My Review of Doctor Who's: "Arc Of Infinity"

Written by Johnny Byrne
Directed by Ron Jones

Nyssa (re High Council): “To kill you? Is that why they brought you back?”
The Doctor: “Possibly.”

It’s serials like this that show you why The Doctor is so resistant to stay on Gallifrey. With the kind of people running the High Council on The Doctor’s home world like this lot, I’d want to be as far away from the lot of them as possible. Maybe that’s also why Doctor Who works better without constantly visiting Gallifrey.

Given that Tegan has just departed, both The Doctor and Nyssa seem to be getting on with things ever so well in her absence. In fact while I might be craving for a scene where at least one of them wonders about her well being, both of them are distracted by repairing the TARDIS.

Granted the TARDIS needs the work but it’s somewhat annoying that Tegan isn’t touched upon as a subject. Still with someone nicking The Doctor’s bio data from the Matrix on Gallifrey at least the opening serial to Season Twenty is trying to be eventful.

The problem is that just like “Time-Flight” no amount of danger covers the fact that this is something of an underwhelming serial. Yes The Doctor’s in danger, an old enemy has returned and the High Council of Gallifrey are the most malignant bunch of twits you’ll ever encounter but still something’s a little off with this one.

With The Doctor and Nyssa both working effectively as a team, their TARDIS repairing gets back seated first by a creature attempting to take over The Doctor and then by the High Council summoning the TARDIS to Gallifrey.

Set to play The Doctor in another year and a half, Colin Baker is cast as the abrasive Commander Maxil. Although the character doesn’t seem to have any dimensions, it’s a credit that Baker makes him into such an interesting foil for The Doctor and Nyssa. He’s unsympathetic to both of them and follows his order to hand The Doctor over a little quietly.

Of course he’s not the only who fares negatively in this serial. With the exception of Hedin, the Council themselves are less concerned about The Doctor being used by the creature who took his bio-data and are more eager to execute him. Even Lord President Borusa fails to convince that killing The Doctor is a hard choice for them.

In fact we all know that The Doctor has rebelled against the council several times and maybe there’s a part of them that wants to use this execution as their own personal punishment for The Doctor’s past behaviour. Castellan certainly seems to exhibit the most amount of animosity for The Doctor above everyone else.

Without Tegan by her side, Nyssa is sort of forced to be the rebellious one. Both she and Damon make several attempts to prove that there’s a traitor in the council and Nyssa even tries to get a little trigger happy in a doomed attempt to stop The Doctor from being executed.

To be honest Nyssa needn’t have bothered. The Doctor’s execution seemed merely a ploy for the creature in question to get him and when Maxil and Castellan both do their own investigation and realise that The Doctor is alive, this creature attempts to use Tegan to keep The Doctor from interfering.

The second major development in the episode is Tegan’s return. Despite a decent change of clothing and a new haircut, Tegan’s pretty much the same girl. She’s quickly embroiled with Robin Stuart in a bid to rescue her cousin Colin Frazer in Amsterdam but soon enough the both of them get captured by the creature.

Tegan’s return is probably the biggest selling point of the episode and as a viewer who loves the dynamic she has with The Doctor and Nyssa, a part of me wanted them to get reunited sooner than they did. Tegan was used a few times to keep The Doctor on side but it took a while for The Doctor to actually believe she was really Tegan.

As for the creature itself, well it’s Omega who looks nothing like he did back in “The Three Doctors”. Ten years after his first altercation with The Doctor, both he and Hedin conspired with each other to acquire a new body. Using The Doctor had proved to be rather challenging but Omega did temporarily succeed in using the Arc Of Infinity to control the Matrix.

He also managed to get a decent transformation when ended up looking like The Doctor himself. If there’s one place where the serial succeeds it’s seeing Peter Davison flit back and forth as The Doctor and Omega. There’s even a moment where Davison delivers one of the creepiest smiles as the latter makes an attempt to integrate.

Unfortunately the face-off between The Doctor and Omega in Amsterdam isn’t quite as compelling as what we saw in “The Three Doctors”. With so much padding at the start of the serial, Omega’s defeat is a little too quick for my liking. It’s a shame to lose him yet again as he could’ve been an intriguing recurring villain like The Master.

Still the episode does have on bright point. With Nyssa admitting to the fact that she missed Tegan’s company, the fiery air stewardess practically invites herself back onto the TARDIS. Still it would’ve been nice if The Doctor sounded a little more excited at the prospect of spending more time with Tegan, right?

Also in “Arc Of Infinity”

Also we got see some nice images of the place, the only significance Amsterdam had was the fact it played some part with the Arc Of Infinity.

Robin: “Trust me, Colin. Have I ever led you astray?”
Colin: “There’s always a first time.”

Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but I can’t be the only one who thought that Colin and Robin were a couple. They were kinda flirty at the start of the serial.

Damon: “Why are you treating The Doctor like a criminal?”
Maxil: “I am simply following orders.”

Hedin (to Zarach): “We sent armed guards when a friendly face would’ve sufficed. Is it any surprise he resisted?”

Hedin was played Michael Gough who also played the Celestial Toymaker and Alfred in the Batman movies.

Castellan: “What are you suggesting Doctor?”
The Doctor: “I thought that would’ve been obvious.”

Borusa: “Have you nothing further to say?”
The Doctor: “I have a great deal to say.”

Both Leela and Romana were mentioned in passing during this serial. The Council aren’t pleased that Romana is in E-Space.

Maxil: “I have my orders.”
The Doctor: “You don’t have to relish them so much.”

Omega: “You knew this would happen?”
The Doctor: “I guess. I was hoping it would give me the chance to meet you.”

With the previous serial concerning The Master, Omega’s identity wasn’t revealed until Part 3. It worked a little better here to be fair.

Tegan: “Yes I’m a friend of The Doctor’s.”
Omega: “We are both fortunate.”

Nyssa (re Omega): “You’re dealing with a Time Lord, Doctor. You won’t find anything in there.”
The Doctor: “We’ll see.”

How exactly did Omega survive his death/defeat in “The Three Doctors”?

Tegan (to Nyssa): “What job? Didn’t I tell you I got the sack so you’re stuck with me after all?”
The Doctor: “So it seems.”

This was released in August 2007 with “Time-Flight” and Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton do a terrific commentary for the story.

Something of an underwhelming opening to the 20th season, “Arc Of Infinity” is a little disjointed in some places. Omega is a great villain but this serial isn’t quite as strong for him as his earlier one was.

Rating: 5 out of 10.

My Review of Doctor Who's: "Time Flight"

Written by Peter Grimwade
Directed by Ron Jones

Nyssa (re air travelling): “You miss it, don’t you?”
Tegan: “Oh I don’t know. It’s not exactly dull travelling with The Doctor.”

Following the cataclysmic events of the previous serial, “Earthshock”, Season Nineteen of the series ends on a note that can only draw negative connotations. I know this show isn’t perfect but as season finales go, this one really doesn’t do much to inspire.

There’s a long winded plot about concords at Heathrow Airport going missing, which takes up way too much time during the opening scene to actually. Apparently the use of concords was a major coup back in 1982. It’s just a shame that such a coup doesn’t result in a storyline.

One bright spark about this serial is that there’s some strong continuity. Both The Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa are upset that Adric sacrificed himself to stop the Cybermen but while Tegan and Nyssa are open to the possibility of reversing the event so that Adric doesn’t have to die, The Doctor points out that certain rules can’t be broken.

Fortunately Tegan is wise enough to drop the tricky subject but it doesn’t stop The Doctor from wanting to console her and Nyssa with a pleasant trip to 1851. However the TARDIS ends up getting sucked into the current situation at Heathrow where The Doctor’s TARDIS draws all sorts of attention.

When The Doctor is brought up to speed about the missing concord he wastes no time in figuring out what has actually. Also despite initial cynicism from Captain Stapley, he also manages to use another concord, along with Tegan, Nyssa and the TARDIS to travel back to 140 million years in the past.

Well with an episode called, “Time-Flight”, it’s relieving to get both prospects in a quick amount of time. Of course being stuck in the past evokes all sort of weird feeling as the concord staff are convinced that they are still in Heathrow. Illusions tend to play something of a role in this whole thing.

The big question is what exactly brought them here and that answers seems to lie in a pretty powerful sorcerer named Kalid. Silver and obese this bloke spends a good amount of time enslaving those from the first concord he snatched and then snatching both Roger and Andrew as well.

He also has fun in sending his Plasmatons in attacking both The Doctor and Nyssa at different points but despite using these creatures to initially deter resistance, it’s not long until The Doctor actually faces off with Kalid. As face offs tend to go, this one is pretty uninspired to say the least.

Kalid might be boastful about his ability to make people do what he wants but The Doctor’s disbelief of magic is a good giveaway that Kalid isn’t what he claims to be. Nope, if anything Kalid is more electronic/hypnotic rather than mystical and no amount of mock-annoyance from him convinces The Doctor otherwise.

In fact when Professor Hayter and the concord crew interrupt the face-off, it’s soon revealed that Kalid is actually The Master. Now I know The Master has had a penchant for disguises but if ever there was a serial where dressing up was utterly pointless, it would be this one.

As motives go, even The Master’s here aren’t as grand as you would hope they would be. Basically he’s stuck 140 millions years in the past and he wants to get out. The Doctor isn’t exactly in the best of moods to help him but The Master swipes his TARDIS and spends pretty much the rest of the serial working out his own escape plan. His TARDIS needs a power source and The Master is nothing if not a tryer.

When he’s not instructing people to break down a wall or sending both Captain Stapley and Andrew (both of whom try to best The Master) on a TARDIS trip of their own, it seems he’s also using a race called the Xeraphin to help with his insane plans to escape.

The Doctor’s pretty horrified to discover just how far The Master will use the Xeraphin to aid his escape but worse than that is despite The Doctor even fearing at one point that The Master could actually best him, this still doesn’t feel as tense as you’d want it too.

Towards the final part of the serial, both The Doctor and The Master forge an uneasy partnership of sorts to help each other escape from the Time Zone. Of course it’s also nice to see The Doctor be a little ruthless as well when it turns out that The Master may be stranded on the Xeraphin’s home planet.

