Is this not just the Android Invasion...?

The Fourth Doctor is a lot more aggressive in his tone, similar to what I've seen already of the Williams Era, even going to threaten Godrin. However, the Doctor was far too naive in this story, and the plot twists were seen from a mile off. It was really clever to have the Doctor separated from Leela in the first part of this story, as she is in her element, fighting off animals and warriors in the jungle, and she shines in this story, using her education and time with the Doctor to stand up for herself, almost instantly recognising this deity as a "little man behind a mask".

UNIT make a return, again without the Brigadier, and get captured and copied - sound familiar? The inclusion of UNIT makes this story sound very Hinchcliffe, especially making me think of the Android Invasion, which is disappointing as I was hoping for some more Williams-esque excitement - and before anyone says this is meant to be in the Hinchcliffe Era, it's not for two reasons - the original TV story was meant to be in Season 17, and Leela references going blind in the previous story. So yeah, I get why UNIT was in this, for a bit of backup, but I just disliked it.

The Luron are very generic monsters by the latter half of the episode. The very first "appearance" of Godrin is a few seconds before the cliffhanger - literally a few seconds, and I think that it was so poorly edited that the end of "Godrin" was immediately into the credits made me laugh, so wasn't a very good first impression. Then it sort of went along smoothly, normal villain tropes, then when he joined with the rest of the Luron, they pretended to be nice, and I can't believe that UNIT actually went along with it. Also, I don't understand why Godrin died for a multitude of reasons. One, if Godrin could survive on Earth for 100 years without that sun, why did he die almost instantly, and two, why didn't the leader die? Another similarity to the Android Invasion is how they actually made androids... Was not impressed by this bland alien race.

I think the first half of the story is far more interesting than the second, and I wish we spent the entire story in the Amazon, as it would've led to a far more original story. The exotic sounds and unfamiliar background makes everyone tense, and therefore the listener feels the same, which is much better without UNIT making everyone feel a lot safer.

Jane Slavin's accent is appalling. Is that meant to be American? It just sounds really forced and fake - Did not like that AT ALL. Edward was far more compelling as a side character, having connections with his grandfather and even getting to meet his hero - which all goes very wrong, and it's a bit disappointing that they didn't explore that further, but oh well.

On the whole, wasn't overly impressed by this story, but still a decent romp.

This story is alright it’s very s15 but I feel it’s not as tight as I would have liked would have been a cracking 3 parter

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

Previous Story: The Foe from the Future

Doctor Who meets Indiana Jones, this is one of those stories that is probably better off on audio as I doubt they could have captured the same feeling with the TV show budget.

The first two parts take place in the Amazon, somewhere I feel is underutilised in Doctor Who. Some of the twists were definitely expected but that didn't detract from the story.

The soundscape is phenomenal, from the plane to the jungle every location felt alive. The actors all did a fantastic job.

The Lurons are nothing new, they are basic bodysnatchers with no other unique abilities but they serve their purpose in the story so I can't complain there.

Next Story: The Catalyst