I was pleasantly surprised by this release - I wasn't too excited about it, but it turned out to be quite a fun filler adventure!

The main cast in this story are... fine. They do a good job, it's a lot of fun, but there's nothing... special about them. There's nothing that distinguishes this story as a Fourth Doctor story. There's nothing to suggest that the Doctor and Romana are close friends, and there's even a line that suggests that the Doctor's only keeping Romana around because she doesn't want to go home, rather than him actually enjoying her company. But it's fine. Also, just because the Doctor's criticising their work, doesn't mean that he's the thief. Bit weird.

The waxwork monster was a neat concept - sort of similar to the autons, but I'm sure it would've looked very creepy to see it reforming and turn to liquid. The buildup to the cliffhanger where it's revealed why they stole Marie Antoinette's sculpt is great, and left me excited for Part 2! However, it seemed like Alan Barnes used the same trope as he did for White Ghosts, where you think the episode's over, but there's a sudden twist where it's not the real companion, almost in the exact same way.

The musem setting reminded me of Spearhead from Space, where the waxwork figurines were being replicated. It's a bit unoriginal in retrospect, and I think they could've done a bit more.

We've got two returning cast members - Celia Imrie is probably the better known one, playing Miss Kizlet in the Bells of Saint John, whilst Nickolas Grace also features, playing Chevalier D'Eon in The Sword of the Chevalier. The dialogue between these people were a bit boring and annoying.

The score didn't leave too much of an impression on me for me to remark about.

This is a mixed story - it's a lot better than I was expecting after the atrocities of the previous story, but it's still enjoyable - but I probably won't remember it tomorrow.

This was a nice step up for s5 of the 4DAs like for a second i thought it was just gonna fall off

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

Previous Story: Legacy of Death

This is probably the weakest story of this series and that's a testament to how good this series is because this story is great.

The atmosphere of 19th century England is impeccable and I can't help but think the prevalence of waxworks in this story is a subtle meta jab at the infamous wax figure of Tom Baker in promotional photos for The Five Doctors. I like that the randomiser has actual consequences in this story (and in this series as a whole). This story plays out similarly to Wild Blue Yonder, with alien shapeshifters slowly figuring out how to be more human-like.

Next Story: The Trouble with Drax