However despite the general unevenness of this actual storyline, there are a few bright sparks. For instance the scenes with flight staff such as Stapley, Angela, Andrew and Roger add a perfectly human element to the story while it’s interesting to see Professor Hayter’s eyes open up before his demise.

The best parts however involve Tegan and Nyssa. Nyssa is used on a few occasions to distinguish illusions and to talk for both the Plasmatons and the Xeraphin. There’s also a scene between her and Tegan where they briefly get to see Adric, the Melkur and Terileptil.

Tegan’s also got some stuff of importance as her feelings of longing for her old life seem to sink. Both her and Nyssa seem to have such a good friendship that I liked Nyssa for asking whether or not she missed her old life. Then Tegan winds up being left behind which is the only real punch this entire serial actually serves.

Also in “Time-Flight”

For the first episode, Anthony Ainley is credited as Leon Ni Taiy to conceal his identity. Again I stress that Kalid was a pointless device.

The Doctor (re Adric): “I feel his loss as well.”
Tegan: “You could do more than grieve. You could go back.”

What was up with The Doctor name-dropping The Brigadier like that? I know the bloke hasn’t appeared in six seasons but it felt a little tacked on.

The Doctor: “Well I might be able to help.”
Tegan: “That’s what worries me.”

The Doctor (re Andrew/Roger): “I wonder if they know where the TARDIS is.”
Professor Hayter: “They can’t even remember their own names. They’re in a trance.”

Some original titles for this included “Xeraphin” and “Zanadin”. Neither sound all together that great.

The Doctor: “I don’t understand.”
The Master: “No, Doctor you never understand. You never do.”

Professor Hayter (re passengers): “Doctor they’ve stopped hallucinating.”
The Doctor: “That’s not necessarily a good thing.”

I know it was tradition in the old season, but it’s still amazing that both Tegan and Nyssa haven’t changed their clothes for most of the season.

Nyssa: “I think we’re winning.”
Tegan: “Winning what for God’s sake?”

Tegan: “What does that mean?”
The Doctor: “It means The Master has finally defeated me.”

This was released on DVD in August 2007 in a box set with “Arc Of Infinity”. The commentary is pretty scathing but funny and I liked the “Mouth On Legs” feature about Tegan.

Tegan: “Doctor, hurry up. The Master’s getting trigger happy out there.”
The Doctor: “Oh well, better not keep him waiting.”

Captain Stapley: “Oh hello. I thought you were going with The Doctor.”
Tegan: “So did I.”

Peter Grimwade, who wrote this serial, directed the previous one, “Earthshock”.

Before reviewing “Time-Flight”, I have to admit to watching this serial at least four times since the 10 month period that I have owned it. It’s not one of those serials that gets better after repeated viewing but it did have a few redeemable things about it. However as a season finale, it’s incredibly limp, dull in a good few places and often too confusing for it’s own good. As a villain, The Master is also wasted on this serial.

Rating: 4 out of 10.

My Review of Doctor Who's: "Earthshock"

Written by Eric Saward
Directed by Peter Grimwade

Cyber Lieutenant: “A Time Lord. But they're forbidden to interfere.”
Cyber Leader: “This one calls himself the Doctor - and does nothing else but interfere.”

Without a doubt this is one of the most critically acclaimed serials that the series has ever done and to be honest, I can see why. While I prefer about six other Doctors to the Fifth incarnation, this is certainly a serial that I think might not have an impact if there were any other Doctor but Peter Davison doing it.

For one thing, the use of three companions works fantastically and for the second, it’s been ages since we’ve had an altercation with the Cybermen and this is by far, the best one we’ve had. Plus I’m deliberately reviewing it days before their return in the Tenth/possible Eleventh Doctor story “The Next Doctor” airs on BBC1.

The episode starts on a domestic front with both The Doctor and Adric arguing and the latter even threatening to return to his own world via the use of E-Space because he often feels like an afterthought. Given that he’s sharing a TARDIS with Tegan, a woman who could still be heard in the middle of a storm, I guess I can see Adric’s point.

Of course while the two of them are arguing, far more interesting stuff takes place with another group of explorers find that all the life in a certain cave are pretty much all but dead. This shouldn’t be the most worrying of things but when the TARDIS crew arrive, they’re not met with the biggest of welcomes.

I think for once it would be nice for The Doctor and his companions to show up to a place where a group of scientists and/or soldiers don’t either want to arrest or kill them on sight. Then again, you do need that little moment of hostility and with this serial, The Doctor’s lucky enough not to be permanently on their bad side.

In fact, he and Scott soon form an alliance when a group of Android are the ones killing people in the cave and there’s a fair amount of quick thinking used to best them. The androids are simply fun and a good warm up act for the Cybermen.

Of course the androids also serve the purpose of making the Cybermen aware that The Doctor is present in the cave. Having them revealed early into the story is a good thing as we benefit from seeing them scheme for a while before they come into actual contact with The Doctor.

It also seems that they’ve bagged themselves a human ally in Ringway. The second plot of this includes a spaceship containing 1500 silos destined for Earth but the Cybermen have their own plans for the planet they know The Doctor has tremendous fun. Sure it would be easy to threaten Gallifrey but audiences are always going to care more about the Earth than The Doctor’s home planet.

The other thing about this episode is that we are then lead into a moment of team splitting. With Tegan and Nyssa stuck in the TARDIS with Scott and Kyle, The Doctor and Adric do more exploring around the spaceship to learn more about what’s going on.

Of course this lead to the two of them getting captured by Ringway, who showed the usual bout of hostility that military type love showing to The Doctor. It really does amuse me how much soldiers absolutely hate The Doctor and not only that but often go into great detail about how much pleasure they would get by killing him. It’s amusing of course because they inevitably fail. Ringway’s really no different to this cliché.

He’s also no different in the fact that by helping the Cybermen he’ll reap some kind of reward from it. Did it ever occur to him to have some kind of a backup plan? Surely he couldn’t have really thought that they were going to keep his word and spare him. Cybermen aren’t exactly known for their loyalty.

Still he signed his own death warrant when he revealed his treachery to both Briggs and the First Officer as well as The Doctor and Adric. As soon as the Cybermen manage to take complete control of the spaceship, they reward Briggs by killing him on the spot.

The biggest strength of this story is its use of continuity. At this point, The Doctor’s history with the Cybermen was vast and writer Eric Saward has fun using this to his script’s advantage. The Doctor has no problem in reminding the Cybermen that he’s been able to defeat him in the past.

More importantly, there’s an ongoing debate of emotions. Now we all know The Doctor’s a big supporter of them and the Cybermen exploit his emotion by threatening to kill Tegan. When The Doctor begs for Adric to come back with them on the TARDIS, the Cyberleader takes great delight in denying him this request.

The Cybermen’s need for destroying the Earth in this story also stems from the fact that a meeting of several other races could threaten their existence. Tegan’s frank distraught over the idea of losing her planet is nicely used but it only highlights the Cyberleader’s determination in getting one on The Doctor and saving his race from extinction.

However it isn’t The Doctor that proves to be the big threat to them in this story. First off all their little explosion is cheekily used the excuse that 65 millions ago, the freighter was the thing that wiped out the dinosaurs. More importantly, Adric also sacrifices his own life in order to muck up their plans again.

For a companion that is largely divided among viewers (I’m not even sure myself how I feel about him), this is a wonderful way to write out Adric and actor Matthew Waterhouse. Tegan and Nyssa’s distress at the end with The Doctor unable to say the right words certainly gives this serial a bittersweet denouncement.

Also in “Earthshock”

This is one of the few serials that actor Peter Davison hasn’t criticised via commentary. I can see why for obvious reasons.

Kyle: “Who are they?”
The Doctor: “Androids. That's why they didn't register on your scanners.”
Scott: “Androids. Are they yours?”
The Doctor: “No. And if you want proof you'll find they'll kill me as willingly as they'll kill you. See what I mean?”

Like in the last serial, “Revenge Of The Cybermen”, we had gold used to the Cybermen’s disadvantage, thanks to Adric’s badge.

Cyberleader: “Destroy them! Destroy them at once!”

Kyle: “Is there nothing positive we can do?”
Nyssa: “Try not to worry.”

It’s interesting that the Cybermen were able to recognise The Doctor so easily when we’ve had stories where the Daleks haven’t immediately.

Briggs: “These you’re friends?”
The Doctor: “Definitely not.”
Adric: “What are they?”
The Doctor: “Cybermen.”

Ringway (regarding the Cybermen): “You know them?”
The Doctor: “Oh yes. We go back a long way.”

I believe this was the episode where Tegan’s ‘mouth on legs’ nickname sprang. Heck, it was her who described herself as it.

The Doctor (re destroying the Earth): “You’ve tried before.”
Cybermen: “This time we will succeed and you will live long enough to witness it.”

Briggs (about the Cyberleader): “Are they all so dedicated?”
The Doctor: “Compared to some, this one's positively flippant!”

We got some images of the serials, “The Tenth Planet”, “The Tomb Of The Cybermen” and “Revenge Of The Cybermen”. I’ve only seen the last two mentioned.

The Doctor: “Emotions have their uses.”
Cyberleader: “They restrict and curtail the intellect, and the logic, the mind.”
The Doctor: “They also enhance life. When did you last have the pleasure of smelling a flower? Watching a sunset? Eating a well-prepared meal?”
Cyberleader: “These things are irrelevant.”
The Doctor: “For some people, small, beautiful events is what life is all about!”

Tegan made an offhand comment about The Doctor’s abhorrence of guns, even though later he was forced into shooting a Cybermen.

The Doctor: “You have already presented your point quite accurately.”
Cyberleader: “A final demonstration should benefit any doubters.”

Briggs: “Nice to see where we’re going.”
First Officer: “We know where we’re going.”
Briggs: “Nice to see when we arrive.”

This episode was quite audacious with the silence instead of music for the end credits. Reminds me of the Buffy episode “The Body” for that reason.

First Officer (re logic codes): “That could take forever.”
Adric: “Well I suggest we start at once.”

Cyberleader: “You follow.”
The Doctor: “Where?”
Cyberleader: “Follow them.”

Adric did appear in the book “The Boy That Time Forgot” and we did get to see him briefly in “Time Flight” and “The Caves Of Androzani”.

Cyberleader: “You lie, Doctor.”
The Doctor: “Not at all. You lost. The Earth’s safe.”

