stacked around but the manner of those deaths was pretty gruesome in some cases, especially with the gas attack. As I recall, both the nature of the violence and the fact that two police officers are shown murdering people (including an unsuspecting fisherman) caused quite a stir in Parliament, which actually fed the idea of going more violent in Season 22 to garner the shock watcher. I for one didn't mind the violence and I'd rather see violence in war portrayed more brutally since it takes the romantic veneer off this type of violence. It was more the overall feeling of hopelessness and death of all involved that bothered me. It gave it a "what was this all for" feel and that was where I had a problem rather than the grim nature of it.

Of the three R. Dalek stories that make up the 80's, I would rank this as #2, behind Remembrance of the Daleks. All three are pretty good but that one had a depth that I enjoyed. This one worked fairly well although it was not without it's faults. It's entertaining but not a lot of fun which is something that Earthshock did manage to capture, despite it's grim nature. A little levity, a survivor on the good guy side and an even more emotional Tegan leaving and I think this would have been one of the best of the Fifth Doctor stories. But I do have to downgrade it as such.

Overall personal score: 4 out of 5

The Monster of Peladon

Of course. I've always been very keen on survival.

The Monster of Peladon is a story whose reputation is heavily defined by it's production values. It's the story of the badger miners and Ruprect the Special Ice Warrior (per Radio Free Skaro) and neither of those speak of this story in glowing terms. I rather liked The Curse of Peladon but that was only four episodes and had the benefit of the twist in the form of the Ice Warriors being the good guys. This is six and reverts the Ice Warriors to the villain role so my expectations are a bit lowered for this one. Still, there's at least a decent chance it could exceed those expectations.

Plot Summary

The Doctor and Sarah arrive on Peladon fifty years after the Doctor's first visit. War has broken out between the Federation and Galaxy 5 and there is a critical mineral on Peladon needed for the war effort. The miners however are scared as use of modern equipment has resulted in attacks from "the Spirit of Aggedor" which have destroyed equipment and killed one miner.

As the Doctor and Sarah arrive, one of the Federation representatives has been killed and the Doctor and Sarah are arrested on the suspicion of being spies. Chancellor Ortron advocates for their execution but Queen Thalira, daughter of King Peladon, is reluctant. Alpha Centauri enters the throne room and vouches for the Doctor and he and Sarah are released into it's custody.

The miners, fearful of what has happened, begin to stage and uprising. Their leader, Gebek, goes to see the queen to ask for things to stop but another miner, Ettis, organizes the other miners into a rebellion and attacks the armory. Ettis breaks into the room where the Doctor, Sarah, Alpha Centauri and Eckersley (the engineer in charge of the mines) are working to force Eckersley to open the armory. The Doctor disarms Ettis and takes him to the throne room.

Gebek is angry with this uprising but Ortron overreacts further by ordering Ettis to be immediately executed. The Doctor stops the guard and both Ettis and Gebek flee. Ortron wants the Doctor killed in their place but the Queen objects. She gives the Doctor leave to take Blor, her champion, into the mines to investigate the most recent attack. While in cave, the Doctor discovers rich veins of the mineral desired but the entrance is blown up by the miners as a sacrifice to appease Aggedor. The Doctor and Blor are stunned but unharmed. However, a figure in the shape of Aggedor appears in the cave and fires a beam that vaporizes Blor.

Gebek returns and uses the plasma driller to create a hole for the Doctor to escape through before the Aggedor apparition can shoot him. The Doctor has Gebek rally the miners and retreat to a hidden lair. There he proposes to address their grievences with the queen so long as they instigate no more violence. Gebek agrees and offers to take him back to the citadel. However, after they leave, Ettis rallies the miners to re-attack the armory but this time using the information the Doctor gave them.

Sarah, concerned over the Doctor's safety, goes into the mine and gets lost. She finds a chamber in the rocks and sees a figure silhouetted against the light. She tries to open the door but activates the security system which sends a jolt into her mind and knocks her out. This is observed on the monitor by Alpha Centauri and Eckersley who rush down and take her back to the control room.

As they approach the control room, Ettis knocks Eckersley out and forces Alpha Centauri to open the armory door. It does so but the alarm sounds as the miners grab handfuls of weapons. Ettis opts to take Sarah as a hostage but she manages to slip away just before they enter the mines. However, she is seen and apprehended by Ortron and his guards. Ortorn, believing she was in league with the miners, takes her to the Temple of Aggedor where he has full authority.

The Doctor and Gebek run into Ettis and the other miners and learn what has happened. Gebek goes back with them while the Doctor enters the Temple. Ortron charges him with also helping the miners and opts to render them both for judgment. Meanwhile, Alpha Centauri and Eckersley go to see the queen to appeal to her intervene. She is reluctant to overrule the traditions giving Ortron power over the temple, but she becomes convinced that it is right.

The queen arrives at the temple just as Sarah and the Doctor are pushed into a pit below the temple where an Aggedor beast lives. The Doctor sings the same lulliby he sang to the Aggedor beast in The Curse of Peladon and the creature becomes docile. Convinced of his innocence, the queen orders the Doctor and Sarah out of the pit. Ortron agrees but warns the Doctor against leaving the citadel as he still does not trust him.

The queen meets with the Doctor and Sarah in private and he convinces her to meet privately with Gebek and negotiate with him for better working conditions and profits brought from interaction with the Federation. While this conversation is occurring, Eckersley convinces Alpha Centauri to contact the Federation and request troops to reimpose order. When the Doctor finds out he is upset and tells Alpha Centauri that their presence will only further antagonize the situation. Sarah also tells the Doctor about the mysterious figure she saw at the refinery.

