The Pirate Planet Part Four

The one where the real Queen Xanxia reveals herself...

It wasn't the Doctor who fell 1,000ft to his doom last week, it was actually an image of the Doctor projected using a gadget he found in Xanxia's throne room. But if the Doctor we saw giving himself up on the Bridge last week was a projection, how did he manage to hand the dead Polyphase Avatron to the Captain? How could a non-corporeal projection carry a solid metal object? I won't dwell on that too much, I'll let you readers do that...

The discovery of the image projector lets Queen Xanxia's cat out of the bag when the Doctor reveals that the Captain's severe young Nurse is actually the newly regenerated form of the tyrannical ruler of Zanak. The decaying shell in the throne room is merely a husk, and the real Xanxia has been busy projecting a new image of herself - a younger, foxier, sexier image - using the power generated by Zanak's planet-crunching shenanigans. The imagination in this story is astounding.

The Pirate Planet Part Three

The one where K-9 fights a robot parrot, and wins...

"But I don't understand," whimpers Kimus. "Exciting, isn't it?" grins the Doctor, which kind of sums Doctor Who up. I'm really enjoying Douglas Adams' script, which is full of fun and big ideas, just like his magnum opus The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I haven't always appreciated the way the slightly smug team of Tom Baker and Lalla Ward brought Adams' work to the screen in Season 17, but I can't fault the actual writing and creativity at source.

The Doctor tells the somewhat confused Mentiads that every time Zanak consumes another planet, it releases vast waves of energy, including psychic energy, which affects telepaths such as them, and awakens latent telepathic abilities in people like Pralix. The Mentiads are actually the key to defeating the Captain, and they decide to march their way back to the Bridge to have a go at him. This march lasts the entirety of part 3, with the Mentiads, Mula and Romana (in heels) trudging across muddy fields and climbing over rocks. Poor Mary Tamm gets nothing to do. Why she's not by the Doctor's side instead of Kimus I don't know. Adams has got too many characters and not enough for them to do. I mean, when it comes down to it, Mula and Kimus are not needed at all.

The Pirate Planet Part Two

The one where the full horror of Calufrax's fate becomes apparent...

If only Bruce Purchase could retain his performance at the level he gives it at the top of this episode. In the scene where his lackeys are lined up on the Bridge, the Captain prowls around them menacingly, uttering veiled threats into their ears, and he has a suitably intimidating presence because his subtler performance nicely counters his dominant physicality. But then he goes and ruins everything by exploding into a torrent of bluster and shouting, like Brian Blessed on amphetamines. Ah well, it was good while it lasted. Plus, the Polyphase Avatron - the Captain's rubbish robot parrot - kills ubiquitous supporting artist Cy Town, who I must say is looking very handsome this week.

Introduced in this episode is the Captain's mysterious Nurse. She looks quite willowy and weak, but there are intriguing hints that there's more to her than meets the eye. See how much notice Mr Fibuli seems to take of her as well as the Captain, and during the Captain's interrogation of Romana, it's quite clear that the austere Nurse has some form of advisory influence over him. There's steel beneath that feeble exterior. She's one to watch.

The Pirate Planet Part One

The one where the TARDIS lands on a planet that isn't there...

There's some great model work opening this episode, of a township that looks very like Logopolis, and a citadel or castle reminiscent of Peladon. It's a shame the models have been shot on video rather than film, giving them a 'This is a Model' look, but there's no denying the detail and the care that's gone into them. That's true of a lot of the model work from this era actually. It's probably more reliable than most other aspects of production!

The lift afforded by the brief glimpse of models is reversed as soon as we meet the Captain, played with head-splitting bluster by Bruce Purchase. From the very outset, I immediately dislike this character and the way it's being played. I also acknowledge that this is a kids' show - during the Graham Williams era more than most - and children would probably love having a lumbering semi-robotic pirate captain who shouts and roars his way through dialogue like a pantomime villain. But it just isn't for me, I prefer my villains to have more than one dimension, not to be just a shouty monster. As soon as the Captain used the word "nincompoop", I was gone.

The Ribos Operation Part Four

The one where the Doctor blows the bad guy to smithereens...

The dog whistle that the Doctor has perfected for K-9 Mark II also seems effective in summoning Shrievenzales, but not - oddly - K-9 himself. The whistle is used twice in this episode to attract the unconvincing lizard creatures, and on both occasions K-9 stays put and does not heed the call. Maybe the Doctor can whistle different notes? Or maybe it's just a neat little convenience? Either way, it means we see slightly more of those ridiculous monsters with their floppy claws and lumbering gait, and which look like nothing more than men in rubber suits rolling around on the floor.