The Doctor: “You failed, leader.”
Cyberleader: “You shall not enjoy this victory. I shall kill you now, Doctor.”

This serial was released in 2003 with a commentary from Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and Matthew Waterhouse. I liked the “Did You See?” review feature.

As a lover of the Cybermen, “Earthshock” is simply a stunning piece of television. Their pure menace as well as personal history with The Doctor is beautifully explored, all the companions are used to good effect (even Nyssa, who had less to do than anyone else) while Adric’s death certainly is quite poignant. The only thing that completely stumps is why the hell this wasn’t the season finale for the nineteenth season After all, you end seasons on stories like this, not “Time Flight”.

Rating: 10 out of 10.

My Review of Doctor Who's: "Destiny Of The Daleks"

Written by Terry Nation
Directed by Ken Grieve

Davros: “Ha... How long do you think you can sustain your advantage, alone, and against such odds?”
The Doctor: “Wouldn't you like to know, eh? Wouldn't you like to know? Wouldn't I like to know?”

You can’t keep a good villain down but as a producer you can go out of your way to delay retuning him for as long as necessary. Part of the reason why some people might not have warmed to The Master was due to overexposure during his first three seasons. With Davros, the same complaint isn’t valid.

Spending all of the previous season with Romana, The Doctor seems to have gotten used to having another Time Lord in his presence. However the start of this serial not only see K9 struck down with laryngitis but Romana herself isn’t feeling quite the same too.

In the history of this series’ we’ve seen some traumatic regenerations but with Romana, it looks more like a walk in the park. She decides to look like Princess Astra from the previous serial and when The Doctor voices disapproval, she then has some fun coming up with even less impressive guises until settling on her first choice.

From the off, this Doctor and new Romana look like a well matched pair but the fun is cut short when they land on a planet with high amounts of radiation. That’s also the least of their problems as they deal with explosives and seeing slaved people burying each other.

The Doctor also admits to having the wackiest déjà vu. He knows he’s been on this planet before but he can’t think why or when. When he and Romana get separated, there are some more clues as where the two of them have landed. Eventually he’s told that he’s on Skaro again.

The Doctor finds himself rescued by a robotic race named the Movellans who are in battle with the Daleks. Given that nearly every serial that has featured this lot has had the word ‘Dalek’ in it, it’s not like their return is attempting to be remotely surprisingly or anything.

Still it piques The Doctor’s interest as he’s curious to find out why the Movellans and Daleks are both up but its Romana getting captured by the Daleks that paves the way for some clues. Romana undergoes an interrogation and then she soon has to do hard labour for them. The Daleks are drilling to get something pretty important. No prizes in guessing what that is.

Romana’s crafty enough to fake being dead long enough to get away from the Daleks and also to get back in with The Doctor and a former slave named Tyssan. The Movellans are also there to help with the Dalek investigating but it’s pretty clear that their motives aren’t as honourable as The Doctor’s might be.

The drilling also results in the return of Davros. Nearly five years after his debut in “Genesis Of The Daleks”, the character might be played by David Gooderson this time around but he’s still a raging psychotic, hell bent on continuing his advancement of the Daleks.

It makes no difference that it was the Daleks who nearly killed him either. The Doctor is a lot less gracious here with Davros than he was in “Genesis Of The Daleks”. In fact when The Doctor isn’t threatening to blow up Davros, he’s often taunting the Dalek creator as best he can.

Davros himself is as intriguing as he started off. Soon as he manages to get away from The Doctor’s grasp, he’s determined to know the source behind every victory and defeat his ghastly creations have been involved in. The fact that the Daleks are totally loyal to him in this serial is noteworthy.

There’s a part of me that would like to entertain the idea that the reason why the Daleks are devoted to Davros is because he’s their leader but the fact of the matter is, that their loyalty is out of necessity. Their ongoing battle with the Movellans is pretty going nowhere.

The one that both the Daleks and the Movellans have in common beyond being dangerous is their reliance on logic. Both The Doctor and Davros figure that out earlier on and neither of them wants to totally help either Daleks or Movellans out either.

With The Doctor it’s got to be because of his mistrust for the Movellans. Davros on the other hand wants to maintain control over the Daleks and even manages to get them to act all suicide bombers and sends them loaded with explosives to destroy the Movellan ship.

If there’s one thing about this serial that does slightly let things down, it’s probably the confrontation between The Doctor and Davros before the former succeeds. It lacks the punch of their last meeting but at least Davros gets an interesting comeuppance. Instead of being killed, he’s frozen and taken away by Tyssan and the freed slaves.

As for the Daleks and Movellans, well both of them are nicely defeated and there’s a delightful scene towards the end where Romana thinks that the reason The Doctor tends to win is because of his ability to make mistakes. It’s definitely one of the more colourful theories I have to admit.

Also in “Destiny Of The Daleks”

I’ve just noticed that there aren’t that many season openers in the old series where the Daleks. I think this is about the fourth out of seventeen.

The Doctor: “What are you doing here?”
Romana: “Regenerating. Do you like it?”
The Doctor: “Regenerating? But-- what are you talking about, regenerating? Only Time Lords regenerate!”

It’s a really nice move on the writer’s part to have Romana dressed up in similar attire to The Doctor. I think her scarf was even longer as well.

Romana: “Don't go away, will you?”
The Doctor: “I'd rather hoped you'd resist the temptation to say that.”

Dalek: “At my command you will move forward. Any attempt to escape will be punished. No further warning will be given. Is that understood? Is that understood? Speak! Speak!”
Romana: “Yes I understand.”

Mary Tamm who played Romana in Season Sixteen often wished that she had gotten a regeneration scene. I think I prefer what we got here to be honest.

Romana: “The Daleks would be better of with machines for this job.”
Female Slave: “They just enjoy subjugating humanoid races.”
Romana: “They used to be humanoid themselves.”

Davros: “You will release me. You will return me to the Daleks.”
The Doctor: “Shut up or I’ll switch you off.”

Davros is identified by the Movellans as mutant humanoid. What were they going to do with him and The Doctor?

Davros: “Until the Daleks' universal supremacy is accomplished, I can not allow myself the luxury of death.”
The Doctor: “Aw, poor Davros!”

The Doctor: “All I have to do is squeeze my sonic screwdriver and boom-boom Davros.”
Davros: “You need not elaborate.”

K9 got excluded from this serial due to the location being havoc for filming with a prop. Still I did like the little scene we got with him.

Davros: “We’ll meet again, Doctor. Never doubt it. We’ll meet again.”
The Doctor: “Don’t be so sure.”

Movellan: “That’s an order, not a request, now move.”
The Doctor: “I do seem to be in demand today.”

How did those slaves know to mark Romana’s tomb with her name? I don’t think she actually told any of them who she was.

Davros: “Supreme Dalek. That is a title I shall dispute most vigorously.”

Tyssan: “We’ve only got a handful of men.”
The Doctor: “One, two, three, four, five. I’ll go alone. Ask me why.”
Tyssan: “Why?”
The Doctor: “They’re unconscious. Also I’m a very dangerous person when I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Tom Baker has to be the only Doctor to have two encounters on screen with Davros, unless David Tennant holds out for a bit longer.

Davros: “It seems we are both in demand.”
The Doctor: “It’s nice to be wanted, isn’t it?”

Davros: “I have failed.”
The Doctor: “Yes what does it feel like?”

This was released on DVD in November 2007 both individually and as part of the Davros box-set. The commentary with Lalla Ward, David Gooderson and Ken Grieve is good.

Although this serial isn’t quite as loved as other Davros/Dalek related ones, I actually have a soft spot for “Destiny Of The Daleks”. In some ways it could’ve been better, especially with making the Movellans into a stronger threat but overall its enjoyable enough not to seriously offend people.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

My Review of Doctor Who's: "Planet Of Evil"

Written by Louis Marks
Directed by David Maloney

The Doctor (to Sorensen): “You and I are scientists, Professor. We buy our privilege to experiment at the cost of total responsibility.”

Fresh from the departure of Harry in the previous serial, “Terror Of The Zygons”, it’s time for The Doctor and Sarah Jane to have their first adventure by themselves and as far as adventures go, this is one is definitely not without its trouble.

The Doctor and Sarah Jane land on Zeta Minor, one of those planets that’s as far away from the universe as you can get and also one that’s rather ripe in its own trouble. Answering a distress call is what brought them there and there’s plenty to distress about on this planet.

With its jungle-esque atmosphere, there’s a nice sense of relief that for once we’re not looking at what’s clearly a quarry pretending to be a planet. Before all of the danger, there’s some light hearted dialogue between The Doctor and Sarah Jane. There’s a reason why Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen worked so well as a team and its little moments before they’re caught up in all of the action that highlights that.

Of course the action doesn’t stay in the background for long and soon enough we start seeing scientists getting murdered on this planet and as soon as Salamar claps eyes on the TARDIS, he’s quick to snare it, The Doctor and Sarah Jane without having to think about it too hard.

Once again we’ve got one of those military types who loathe The Doctor on sight. It’s not something that has significantly as The Doctor just by looking at him is able to offend the most hard nosed of types. Salamar is one sour faced so and so who spends way too much time in this serial being overtly aggressive towards The Doctor to the point of tedium.

Thankfully not everyone on board treats The Doctor and Sarah Jane with contempt. The much older and experienced Vishinsky is far more compassionate to the TARDIS and even willingly listens to The Doctor as he tries to figure out what’s going on.

It seems that anti-matter (the very problematic thing in “The Three Doctors”) is playing its part into the serial and it’s the very thing that is also preventing Salamar’s ship from leaving Zeta Minor as well. While everyone attempts to get rid of the anti-matter on board, it soon becomes apparent that’s there’s still a lot more to do before they are free.

Namely there’s a Professor Sorenson, who’s the source of the problems for this serial. He came onto Zeta Minor for his own scientific purposes such as his research for antiquark. Like Salamar, Sorenson is also as doggedly determined and pig headed and it’s this that also places a lot of people in jeopardy.

Well there’s that and then there’s the fact that being on Zeta Minor has affected Sorenson is a manner that even the DVD leaflet would compare to Jekyll and Hyde. Sorenson is becoming monstrous and throughout a good chunk of the episode, he goes about killing members of the crew, adding more strain between The Doctor and Salamar to boot.

