Meglos certainly is.
While this is undeniably the weakest link of the season, I have to say that this serial at least remains entertaining throughout. This is generally owed, of course, to the cactus. Come on, that's just plain amusing. Meglos is a weak villain but a hilarious piece of costume work. Plus a good excuse for Tom Baker to ham it up.
I was also pleased to see Jacqueline Hill one last time. Lexa isn't much of a character, but Hill has the class necessary to elevate the material.
Grugger and Brotadac are quite funny; they're both played by skilled physical actors who make the funniest expressions, making the segments featuring them far more tolerable to watch than most of the serial is. I wish I could have heard them better, but the audio mix in this story seems pretty poor to me, with the background music playing just a bit too loudly during dialog segments.
The theme of religion versus reason is woefully underdeveloped, but it's also a story about a giant evil cactus, so I don't know what I was really expecting.
There's not a lot to dig my teeth into here. It's just a mildly amusing, slightly below average Doctor Who story. Next? Ah, yes. Full Circle.
"Come on! There's no time for botany!"
(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 12 October 2021.)
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