SJA #19 : The Nightmare Man

"Our world has always been full of nightmares. Creatures and aliens who want to destroy us. But we've always been protected. The Doctor. His friends. My mum. But tonight... Tonight I don't think anyone can save us. The world's going to end, and it's my fault, because he's coming for me, you see? He's been waiting for me for years."

Episode #19:        The Nightmare Man.
Companions:        Sarah Jane Smith, K9, Luke Smith, Rani Chandra and Clyde Langer.
Air Date:              11th to 12th October 2010.

Luke faces life-changing events, and Bannerman Road will never be the same again. But when Sarah Jane's son has his first nightmare, he's haunted by a dark figure from his dreams: the Nightmare Man. A strange entity is reaching out to our world through Luke, with terrible consequences for the whole human race. With Luke, Clyde and Rani trapped in a bizarre dreamscape, Sarah Jane must fight alone. As the Nightmare Man grows stronger, only K9 might hold the key. But can Luke summon the courage to face his adult life before the whole world is trapped in an endless nightmare?

The new season of the Sarah Jane Adventures starts with a fairly bland adventure. It exists simply to serve as a vehicle for Tommy Knight (Luke Smith) to depart the series while he focuses on his real life school studies. The story itself, like so many under the SJA banner it seems, is just uninspired and doesn't really go anywhere. It is a story where nothing really happens, the villain is two dimensional (barely) and the whole thing feels like a bore to watch.

At the culmination Luke leaves to go to Oxford and takes K9 with him. He makes occasional webcam appearances throughout the rest of the season but for now isn't a major character. Shame about K9 about his creator was (as I understand it) more interested in an unofficial K9 spin off made in Australia and didn't want to continue with the Sarah Jane Adventures.

Frankly this adventure could have been so much better with a more interesting villain and less time wasted on the angst of Luke Smith and the others.

SJA #18 : The Gift

"So they farted themselves to death?"

Episode #18:        The Gift.

Companions:        Sarah Jane Smith, K9, Luke Smith, Rani Chandra and Clyde Langer.

Air Date:              19th to 20th November 2009.

When the Slitheen's latest scheme to destroy Earth for profit is foiled, another family from the Slitheen's planet arrive, the Blathereen. Though they seem helpful, can they be trusted? As a generous gesture of peace, the Blathereen gift the gang with a plant called Rakweed, which could end world hunger. However, the Rakweed goes wild, spreading spores about London and infecting people, including Luke. Sarah Jane must fight alone, not only to save the Earth, but also her son. Meanwhile, Clyde smuggles K9 into school to help him cheat at a test, and he, Rani and the metal dog find themselves trapped in the school — surronded by Rakweed. Can the team work together across Ealing — and Antarctica — to prevent Rakweed from devouring the entire planet?

The end of this season of the Sarah Jane Adventures starts off well but fails to ultimately deliver anything interesting. It starts off with a bait and switch where you believe that the gang are going up against two members of the Slitheen but instead they are tricked by two members of the Blathereen, a rival branch of the family who are actually quite nice. These two however aren't. Rather than fighting the aliens the story ends up being a save the world from plants and if the gang happen to deal with the Blathereen then all's good.  Not impressed really.

The only nice element to this story is one of trust. Sarah Jane and Clyde initially distrust the new arrivals but Rani is more about accepting the aliens and not treating them like every invader that they come across. In this case Sarah Jane was correct but normally she is all about don't judge by appearances and expectations but here she outright doesn't trust them just because they come from the same world as the Slitheen.

At least the fart jokes are kept to a minimum.

SJA #15 : The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith

"And I know the legends of the Doctor! The man of ice and fire, who walked among gods. Once held the key to time in his hands! Now, he is surrounded by children!"

Episode #15:        The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith.
Companions:        Sarah Jane Smith, the 9th Doctor, K9, Luke Smith, Rani Chandra and Clyde Langer.
Air Date:               29th to 30th October 2009.

After Sarah Jane starts acting suspiciously, Luke, Clyde, Rani and K9 investigate. They discover she has a boyfriend, Peter Dalton, and they are going to get married. Clyde suspects Peter may be an alien. At the wedding, an old enemy returns. As the gang find themselves trapped in a time loop in Limbo, can a very special friend from the past save Sarah Jane, her friends and the entire planet Earth from the wrath of the Trickster?


