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

Previous Story: Dalek Soul

Tegan is back, hooray! 5 and Nyssa, as much as I enjoy them, can get really dull when alone so it's great to have someone who brings a lot of energy to the TARDIS return. Tegan isn't the only returning character of this story, Omega is also back. Omega is an interesting villain because he has so much potential and yet he feels like he's been underutilised in both of his stories. The Three Doctors just slightly beats this story in terms of how well Omega is used but both aren't particularly great.

The last part was a slog to get through. While I appreciate the location footage, that chase sequence was so ridiculously unnecessary. It really feels like they just wanted to show off as much of Amsterdam as possible. In general though, I'm beginning to see the faults of the 80s and the general writing quality does feel like it's taken a decline, even if I sitll enjoy the stories. That's mainly due to the cast though.

Still, this wasn't a bad story especially since it had Colin Baker in it. He really stole every scene he was in, he's the perfect choice for the 6th Doctor.

Next Story: The Waters of Amsterdam

This wasn't as bad as Time-Flight, but it wasn't much better either. A terrible waste of a trip to Amsterdam - a setting that was absolutely wasted here and just looked drab.

I enjoyed how long this story proceeds with two seemingly unrelated storylines, one set in modern day Amsterdam, the other on Gallifrey. It builds up the mystery of the slowly revealing plot - until the plot runs out that is. Omega does not make a huge impact in part one, but it’s exciting seeing the Time Lords (including Colin Baker!) become the threat for The Doctor, who will take him down in order to foil Omega’s plot.

The Netherlands storyline is more interesting than that of Gallifrey, which is to be expected as it’s more relatable. I like how they threaded Tegan back into the story. Side note - it’s great to see her in such a fun outfit after being stuck in the hostess uniform all last season! The scallop detail on the top is very cute. I wish her part, which is initially quite interesting, didn’t result in her just being held hostage for final half of the story.

I do wish the Time Lords came across as a little more reasonable, they don’t seem to have a strong enough motivation for wanting to kill The Doctor. Outside of The Deadly Assassin Gallifrey has never come across as that worth seeing. It would be such an incredible asset to the show if it was a more intriguing place to be. But its so stiff and formal and lifeless.

There’s always the issue with elaborate alien costumes that cover the face when there is no way for an actor to emote other than pointing or waving their arms about. The scene when Omega is talking to a Time Lord hidden in the shadow (bar from their gesticulating hands) has zero dramatic value. This is director Ron Jones' failure as much as it is the actor's.

The whole story culminates in a bland run-around with unexciting revelations and exposition overloads. Meh. I'm not enjoying this era as much as most of what came before it unfortunately.

A completely adequate serial with Omega as our villain. I prefer his older look but he’s still good here and provides a compelling dynamic to the Time Lord bureaucracy of it all. Also, Colin Baker has a little bit role here and I was surprised to see him, another of the ranks of actors who had one-off parts before joining full time.

In this story, the Doctor doesn't really go to Amsterdam.

At the bones of it, the story has a few very good ideas. However, the whole thing is bogged down by oddities and unnecessary diversions, which make it no more than an entertaining but engaging watch.

On the good side, there is Omega, who is pretty great in the serial in my opinion. His plan is thought out, his motivations are clear and his character is interesting to watch. Having a traitor in the high council is also a good idea, and setting a story in a foreign city has been great before (looking at you, City of Death). The cliffhangers are great, and Davison-as-Omega is also extremely compelling. I wish they had done more with that as opposed to the Gallifrey plot. Lastly, Colin Baker as Maxil is very entertaining to watch, and seems more dangerous than his boss, the Castellan, and more effective to boot.

However, the flaws are numerous. First of all, for a story that seems like it is going to be set in Amsterdam, very little of it takes place in Amsterdam, and most of what takes place there is B-plot at best. The story doesn't seem to want to give too much time and attention to the plot of the two backpackers of which one goes missing, treating it as no more than a vehicle to shoehorn Tegan into the story. Having the backpacker that goes missing due to the monster of the week be Tegan's favourite cousin is a massive, massive stretch. Also, once the Doctor shows up, the plot gets dropped fast enough to cause whiplash. When the Doctor calls for Tegan once, she half-heartedly replies that she's helping her cousin. He calls again not a moment later and Tegan's cousin has suddenly disappeared from her mind. At the end of the story, Tegan leaves him to his own devices as she abandons him to travel with the Doctor again without ever saying goodbye.

(I couldn't take Omega's helper alien seriously either, I kept thinking of it as some kind of skeksis.)

Meanwhile, the meat of the plot happens on Gallifrey. You see, the High Council has never been as incompetent as it is currently, and that has caused one of them to turn traitor. The question is who it is. Is it one of the three barely-realized councilors? Is it the Doctor's old friend, Borusa? Is it the other old friend of the Doctor who we've never seen before, Hedin? Or is it the obstinate and extremely hostile Castellan, who is incredibly eager to kill the Doctor for some reason? This write-up may make it seem like it is the Castellan, and that is also what the story wants you to think. It's quite forward in obviously suggesting that it is the Castellan, and that made me realise quite early on that he was probably a red herring, albeit one that expands the plot with somewhat unnecessary complications. Though I thought it was Hedin quite early on, the plot did succesfully make me doubt Borusa, so I was a bit disappointed when the plot went back to Hedin, who was so obviously the good guy of the council the odds of it being him were about 70% to begin with.

The council, meanwhile, never feels like a group of people that are governing a planet. Their discussion is shallow, they show little to no initiative, the way they interact with the Doctor and Nyssa is so informal that it almost seems like the Doctor is in charge somehow and Borusa pivots from happily greeting the Doctor to "no, we have to kill you Doctor" with a sad face, as if he's got mood swings. Nyssa threathens to shoot them and they barely react.

On that note, Nyssa really likes guns in this serial all of a sudden; very out of character. But if I was stuck on Gallifrey and some Castellan seems to take every opportunity to try to execute me with Kafkaesque justifications that make you suspect he just woke up on the murder side of the bed that day, perhaps I would suddenly have an appreciation for guns too. Later in the serial, the Castellan turns out to be a 'good guy', but I don't buy it.

They really should have halved the runtime of the Gallifrey plot by not making the Castellan a massive arse and streamlining the traitor plot, so they could focus more on the tragedy of Omega.

Not my favourite, luckily Omega the audio play is soon in my watch/listenthrough.

Quite a good story, though slightly undermined by it's constant cutting between locales. On the one side, a strange disappearance in Amsterdam; on the other, political machinations and treachery on Gallifrey, with the latter being a far stronger story. I was quite compelled by the cast of shady Time Lords and their ulterior motives, though the design of Gallifrey was a little underwhelming, and the pacing was rather slow. On the upside, though, we had Nyssa with a gun, Colin Baker's Maxil, and Omega's jolly holiday in Amsterdam, complete with some quite splendid shots of the TARDIS team pursing him. And naturally, we had the triumphant return of Tegan Jovanka. What more could anyone ask for?