That's an atmospheric start.
A spaceship flies over. It's only a model, but I've done that joke already back in episode two.
Aboard the IMC spaceship, Winton finds the fake claws for the robots and the projector to make them look like monsters, but Morgan tricks them and pulls a hidden gun to capture Winton.
In the city, Jo sees signs of technology and she is taken to an area that looks rather like the interior of a television studio.
There she meets the brain alien, while outside the Doctor meets some of the aliens at the fake rock and gets taken inside as well.
The Adjudicator arrives at the colonists' dome and meets Ashe, but we don't see his face or hear him speak in order to keep the actor playing him secret for a few more seconds. Then he turns round and his music plays... it's the Master!
Keeping the Master for the second half is just what this story needed to sustain it to six episodes, since the conflict between the colonists and IMC was running out of room for fresh developments. We now have the presence of the Master and the mystery of the alien city to maintain our interest. Cleverly, both of these plotlines were foreshadowed by the Time Lords back at the very beginning of episode one.
The Doctor meets up with Jo, but they get locked in a room by the aliens. Luckily for them, the room is full of pictures that give them the exposition about the aliens - bypassing the need for an alien character to have to deliver a lengthy speech. The brain alien comes in again and examines them both. The Doctor tries to buy their freedom with offers of noms, but he's having none of it and they are kept as prisoners.
The Doctor distracts their guard with a longer-than-it-needed-to-be bit of close-up magic, like he's been hanging around with Vila, then knocks him out with some Venusian Karate so they can escape. When the brain alien returns to find them gone, it sends its minions to chase them around until they get recaptured.
They are taken to another room where Jo thinks they are going to be sacrificed, but then a panel opens up and reveals an even-more-brain alien (who, sadly, reminds me of Moloch). This alien can talk, and it tries to condemn them to death for coming to the "forbidden" city, even though Jo wouldn't have gone anywhere near it if she hadn't been brought here by the aliens themselves, mew.
The Doctor (quite rightly) points this out:
"Surely the basis of all true law is justice? Look, we're both strangers to your planet. The girl was brought here by your warriors as a captive. All we ask is to be allowed to leave in peace."
and the alien lets them go, warning them not to come back or else "be destroyed." The Doctor says
"Thank you, sir. And may I say that I'm overjoyed to find that justice prevails in your city."
and he hardly sounds sarcastic at all.
The Doctor and Jo get back to the dome and see the Master, just when he is in the middle of adjudicating between the colonists and the IMC baddys. He actually seems surprised to see them, and has to take a moment to collect himself before carrying on. He adjourns the meeting to talk to the Doctor.
"Did the Time Lords send you?"
he asks, perceptively. He then almost sounds friendly with the Doctor when he says
"So you've at last succeeded in escaping from your long exile on Earth. Congratulations. What are your plans now?"
The Doctor threatens to expose the Master as an impostor, but the Master has an advantage over him - documents:
"My credentials are immaculate."
"Forged, of course?"
"Oh of course, but immaculate. May I see your credentials, Doctor?"
It's a relief to hear the Master confess his documents are forgeries. For one dreadful moment I thought he might actually be in a position where he would have to do some W-word. He continues:
"What? No interplanetary travel permit? No registration for your TARDIS? No personal identification?"
"Bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo."
"Maybe, but in this regimented age of ours, essential. Without these, my dear Doctor, you do not exist."
This is one of the best exchanges between the Doctor and the Master yet, and shows just how comfortable Jon Pertwee and Roger Delgado have become with the characters.
The Master seems to genuinely not want to kill or even capture the Doctor now, he just wants the Doctor to stay out of the way and not interfere with his plan. He goes back to being the Adjudicator and finds in favour of IMC, asking the colonists to leave the planet "as soon as possible."
Winton is not prepared to give up, and wants to attack the IMC spaceship again - the manny has had one idea he can call his own and so he is sticking with it! He has learned (from the Doctor) to be a bit cunning, though, and he lures them out of their spaceship by impersonating the Adjudicator while the real Adjudicator (well... the Master) is busy talking to Ashe and trying to subtly find out about the alien city. Incredibly, they discuss their plan in front of Evil Norton again, and he unsurprisingly warns his IMC friends that
A gunfight breaks out in the relatively small dome studio set, with both sides taking cover behind crates and boxes, and it bears more than a passing resemblance to a gunfight from Police Squad!
The Master changes his mind about not killing the Doctor, and decides to shoot him and Jo and blame it on "stray bullets" from the fight. I think they must have run out of time and needed to put something in for the cliffhanger, this definitely has a 'that'll do' feel to it, mew.
No comments:
Post a Comment