The Dominators - Episode 4

The information text help out again. Apparently this episode got an extra two million viewers after the last episode. Probably because people couldn’t quite believe that a science-fiction show could be this boring. It’s a shame that after the high quality of season five (yes even with Abominable Snowmen and Fury from the Deep), I am sitting through this. There is a huge tempatation to skip this story but I must stick to the path and realise that as well as the good stories we have to sit through this stuff.

From the very beginning of the episode the Dominators are bickering. However it does step up a gear providing a brief moment of tension and no sooner has it stated than it ends. It’s mentioned in the information text that director Morris Barry liked that this friction which until this episode I didn’t understand but I have to admit that Mr Barry has a point. On the subject of Morris Barry, I must say that the direction is quite good. He does his best to make the quarry shots look interesting but he does quite well here.

I’ve just noticed that Jamie and Zoe have swapped positions. Before it was Zoe with Cully and now its Jamie. I suppose its to give a bit of freshness. It means that Cully and Jamie can do the action stuff and the Doctor and Zoe can do the brainy stuff and that is the way it should have been from the very beginning.  The change of line-up means that Jamie gets to do something decent as he gets to throw some rocks at the Quarks and do a bit of running through the quarry (a bit like Peter Davison in ‘The Caves of Androzani’). Wendy Padbury’s role has been reduced since she was reunited with the Doctor and normally that would be a bad thing but I did enjoy the scenes between the two.

The story does seem to pick up the moment one of the Dominators finally appear in the Dulkin’s chamber. This is the first time that the Dominators have done anything other than bicker with each other and show why they are suppose to be the big force in the universe. Due to the fact that I find the Dulcians to be so wet and feeble, I actually find myself cheering for the Dominators. This is the first time that I have had felt any warmth towards this story which is a shame because it’s the final episode of the story tomorrow and it just seemed to be finding its feet.