Direction and writing in Doctor Who are two elements which rarely come together; we either get a well directed story with poor writing (Earthshock) or a well written story with bad direction, which is the case here. Vengeance on Varos is almost ruined by Ron Jones' absolutely flareless direction. A lot of people will nominate Peter Moffatt for the title of Worst Who Director, but in truth he occasionally was capable of something approaching atmosphere (State of Decay is an admittedly inconsistent example of this). Jones, on the other hand, never rises to a challenge, and he succeeds in sucking the life out of a highly interesting script, with, perhaps incredibly, some well judged edits by Eric Saward.

The most potent example of this is the first scene between Arak and Etta. Never mind that Etta looks about thirty years older than her supposed husband; the really jarring thing about this moment is how slowly it seems to pass. And it isn't anything to do with leaden dialogue- it's because Ron Jones directs the scene unadventurously, a long wide shot of the two arguing. I was sorely tempted to turn it off.

But to do so would mean missing an otherwise fantastic story. The writing, by Phillip Martin, is excellent. He manages to give almost all of the major characters a clear identity. We sympathise with the weary Governor; and we are reviled by the reptilian Sil. Equally, the issues it tackles, most prominently video nasties, are fascinating, particularly so when you look at how creatively and intellectually bereft most of it's Season 22 stablemates are. Occasionally the structure wobbles, but this is largely due to the fact that the series had changed to a slower paced 45 minute format. Is it violent? For a Doctor Who story, yes, but the furore at the time surrounding it was misjudged, as it is farely tame by today's standards. Plus, at least it is provocative, and not a dull Underworld style runaround.

And at least on the acting front, Ron Jones got something right, by casting disabled performer Nabil Shaban as Sil. The remarkable design of the character has something to do with the success of Varos and Shaban imbues him with some truly vile habits, like his hugely grating laugh. The rest of the cast is variable, as usual; Martin Jarvis is excellent, Jason Connery less so in the important role of Jondar, which would have been a hard slog for most actors anyway. Colin Baker really takes control, however, and in some respects we see him acting, rather than simply hamming it up. The scenes in which he feigns death are a case in point. From a production stance, it is competent but not visually resplendent; few stories set in an underground mining colony could be.

Many people dislike Mindwarp, saying it is all about people escaping, running along tunnels, being recaptured etc, and not having any story. I think rather that,like Resurrection of the Daleks, it has too many interwoven plotlines - the selling of arms to Ycarnos and his warlords, finding a transplant doner for Lord Kiv, the Trial itself, the overthrow of the Mentors.....and it doesn't all hang together that well. It is still, also like Resurrection, one of my favourite stories for the following reasons.

Firstly the characters I find uniformly excellant. The delightfully loud Ycarnos providing much needed light relief,the dour Frax, and of course Crozier. This man, outwardly so ordinary looking and not some ranting power mad megalomaniac, was nevertheless sinister and utterly without compassion; destroying (so we are lead to believe) one of the Doctor's companians,this quietly spoken man becomes one of the Sixth Doctor's biggest threats. So we are lead to believe.

For this story must be unique in that the events seen on the Matrix screen are, it is hinted, maybe not entirely as they transpired. We can only guess how the events on Thorus-Beta end, we are not told. We don't really know if we are watching the lies of the Valeyard, the Doctor suffering from the effects of that machine, or the unvarnished truth. Or a mixture of all three.

But I was talking about what I like here which is, the Mentors! I always like a story with cool monsters and these Mentors look good and are funny as well as being ruthless and clever. Clever because it is only their ability to control people's minds that makes them able to have slaves who would otherwise be able to crush them underfoot.

Mindwarp is a delightfully amoral story. No one really cares about their actions - Kiv, Sil, Crozier, even the Sixth Doctor. Or is it illusion? Da, da!

A previous reviewer has commented that this story has a poor reputation. Close. It has a dreadful reputation based on the humour of the time, the creature and a general tiredness with Tom Bakers portrayal of the main lead role.

As for me, I love this story, it is terrific. The plot is simple, it is extremely well shot, the jungle scenes are second only to Planet of Evil in the history of the show for me and the pace of the story never flags. The sets are also superb.

