A typical Briggs base under siege story. Not a particularly special story, but filled its purpose well. I quite enjoyed Alison and Leela's interactions, and though she didn't have an awful lot to do, Leela was never treated by the narrative as stupid which I appreciate. It is also interesting to me how often a Briggs script is very anti-empire. Here, British Empire is treated as savage and base - something that Leela is explicitly not in this episode. The British pillaging the alien ship and taking it to dominate the alien culture is very much treated as a bad thing in this script, so despite the generic plot beats, I still enjoyed the story overall as it made me think, which is better than being boring.

The way I was so bored yet invested yet didn’t care yet didn’t want too

thats a mix emotions audio haha

This is a perfectly standard story. Briggs delivers an alright script that takes place right after Talons of Weng Chiang, with the Doctor and Leela still dressed in Victorian garb... despite the story taking place in space. Alright then. The connection to Ark in Space is tenuous at best. It's Nerva Beacon but at this point it's just a space dock. There is no other connection from here. Baker is good, Jameson is good, the side characters are alright. The main villain is imperialists. Imperialists that are also a fleshborne disease that turn people into Cronenburg monsters? Alright then. And then it's all undone in the end by some random aliens. Ok.

There is truly very little to be said of this story. I don't hate it but I only listened to it a day or two ago and I've already forgotten most of it. And frankly, I have no desire to relisten. A somewhat disappointing start to the 4DAs and forgettable overall. For completionists only.