It has taken three seasons but we finally get the much anticipated appearance of the Doctor in an episode of the Sarah Jane Adventures. It isn't his best as even once he turns up it is still a show about Sarah Jane and her friends, and they solve the adventure with him as the effective companion. Still, it's about time that he showed up in the show.

The story itself is okay. The Trickster has tricked Sarah Jane and her chums into becoming trapped within a second in time unless she agrees to be married and have her memory of saving the Earth erased. The Doctor tries to rescue her but first must use the TARDIS to break through that second barrier. Clyde becomes charged with Artron energy (temporal energy basically) and uses it to defeat the Trickster. As plots go it is fairly basic but worth a watch just for the Doctor.

This episode features another well known British actor, Nigel Havers. Havers was a household name in the 1970's and 80's. The first time I saw this adventure I was quite impressed as he's another actor who I wouldn't have pegged as the sort to appear in a show like the Sarah Jane Adventures. 

However, sitting here writing this I am finding it difficult to write anything interesting about this story. It is fun to have the Doctor on the show but the story is otherwise average with little to really talk about or get excited about. It's him that makes it. Without the Doctor it would have been a fairly bland SJA story. Watch it just for the appearance of the Doctor.

SJA #14 : The Mad Woman in the Attic

"There were these two races, and they had a war. My people weren't involved, but because we could read the timelines, they attacked us. So many were exterminated. My parents put me in a ship and sent me out into space."

Episode #14:        The Mad Woman in the Attic.
Companions:        Sarah Jane Smith, Luke Smith, Rani Chandra and Clyde Langer.
Air Date:              22nd to 23rd October 2009.

The year is 2059. In the derelict attic of 13 Bannerman Road, an elderly Rani Chandra tells the story of the day she met the alien Eve and her life went wrong.

In this story we see a future that will never come to pass where the heroes of Bannerman road no longer exist, except for an elderly Rani living in the attic of Sarah Jane's old house. In the modern day the companions have a falling out and come to investigate stories of a red demon in an abandoned theme park. Here they meet the alien named Eve, a survivour of the Time War between the Daleks and the Time Lords, who has the power to control people and read the time lines.

Eve however is not a villain in the traditional sense of the Whoniverse. She doesn't want to destroy or rule the Earth. She just wants friends and to not be alone. Unfortunately she is only a teenager in theory and she doesn't know how to control her powers. As in typical science fiction tales she needs the guidance of another to control her gift and it is this sort of growing and coming of age tale that we have. It makes a nice change from the usual faire of the Doctor Who universe even if it is an overdone science fiction trope.

Part of the future reading shows us that the Doctor is "coming back" which is a reference to the next episode. At the culmination of the adventure we get K9 back and I hope he's going to be a regular character.

While I watched this episode I had an odd thought considering the events of Children of Earth and major stories like it, how do those aliens on Earth handle the strange events that plague the Earth in the early 21st century? Maybe we will never know.

The Mad Woman in the Attic is an entertaining episode but for me I felt that it needed something more. The plot is slow and it is another SJA adventure were really nothing happens.

SJA #6 : The Lost Boy

"The Xylok are a crystalline lifeform. We crashed here as what you would call a meteorite, beneath the Earth our crystals have regrown and become strong again, but nevertheless remain trapped. The release of the Xylok is my purpose. You gave me the chance to fulfill it, the chance to plan."

Episode #6:       The Lost Boy.
Companions:     Sarah Jane Smith, Luke Smith, Maria Jackson, Clyde Langer, K9 and Mr Smith.
Air Date:            12th to 19th November 2007.

A missing child turns out to be, both visually and genetically, Luke. Sarah Jane is forced to hand him over to the "parents". Heartbroken, Sarah Jane rejects Maria and Clyde, and with Maria's dad threatening to sell the house to keep his daughter out of danger, it seems the gang's adventures have come to an end, whilst Luke discovers his new "parents" are not all they seem — an old enemy has returned, and this time, they are in league with a member of Sarah Jane's faithful team in a plot to bring the moon crashing to Earth.

Although not the best episode The Lost Boy is a fitting end to the first series of the Sarah Jane Adventures. The plot itself isn't much but it is more the revelation that the genius super computer in Sarah Jane's attic, Mr Smith, is in fact an evil computer seeking to free a malevolent crystalline race, the Xylok, from their confinement within the Earth makes up for it.

Unfortunately the story continues the irritating family issues from the Jackson family. Now that Maria's father knows about aliens and what the team get up to he steps in to a both save the day and wanting to move away to protect his daughter. We'll get that in the start of the next season.

