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

Previous Story: Creatures of Beauty

There's a lot to praise about this story. The general idea is so simple yet absolutely fantastic, a planet at war except the war is in the form of an ongoing sports competition. This brings up some great moral dilemmas for the Doctor, especially in his one-on-one duel to the death.

William Russell's character (yes he's in this!), is brilliant and I wouldn't be surprised if he somewhat inspired River Song 3 years later by being a character that meets the Doctor "out of order". Russell has brilliant range and is able to play Lord Darzil Carlisle perfectly. He has some great moments with Nyssa allowing to her to really develop as a character. His character in general is quite a tragic addition to the story that I absolutely love.

As I mentioned before, Nyssa gets great character moments, so does the Doctor however. This is a planet that goes against everything the Doctor believes in so it's interesting to see how he copes with this. I do feel like he let the citizens get off lightly and was even quite chummy with some of them despite how many people they killed but that's a philosophical debate for another time.

Morian is an excellent addition to this story even if I feel like Part 4 is when the story gets a bit muddled. I was hoping to see him get justice but this seems to be a plot thread that isn't further explored unfortunately. Still I think he's a decent adversary to the Doctor and it's refreshing to have a villain that genuinely has no other motivations except money.

All in all, a very fun story, a bit gruesome but with an excellent cast and a solid idea supporting it this is one I thoroughly recommend.

Next Story: Circular Time: Spring