(585) Snakedance - Part 2

Any goodwill that I may have had for this story quickly evaporated over the course of this episode. Again Janet Fielding is the best thing in it. There is a nice switch between good Tegan and bad Tegan which shows in one scene just how underused the character was over the years. This episode really is the Tegan and Lon show because despite coming across as a rather spoilt brat but then after a bizarre scene with Tegan and a group of mirrors, becomes joined with the Mara and they both form this rather odd but ultimately story saving double act. It’s clear that Janet Fielding is loving the character at the moment. The problem is that Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton are reduced to running around and not doing very much. Seriously, I struggled to actually think of anything constructive that they did which is a shame really.

Like yesterdays episode, when Tegan is on screen I am interested because she is so good but when she isn’t on screen then I find myself losing interest. The only saviour is John Carson who treats the role of Ambrill with the level of absurdity that it deserves. What happens in this episode is the introduction of a headpiece which is suppose to have six faces on and five are on the headpiece with the wearer’s head being the sixth and the shot of Ambrill wearing it is the one that is used regularly on the back page of Doctor Who Magazine.

I really have struggled to find something to write about in the previous two episodes so I am going to fill my 500 word count limit with some stats. This is Peter Davison’s 32^nd episode as the Doctor. It’s crazy to think that he’s already done that many. Janet Fielding has now clocked up 35 episodes and Sarah Sutton is on 37, she is just 3 behind Louise Jameson and Deborah Watling.  Eric Saward will be tied with Derrick Sherwin by the end of this story and John Nathan Turner will be just four episodes behind Philip Hinchcliffe in the producer ranks.

I cant believe that I still have two more episodes left to watch. I know that the idea was to bring back a familiar monster/villain during the 20^th anniversary but I think that more time was needed for this story to try and make something else. The only thing I have to decide between now and the final episode is whether this is as bad as Four to Doomsday or not.