Episode #129 : The Five Doctors

"A man is the sum of his memories. A Time Lord even more so."

Episode 129: The Five Doctors.
Companions: 1st Doctor, 2nd Doctor, 3rd Doctor, 4th Doctor, 5th Doctor, Susan, The Brigadier, Sarah Jane Smith, Romana, Tegan, and Turlough.
Air Date: 25th November 1983.

The Doctor's past incarnations are taken out of time by a forbidden time scoop device. The fourth Doctor becomes trapped in the vortex but the others find themselves, together with a number of their old companions, with the fifth Doctor and his companions in the Death Zone on their home planet Gallifrey. Here they face a Dalek, a Yeti, a quicksilver Raston Warrior Robot and numerous Cybermen. Also present is the Master, who has been summoned by the High Council of Time Lords to help the Doctor. It turns out that President Borusa is the mysterious operator of the time scoop. He aims to use the Doctors to breach the defences of the Dark Tower - Rassilon's tomb - so that he can enter there and claim immortality.

The Five Doctors was commissioned for the show's 20th anniversary and the BBC pulled out all the stops with this one. We get four out of the five Doctors taking part (the 4th Doctor and Romana get stuck in the time vortex for the duration of the story), cameo's by a Dalek and a Yeti, and the Cybermen with the Master as a major element of the story. Lots of Who elements and references, even spectral former companions, coupled with a fast punchy script makes this story just awesome for any fan of the show. There are so many references I could write a whole page just about them.

The interaction between the different incarnations of the Doctor are just awesome. You get a strong vibe that the different versions really don't like one another, and their banter comes off as a familial grieving which anyone with siblings can relate to.

By the time of the 20th anniversary William Hartnell had passed away so the role was given to Richard Hurndell who did such a good job as the 1st Doctor that I think he did better than Hartnell. Some may consider that heresy but that's how he comes across to me.

The 4th Doctor and Romana only appear in shots from the the unfinished Shada. Tom Baker felt that it was too soon since his departure from the show to make a return even for the anniversary episode. A great shame but four Doctors were enough really. had he taken part I wonder whether the script would have allowed enough screen time and dialogue for all of them.

I really cannot shout the praises of this story enough. If you haven't seen it hunt it down on DVD and watch it. I'm sure you will agree how good this one is.

Tegan: "You mean you're deliberately choosing to go on the run from your own people, in a rackety old TARDIS?"
Fifth Doctor: "Why not? After all, that's how it all started."

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 #105 : City of Death

"Duggan, why is it that every time I start to talk to someone, you knock them unconscious?"

Episode 105:    The City of Death.
Companions:   4th Doctor and Romana.
Air Date:          Four episodes. 29th September to 20th October 1979.

While taking in the sights of Paris in 1979, the Fourth Doctor and Romana sense that someone is tampering with time. Who is the mysterious Count Scarlioni? Why does he seem to have counterparts scattered through time? And just how many copies of the Mona Lisa did Leonardo da Vinci paint?

The City of Death deals with Scarroth, the last of the Jaggaroth race. Their space ship landed on Earth before life appeared but an accident or malfunction caused their craft to explode. The resulting radiation triggered the primordial soup and from that all life on Earth began. Unfortunately Scarroth is split in several versions of himself throughout time up until the 1970's. These versions seem to have some limited ability to communicate with one another and are planning on travelling back in time to prevent their destruction. Which means of course that mankind would never have existed. The plot is likewise rather convoluted and not so well written.

Scarroth would have made for an interesting villain if he didn't seem some two dimensional. In fact, he is a villain who comes across as yet another James Bond villain although one with green wriggly skin and a cyclopean eye. He has a thuggish henchman who goes along with his orders even though he seems to know exactly what his master is trying to do.

Scarroth is played by Julian Glover who you may remember as the AT AT commander assault Hoth Base in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. You have also seen him more recently in Game of Thrones. There is also a brief cameo by John Cleese as a supposed art expert in the Louvre.

