Travelling alone, the Doctor arrives on a planet where a population of savages are being led by their shaman to attack an unseen 'evil one' who is supposedly holding their god captive. Connecting with what appears to be the only female in the entire tribe (who they exile – which is short-sighted for many reasons), the Doctor finds there is more to this situation than first appears.
There are some interesting ideas in The Face of Evil: religion, the power of computers, the Doctor as a villain; so it is a shame then that none of them really come off in the way you would like. The plot does have a familiarity to it, and there is not quite as much smartness or commentary as it seems at first. The cliffhangers and the use of the Doctor's face as a force of evil, are all interesting but are not sustained through each episode. There is enough to hold the attention, but not enough to reward it. Perhaps this is why they decided to have a character running round showing as much skin as possible? At the end of the serial Leela is revealed to be the new companion; I guess the show deserves credit for another strong female character (on paper), but less so for her still essentially being there for the Doctor to explain stuff to, and to maybe draw in male viewers.
Baker does solid work but has not too much to work with compared to some stronger serials. Meanwhile the supporting cast are variables; aside from their origin, the Tesh aren't particularly interesting, although the savages include fun turns from Schofield and Garfield. The sets don't particularly stand out, and the serial does lack spark. A shame, because some of the ideas and some of the high points (the face in the mountain) are pretty good, but it doesn't quite come off as it should.
