So, Underworld was every bit as bad as fan lore would have had me believe, but I have to say that The Invasion of Time was a pleasant surprise by comparison. It's become harder to enjoy six-parters now that I've been spoiled by so many four-part serials, but this one managed to keep my attention.
I offer this disclaimer before we begin: I was actually spoiled on the Part Four twist in this story years ago, so it didn't land with the intended effect. Actually, I much favor the first few episodes where the Doctor is "working with" the Vardans. We have, at this point, gotten used to this version of the Doctor being a little inscrutable, but it's odd and fresh to see the Fourth Doctor being quite so untrustworthy and downright threatening. If one didn't know better, one could almost think he's actually gone bad or been replaced by a duplicate.
This is reminiscent in a lot of ways of the sort of thing certain past or future Doctors might do. I'm not sure why it's so unexpected from Tom, but it works surprisingly well. It is especially jarring for the experienced viewer, who knows that the Doctor would never willingly take up such a position of power and responsibility as that of Time Lord president. We are reassured then, implicitly at least, that he really is putting on an act to fool an overwhelming opponent.
The story also picks up on the interpretation of Gallifrey that we got in The Deadly Assassin last season. I'm glad to have this, and I enjoyed once again getting a more complete image of what Gallifrey was like. The exiles living outside the citadel are interesting conceptually and point to a class divide in Gallifreyan society which has already been implied, though I know that it'll rarely be expanded on, at least on TV. I was also glad to see Borusa again; his somewhat prickly relationship with the Doctor, partly professorial and partly adversarial, is an intriguing one, and it interacts in interesting ways with the Doctor's unreasonable tyrant act.
The Vardans themselves are promising up until they reveal themselves as humanoids. "Disappointing, aren't they?" the Doctor asks us. Well, quite. I prefer nonhumanoid aliens, and I think the Vardans would have remained more mysterious and threatening if they'd stayed that way - tin foil and all.
I can't really fathom the choice to bring in the Sontarans aside from the shock value, although it is nice to see them in force for once. Their makeup this time looks quite striking, in a funny sort of way, certainly much more expressive than previous iterations.
There are some members of the extended cast who I found fun, such as the cowardly Castellan. I was also a bit taken with Rodan, not to mention a bit pleased that we finally see a female Time Lord. More on that in the next episode.
I wish I could say that this is poor Leela's finest hour too. But although she gets some great stuff in this story (taking a proactive role in leading the resistance, and her tension with the Doctor given his callousness towards her), it's more or less undone by that rather disappointing exit she gets. It's understandable that it wouldn't land quite right since it was written in at the last minute, but it does leave a poor taste. We will miss our favorite savage, just like the Doctor will. K9, too, whose time was all too short.
(Eh? What's that? [...] What do you mean Mark Two? Who's Mark?)
So we find a story which, albeit flawed, is at the very least brimming with good ideas and energy. It's not a favorite of mine, but now that I've actually watched it, I think it's overhated in the fandom.
We'll adjourn for a short time until the Season Fifteen overview. Ta-ta for now.
(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 6 July 2021.)
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