We do get the return of the Slitheen from the start of the season. The youngest is seeking revenge for the death of his father but has been manipulated by Mr Smith. This time they seem to have solved the farting problem in their skin suits.

The Lost Boy isn't a terrible story but it just didn't grab my interest at all. Uninteresting story and the addition of the Slitheen really didn't serve any purpose. At least we get a cameo from K9 again.

SJA #1 : Invasion of the Bane

"I saw amazing things, out there in space--but there is strangeness to be found, wherever you turn. Life on Earth can be an adventure too... you just need to know where to look!"

Episode #1:       Invasion of the Bane.
Companions:     Sarah Jane Smith, K9, Luke Smith, Maria Jackson, and Mr Smith.
Air Date:           1st January 2007

Investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith teams up with her new, thirteen-year-old neighbour, Maria Jackson, to face the scheming Mrs Wormwood, the head of a company producing a popular and addictive soft drink called "Bubble Shock!"

This was the pilot episode for a new spin off series featuring Sarah Jane Smith following from her popular appearance in School Reunion. Where Doctor Who is family viewing and Torchwood was directed for adults, the Sarah Jane Adventures was firmly pointed at children and young teens. You can tell that easily just by the much weaker scripts and cheap special effects. The show starts off weak in my opinion but does build up as it goes along to be quite entertaining.

The concept of the show is simply that Sarah Jane and her teenage neighbours save the world or investigate mysterious happenings around London. As the show goes along we see many new monsters and a few old favourites from Doctor Who. There are also many references throughout to the Doctor and the shows history. Something that Torchwood could have done more with.

In this story the world is being slowly invaded by a race of tentacled monsters called the Bane who try to transform everyone by selling them a new fizzy drink containing their own juices. Once again you can tell this is a children's program. Sarah Janes' new neighbour becomes involved and together they rescue the "archetype" (later to be Sarah's adopted son Luke), find a means to stop the bane and save the world.

The Bane might have been more of a threat had some thought gone into the CGI for them which just has them looking like animated 80's plastic toys. Maybe it's the idea of them taking over the world via fizzy drinks that I find most awkward to deal with. You have to keep reminding yourself that it is a children's show and try not to worry. Don't get me started on sonic lipstick!

Nearly all TV pilots are weak compared to their actual show so I can understand why this doesn't grab me as well as the later episodes. However, I find it a poorly written story and it feels cheap. Having Sarah Jane back is great though. Shame that K9 and the new alien computer Mr Smith don't get enough screen time at this stage.

Episode #173 : School Reunion

Rose: I thought you and me were—well, I obviously got it wrong. I've been to the year 5 billion, right, but this... Now, this is really seeing the future. You just leave us behind. Is that what you're gonna do to me?

The Doctor: No. Not to you.

Rose: But Sarah Jane. You were that close to her once, and now you never even mention her. Why not?

The Doctor: I don't age. I regenerate. But humans decay; you wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone that you— [breaks off]

Rose: What, Doctor?

The Doctor: You can spend the rest of your life with me, but I can't spend the rest of mine with you. I have to live on. Alone. That's the curse of the Time Lords.

Episode 173:   School Reunion.
Companions:   10th Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, K9 and Rose Tyler.
Air Date:         29th April 2006.

Deffry Vale High School is haunted by strange, bat-like creatures at night. When the Tenth Doctor investigates, he finds an old friend, Sarah Jane Smith, already working undercover.

Prior to this story I think there was also some concern that the new series of Doctor Who was a reboot rather than a continuation. With the return of Sarah Jane and K9 we at last knew that we were continuing almost where we left off.

In School Reunion the time travellers have been brought home by Mickey who has reported UFOs and strange incidents around a school in London. Whilst investigating they encounter Sarah Jane Smith who is also looking into the events. After a bit of a spat between Rose and Sarah Jane, the time manage to work together to stop the evil Krillitane's from achieving a sort of godhood.

It is such a pleasure to see Sarah Jane back after so long. The writers and producers obviously recognised that she is by far the most popular companion the Doctor has had. K9's return is also cool but is overshadowed by her. Following her appearance her, Sarah Jane goes on to start in the children's show The Sarah Jane Adventures, which I will also be covering here.

There is some fantastic dialogue in this story that helps overcome it's shortfalls. The quote above is one such example when Rose realises that she is just one in a long line of companions and doesn't like the revelation. I don't think any previous companions even consider it. They all think that they will be with the Doctor forever.

