(558) Four to Doomsday - Part 1

Four To Doomsday was actually the first story that Peter Davison recorded as the Doctor and it was written by Terence Dudley who becomes the 50^th credited writer of Doctor Who and becomes the first person to be credited as a writer and a director. On this occasion I have to say that this story has never been one of my favourites and I am afraid that on the basis I can’t say that the opinion is going to change. I don’t think the reason is because it was Peter Davison’s first story but because the story isn’t very interesting.

The problem ultimately with the episode is that very little happens. The Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan & Adric arrive and spend a while having a look around before coming across the Monarch and his associates who call themselves Enlightenment and Persuasion. They looked quite good as a creation and I thought that Stratford John is a good piece of casting. Sadly they don’t look the same for long as after a drawing from Tegan Enlightenment and Persuasion become a bloke and a woman. This revelation comes forms a cliffhanger. I can’t say that this was a particularly good cliffhanger because if I were watching in 1982 then I wouldn’t say that there would be much of an incentive to watch the next episode.

Whilst I cant say anything positive about the story I can at least say something good about the TARDIS crew. They seem rather friendly with each other considering that in later stories they don’t seem quite the cohesive unit in future stories. This episode starts the season running gag about Tegan trying to get back to Heathrow in 1981 begins here. Considering that she outlasts both Adric and Nyssa, its weird to see her fretting about getting back. Even though she’s told repeatedly that she could get back just moments after leaving in Logopolis, she still keeps banging on about wanting to get back. I get the feeling that this is going to be a problem during the course of this season. As for Adric and Nyssa, they don’t have much to do in this episode. Peter Davison seems to be having fun in this episode and its perhaps no surprise considering this was really his first episode as the Doctor.

As I mentioned this was a bit of a disappointing episode and the next three episodes are going to be a bit of a tough watch. Maybe there is something that is going to pop out and show me I am wrong. I meant Burt Kwouk is in this story so that must mean something.