The story is set in Paris and has plenty of on location shots of the Doctor and Romana crossing Parisian streets and on the Eiffel Tower. When I say plenty I mean too many. After a while you just starting thinking "yes, we know you filmed all this in Paris. Please get on with it." Nice to see that the show can get out and about a bit more though.

There is one continuity niggle that bugs me in this one. Only a couple stories ago the Doctor fitted a randomizer to the TARDIS so that the Black Guardian couldn't find them and yet in City of Death the Doctor time travels to visit Leonardo's workshop in 1505 and then back to Paris in 1979 directly. It's only a small niggle but it feels like the idea of the randomizer was forgotten by the writers.

City of Death is not one of my favourites. In fact I think it is somewhat below par. A more three dimensional villain would have made it better though you cannot fault Julian Glovers acting.

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 #102 : The Power of Kroll

Ranquin: "Master, hear thy servant Ranquin! Great Kroll, defender and savior of the swamps, let not thy wrath fall upon thy true servants. Great One, we ask only that the dryfoots and their abominations be crushed by thy mighty power... Master, it is thy servant!"

[Kroll seizes Ranquin with its tentacle and swiftly devours him]

Episode 102:   The Power of Kroll.
Companions:   4th Doctor and Romana.
Air Date:         Four episodes. 23rd  December 1978 to 13th January 1979.

The Doctor and Romana arrive on the marsh moon of Delta Magna in search of the next segment of the Key to Time. They are caught in the conflict between the native Swampies and the crew of a chemical refinery. The presence of a gun runner complicates matters; to make things worse, the Swampies intend to awaken Kroll, the giant god that lives beneath the swamps.

The Power of Kroll is by far the best of the Key to Time storyline both in the subject matter and how well the story just flows. Some fans do disagree and say that it is just too slow moving but I disagree. It also features what is probably to date the largest monster to appear in the show... Kroll, and who doesn't like giant mutant sea monsters?

K9 doesn't make an appearance in this adventure due to the marshlands where the story was filmed. Instead John Leeson who normally voices K9 took on a role of a worker at the marsh refinery. Sadly, he doesn't make it out of the story alive.

Influences to this story are obviously the displacement and treatment of native populations by colonials. The swampies could easily be Native Americans for instance. The treatment of them by the lead crewman of the refinery has a strong play on the "they are savages on our land" mentality.

Kroll himself can be seen as laughable at times but I don't think in this case that a giant superimposed squid or giant rubber tentacles reaching through the pipes does anything but fit well into the story. It's typical of what we were used to back then and it fits well to the rest of the story.

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.

Episode #100 : The Stones of Blood

"If they should break through, run as if something very nasty were after you,

because something very nasty will be after you."

Episode 100:  The Stones of Blood.
Companions:  4th Doctor, K9 and Romana.
Air Date:         Four episodes. 28th October to the 18th November 1978.

The Doctor, Romana and K9 are led by the tracer to the Nine Travellers, a circle of standing stones on Boscombe Moor in present-day England, but the third segment is nowhere to be found. They meet elderly archaeologist Professor Emilia Rumford and her assistant Vivien Fay, who are surveying the site, and learn that the circle appears to have had a variable number of stones over the years.

With this adventure we have a rather unusual story. The first half of the story has a strong 70's Hammer Horror feel to it with a dark druidic cult, blood-drinking stone creatures and some good atmospheric set pieces. The second half however goes full science fiction with a prison ship stuck in hyperspace, alien justice machines and a one sided court of law. It doesn't spoil the story but does give it an unusual twist half way through.

There are some obvious influences to this story most notably being Celtic mythology. Unlike The Daemons though, where someone did their research to give the Old Ways a sense of realism, The Stones of Blood goes very 70's horror and just uses it to have an "evil" druidic circle worshipping a dark and evil goddess. It works for well for what it is in the context though.

It is the second half of the story which I feel lets it down slightly. The shift to hyperspace and then the kangaroo court with bobbing motes of light while the Doctor tries to save his own live but also implicate the villain doesn't work as well as the first half.