The Doctor tries to leave the citadel to see Gebek but he arrested by Ortron and taken to the dungeons. Sarah heads into the mines to meet with Eckersley, who had gone to take the sonic lance drilling device back to the citadel. As she arrives, Eckersley is ambushed by the miners and the lance is taken. Eckersley and Sarah are sent back to the citadel but not before Sarah passes on the message to Gebek.

Gebek sneaks into the citadel and meets Sarah who informs him of the Doctor's arrest. Gebek heads to the dungeons and frees the Doctor. Sarah, Alpha Centauri and Eckersley meanwhile head to the throne room and inform the queen of the approach of Federation troops. Both Ortron and the queen are outraged but Sarah comes up with the idea of pretending that things have gone back to normal to get the troops to leave as quickly as possible. Ortron agrees and organizes a meeting with the miners and his guards to convince them to go along with the charade. This however is interrupted by another attack by the phantom Aggedor.

The Doctor and Gebek meanwhile head back to the refinery to investigate the figure Sarah saw. He opens the door and is confronted by an Ice Warrior. More Ice Warriors appear and they seize control of the citadel under Commander Azaxyr. Azaxyr listens to all sides and imposes martial law. He orders that the miners are to return to work or he will execute hostages that his troops have taken. His actions enrage all sides and unite both Ortron and Gebek. Their meeting is briefly interrupted by Ettis leading a group of miners to rescue Gebek. Nearly all of them are slaughtered by the Ice Warriors and only Ettis escapes.

Convinced that there is a higher plot, the Doctor and Gebek devise a plan where Gebek will convince the miners to go back to work but only to rebel against the Ice Warriors when they have a chance. Azaxyr threatens to execute the Doctor if anything goes wrong and locks him in the control room after the miners return to work. From there, the Doctor increases the heat in the mines, making the Ice Warrior guards groggy. While they become overheated, Ettis returns but does not believe Gebek's plan. He plans to blow up the citadel with the sonic lance. One of the miners tries to stop him by informing Gebek but Ettis stabs him and runs off.

Seeing the state of the Ice Warriors, Gebek and his men attack and overcome them seizing their weapons. The Doctor and Sarah alert the guard and run off while he examines the monitors and informs Azaxyr. In the battle, Gebek finds the stabbed miner who tells him of Ettis' plan. Gebek then tells the Doctor as he arrives. The Doctor runs to the cave where Ettis is to stop him while Sarah stays with the wounded miner. She is however caught by Azaxyr and taken back to the control room.

Azaxyr is aware of the lance's new position and has activated it's self destruct via remote control. The Doctor finds Ettis just before he fires it. The two fight but Ettis gets the drop on him and knocks him out. Ettis tries to fire the weapon but it explodes, killing him. Watching on the monitor, both Sarah and Azaxyr believe the Doctor has been killed. Azaxyr deactivates the heating unit and orders Eckersley to switch off the ventilation and air to force the miners to the surface. He then orders Sarah and Alpha Centauri into the throne room with the queen and Ortron.

The Doctor wakes and works his way back to the main mine tunnels where he meets Gebek. Gebek informs him of Sarah's capture as well as how the Ice Warriors have them pinned in the tunnels and are trying to force them out. The Doctor decides to head to the refinery to see if he can reactivate the vents.

In the throne room, Sarah devises and escape plan so that Alpha Centauri can activate the general distress beacon for the Federation. She has the queen pretend to faint to draw the guard in and then they make a dash for it. Sarah and Alpha Centauri escape but Ortron is shot down defending the queen. Thalira is recaptured but lies to Azaxyr, telling him that Sarah and Alpha Centauri went into the mines.

Azaxyr heads into the mine and to the refinery to speak with Eckersley. Seeing him on the monitor in the control room, Sarah activates the speakers and learns that he and Eckersley are in collusion and plan to sell the minerals to Galaxy 5. The also see the Doctor peering in through the open door and Sarah heads down to help him. Eckersley then uses his equipment in the refinery to send apparitions of Aggedor in the mines to cause panic amongst the miners and force them to the surface more quickly. He and Azaxyr leave for the control room to reactivate the security field.

Sarah comes down and distracts the guard while Gebek knocks him out with a rock. The Doctor then reconfigures the door to allow access without sending any signal to the control room. They enter and reactive the ventilation circuits. The Doctor also learns how to use the Aggedor projector.

Eckersley and Azaxyr enter the control room and find Alpha Centauri. Azaxyr correctly guesses that it has been trying to activate the distress signal. He takes it to the throne room and upon further interrogation, learns that Sarah has gone down to the refinery and that the Doctor is still alive. Azaxyr dispatches several warriors down to the refinery who begin to burn their way through the door. The Doctor however is able to send the projection of Aggedor outside and vaporize most of the warriors.

The Doctor sends Gebek to rally the people trapped in the mines and sends a projection of Aggedor to reaffirm the people's spiritual belief that Aggedor will fight for them. This is successful and Gebek leads the men up to the citadel. The Doctor sends the Aggedor projection ahead and kills several Ice Warriors patrolling near the entrance of the mines.

Learning of the Doctor's destruction of the warriors, Azaxyr and Eckersley activate the internal defenses of the refinery. Sarah is forced to flee as the waves scramble her brain activity but the Doctor stays in, continuing to send the Aggedor projection. Azaxyr sets an ambush in the citadel which does kill several fighters but the Doctor destroys most of Azayr's forces, allowing Gebek and his men to overwhelm the remaining defenses.