It’s also noteworthy that half-way through this serial, The Doctor also goes down a creature pit. It’s one of the most gorgeously shot scenes during the Tom Baker era of the series, with some evocative music but it’s also relevant in the sense that The Doctor would later drag the Anti-Man Sorenson and throw him in it.

Effectively this saves the guy’s life but there’s still a raging lot of hostility to get through before then. Salamar’s vindictive side nearly has The Doctor and Sarah Jane ejected out of the ship and it’s also Salamar’s less than stellar decision to attack the Anti-Man with a neutron accelerator that multiplies the anti-matter.

Fortunately the dip in the pit is the very thing that ended up stopping the anti-matter from having total control. It’s also the very thing that saw Sorenson released too and after so much tension, the ending is slightly more positive than you would’ve expected it to be.

Sorenson’s thirst for scientific advancement is what lead to the dangerous events of this serial and it’s The Doctor’s attempts to sway away from his earlier discoveries that should hopefully not see such events happen a second time. Given how hazy Sorenson seemed to be at the end, The Doctor can only his plan truly works after him and Sarah Jane left that ship and Zeta Minor.

Also in “Planet Of Evil”

Seeing this serial, it’s clear to see how it influenced both “The Impossible Planet”/“The Satan Pit” and “42”. However I prefer those three episodes to this serial.

Sarah Jane: “Oh I see…what’s gone wrong this time?”
The Doctor: “Nothing, nothing at all. What makes you think something’s gone wrong?”
Sarah Jane: “Because you always get rude when you’re covering up a mistake.”

The Doctor joked about Shakespeare as well in this episode when he and Sarah Jane were going through the jungle.

The Doctor: “Someone’s in trouble.”
Sarah Jane: “Where?”
The Doctor: “Who knows? Stand by for emergency materialization!”

The Doctor: “I met him once, you know.”
Sarah Jane: “Who?”
The Doctor: “Shakespeare. Charming fellow. Dreadful actor.”
Sarah Jane: “Maybe that’s why he took up writing.”
The Doctor: “Perhaps it was.”

I was pleased to see Michael Wisher in the role of Morelli. Even though he’s much more effective as Davros, it was still nice to see him.

Salamar: “Have you checked the transmitters down there?”
Vishinsky: “Yes, but any signal would have been monitored by our receivers.”
The Doctor: “Perhaps my receivers are better than yours.”
Ponti: “Shut up!”
The Doctor: “My manners certainly are.”

Sarah Jane: “Do you ever get tired of being pushed around?”
The Doctor: “Frequently.”

This was the first serial that Philip Hinchcliffe had his influence over as both Terrence Dicks and Barry Letts had stepped down from the series.

Salamar: “There is no anti-matter on this ship.”
The Doctor: “And I am telling you there is.”

The Doctor: “The answer’s very simple. You’ve reached the end of your piece of elastic.”
Salamar: “What are you talking about?”
The Doctor: “It won’t stretch much further.”

Regarding The Doctor falling into the pit, it reminded me of The Doctor’s mental battle as well with Omega in “The Three Doctors”.

The Doctor: “Keep away.”
Sorenson: “I require an explanation.”

The Doctor: “If it hits Sorenson, it could be disastrous.”
Sarah Jane: “You mean things can get worse? I don’t believe it.”

Both Frederick Jaeger and Ewen Solon had worked together on a previous story - “The Savages” in 1966. This serial did recycle some past guest actors.

The Doctor: “Come on, Sarah. We’ve an appointment in London and we’re already 30,000 years late.”

This was released on DVD in October 2007. There’s a good commentary from Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Prentis Hancock and Philip Hinchcliffe as well as some good extra material.

“Planet Of Evil” is very much a serial that would work today as well as it did back in 1975. It’s something of a confusing serial in places but overall, it’s a solid adventure and quite sinister in some parts.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

My Review of Doctor Who's: "Genesis Of The Daleks"

Written by Terry Nation
Directed by David Maloney

The Doctor (to High Council): “Now undoubtedly, Davros has one of the finest scientific minds in existence. But he has a fanatical desire to perpetuate himself and his machines. He works without conscience, without soul, without pity and his machines are equally devoid of this quality.”

Now in the 26 seasons of the original series, there are many stories that are both legendary and important to the show and this one that is both. For the past 11 years The Doctor has had to face off the Daleks when he wasn’t battling other nasties but now in the series’ twelfth season, it was high time we got an answer as to where those intolerant creatures came from.

Getting transported to Skaro by a random Time Lord, The Doctor is given a challenge he’s only too willing to accept – he can either prevent the rise of the Daleks or rehabilitate them. Given that the Daleks are incapable of responding to any form of reason; it was fair to assume that wiping them out would be the best option.

Of course The Doctor also happened to land on Skaro in the middle of an ongoing war between the Kaleds and the Thals and with Sarah Jane, Harry and only a Time Ring as insurance, this was always going to be a hard challenge. Hell even in the first few minutes The Doctor had the fear of a landmine blowing him to kingdom come.

Usually with a lot of serials, especially the big ones you have to go through a good phase where The Doctor gets separated from his companions. Going into a bunker, The Doctor and Harry get captured by Kaled soldiers but Sarah Jane is left behind, which isn’t really that great for her either.

Instead she winds up being captured first by a set of Mutos and then by the Thals. The treatment she receives on the latter end is particularly unpleasant as she’s forced to risk her life loading a rocket with distronic explosion which also meant being affected with distronic toxaemia as well.

Luckily Sarah comes to her senses and decides that she’s got a better chance trying to escape than waiting to die under Thal supervision. Unfortunately both she and the Muto Sevren’s attempts to escape aren’t all that successful and there’s a sinister moment where a Thal tries to make an example of Sarah by dangling her.

I’m not too scared of heights but watching that scene is definitely enough to give anyone vertigo. As serials go this one is pretty good for Sarah Jane, even if she spends half of it away from The Doctor and Harry. However even when she does reunite with them, her life is still in danger.

Then there’s The Doctor and Harry themselves. Tom Baker and Ian Marter make for a good double act and the lads spend most of their time trying to figure out what’s going with the Kaled and Thals’ ongoing way. The interesting thing about this serial is that we see viciousness on both fronts.

We’ve already seen the Thals savage treatment of Sarah Jane, Sevren and other prisoners but with the Kaleds, you do have Ravon who only appears in two parts. In part one he’s a surly so and so that is quickly irritated by The Doctor’s insolence but in the third part, he’s siding with The Doctor. Even then he’s still a bit of a moron to be honest.

Of course imprisonment is bad on all fronts but here both The Doctor and Harry make a few attempts to escape. Their first attempt doesn’t succeed and soon enough, The Doctor finds his Time Ring taken away from but at least not all of the people in the bunker are evil personified. The Doctor soon learns that they are both people he can trust and those he seriously can’t.

With the people he can trust, there’s Ronson a scientist who feels that the work they have been doing with the Mark 3 Travel Machine has become corrupted. This Machine to us is a Dalek and in this episode we get to see it as embryos up to the very moment where it kills independently and ruthlessly.

Ronson’s initially sceptical of The Doctor’s inside knowledge of the destruction that the Daleks are capable of but soon enough he realises that The Doctor is right and tries to give him as much information as possible. He even helps both The Doctor and Harry escape successfully as well prior to them rescuing Sarah Jane.

The other person worthy of trust is Gharman. He falls into the military side of things but like Ronson, he originally believed that the Daleks were supposed to be a source of good and has become disgusted with the way that Davros has corrupted his own creations.

His attempts of rebelling at against Davros has him imprisoned but even when free both Davros and the Daleks manage to stop him from trying to change history with the attitudes of the homicidal creatures. Both Gharman and Ronson ended up dying at the hands of the very creatures they were trying to stop in this episode.

Now that we’ve discussed the good guys in this place, there’s also the very bad apples in both Davros and Nyder. The former is the very man we can hold responsible for the Daleks and the latter is his very devoted right hand man. In fact, they are both as ruthlessly evil as the other.

While Davros might be happy to slaughter millions of lives in order to allow his creatures to advance, Nyder is only perfectly happy to serve. There is never a moment in the six episodes where Nyder argues with Davros about morality. He makes no protests when Davros admits that he wants the Daleks to be devoid of any emotions.

The only time that Nyder comes to arguing with Davros is on strategy. There are times when Nyder thinks that Davros is surrendering, both to the High Council and to the resistance group that Gharman forms. On the latter occasion, it’s revealed that Davros just wanted to weed out the traitors from the devotees and have the Daleks kill anyone who challenged him.

As actors go, Michael Wisher is an excellent choice for the role of Davros. Given that we haven’t had The Master in about two seasons, The Doctor seriously needed a mirror threat. In some ways, the path Davros has taken is one that without positive influences in his life, The Doctor could’ve taken as well.

Even after he tortures Sarah Jane and Harry to get information from The Doctor on every defeat the Daleks have encountered, Davros is impressed by the Time Lord. Intellectually, Davros is the closest to an equal that The Doctor has had since The Master and he’s even more ruthless to boot.

In one of the most memorable and captivating scenes ever written on this show, The Doctor poses a very simple question. If you had a virus and you knew it could kill on contact, would you use it? Most of us would say no to that question but with Davros, he swings the opposite way.

It’s not just the fact that he would use this little virus that’s chilling but it’s his response that really struck a nerve. The pure and utter glee that he exhibited when responding to that question is absolutely shocking. I know this is his first serial but damn, that scene absolutely floored. This guy really is that evil to the core.

As scientists go, Davros’ evilness really hits the roof. To get back at the council for trying to delay his work, he gives the Thals a formula that could penetrate the dome protecting the Kaleds. However he also sends a few of his Daleks over to wipe out the Thals so to be fair, Davros really is cool with wiping out everyone.

The Doctor makes a few attempts to get Davros to stop what he’s doing but neither reasoning nor threatening to turn off his life support does that much good. The fact that Davros is a mutated person, with a third eye and a Dalek base is perfect for the man who created the killing race.

Another sensational moment in this entire serial is when The Doctor has the opportunity himself to kill the Daleks. He’s all primed and ready to do it but backs out when he thinks that killing them would make them as bad as they are. Here I actually sided with Sarah Jane. I don’t condone genocide but Sarah alluding to the Daleks as a deadly virus would’ve convinced me in wiping them out.

