Castrovalva: Part Three

This is very much an episode of two halves, the first half is horrendous, Nyssa and Tegan walk around pointing out the blindingly obvious, it's almost at the point where you expect them to say look the grass is green, it is shocking.

The episode then takes a turn for the better, and Castrovalva finally comes to live. The costumes are great, and The Doctor finds himself in a very strange and curious situation. The cliffhanger is excellent, it ends so well, and has some tension and urgency, two things it lacked badly.

I'm reminded by Allo Allo, and keep waiting for Aynley to hoist up his glasses and say, it is I the Master, man of a thousand faces, every one the same. A trick they overdid during his time.

The first two episodes have been rather sedate. Which is more due to the writing and direction as well as having a comatose Doctor.

Here the Doctor has left his Rose room cabinet and gone off wandering without Nyssa and Tegan who do some bickering.

The Doctor ends up in the town of Castrovalva courtesy of a hunting party.

He meets Shardovan the librarian. Nyssa and Tegan soon follow, all are oblivious that this is a trap by the Master.

At least the Doctor senses that Adric is missing.

The design for Castrovalva is rather good. It leads to a better cliffhanger than it did for the end of the second episode. At least there is an injection of pace by the end.