Thankfully, there's more scenes between Binro and Unstoffe to cheer me up. Those two together are lovely. Timothy Bateson is obviously a seasoned professional who, despite affecting a country bumpkin accent, manages not to send up the part one iota. Nigel Plaskitt was much less experienced as an actor, and actually ended up specialising as a puppeteer, but is so gentle, warm and convincing here that you'd think he'd been going for years. He is so good with Bateson. The scene where Binro says that just knowing he was right about the stars and the planets is heart-breaking. "It's worth a life."

The Ribos Operation Part Three

The one where Binro was right...

It all goes a bit panto at the start of this episode, principally due to Tom Baker sending the whole thing up while those around him keep it straight. He ruins it really, with his childish mugging and attempts to improvise which fall flat. It's a shame Baker felt the need to do things like this, because it invariably doesn't work, especially as the rest of the cast aren't joining in with his game.

It's a rocky start to what becomes a cracking episode though, and that includes a great improvement in the way Tom plays it. After the initial tomfoolery, he settles back down into a semblance of the Fourth Doctor recognisable from earlier seasons, who uses levity to gain the trust of others, but has steel when he means business. The scenes with Iain Cuthbertson's Garron, in which he pumps the scoundrel for information about both his own background and the Graff's, are nicely played, and Tom employs the tempered grit we know of old to keep both a bewildered Romana and a loquacious Garron in check until he learns what he needs to.

The Ribos Operation Part Two

The one where the Graff agrees to buy Ribos...

This episode is very much Iain Cuthbertson's, and he's so good in it, thriving on Robert Holmes's juicy dialogue and revelling in the limelight by turning in a memorably vivid performance. Holmes loved his chancers, charmers and wheeler-dealers (see also: Milo Clancy, Sabalom Glitz, Stotz, Henry Gordon Jago), and Garron is indeed a garrulous rogue who runs rings round his unsuspecting adversaries. His plan - the Ribos Operation of the title - is a risky but ingenious ruse to cheat the Graff Vynda-K out of millions of gold opeks, and then do a runner. It just so happens the Doctor and Romana are circling this grand scheme, almost incidentally.

Our heroes take a back seat to Holmes's fascination with his own creations, Garron and the Graff, and it means the Doctor and Romana remain pretty passive throughout the episode, listening, learning, but little else. Garron and Unstoffe are the stars of this show, and the Graff is second attraction.

The Ribos Operation Part One

The one where the Doctor is given a new quest and a new companion...

The TARDIS is back! When I say back, I mean back as in looking more like it should: spacious, clean and impressive, not the shabby, cramped travesty of Season 15. It's nice to see some care taken over the TARDIS set (by Ken Ledsham), and this is probably the best it's looked since its sporadic appearances in Season 13, three years earlier!

Some things haven't changed all that much though, such as Tom Baker's capricious approach to the role, including the tiresome "comedy" scenes with K-9 which probably entertained the younger viewers no end at the time, but come across as somewhat childish to older viewers. The Doctor wants to take K-9 on holiday to the idyllic Halergan 3, but fate has other ideas. That holiday is destined never to take place, as a mysterious force seems to take over the TARDIS, plunging it into darkness and opening its doors to beckon the Doctor outside. The lighting in this scene is gorgeous, care of Jimmy Purdie, one of the BBC's most experienced lighting designers who worked a lot on sitcoms and light entertainment shows, but who achieved wonders in both this Doctor Who story, and his only other (Image of the Fendahl).

The Invasion of Time Part Six

The one where Leela and K-9 decide to stay behind on Gallifrey...

Two minutes in to the sixth episode, Sontaran Commander Stor finally takes off his mask... and, as suspected, it wasn't worth the wait. The mask is an ill-fitting travesty of previous Sontaran masks, it isn't even attached to Derek Deadman's face around the eyes or nose. Coupled with Deadman's painfully poor performance (his delivery is slow, rasping and leaden), the whole Sontaran experience is disappointing. Deadman might be right for the part in that he is short and stout, but other than that, the guy just can't act. This is the sort of actor more accustomed to roles such as "Man at telephone box", "Knicker snatcher" and "Second porter". Playing a potato-headed Doctor Who monster might not be up there with Hamlet or King Lear, but Deadman does not have the talent required to play a convincing villain in a rubber mask. Kevin Lindsay did. Derek Deadman does not.

He can't even put his helmet on correctly, plonking it on his head skew-whiff in a moment that made me burst with laughter. Derek Deadman's Stor is a laughing stock.

The Invasion of Time Part Five

The one where the Doctor becomes the first President of Gallifrey since Rassilon to hold the Great Key - and then gives it to an alien savage...

