The Invasion of Time - Episode 4

Get your violins out but I’m currently a bit under the weather and there was a part of me that thought that I might not be able to do it but I’m gonna fight through it and just do the best I can. The episode starts with Andred pointing a gun at the Doctor that didn’t last long as K9 was on hand to save the day. Andred is finally let in on what the Doctor is planning. He realises that banishing Leela was a wise thing to do. Castellan Kelner is easily one of the best characters in the serial. He’s just loving walking around like he’s the boss.

I am watching this story without the CGI effects on and its sad that the tin foil Vardans don’t quite work. There is one bit where one of them is sitting in a chair and that looks quite good but that’s about as good as it got. The Vardans are quite stupid really because they don’t question where he is and why they cant read his mind. It’s almost like they are trying to lure the Doctor into a false sense of security. That’s the only reason I can think of for this level of incompetence.

Leela’s part in the story is starting to get interesting. She has managed to state a fairly impressive coup by overthrowing the guards. She is the one that drives the rebels and is the one that convinces them they can succeed. I think that without her the rebels would have carried on living outside in the rather bland wilderness. It’s not the wonderful orange sky that we get promised in future stories.

I like how everyone thinks that the troubles are over and then the cliffhanger changes all that as the Sontarans appear for the first time in 86 episodes. I have to say that their appearance was done quite well by Gerald Blake. This has been the transitional episode where the plot needs to change direction and stay interesting. The episode picked up in the final 10 minutes but before then it didn’t seem like it was really going anywhere but despite that I am still enjoying this serial and think that its not as bad as I previously thought.