Azaxyr retreats to the throne room where he takes the queen hostage with his remaining lieutenant. Gebek and his men drop their arms but swarm Azaxyr, steal his gun and kill the lieutenant, who holds his shot for fear of killing the commander. Azaxyr breaks loose and tries to fight but one of the soldiers stabs him and kills him.

Sarah comes out of the mines and finds a gun, with which she forces Eckersley to shut down the refinery defenses. Eckersley in unphased as the Doctor seems to have died anyway. He disarms Sarah as she is distracted by the monitor and flees the room, locking her in the control room. She is later found by Alpha Centauri who has come to signal the Federation. Alpha Centauri returns to the throne room to tell the queen of Eckersley's escape while Sarah returns to the refinery to get the Doctor's body.

Eckersley emerges from hiding when Gebek and his men leave to dispose of the Ice Warrior bodies. He knocks out Alpha Centauri, takes Thalira hostage and slips into the secret passage behind the throne, making his way for an escape ship on the far side of the mountain. Gebek and his men return shortly after and learn of what happened from a stunned Alpha Centauri.

Sarah enters the refinery just as the Doctor wakes up, having put himself in a coma to protect from the defense system. They return to the citadel and learn of the kidnap. The Doctor then gets the Aggedor beast from the temple pit and uses it to track Eckersley through the tunnels. When Eckersley refuses to surrender, the beast attacks him. Eckersley is killed by the creature but manages to get off a shot, killing the creature as well.

The Doctor and Sarah depart, recommending that she promote Gebek to the role of chancellor as the Doctor is not interested in the job. Gebek had pointed out where the TARDIS was and they return to it and depart Peladon.

Analysis

While not as good as The Curse of Peladon, I don't believe that this story is as bad as it is often made out to be. The story is a bit talk-y and slow to get started, but once the Ice Warriors make their appearance, the story starts to move at a good clip and becomes rather interesting, especially if you don't take it too seriously.

I don't think I will offend anyone if I note that this story should have been a four part story with the Ice Warriors making their entrance at the end of Episode One like the Daleks tended to. The antagonism of the miners and the problems between them and Ortron do nothing other than give a bit of a runaround. They truly end up going nowhere as Ettis' men are massacred by the Ice Warriors in one quick scene and Ettis himself is dispatched in the Episode Four cliffhanger. If the Doctor had arrived in the midst of a miner's strike with Gebek as the liaison between the two sides, things could have developed a lot faster and a lot of running around could have been avoided; to say nothing of some ham-fisted scenes of the Doctor's capture and escape.

Despite that, I did enjoy the performances for the most part. The Doctor is good, although he does have a couple of points where if he had just been a bit clearer, he might have avoided some trouble. Of course, there were a number of forces working against him so I think he can be forgiven of most of that. Jon Pertwee was also clearly replaced by a stunt man for his fight against Ettis but that's not surprising given that it was well known even then that Pertwee's back was completely shot. But aside from the fight with Ettis, this was a more thinking version of the Third Doctor and I always appreciate that. The Third Doctor has been referred to as the James Bond Doctor and would agree with that. While I like James Bond, I think the Doctor works better when he has to think more to get out of a situation rather than just fight his way out. That being said, I did like the clear and clean sword fight at the end of Episode Four. It was much better than the choppy fight between the Doctor and the Master in The Sea Devils.

I had forgotten how feisty Sarah Jane was in her season with the Third Doctor. Not that I mind feisty, but when 70's men write what they think women's lib is, it tends to come across as rather awkward, angry and condescending to all parties. I personally found her talk with Queen Thalira about women's lib to be rather painful, like someone writing only what they thought they knew rather than what they actually knew. It's also rather deflated by a later scene where Sarah tries to tell the Doctor some important news and she quietly waits after being verbally chastised by the Doctor for interrupting his conversation with Alpha Centauri. I think if this is the version of Sarah that the show wanted going forward, she needed more development by a woman writer. It is for that reason that I think she became softer and more demure in the Fourth Doctor era. In a way, that increased her feistiness because it make her spunky rather than abrasive and I think it worked better that way.

Of course, her performance outside the women's lib conversations is quite enjoyable. She shows a good head on her shoulders and gets a fair amount accomplished. In fact, she very well could have solved the whole situation if it wasn't for the sabotage of Eckersley. I also couldn't help but be amused that in two different instances where she thought the Doctor was dead, she was more upset by the potential loss of her friend than the fact that she would be stuck on Peladon in the future.

Of the protagonist guest cast, Gebek was clearly the best as his character was well developed and he was played by a good actor. Thalira was very nice to look at and did a decent job of playing the very young and deferential queen but a little of her went a long way. I blame that more on the underdevelopment of her character and the standoffness that royals undergo. Ortron was also not bad, although he was written as way too over-the-top with his paranoia. It is Ortron specifically that drags everything out six episodes and it's painfully obvious that he's doing that. He does well as a villain stand-in until the Ice Warriors show up but after than he pales in comparison to them. I'm not sure if we were supposed to feel sorry for him when he is killed but given his very condescending nature toward the queen and his own paranoia, it's hard not to feel glad that he's out of the way when he is shot down.

