This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Ribos Inheritance

This is probably the weakest story of Season 24 for me. Not that there isn't a lot to love, which really tells you how good I found this season. Ace is absolutely, well... ace! She immediately brings a whole new energy to the show and I can tell her pairing with McCoy's Doctor is gonna be fantastic.

The plot is decent but it feels the most like what's come before. It's a relic of an era of Classic that really should be dying out by now. Ridiculous aliens, odd sets, over-the-top performances. That's not to say I don't think there's anything good about it, I really liked the whole idea of Iceworld for example and Kane was a great villain (even if his death was underwhelming. Cool looking, but underwhelming)

As an exit for Mel, it's bizarre. The show hasn't really given us much about her as a person. Even the audios have struggled to fill in these blanks. Even then, I find her jetting off into the universe with Sabalom Glitz really out of character. Speaking of Glitz, as fun as he is, he was a really odd choice for the story. I can't say I mind his return and it works in the story's favour but just when I thought we were getting a proper fresh start in Classic we have another returning character from pretty mediocre stories (not The Ultimate Foe, though. I love The Ultimate Foe)

Overall, there's a lot of things going against this story but the fact that it manages to be miles more entertaining than basically all of Season 22 and a good chunk of the 70s I can't say it's doing too badly.

Next Story: Remembrance of the Daleks