Creature from the Pit is an interesting study in the abuse of power. It is obviously in the interests of Chloris to enter into a reciprocal trading a agreement with Tythonus however if Chloris did this then Adrasta loses her power base and her wealth. Simple economics, simple supply and demand. In order to prevent this from happening she has the Tythonian Ambassador dumped down a pit where he cannot escape and then, curiously the Ambassador becomes an even more potent weapon for her to re-inforce her reign as the threat of being thrown into the pit for the slightest transgression hangs ever over the head of the subjects of Chloris. In effect it is an interesting paradox that the one thing that could bring an economic and personal freedom to the people of Chloris becomes a very useful tool of its enslaver.

Chloris is a rarity in Doctor Who, being a planet that is dominated by women with two very strong female leads and I have to say why not. In nature the female is often the strongest of the sexes however we go from planet to planet where the male holds the upper hand. It does not make sense. Here that is rectified. I agree that more could have been done with the Chlorisian society to develop and explain it however David Fisher does go someway towards addressing that in the book.

Adrasta is well realised by Myra Frances (married to Peter Egan - Ever Decreasing Circles) although some of her dialogue is delivered in a rather, shall we say, wooden manner. Karela is suitably played by Eileen Way and, God, when I first watched this I hated her with a passion. The scene where K-9 destroys her metal and thus destroys her power is wonderful.

Erato is a great concept. Why should all creatures by humanoid bipeds. Just as the Ogri were a great break with this tradition so was Erato and quite frankly for me it works. Had it been done today with the technology available no doubt it would have been a CGI effect villain and would have been very realistic. In 1979 that technology was not available, it is like judging Pertwee stories on poor CSO. It makes no sense. Willing suspension of disbelief I believe the term is. Again the book does develop the Tythonians and their society more than the TV does and is certainly worth reading if you like this story.

I see little point in dwelling on the bandits. Edward Kelsey and co have little to work with. They are nothing but cliched outlaws and are merely there for a mixture of comic relief and plot resolution. Although they do not detract from the story they do not add to it either.

I have to say I also found Adrasta, as a young 14 year old at the time, very very very sexy. Repeat viewings with the passing of age has not dimished that either. Karela, not so.

The Doc and Romana are on cracking form. Romana trying to outbitch the queen bitch, Adrasta, and coming off a poor second is great as is Romanas wonderful put downs of the bandits where she treats them with little more than scant regard. The Doc and Organon have a wonderful relationship full of sparkling dialogue which really does make the story memorable. Organon is little more than a fortune teller, a lucky one whose luck ran out and he was chucked in the pit for his trouble and managed to survive. Played by Geoffrey Bayldon, a man many thought would make a great Doctor, with aplomb his characterisation draws heavily on his early seventies hit, Catweazle.

I must admit I found the premise that as an act of revenge Tythonus would send a Neutron star across the galaxy to obliterate Chloris. This is where the willing suspension of disbelief Graham Williams was fond of talking about comes in. Ignore the physics and just enjoy. Just like the scene with the cricket ball in Four to Doomsday it does not detract from the story overall.

So to summarise, this is a terrific story and shows, like City of Death and Androids of Tara, that when the humorous approach is done well then it can offer a story as good as any other from any other era. I would rate this story as highly as Inferno, Daemons, Ark in Space and Pyramids of Mars. All favourites of mine. Doctor Who has a place for all styles and all genres. Creature from the Pit is most welcome in that.

Logopolis was my introduction into the greater mythos of the Doctor Who phenomenon. It was not the first story I watched (that was Planet of Evil), which is a statement that needs to be elaborated on to give the context within which I write this review. 

I had been watching Doctor Who for about five years when Logopolis was broadcast by my local PBS station. At the time, with no internet and no local fan club to get information from, every episode was a new adventure. I still spent every week hoping that the famous multi-coloured scarf would somehow return to replace the burgundy version. At this point, I had seen most stories from Terror of the Zygons onward, but had absolutely no idea that the Doctor was going to be (or ever had been) played by someone other than Tom Baker. You can imagine what a shock the end of part 4 brought to me....

Almost everyone here knows the story, so I won’t do a summary. Logopolis seemed in many respects to start slowly. The Doctor and Adric wandering the TARDIS corridors, some annoying stewardess stumbling along with a flat tire, the knowledge that the Doctor would probably meet the stewardess, and the confirmation at the cliffhanger that behind everything, the Master really had escaped from Traken and was stalking the Doctor. Oh, and who the heck was the Watcher in white?!