However The Doctor faltered and in the end he was unable what either Davros or the Daleks would do to him if they had half the chance. However raising this moral dilemma was a good aspect. This serial did feel like both options were being covered quite convincingly.

Besides Davros got to learn a very harsh lesson anyway. He might have been successful in killing a few oppressors and obtaining some information to advance his creations but none of that compared to the fact that as an inventor, he really should’ve came up with a Plan B.

If you’re going to create a genocidal race then the least you can do is ensure that this race is totally loyal to you. Davros made the mistake in giving them independent thought. By doing that, the Daleks had no qualms in killing the very scientists that could’ve helped as well as Nyder who the closest thing that Davros had to a friend.

As for Davros he also got his just desserts by being slaughtered by a few Daleks himself. However with a villain as effective as this, there’s no way that Davros could actually be dead. After all it doesn’t matter how many Daleks we’ve seen killed, we’re never really rid of them. Davros should be the same.

The Doctor might have failed in his mission but at least him, Sarah Jane and Harry get to leave the war torn Skaro behind them. Given that this is their fourth adventure as a team, it’s easily their best one yet.

Also in “Genesis Of The Daleks”

I have to admit that the darkness really set in early with the soldiers dying at the start of the serial.

General Ravon: “I enjoy interrogation.”
The Doctor: “Yes you look the type.”

This is David Tennant’s favourite serial from the old series. It’s also known now that he’ll be sharing scenes with Davros himself in the Season Four finale of the new series.

Nyder: “And Davros is never wrong about anything.”
The Doctor: “Then he must be exceptional: even I'm occasionally wrong about some things.”

Harry (re Kaleds): “That should keep them tied up for weeks.”
The Doctor: “Yes. I learned more from them than they did from me.”

This serial’s allusions to Nazism weren’t particularly subtle. Davros was a glorified Hitler in the making and The Doctor even alluded to Hitler when he couldn’t kill the Daleks.

Nyder: “What action shall I take against Ronson?”
Davros: “For the moment none. I shall deal with him in my own way.”

Nyder (re Thals): “You think they believed you?”
Davros: “It is unimportant. They are hungry for victory. No matter what they think my motives are, they will use this information and when they do. When they do.”

The Doctor at one point used a Dalek gun to destroy the recordings that Davros and Nyder took. Why didn’t he use the gun to open the door as well when him, Sarah Jane and Harry were locked in?

Harry: “You’re not scared are you?”
Sarah Jane: “Course not.”
Harry: “I am.”

The Doctor: “Davros if I tell you what you want to know I betray millions of people in the future. I can’t do that.”
Davros: “But you can. You will tell me. You will tell me.”

Some of Davros’ earlier experiments involved animals and even a clam like creature. The joke about Harry always putting his foot in it was a nice touch. Harry’s bumbling raises a smile.

The Doctor: “Davros, if you had created a virus in your laboratory. Something contagious and infectious that killed on contact. A virus that would destroy all other forms of life... would you allow its use?”
Davros: “It is an interesting conjecture.”
The Doctor: “Would you do it?”
Davros: “The only living thing... the microscopic organism... reigning supreme... A fascinating idea.”

The Doctor: “But would you do it?”
Davros: “Yes. Yes. To hold in my hand, a capsule that contained such power. To know that life and death on such a scale was my choice. To know that the tiny pressure on my thumb, enough to break the glass, would end everything. Yes. I would do it. That power would set me up above the gods. And through the Daleks I shall have that power!”

Michael Wisher who played Davros had an interesting technique involving a paper bag to help him get into the role as well as he did.

Nyder: “You know what you’re saying?”
Davros: “I know precisely what I’m saying. Now I will command and you will obey. You will obey.”

Davros (to Nyder, re Gharman’s group): “Achievement comes through absolute power and power through strength. They have lost.”

The Doctor mentioned the events of “The Dalek Invasion Of Earth” during his interrogation with Davros. Makes you wonder if Davros should get his own earth based story.

The Doctor: “I just touch these two strands together and the Daleks are finished. Have I that right?”
Sarah Jane: “To destroy the Daleks? You can’t doubt it.”

Nyder: “Davros has lost. I’m getting away as fast as I can.”
The Doctor: “Oh now that doesn’t ring true.”

This is one of the very few serials where we don’t actually see the TARDIS. We don’t even see The Doctor, Sarah Jane or Harry get into at the end.

Davros: “Those were scientists. They could’ve helped you. For God’s sake, have pity.”
Davros: “Daleks do not understand pity. Exterminate.”

Dalek: “We are entombed, but we live on. This is only the beginning… When the time is right we will emerge and take our rightful place as the supreme power of the Universe.”

This was released in June 2006 but also packaged with every other Davros story in November 2007 as a box set. There’s a brilliant commentary from Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Peter Miles and David Maloney but the behind the scenes extras are unmissable.

I think without a doubt this might be my favourite serial. “Genesis Of The Daleks” was brilliant in finally giving us an origin story on the dangerous pepper pots as aside from the Daleks, Cybermen and The Master, Davros is The Doctor’s biggest threat on the series so it’s no wonder that a new generation will get to meet him soon. This serial shows why he’s made such an impact.

Rating: 10 out of 10.

My Review of Doctor Who's: "Robot"

Written by Terrence Dicks
Directed by Christopher Barry

The Doctor: “A new body’s like a new house. As for the physiognomy… well, nothing’s perfect. Have to take the rough with the smooth. Mind you, I think the nose is a definite improvement!”

Is it me or is there an echo in the room? Back in “Spearhead From Space”, we had the Third Doctor waxing lyrical about his new visage and now his fourth incarnation is doing the same.

Don’t worry; this isn’t something I’m complaining about, I think it’s amusing and that one of the things this show gets right – the humour. The Tom Baker era definitely had its fair share of it and after Jon Pertwee, he’s my favourite Doctor and this is definitely a good debut episode for him.

Taking place where “Planet Of The Spiders” left off, we’ve got a new Doctor and already he’s feeling the effects of post-regeneration. At least he doesn’t have to worry about Auton workers snatching. Instead he gets to be taken care of by the lovely Harry Sullivan, another welcomed addition to the UNIT mix.

He’s the series first medical officer and by far one of the best male companions the series has had. He’s a bit sceptical about The Doctor at first and getting tied up in a cupboard probably isn’t the best way of convincing but mild cynicism aside, he comes into his own with this story.

In particular he makes for a good partner with Sarah Jane as the two adopt a spiky but overall friendly dynamic with each other. It helps that Ian Marter and Elisabeth Sladen also have the kind of chemistry that as a viewer you never really felt with either Jo or Mike and that’s not an attack on Katy Manning or Richard Franklin.

The main villains of the story are a group called Think Tank. Their villainy is established very early into the story when they snatch a disintegrator gun from the Ministry Of Defence and soon enough, Sarah Jane uses her journalist background to go and talk to Miss Winters.

Here’s another thing this show gets so right – female villains, who sometimes often come across better than some companions. Patricia Maynard is absolutely brilliant as the ruthless Think Tank leader and there’s an instant bout of hatred born between her and Sarah Jane that’s nicely drawn out throughout the four episodes of this story.

One of the earliest signs of hostility between the two of them is when Sarah Jane tries her hand at some more snooping around Think Tank behind Miss Winters’ back. Not that you’d blame Sarah for her efforts – I would’ve disappointed if she hadn’t but she did very nearly pay for her snooping when Miss Winters set that robot on her.

Which leads to another thing, this show has done plenty of robot stories past and present and the results are usually mixed. This for me is another success with a gigantic creature programmed to attack but oddly finding an instant affinity with Sarah Jane as well.

Miss Winters takes a lot of pleasure in using the robot to attack at different points. There’s a nice scene half way through the story where the robot and The Doctor kind of face each other off with such gusto. When you have a scarf longer than Rapunzel’s own hair, what better way to use it than as a means of tripping something over?

Still, what with the robot’s creator, Dr Kettlewell also disapproving of Winters and her trusted assistant Jellicoe maniacal schemes to take over the world with their creation, it’s the attendance of a meeting of the Scientific Reform Society that really raises the alarm bells for everyone.

First off all there’s the realisation that Kettlewell is actually involved with Winters’ mad plans and Harry’s undercover stint at Think Tank winds up with him being captured. Sarah Jane also fares badly at this rate too when Winters takes her as a hostage in order to keep The Doctor and UNIT in line.

If there’s a slightly disappointing aspect at all to this serial, then it’s probably that UNIT aren’t as effective in this serial as they have been. By the time we did go into the Tom Baker era of the series, UNIT were being lessened all the more and this is the only serial in the twelfth season where they did have some kind of a big role to play.

The last couple of minutes of this serial is appropriately tense, I will admit that. By making the robot creature more gigantic than it was, it did run the risk of pure silliness but surprisingly enough, it’s still effective and that’s taking away the fact that there’s a King Kong homage when it takes Sarah Jane with him.

In the end however the creature is defeated and Miss Winters’ plan to bring the world to its knees are stopped. The interesting part is seeing Sarah’s sadness of the robot’s demise and The Doctor admitting it possessed some very human quality, which I guess I would agree with.

Another highlight of course is Harry’s realisation that the TARDIS is an actual spaceship and not just a police box. The Doctor did seem to take some further delight in confounding the medic’s expectations but more importantly, it’s also the establishment with one of the best Doctor/Companion dynamics being set up.

However as well as Harry joining up with The Doctor, it’s the latter’s desire to actually take his TARDIS away from Earth that’s effective as well. As much as I love UNIT, I have to admit that The Doctor had been with them long enough and really did need to go and do his own thing without having to report to them all the time and it’s not like this was the last of them anyway.

Also in “Robot”

Part of this story was filmed with the last serial, “Planet Of The Spiders” so cast members were working with both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker at different moments.

The Doctor: “I tell you, Brigadier, there’s nothing to worry about. The brontosaurus is large and placid …”
Harry: “Is this the patient, sir?”
The Doctor: “…and stupid! If the square of a hypotenuse equals the sum of the square on the other two sides, why is a mouse when it spins. Never did know the answer to that one.”

