Witches, legends and swamps!

It's a funny gag for the Doctor to have a D-Class brain, but it actually makes no sense. The Doctor is far cleverer than Adric, and it's just a pointless plot device. Romana is just off on her own adventure and doesn't care about what the others are doing, and Adric is hanging out with the enemy... AGAIN. K-9's unfortunately the most compelling of this TARDIS team, because he's involved with the action the most but at the same time he's the one struggling the most with him getting stuck in the swamp and has to overcome the most. John Leeson's role is integral, and the entire hopes of the story are pinned on a tiny metal dog - he's killed, given the location of the CVE, and even becomes a familiar! What an interesting role they give him! But the dialogue between the other three is bland and annoying, and I don't care for them. At least Lalla Ward seems to be having a bit more fun.

The witches were cheesy and their plan was confusing as hell. What I got is that someone came from N-Space and turned people into witches? And then they were on one planet but at the same time captured by witchfinders in space? It made no sense and I struggled so hard to follow it that by part 4 I had just lost interest. I liked the idea of someone escaping to E-Space though, but the execution, once again, fails poorly.

I got Full Circle vibes from running about a swamp. It made it easier to picture, and the atmosphere is built up well, but nothing really happens. That's not the fault of the environment, more of the story itself. However, the gothic horror tone matches really well with the planet surface, and it can be super creepy and freaky at times.

Witchfinders are mathematicians or something? I don't know, it makes no sense! The ideas for these side characters are all there, but it just doesn't use them properly and I'm left so confused.

I'm not sure what to think about this one. On one hand, it's a complicated and boring mess, but at the same time it utilises some fascinating ideas to keep the listener engaged. The story seems like it should have some significance but at the end it wipes the slate clean and makes the 2 hours I just spent completely pointless. I learned nothing about the characters or their motivations, I don't understand the plot and the dialogue is so unbelievably unimaginative. At least the main cast are trying their best, and K-9 gets some interesting work.

Fourth Doctor Adventures: Series 9: Planet of the Witches

(4, K9 Mrk II, Romana II and Adric)

Pretty meh

5/10

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

Previous Story: Chase the Night

I found this story OK, it had some interesting new ideas but nothing really interesting. Still, sci-fi witches are always cool and while this wasn't really the kind of story for me, I'm sure someone out there will like it more.

I found Crone and Tiresias to be excellently voiced. I did like that Romana got a lot to do on her own, but I'm annoyed that this led to another K9 fakeout death. It's just not something that works since you know he's always gonna come back anyway.

Next Story: The Quest of the Engineer