Empress of Mars

Rise my warriors! Sleep no more!

Empress of Mars is this season's contribution by Mark Gatiss. Gatiss has a hit or miss track record as far as most fans are concerned. He does horror well and he is very good at the fan service. But he also can be frothy and his stories will show a lack of depth often so if there isn't a strong hook, they will fall off quickly. He wrote the last Ice Warriors story, Cold War, so I'm actually looking forward to see what he can do in a more expanded setting.

Plot Summary

The Doctor, Bill and Nardole show up at NASA as a probe lands on Mars and prepares to take pictures from under the ice cap. All are shocked to find piles of stones spelling out "God Save the Queen" in English.

The trio heads to Mars in the late 19th century to try and solve the mystery. They are further surprised when the land in an underground cavern to discover oxygen and a camp fire. Bill, exploring a bit further, has the floor collapse beneath her and falls into another section of the cave. The Doctor sends Nardole back to the TARDIS for rope but upon entering, something triggers in the TARDIS and it flies back to Earth, locking Nardole out of the controls.

In her tunnel, Bill meets Captain Catchlove while the Doctor is confronted by an Ice Warrior and Colonel Godsacre. They are both taken back to camp where they learn that the Ice Warrior, nicknamed Friday, crashed on Earth and was encountered by a squad of British soldiers. They helped the Ice Warrior repair his ship and came back with him in exchange for a promise of mineral wealth. The Ice Warrior converted one of the weapons on his ship into a drill that the rest of the soldiers have been using, though no mineral wealth has been found yet.

Shortly after this, the soldiers drill into a cavern where an Ice Queen seems to be laying in state. Captain Catchlove and most of the men want to start plundering but the Doctor strongly insists on examining, fearing that this might be a hibernation chamber. Colonel Godsacre agrees and pulls back, posting a guard instead.

One of the guards, Jackdaw, drugs his superior and starts to take gems off the side of the bier. His actions trigger the reanimation process and the Queen rises and kills him. The yells attract the attention of the soldiers and another fires at her. She kills him as well before the whole group can enter, including Friday. Friday returns to her side and the Doctor pleads for mercy as the soldiers were ignorant of what they were doing. Friday also advocates for the humans, informing her of the decayed state of Mars and how they have been in hibernation longer than anticipated.

The queen listens but another soldier's weapon misfires, striking the queen's helmet. She then orders the death of all soldiers and begins to awake the soldiers. The humans retreat and collapse the entrance using the mining drill. Catchlove then reveals that Godsacre was nearly executed for desertion years ago but survived the noose. He takes command from him and has Godsacre, the Doctor and Bill locked in the brig. He sets up pickets and prepares to fight if attacked.

Three Ice Warriors tunnel under and emerge behind the soldiers where they attack them from the rear. Catchlove, seeing his men falter, runs away to get his exterior suit and head back to the ship. Friday meanwhile, also tunnels under but emerges in the brig and frees the prisoners, insisting that they help negotiate for peace. They distract the queen and her warriors while the Doctor aims the drill at the surface, threatening to cave in the whole system, killing them all. In the confusion, Godsacre also runs away.

The queen prepares to listen given the standoff but Catchlove grabs her from the rear and holds a knife to her throat. He backs towards the elevator, threatening to kill her if anyone moves. The doors open but Godsacre is there, having come back down. He kills Catchlove and then offers his life to the queen in exchange for the lives of his men. The queen, impressed by this act of honor, spares his life and inducts him into her service, ordering her men to let the others live.

The Doctor repairs the communicator and sends out a signal asking for help for the Ice Warriors as they cannot reanimate themselves and live on Mars in it's current state. Their message is received by Alpha Centauri who offers aid. To help Alpha Centauri find the landing location, the Doctor, Bill and Godsacre spell out the message in rocks that were seen by the satellite under the ice.

Shortly after, the TARDIS reappears and Nardole shows them that in order to rescue them, he had to unlock Missy and get her to fly it. The Doctor tells her that she'll have to go back in the vault and she agrees, though she does ask the Doctor if he is feeling alright.

Analysis

I rather enjoyed this story. It has a few flaws but overall it's pretty enjoyable. The one caveat to throw in though is whether my expectations are a bit lowered because it's a Mark Gatiss story. Not that I think he's bad (unlike some fans) but it is a near guarantee that he will write a pretty shallow story that has almost no bearing on the overall arc of the series. That does set the mind in a different way because you put aside higher expectations and just try to appreciate the story as is.

One other thing about Mark Gatiss is that he is a fan and puts a lot of fan service in his stories. This one had it in spades but it was not so overt as to distract from the story. But putting those in also means that he will adapt the story style to something other than his normal mode of writing. I heard one reviewer point out that you could have ripped off Gatiss' name and slapped on Malcolm Hulke's name and you would have bought it easily. I can see that and it certainly affected how the characters behaved.

The Doctor was quite enjoyable in this but he also was a bit different than the normal Twelfth Doctor. Here he was very much in line with the Third Doctor, constantly pleading with the two parties to not fight, admitting that the humans would be wiped out easily. His only real action comes in creating a brief détente by threatening to create a cave in. From there the humans resolve things without him. It's probably one of the most passive roles the Twelfth Doctor has ever taken outside of Kill the Moon.

Bill also suffers from the adoption of the Hulke style. She is still fine, but nearly all traces of her proactive nature are lost. She becomes a "sit back and wait" style of companion. It is only when asked, first by the Empress and then by the Doctor, that she even truly engages with the Ice Warriors, despite her privileged female status. Not that any of this is bad, but it's a passiveness that we've not really seen before in Bill and it does stand out a bit.

Nardole is effectively written out which makes me think that this story was written prior to it being announced that he would be in for the whole series. I don't mind him being absent, but I would have liked something resembling an explanation as to why the TARDIS bugged out and then refused to let him take control again. One would guess that it had something to do with Missy but from this story's stand alone perspective, that's one of those little plot conveniences.

I liked the Ice Warriors in this, especially Friday. He reminded me a lot of Izlyr from The Curse of Peladon, where he is thoughtful and articulate. It's the more interesting side of the Ice Warriors than the typical villain. The Empress had these moments too, although she did get swept up in the shout-y leader. I saw some people compare her to the Empress Racnoss and her tone of voice was similar, but I thought she had a bit more depth than that. Between her and General Skaldak in Cold War, I feel like the Ice Warriors have taken a more Japanese turn, similar to the Klingons in Star Trek. Not that I have a problem with that as it adds layers not previously seen in the old serials.

The humans were ok, although a bit bland. In many ways, they were typical UNIT soldiers, just there to be cannon fodder with only the faintest hint at a personality for a couple. Most of the time was given to Colonel Godsacre and Captain Catchlove. Godsacre was alright, though again, not much depth until the hasty botched execution backstory. But it was Catchlove that annoyed me.

If there is a flaw in a lot of Third Doctor stories it is that there is often a person in the military or ministry who is just a jerk for the convenience of the plot. Catchlove is this character. It turns him into the overall villain but it still feels a bit empty. He's a smarmy prick just because. Why do the men follow him? Why is he so pompous to think that they can take down the Ice Warriors despite seeing the Queen be shot at point blank range with no effect? Gatiss then goes a step further by making him both a coward and a betrayer of his own men. It's just too one dimensional for me to enjoy properly. He's a cutout villain that you could swap with just about any other.

The direction in this story was excellent. There were a number of sweeping shots that heavily added to the atmosphere while also not forcing excessive amounts of CGI that would have overblown the budget and probably looked less good. The direction added a great deal of atmosphere to this story and gave it an extra edge that added something beyond what the regular writing did.

The one thing that bugs me slightly about this story beyond little acting or storyline nits is how this plays in overall Ice Warrior continuity. Most of the other Ice Warrior stories can be fit in with this but you can tell that it was the Peladon stories that were foremost in Mark Gatiss' mind. I think the one that I have the most curiosity about is The Seeds of Death. That is the one story where you don't have a rogue group trapped on Earth and acting in a reactionary way. Instead, it's an active invasion force and set a number of years in the future. I suppose you could tie it to the rise of a more militaristic leader who chooses to go to war rather than be a more passive race as shown in The Curse of Peladon but that is a bit of a mystery.

I'd also like to know why hibernation technology is so difficult. Here the Ice Warriors oversleep for 5,000 years much like the Silurians and the Sea Devils so in those stories. Oversleeping seems to be an easy plot device to get creatures of advanced technology involved without giving too in depth of a backstory. I can understand it, but I think I would have liked something with a touch more originality.

Overall, it was a good watch. It's simple and as long as you don't expect too much from it, it will entertain you. Certainly the minor nits are just that, minor and easily ignorable.

Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5

The Lie of the Land

Bad news for your plus one

The conclusion to the loose Monk trilogy, although I'm not sure why they keep referring to it as a loose trilogy. None of the stories are going to make full sense without watching all three and I don't see how you can get away with calling that anything but a trilogy.
Plot Summary

Six months after the Monks took over, a police state has arisen with the Monks pushing the idea that they have always been there and the Doctor transmitting PSA's to homes all over the world. Bill continues to work, waiting for the Doctor to emerge. To combat the suggestion of rewritten history, she imagines her mother via the Doctor's photos of her and has daily conversations with her in her head.

While having a conversation, Nardole enters Bill's apartment and tells her that he's found the Doctor. He is being held on a ship moored out in the ocean off the coast of Britain. They manage to get on a supply ship with a sympathetic captain and dock with the prison ship.

