Four to Doomsday...what the hell does that title even mean??
Adric shows his willingness once again to side with the bad guys. Poor deluded Adric. I also like how Tegan shows some "real life" reactions to the horrific situation unfolding in front of her when she twats Adric around the head and scarpers back to the TARDIS. To be honest I think I may have done the same.
To back to that moment when Tegan knocks Adric out, it was at this point that I turned to my brother and declared (untruthfully) that Adric was now dead. My brother has only been half watching these stories (by virtue of the fact that he just happens to be in the room at the same time that I am watching them) but the look of sheer excitement on his face at the news of Adric's demise says a lot for the general consensus of Adric's character. I don't know what everyone's problem is! I like him!
This is a classic example of a fairly good story that just drags on a little too long. It would have been much better as three episodes instead of four.
The basic premise of the story is an called Monarch has been visiting Earth every so often for thousands of years kidnapping representatives from the various cultures of the planet. This time he is returning for good to conquer the planet. The extent of Monarch's narcissism is revealed when we discover that his ultimate goal is to develop time travel capabilities in order to travel back in time to the creation of the universe where he believes he will meet himself. He believes he is God. Now that's a serious ego!
There are some cool effects in this story. Tegan manages to strand herself in the TARDIS floating alongside Monarch's ship so it is left to the Doctor to go on a little space walk in order to reach her. When his security line breaks, stranding him between ships, his solution is rather clever, taking a cricket ball out of his pocket and throwing it at Monarch's ship so that when he catches it on the rebound the resulting momentum propels him towards the TARDIS. I'm not sure the physics are completely accurate but it's a neat idea.
So Adric is siding with the enemy again and Tegan is running away. This just leaves Nyssa to be the hero of the story, saving the Doctor from being beheaded! I've always thought the character of Nyssa to be a little bland but I've listed to a few really good audio adventures with her in recently and so I have a renewed appreciation for the character.
Oh and one more thing before I finish this entry. I once heard a group of fans jokingly trying to make the longest Doctor Who title ever by combining existing titles and Four To Doomsday was involved in the longest one I heard. I thought it was quite clever. The title was "The Greatest Show In The Galaxy Four To Doomsday Of The Daleks' Master Plan which is made up of the following five story titles:
The Greatest Show In The Galaxy
Galaxy Four
Four To Doomsday
Day Of The Daleks
The Daleks' Master Plan
There you go! Amaze your friends!
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