The Leisure Hive

A brilliant opener for Season 18. This one harbours so much ambition, and Argolis as a society feels like a world that's lived in, with so much depth. The special effects are among the strongest in the classic series, particularly the Fourth Doctor's old man make-up, and the Doctor and Romana's dynamic continues to be great.

However, the story does spend a little too long at Brighton beach, and the Foamasi are somewhat underused. It's a shame because they are an interesting species.

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

Previous Story: The Leisure Hive

This is such a drastic tonal shift from Season 17, I personally enjoyed it but it the differences are immediately visible.

I'll start with the good, production wise, this story is incredible. This is the debut of Peter Howell's Doctor Who theme and I can see why it's so well regarded. Sid Sutton's new logo is also a personal favourite of mine. The soundtrack is a much-needed change and the direction of the story leaves it much more fast-paced and enjoyable. The Doctor's new costume is striking and in my opinion, Tom Baker's best one.

Now, story wise, this story feels like a fever-dream. So much happens and while it all technically makes sense, it doesn't feel like it does. It had some very interesting concepts that I feel could have been explored but it just all feels like a mess. At the very least its not boring but it's no mystery why this story is not very well recieved.

Next Story: The Skin of the Sleek

John Nathan Turner and Christopher H Bidmead’s time has begun and you can immediately feel, despite some humorous scenes on Brighton beach, the tonal shift. This is not Doctor Who aimed at kids, as in the Williams era - the show feels more dense, but not in a negative way. There are a lot of full on science fiction ideas to take in. The story and setting immediately sticks with you. And while not all of the risks that the director and editor takes work, many do and the fact that so many risks are being taken feels new and exciting.

The way the spaceship tannoy talks and the aliens on the ship converse feels like it was of great influence to Russell T Davies' first series. Not to mention the human skin suits and the Doctor greatly aging - tropes we’d see later during Davies’ tenure.

Rooted in science or not, there is a lot of technical gobbledygook which makes you feel like your not really "getting" what's going on. There is something to be said for drama being easy to follow. With all the excitement in the world, if you’re wading through technical chit chat it’s difficult to fully get into a story - despite all its attractive features.

They are clunkily reminding us of the black guardian again... who'd I'd basically forgotten about. Hopefully he will be more interesting on his return!