The Stones of Blood is still a well written and made story. It is quite possibly the highlight of the Key to Time story arc.

Episode #99 : The Pirate Planet

"What is it you're really up to, eh? What do you want? You don't want to take over the universe do you? No. You wouldn't know what to do with it beyond shout at it."

Episode 99:   The Pirate Planet.
Companions: 4th Doctor, K9 and Romana.
Air Date:       Four episodes. 30th September to 21st October 1978.

The tracer detects the second segment on the planet Calufrax. The TARDIS makes a bumpy landing, and the Doctor and Romana soon discover that they are not on Calufrax at all. They are in fact on Zanak, a planet that has been hollowed out and fitted with engines so that it can transmat through space and materialise around others - such as Calufrax - to plunder their mineral wealth, leaving them as shrunken husks held by gravitational forces in a 'trophy room'.

The Pirate Planet was written by Douglas Adams, author of The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, and is by that understandably full of humour and more than a few tweaked references to that book. Coupled with a very different take on the space pirates genre you have a rather enjoyable if odd adventure.

The main villain of the piece throughout is the Captain, a former space pirate now cyborg, complete with robot death parrot, who uses his transporting planet to crush, mine and collect other worlds rich in minerals and energy. He is loud, bombastic and is played excellently by Bruce Purchase in a role that may well have suited Brian Blessed. As a villain he is somewhat two dimensional but the humour put across means that you don't really notice.

The Doctor seems back on form in this story but it is Romana who steals the spot light. Almost from the start she has ignored all the rules that the Doctor gave her in the last story and it guides her from being the new companion to a character in her own right. At one point she is even forced to shoot and kill a guard followed by a look that suggests she had to weigh on her mind if only for a moment.

If there is a negative to this story it is the weak ending which like so many stories never quite ties up properly. The Doctor and Romana walk away leaving everyone to just get on with it. That is part of the character to be fair and we know he doesn't like to stay for the clean up, but in this case it feels like it needed just something tacked on to give some closure.

Episode #98 : The Ribos Operation

"Ground rules. Rule one: Always do what I say. Rule two: Stay close to me, and rule three: Let me do all the talking. Do I make that perfectly clear?"

Episode 98:   The Ribos Operation.
Companions: 4th Doctor, K9 and Romana.
Air Date:       Four episodes. 2nd to 23rd September 1978.

The White Guardian gives the Doctor a quest to find the six disguised segments of the Key to Time which, when assembled, will be used to restore the balance of the cosmos. To aid him he is given a new companion, a female Time Lord called Romana, and a tracer device. He tracks the first segment to the city of Shur on the planet Ribos. There con men Garron and Unstoffe are engaged in a scam to sell the entire planet to the Graff Vynda-K, deposed ruler of Levithia. The Graff has been tricked into believing that Ribos is a rich source of jethrik, a rare mineral vital for achieving space warp drive.

The series returns with a new season long plot arc and a new companion, Romana. I never used to enjoy these stories but when you watch them as I have recently you realise that they are much better than first thought and gives the show a more traditional direction in having a story arc.

The storyline starts with The Ribos Operation. Coerced into this task by the White Guardian of Time, the Doctor is joined by a new companion Romana. Romana is easily a match for the Doctor in intellect and the sense of irritation that the two have with one another gives us a whole different layer to the character of the Doctor. As a companion I really like Romana and her appearance enhances the show for me.

I do have a question about this story, and it crops up again before and after. Why do so many worlds out there resemble Earth's medieval period. Ribos looks like it is in that transitory period between the middle ages and the renaissance. Even the soldiers of the Graff Vynda-K look like medieval knights, though not explained could have been a disguise knowing they were coming to a more primitive backward world.

The story flows at a nice pace and being just four 25 minute episodes works so well. It feels like two modern stories which I find just right. It is almost as if having the summer break has given the writers of these stories some much needed downtime to come up with a well written and presented adventure. This story is almost what I expect from Doctor Who now. Although the story itself isn't fantastic it does a grand job of setting up the Key to Time arc.