The villains are the Krillitane, a race of invaders who steal body parts (not literally I assume) of the species they conquer. In this story they are attempting to break the code of the universe and set themselves up as gods using the brains of children. As a concept great, but the CGI appearance is just shocking. When you see how well the werewolf in the previous story was done, it is more than a little disappointing to see rubbery looking gargoyles with big eyes.

The story is fun and its nice to see the return of old companions plus references to the classic show. had the Krillitane been designed and implemented better, perhaps I might view it more favourably.

SJA #0 : A Girl's Best Friend

Brendan Richards: "Who is the Doctor?"
K-9: "Affirmative."

Episode 0:      A Girl's Best Friend.
Companions:  Sarah Jane Smith and K9.
Air Date:        28th December 1981.

Sarah Jane Smith is looking forward to a quiet Christmas with her aunt Lavinia in the sleepy village of Moreton Harwood. When she arrives, she finds her aunt missing and a surprise gift from an old friend waiting to be opened. Sarah, K9 and her aunt's ward, Brendan Richards, are caught up in the affairs of a mysterious cult who practise the black arts and are preparing for a human sacrifice.

A Girl's Best Friend was the pilot episode for a planned spin off series featuring Sarah Jane Smith and the new K9 mark III. It was never picked up and so remains just a single episode. It is a weak adventure and you can easily see why it was never picked up. Unlike the future Sarah Jane Adventures it doesn't feature aliens, monsters and the usual trappings of the Whoniverse. It deals purely with an investigation into a pagan cult who seek the aid of the goddess Hecate in growing their crops. It tries to pull off elements of The Daemons but purely human centric and with a lot less respect for those beliefs. Saying that though, unlike Torchwood, the show does not do anything to make it feel outside of the Whoniverse that we have come to know.

It is good to see Sarah Jane back again and she is once again the tough strong female reporter that we first encountered in The Time Warrior. Very different from the more typical female companion that she was when we last saw her.

K9 is referred to as "Mark III" in this story because he is actually the third robot dog of the same configuration owned by the Fourth Doctor. The first K9 chose to stay with Leela on Gallifrey in The Invasion of Time, whereas K9 Mark II was forced to stay with Romana in E-Space due to being damaged by time winds in Warriors' Gate.

Sadly it is a rather forgettable episode but at least we can maybe give it some credit for bringing the Sarah Jane Adventures to us many years later.

Episode #113 : Warriors' Gate

"Run Doctor! Scurry off back to your blue box. You're like all the rest: lizards when there's a man's work to be done. I'm sick of your kind. Faint-hearted, do-nothing, lily-livered dead weights. This is the end for all of you. I'm finally getting something done!"

Episode 113:   Warriors' Gate.
Companions:   4th Doctor, Adric, K9 and Romana.
Air Date:         3rd to 24th January 1981.

A strange creature forces its way into the TARDIS, steering it to a white void occupied only by the ruins of an old building and a spaceship. This empty space is a gateway to the past and future. The creature responsible for taking them there is Biroc, a member of the enslaved race known as the Tharil. The gateway offers the only exit from E-Space, but the void is contracting. Are the Fourth Doctor and his friends fated to spend eternity in E-Space?

The E Space story arc comes to an end with a whimper. The previous two stories were rather good but Warriors' Gate is such a weak story with an awkward plot that it fails to deliver even a barely interesting adventure for the time travellers.

Due to the actions of the Tharil known as Biroc both the TARDIS and an Earth vessel are brought to a strange white void between dimensions. The humans use captured Tharils to navigate their vessel through hyperspace since apparently human technology can't do it. Biroc wants to rescue his people from the ship and escape into our universe, N Space. But what does any of this have to do with a ruined building bigger on the inside, strange black and white time tracks that look like they have come from some 18th century manor house and what is with the strange black robots that tried to kill the Tharils? None of that is explained.

At the end of the story Romana and K9 stay behind in the strange realm of the Tharils as Romana does not want to go back to Gallifrey after having adventures with the Doctor. Such life would be benign after seeing everything that she has seen. The Doctor gives her K9 for company and departs with Adric back into our universe. A sad fair well. Romana was an excellent companion. Both of her.

The only other thing that really bothers me with this story is how the human crew of the space ship are presented. The captain is another crazy almost mad individual and his crew seem heartless as well. The story does feature the slavery of the Tharils true, but why do humans have to be shown as this negative type so often in science fiction? I found it somewhat uncomfortable to be fair.

Warriors' Gate is a story probably best avoided. A weak ending to the E Space trilogy.