Unquestionably, the story really kicks into it's proper gear when the Ice Warriors show up. Azaxyr does very well as the villain. He has a cold menace to him that is much appreciated in contrast to the hyper-emotional villains we had earlier in the form of Ortron and Ettis. While it's still pretty obvious that he has a deeper plan, Azaxyr still plays things close enough that you could actually believe for a bit that he is just being a bit over zealous in his role rather than outright evil. He is just a good bad guy and the Ice Warriors as a whole come across as a more competent foe. I would rate this version of the Ice Warriors as villains higher than in The Seeds of Death as they just seem stronger and more dynamic, even with Ruprect (who is just a result of bad costuming rather than any flaw in the actor's performance).

Eckersley reminded me of a shorter, thinner Tom Baker for some reason. Something about his face I guess. I thought he worked reasonably well as the brains behind the operation and it's also nice to see that he was a fairly competent bad guy as well. If the Doctor hadn't been a Time Lord, he easily would have been thwarted and Eckersley prevailed. The only part I didn't like is when he gave the obligatory megalomaniacal addition to his plan in that he would be able to rule Earth. I think it would have played better if he had remained coldly mercenary. Rich on the wealth of Galaxy 5 and free to buy a planet of his own choosing. That would have been more in line with his established character as Eckersley never comes across as mad or egotistical enough to want to be a ruler. Still, he made for an enjoyable antagonist once revealed. It was somewhat obvious that he was the mole, but that's a small quibble given the intended audience of the show.

One thing that did jump out at me was the switching between studio and film. Normally I don't mind that, but generally in those times, there is a clear delineation as to why it is that way. In many cases, the film work is outside and the studio is done for interiors. That works well and there is a clear reason. In this story though, everything is inside and you have some scenes in the mines that are done in studio and then it will randomly shift to film. I think this was the first time that I actually found it distracting and wished they would stick with one or the other. If I can't discern a significant reason for the use of film, why have the changes?

Other than that, I didn't have much to say about the overall direction. It was straightforward and to the point. Nothing to write home about but nothing egregious either. I did enjoy the gloomy atmosphere and (aside from Ruprect) the make-up job on the Ice Warriors was quite good. I can't say quite the same for the badger look of the Pel commoners. That did look a bit silly but small props for trying at least.

Overall, I'd opt for The Curse of Peladon but I'm not going to say this is a bad story. It gets dinged, fairly in some cases but unfairly in others. Probably the biggest thing is just to make sure you don't watch it too close to The Curse of Peladon as the similarities will likely be a source of annoyance. But for me with a stretch of time between the two, I'd say it's slightly above average Third Doctor and that's good enough some times.

Overall personal score: 3 out of 5

The Android Invasion

Sarah: So, providing we don't burn up on reentry and aren't suffocated on the way down, we'll probably be smashed to a pulp when we land.
Doctor: Exactly. Sarah, you've put your finger on the one tiny flaw in our plan.

The Android Invasion is Terry Nation's first contribution following The Genesis of the Daleks and only his second (and final) non-Dalek story for Doctor Who. It's something of a divided story among fans with some enjoying it and others referring to it as the worst story of the Philip Hinchcliff era. The first time around I don't remember being overly enamored with it but I'm not sure I would call it the worst story of the era.

Plot Summary

The Doctor and Sarah arrive on what they think is Earth. Looking for UNIT headquarters, they run into a group of space-suited figures who start shooting at them. The run away but Sarah slips and slides down an embankment. The Doctor rescues her just as they see a UNIT soldier walk off a similar cliff.

They investigate his body and find that all his money is brand new and of the same year. They run again from the suited figures and into the nearby town, which Sarah is familiar with, having done a story two years prior. The town is empty and also uses new coins of the same year. When Sarah tells the Doctor of a nearby Space Center, the Doctor postulates that an accident may have happened and the town evacuated.

The suited figures arrive with the UNIT soldier who had fallen off the cliff. A moment later, a truck arrives with the townsfolk, who all move to established places within the town. The Doctor decides to head to the Space Center while Sarah stays in town. He gives her the TARDIS key and tells her to wait inside if anything happens. He leaves and Sarah enters the pub. The people all stop and stare at her. The UNIT soldier chases her off when she tries to mingle. As she leaves, she sees that the suited figure is actually a robot of some kind. Sarah heads back to the TARDIS and puts the key in but is distracted by a pod. The act causes the TARDIS to disappear just as the pod opens and a man gets out and tries to grab her.

The Doctor arrives at the Space Center and also finds it deserted except for one man, a former astronaut named Guy Crayford. Crayford tries to arrest the Doctor but he runs off and the chase attracts Sarah's attention. She sees the Doctor finally apprehended and locked into a cell in the facility. She sneaks in and rescues the Doctor, observing a pair of alien eyes looking at her through a panel.

They sneak to the front of the building where they see Benton. As they identify themselves, Benton raises his gun to them. Before he can shoot, an alien named Styggron signals Crayford that the intruders are to be taken alive. Crayford counters the original kill order and Benton tries to arrest the Doctor and Sarah. They elude him and dash out, trying to get back to the town and warn London.

Outside, the UNIT guards begin to track them with dogs and Sarah slips, spraining her ankle. The Doctor takes her scarf and hoists her into a tree. He runs along, creating a false trail and then hides in the water. The dogs lose the scent and the guards double back, thinking they had swam across the river. Sarah unfortunately gets out of the tree just before the guards double back and capture her.

The Doctor gets back to town but finds all the phones dead. He waits in the pub with the barman until he receives a call from Sarah. She tells him she was captured but managed to escape and is now hiding in another part of town. The Doctor leaves the pub, noting that the phone has gone dead again, and makes his way to where Sarah is hiding. After finding her, the Doctor theorizes that they are in a test where she was allowed to escape and given access to a phone.

