Castrovalva: Part Four

After a poor regeneration the Doctor needs to take extreme R&R and uses his Zero Room. Unfortunately, his companions trigger a trap left by the Master and his rest is very short lived indeed.

Avoiding this trap, but losing the precious Zero Room in the process, the Doctor needs to find another way of getting his Zs.

The TARDIS computer suggests Castrovalva, a peaceful planet to Tegan and Nyssa. Alas, they haven't learnt from the first trap and, yep, this is exactly what the Master ordered!

Lots of time for the companions to strut their stuff in this story but they don't half make a hash of things! Two of them spring two separate traps and the other, Adric, is held hostage, no actually used to power one of the traps!

There are some lovely concepts in this story but the budget and the effects let these powerful elements down a little. The planet Castrovalva's recursive, implosive destruction is represented by an odd split screen effect. I can't remember what I ought of it at the time but it's a fair bit ineffective now.

Watching Peter Davison imitating some of his predecessors is impressive.

Nice to see the celery again though.

Things to look out for: celery, impressions, the Master, Zero coffin Cabinet, imbecile companions,

This is a companions piece really, also allowing more time for the viewer to get to see what Peter Davison is about, recommended but weaker than it's two predecessors.

It is the Doctor who notices that Castrovalva is not real.

Only the citizens of Castrovalva do not realise that they are a fake construct of the Master.

The pharmacy that is in four locations, or a place that can be entered in four places. Worse Castrovalva is collapsing on itself.

Shardovan the librarian realised that the history of Castrovalva has inconsistencies.

The Portreeve, a man wearing two hats on top of each other reveals his true colours. Only most people would have guessed already who this person really is.

The good news is that the Doctor seems more his new self. He is alert and means the episode has more dynamism.

Unfortunately it sets a pattern with Davison's debut series. They only seem to get going in the latter episode. Until then it feels inert. I wonder if this was the reason why Doctor Who was now being broadcast twice weekly.

I can understand why the reviews are pretty negative here, but this is why I feel the need to review episodes individually, Castrovalva one of the best cases in point. The variation in quality is vast, parts one and two are less then average, and the forth part is pretty good.

Pacing has thus far been an issue, but here we get some pace, some urgency, and we aren't stuck with laboured scenes of Nyssa and Tegan explaining everything in basic terms.

The big reveal of the Master isn't exactly a surprise, but it's forgivable as the Doctor is in a mixed up state. The characters are really rather good, and the fate of the Master at the end is intriguing.

Castrovalva is patchy, in terms of story and acting, but this final part is very good. 7/10

Oh boy, the characters in this four-parter was really great. The plot was interesting and the humor. Yeah.. Short review. :Harold:

"That's the trouble with regeneration. You never quite know what you're going to get."

It seems that post-regeneration stories never really hit the mark in the Classic Series, which is strange for me seeing that I've come from the New Series which has pretty much perfected the 'Doctor's First Story'. Unlike "Robot", which introduced Tom Baker by putting him in a situation perfect for his previous incarnation, this story introduces Peter Davison by having him sleep and act out of his mind. While the plot and mystery surrounding the location of Castrovalva is engaging to a point, its answer is almost too easy to guess from Anthony Ainley's theatrical disguise and the first half of the episodes's only location being the TARDIS corridors makes it seem padded for time. Sadly, while it definitely leaves me interested in seeing more, what it doesn't do is give me any sort of idea of The Fifth Doctor's character, leaving it to be some sort of failure.

Part One/Two - January 6th Part Three - January 8th Part Four - January 17th