The Time Lords send the Doctor to do their dirty work on the planet Uxarieus…

It’s not the most inspired of Doctor Who stories for Jon Pertwee’s first trip to an alien planet as the Doctor, but it’s not as bad as some people would have you believe – particularly if it’s watched as it was designed to be, in single episodes, rather than through as one long story. Morris Perry and Tony Caunter make good enough villains of the piece that the arrival – intrusion, one might almost say – of the Master is unnecessary.

Those of us brought up on Mac Hulke’s novelisation (Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon sounds considerably more interesting as a title) will be waiting for a lot of little character touches which simply aren’t there in the original and you do have to wonder about some of the underlying story logic… or perhaps it’s better not to.

This single-disc DVD provides an interesting commentary, and an adequate documentary – the total lack of mention of Roger Delgado in the latter becomes increasingly noticeable as you go along. There are a few film trims, and the Radio Times listings also includes the lovely Frank Bellamy artwork that showed the first half of the opening episode.

Verdict: Not an essential addition to the catalogue, but a solid example of the Letts/Dicks/Pertwee partnership.  6/10

Paul Simpson

Leave a comment