Episode #112 : State of Decay

Aukon: "There is power here such as you have never dreamed of. Can you not feel it?"

[The Doctor wets a finger and holds it up as if checking for wind]

The Doctor: "No."

Episode 112:   State of Decay.
Companions:   4th Doctor, Adric, K9 and Romana.
Air Date:          22nd November to 13th December 1980.

The Doctor, Romana, K9 and Adric - an Outler from Alzarius who has stowed away aboard the TARDIS - arrive on a planet where the native villagers live in fear of 'the Wasting' and of three Lords named Zargo, Camilla and Aukon who rule from an imposing Tower. The Lords are soon revealed to be vampire servants of the last of the Great Vampires, a race referred to in Time Lord mythology.

State of Decay brings back to the excellent horror stories that were the most memorable adventures of the 4th Doctor. This stories deals with vampires. Vampires so terrible that the ancient Time Lords under Rassilon fought a war against them to eradicate them from the universe. We learn that all but one were slain by "bow ships" and that last one vanished. We now know it arrived in E Space drawing an Earth vessel through with it.

The story is really no different than most vampire stories in science fiction where the ruling monsters keep the human population uneducated and superstitious so that they are easier to rule and intimidate through fear. What makes the story work so well is both the excellent way the story is plotted out, the camp-ish acting from the vampire rulers, and the excellent early Romanesque set designs (not rococo like the Doctor thinks it is). State of Decay is a story where everything works well and fits into place perfectly.

Adric is taken in by the Doctor and Romana despite stowing away. For his supposed intelligence he does seem a bit thick in this story though. Maybe he has never heard of vampires if there aren't any in E Space or maybe the writer tried to make him more independent that previous companions. It is the only thing that doesn't sit well with the rest of the story.

State of Decay is another excellent adventure that I recommend.

Episode #111 : Full Circle

"Why can't people be nice to one another, just for a change? I mean, I'm an alien and you don't want to drag me into a swamp, do you... You do?!"

Episode 111:     Full Circle.
Companions:    4th Doctor, K9 and Romana.
Air Date:           25th October to 15th November 1980.

The TARDIS falls through a CVE into E-Space and arrives on the planet Alzarius. There the inhabitants of a crashed Starliner and a group of young rebels called the Outlers, led by a boy named Varsh and including his brother Adric, are being terrorised by a race of Marshmen who emerge from the marshes at a time known as Mistfall.

This story starts the short E Space story arc. These are three unconnected short stories that detail the adventures of our time travelling companions in an alternate universe called E Space (Exo Space). I don't know that the story arc actually makes any difference but at least it's something different.

Full Circle introduces the new companion of Adric, an inhabitant of the planet who after helping the Doctor and Romana, stows away on board the TARDIS. Adric is a mathematical genius, he even has a star for excellence, and this gives us another companion who is almost a match for the Doctor. Many fans hate the character of Adric but I really cannot see why myself.

The story itself deals with a fifty year cycle on the planet Alzarius when the native fauna awakens and evolves. The inhabitants of the starliner find themselves under attack by the native inhabitants for reasons they don't quite understand. The story is quite good although some of the fauna (the spiders) look terrible.

Romana gets some interesting screen time when she is infected by the genetic material of the local wildlife and is almost transformed into one of them. Because of her the marshmen manage to gain access to the starliner. The story then transforms from one of investigation into something more action and survival based.

Episode #110 : Meglos

"First things first, but not necessarily in that order."

Episode 110:     Meglos.
Companions:     4th Doctor, K9 and Romana.
Air Date:            27th September to 18th October.

On Tigella, two factions are irrevocably divided over a fundamental issue: the Dodecahedron, a mysterious object which provides the entire planet's energy. The Savants and the Deons are locked in a crippling stalemate. Their civilisation is on the brink of collapse. The Tigellan leader, Zastor, seeks the Fourth Doctor's help. The Doctor and Romana have been trapped aboard the TARDIS in a time loop by Meglos, the last of the Zolfa-Thurans. He will stop at nothing to steal back the awesome power of the Dodecahedron.

Meglos is a fairly typical story for this era. Another story that isn't exceptional nor is it poorly done. The pacing is just right as well. The writing reasonable but could have been better. It's another story where if you just sit down and watch it without expectations you'll find it enjoyable.

