The Time Warrior - Episode 2

The previous episode ended with Linx taking off his helmet I still think that it’s the slipping in and out of the tongue that makes it look creepy. We learn about Linx and he is trying to get back to the war with the Rutans and this war has been going on for so long that people cant remember what started it. Considering we have just one Sontaran, its amazing just how easy he has found controlling everyone. He either uses promises of weapons or just hypnosis but considering he’s not the most mobile of creatures, he manages to get a lot done in such a short amount of time.

I think the scene where Sarah is trying to rationalise about Irongron’s castle is a comedy scene, partly because Irongron is the calm one and thinks that Sarah is crazy. It’s five minutes into her second episode before Sarah Jane succumbs to hypnosis. That’s one episode long than Katy Manning was able to achieve. Sarah Jane thinks that the Doctor is working with Irongron which is a differnet way of getting the viewers to warm to a character. On the subject of Irongron, in the previous episode I commented on how I preferred Irongron’s group instead of Wessex’s but in this episode I think the balance has shifted somewhat. I am still more Team Irongron but I think that Wessex is more interesting in this episode and also Dot Cotton is better written for here.

Despite how good some of the performances are, there are things that don’t work so well in this episode. The Robot Knight is rather poor if I am being harsh as all it does it swing its sword around in a rather half hearted manner. They could have done much better with this and just goes to make Linx look rather silly. Another thing that looks silly is the fight scene with the Doctor and some of Irongron’s guard because its clear that its not Pertwee doing that. It’s a trick they used in ‘The Green Death’ but just having the camera at a distance only serves to remind us that there is a stunt double doing all the work for Jon Pertwee.

On a stat note, this is the 100^th episode for Barry Letts are producer. He is very much now the longest serving producer in the show’s history. Letts’ tenure as producer has largely been a success and its only CSO that lets him down but this episode is very much like his entire run so far and that it has a good story, with solid performances. It’s a Robert Holmes story so its not going to be a dull story and I am looking forward to the final two episodes. This season is getting off to a promising start but not a strong one.