On the ship, they find the Doctor's room but he refuses to come with her. He says that he has joined the Monks as the only way to preserve humanity. Bill is stunned and even tries to act as though there is a code. When the Doctor appears to alert the Monks of her presence, she grabs a soldier's gun and shoots him. The Doctor releases a quick burst of regeneration energy before stopping and congratulating Bill on passing the test. He had to be sure she hadn't been taken over by the Monks. The Doctor had already deprogramed all the guards on the ship and then sent Nardole to bring her before they escaped.

After bringing the ship back to Britain, the Doctor and Bill head back to the university and enter Missy's vault. She tells them that in her previous dealings with the Monks their central weakness is that the person who made the deal is the linchpin. If that person's mind is eliminated, it will destroy the Monk's grip on the reality they are presenting, making them vulnerable to uprising. The Doctor, unwilling to sacrifice Bill, opts for a different plan.

The Doctor, Bill, Nardole and the squad of soldiers decide to attack the central pyramid from where the broadcast signal is coming from and being sent out via the statues placed all over the world. The Doctor gives the soldiers recordings of Bill's voice repeating the truth to drown out the stronger influence of the Monk's signal. They enter in the pyramid and overcome the small number of Monk's guarding inside.

The Doctor, Bill and Nardole enter the central chamber where the Doctor attempts to interface with the mind sending the signals. It overpowers his mind and he is thrown backwards, knocking him out. When he comes to, Bill has tied his hands and informs him that she is going to interface with the broadcasting Monk. He implores her to stop but she does it anyway.

The Doctor manages to get loose as Bill interfaces. The Monk's broadcast starts to overwrite her mind but the Doctor notices that it doesn't touch the image of her mother and the imaginary relationship Bill created. The Doctor implores her to focus all her mind on that relationship as it is not historical and untouchable by the Monks. This sends the image of Bill's mother all over the world and disrupts the Monk's signal of truth. With the signal disrupted, the people rise up and overpower the Monks. The remaining Monks flee to the central ship and abandon Earth.
Afterwards the Doctor points out that the Monks were able to erase their six-month interlude from the minds of collective humanity, removing any lesson humanity might have learned. He then heads to Missy's vault where she notes the guilt she is feeling over all the people she has killed over the years.

Analysis

I was a little nervous going into this story since I'd seen some references to Martha's quest from Last of the Time Lords and I didn't care for that too much. However, I was pleasantly surprised as I found this one fairly engaging and interesting. It wasn't perfect but it was fun and I found the use of "love overcoming" a much more palatable solution in this case than had been done previously.

Jumping straight to the climax, I think the reason that the memory of Bill's mother being untouchable by the Monks worked for me is that it had some basis in reality rather than just a whim of the screenwriter. In many situations, people in isolation have invented fictional friends or personalities to keep themselves sane (see Wilson in Cast Away as an example). Bill did much the same thing. She had never met her mother but the Doctor gave her enough for her to invent that relationship and it was these conversations that helped her overcome the brainwashing from the statues. But since it was a memory built on a figment, it was untouchable and I liked that.

The Doctor was enjoyable here. I really enjoyed the first third of the story where it seems as though he's working for the Monks, although I'm not sure that that had much of a point other than to give the grand fake out to the audience. The Doctor and Nardole should have been able to tell in a less dramatic fashion if Bill had been taken over by the Monks and certainly the Doctor had no need to make it look like he was regenerating. That was a trailer moment and nothing more. But it was fun and very tense at the time. But it was also very reassuring when he returned to his normal state, complete with standard arrogance and disdain for others.

Bill was the central character in this story, but she didn't grab focus as much as you might expect. I think that worked out very well for both her and the story. She did end up solving the problem but she didn't go through this great journey to become stronger to do it. She was simply surviving, waiting for others stronger than her. Her defeat of the Monks came about because she cared about the Doctor and because she had an ace that she didn't know about. It worked and she saved things, but not in the true "hero's journey" way and I think that made Bill a more enjoyable character as a result.

Nardole didn't offer much in this story other than a few jokes here and there. Given how much the story needed to focus on Bill and the Doctor, I completely understand. Nardole didn't over-insert himself either and I think that worked given the limitations of the story for him.

I liked Missy in this story. She was a touch subdued from her normal self but there was still that edge of sadism to her. The idea of killing Bill to stop them seemed the most natural solution and one that she would easily have pushed. Missy might be suggesting that she's reformed, but that dark edge is still there and it is always fun to see.

I am curious to see where they are going with her though. At the end of the story, she seemed to be feeling actual remorse over the deaths and pain she caused. There's also the fact that we're supposed to be seeing the John Simm Master at some point before the end of the series so there is definitely a plan for Missy and I can't quite see what it is yet.

The Monks didn't do themselves much better in this episode than they did the last in terms of making themselves formidable. They had some fight in them but even with the lightning and spider web shields, the interior guard was somewhat easily overrun by the Doctor's soldiers. I'm trying to reconcile that with the near limitless power they otherwise seem to have in manipulating the environment and giving the Doctor his sight back. They have great power but are limited in actual combat and they also are fairly few in number. You would think that if they have performed this trick on other worlds, their numbers would be greater given the time for replication. In a way, I can't help but think of Treehouse of Horror II where Kang and Kodos, despite having superior technology, are driven off by Moe running after them with a board with a nail in it. There is an incongruity here that just doesn't feel right.

I thought the direction quite nice and some very nice scenery choices. I thought it also interesting in treating it like the viewer was fully enmeshed in this 1984 style world. The random cuts of the Monks and their symbols in the screen reminded me a bit of Sleep No More in their immersivness of the watcher in the world. In fact, until Nardole showed up, the parallels beteween this and 1984 were quite strong, to the point that I could easily see scenes having been directly lifted from the story.

Overall, I'd say it was a good conclusion. If the trilogy as a whole has a weakness, I'd say it's that the quality of the villain does not match the time devoted to them. Each story has good parts and less than good parts, but they still more or less work as individuals. I think this story, with a lack of reference to the past two stories, almost works better in that regard, though you would probably be a bit lost if you hadn't seen the prior two episodes. But, that aside, it's still and enjoyable watch. There are little things that don't work and they might drag it down a touch on repeat viewings, but overall it's a solid conclusion and an enjoyable story.

Overall personal score: 4 out of 5

The Pyramid at the End of the World

Doctor: What are the essentials?
Nardole: Air, Water, food, beer.

Vacations are pleasant things, but it's also nice to get back to the standard run of TV watching. At least the vacation allows me to watch the second and third parts of the loose "monk trilogy" in close succession. I think my biggest curiosity is how the second episode of the trilogy will fall. Are we looking at something good on it's own like The Empire Strikes Back or The Two Towers or are we looking at something less pleasant like Terminus.

Plot Summary

Encouraged by the Doctor, Bill goes out on a date with Penny, whom she amuses with the story of their date in the simulation. As they are sitting down to tea, soldiers enter Bill's apartment and are followed shortly their after by the Secretary-General of the UN. The Secretary-General is invoking the Doctor's term as President of Earth and wishes to know where to find him.

Resistant to taking up the office again, the Doctor holes up in the TARDIS, unaware until later that it was taken out of his office and placed on a plane. They travel to a desert region in Asia at the crossroads where the Chinese, Russian and American militaries are all on high alert. In this region, a 5,000 year old pyramid has appeared.

The Doctor approaches the pyramid where he is confronted by one of the Monks. The Monks inform him that they will take over Earth and they will be invited to do so. They then shut the door in the Doctor's face and all phones on Earth instantly switch to 11:57 PM, reflecting the Monk's version of the Doomsday Clock. Uneasy, the Doctor allows the three armies to coordinate an attack on the pyramid.

Meanwhile in Yorkshire, two scientists are settling down for work in a biochemical lab. One, Erica, has to have her co-worker, Douglas, input the figures for today as her husband accidentally broke her reading glasses that morning. Douglas, suffering from a bad hangover, inputs the numbers but mistakenly inputs the decimal point in the wrong location, causing too much of a certain chemical to be injected into the system.

The Monks take over the offensive capabilities of the three armies, rendering them useless. They then invite the power players into the pyramid. Inside, they tell the three commanders, the Secretary-General and the Doctor, Nardole and Bill how the planet will be dead in a year. They will save them in exchange for being invited to take over. They allow the party to see into their modeling and see the dead planet.

The Doctor scoffs at their offer but the Secretary-General decides to accept it. He offers to let the Monks take control. The Monks examine him but the offer must be made from a point of love and sincerity. The Secretary-General, motivated by fear, does not qualify and he collapses into dust.

The remaining party withdraws out of the pyramid and the leaders of the three armies agree to not follow any orders that would cause them to enter into war. Despite this agreement, the clock clicks forward to 11:59. The Doctor realizes that the potential war is not the cause of humanity's destruction. They brainstorm and settle on the likelihood of a plague and the Doctor sets them to search for possibilities after declassifying the government contracts.

At the lab in Yorkshire, the chemicals complete their mixing and inject themselves into the plant cultures. The plants then wither and die in moments. Erica and Douglas run out to seal the lab but Douglas leaves the main lab door open. He had also previously taken off his sterile helmet and collapses a moment later, withering into a slime. Erica seals the lab and initiates venting procedures.

Nardole narrows down the search field to about four hundred labs but the three commanders balk at this as it will take too much time to search. They head back to the pyramid to negotiate. The Doctor sends Bill to keep tabs on them while he and Nardole head back to the TARDIS. The Doctor has Narodle hack into the system and shut down the security cameras off all four hundred plus labs that are on the their list. The Monks then move to reactivate the cameras of the one lab they are watching and the Doctor heads there in the TARDIS.