The villain of the title, Meglos, is a rather off choice. His natural form is that of a giant talking cactus planet. As he absorbs power form a captured human accountant (an odd choice really) he gains the ability to shape change though he his focus fails he develops the cactus spines over his new form. It just seems like a very odd choice for a villain, being an intelligent cactus.

Meglos uses a band of space mercenaries to enact his teft of the Dodecahedron and more useless bunch you would be hard pressed to find. They are portrayed in such a way as to be utterly pointless (maybe one reason why they were chosen by Meglos) and incompetent.

This episode sees the return of Jacqueline Hill to the show, in the role of Lexa, high priestess of the Savants. We last saw her as Barbara Wright, companion to the 1st Doctor. It's nice to see the old actors getting a reappearance.

Episode #109 : The Leisure Hive

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.

Episode X :Shada

"Well Mr. Skagra, or whatever it is you call yourself, you killed a Time Lord, a very old friend of mine. It's time you and I had a little chat!"

Episode X:     Shada.
Companions: 4th Doctor, K9 and Romana.
Air Date:        Never.

The story revolves around the lost planet Shada, on which the Time Lords built a prison for defeated would-be conquerors of the universe. Skagra, one such inmate, needs the help of one of the prison's inmates. He finds nobody knows where Shada is anymore except one aged Time Lord who has retired to Earth, where he is a professor at St. Cedd's College, Cambridge. Luckily for the universe, Skagra's attempt to force the information out of Professor Chronotis coincides with a visit by the professor's old friend, the Fourth Doctor.

Shada is the famous lost story. It was set to be the finale of the current season of the show but was canned when a BBC strike took place mid production. The episode was canned. It was eventually released on VHS and DVD with the completed footage and Tom Baker narrating the unfilmed elements. I include it here for completeness. It also eventually was turned into an audio drama for the 8th Doctor and a couple of scenes stolen for use in The Five Doctors.

The story was written by Douglas Adams and it does show. Some of the dialogue is especially odd and unusual. Some of it, Romana talking about being a "time tot" is just cringe worthy. The rest of the story deals with an alien criminal seeking the location of Shada, a prison used by the Time Lords to hold their worst criminals. He uses an alien device that resembles the bouncing ball from The Prisoner TV show to drain knowledge from a target. Despite the strangeness of the writing and some of the dialogue the episode is worth a watch.

One reason why I enjoy this story is that the outdoor scenes were filmed just down the road from me in Cambridge. I have walked down the very streets where it was filmed and it gives me a bit of thrill to think of that. It is just a shame that the story was never completed at the time.

If you get a chance to watch this I recommend doing so.

Episode #108 : The Horns of Nimon

"Why don't you give me the gun and then I can keep an eye on myself so I don't get up to any funny business."

Episode 108:    The Horns of Nimon.
Companions:   4th Doctor, K9 and Romana.
Air Date:          Four episodes. 22nd December 1979 to 12th January 1980.

The inhabitants of the planet Skonnos have been promised by an alien Nimon that he will restore their empire to greatness if they in return provide young sacrifices and radioactive hymetusite crystals, both of which they are obtaining from the nearby planet Aneth. With the TARDIS immobilised for repairs, the Doctor and Romana encounter the Skonnan spaceship transporting the latest sacrificial consignment from Aneth. Romana is captured and taken to Skonnos on board the ship, while the Doctor follows in the now semi-repaired TARDIS. Once there, they are consigned by the Skonnans' leader, Soldeed, into the Nimon's labyrinthine power complex.

The Horns of Nimon is a story based heavily on the Greek legend of the minotaur, in this case a race of beings called the Nimon. There is even a maze, sacrifices to appease the Nimon and a hero seeking to slay the beast. From there it changes and you see how the writer has made the story their own. Sometimes these stories translate well to the screen and the Horns of Nimon is just such a story.

The Nimon themselves look a bit paper mache men in suits... on stilts, but somehow it doesn't detract from the episode. It is only when you see three of them waddling about that you begin to smirk. The concept of these creatures, that of galactic parasites devouring the energy of whole worlds before moving on and pretending to be god-like to other foolish civilisations, is nothing new but somehow it works in this one. We get something similar in a later story, The God Complex, with the 11th Doctor but not quite the same.

Another thing that makes this an enjoyable story is that almost all of the typical lines and actions of the Doctor are instead taken up by Romana. I can't think of a story prior to this where the companion gets as much excellent screen time in the classic era of the show.

The Horns of Nimon is a good story for this era in the show providing that you can get past the appearance of the Nimon themselves.

Episode #107 : Nightmare of Eden

Romana : "I don't think we should interfere."

