(533) Meglos - Episode 4

After being slightly disappointed with the lack of anything exciting happen, I was hoping that this story would end of a more positive note. This is one of the shortest episode of Doctor Who ever and it really shows as yet again the episode starts off with a few minutes of reprise. When the action does eventually get going it seems like there has been quite a development in things because all of a sudden the real Doctor is accepted and people are prepared to have a rational conversation with him.

I still think of Barbara not Lexa when I see Jacqueline Hill. It’s surprising that Lexa is one of the characters that won’t see the end of the episode. She gets killed and is dead without so much of a speech which considering that its Jacqueline Hill isn’t the best way for a character to end. This was the 78^th episode to feature Hill and she leapfrogs William Russell and Katy Manning and now becomes the fourth longest serving companion.

There are some good things in this episode such as the set designs which are very good. I hadn’t noticed that this was an entirely studio based story and whereas the story hasn’t been totally successful, what has been appearing on screen has been quite good. Another thing that works quite well is the CSO shots that are heavily used. There are a few shots that look quite good and that includes two Tom Baker’s appearing on screen at the same time. What’s also good about this scene is that it isn’t just one quite shot but it’s a very good scene which is shot very well by Terence Dudley. Dudley’s name will pop up in credits during the Peter Davison years but his first story is quite well because the whole episode is directed with a good amount of enthusiasm and any problems with the story shouldn’t be laid at his door.

Sadly K9 returns in this episode and I was just surprised that he didn’t need recharging after moving 10 feet. K9’s time in the show is coming to an end soon so I have to just keep that it mind. K9’s involvement is somewhat small and so I wonder what the point was in having him appear in the story. It’s not the only thing that doesn’t quite work in this episode. It’s odd that Meglos waits so long before changing out of looking like the Doctor. Once he had got what he wanted, he stays looking like the Doctor until about a minute before he gets killed. When the change does happen and he changes back to the cactus it doesn’t look as bad as it did in episode one. Another thing that doesn’t quite work is that there doesn’t seem to be anything after being separated from Meglos. Also he has been in this story with the credit of Earthling. I would have named him Mark or Stephen or something like that.

It was a much better episode than the previous one and I am surprised with how much more positively about this story than I did before I started this. It’s not a classic by any means and I think that the Cactus design is still a major problem and I think that casting someone else as Lexa instead of a former companion was a mistake. Those mistakes aside the new era of the show is still going strong and the next several stories are quite important and the lien up of the show is going to change with the first change occurring next with……there is no easy way of saying this……..Adric debuting. Oh dear!