The Sontarans have invaded Gallifrey! What a corking plot twist that is. I mean, it could have been a more likely race of monster, like the Daleks or Cybermen, but the Sontarans will do, I suppose. This is the first time the Sontarans have been shown in force, as The Time Warrior only had one (Linx) and The Sontaran Experiment just two (and one was on a screen). Unfortunately, these Sontarans are led by Cockney Stor, who speaks in fits and starts as if he's constipated. Stor is certainly no Linx, and actor Derek Deadman is definitely no Kevin Lindsay!

I like the musical theme Dudley Simpson has for the Sontarans though, a deep parping signature reminiscent of the one Malcolm Clarke comes up with for the Cybermen in Earthshock.

The Invasion of Time Part Four

The one where the Vardans come, and the Vardans go, but then...

Andred levels his gun at the Doctor, announces he is going to execute him... then waits a little bit for the Doctor to react, then waits a little longer as the Doctor orders K-9 to stun him, which he does. Andred falls to the ground, stunned. Andred was pretty useless, but then that seems to be what the Chancellery Guard are trained to be.

Andred soon comes round to the Doctor's way of thinking though, and it's great to see the Fourth Doctor with a male companion again, however temporary. Christopher Tranchell is a good partner for Tom Baker, and with every passing scene he seems to remove another item of clothing. Although I haven't spent very long in Andred's company, I think I'm falling in love with him. Maybe he has that effect on people?

The Invasion of Time Part Three

The one where the Doctor reveals that he's not the bad guy after all...

The invading tin foil aliens are called Vardans apparently, which is as rubbish a name as any I suppose. The Vardans are proclaimed to be instantly in control of the entire planet, with barely a word of protest or a single shot being fired. The entire Time Lord civilisation bends its knee to a trio of shimmering Bacofoil ghosts, which is literally pathetic. The Vardans - one of which speaks with a broad Scottish accent - do nothing to demonstrate their supremacy, they are just accepted and that's it. It's really lazy writing. And to think this was written by both Doctor Who's script editor and producer. It doesn't bode well.

What is good is that we finally get confirmation that the Doctor has had a good reason to appear to collude with the Vardans so far. He asked Borusa for lead-lined quarters because the Vardans can travel along any wavelength, and are telepathic. So the Doctor was shielding his real thoughts from the Vardans by strength of will alone all this time, but can let go and relax when sealed in his lead-lined room. It enables him to take Borusa into his confidence, and so too the viewer. The design of the lead-lined room, with its wheels and cogs reflecting a temporal theme, is marvellous, one of the best things about the story so far (a tip of the hat to Barbara Gosnold).

The Invasion of Time Part Two

The one where the Doctor allows aliens to invade Gallifrey...

The Doctor is seemingly rejected by the Matrix after donning the Coronet of Rassilon, and Chancellor Borusa takes this opportunity to try and get rid of President Doctor by claiming he's not fit for office. But he hasn't reckoned on the prissy Surgeon-General Lord Gomer, a shady old queen if ever there was one ("Borusa, I suggest you... keep all your tedious bureaucratic problems to yourself")! Gomer takes the Doctor under his medical wing, and retires him to the Chancellery for treatment.

The Doctor wastes no time in ordering that his friend and companion Leela is banished from the Citadel, out into the wastelands of Gallifrey where she can do no harm. Both Leela and the viewers are astonished by this. Why is our hero being so nasty towards Leela, who only ever shows loyalty and support for her mentor? The savage makes her escape, which is made particularly easy by the fact the Chancellery Guards are utterly useless. All Leela has to do is show them a leg, give them a gentle push, and they fall over like skittles. Their ray guns don't even have rays! There's a knack to making guards seem capable while also being overcome, but director Gerald Blake hasn't got that knack.

The Invasion of Time Part One

The one where the Doctor claims his right to be President of Gallifrey...

The opening shot of this episode is basically the opening shot of Star Wars, but done on a Doctor Who budget. The scene was actually filmed in November 1977, before Star Wars had premiered in the UK, so I'm not sure whether it's an influence or a massive coincidence that this story opens with a huge spaceship dwarfing a smaller one. What does puzzle me though, is what these two ships are? We see that the Doctor is talking to some aliens on one ship, but what's the other one? It's not clear at all.

And who are these aliens? They look like giant talking cones, but I'm pretty sure they're supposed to be the chairs the aliens are sitting in, and we can't see the aliens (although you do glimpse the tiniest scrap of a mint green knee at one point). Again, Gerald Blake's direction doesn't make it very clear. I mean, they could be talking cone aliens for all I know, this is Doctor Who after all.