The Doctor : "Interfere! Of course we should interfere. Always do what you're best at, that's what I say."

Episode 107:    Nightmare of Eden.
Companions:    4th Doctor, K9 and Romana.
Air Date:         Four episodes. 24th November to 17th December 1979.

The TARDIS arrives on the space liner Empress which has become locked together with a private ship, the Hecate, after colliding with it on emerging from hyperspace. The Doctor and Romana meet the scientist Tryst, who has with him a Continuous Event Transmuter (CET) machine containing crystals on which are stored supposed recordings of planets that he and his team have visited. Someone on board the liner is smuggling the dangerously addictive drug vraxoin, and to complicate matters the interface between the two ships allows some monstrous Mandrels from the mud-swamps of Eden to escape from the CET machine - which does not merely take recordings but actually displaces whole planetary areas into its crystals.

Nightmare of Eden is based on the concept of what drugs and drug trafficking may be like in the future. For that it gets bonus points as such a concept probably wasn't as common place on the televisions of the 1970's as it may be now. Quite a bold move really. In this instance the story starts of with an investigation of a space crash, the presence of a drug found and then that the drug runners have found a whole new source for the outlawed drug and they are smuggling it in a way that makes it impossible to be detected.

The alien Mandrels are very much men in suits. Not a lot of effort was out into them by the look of things. In the past the series has shown some excellent costumes and alien appearances so it is sad to see how badly production values have lowered since the days of Jon Pertwee.

Not a bad adventure for our time travellers and certainly a cleverly thought out plot. If the production values were better it could have been so much more.

Episode #106: The Creature from the Pit

"Astrologer extraordinary. Seer to princes and emperors. The future foretold, the present explained, the past - apologised for."

Episode 106: The Creature from the Pit.
Companions: 4th Doctor, K9 and Romana.
Air Date:       Four episodes. 27th October to 17th November 1979.

The Doctor and Romana receive a distress signal and arrive on Chloris. It is a lush and verdant world with only small quantities of metals, all of which are controlled by its ruler, Lady Adrasta. Adrasta keeps order with the aid of her Huntsman and his Wolfweeds - mobile balls of vegetation. A band of thieves, led by Torvin, organise raids on her palace to steal whatever metal they can. But in the mines of Chloris is something huge, a creature thrown into the pit to be forgotten... and the Doctor is about to join him.

The Creature from the Pit is a story that combines yet another medieval world with limited science futuristic trappings which then turns very science fiction with the introduction of an alien intelligence from another world. The villain of the piece is again very typical of villains at this time it seems, as she is far from being a fully fleshed out character. Another two dimensional, one plot, character.

The story also gets a mention for one of the more physically disturbing monsters. The first two instances where it is seen the creature unfortunately resembles a giant green penis. This must have been spotted at the time so why it was allowed seems odd.

Compared to other stories of this time, this isn't a particularly good one. It never really gets off the ground and once it does start to, it comes to an end and time travellers vanish off into time and space. The concept of the story is sound just not the execution.

Episode #104 : Destiny of the Daleks

"If you're supposed to be the superior race of the universe, why don't you try climbing after us?"

Episode 104: Destiny of the Daleks.
Companions: 4th Doctor, K9 and Romana.
Air Date:       Four episodes. 1st to 22nd September1979.

The Doctor and a newly-regenerated Romana arrive on Skaro and discover that the Daleks are using explosive charges and a group of humanoid slave workers to mine the planet in search of their creator, Davros. A stalemate has arisen in an interplanetary war that the Daleks are waging against the robotic Movellans, and their hope is that Davros will be able to give them the edge.

This was the very first Doctor Who story I'd ever seen. I remember watching it with my father when I was little. I never hid behind the sofa but I do remember closing my eyes tight whenever a Dalek appeared on the screen.

In Destiny of the Daleks we are reintroduced to the Daleks and Davros. We are also introduced to the Movellans, a race of robot conquerors who are locked into a stalemate space conflict with the Daleks. The Daleks seek their creator to give them a means to think out side of the box, and the Movellans seek to stop them at all costs. Problem is, the Movellans are also locked into a sense of logic. It's a pretty good story and definitely worth watching.

Davros is revealed not to be dead as we thought at the end of Genesis of the Daleks, and instead has been in a sense of suspended animation cause by his chair device. The BBC were unable to acquire the same actor for the role as last time and the replacement doesn't quite manage to pull off the role as well.