As he arrives, the commanders attempt to surrender Earth to the Monks. The Monks determine they are surrendering out of strategy and not love and the three commanders are turned to dust as well. They turn to Bill as the Doctor's representative but she declines and backs off.

In the lab, the Doctor assesses the situation and figures that the venting will send the bacteria into the atmosphere and kill everything. He sends Nardole back into the TARDIS and moves it out of the lab. As he does so, Nardole collapses in the TARDIS as his lungs are attacked by the bacteria. The Doctor and Erica rig a small bomb that will ignite the ethanol being given off by the bacteria.

The Doctor sets the timer for two minutes and then heads towards the exit. As he does so, the doomsday timer trips backwards away from midnight and the Monks head back to their console to examine the problem. Erica is already outside the lab and tells the Doctor he'll have to manually enter the code to unlock the door. However, the Doctor cannot see the numbers on the dials to manipulate them. He tries to contact Nardole but he is unconscious.

Bill, listening in, realizes there is a problem. The Doctor finally confesses to her that he is blind and cannot escape. Bill then heads back to the Monks and offers to surrender if they give the Doctor his sight back. As her offer is made through love for the Doctor's well being, it is accepted. The Doctor's sight is restored and he exits the lab a few seconds before the bomb incinerates the bacteria.

Analysis

This story was not bad, but it wasn't overly engaging earlier. It did have a lot to overcome in the fact that it is the bridging episode between the first and last parts. Some of those stories hang well on their own but this seemed a little too wheel spinning to enjoy for it's own sake. Extremis introduces the Monks and their simulation systems while The Lie of the Land is going to cover how their takeover is overthrown. This story is them taking over and it's not particularly interesting in that.

What was interesting was the lab stuff. I found Erica and Douglas far more engaging than anyone in the high command of the various armies. I also really appreciated the fact that the role of Erica was written and no changes were made because they cast a little person. She is just a role and her height is irrelevant to the story. That was refreshing. Then you have the fact that she and Douglas have that casual workplace friendship that is just enjoyable to watch. There's no unrequited romance or weird politics. It's just two people who work together and get along. I almost wish the bacteria hadn't interrupted as I would have liked to have heard Erica's story about throwing up in her helmet.

I did like all the principles in this story. The Doctor seemed very wrong-footed and unsure of himself for a lot of the story. In fact, he seemed more unsure of himself than he did in Extremis but I thought it worked fairly well. But he also got his big brash moments in making the bomb and destroying the bacteria. I found his interaction with Erica to be very amusing. I also liked that fact that Erica didn't have a clue who the Doctor was. There's been a lot of stories where the Doctor seemed a bit too familiar so having someone have no clue who he was felt good.

This is the third story in a row where Nardole was given a good bit to do and he worked well. Someone on-line compared him to K-9 and I think that is a very apt description, even down to the sarcasm. People have also speculated that Nardole was originally conceived as arriving in the flashback sequence in Extremis and they enjoyed him so much they wrote him back into the earlier stories. That would make sense since his first real story was Oxygen, the story just prior to this and his lines could easily have been given to Bill or some other character in that story.

Bill was good too. It was rather obvious that something was going to happen and she was going to end up trading Earth for the Doctor's life. I didn't see it being his sight restored but I'm not sorry to see the blindness go. But I like that Bill is just an ordinary person who travels with the Doctor. She's smart but not so much that she will supersede the Doctor. She's much more like the companions that the Third or Fourth Doctor would travel with in that they brought their own skills but were, for the most part, ordinary people. I did find it highly amusing that Bill is relating the story of the pope in the simulation only to have nearly the same thing happen but with the Secretary-General instead. I also appreciated that scene because it was a variation on a theme within the original simulation, suggesting that the Monks had things plotted out pretty correctly.

I'm a bit mixed on the Monks as villains. They clearly are extremely powerful and could easily take over the world anytime they want. I don't buy the ruling through love angle since the love that was acted on was Bill's for the Doctor. They are just agents at that point. In many ways, they are like a rehash of the Silence but with broader power rather than the elusiveness that made the Silence interesting. There are more questions involved with them that I hope are at least partially addressed in the next episode.

I was also a little disappointed that after teasing her in the first part, Missy did not make an appearance in this story. It would have been nice to see her offering snide bits of commentary while chained up or contained back within a cell in the TARDIS, speaking over a video relay in the Doctor's sunglasses. That would have been highly amusing, like an in frame commentary. But she does seem to be making an appearance in the conclusion so hopefully she's good there.

The cinematography and direction was pretty good in this. I was having small issues with the feed on my TV so I couldn't get it as nice as it should have looked, but I thought it looked well done with some nice direction. It certainly had a much more intimate feel that I might have otherwise expected given how sterile it could have easily been done. But it looked very nice and I thought it well done.

Overall, I think is this in the slightly above average category. It'll be watched more as a context piece with the other two rather than as a story in it's own right. In fact, I probably could have tied this one and The Lie of the Land in a single review but it had been long enough that I just wanted to jump in. So, I highly doubt anyone will single this episode out as one to watch, but I don't think it's a major falloff from Extremis either in the overall arc.

Overall personal score: 3 out of 5

The Power of Kroll

Will there be strawberry jam with the tea?

The Power of Kroll is the fifth entry in the Key to Time quest and the second for Robert Holmes. It also is oddly derided by fans. If you ask a random fan which is the weakest story of the season, they will usually cite this one or The Armageddon Factor. Some of that may be due to the production values but often they will cite story as well. Having seen this once before, I can't really understand what the significant problem is.

Plot Summary

On one of the moons of Delta Magna, Commander Thawn has returned to a methane gas extraction facility after a visit to the home planet. One of the technicians, Dugeen, notices that another ship followed Thawn's through the atmosphere trying to mask itself. Fearing that it might be a smuggler named Rohm-Dutt supplying weapons to the local tribe, nicknamed Swampies, Thawn and his second-in-command, Fenner, head out to investigate.

The TARDIS lands in the swamp and the Doctor and Romana leave it to look for the fifth segment to the Key to Time. K-9 is forced to stay in the TARDIS due to the marshy conditions. The atmosphere plays with the key detector so Romana heads for higher ground to get a better signal. While on the ridge she is grabbed by Rohm-Dutt and a party of Swampies and take her to the Swampie village.

The Doctor hears Thawn and Fenner approaching but when he stands up, he is shot by Fenner. Thawn realizes that he is not Rohm-Dutt and when the Doctor sits up (Fenner shot his hat) Thawn takes him back to the extraction facility. The Doctor gives a few suggestions on how to improve the facility which convinces the crew temporarily that he is not an agent here to assist the Swampies. However, they refuse to let him leave.

Romana is taken back to the village where Rohm-Dutt delivers a load of guns to the Swampies. Newly armed, the Swampies decide to attack the refinery in the morning and prepare to offer Romana as a sacrifice to Kroll, their squid god, to give them victory.

While the crew is distracted by sending a payload of processed protein into orbit for delivery, the Doctor slips out, using his sonic screwdriver to open the door. At the same time, Mensch, Thawn's Swampie manservant, slips out and signals the village with a code via flashing light. A villager responds to him and the Doctor follows the light in a stolen boat to the village. He arrives just as another Swampie, dressed as Kroll is preparing to kill Romana. He knocks him away and frees Romana.

Left behind, the Swampie leaves a book detailing the history of the Swampies. They discover how the people were exiled from Delta Magna to this moon and began to worship a squid that was transported at the same time and grew to a large size. The tome also tells of how Kroll rises every couple of hundred years to cleanse the people from unrighteousness. The Doctor and Romana speculate that if there is a giant squid creature, it is preparing to emerge from a state of hibernation and that would explain the large quantity of protein the facility is able to get from the lake.

Thawn and the crew realize that the Doctor has slipped away and guess that he is league with Rohm-Dutt. Thawn is also alerted to a large disturbance on the sea bed by Dugeen. Thawn and Mensch leave the base to hunt down the Doctor and his allies. The Swampies are laying in wait for them but their weapons are faulty and only kill them. Before battle is joined, Kroll rises from the sea, a huge squid, grabs Mensch and drags him below. Thawn retreats back to the base while the Swampies abase themselves before the vision of Kroll.

The returning Swampies discover the Doctor and Romana about to continue their quest for the key segment and capture them along with Rohm-Dutt who they accuse of delivering faulty weapons to maximize his own profits. The village leader, Ranquin, consults the holy book and decrees that the three prisoners are to be sacrificed in one of seven specified ways to Kroll.

Back at the base, Thawn relays his experience to the others and they also observe more large disturbances on the sea floor. Unsure of the base's ability to withstand large torsional forces, they look at securing the facility. While doing so, Kroll snakes a tentacle through the extraction pipes, punches through, grabs Harg and pulls him down through the pipes and back into the sea.

The Doctor, Romana and Rohm-Dutt are tied to a rack with vines and a window to allow the sun in. As the vines dry, they contract, pulling the three like a rack. The Swampies leave to let the execution happen. As the vines tighten, Rohm-Dutt admits that he was actually hired by Thawn to deliver faulty weapons. It would give him justification to eradicate the Swampies, as they are arming, and also discredit The Sons of Earth, a fringe group advocating the abandoning of the colony and return to Earth.

On the extractor, Thawn orders the shut down and repair of the damaged pipes and also the continual monitor of Kroll. He and Fenner debate attempts of ways to kill the creature. Thawn has twenty-five depth charges that he thinks can be used against it but is unable to figure out a way to deliver them in a compact fashion against the creature's vitals. They are also distracted by a storm rolling in which causes everyone on the station to batten down.