The two make their way back to where the TARDIS was and find it gone. Sarah doesn't seem to know where it is but the Doctor tells her that the real Sarah must have put the key in the lock which overrode it's brake and it went back to Earth. He points out that the whole town is artificial and that she's not the real Sarah as the real Sarah had given her scarf to the Doctor and didn't like Ginger Pop, which the Doctor had offered the fake Sarah. Fake Sarah draws a gun but the Doctor knocks it out of her hand and shoves her down, where her faceplate falls off, revealing the android circuitry. He runs off as she get up and fires at him.

The Doctor runs back to town where he observes the androids being recollected and taken back to the space center. The aliens, called Kralls, are recalling them and preparing to destroy the fake town, which has been built as a testing ground for their planned infiltration of Earth. The Doctor is captured by Styggron as he is planting the bomb and tied to the monument at the center of the square with the bomb.

Prior to this, Sarah had lain on the bed where she had had her mind scanned, pretending to be unconscious. When Styggron left to plant the bomb, she slipped out the door after him and snuck out another tunnel. She emerges in town and finds the Doctor tied to the monument. Unable to cut through the vines holding him, she uses his sonic screwdriver to loosen them. They then rush back to the tunnel just before the bomb detonates, destroying the town.

They're actions alert the guards who take them to a cell. Styggron is inclined to kill the Doctor outright but Crayford appeals to keep him alive and harvest his knowledge now that the invasion plan is underway. Styggron agrees but does not tell Crayford that he intends to kill to the Doctor after scanning his mind. Meanwhile, the Doctor loosens a panel in the floor with his sonic screwdriver, revealing an electrical cable. He and Sarah devise a plan to short out the android guard with it if they can get a conductor.

Android Harry Sullivan comes in and takes the Doctor away, leaving Sarah with some food and a pitcher of water. Unknown to her, the water has been laced with a biological contaminent that the Kralls intend to use to kill humanity and are going to properly test on Sarah. However, on a hint from the Doctor before being taken away, Sarah pours in on the floor and sets fire to her scarf with the electrical cable. Noting the smoke, the guard comes in and as he steps in the water, Sarah stabs him with the cable. The android shorts out and Sarah leaves the cell.

Styggron hooks the Doctor up to the mind scanning machine but leaves it on after doing it's initial run. He leaves the room, informing the Doctor that the machine will eventually burn out his mind, killing him while Styggron accompanies Crayford in his rocket back to Earth. Sarah frees the Doctor after Styggron leaves and the two sneak aboard Crayford and Styggron's rocket just prior to take-off.

The Doctor and Sarah hide themselves in two android pods which are to be launched to Earth prior to Crayford's rocket landing, unaware that Doctor and Sarah androids are also loaded. As Crayford prepares to descend to Earth, the pods are launched and appear on the scope as a dense meteor shower. The Doctor finds himself alone and makes his way to the Space Center. Sarah also lands and finds the TARDIS. Taking the key, she also discovers the android versions of herself and the Doctor.

The Doctor arrives at the Space Center after Crayford's rocket has landed and as Harry Sullivan and Colonel Faraday have gone up to meet him. The Doctor signals them to come back at once. While he waits for them, he draws out an electrical sketch and gives it to the head technician to configure. He takes Harry and Colonel Faraday to Faraday's office to explain the situation to them. He also pulls out an android detector which goes off immediately. He realizes that Harry and Faraday have already be substituted. The fake Doctor also appears behind him with a gun as androids move in and replace other workers and soldiers, including Sargent Benton.

The Doctor dives out the window and runs away with the fake Doctor ordering a search of premises to find him. The Doctor finds Sarah and tells her he has to get to the control room to stop the androids. He heads back to the control room and bluffs his way past android Benton. Sarah meanwhile sneaks around the gantry and climbs up to Crayford's rocket, hoping to free Harry and Faraday.

The Doctor arrives just as the technician has finished making the alterations. The changes will lower the radar dish and scramble the android's functions. The technician activates the system but before the radar dishes are locked into position, the fake Doctor shoots him in the shoulder and deactivates the radar. Attracted by the sound of gunfire, Crayford enters the control room angry as he had been told there would be no killing. The fake Doctor scoffs at this, informing Crayford of the plague that Styggron is planning to unleash on humanity. Crayford denies this but the real Doctor points out that Crayford has been lied to from the beginning and tells him to remove his eye patch. Crayford does so, discovering that his eye was not lost at all but still there.

The Doctor attacks the fake Doctor while distracted but the fake Doctor throws him back against the panel. This allows the Doctor to reactivate the radar which shuts down all androids in the area. Meanwhile, Sarah has found Harry and Faraday and untied them. Styggron appears with the vial of the virus and threatens the three of them with it. Crayford confronts Styggron and manages to knock the vial of virus out of his hand before Styggron kills him with his anti-android gun.

The Doctor then arrives and attacks Styggron. Styggron shoots him as well with his weapon but not before he is knocked into the vial of virus which swells around his face and kills him. The Doctor falls over, seemingly dead, but the real Doctor appears and informs them that he reprogrammed the android Doctor to attack Styggron.

The Doctor and Sarah walk back to the TARDIS where Sarah informs him that she has plans to go home. The Doctor offers to give her a lift and she accepts, knowing that it will result in more adventures.

Analysis

For me, and I think for other fans, The Android Invasion is actually a pretty good story for the first three-and-a-half episodes. It has it's cheesy moments and it's fairly full of Terry Nation tropes but it flows well and has that slightly unsettling vibe that you also get from The Prisoner or Westworld. Then everything comes crashing down at the end. I'd be very curious to know if Terry Nation ran out of time or he got into a corner and then just threw up his hands and said "plot holes be damned." This is a real shame because they are such strong undercuts to an otherwise entertaining adventure.

