The Ribos Operation
Good little romp, this. It's an overused words, romp, in my opinion. I can see why - it's a very pleasing word, in an onomatopoeic sense, for a start. But it does get thrown around a lot. But in the case of this story it is a decent description.
We start with a set up to the whole season - The White Guardian (a being of immense power and awesomeness but too bone idle to do his own dirty work) sets the Doctor up to look for the 6 pieces to the Key to Time. The Key is a hugely powerful device that can restore balance to the universe or, if one has a mind to, destroy it instead. Now, if I had one of those I'd probably keep it somewhere safe. Like in a safe, perhaps. Instead the bloody thing is in 6 pieces and strewn around the universe it could destroy if they all fell into the wrong hands. Brilliant. Anyway, The Doctor is set off on his way to find the damn things. He is, at least, given a companion for this ramble and we get to meet the superb Romana for the first time, played by the utterly delightful Mary Tamm - a fellow Time Lord, she immediately presents The Doctor with a completely different sort of companion and their relationship is cracking from the off.
Then we get to the meat of this, first, part of the saga - and it's basically what would happen if The TARDIS landed in the middle of an episode of Hustle. The Doctor meets a couple of conmen and blunders around a bit as they try and con millions in cash off some dimwitted (but fairly unpleasant) member of local aristocracy.
The conmen are quite charming and the story is well scripted and clever, the mark is suitably slimy so that you don't feel sorry for him and the bit parts are very nicely played as well.
Like I say, a nice romp.
8/10
The Pirate Planet
And so, the treasure hunt continues. This one is quite hard to explain to someone who's never watched it without giving away salient plot details... Suffice to say the idea behind it is very clever indeed. The scripting isn't always great, which is a shame because this was Douglas Adams' first foray into the world of Doctor Who but the basic plot is very Adams-esque.
Enjoyable stuff - some of the acting is a bit OTT and some is actually quite crap but it's a decent story nonetheless.
7/10
The Stones of Blood
Love this story. Druids, blood, the least feasible monsters imaginable and then a massive plot twist in the last episode. Two of the best female characters in the series ever and some great scenes with some great, typically Tom Baker, performances.
Too much in this to enthuse about and, like Pirate Planet, the more you discuss it the more you are likely to give away. So I won't bother.
Great stuff though.
8/10