As the storm rolls in, the three notice the rain splashing the window. The Doctor emits a high pitched tone which shatters the window. The rain flows into the room and the vines swell with the moisture, allowing the three to free themselves. They flee the village but the Swampies notice their departure and chase after them.

As the storm subsides, Thawn's team notices Kroll leaving the lake and heading towards the village, attracted by the vibration of the chase. The Doctor also notices signs of Kroll's advance and orders them to stop. Rohm-Dutt panics and continues to run until a tentacle reaches out and drags him under the water. The Doctor and Romana enter a boat and propel themselves amidst the swamp while Kroll surfaces and attacks the Swampies.

As Kroll is distracted, Thawn get the idea to launch the orbital rocket into Kroll. Dugeen objects, noting that it will kill the Swampies as well but Thawn knocks him out. Thawn pulls a gun and forces Fenner to start the launch sequence. The Doctor and Romana, who managed to sneak into the station, overhear the plan and head down to the rocket silo to disable the rocket.

The Doctor climbs up the rocket and pulls the guidance panel that controls the rocket. Dugeen comes around and tries to disable it from the control panel but Thawn shoots him. The Doctor however smashes the wiring in the rocket, disabling it. Knowing that sabotage has occurred, Thawn heads down and takes the Doctor and Romana back to the control room at gunpoint.

Kroll recedes into the lake, leaving the Swampies. Ranquin, sure that Kroll has punished them for not sacrificing the Doctor and Romana, leads the tribe to the base to fulfill their obligation. With Thawn distracted, they enter the base with ease. They then kill Thawn with a spear as he is about to execute the Doctor.

Kroll rises from the lake again and attacks the base. Tentacles snake in towards the control room but the Doctor has Fenner activate equipment elsewhere in the base. The vibrations attract Kroll and he leaves the control room alone while attacking other parts of the platform. Ranquin, believing Kroll has heard his prayers, heads to another part of the base to abase himself before Kroll, but is grabbed by a tentacle and dragged out.

The Doctor gets an idea and heads outside to a point where Kroll's body is pressed against the platform. He is grabbed by a tentacle but he manages to press the Key detection stick against Kroll's body. Kroll immediately disintegrates as the fifth segment materializes on the end of the detection stick.

The Doctor takes the segment in to Romana and then manages to disable the computer before it sets off components that would destroy the platform. With the base secure, the Doctor and Romana leave, suggesting that Fenner try to get to know the Swampies better and informing him that with Kroll gone, the methane production of the station will crater. They walk back to the TARDIS and take off as K-9 greets them.

Analysis
Again, for the life of me I can't figure out why this story is derided so much. Yes the split screen with Kroll is pretty obvious but fans tend to be forgiving of the Barry Letts era and I think the things he did were worse. What's more, you have some really good acting and (aside from the split screen) pretty good production values going on. Even the story, while very basic, rolls along at a good pace.

The Fourth Doctor is quite good here being a good balance of funny but also somewhat serious about the overall situation. He is never angry and always focuses on the lives of others, continuously insisting that he needs to go help Romana as well as constantly emphasizing the Swampies as real people. But he also does not hesitate to call out the Swampies own faults in their worship of Kroll and in ignoring their own history in doing so. It's the Fourth Doctor at his most fun.

Romana is enjoyable but she is a bit shortchanged in this story. Since it is Robert Holmes writing her again, she returns to the psychological mindset as well trading witty barbs, tinged with a bit of sarcasm. It's Romana at some of her most entertaining but aside from the dialogue, she just isn't given much. She spends most of the first three episodes captured, either waiting for or with the Doctor. In Episode Four, she does nothing as it is the Doctor who shorts the guidance in the rocket, destroys Kroll and disables the computer. Romana merely comments on the situation the whole time. She even manages to behave somewhat stupidly by first not dragging the Doctor out of the silo when he knocks himself out disabling the rocket and then by dismissing Kroll's attack and nearly getting grabbed by a tentacle. Not the best role for her.

Thawn made for a pretty good bad guy. He gets outacted by Fenner, played by Philip Madoc, but his overall performance is pretty good. He does things in such a way that he starts as somewhat reasonable, even if you disagree with him, but as things escalate, he gets more and more manic and savage. Yet despite the manicness, it never goes over-the-top. It just goes to the point where you feel satisfied that the Swampies have taken him down. It also makes sense in the context of the story that Thawn would have to be removed as an antagonist before Kroll could be fully dealt with so his death only halfway through Episode Four feels appropriate and doesn't leave the story hanging for the rest of the episode.

The Swampies were pretty good as a native. The makeup used to get that green skin was quite effective and they were all pretty good actors, Ranquin especially. There was some nice undertones with Mensch that would have been interesting to explore as well. He is a domesticated Swampie and carries that countenance of a native who has been "civilized" but knows the disdain he is under. The actor played it well and it's a shame that he is taken out halfway in Episode Two. My only other complaint about the Swampies is that their ceremony of sacrifice for Romana goes on a bit too long. It gets a bit tedious to hear them shout Kroll constantly for nearly half of Episode One. The ceremony should have been cut down or some other things done to institute a bit of variety in the proceedings.

I will admit that the split screen done for Kroll was not good, but I've also seen worse. I think a case could be made that the giant robot in Episode Four of Robot was worse and yet that doesn't seem to be derided quite as much as this. There is a point where it gets too close and the effect seems even worse than it should but that's a small niggle. They actually do a better job in making Kroll seem more fierce with the use of the tentacles and dragging several people into the depths. I look at Kroll as an ambitious try to which they did not quite succeed.

Aside from Kroll, the effects are pretty good. There is nice location work which puts nearly everything outside on film and that looks good. There is some very nice night shooting for Romana's sacrifice that also looks good. Even the base set is pretty good, spare but serviceable. There is a point where the ladder used by the Doctor to disarm the rocket is seen to be rather wobbly but I'm willing to overlook that in favor of everything else they did.

There is one point that is just a bit dumb and it cannot be overlooked. That is the way the Doctor, Romana and Rohm-Dutt get out of the rack in Episode Three. Having the Doctor emit a high pitched tone and then talk about learning it from Nellie Melba is taking it beyond the realm of believability. I think it might have gone over slightly better if an actual soprano's voice had been used. At least there the joke about the opera singer would have made sense, even if it was a groaner. Instead you get a synthetic sound that makes the Doctor sound like a robot and that just didn't work.

Even with the missteps, I think this is a pretty good story. It's not The Ribos Operation and I think that's why it's reputation suffers. Since Robert Holmes already penned a very good story in the arc, it can't help but be compared to that one and it's just not as good. Had any other writer delivered this, it probably would be appreciated for the simple story that it is. While I like Robert Holmes, I try not to force a story to live up to a higher reputation just because of who wrote it. If the story is entertaining, well-acted and looks decent, I'm fine with that. Within the Key to Time season, I would certainly rather watch this than say The Pirate Planet, even though that story is supposed to be funnier.

Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5

The Sea Devils

I reversed the polarity of the neutron flow.

The Sea Devils is a follow up to Doctor Who and the Silurians but with the Master thrown in as an added antagonist. The general opinion amongst fans is that it is good but not quite as good as Silurians. There is also one rather famous scene where the Doctor deprives Jo of a plate of sandwiches and eats them himself. Something comical I guess but it has really fed in to the idea of the Doctor being a bit abusive towards Jo at times. So I'm curious to see how this compares to the rest of Malcolm Hulke's work.

Plot Summary

The Doctor and Jo arrive at the island where the Master is being held prisoner. They meet the commandant, Colonel Trenchard, who shows them to see the Master and also mentions the sinking of several ships recently while making small talk. The Master makes an outward show of being penitent but also refuses to tell the Doctor the location of his TARDIS. He also asks that the Doctor return to see him for more stimulating conversation.

Curious about the sinkings, the Doctor talks to the man who ferried them over. He tells of a lifeboat that was recovered with strange markings and was taken to a naval base nearby. The Doctor bribes the man and takes his boat over the naval base where he finds the lifeboat with scorch marks. The base's guards find the Doctor and take him to see the commander, Captain Hart.

Discovering the Doctor's little adventure, Jo borrows a motorcycle and arrives at the base with their UNIT passes, which satisfy Hart's demand for regulation. Looking on a chart, the Doctor notes that at the center of the attacks is an old naval fort. He learns that a two-man maintenance team has been assigned to upgrade the fort to use as a SONAR station. Hart however, refuses to send a team out as he's had no complaint from the maintenance crew.

The Doctor and Jo head out to the station on their own and explore the fort. They find one member of the crew dead. The other member comes out of the shadows in a state of panic. They get him back to his bed and the Doctor sedates him with supplies from the medical kit. They also find that their boat has been sunk by the gas tank being exploded.

The Doctor thinks to radio for help but finds the radio destroyed. He instead goes to find a transceiver which he can modify to send a distress signal. In the corridors he is attacked by a creature similar to the Silurians. He rushes back to the room and barricades the door. The creature uses a heat ray to burn a hole through the door and tries to unbar the door. The Doctor electrifies the door, giving the creature a nasty shock. It retreats and dives out a window into the sea.

When the Doctor and Jo fail to report in, a notice is sent to Captain Hart. He tries to raise the fort but gets no response. He then dispatches a rescue helicopter to investigate. As the helicopter approaches, it receives a signal from the Doctor, who managed to rewire a transceiver, and takes all three of them back to the naval base.

Back in the prison, Trenchard and the Master leave with the Master disguised as a naval officer. The Master is slightly annoyed with Trenchard for having mentioned the sinking ships to the Doctor but they press on anyway. Trenchard enters Captain Hart's office, interrupting his meeting with the Doctor and Jo to discuss a replacement for the weekend golf match. Meanwhile the Master sneaks into the store room and steals parts for SONAR equipment. He is met by the manager of the store room and when he fails to hypnotize him, the Master knocks him out.