We got some references to serials such as “The Time Warrior” and “Invasion Of The Dinosaurs”. Maybe they should’ve referenced a First/Second serial as well.

The Doctor: “You don’t want to stand here burbling about my ears – that’s neither ‘ere nor there!”
The Brigadier: “You may not have noticed, but I'm a bit old-fashioned myself.”
Sarah: “Oh, nonsense, Brigadier! You're a swinger!”

There’s a nice little moment between Sarah Jane and Benton. I actually wished that Benton had gotten more to do because he was arguably underused in the series.

Brigadier: “Did you believe them?”
The Doctor: “No, of course not. And they know I didn’t. But I know that they know I didn’t. And they know that I know that …”
Brigadier: “Yes, yes, all right, Doctor!”

The Doctor (taking a phone call ): “Yes? Of course I’ll talk to him – I’ll talk to anyone!”

I like what they did with the new credits because as well as adding Tom Baker’s face, we also got the TARDIS exterior as well.

Sarah (reading The Doctor’s note): "Sarah – Professor Kettlewell tells me that he has the robot hidden at his house. Gone to meet him. P.S. It is of course possible that this message is a trap. If it is I can deal with it. P.P.S. I’m leaving this note in case I can’t.”

The Doctor: “Aren’t you forgetting that in science as in morality, the ends never justify the means?”

There are some neat references to both the Titanic and James Bond in the series. Then again the former does mentioned quite a bit.

The Brigadier: “You know, just once I’d like to meet an alien menace that isn’t immune to bullets.”

The Doctor (re TARDIS): “Is it? You wouldn't like to step inside a moment, just to demonstrate it's all an illusion.”
Harry: “Well, if you think it'll do any good.”
The Doctor: “Oh yes, it'll make me feel a lot better.”
Sarah Jane: “Doctor ...”

Benton got promoted to Warrant Officer but this wasn’t reflected in the closing credits, which still had him down as Sergeant and we got the Brigadier’s full name here as well – Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.

Sarah Jane (re Robot): “It was insane and it did terrible things. But at first it was so human.”
The Doctor: “It was a wonderful creature, capable of great good… and great evil. Yes, I think you could say it was human.”

Sarah Jane: “You can't just go.”
The Doctor: “Why not, it's a free cosmos!”
Sarah Jane: “The Brigadier …”
The Doctor: “The Brigadier wants me to address the Cabinet, have lunch at Downing Street, dinner at the palace, and write 17 reports in triplicate. Well, I won't do it. I won't, I won't, I won't!”

This was released on DVD in May 2007 with a commentary from Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen and Terrence Dicks. The “Are Friends Electric?” compliments the serial very well.

While the Tom Baker era is littered with so many brilliant moments, I raise my hat in praising “Robot” so much. It’s just plain fun, light hearted with an ethical debate but overall just a good glimmer of exciting things to come really.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

My Review of Doctor Who's: "The Time Warrior"

Written by Robert Holmes
Directed by Alan Bromley

Sarah Jane: “What’s happening?”
The Doctor: “You’re asking questions again.”

After three years with Katy Manning’s Jo Grant, the start of the eleventh season for Doctor Who would not only herald the last season for Jon Pertwee’s dapper Third Doctor but it also introduced two things that the show needed – a new companion and a new set of recurring villains that would both go on to be enduring aspects of the series history.

New companion wise we got a feisty journalist by the name of Sarah Jane Smith. Combining the best elements of the Third Doctor’s previous two assistants, Sarah was a woman with both heart and a steely determination to uncover the truth. In fact her meeting with The Doctor while posing as her aunt has more to do with scientists going missing from a security institute than it does with our Time Lord.

Fresh from battling the BOSS computer, The Doctor is sent by The Brigadier (who has nothing else to do) to see why so many of the scientists are going missing and it doesn’t take him long to realise who Sarah Jane really is. Then again if you’re going to pose as your aunt, be prepared for at least someone to smart enough to see through it.

Sarah Jane and The Doctor do have an interesting banter session. He patronises her by telling her to make coffee while she annoys him by questioning him. It also doesn’t help when Professor Rubeish goes missing that Sarah Jane ends up sneaking into the TARDIS as The Doctor looks for the missing scientist.

This leads to the second big event of the episode – the Sontarans. Okay so an alien with a spud for a head shouldn’t be the most riveting of villains but they’re not entirely a chore to watch either. Sontaran Linx winds up in the Middle Ages with a crashed spaceship.

Needless to say he wants out of here but he’s at the mercy of the scientists he abducts to repair his ship and the mercy of the thuggish Irongron and his aide Bloodaxe. Irongron basically wants to be king and although Linx would rather waste him, he agrees to help the idiot in exchange for his help.

Linx’s methods of helping require giving him advanced guns and an all killing robot that Irongron has fun testing on Hal the Archer. However throughout the whole serial, the alliance between both Linx and Irongron is a sour event. Irongron spends far too much time belittling the Sontaran while Linx’s obsession with Irongron’s quest for war matches his own.

The one thing that seems to be very noteworthy about the Sontaran race is that they seem to enjoy battle quite a lot. Even when The Doctor attempts to reason with Linx, the Sontaran has little interest in having his mind changed. Linx might think Irongron is an idiot but it still doesn’t stop from giving Irongron as much weaponry as possible.

If Linx and Irongron’s dynamic are turbulent, then it’s interesting to see that The Doctor and Sarah Jane also don’t see eye to eye either to begin. At first Sarah Jane is convinced that The Doctor is in cahoots with Irongron and stages a capture with Hal. However when she does find out that he’s one of the good guys, her next obstacle is grappling with the fact he’s a Time Lord.

It’s great that Elisabeth Sladen and Jon Pertwee have brilliant chemistry from the word go. I like that Sarah Jane is able to challenge The Doctor and I also appreciate that she constantly questions. For instance it takes her a while to actually believe she’s in the Middle Ages and I enjoyed her standing up Irongron more than I thought I would.

She was also determined in helping capture The Doctor and she wins points for not screaming when she first Sontaran Linx. She might not be the first strong willed companion we’ve had but like Barbara and Liz before her she’s definitely one of the strongest and most engaging.

As stories went, the Sontarans are actually a decent enough race and clearly made enough of an impact to be brought back to terrorise the Second, Fourth, Sixth and Tenth Doctors but the medieval setting really does little to make this story really stick for me. To be honest I think it would’ve been a lot wiser had we seen been taken to an alien world for this particular meeting.

Kevin Lindsay is wonderful as Sontaran Linx as is June Brown as Queen Eleanor but all the other supporting players just don’t engage you quite as much and the actor playing Irongron was quite dreadful. There are some OTT performances that you just really don’t need to see and his was one of them. Then again the one thing that does succeed is the Third Doctor/Sarah Jane team up and that is what really does matter.

Also in “The Time Warrior”

Originally this episode had been considered being called “The Time Fugitive” or “The Time Survivor”. Neither would’ve sounded that great.

Irongron: “More weapons? Like that that smote the sword from my hand?”
Linx: “Other weapons fitter for your purpose. Weapons that can strike a man dead from far away. You can a supreme warrior.”
Irongron: “I can be king! But what do you ask in return apart from your life?”
Linx: “Shelter.”

This was released on DVD in September 2007 with an interesting commentary from Elisabeth Sladen, Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks. It’s also being re-released in May 2008 as part of a Sontaran themed box set.

The Doctor: “I read your paper on the teleological response of the virus. A most impressive piece of work.”
Sarah Jane: “Thank you.”
The Doctor: “Particularly when I realise that you must’ve written it when you were five years old.”
Sarah Jane: “Ah er yes, that is rather difficult to explain isn’t it?”
The Doctor: “But you’re going to try, aren’t you?”

Sarah Jane: “Look please. Now you’ve had your laugh now, you know, just stop it and let’s talk sensibly. I mean if it’s any consolation to you, you’re scaring me out of my wits.”
Bloodaxe: “P’raps the wench is crazed, Captain.”
Sarah Jane: “Come on, what is this place?”

This was the first serial in the show’s history to mention Gallifrey, The Doctor’s home planet. I wonder why it took this show so long to do that.

Irongron: “Linx.”
Linx: “Silence! This is important! My mission is threatened. Explain ‘The Doctor’.”
Sarah Jane: “He is a scientist. He was at the research centre. He said he was very fond of Delta particles.”

The Doctor: “You’ve been getting around, Sarah. Are you on visiting terms with all the local nobility?”
Sarah Jane: “Doctor, let’s get a few things straight shall we?”
The Doctor: “Oh dear. Well I’m afraid you’re going to be awfully confused if you ask me to explain about the TARDIS.”
Sarah Jane: “The TARDIS?”

I love the design of Linx’s spaceship. It looked very compact and the mention for killing a Sontaran is neat.

Sarah Jane: “You talk as if you weren’t human.”
The Doctor: “Yes, well the definition of “humanity” was always a rather complex question, wasn’t it?”
Sarah Jane: “You know perfectly well what I mean; are you or aren’t you?”
The Doctor: “If you mean am I a native of terra, the answer is no, I’m not.”

The Doctor: “Well don’t you want to know why I returned?”
Linx: “It is of no interest to me.”
The Doctor: “I came to offer you my help.”
Linx: “We’re sworn enemies, Doctor. Why should you help me?”

There is no chronology between this serial and “The Green Death” so I’m not sure how much time has passed since Jo Grant left with Cliff Jones.

Although seen as a fan favourite to many, I have to admit that with even with repeat viewing and listening to the commentary that “The Time Warrior” isn’t one of my favourites from the Third Doctor era. It’s alright but it could’ve been a lot better in my opinion.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

My Review of Doctor Who's: "The Green Death"

Written by Robert Sloman
Directed by Michael Briant

Jo: “You don't mind, do you?”
The Doctor (re Clifford): “Mind? He might even be able to turn you into a scientist.”

Much as I’m a sci-fi fan, I’m not generally taken with the idea of threats being of the bug or maggot variety so I have to admit that I had some reservations about the season finale to the series’ tenth season. After all, we got an opener that featured all three Doctors, so I think on my part; I was looking for something just as ‘big’.

To be fair, this serial is rather big. It’s another six parter like the previous season’s finale and it also marks the beginning of the end for the UNIT era, something which is definitely made abundantly clear in the next three seasons.

