Philip Martin returns for the second piece of evidence that
the Valeyard is using in one the flimsiest cases ever seen on TV. Long before
Deidre Barlow got stitched up on Coronation Street in the mid 90’s, The Doctor
was still having to argue against evidence which showed that things might not
have gone smoothly but it could have been a lot worse. This four part adventure
is the one that the Doctor was on before being taken out of time and joining
the courtroom at the beginning of episode one. The opening shot of Thoros Beta
is stunning. I know that the colours are rather garish but I still like it.
There are a lot more court scenes which is good to see but
unlike the previous story. I found this story to be far more interesting. Also
the flow of the episode is better than in the previous adventure. The action
centres of Kiv getting a new body and all of his hopes lay with Crozier. That
is pretty much it but what I like about this is that Martin has managed to keep
the action going. The Doctor has a rather unfortunate end to the episode. One
that gives the sense that things are going to spiral out of control in the
future. There was something that was a bit weird about the performances of
Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant.
This is the story of course where Brian Blessed makes a
guest appearance. This would have been several years after appearing in Flash
Gordon. He quite quiet in this episode which is the only time that the words
Brian Blessed and quiet will be used at the same time. It’s fun to have him in
this story because he is pretty much perfect for the show. Nabil Shaban returns
as the wonderful Sil. Sil seems to be less repulsive than he was in Vengeance
on Varos. I still like the Shaban laugh and think that any story with Shaban in
will be greatly improved. Despite Sil being in the story, Crozier is the one
that is the main villain in the piece only because he is more dangerous than
Sil.
Christopher Ryan plays Kiv. Ryan would return to play a
Sontaran in the new series. The voice is pretty obvious but I like the
character of Kiv. He basically treats Sil the way that Sil treated the Governor
in the Varos story. Another person that is familiar is Trevor Laird. Laird
plays Frax in this story. He would return to the new series to play Martha’s
dad in the 2007 series. It’s a rather small part but its always fun when people
show up and I know that they will come up in future Doctor Who.
The cliffhanger is another zooming in but this time I found
myself distracted with the weird dance that Colin Baker seemed to be doing
which I found partly amusing but partly confusing. Anyway this has been the
first time since this trial season has begun that I have felt that it’s like a
proper Doctor Who story. It also is the first time that it’s felt like a Colin
Baker story. 
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