These are the feelings that part 1 left me with.

As the middle parts progressed, the excellent story of revenge and the search for power leading to the potential destruction of the universe if Logopolis failed, took over. The viewer could not help but notice the general sense of dread that pervaded the story, getting more and more pronounced as it got closer to the end. By the cliffhanger of part 3, it was readily apparent that the situation facing the Doctor is one that even he might not be able to take care of.

Part 4 had a lot of running around, which, seemed to only be there to take up time. All events lead us to the tower, with the Doctor’s desperate attempt to cut off the Master’s signal to the CVE. As I, for the first time, watched the Doctor hanging from the tower, his past flashing before his (and my) eyes, the realization hit me for the first time: this isn’t your usual ending – the Doctor is going to loose, even if he wins....

Naturally, what happened next gave me a whole new perspective on the show. Regeneration: I would have to wait until next week to see what it meant for the hero. Anticipation was mixed with dread at the loss of a familiar face.

Viewed now, as a whole, the story still impresses. Acting by most of the cast (Mr. Watterhouse and Ms Fielding excepted) was good and Tom Baker clearly was off the slapstick comedy routine of the prior few seasons. The new menace of a rejuvenated Master, still fresh enough that the “evil chuckling” was not annoying added to the story in my opinion. Logopolis was and is one of the very best Doctor Who had to offer.

Let’s hope the new series has a long and successful run. If the stories even come close to the quality of Logopolis, we should be in for a heck of a revival.

The Ultimate Foe! What a remarkably accurate title for a change, no inaccuracy here! I don't know if the resolution to the trial of a time lord makes a lot of sense, but what a brilliant way to end it! Now then, unless you have been living in a cave, in Mars, with your fingers in your ears, you will know that the Valeyard was in fact the Doctor himself, in his twelfth and last regeneration, and that he wanted the sixth Doctor (himself) dead so that he could steal his remaining regenerations for himself.

Absolute rubbish? Possibly, possibly, but an ending surely noone could have predicted. and is it all that unlikely? Here is a future incarnation of the Doctor, possibly thousands of years into the future - it is likely to assume that a person's priorities might change in all that time from good to evil, even the Doctor's. And he was facing death after his next regeneration, so was presumably desperate enough to try drastic measures to prolong his life - for a time lord who's lived so long, death when it comes must be even worse than for a human.

I also loved Mr Popplewick who was (cave in Mars, fingers in ears) also the Twelfth Doctor. I would like to see a load of new adventue novels featuring Mr Popplwick in a Tardis, maybe slowly tranforming from good to evil. No? Oh well.

But a good ending to a good series. On the whole. I personally thought that there was a bad Sixth Doctor that we were seeing on the matrix screen - a doppleganger who we were seeing doing all those bad things, and not the good sixth Doctor at all. Well, it seemed plausable at the time!

This is the only Seventh Doctor-era story that seriously disappointed me. (I have seen all but Delta and the Bannermen.)

It claims to be an satirical and intellectual tale of a population being denied the right to feel sad, and to some extent it is; but, it comes off as fluff--not very intellectual, witty or funny, but just silly. Granted, the Kandy Man (an evil executioner who is literally made of candy) is /vaguely/ scary, esp. when s/he snarls, "Welcome to the Kandy Kitchen, gentlemen...I like my volunteers [to die] with...THMILES on their faces!", but most other characters are dismissably dull. And some of the things that happen during the 'revolution' against happiness make the viewer groan and say 'Riiiight'--such as the Doctor dousing the Kandy Man with lemonade, which apparently reacts with his candy-flesh so as to make his feet stick to the floor.

Another reason to dislike The Happiness Patrol is that unlike most Doctor Who stories, this is overtly and offensively politicized. What the political messages are is not relevant, but I will say that the reason I dumped Star Trek is that I had grown tired of Trek's arrogant and incessant attempts to indoctrinate its audience. Doctor Who has consistently avoided shoving lessons down the viewer's throat, but The Happiness Patrol does exactly that. Really, the only other such exception in Doctor Who is The Green Death, a laughable serial about capitalists who pollute the environment because they are bad, bad, bad.