The Movellans are a neat idea as an enemy of the Daleks who aren't humans. Other than a reference here and then, unfortunately they are not seen again as of this review. I think a reappearance could be quite a nice idea for the new series and how they fit into the Time War arc.

As I mentioned in the prior review we have a new Romana in this story, played by Lalla Ward. No reason is given for her regeneration and it simply appears to be a vanity thing. She also seems able to pick and choose a form rather than get what is given to her. This is never explained. As much as I liked Mary Tamm, Lalla Ward take the role immediately and makes it her own. Having a reason for the regeneration would have made the story better though.

Destiny of the Daleks sets up the future stories that feature Davros. It is an excellent story and the Doctor's odd sense of humour as returned. Well worth hunting down for a watch.

Episode #103 : The Armageddon Factor

"There'll be a rather large bang, big enough to blow up Zeos, take Atrios with it, and make certain the whole thing ends in a sort of draw. That's the way these military minds work."

Episode 103: The Armageddon Factor.
Companions: 4th Doctor, K9 and Romana.
Air Date:       Six episodes. 20th January to 24th February 1979.

The final segment of the Key is traced to the planet Atrios, engaged in a long war with the neighbouring Zeos. The Marshal of Atrios intends a final strike to destroy the Zeons, but the Doctor and Romana discover that Zeos is deserted and the war is being co-ordinated by a computer called Mentalis, built by one of the Doctor's old Time Lord Academy friends, Drax.

The Key to Time story arc comes to an end with a bit of a let down unfortunately. While the story itself is fine and moves along nicely, it is stretched out to six episodes and comes to a rather pointless end. The Black Guardian is introduced and has possibly orchestrated the whole thing from the start and to thwart him, the Doctor scatters the pieces of the Key back into time and space. All of which means the last six adventures were pointless. The only reason I don't rate it worse than an average story is because it does flow well and is otherwise entertaining. I just find it disappointing as a conclusion.

We lose Mary Tamm as Romana. In the following story she is simply replaced by a regenerated version played by Lalla Ward (who also played Princess Astra in this very story). I liked Tamm's version of Romana but Lalla Ward will go on to be a very good successor.

The 1970's and 80's had some strange ideas about nuclear wars and this episode runs with those. There were plenty of shows back then that used the concept of nuclear war and what might happen, and this story does bring back memories of those programmes.

At the end of the story the Doctor fits a randomiser to the TARDIS so that they won't know where they are going and in theory neither will the Black Guardian. Questions that this raises are that if the Guardians are these god-like beings with domain of time, how can they not know where the pieces of the Key to Time are, and where the Doctor is at any time?

Episode #101 : The Androids of Tara

"I shall have to go alone of course. It's funny. They always want you to go alone

when you're walking into a trap. Have you noticed that?"

Episode 101:   The Stones of Blood.
Companions:   4th Doctor, K9 and Romana.
Air Date:         Four episodes. 25th November to 16th December 1978.

The tracer brings the TARDIS to the planet Tara. Romana finds the fourth segment disguised as part of a statue but is then taken prisoner by Count Grendel of Gracht. Grendel is plotting to seize the Taran throne from the rightful heir, Prince Reynart, and has mistaken Romana for an android duplicate of the Prince's betrothed, Princess Strella, to whom she bears a remarkable resemblance. The Doctor is meanwhile captured by Prince Reynart's men Zadek and Farrah and taken to his hunting lodge, where he is forced to repair an android double of the Prince to act as a decoy for potential assassins.

The fourth instalment of the Key to Time story arc brings us to another world that couples medieval society with some futuristic technology. In this case the nobility live in big stone castles but use electrically charged swords, the guards wield crossbows that fire lasers, and the peasants are the only people allowed to work on androids.

The story is somewhat different to what has gone before as it plays out more like a historical romance of sorts than a science fiction tale. When the Doctor decides that he is going to ignore the Key segment and go fishing, it is left to Romana to locate the Key. This she does right at the start of the story but then gets captured as she is a perfectly replica of the captured princess Strella.  The Doctor then has to assist her love, Prince Reynart, in securing the throne and rescuing both Romana and Strella.

The villain, Count Grendal, is cut from the moustache-twirling scheme informing mould and as such is a little two dimensional. He even has to have the last word before escaping right at the end of the adventure. At least the Doctor gets to dust off his fencing skills that he showed during his third incarnation, defeating the evil Count and showing him up sufficiently.

As stories go The Androids of Tara isn't bad but there is nothing special about it either.