Let's go ahead and discuss the major flaws first. Some folks gripe about the inconsistency of the realism of the fake town with obvious tells like the single day calendar. Some even complain that the town itself is rather pointless. I would disagree on both counts as I see this as a Krall equivalent to the nuclear bomb test done in the 1950's. The fake towns they built could be highly detailed on one hand but also leave other things in the cardboard cutout stage depending on the needs and time involved. That doesn't bother me and while others might quibble, I think those that do are just going after additional nits when there are greater flaws to examine.

The really big one is the convincing of Crayford because he actually is not missing an eye. This is dumb for so many reasons. First, in the two years he was with the Kralls, he never once took off the eye patch to shower or sleep? That's just ludicrous. Second, if you've ever placed a hand over an eye, you can feel the body of the eye move in the socket, even if you can't see anything. Did Crayford never wonder at all why he could feel something moving under the eye patch? Third, if Styggron wanted to convince Crayford that he had saved his life and that his missing eye was evidence of the extensive work he did to save him, why not cut out his eye from the beginning? Crayford could easily have been knocked out, especially in the mind scanning process since it is painful to begin with. Styggron could have easily performed the surgery and never had to worry about Crayford accidentally discovering the ruse. The whole thing is just the cheapest and laziest way to get Crayford to realize he's been used and to have him attack Styggron for a fight at the end. The holes it creates far outweigh any benefits that it brought in my opinion.

The second major flaw is the fake out of having Styggron "kill" the Doctor at the end. This is doubly flawed and there is no benefit except as a quick gasp moment where the audience might think the Doctor has been killed. The first flaw is timing as Crayford was racing back up the stairs to confront Styggron. When would the Doctor have had time to reprogram the Doctor android? A simple little device or the sonic screwdriver wouldn't do the job in the 15-30 seconds given for when he could have done it. The second flaw is that the Doctor had just deactivated the androids by scrambling their brain functions through the radar broadcast. So how did he isolate the Doctor android so that it could function while all the other non-reprogrammed androids stayed frozen? The benefit of it also is so not worth the pains that it puts the story through. The Doctor could easily have been shown to knock the weapon out of Styggron's hand just as he fires and have the blast go off just past the Doctor's head. It would have been just as exciting and could easily provided the moment where an off-balance Doctor knocks Styggron into the plague. It's a bad bit of writing that is not worth it at all.

There is a third thing and although it's not a major flaw, I would have liked to have seen a resolution and that is what happened to the Sarah android. We see the Doctor android doing most of the threatening with a little thrown in from androids Benton and Harry. But we never see Sarah again after the android Doctor lifts her out of her travel tube. Presumably she is disabled along with the others but it would have been nice to see her around. I frankly would have liked a parallel scene to the Doctor's where Sarah is pursued up the rocket ship by her own android. She could even kick it off the ladder to destroy it or at least explain how it failed to catch up before the Doctor disables all the androids. But again, that's more of a want than a significant flaw in the story.

Outside of those two major problems, there is a lot to like about this story. The location is quite nice and the direction is fairly good. It's not stellar and Barry Letts is still clearly in love with CSO, but there's nothing bad about it either. There were no shots I considered bad and the high number of filmed location shots just makes the story look that much better. Of course, given that most of Episode Four is back in studio, it just makes it look that much worse.

All the actors do well here. The Doctor is quite good both as himself and his evil twin. In fact, the contrast between the two shows how much the Doctor uses natural charm and humor to put people at ease. The coldness he displays in the android version is quite sinister even though its nearly the same characteristic as the regular Doctor. The Doctor also has a number of good lines in this story and the banter between him and Sarah has a real nice balance, which again leads me to believe that Nation either ran out of time or just gave up to have the story fall so flat at the end.

Sarah is good as far as her acting, though her character is a bit up and down throughout the story. On one hand, she rescues the Doctor at least three times in this story and she gives him a great deal of background that he would have been lacking. But on the other hand, she falls badly twice and has several severe brain farts, the leaving of the key in the TARDIS lock being the most egregious. Still, you can't help but enjoy Sarah and her enthusiasm throughout the story.

Crayford was rather odd in this story. I suspect that I know what he was trying for but I'm not sure he carried it off properly. Episode One Crayford is worried about the plan that will get him to Earth so he is more violent there. Once he feels the plan is safe, there is an almost schizoid friendliness towards Sarah and the Doctor that is a bit manic. I suspect that it's supposed to be the reaction of one who is desperate for the company of his own kind and that an overbearing creepiness would be expected. I think the only spot where it didn't quite work was just after the Doctor and Sarah were captured and he asks for the Doctor's life to be spared. They were trying to lay the groundwork for Crayford not being that bad of a guy but it came across as a rather ham-fisted way to keep the Doctor and Sarah alive.

The Kralls themselves were not bad. They were a bit heavy in their design but looked different enough that I didn't have a problem with their design. They did remind me a bit of the Sontarans in their insistence in adhering to the great research being done and to the time tables already planned. I did appreciate that they were fairly ruthless, ordering death most of the time and only delaying it to pacify Crayford and to conduct additional experiments. Of course, Styggron was leaving in the rocket with Crayford so his planned deaths for both the Doctor and Sarah didn't make a lot of sense. The Doctor was at least a planned death but Sarah was an experiment you think he would have liked to have seen the results of. Given that he wasn't going to, having her die via the virus was something of a waste. Why not just shoot her and be done with it? But, I thought they worked better than some other villains who would occasionally make irrational decisions just to ensure the Doctor survived.

