The Invasion of Time - Episode 2

The second episode starts with the rather impressive cliffhanger reprise. It still works a second time. Something that struck me about the previous episode was that Leela shouldn’t be on Gallifrey due to her being an alien. Sarah Jane had to leave the TARDIS for this reason prior to ‘The Deadly Assassin’. This is resolved fairly quickly in this episode and it leads to Leela being exiled to the wastelands.

The scene where the Doctor is pretending to talk to Borusa so that he can open the secret door is quite amusing and does feel like the dark clouds have been lifted from the doctor for a moment. Such as hopscotching down a corridor and the chat he has with K9.  That didn’t last for long as by the midway point he’s back to shouting Borusa in a very stern way. I quite like John Arnatt because he gives a very grandee performance and is believable as Chancellor. Milton Johns returns after last appearing in ‘The Android Invasion’, here there is something rather slimy about him but it works and that is why he is one of the best supporting characters in the episode.

Tom Baker’s strong performance continues. It’s reassuring that he goes back to his old self and there is one look he gives K9 in the TARDIS which shows his good self. The thing about the Doctor is that its very difficult to tell whether he’s pretending to be devious or whether its just the new Doctor. The mystery is quite fun and considering the number of times that I have watched this story its still difficult to work it out. Louise Jameson’s performance is hampered somewhat by not really being given anything substantial to do. All that she does that is noteworthy is where she is introduced to Rodan (played by Hilary Ryan). Rodan seems very much like the rest of the Timelords as she shows very little interest in whats going on.

This episode has another cracking cliffhanger. This is where the people that the Doctor has been working for finally arrive after nearly an hour of storytelling. Thanks to the CGI effects being switched on for this DVD it means that the ending is far better than it would have been in 1978. This story is moving along at a decent rate but it does feel like it needs to start delivering soon. Two episodes in and there is no indication that Leela might be leaving. The episode works well and I am just waiting for it to all go badly wrong.