Trenchard finally leaves but when Jo walks over to the window, she sees the Master walking below. She alerts the Doctor and a moment later, Hart is informed of the attack on the equipment room chief.

The Doctor and Jo, suspecting Trenchard's involvement, head back to the prison. Trenchard is caught off-guard and asks the Master what to do. He tells Trenchard to let him see the Doctor. He then knocks out a guard and takes his gun and knife from him.

The Doctor tells Jo to head back and then goes to see the Master himself once Trenchard returns. The Master tries to hold him with the gun but the Doctor knocks it out of his hand. They each grab a sword from a rack nearby and fence. The Doctor disarms the Master but the Master throws the stolen knife at him. Trenchard enters at the last minute, throwing off the Master's aim and he misses. Trenchard believes the Master's accusation that the Doctor attacked him and has the Doctor arrested.

Trenchard orders that Jo be arrested as well but she gets past the guards at the prison entrance and takes cover on the grounds while the guards search for her. She doubles back around to the exterior of the prison as the Doctor is taken in to the Master's room and handcuffed to a chair. The Master admits that he is making contact with the aquatic Eocenes and intends to assist them in retaking Earth and destroying humanity.

Back at the naval base, Captain Hart dispatches one of his submarine commanders to investigate the waters around the island fort. Officer Blythe enters informing him that Colonel Trenchard reported the Doctor and Jo leaving in a cab rather than their supplied transport. He also states that they immediately left for London rather than returning to the base as they had originally intended. Suspicious, Hart heads over to the prison to talk with Trenchard.

Upon learning of Hart's arrival, Trenchard summons the Master to observe from behind the scenes. Jo takes advantage of the situation and, having signaled the Doctor through the window, gets past the guard at the door as the Doctor distracts him. She undoes the handcuffs and the Doctor knocks out the guard, allowing them to flee the prison.

On the submarine, as they approach the island, they begin getting SONAR pings. The system is then overwhelmed and the whole sub begins to lose power, despite no apparent damage to any system. The sub sinks to the bottom and several Sea Devils enter through the escape hatches and attack the crew. One breaks through to the bridge where it forces the crew to drive the sub to a specific point.

Trenchard is able to allay Hart's suspicions and dismisses him. The Master enters with his machine that he tells Trenchard will allow him to communicate with the Sea Devils. Trenchard has been fooled by the Master into thinking they are enemy agents and can be dealt with by normal means. They are alerted to Jo and the Doctor's escape and follow them down to the beach where the Doctor and Jo are caught between armed guards and a minefield. The Master activates his machine and a Sea Devil rises out of the ocean and walks on to the beach.

The Sea Devil attacks the soldiers first, driving them off. The Doctor and Jo dash into the minefield to escape with the Doctor using his sonic screwdriver to detect the mines. The Sea Devil tries to follow them at the urging of the Master but the Doctor detonates several mines behind him with the sonic, driving the creature back into the sea. The Doctor and Jo continue on while the Master and Trenchard retreat to the prison.

Back at the prison, Trenchard is stunned as he thought they would be fighting enemy agents. The Master tries to calm him and tells him that the creatures are intent on taking back the Earth. Trenchard wants to call the authorities but the Master persuades him to wait until he has finished his communication device. He then sets on tweaking it and making it more powerful.

The Doctor and Jo make it back to the naval base on foot where they tell Captain Hart of the creatures. He doesn't believe them at first but he comes around to the Doctor's thinking as the ships sent out to find the missing sub are recalled due to darkness. Hart is then alerted by a SONAR technician that a blip has been picked up nearby. They watch as it approaches the shore and then holds steady.

Summoned by the Master, a group of Sea Devils wades ashore and breaks in to the prison. The guards are quickly overpowered as they approach the Master's cell. Trenchard, who had been trying to get a hold of government ministers, seizes his gun and stands against the Master's door, fighting off the Sea Devils. They kill eventually kill him and take the Master back with them.

As the blip departs from the shore, Hart calls in more naval personnel to fight with the creatures. The Doctor decides to examine the sea floor around the island fort and the party travels to one of the vessels to use it's diving bell. The Doctor heads inside and is lowered to the bottom. On the bottom, he spies something coming up against the glass but communications are cut off. Hart orders the bell drawn up but when opened, they find it empty.

The Doctor has been taken prisoner by the Sea Devils and is taken back to their base. He appeals to them to discuss a peaceful solution with the humans, allowing the humans the land while the Sea Devils live in the ocean. He also suggests that they release the sub as a measure of good faith. The Master objects to this but the senior Sea Devil overrules him and tells the Doctor that he will think about it.

Back at the naval base, Undersecretary Walker arrives and orders ships into position to fire on the Sea Devil's base. Jo and Captain Hart object, thinking it will endanger the Doctor and the sub crew, but Walker overrules them and orders the ships to fire.

The attack causes superficial damage to the base but the chief Sea Devil becomes angry and refuses the Doctor's offer. He orders him taken to another room and executed. However another blast causes a minor cave in, allowing the Doctor escape his would-be executioners. He take a gun and uses it to free the sub commander and his lieutenant. They make their way back to the sub, kill the guard and launch the sub from it's pen as the rest of the crew had been kept on board.

The Master suggests floating the bodies of any dead Sea Devils to the surface to lull the humans into thinking they've won. They also activate a force field around the sub to keep it from escaping. But the sub fires a torpedo into the side wall, damaging the field enough to allow them to escape. With the humans having escaped, the chief Sea Devil orders the Master to continue to repair the hibernation unit that will allow him to reanimate the rest of his people. The Master agrees but states that he needs equipment from the naval base and suggests an attack.

Arriving back at the base, the Doctor first berates Wilson for ruining his negotiation and then appeals to him to allow him to fix the mistake. Wilson is nonplussed but agrees to allow the Doctor to talk to the Sea Devils once more. As they leave the building, they discover the base under attack by a squad of Sea Devils. One prepares to attack the Doctor and Jo, but the Doctor disarms it. However, another grabs him from behind and knocks him out. The Master arrives and prevents the Sea Devils from killing them and instead take the Doctor, Jo, and Hart back inside as prisoners. They are soon in control of the whole base.

The Master takes the Doctor into the store room and has him help him build a machine that will provide power and awaken every hibernating Sea Devil around the ocean. As the Doctor works, he makes modifications to the Master's design, both improving it and letting the Doctor booby trap it.

In the control quarters Jo, Hart and Wilson are locked in but Hart is able to loosen the grate to the ventilation shaft. He helps Jo through and she climbs up to the roof of the building. She then climbs down and signals the Doctor through the window. He tells her that he is going to create a distraction and she must use it to get the others out. She then slips back to just outside the building where Hart and Wilson are held to wait.

Upon completing the machine, the Doctor activates it and a high pitched squeal emits from it, sending the Sea Devils into fits. Jo rushes in and frees Hart and Wilson, although Wilson takes one look at the flailing Sea Devil and seals himself back in the room. Hart grabs a machine gun and he and Jo run down to the beach where they grab a hovercraft and launch away from the base. The Master, seeing one of the Sea Devil's writhe about, turns off the machine and demands to know what happened. The Doctor states that he must have switched the input and output by accident. They run a couple of final checks and then prepare to leave.

Hart and Jo return in the hovercraft with several squads of heavily armed seamen. They overrun the Sea Devils patrolling the coast and free the rest of the captive soldiers. The steadily wipe out the Sea Devils, who are preparing to retreat into the sea. The Master grabs the device, stows it on a jet ski and takes off for the island. The Doctor, having verified that Jo was okay, takes off after him on another jet ski. The humans have secured the base but the Doctor is captured upon arriving at the sea fort as a group of Sea Devils are waiting for them as he and the Master arrive.

The Doctor and the Master take the machine below and hook it up to the main power supply. The Doctor appeals to the chief Sea Devil once more to consider peace through negotiation but the chief says no. The Doctor then quietly shifts a lever just before the Master activates it. With the machine active and slowly powering up, the chief Sea Devil orders them to be taken away and locked up. The Master protests but his usefulness is over.

In the prison, the Doctor informs the Master that he sabotaged the machine and that when fully powered or if the Sea Devils try to deactivate it, it will explode, destroying the entire base. With a race against time, the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to open the prison door and he and the Master grab two underwater suits left by the submarine crew when they were imprisoned. They leave through a hatch and float to the surface.

Wilson calls the ministry to get authorization to detonate a nuclear warhead at the base to destroy the Sea Devil's base. While he is on the phone, Hart, at Jo's request, sends out the hovercraft to sweep the area in case the Doctor escaped. The hovercraft spies the Doctor and the Master and picks them up, though shortly after they board, the Master collapses with chest pains.

As the hovercraft approaches the shore, the device reaches full power and detonates, sending a massive explosion though the water. The hovercraft lands and an ambulance approaches, having been radioed for for the Master. The Doctor disembarks and tells Hart and Jo what happened. The medical team also leave with a patient but the Doctor discovers that it is the pilot of the hovercraft in a mask. He turns around to see the Master getting away in the hovercraft.

Analysis

I think I would be a bit hard pressed to say if I liked this one or The Silurians better. The Silurians had several great scenes but did have periods of dullness while The Sea Devils didn't have any great scenes but was more consistently good across the board. At the very least, the show certainly got a nice effort out of the British Navy in this story.

