"The Invasion of Time" was just put out.
The first episode is incredibly strong, with sharp direction, acting, and the Doctor being wonderfully devious - topped by Tom Baker's perfection of acting. Indeed, for an exclusive species, the way that they get Leela to Gallifrey is pretty good.
The second episode also remains fairly strong.
The Vardans are otherwise okay at first, maybe only speaking too quickly but there's still a threat of menace. Then we finally get to see them in full form. Oops.
Part three starts to waver - especially when the Vardan popcorn tins become more prominent in scenes.
For lead-lined doors, they're opened and closed with ease despite their massive weight. According to an AI since I'm too lazy to really check, 3ft x 7ft sheet of
1/16" thick lead would weigh roughly 200 pounds. Never mind that all the lead panels are not merely 1/16" thick but have big gear adornments, so that door weights rather more than a bouncer at a bar. If nothing else, a cubic foot (12x12x12) of the stuff weights 708 pounds and is no more lickable than the thin door sheeting. I mean, you technically can do it, but it wouldn't be any more unhealthier to do and nobody should be licking lead to begin with...
By the time part 4 arrives and you're hoping it's only a 4-parter, it really gets bad as we have lots of goofy shots of things like a Vardan sitting on a chair shimmering as if it just drank way too much coffee or is trying to double as a popcorn popper but failing. The scene has to be seen to be disbelieved... so okay, we get to see more of the Shoboguns (non-Time Lord Gallifreyans), the temporal shield protecting Gallifrey, and other demystifying stuff that seems cool ate age 10 but feels less cool each time you try to rewatch the thing. Indeed, even the Doctor says, "Disappointing, aren't they!" in a 4th wall break of the sort that wouldn't have worked even if the story was cleverly working around its production issues. Also, why the Castellan assumes they're "just human" is unbecoming of a Time Lord, but by this point with Gallifrey-themed stories the duncery is everywhere. At the end, there's a needless plot twist as a cliffhanger and it's the Sontarans piggybacking on the Vardans. And that's when things really begin to get stupid, even if the incidental music at the Sontaran reveal is surprisingly good.
So with 2 parts left, the Sontarans somehow know of the Vardan plan or were they waiting in hiding hoping that some set of coincidences would ever take place? Ugh. It gets more and more plodding, complete with pointless "have you got a screwdriver?" jokes to go with some daft technobabble that proves how even the worst of 90s Star Trek did it all far better.
Pt 5 cliffhanger sounds compelling, but - go figure - a little reset button in the dumbest of places in pt 6's reprise makes everything hunkydorey again.
Never mind the TARDIS chase escapade in pt 6, which isn't anything as epic as it ought to be, and they go down the same set of stairs several times, going back up once even though the direction is so inane that the scene is shot of them walking
down it again, etc.It's all a bit silly, even by season 15's standards.
Leela is simply married off in the script, which is lame. Kudos to the actors playing Leela and Andred in trying to add as much as possible as the script does little more than having them bicker incessantly. Apparently, Louise Jameson wanted Leela to be killed off as it would be more sensical for her character, but she got Andred instead.
Rating:
Parts 1 and 2: 9/10
Part 3: 5/10
Parts 4 through 6: 1/10
Overall rating: 4/10,
Maybe watch parts 1-3 then go watch a better story involving the Vardans, such as this following one that features another Vardan getting a helping hand:
Now
that is compelling television!
Sorry, Germany.
