The Masque of Mandragora: Part Four

Review of all 4 episodes:

This is a very good pseudo-historical story which is rather overshadowed by the superior quality of the rest of season 14.

Portmeirion, the village in North Wales made famous as the setting for TV series The Prisoner here doubles for 15th Century Italy very effectively indeed. The period setting and most production values are very good giving a nice historical context for the adventure. There is good action and dialogue with plenty of humorous moments.

The Doctor and Sarah arrive at a time when the likes of Leonardo Da Vinci are changing the thinking of the world and bringing about 'the Renaissance'. This period is targeted by an alien intelligence, the Mandragora Helix, which uses the TARDIS to take it there. It plans to change the course of history and prevent the renaissance (in which civilisation and science took huge strides forward), keeping humanity in the dark ages of superstition and ignorance. It aims to then dominate them easily and stop them from spreading their civilisation through the galaxy threatening its domain.

There is an interesting touch in this story when The Doctor explains that languages are translated for him and his companions by a "Timelord gift" (in other words a telepathic translation power) and suggests that Sarah would not have usually questioned her ability to understand unless something had interrupted the telepathic process.

Tom Baker and Lis Sladen are on great form as usual with lovely interplay between them and sparkling performances. There is some nice dialogue with themes of science versus superstition and civilisation versus barbarity. There are some decent characters acted well by the guest cast. The adventure is very good quality and good fun. It is not as exceptional as most of the preceding season (Season 13) or the remainder of season 14 but that is not really a criticism as the standards of this era were just so high.

My ratings: Part 1 - 8/10, Part 2 - 8.5/10, Parts 3 & 4 - 9/10, Overall - 8.63/10.

Renaissance, such a wonderful Doctor Who term, just like restoration, reawakening and reaffirm; masque is nice too, these episodes need a few, let's move on, re-establish, renew.

It's not been my favourite story of all time, especially when you consider the multiple gems that await in the rest of season 14, it does however end on a strong note. Pacing and direction have been the issue for me thus far, it had all the elements, but somehow it just seem to work as well as it could have, the only thing I can put it down to was the actual direction.

It has looked sensational from the off, and this last part takes it up yet another notch, the masked ball is exquisite, worth of any big budget costume drama, the costumes were wonderful, the masks had a creepy appearance.

More energy, better paced, Part 4 visually looks a little like The Girl in the Fireplace. One thing The BBC always excelled at, costume drama. Part 4, very good. 8/10