"Wonderful chaps. Both of them."
PLOT
The Doctor and Sarah finally arrive on Earth only to discover themselves in the laboratory experiments of Stigren, a Kraal scientist who has copied an entire English village(along with the nearby Space Defense Station) for military practice. As the real invasion begins, it's up to the two to stop the Kraals and their duplicate androids.
ANALYSIS
Okay, this is where it falls all apart. The story really makes no sense. Nitpicking usually happens later in these reviews, but this is more than that, this is basic logic. Of all the places in the universe, how did the TARDIS end up in the Kraal copy of the village? Why are the Kraals copying people anyway instead of just sending the virus down? I guess you could use the old "it was watched one episode per week" excuse, but so what? It doesn't mean you have the permission to be sloppy.
Even if they're using the village for some kind of a test, what test exactly is that supposed to be? The Kraals don't seem to do anything with the village beyond destroying it with a matter disperser. That's it. Literally. The Doctor and Sarah hang out with the androids, escape from the androids, hang out, escape, hang out, escape and then Stigren blows the whole thing up and they take the rocket to Earth for their chemical attack(which doesn't affect the androids anyway, making the whole thing even more ridiculous).
CHARACTERS
Perhaps it's the 60s feel crossing over, but Tom Baker thankfully continues to integrate into the role. He had some really great moments in this one(I loved it when he tricked the android Benton).
Sarah twists her ankle. Enough said here I think.
The UNIT regulars get horribly shafted aside. The showrunners haven't really thought their departure through, have they? They should've had a proper farewell. Heck, I would've been glad to see the back of them in Terror Of The Zygons because this story's treatment of them really depresses me. They just show up, for no real reason other than to brush aside the "return to London" mini-arc and that's it.
And they have the shame to recast the Brigadier. Oh, sure, they renamed him, but it's the Brigadier. The same moustache, the same belt size, the same hat... it's John Hurt all over again. He's not horrible or anything, but it's just bizarre seeing him on-screen with Benton and Harry. Why not just give the Brigadier's lines to Benton? It wouldn't have been that hard rewriting the two characters together.
Speaking of which, this is the final story featuring Harry and Benton(another odd thing is seeing these two together). I loved both of them. I hope John Levene gets to reappear in Doctor Who for whatever reason someday, because he has become one of my most beloved actors in the show. How can you not just look at Benton and go "aww"?
Harry was a very charming chap himself and his removal hurts maybe even more since we saw what chemistry he had with the Doctor and Sarah more directly.
I didn't care about the Kraals at all, they were incredibly bland and boring aliens.
Milton Johns was a bit miscast as Crayford, I don't see him as an astronaut at all.
NOTES
*Crayford's astronaut suit was definitely borrowed from the Thals.
*I'm not a fan of the Doctor's new coat. Nothing really wrong with it, but the brown was just perfect. The grey makes him stand out.
*Do you think the ginger beer thing was something that Terry Nation hoped would quickly catch on and become this Doctor's defining trait? "Would you like a ginger pop?"
*The android design itself was absolutely brilliant, top-notch, but the way they had Sarah randomly collapse and break her face off felt very contrived.
*I also love how they don't turn into monotone robots when they're outed and retain the original's personality. The Doctor vs The Doctor scene was a great highlight.
*When the Doctor emerged from the water, all I could think of was "wow, he has a normal hairdo for once!".
*Looking back on the Brigadier's lines, I'm getting increasingly happier that they didn't get Courtney back because I can pretend that the Colonel is just an idiot. Wait, no, I can't because no one would hire a dolt who goes like "oh, nonsense, these facts you tell me are absolutely balderdash." Oh, I hate this idiot characterisation.
*How come nobody asked Crayford about his new pirate eyepatch?
*What was the point of the eyepatch anyway? Why not just gain his trust by giving him the cure for cancer or something? Why did they have to lie to him? And if they really had to, why not say they rebuilt him entirely and shown him a photo of him looking really screwed up via PhotoShop? It was the 1970s(edit: or 80s), he would've fallen for it!
*How did the Doctor survive the g-force? Also, how is the g-force suddenly such a big deal now? I thought all that happened was that you get scrunched back into your chair and then okay-doke, you're in space? I guess we can chalk that down to "it was the future!".
*What does the Doctor refer to when he says this is familiar in the first episode? It sounded like he was building up to an epic reveal, but then, nada.
*That slope Sarah accidentally fell down off was an eerie precursor to The Five Doctors.
*When the Doctor was trapped under the mind probe, I was really looking forward to flashbacks to the older Doctors. I hate it when they do it in the new series, but here, it happens so rarely(and there aren't as many faces to go through).
CONCLUSION
A story that's unfortunately too engaging not to notice the massive plot holes.
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