One of the best things about this story was that it had a natural flow to it. It's more just bad luck that the Doctor learned about the sinking of the ships and got involved. But once he is, there is a nice escalation and it's easy to see how you get from point A to B to C. That has the added advantage of making the story seem a bit more natural to be six parts, although I think a bit of tightening wouldn't have diminished anything in this story.

One the great ironys of this story is that it has one of the most remembered scenes of the Doctor being an ass to Jo and yet he is generally respectful towards her through the rest of the story. In fact, the Third Doctor as written by Malcolm Hulke almost always had a good relationship with Jo and it was other writers that made him more of a jerk towards her. But it's still this scene (clearly meant as a joke) that is plucked for the Doctor's attitude towards her.

Jo actually rescues the Doctor twice in this story which would seem to make her a bit more resourceful than him. Jo is actually very likable in this story and at near top form as a companion. I think the only real fault she has is that she runs out of things to do once the battle is fully joined in Episode Six and just mostly stands around insisting that others do things for her. You also have to give Jo mad props for crawling through a ventilation duct in a white pantsuit and emerging with it perfectly clean. That's a near superpower there.

The Doctor is pretty good in this and while he does continue over with his negotiation first strategy as seen in The Silurians, he also gives way to pragmatism and open blows the Sea Devils up at the end. There is no fretting about sealing them off or working with them later. They rejected him twice and he finishes the matter. Which probably means that the Brigadier has had a bit more of an effect on the Doctor than vice versa.

Of course, the Doctor is still a pompous blowhard at points. Probably the most gratuitous moment was the sword fight at the end of Episode Two. First, what prison keeps swords by the prisoner's cell? Then, he is disdainful of the Master throughout the fight but is so clearly enjoying it that he returns the Master's blade once he has disarmed him just so they can keep fighting. You can almost see the justification of how the Master's greatest fear is the Doctor laughing at him as seen in The Mind of Evil. I actually wish the Master had hit the Doctor when he threw the knife at him just to knock some of the wind out of the Doctor's sails and treat the Master with a bit more seriousness. I also find it ironic that the Doctor chides the Master by telling him that violence never solves anything but the entirety of Episode Six is demonstrating how violence was the only way to end the threat of the Sea Devils.

This story has only furthered my believe that the best writer for the Master was Malcolm Hulke. The Master's plans are not overly complicated, nor are they deeply involved. He wants revenge on the Doctor and has decided to take advantage of the Sea Devil awakening to get it by destroying humanity. It's petty but understandable. But he also carries out fairly well. It is slips by others that mostly ruin him, although, ironically, it is his trust in both the Doctor and the Sea Devils that fully finish him.

But it's his repartee with the Doctor that is the most enjoyable. It's clear that the Master enjoys witty banter and only the Doctor is his intellectual equal, although other stories indicate that he does enjoy Jo to a lesser degree. But the back and forth between the Doctor and the Master is quite stimulating and you only wish there could be more scenes with them just interacting.

Most of the side characters are pretty good too. Trenchard is actually somewhat sympathetic, although why he fell for the Master's deception is unexplained. But his weakness is patriotism which is strangely noble. He also at least dies with honor attempting to undo the wrong he has done. Hart is also quite good. He plays the Brigadier role in being somewhat skeptical, but unlike other stories where his unbelief would be allowed to linger and compromise the situation, he is refuted within a few moments, often to something of a comedic effect. By the time things roll around to Episode Five, Hart doesn't even bother to object, he just goes along with it because what's the point. He's been proven wrong too often as it is.

The most annoying character is Walker and you can't help but get the feeling that Hulke inserted him in as a means of getting at least some political satire in. Walker is a coward, rude and an outright pig. The director goes one better by emphasizing this by zooming in on Walker's mouth as he stuffs his face while opining that lives must be sacrificed in war. The most annoying part is that for a character so odious, nothing actually happens to him. He hides during the Sea Devil invasion and tries to conduct a nuclear strike on the Sea Devil's base later. Presumably this is called off after it's destroyed by the Doctor, but he's likely to head back to London and be rewarded in some fashion for handling the crisis. Even his exposure as a coward doesn't net much other than a small chuckle and it's nothing that's going to hurt him long term. I just wish that he could have been punished in some fashion at the end of the story.

The direction was quite good as were all the action scenes, although there were some gratuitous points. I noted the sword fight already but there were a few other scenes that didn't make much sense. Why does the Master permit the sonic blast to go on so long when it's obvious the Sea Devil is in pain? He should have stopped it immediately rather than the thirty seconds it's allowed to go. How did Hart and Jo return with so many soldiers so quickly? Were they on the auxiliary base just down the beach? How did the Master have a mask of his face on hand to make his escape? These are just little plot points that just stick way out there and bring you out of the story.

I must also say that I did not like the music in this story. I don't mind a bit of Avant Garde here and there (see 2001) but the music in this story was particularly jarring and off-putting. Music should enhance the story and be more or less unnoticed. This music however is screaming to be noticed at the expense of whatever is going on screen. It was just an unfortunate choice and application.

I'm still a little unsure of how to properly stack it against The Silurians. As mentioned earlier, there are no real slow or bad moments. It hums along nicely as a fun action/adventure. But I was always hoping for a real ratchet up moment like Episode Six of The Silurians. That was just excellent and the lack of anything like that made this story feel a little disappointing, even though it was more consistently good. In the end, I think it's going to depend on your mood. A good action story would favor Sea Devils while a bit more of a think piece would favor Doctor Who and the Silurians. But both are good and readily watchable.

Overall personal score: 4 out of 5

Extremis

In darkness there is truth.

Steven Moffat returns in what I hope will be a more interesting story than The Pilot. Certainly the promise of Missy and intrigue from the Vatican are a tantalizing premise. I'm also under the impression that the next couple of stories are going to tie together in some fashion so this story might serve as more of an introduction and be a little thinner on the overall plot. But that doesn't mean it will be a bad story.

Plot Summary

In a flashback, the Doctor is revealed to have been summoned to a planet to conduct the execution of Missy. Whilst reminiscing about this outside the vault, the Doctor receives a message called Extremis over his sonic sunglasses, which give him a limited ability to see. He downloads the file and plays the message.

The Doctor is in a darkened lecture hall when Nardole enters with several Vatican cardinals. They also bring in the pope who appeals to the Doctor for help. They have a document in the Vatican archives called Veritas where everyone who has read the document kills themselves. They now believe this document will destroy all of society and are asking the Doctor to read it and help them.

Bill arrives back at her apartment with her date, Penny, and the two settle down for a bit of tea. They hear the TARDIS arriving and a moment later, the pope walks out of Bill's room. When Bill goes to investigate, Penny follows and runs out of the apartment at seeing several cardinals in her bedroom. Bill is a bit put out but accompanies the Doctor, Nardole and the rest back to the Vatican.

At the Vatican, the Doctor, Bill, Nardole and Cardinal Angelo enter the heretical book library. They are distracted by a great beam of light emerging from a wall that subsequently disappears. Cardinal Angelo goes to check on it while the other three follow the sound of a man's voice to a cage. While they are distracted, a withered arm reaches out from the wall and attacks Cardinal Angelo.

The other three find a Vatican researcher who admits to having sent a copy of the Veritas document to scientists at CERN and other world leaders. He runs out of the cage and moments later a gun shot is heard. The Doctor knows that he is dead but sends Bill and Nardole off to investigate to allow him a chance to examine the document alone. They go forward and find the body but also find another beam of light. They follow it and discover that it is a porthole to a central projection facility.

The Doctor uses a device that borrows from his own future and temporarily allows him to see, although it is a fuzzy field. He prepares to read the document but is attacked by a withered creature in monk's robes. The creature grabs the Vertias document but the Doctor makes off with the researcher's laptop that contained a copy of the Veritas document. He hurries down the corridor but finds his vision fading before he can open it and read the document.

The Doctor flashes back to his execution of Missy when things were interrupted by a hooded monk. They stop and the Doctor consults with the monk, who it turns out is Nardole. He gives the Doctor River's diary, salvaged after her death in the Library and a message imploring him not to go to extremes.

Bill and Nardole step into one opening and find themselves in the Pentagon. They hurry back and try and different one and find themselves at CERN. They meet a Swiss scientist who invites them down to the lab where the other scientists are sitting drinking wine at tables rigged with dynamite. A clock is counting down to when they explode. They decide to leave but the first scientist, noting that they don't know yet, asks them to name a random number. Bill and Nardole name several numbers and each time they do, they both pick the same number. Soon the other scientists join in and they always pick the same number. Freaked out, they run back to the projector room just before the dynamite goes off.

In the projector room, they notice a small blood trail and suspect the Doctor has passed through. Nardole examines the projectors and realizes that everything they've been through is a simulation. Fearful, he puts his hand in a dark space behind the projectors and then disappears, realizing that he is a simulation as well. Bill panics and follows the blood trail into the Oval Office where the President is dead, having killed himself with a vial of pills.

The Doctor sits behind the desk and tells Bill that their entire world is a simulation managed by an alien entity planning to conquer Earth. Veritas noted that simulations have trouble with randomness and that when randomness is attempted in the form of selecting numbers, those numbers are always predicted by others, informing the reader that they too are part of the simulation. Killing themselves is a way to take themselves out of the game, like Mario becoming self aware and leaving the game because he is tired of dying.

Bill freaks out once more but is subsequently digitized by the alien monk. The monk informs the Doctor that their simulations are complete and they will begin their conquest soon. The Doctor then informs the monk that since he has been struck blind, his sonic sunglasses have been recording the last several hours of the adventure. He compacts the file and sends it out of the simulation to the real Doctor's sonic sunglasses before the monk can shut down the simulation.