The rest of the cast did well but the famous callbacks were rather wasted. There was no real reason that Sargent Benton or Harry Sullivan needed to be in the story and given that they were usually found at UNIT headquarters, it would have made a bit more sense to have the base be completely populated by people unknown to us. Perhaps I might feel differently if the Brigadier was there but clearly Nicholas Courtney was either unavailable or unwilling so his role was given over to Colonel Faraday who played the role with a bit more foolish pomp. It's not bad but it just doesn't have the zip that you expect from the Brigadier.

Overall, I think this a solid and entertaining story that falls apart at the end. It is entertaining but the laziness and contrivance of the ending just leaves a sour taste in your mouth and a feeling like you've been cheated a bit. I think younger viewers would go along with it without any real problem but for older viewers, it's just a bridge too far. For the first three and a half episodes, I could easily give a 4 and even consider a 4.5 based on the witticisms thrown between the Doctor and Sarah. But the flaws at the end are just too large to overlook. More's the pity.

Overall personal score: 3 out of 5

The Sontaran Experiment

Never throw anything away, Harry. Now, where's my 500-year diary? I remember jotting some notes on the Sontarans. It's a mistake to clutter one's pockets, Harry.

The Sontaran Experiment is the last of the proper two-part stories for me as Resurrection of the Daleks is a four-part story smooshed into two parts. I have seen this one once before but don't really remember it making much of an impact other than it being a bit of a weak reintroduction of the Sontarans. But perhaps my memory is faulty. Still, it'll blow by quickly whether it's good or bad.

Plot Summary

The Doctor, Harry and Sarah transmat down to Earth from Nerva Beacon. The beam has trouble with Harry and Sarah and the Doctor elects to do some repairs to the receivers while Harry and Sarah head off to explore. Wandering around, Harry stumbles into a pit which had it's mouth hidden by brush. Sarah runs back to the circle to get the Doctor to help.

As the Doctor is working on the circle, he is watched by two men from one of the Earth colonies. The Doctor hears the scream of a man who is running from a robot and slips off a cliff. The Doctor finds him dead of a broken neck and the two men take him back to their base camp. At the base camp, they and a third man, interrogate the Doctor, believing him to be the person who destroyed their ship and has systematically killed or captured the rest of their original nine man crew.

Sarah returns to the circle to find the Doctor gone. She goes back to the hole to try and help Harry herself but she finds him gone as well. She is about to climb down when a fourth man, Roth, grabs her and keeps her quiet as a robot probe passes by. Once gone, he explains that there is an alien who has captured and killed most of the crew. He manages to escape and is trying to get away. When Sarah informs him that the Doctor can get him off, he agrees to help her.

Roth refuses to go into the camp as one of them, Vural, was also captured by the alien but let go and Roth fears a trap. Instead he runs past drawing the three of them away. Sarah cuts the Doctor's bonds and the three of them run back under cover. Sarah then shows the Doctor where Harry was. The Doctor suspects that there is a tunnel to get out but slips down and is knocked out at the bottom. Sarah and Roth try to get him but they are apprehended by the robot before they can climb down.

Harry had found a tunnel letting him out when he was looking for cover to avoid the robot's first pass through the area. Emerging a ways away, he picks his way through the rocks and eventually discovers a silver sphere nestled on the hill side. He watches as the robot pulls up, dragging a bound Sarah and Roth behind it. The door of the sphere opens and a Sontaran emerges to look at the prisoners.

Sarah believes it to be Linx, but he is simply of the same clone batch thousands of years later and called Styre. He takes Sarah as a new experiment but kills Roth as he had already learned what he could from him. He chains Sarah to the rock and sets a force field around her while he reports in to the field marshal in charge of the Sontaran fleet. Harry tries to free Sarah but is blocked by the force field. He also finds another crewman being deprived of water but is unable to free him either. He goes to look for the Doctor.

The Doctor tires to climb out the pit on waking but his cries only attract the three remaining crewmen. It also attracts the robot which takes them prisoner, but misses the Doctor in the pit. The Doctor finds the same tunnel Harry found and emerges on the rocks near Styre's ship. He finds Sarah being tortured by a mental device that makes her see her greatest fears. He uses his sonic screwdriver to short circuit the force field and removes the device, causing her to pass out. Styre discovers the Doctor and shoots him as he tries to run for cover.

Styre's robot returns with the three remaining crewmen to whom he reveals Vural's treachery. He ties Vural to a rock and forces the other two, Krans and Erak, to hold a gravity bar over him. He adjusts the weight and they try to hold it over him to prevent Vural from being crushed to death. Styre is interrupted in his experiment by a demand for a status update from the field marshal.

While Styre is detained, Harry returns and finds the Doctor alive, Styre's shot having glanced off a piece of metal in his pocket. Harry also determines the other crewman has died from dehydration. The Doctor sends Harry and Sarah up the rocks while he follows Styre. He disables the robot and overhears Styre delay the delivery of his report while he finishes his last experiment.

The Doctor returns to Harry and Sarah. He gives Harry his sonic screwdriver and tells him to remove a piece of equipment from Styre's ship. He then heads down and challenges Styre to single combat. Styre, his honor affronted, engages with the Doctor, leaving Sarah to free the three men. The Doctor continually falls back, forcing Styre to expend more energy in fighting him. Styre does get a drop on him at one point but Vural attacks him from behind. Styre kills him but it allows the Doctor to crawl away.

