The Androids of Tara Part Four

The one where Romana almost becomes Queen of Tara...

I bet Prince Reynart is as disappointed as I am to see Romana back in his cell, after having helped her to escape in part 3. It makes the whole sub-plot of Romana's courageous escape on horseback mere padding, seeing as she ends up back at square one after all. She escaped in order to be captured. Oh, I hate that!

Grendel is never slow to come up with a new plan whenever his last one has been foiled, and now plans to marry Reynart to Romana/ Strella (delete as applicable), then kill Reynart and marry the grieving widow to become Queen's Consort. And then it'll be the Queen who will meet a nasty end, and Grendel will become rightful and lawful heir to the throne of Tara. However, we have to go through a scene in which Reynart rather intuitively tells Romana all this, before we get another scene in which Grendel confirms everything said in the last scene by telling the Archimandrite. Two scenes telling the viewer exactly the same information are not needed, and ends up just being padding (there's a good amount of padding in this story, and episode, too).

The Androids of Tara Part Three

The one where 'Romana' becomes a killing machine...

The only time you'll ever come across the word "suzerainty" is in The Androids of Tara. I had to look it up to make sure the android Romana didn't have a faulty speech circuit and meant to say "sovereignty" instead. She didn't, that is what David Fisher meant her to say, and as with countless other times through my life, Doctor Who has taught me something. I've learnt so much by watching Doctor Who over the years - the legend of King Arthur, Darwinism, music hall, Norse mythology, the list goes on - and this new word is just the latest lesson, and I love it! Isn't it magnificent that a television programme made over 40 years ago can still teach me something?

Anyway, so the Doctor's just smashed Romana/ Strella (delete as applicable) over the head with a sceptre, obviously suspicious that it's actually an android recognising Reynart's suzerainty over her, and not the real First Lady of Tara. It was quite the gamble, because while he was correct (it is an android), the evidence he based his assumption on was pretty vague: he heard a circuit spark! To be honest, that could've been a sparking circuit anywhere in the throne room, it could have been an android courtier, an android Grendel, even an android Archimandrite. So the Doctor was lucky that his hearing was on form otherwise he'd have just murdered a Taran noblewoman/ his own companion (delete as applicable).

The Androids of Tara Part Two

The one where Romana finds she has a Taran twin...

Paul Lavers is very fetching as Farrah, isn't he? Director Michael Hayes had a very astute eye for the right actor in the right part, and youthful, blond Lavers is perfect as the young hero of this swashbuckling adventure. Equally well cast is Peter Jeffrey as the boo-hiss villain, and Simon Lack is suitably restrained and rigid as the slightly pompous Zadek. Lavers may not be the best actor in the story, but he certainly looks splendid.

For most of the episode, the Doctor's ersatz companion is young Farrah, and Lavers and Baker seem to gel well with the repartee. Lavers bounces off Baker beautifully, and I can well see them as an alternative TARDIS team along the lines of Season 21 Turlough.

The Androids of Tara Part One

The one where Romana gets mistaken for an android...

This new adventure - Doctor Who's 101st story - opens with the Doctor slouching on the floor of the TARDIS playing chess with K-9. It feels like chess is a running theme between the Fourth Doctor and his robot dog, but in actual fact The Androids of Tara is only the second (and last) time the two have locked horns over the game. The Doctor really could do with getting a table and chair to sit on though, because lying spread-eagled across the TARDIS floor is somewhat ungainly (although perfectly in keeping with the unpredictability of his reclining choices at the start of his tenure).

Suddenly, out of the blue, dressed in her flowing ivory gown from The Ribos Operation, Romana appears, entering stage left, seemingly out of the TARDIS wall. Where's she been? What's over there to the left of the TARDIS doors, an area we've probably not seen since the early 1960s? Romana lands the TARDIS herself (although I notice that she, like the Doctor, leaves the brakes on, proving that River Song is still the better driver), taking charge in the ongoing quest for the six segments of the Key to Time.