Speaking of three seasons, that’s just as long as we’ve had Jo Grant and this is her final appearance on the show. Unlike other companions, both past and future, Jo was one who never resurfaced after this story, thereby giving it more impact than you’d expect to have.

The opening part of the episode shows a nice evolution of her and the Doctor’s relationship. At first he was unsure of her presence and now over time, he’s become quite fond of her. I have to admit that Jo is one of my favourite companions as well and this serial does her justice.

There’s the plot of a corrupt business Global Chemicals, which is involved in a series of deaths at a disused mine in South Wales and when the likes of Clifford Jones isn’t protesting about it, UNIT are also very interested in discovering what exactly the company has to hide.

It’s not exactly easy for UNIT to get any straight answers given that the seriously creepy Stevens makes it his mission to derail things as possible. Even The Doctor doesn’t fair that well either, what with his ethics immediately making him a source of much irritation for Stevens.

The first half of this story does have a fair bit of meandering but nothing that really causes consternation for viewers. We get to see miners seriously affected by the diseased mine and the maggots themselves are actually more effective than expected.

The Doctor’s influence is obviously something that plays strongly on Jo as she decides to go down the mine herself to investigate. In her defence, the Brigadier was being a tad unhelpful but only because he wanted to use his own means for getting answers from Global Chemicals.

Needless to say that Jo’s snooping does result in her and Bert being placed in direct danger. Still it’s a good thing that The Doctor was also investigating the mine at the same time as well or else Jo would be as diseased as poor Bert ended up becoming.

Of course there are other significant thorns than Steven. He’s basically just a minion and while he does take pleasure in either hypnotising or killing various co-workers who get in his way, it’s only too obvious that he’s being controlled himself what with the constant spaced out look he has as well.

The thing in question pulling all the strings is a computer called BOSS or Biomorphic Organisational Systems Supervisor. Now I don’t have a problem with homicidal computers, provided my own laptop doesn’t get any ideas of it own so for me, the BOSS is an excellent villain.

It’s what got Stevens to endanger so many lives and it only seems right that The Doctor himself would fall victim to it during this story as well. Of course, The Doctor is clever in outwitting BOSS and there’s a wonderful scene where the Time Lord castigates the evil machine on it’s abuse of humans and so forth.

The other strand of this episode is Mike Yates. I know he isn’t as well loved by some viewers as the Brigadier or Benton but I’ve always had a soft spot for the character and even though he only appears in the second half of the story, he’s actually better served than either of his UNIT comrades.

First off he’s there undercover to get as much information about Global Chemicals to UNIT as he possibly can but secondly, it’s the events of this serial that spell a potentially darker side for the character that was touched upon in the next season.

While he’s able to have jokes at The Doctor’s expense, he’s actually taken over by the BOSS computer and tries to shoot The Doctor at one point. When he snaps out of it and goes back to Global Chemicals, he winds up getting chained up by Stevens’ men for his trouble.

The other part of the story aside from The Doctor eventually taking down both BOSS and Global Chemicals is the romance between Jo and Clifford Jones. Because unlike the Doctor/Rose relationship of the 21st Century, The Doctor and Jo were always strictly platonic, even though later serials showed that he really cared for her.

Hooking up with Clifford says a lot about Jo too when you think about. The parallels between both Clifford and The Doctor aren’t exactly subtle and do seem to be mentioned more than once too just to emphasis it. I guess in a way, Jo ending up with Clifford is almost like a weird precursor for Rose winding up with a human version of The Doctor thirty five years later.

Still at least there’s some good chemistry from Jo and it’s nice to see her exit eliciting strong emotions from The Doctor. When he sneaks away from her engagement party, it’s very telling moment for him and from the way that Jo visibly reacts to it as well but after three years on the series, this did serve as a good ending for actress Katy Manning.

Also in “The Green Death”

One of the subplots for this episode was The Doctor getting a blue crystal from Metebelis 3. He gave it to Jo as a wedding gift.

The Doctor: “Protein's the thing for breakfast, Jo.”
Jo: “Eggs and Bacon - yeurgh!”
The Doctor: “Yeah, that's where we're going to next.”
Jo: “Where are we going?”
The Doctor: “Metebelis Three. The TARDIS can't miss this time. I've actually wired the coordinates into the programmer.”

That scene did have me in hysterics. I also loved that the Brig got into eating Clifford’s fungus food, even if it did serve as something to kill the maggots.

The Brigadier (to The Doctor): “It's exactly your cup of tea: the fellow's bright green and dead.”

The Doctor: “I've been wanting to meet you for a long time. Your paper on DNA synthesis was quite remarkable for your age.”
Clifford Jones: “A promising youngster, huh?”
The Doctor: “No, no, no, I mean for the age that you live in. Now, you were about to make a suggestion, I believe, Professor?”
Clifford Jones: “Why don't we just go back to Global Chemicals and take the equipment, by force if necessary?”

The actor playing Clifford – Stewart Bevan was Katy Manning’s actual boyfriend at the time. This show does have a history of one set romances as do many others.

The Brigadier: “Are you threatening me, Mr. Stevens?”
Stevens: “Yes, I think perhaps I am. Or perhaps I'm just counselling a little prudence.”
The Brigadier: “If necessary, I can bring influence to bear at Cabinet level.”
Stevens: “Oh, you have friends in high places, have you? Well so have I!”

The Doctor: “You say one word!”
Mike Yates: “I like your handbag.”
The Doctor: “Do you? Well watch out, I don't slosh you with it!”

There’s something rather inconsistent with the end credits in some of the episodes of this story for some reason.

Stevens: “What's best for Global Chemicals is best for the world, is best for you!”
The Doctor: “Such as a little touch of brainwashing?”
Stevens: “Freedom from fear, freedom from pain…”
The Doctor: “Freedom from freedom!”

Jo: “Don't go too far away, will you? And if you do, come back and see us sometime.”
The Doctor: “Yes.”

This was released on DVD in 2004 with a commentary from Katy Manning, Barry Letts and Terrence Dicks. There’s also a wonderful featurette with Mark Gatiss worth checking out as well.

For a story about bugs, “The Green Death” was definitely devoid of irritation. I don’t know if it would’ve been the kind of story I would’ve ended the tenth season with but in retrospect it does have all the right ingredients and gets more enjoyable on repeated viewing.
Rating: 9 out of 10.

My Review of Doctor Who's: "The Three Doctors"

Written by Bob Baker And Dave Martin
Directed by Lennie Mayne

The Brigadier (regarding the First Doctor): “That old chap…”
Jo: “Afraid so.”
The Brigadier: “Three of them. I didn't know when I was well off.”

When it comes to Sci-fi and fantasy programmes, while their impact on TV can be timeless even years after their end, rarely do many of them actually make it to a decade in terms of produced episodes. This series is a notable exception.

There are plenty of ways the writers could’ve celebrated the series hitting such an important year but one of the ideas was to do a story where Jon Pertwee, Patrick Troughton and William Hartnell would all team up together as their respective versions of The Doctor to take on a treacherous Time Lord.

Sadly that isn’t The Master but the idea of multiple Doctors first came from this and would be a trend that would appear in further serials such as “The Five Doctors”, “The Two Doctors”, “Dimensions In Time” and recently, “Time Crash”. Honestly this could be the cream of the crop really.

The story starts off well enough with a superluminal signal sent to Earth and a massive blob with one mission – capture The Doctor. Okay so that’s hardly the most original mission but the blob’s determination is what makes the story as good as it gets in my opinion.

When it’s not catching passers by, equipment inside UNIT HQ, it does nearly manage to snare The Doctor and Jo outside UNIT. They manage to get away but old Bessie isn’t quite as lucky as the blob literally gobbles the prized vehicle up in no time.

One of the strongest points about this serial is that we get four episodes and throughout the episodes, there’s very little hanging up. Half-way through the first episode alone we’re reunited with both the Second and First Doctors and suffice to say our Third Doctor isn’t particularly pleased in seeing his former selves.

Jo is also a little taken aback by seeing the men who used to be The Doctor but luckily the script doesn’t take ages in her getting the general gist. Within seconds she seems used to her own Doctor and the Second Doctor, who is physically there to help them out with the blob. The First Doctor meanwhile is caught in a time eddy so he’s not as a big player as you might have hoped.

Still it’s not a huge loss as there’s an excellent rapport between Jon Pertwee and Patrick Troughton who throughout the serial bicker like school kids but never in a way that undermines the actual storyline. These are two of my favourite Doctors so having them together onscreen works a treat.

When the blob does eventually catch up with the lot of them, they all manage to get teleported to another world. Jo could’ve been safe back at UNIT for a while had she not actually wanted to be by her Doctor’s side. Not that you can blame her as the real menace made sure that even UNIT wouldn’t be safe for long.

As other worlds go, this falls into the series stable for using a quarry during a sunny day but it’s nice enough and it’s great that we’ve finally gotten a non-Earth bound story in perhaps the longest time on the series. This was something we should’ve seen a bit more often in the Third Doctor’s era.

On the baddie front, we have a weird set of creatures known as Gel Giants. They basically looked like Christmas baubles but they had a neat time in attacking UNIT soldiers back on Earth and capturing everyone else who landed in this mystery world. They were however not the main baddies of the serial, which is a relief.

That honour went to Omega. Proving that The Master wasn’t the only insane Time Lord out there, Omega is one of those characters with great potential and is fantastically served in this episode, even the actor voicing him did have a tendency to a bit too OTT at times.

Omega was the lucky bugger who managed to discover the concept of time travel, giving the Time Lords their moniker in a way. Of course because the Time Lords aren’t the most loyal of people, he was also abandoned and left to his own defences in an anti-matter universe.

This universe, like Omega’s sanity is also unstable and with his will being the only that’s keeping it together, the sociopath wants to use both Doctors so that he can escape. Of course they aren’t exactly eager to help Omega out and there is a series of mind games played out by both Omega and the Second and Third Doctors for the remainder of the serial.

Of course while Omega might be a seething volcano of malice and fury, his defeat comes at the hands of the Second Doctor’s recorder coming into contact with the anti-matter universe. As deaths go, this is probably one of the best ones that could’ve been given to Omega.