The real Doctor finishes watching the recording and thinks back one last time. He pulls the lever for Missy's execution and she falls over, but only stunned. The Doctor admits to agreeing to watching her body for a thousand years but not to killing her. He chases off the executioners with threats to their own persons based on his own body count and places Missy within the vault.

Coming out of his memory, the Doctor calls Bill and suggest that she ask Penny out sooner rather than later. He then knocks on the vault door and asks Missy for her help in fighting the immanent invasion.

Analysis

I have read that this is the first of three episodes that will make a loose trilogy as they all feature this alien monk as the principle antagonist. As such, there is not really a satisfying ending to this story, but I think that's okay. This story does fairly well in introducing the players and also having a pretty good "what is reality story."

This is not the first story that has feature a premise of characters in a simulation or game becoming aware of their state in Doctor Who as I think you can go back to Castrovalva for a similar situation. But unlike that story, I think it was handled quite well overall and the revelation of the nature of the simulation was done fairly well, especially as it involved the leads discovering the nature of their existence at the same time. It also gave the story the leeway to effectively kill the leads, which is something that you can only do in stories like this.

I listened to one review of this story and heard it compared to The Android Invasion and that's a pretty good set up. However, I think this is done somewhat better and without the nagging plot holes of that previous story. Of course, it does have it's own set of plot holes in that if the world is a simulation, how does a document like Veritas come into existence? Yes, people might figure out the nature of the truth of their existence through experience, but why is there a secret document that can allow the whole system to crash? The aliens running the simulation should have been aware of this glitch and taken steps to rectify it long before it reached the critical mass point of destroying the simulation. What's more, unless this glitch was a byproduct of programing, the simulation has been running for some time to allow the creation of such a document. But why do so? If the aliens are planning an imminent attack, why allow a simulation to run longer than several months or even one year? Backstory can be programmed in via observation and we are never given evidence of other flaws being in the system such as those that led to self discovery in Castrovalva.

The Doctor is good here but his lacking of eyesight has taken his edge off a bit. He does still have a bit of wit, especially when interacting from the folks from the Vatican, but there is a decided slowness in how he handles things throughout the story and it seems to tie in whenever he is hampered by the lack of eyesight. In fact, the whole story has a slow unfold very much like a suspense movie but punctuated by a bit more comedy. I think things might have worked a bit better if there had been a touch more dread surrounding these slow moments of the Doctor since the main elements of the plot were more clearly defined with Bill and Nardole.

Much like Oxygen, Nardole is finally getting some time to stretch out on screen. He is still his slightly cowardly and funny self, but he is showing more elements of backbone as well. He still has his squeaks and cries of fright but especially when away from the Doctor, he shows strength and a willingness to step into the Doctor's role with Bill. He puts together the puzzle much sooner than Bill and perhaps even the Doctor, although the Doctor is dealing with less information. But I still think this story showed that Nardole is not solely relegated to comic relief.

Bill was decent in this story but also not given much room to do anything. She was completely out of her element and served mostly as a vehicle to explain the plot to the audience towards the end. That put her more into the role of generic companion rather than emphasizing any of her inherent talents. But that is a consequence of being the companion and I don't feel that being in a diminutive position harmed Bill's character in any way. She just didn't get a chance to shine the way Nardole did.

I think it speaks of the power of Missy that even though she's only in a couple minutes of the overall story and flashback at that, she is still just so enjoyable. I'm sure the circumstances of her capture, conviction and death sentence will never actually be revealed but she is just so enjoyable to see on screen. Even in a moment of pleading for her life, she can't help the sarcasm and sharp wit we've seen in the past. I'm not overly surprised that it was her in the vault, although I'm trying to recall if Nardole actually used a gender pronoun when asking about the piano in the vault at the end of Knock Knock. He might have said "he" but I could have misheard that. Still, I'm now itching to get Missy out of the vault and into her full strutted glory. I think my biggest potential disappointment for the departure of the Twelfth Doctor at the end of this year is the likelihood that the Master will change as well.

There's not much to say about the villain since this was a light introduction. The design is a bit strange with that withered look and generic open mouth speaking, which calls back to the Mondasian Cybermen. I doubt there will be a direct connection between the two but it is one thing that popped into my mind, given how prominent the return of the Mondasian Cybermen have been. As far as the monk is concerned, I'll reserve judgment until I can see him operate in a more direct manner in the following two stories.

The look of the story was quite atmospheric for the most part and I liked the look. I also liked the look of all the other locations as there was a strong sense of believability about them. I think the only thing that struck me as odd was the method of death in the CERN lab. I find it rather unlikely that the occupants of the lab would have found coils of dynamite like a Looney Tunes cartoon. I also find it odd that they would put them under the tables like some elaborate booby trap. Far more likely (and a better use of the countdown clock) would have been the overcharging of the collider itself, which would have destroyed the facility easily and taken out much of the above ground structure as well. That did bug me a bit given how seriously everything else was played.

Overall, I'd say I enjoyed this one. I think one's overall enjoyment of it will change based on how the overall arc holds up. If the alien monks turn out to be good villains, this story might go up. If they turn out as garbage or if Missy's backstory into the vault has no real tie in except to expose that, it may go down. But for me I think it worked well. It wasn't perfect, but I look forward to going back and watching it a second time with an eye to the clues knowing how the story ends.

Overall personal score: 4 out of 5

The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords

Here come the drums! Here come the drums!

With the leaked spoiler of the return of the John Simm Master in Series 10, I thought it only fitting to rewatch his moments of triumph in the Series 3 two-part finale. Most fans that I've heard from generally enjoy the Simm Master but his episodes have a rather negative reputation. The End of Time speaks for itself and I've already gone over that story. The Sound of Drums seems to be the most well liked of the four episodes that he stars in with things taking a bit of a dive in Last of the Time Lords. Are these reputations justified? Let's refresh the memory and see.

Plot Summary

Following the newly regenerated Master's theft of the Doctor's TARDIS at the end of Utopia, the Doctor repairs Jack's vortex manipulator and the three of them transport back to Earth. They land a couple of days after the election and find that the Master has been elected Prime Minister of Britain under the name of Harold Saxon.

In Downing Street, the Master kills his new cabinet with poison gas. At the same time, his wife, Lucy, gets a visit from a reporter who is also working as a Torchwood agent. She tells Lucy that Harold Saxon only appeared 18 months ago and has forged his past. Lucy acknowledges this as she already knew and the Master enters the room. The Master summons three alien spheres who attack and kill the reporter.

The Doctor, Jack and Martha head back to Martha's apartment where they work on trying to figure how the Master had taken over. The Doctor informs them that before the Master disappeared in the TARDIS, he locked the controls so that it only could operate between it's last two points of departure: 100 trillion years in the future and that day, give or take about 18 months. Observing Martha talking about Saxon, he realizes that the Master has set up some sort of hypnotic field but doesn't know how.

They are interrupted by a broadcast from Saxon that the UK has made initial contact with a new alien species called the Toclafane. They will be making a formal landing the following morning and Saxon intends to have it broadcast. As he explains, he states a key word and it triggers the timer on a bomb on the back of Martha's television. The trio rushes out before the bomb goes off and destroys Martha's apartment.

Panicked about the Master's knowledge of her, Martha calls her mom. Her mom urges her to come over even stating that her dad is over. Her father speaks as well but when Martha gets suspicious, he warns her and Saxon's men arrest him and Francine. The trio hop in a car and race to Francine's apartment. The agent in charge informs the Master of what has happened and he orders the arrest of Martha's sister Trish as well as she had been working as secretary to Lucy Saxon.

The trio arrives just as Martha's parents are placed in a police van. They open fire on Martha and they are forced to drive away. They ditch the car and walk away. Martha calls her brother who is in Brighton. She warns him to hide but their call in interrupted by the Master listening in. The Doctor takes the phone and he and the Master talk, the Master telling the Doctor of how he ran away from the Time War after being resurrected by the Time Lords. The Doctor in turn tells him that Gallifrey was destroyed in the Time War. The Master places their pictures on the television and has them proclaimed public enemies.

The trio runs and hides in an old warehouse. Jack and Martha gather both food and information. They learn that the Master set up a satellite system for phones now used by everyone called Archangel. The Doctor realizes that is how the Master is controlling people. To further help them, he takes the TARDIS key and splits it so they can each wear one. It is treated with a low level perception filter that causes people to look away, rendering them nondescript to ordinary people.

They leave the warehouse and head to an airport where the Master is meeting the new US President. Annoyed at Saxon's breach of UN agreements, he steps in and takes over the meeting with the Toclafane, which will take place on the Valiant, a UNIT airship. The Master is unperturbed and has his personal jet prepared to join the meeting. He also loads Martha's parents and sister aboard the jet to join him.

Knowing they need to follow, the Doctor uses Jack's vortex manipulator as a transport and takes the three of them to the Valiant. Searching inside, they find the TARDIS. Inside however, they discover that the Master has cannibalized it and created a paradox machine. They sneak up to the flight deck where President Winters is preparing to greet the Toclafane.

The Toclafane are not pleased to see the President and insist on meeting the Master. The Master stands up and vaporizes the President. He then pins the Doctor down and kills Jack with a laser screwdriver. Martha rushes to Jack as he revives and Jack gives her his vortex manipulator. The Master changes the setting on his screwdriver and ages the Doctor over 100 years, making him an old man. The Master activates the paradox machine and billions of Toclafane pass through the vortex and invade Earth where the Master suggests they kill ten percent of humanity.

