That was fun: interesting premise with political/revolutionary commentary, with more evidence of the Tardis internal mind... Great Who!

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

Previous Story: Image of the Fendahl

I didn't expect to like this one as much as I did, I hadn't heard much about this story and the little I did know made me think it was going to be fairly annoying. Luckily, I was wrong.

It starts off quite bleak, a man forced to pay taxes for the death of his father. Since he can't afford it, he tries to kill himself in a place where he would be fined if he was caught. It immediately tells you what kind of story this is, Robert Holmes was clearly upset about his taxes, and this is the story that came out of it.

This is a brilliant story to show people who believe classic Doctor Who was subtler in its political messages, the Collector and the Gatherer at times almost feel like caricatures, especially the former, but they are both played really well.

Politics aside, this is a fun serial in general, it's got plenty of memorable lines and each character feels like they get enough time to shine. K9 now has his voice again and therefore is able to participate in the story, Leela is in her element inciting a revolution and the Doctor similarly feels quite comfortable toppling a government.

"Oh, the taxes. My dear old thing, all you need is a wiley accountant."

Next Story: The Exxilons

This one starts extremely well, exploring how governments / companies can exploit their population with aggressive tax and extreme control. Annoyingly, as sometimes happens with Doctor Who, it descends into a runaround. The Doctor is trapped, Leela runs after him, then Leela is trapped, The Doctor runs after her. Much of this can be forgiven this time round as it’s a fun setting with creepy, interesting villains and our wonderful regulars.

What is harder to deal with is shootouts with absolutely no pace or drama. A lot of telling and not showing and tension-free cliff hangers. Enemy rebels, who treat the doctor and Leela very poorly become friends with them all too easily.

There is a thread of fun and cleverness though, and a great sense of victory when the regime is overturned in the end (I can’t believe they threw that man off the top of the building with such glee!)

Peak

Easily the funniest episode of classic so far. The Doctor starts a revolution against cartoonishly evil bureaucrats. This episode is just such a fun trip. It's not particularly deep or emotional really, its just everybody seems to be having a blast playing these characters and its full of great humor and banter (I was dying when the Doctor called the collector a "Usurian").

Without context this could easily be something straight of out the Hitchhiker's Guide. 5/5

I'm surprised that they decided to write a story about taxes and it turned out as well as it did.

Only the Doctor would play chess against a dog - and lose. While he goes through the story with a big smile and laughs, he's clearly caring of these oppressed citizens, and the Doctor clearly enjoys getting the best of the Company, as their rule is everything he stands against. I'm surprised how well Leela settles into this story, considering it's not something that Leela is used to. K-9 acts a lot more like a dog than he does in the future, and some of my favourite moments are between the two companions, and they are extremely close, something I really love about this TARDIS team. All three of them get a chance to shine, K-9 especially!

Holmes is clearly writing an anti-government political stance and this is shown through all of the villains - I'm sure this created a lot of controversy at the time. This doesn't give the story too much of a serious outlook, however as each villain keeps the story upbeat and fun, with the Gatherer being OTT and the Collector being high pitched. The guards aren't very good at their job, and I'm surprised that the citizens didn't revolt beforehand. The higher ups establish their threat early, even convincing someone to commit suicide - DARK!

I'm annoyed that Pluto doesn't look like Pluto - just get a planet that looks like Earth, and problem solved. It makes literally no sense for them to be on Pluto. The settings themselves are very bland, and I wasn't interested in the place, and I just think they should've put far more effort into the visuals of the story.

The citizens are probably the best part about this story - but far too weak generally. Of course, we get Condo, who starts off as someone with no hope, and develops over the course of the story and rediscovers life - and then we have the rebels, who are serious and get to have some fun after hiding at long last.

It's okay, but a little boring and dull, both plot-wise and in terms of visuals. The characters are the saviour of this though.