Although we have to wait another ten years to actually see him again, it’s almost a shame that the writers had never considered recurring the character. Not in the same way they did with The Master but it would’ve been nice if Omega and The Doctor had had a few more meetings. I liked his character a lot and although a part of me was disappointed that we didn’t get Daleks/Cybermen/The Master, I’ll freely admit that Omega made for a good big bad.

As for the companions, this is probably one of my favourites for Jo, whose loyalty to The Doctor really does come into play. She’s also assertive a few times in the serial as well and I’m delighted that Benton got to play a slightly bigger role in the serial. His reaction to the inside of the TARDIS was brilliant. The only fault was The Brigadier who came across as a buffoon in this serial and Mike Yates, who was a no show.

Also in “The Three Doctors”

The original title for this episode was going to be “Deathworld”. Although obvious, I think “The Three Doctors” was a better choice.

Second Doctor: “My dear fellow, you are being a bit dim, aren't you? Your effectiveness is now doubled.”
Third Doctor: “Halved, more like.”

Originally this serial was going to have Jamie and Zoë but Jon Pertwee objected to them. Maybe he had a point, much as I love Jamie and Zoë.

First Doctor: “Have you done anything?”
Second Doctor: “Well, we've... err... assessed the situation.”
First Doctor: “Just as I thought. Nothing.”

Third Doctor: “Well, Sergeant? Aren't you going to say that it's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside? Everybody else does.”
Benton: “It's pretty obvious, isn't it?”

This is also the only time that Benton actually to go in the TARDIS and on a trip. Does that mean that Mike Yates is the only companion not to have done?

First Doctor: “Oh. So you're my replacements... A dandy and a clown.”

Third Doctor: “I am he and he is me.”
Jo: “And we are all together. Goo-goo-goo-joob?”
Second/Third Doctors: “Huh?”
Jo: “It's a song by the Beatles.”
Second Doctor: “Oh, how does it go?”

William Hartnell was actually ill when this was being made so that’s why his role is limited compared to Patrick Troughton.

Brigadier: “Well, in that case, Doctor, I suggest you contact those all-powerful superiors of yours!”
Second Doctor: “Oh, I don't think that would do any good. You see, at the moment, they're far from all-powerful. That's why it's been left up to me and me and me.”

Third Doctor: “How did you manage to survive?”
Omega: “How does anyone survive? Force of will. Mind, you might say, over anti-matter.”

In the fashion sense of this episode why did Jo have to wear that hideous fur blue top that looked twice Katy Manning’s size as well might I add.

The Brigadier: “Now see here, Doctor, you have finally gone too far.”
Second Doctor: “I rather think we all have. What's it like out there?”
The Brigadier: “There's… well, there's sand everywhere!”
Second Doctor: “Oh, splendid! Who's for a swim?”

Third Doctor: “All my life I've known of you and honoured you as our greatest hero.”
Omega: “A hero? I should have been a god!”

This serial was released on DVD in 2003 and there’s a brilliant commentary on it by Nicholas Courtney, Katy Manning and Barry Letts as well as interviews with the actors and Jon Pertwee and Patrick Troughton.

The Brigadier (on the Doctor): “Wonderful chap. Both of him.”

I have to give some serious praise for the use of score music during the end scene of the third part of this serial.

The idea of multiple Doctors is something that works brilliantly on screen as it might do on paper. “The Three Doctors” is one of the best ways they could’ve celebrated the series tenth anniversary and it’s easily one of Pertwee’s best serials to boot as well.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

My Review of Doctor Who's: "The Claws Of Axos"

Written by Bob Baker And Dave Martin
Directed by Michael Ferguson

Axons: “We must have the secret of time travel.”
The Doctor: “Must you. Why?”

This is probably one of the trippiest stories of Doctor Who I’ve ever watched and I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way. It’s just I did find it a little confusing to begin with and thankfully some repeated viewing has made me see things a little more clearly.

The story opens up with yet another spacecraft coming to Earth but while UNIT and The Doctor are curious to find out about its purposes, the annoying Mr Chinn seems happier to blow it to pieces. It’s moments like this that nicely explain why The Doctor exhibits a reasonable level of distrust around governmental types.

Chinn is a character that is annoying throughout the entire story but manages to both survive and not redeem himself. When he’s not bellowing orders or stealing rank from The Brigadier, he’s the source of blame and ridicule from his Ministry and even allows his very human greed get in the way of things.

It’s his flippancy at the start of proceedings that has Bill Filer banished and then captured by the Axons and their psychedelic looking ship. Seriously, 1970’s designs alone, that bloody ship is one of the best looking vessels this show has shown, more so on the inside than the outer exterior.

Filer’s an immediately likeable character who’s primarily goal involves arresting The Master. Given that Roger Delgado was practically a regular in the eighth season of the show, it makes sense to have him factor in this episode. The Master might not entirely dominate proceedings here like he did in both “Terror Of The Autons” and “The Mind Of Evil” but he’s certainly put to good use.

It’s him that forged a deal with the Axons to invade Earth and unleash their Axonite in a bid for his own freedom. Filer isn’t particularly impressed with having to work with The Master in order to bid for his freedom and it also doesn’t help matters that a duplicate of him is sent to capture The Doctor before he actually escapes himself.

The Doctor on the other hand is also not in the best of positions. Being bound to UNIT is one thing, at least he actually like the Brigadier, Sergeant Benton, Captain Mike Yates and Jo Grant but having to deal with Chinn and his horde of idiotic advisors is something of tedium for him.

Then there’s the meeting of the Axons themselves. The Doctor might have not wanted them dead but he’s naturally suspicious of their motives to give Chinn free rein to distribute the use of Axonite on a worldwide basis and when Jo discloses her own encounters with a hideous creature in the ship, he’s got more reason to doubt their intent.

The old fable about something being too good to be true is nicely put in place with this story. Chinn’s greed for acclaim of the Axonite is a good example of The Doctor’s fears of such a thing falling into the wrong hands being justified. Even The Master was able to point out how stupid humans are capable of being.

The Axonite itself is interesting. It recreates, absorbs and seemingly grows anything but is also sucks many things dry including a modest array of bodies throughout this entire episode. When The Master is forced into admitting that The Doctor is also a Time Lord, the Axons soon realise they could dominate many other places and times aside from the Earth.

Because of this, there’s a good few attacks on the Nuton Power Complex also throughout the story. The Doctor’s experiments with the Axonite under the Light Accelerator causes many of the creatures to come and attack. Surprisingly enough, all Filer gets is briefly comatose but The Doctor and Jo face much worse.

While torture scenes in the series and the new series are never going to be on the level of gory, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t effective. The Doctor certainly got tortured effectively enough in order to be forced to aid the Axons determination to venture into time and space. Then again, the threat of ageing Jo until she was at the stage of decay could’ve been a good incentive for The Doctor to unwilling help them.

Of course when things really got bad and the power plant was on the verge of collapse, it was The Master of all people who had to help the Brigadier and company out of it (thankfully after Chinn’s reign of terror came to a blessed end). The Master throughout parts of this story was fantastic with his escape from the Axos ship and his acquisition of the TARDIS.

However the interesting part was The Doctor seemingly abandoning UNIT at the worst possible moment. He lulled The Master into a false sense of security in a bid to stop the Axos. It seems that even the Axos’ greed and lust for time travel was capable of making them stupid.

The Doctor seemingly couldn’t physically defeat them so having them stuck in a time loop was the only thing that he could do. As for The Master, while he was disappointed that he couldn’t get The Doctor, he did manage to escape from both Filer’s clutches and the fate of a time loop.

I absolutely adore the Doctor/Master dynamic and this serial is a reason why. Even with the opportunity of killing him, The Master seemed more into the idea of The Doctor leaving Earth with him. The Master even expressed the right amount of surprise when it did appear The Doctor was coming with him and seemed disappointed when his former friend chose to save the Earth instead.

While both Mike Yates and Sergeant Benton aren’t well served by this story – they barely get any proper dialogue; I liked how the ending capped on The Doctor’s attachment to both Jo and UNIT, even if he couldn’t actually bring himself to admit it. There’s a reason why this was one of the best eras from the series.

Also in “The Claws Of Axos”

Some of the original titles for this were interesting. “The Vampire From Space” would’ve been fitting and I’m actually glad this wasn’t a seven parter as originally planned.

The Doctor: “My dear Mr. Chinn, if I could leave I would. If only to get away from people like you-”
The Brigadier: “Doctor-”
The Doctor: “And your petty obsessions!”

At one point in this episode, The Doctor actually slapped Jo. Although I do like the character, she was quite annoying during that scene.

Chinn: “Perfect sitting target.”
The Doctor: “Hardly seems sporting, does it?”

The Master: “That won’t help you, Filer.”
Bill: “Go to hell.”

I can’t believe that Benton didn’t cop on at one point that he was being duped by The Master. I know there was that mask but, come on.

Winser: “It depends on who leads the investigation.”
The Doctor: “Why you do of course.”

Axons: “We have done well, Time Lord.”
The Master: “Of course. Humans are fools.”

There was a good mention to this race from both The Doctor and The Master at different points in “Last Of The Time Lords”, which I re-watched recently. I’m surprised the Axons never came back after this story.

The Master (re The Doctor/TARDIS): “Oh no. What was he thinking? What a botch up.”

Axons: “Data confirms space/time travel possible using additional power from complex. You see, Doctor, we can call upon the additional power of the complex whenever we need it.”
The Doctor: “How? You can't just walk in there and take it!”
Axons: “On the contrary, Doctor. We can.”

Why do the Axons need the Doctor to divulge the secret of time travel? Surely the Master is just as smart and working for them to boot? I’m betting that no-one would’ve felt sorry if The Master had been tortured for this piece of information.

The Doctor: “We can either escape together or we die together.”
The Master: “Oh, very generous. Why don’t you just escape yourself?”

The Master: “Very neat, Doctor. I must say, I never thought you’d go through with it.”
The Doctor: “If we’re going, let’s go.”

This serial was released on DVD in 2005 with a good commentary from Katy Manning, Richard Franklin and Barry Letts. The Behind The Scenes footage with the former is a good feature.

Like I said, this was certainly a very trippy serial but I really did enjoy “The Claws Of Axos”, mainly because it had four of my favourites used very well and the Axos themselves are in a series of underrated but excellent aliens this series has given us.

Rating: 9 out of 10.