Fourth Doctor Series 7B


The Shadow Of London by Justin Richards

The Shadow of London is an average story with an excellent central conceit. It’s a bit by the Numbers, but the atmosphere, and very weirdly British side characters entertain, and Four and Leela are certainly on form. It’s best at the start, and the more things are revealed, the more by the Numbers and generic it gets.
Care For A Jelly Baby?: Tom Baker is distinctly casual here. I love his and Leela’s we do this crap everyday chemistry. It’s not that he doesn’t seem like he cares about the proceedings, no, as he goes on, he gets as serious as the 4DAS get, but how quickly The Two Of them adapt to ”fake London” is brilliant.
Move Aside, Bent Face: Leela holding a knife over a dead body is exactly how Leela would act. The fact that she isn’t suspected goes to both the stories detriment (Wait, really) and credit (thank god that would have been predictable)
The Monster: Despite the degree of tragedy to it thanks to it's backstory, it’s as senseless and predictable as Who monsters get.
Overall: Shadow Of London is Average, Much Like This Series so far. 7/10

The Bad Penny by Dan Starkey

This is the weird crap I like. Very similar to the Renaissance Man, it makes next to no sense and is all the more enjoyable for it. Bad Penny plays with so many time travel complications and has certain bits out of order. A lot of Bad Penny is exceedingly confusing, as I said. I’m not sure if I understand the full plot outline/series of events from the first time I’ve listened to it: but I’ll give it this, its audaciously entertaining, and probably one of my favorite 4DAS. 
Care For A Jelly Baby: The Future Doctor talking to Past Doctor two times in the story, once in both positions is one of those ball ideas that hurts your head in such a beautiful way.
Move Aside, Bent Face: Good Leela material, she gets to mess around with the monster in an interesting way. 
The Monster: Not as interesting as our fantastic main Villain, the future self of our Hotel owner. It’s like Moffat’s Christmas Carol to a further level, where the past self is disillusioned with the future version. I adore this.
Overall: It's rare that these get so bonkers. It’s equally rare I like them when they’re this incomprehensible. 9.5/10

Kill The Doctor/Age Of Sutekh By Guy Adams

Kill The Doctor/Age Of Sutekh perfectly characterizes Sutekh and writes him in all of his evil eloquence perfectly, so if you come into this looking for that, you will not be disappointed. I’m weird, I don’t think Pyramids Of Mars is the best TV story of all time like a lot of people do, so I roughly think this one is equal to it. The cast is still great. 
Sutekh is as horrifying as he was before, and that’s what this story sets out to do, and it achieves it. 
Care For A Jelly Baby?: ‘Welcome To Drummond. It has shops.’ Never has a Planet been set up so well by a Doctor’s exposition. Tom Baker is on fire here. He is so good. He is so so good. Drummond is an interesting setting, being an excellent demonstration of the failings of technology, pointing those out, while getting close to but never falling into “ok boomer phone bad” territory. The way Baker gets serious when everyone’s trying to kill him and he realizes Sutekh is responsible, is great.
Not to mention: ‘I am The Doctor and I Bring The Gift Of Life To All Humanity.’ 
God, this story has some sparkling dialogue.
Move Aside, Bent Face: Leela roughly does as much as she should be doing here, and has some absolutely stunning material involving the homeless people, plus she gets to fight off plenty of people and just generally kick butt.
You Look Like A Horse In A Dress: Sutekh is very good. I don’t know what else I should say. He’s still Sutekh. He’s still terrifying. He’s still eloquent and has great speeches about how he just wants to kill everything. And the best thing about him, is the same as Pyramids Of Mars. He’s believable. He wants to destroy everything, and you believe he will do it given the chance. He’s not a one dimensional stupid villain, he just wants to destroy it all. That’s brilliant. And although the Daleks would leave the universe intact to rule it, with Sutekh, it just goes.
Overall: With some stunning dialogue and fantastic ideas, Kill The Doctor/Age Of Sutekh has been called the High Point Of The 4DAS. I’m not sure, but I’m struggling to find a flaw with it the more I think. The fourth part may be a little bit of a mess, but that only brings it down slightly, and both parts can be preachy, but it’s overall another story that brings The Fourth Doctor into a new age, while calling back to his beautiful past. 
Kill The Doctor!: 9.5/10
The Age Of Sutekh: 9/10

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