Brock: His scarf killed Stimson.
The Doctor: Arrest the scarf then.
Episode 109: The Leisure Hive.
Companions: 4th Doctor, K9 and Romana.
Air Date: Four episodes.30th August to 20th September 1980.
The Doctor and Romana visit the Leisure Hive on the planet Argolis, the surface of which is uninhabitable following a twenty minute nuclear war between the Argolins and their enemies the Foamasi. The Argolins themselves are now sterile. Pangol, the youngest, was created by the Tachyon Recreation Generator, a machine that runs games in the Hive.
The Leisure Hive sees our time travellers going on holiday after the K9 goes pop in the sea water at Brighton. They go to Argolis where the survivors of a war have build a huge holiday resort as a means of promoting peaceful relations between races. Unfortunately some criminal elements from their old enemies the Foamasi, have taken the opportunity to buy it cheaply, but also a rogue element within the Argolins has plans of his own.
This story started the 1980 season and sets the tone for the show throughout the remaining years of the classic show. The production values stabilise and become what I think most people think of when they think of the classic show.
The story does suffer from men in suits syndrome where the Foamasi are concerned and they do look ludicrous. The Argolins however look quite good and seem thought out as a people a little more than most alien species in the show.
This story is ok but nothing special. Like many of the later Tom Baker stories there isn't anything to really grasp as being strong or weak elements. It's the sort of story that needed a bit extra to make it as good as it could have been.
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