Exhausted from the fight, Styre returns to his ship to recharge himself. However, the piece of equipment that Harry removed causes raw energy to be drained from Styre's body. He stumbles outside the ship and his body collapses in on itself. The Doctor then signals the field marshal, informing him of Styre's demise and that an Earth fleet will destroy the Sontaran fleet if it crosses the border. Without the report, the field marshal orders his forces to fall back.

The Doctor, Harry and Sarah head back to the transmat circle. They offer to take Krans and Erak with them but they decline, not trusting the beam. The Doctor promises to have Nerva signal for a rescue ship when they get back as they are transported away.

Analysis

This story is easily a tale of two halves. The first episode is a bit slow with a lot of set up and running around. We aren't even introduced to the titular Sontaran until the end of the episode like the Daleks in a Terry Nation script. The second half is quite fast paced with only a few moments given for quick exposition scenes. It is far more engaging that the first episode but because so much action is compressed into one episode, the overall resolution feels rushed and a bit ham-fisted.

This story is the third overall to feature the Fourth Doctor but it was the first one shot for Season 12, before The Ark in Space. I think it shows as well. While I enjoyed the Fourth Doctor in this story, there is aloofness that seems more forced that normal, as though Tom Baker is playing the Doctor in a disinterested fashion. In later stories, you see him with aloofness but with confidence and overarching interest in matters that would normally be considered mundane. This story, even more than Robot, feels like the one where the Fourth Doctor was finding his feet. Of course, some of that may not be Tom Baker's fault as he was dealing with a broken collarbone for a good portion of the story and that will take a lot out of a person.

Both Sarah and Harry are quite enjoyable in this story. Harry is continually a bit of a klutz, but ends up doing more for himself and helps out a great deal, being the one to actually kill Styre with his sabotage. Sarah also does well, even if she falls a bit more into the damsel in distress role. Probably her best moment was when dealing with the effects of the terror inducing chip. That was some very good acting on her part and it sells the scene and the effects very well, given that all we actually saw were a rubber snake and a shaky camera.

Styre himself is pretty good as a villain. As it's the same actor, he is played nearly identical to Linx from The Time Warrior but there is a slightly more sadistic edge to him. Although not immediately obvious, Styre has a certain relish of his experiments, to the point where he keeps putting off the filing of his final report with the Marshal just because he wants to finish. It's also nice to see him not bothering with the standard capture but keep alive trope. He kills Roth as he is finished with him and likewise shoots the Doctor as he is of no use. I appreciate that he is also a good shot rather than having him take several shots to bring down the Doctor. It's just one shot and then done.

The rest of the cast is serviceable but there's nothing really to note about them. They seem to fill the standard role of survivors that are suspicious of the Doctor and then eventually ally with him. It hits the standard level of tropes, including having one be an enemy agent. If there had been another episode, there might have been a bit more development, especially in the case of Vural. But as it stands, none of the guest cast did anything to hurt the story so that stands in their favor.

One of the reasons this story gets talked about as much as it did is the visual style. It's shot all on location and with OBE video, akin to a sporting event broadcast. It gives the story a very natural look and the realism imposed by just using the surrounding countryside rather than any set draws the viewer into the story that much more. I'm a bit surprised that this wasn't done a bit more often, although I imagine that trying to do an entire four-part story on location would have been a bit of a logistical problem. Still, it would have been nice to see another shot at something like this prior to the Seventh Doctor era.

The overall direction is pretty standard with no issues either overly positive or negative. The ruggedness of the terrain probably made doing anything other than a basic point and shoot system very difficult. Things would have been compounded further by the fact that the lead actor was partially immobilized. This is rather obvious in the final fight scene where it's obvious the director is hiding the Doctor's face due to the fact that it's a stunt double. Amusingly, and I didn't know this until reading production notes, the actor who played Styre was also unable to film the fight scene due to his own poor health. So the final fight is between two stunt men. But it's only obvious with the Doctor.

I think my two biggest gripes are about the overall story. Episode One is rather slow with it's set up. I think Bob Baker and Dave Martin had locked into the idea of revealing Styre as the end of Episode One cliffhanger and built the first episode around that idea. I think this would have been less noticeable if it weren't a two episode story. It has the slow build up that you would expect from a four-part story and would be termed as building atmosphere if that were the case. But when things are so limited, it feels more like wasted time that could have been used elsewhere.

That plays in directly with the second problem of dealing with the incoming Sontaran fleet. Most of the second episode deals with the physical problem of getting rid of Styre and that goes fairly well. But you then have the Doctor bluffing the Marshal by not only lying about the presence of an Earth fleet but also insinuating that there is critical information in Styre's report about how to deal with humans. It's a "wave the magic wand" solution that just seems out of place. An argument could be made about how it satirizes bureaucracy, but even there it just feels like more of a cop out. I think I would have actually preferred it if the Marshal hadn't been included and instead you just had Harry overhear Styre telling Sarah that he will report back to his fleet to file his report prior to invasion. That eliminates the need to stop the Marshal and would have kept the entire focus on Styre.

Even with those limitations, this was still an enjoyable watch. I think it would have been better if it had been either the story had been balanced a bit more or if it had been expanded to three episodes. But there is a lot to like in this story and it goes by quickly. It's fun and straightforward. It also would make a pretty good story to show someone dipping their toe into the classic era. At only two episodes, they'd get a pretty good handle on whether or not the classic era is of a style they would like or not.

Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5