The Doctor whispers something to Martha and she steps back and teleports off the ship. As the Toclafane destroy cities, she promises to return. She does a year later after wandering through the world. She meets a young man named Thomas. She asks Thomas to take her to see a rogue scientists named Professor Docherty. As they walk, Martha tells Thomas of her journeys and the sights of the ships and weapons the Master is building to take over the universe.

On the Valiant, the Doctor, the Jones family and Jack attempt to take down the Master but are thwarted by him. He has Jack killed and relocked up and locks the Jones family in a cell for a while as they had been working as servants. He places the Doctor back in his chair for later punishment.

Martha and Thomas find Professor Docherty just as the Master is making a broadcast announcing that the conquest will start tomorrow. He also sends a message to Martha as he zaps the Doctor once more with his screwdriver, adding all the Doctor's years to this single regeneration. The Doctor ages 900 years and shrinks to a tiny size as the Master cuts the broadcast.

Martha is unphased and asks the professor and Thomas to help catch a Toclafane using a electrical pulse. They do so and when they unseal the sphere, they find a human head. Martha realizes that the Toclafane are the remnants of humanity that fled looking for Utopia. Upon finding nothing, they built insulating containers for themselves and regressed into a child-like manner. When the captured Toclafane notes that they kill because it's fun, Thomas shoots it.

Thomas takes Martha to London after showing Professor Docherty a gun that uses four chemicals and can kill a Time Lord. Docherty signals the Master of this, who has her son as a hostage. When Martha reaches London, they hide with other refugees and Martha tells of her travels and the Doctor. As she does, the Master arrives and orders Martha to surrender or he will kill everyone on that street. Unwilling to allow that, she surrenders. The Master destroys the bag containing her gun and then kills Thomas as he rushes to attack him. The Master however decides to take Martha back to the Valiant to kill her in front of the Doctor.

In the control room, as the Master prepares to kill Martha, he also starts a countdown for the launch of ships and missiles to start the war. Martha begins to laugh and tells the Master the she did not have a weapon against him. She had spent the year traveling to tell people about the Doctor and how they should think of him when the Master's countdown goes to zero. As it does, the Doctor is energized by the collective psychic power of humanity connected through the Archangel network. He undoes the Master's aging of him, knocks away his laser screwdriver and frees humanity of their fear of him. He also cradles the Master and tells him that he forgives him.

The Toclafane head towards the Valiant to defend the paradox machine. Jack and two soldiers run down to destroy it. Jack, through several deaths, gets past three Toclafane and destroy the paradox machine within the TARDIS. This causes time to reverse to when it was first activated. The Master's work is undone and the Toclafane are sucked back to the year 100 Trillion. Only those at the center of events on the Valiant have any memory of the lost year as time resets to just after the Master killed the President.

The Master tries to escape but is arrested by several guards. The Doctor decides to keep the Master as a prisoner in the TARDIS but before he can, Lucy shoots the Master, having become resentful of his harmful treatment of her. The Master refuses to regenerate and dies in the Doctor's arms. The Doctor later burns the Master's body, though a mysterious woman steals his ring from the ashes.

The Doctor then prepares to leave in the TARDIS as Martha enters but she tells him that she is not coming back. She is tired and knows how fruitless it is to pursue the Doctor when he sees her only as a friend. She does give him her cell phone so that she can call him in an emergency. The Doctor then takes off but his flight is interrupted as the prow of an ocean liner crashes through the TARDIS wall. He is even further bothered when seeing that the ship is the Titanic.

Analysis

The expression, Deus Ex Machina is one that should be pretty familiar to Doctor Who fans as a form of it is used fairly often in this show. However, I don't even think that some of the wildest uses of it have ever gone so far as to turn the Doctor into a literal embodiment of God. It's actually mildly amusing to think of RTD, who is a fairly staunch atheist, going so deep into a Christ metaphor and then going even the extra mile and having the Master comment on it.

Like nearly all the RTD season ending two-parters, this is a tale of two halves. The Sound of Drums is largely the Master's tale with the Doctor, Martha and Jack restricted to a more passive role. Last of the Time Lords, despite it's title, is essentially Martha's tale with the Doctor providing the solution at the end. Right off the bat, without any other considerations, you can immediately see the potential problems. The Master is an outsized personality, easily able to carry a story and even more so in his almost Joker-like iteration of the John Simm Master. Martha on the other hand, has spent the series playing second fiddle to the Doctor both as companion and unrequited love interest. At almost no point in the series has she been given agency to be the central focus of the story. Even in the Family two-parter (arguably her best story) her story line comes after the mystery of what will happen to the Doctor. To expect her to be able to fully carry the story here is a tall order.

As mentioned before, the John Simm Master is almost like a British version of the Joker. He is wild and unpredictable. You get a very Joker-like scene near the beginning of the first episode where he gasses his entire cabinet and gives a thumbs up when they accuse him of being crazy. About all that was missing was for the ministers to have the smiles and then a bad joke by the Master and it would have been almost indistinguishable. It's interesting that for once the Master doesn't have a particularly convoluted plan and as a result, it actually works. He is aware of the Doctor but allows him in to see his triumph and to gloat over him.

We also see the effects of what a Master's win would look like in that Earth is only the first stage and he will now try to take over the universe once more. That is a little less interesting as it comes across as a bit more hackneyed with the plan to launch powerful missiles everywhere and then demand everyone's surrender. That's more of a harken back to the Ainley Master and his more zany schemes.

I'm also a bit annoyed about the Master's death. Not the fact that his wife shot him, that worked for me. But the scene before we had the Doctor call the Master's bluff in that his survival mattered more than defeating the Doctor, so he didn't create a black hole that destroys Earth. However, once shot, the Master refuses to regenerate just to triumph over the Doctor in death. That makes no sense. The threat of prison with the Doctor cannot be so bad as to overcome the Master's inherent desire to survive at all costs. It is a clichéd and terrible premise. It would have worked so much better if the Master had been taken prisoner. He could have easily been ignored to allow Donna free reign in Series Four and his escape from the Doctor's prison (whether the TARDIS or some other location) would have been far more interesting than the potions resurrection we got in The End of Time.

Speaking of the Doctor, he's a real non-entity in this story. He gives the backstory about Gallifrey and gives Martha and Jack their pseudo-cloaking devices, but aside from that, he doesn't do much. He is the god who restores everything at the end but it's Martha's story that spreads the word and almost nothing that he does. He even goes into full Jesus mode by forgiving the Master despite having killed millions of people. I guess it's akin to the Third Doctor laughing off the deaths in Terror of the Autons but stating that they'll be seeing the Master again, but that doesn't make it any less dumb.

Martha is okay in this but her focus on her family does make her sound rather whiney through a good portion of The Sound of Drums and I just don't care about any of them. Heck, the series has spent a better part of it's time making me dislike her mom so I don't know why I should care for her now, even if she is duped by the Master. Martha does improve some during her journey as she gains a measure of confidence and seems to do well to strike out on her own, but she's still not overly engaging from a personality standpoint. She's a bit too relaxed and confident in everything and it takes away some of the tension that the scenes are trying to build.

To top off Martha, we finally have the culmination of the unrequited love and it is boring. I don't care for Martha when she's in that mode in the first half of the series and the great gain of the second half is that she puts her feelings aside and just goes for the adventure. To bring it back and turn down the Doctor's offer of further travel because she needs to not pine after him dredges up that early unpleasantness. We actually get a double dose of it as Martha has a goodbye, walks out of the TARDIS and then goes back in to explain herself further. It's just painful to watch and just makes the Doctor look like a jerk for not even acknowledging her. Of course, he also had to pine over Rose in the first half of the series and that was also painful.

Jack was Jack and he was fine for the most part. He actually injected a bit of humor here and there, having gotten used to the dying and resurrecting bit. But Jack's leaving scene was also painfully written. I don't mind the fact that Jack might have been the Face of Boe as that would actually make for an interesting twist on a minor character. But the way it was written was painful. It wasn't even Exposition 101 it was set up so badly. It was a real shame that Jack's final scene of the arc was that badly written.

So let's get to the crux of the matter on the whole thing: the transfiguration of the Doctor into Christ. I will admit that I didn't care for the 1,000 year old "Dobby Doctor" as he's sometimes called, but I could get past it as a minor point. But no matter how much scientific babble you try to put on to it, the solution of the story comes from the people of the world effectively praying to the Doctor and the Doctor using that to resurrect himself. What's more, he has even more power as we see him lose the glow, the floating and the ability to Force push things away within a few minutes. I honestly can't see how anyone thought this was a good idea. Even the pseudo-science that the show uses would call this crap and it's the worst kind of get-out-of-jail free card I've seen. It undercuts the dire set up started in Utopia and amplified in The Sound of Drums. I think even if you found the Martha quest story interesting, this offering just knocks the story down to tolerable levels at best.

It is so unfortunate that this story ends on such a sour note. Utopia is an excellent lead in and The Sound of Drums is quite entertaining. It's not perfect as I find the Master a bit too over-the-top for my taste, but he is at least entertaining. There is also the fun of seeing him succeed for once at one of his plans. Even the first half of Last of the Time Lords isn't that bad. I'm not that big on Martha but her quest has some narrative value and the tension is appropriately spiked in various locations. But the last 15 minutes are just so bad. We have the Doctor becoming God, a total character flip that allows the Master to die but not actually destroy Earth and Martha's uncomfortable goodbye scene where she spills her heart out. I had been avoiding rewatching this one for a while and the second time around validated my avoidance of the story. Here's hoping that whatever the episode the John Simm Master pops up in next, he's given better material to work with than here.

Overall personal score: The Sound of Drums - 4 out of 5; Last of the Time Lords - 0.5 out of 5