We find ourselves on a cargo ship pootling around the Earth empire (but before they get evil, apparently). The ship is boarded by the humans’ old enemies The Draconians (no we’d never heard of them before, either) only something is out of place…
We soon discover that Earth ships are being attacked by Draconians and Draconian ships are being attacked by humans. All for no real reason, apparently. And lo, we discover the some trouble making git with a beard is trying to get the two forces to go to war so he can sweep in and pick up the pieces. Sound like anyone we know?
And that’s basically the story in a nutshell but it’s spread over 6 episodes… There is a lot of escape and capture. In some ways this feels like padding but a lot of the aforementioned escapes and captures do help to move the story along.
The Draconians are brilliant – a very sober, very thoughtful race. They make a refreshing change to the usual “Run-around-and-shoot-stuff” aliens we normally meet. It’s a crying shame they were never really used again as they pitch a nice middle ground between the stereotypical serene races and warlike races that we so often see in science fiction.
The Master is superb. Again, he gets all the best lines… Quoting poets, insulting the Daleks and so on. Roger Delgado acts his tits off in what was tragically to be his last performance in the role. His visit to Jo in her cell is one of the highlights of the story but then, frankly, anything he is in is a highlight of the story.
The story does have a few weak spots. Episode 2 ends with an escape attempt ending up in the most predictable double cross on the history of television. And, of course, when it seems like at last the Master has learned to man up and try and take over the universe on his own, without working with deeply untrustworthy aliens, it then turns out he’s working with the worst of the lot, the Daleks. Their entrance is great but it just leads to wonder what sort of utter dimwit the Master is, that once again he is trying to work with people that will ultimately try and kill him.
In many ways I think it was quite brave to end this story without resolving anything. Pitched as a 6 parter the story feeds directly into the first episode of the next story and would never really make sense if show alone.
I think it’s also quite brave to spend 6 parts dealing with diplomacy and the misunderstandings that lead to warfare. Yet it completely works in that regard without ever feeling preachy. It also continues the idea of Doctor Who not talking down to the audience. How many 7 years old knew about diplomatic immunity do you suspect?
The story has an epic feel to it and I was quite surprised to find I watched it in one sitting without it ever dragging. Very enjoyable. 8/10