(643) The Trial of a Timelord (Part 4): The Mysterious Planet - Part 4

This is the final part of The Mysterious Planet part of this season. The thing is that it doesn’t feel like the end of a story.

The cliffhanger worked quite well because it seemed to show Merdeen about to shoot the Doctor. This of course didn’t mean that the Doctor would die three episodes in. Merdeen shot Grell instead of the Doctor and it’s a rather touching moment when its revealed that Merdeen convinced Grell to join the army. This has been the best episode for Tom Chadbon because he gets a good amount of stuff to do. The character has been unravelled over the course of the four episodes and this is the reward for that.

It’s still rather funny that Queen Katryca is still under the assumption that the immortal is dead. Her death and the death of Broken Tooth is rather grim but compared to some deaths it could have been much worse. Joan Sims has been rather good in the role and when you consider what she is best known for, it makes her performance in this serial even more impressive.

The courtroom scenes do still continue to disrupt the flow but the first one was quite fun because it allows the Doctor to do a rather over the top. The next scene comes after a scene between Glitz and Dibber bleeps out a particular word which creates more mystery.

There is a nice debate between the Doctor and Drathro about the meaning of life. It’s surprising that such time was given to this philosophical issue. Drathro isn’t defeated by the Doctor but really by Glitz. The Doctor does actually save the day but it would have been better if he had been the one defeating the stupid robot. Colin Baker has slowly been getting better in this serial but it seems that he’s not really allowed to be like his previous self. Nicola Bryant was pretty much silent in this episode. I cant really recall what she was allowed to do in this episode. Scratch that comment, there is one moment that I can think of but it isn’t a positive moment. There is a bit where Peri, Merdeen, Glitz and Dibber are in a food chute and there is a laser used which sadly doesn’t look very good.

The mystery isn’t really solved in this story but there are two questions that the Doctor (and the viewer) want to know and that is ‘Who moved Earth and what was in the box that Glitz and Dibber were after’. The final scene in the courtroom is rather good because the Doctor is basically goading the Valeyard and the last shot is a close up (again) of Colin Baker’s face which is still annoying.

This is the last full story that Robert Holmes would write (his last contribution coming later) and whilst it’s not his best offering by quite some distance. It’s hard to appreciate what Robert Holmes has done for the show and so as a result I don’t have it in me to be too critical of this adventure. There are some nice things that take place over the four episodes and some of the season long story arc start to gain some significance. Four episodes into this season and I don’t know whether I like the structure that this series is going to take. The idea of the Doctor on trial is all fine and dandy but I don’t know whether mixing it with four related stories is the best move.