Review of Mysterious Planet (1982) by Tim L — 22 Feb 2011

After the show was put on hiatus for 18 months it looked in real jepordy of being cancelled all-together. The head of the BBC had voiced his dislike of the show and the ratings had been steadily dropping.

You can tell there have been a few meetings in the Who camp about changes to try and bring the programme back to its past glory. The Doctor, as played by Colin Baker seems to have mellowed into a much more aimiable, funny character than his harsh abrasive self in the last season, and the warmth between him and Peri seems to have grown. The opening shot of an epic spaceship shows a lot of promise that there is a new level of professionalism and commitment to effects being given - even though this does quickly fall back into its usual style and design.

The story is fairly interesting (though not spectacular) and you can tell there is the commitment there to make something more consistently watchable and cohesive in the over-arching story of the Doctor's re-trial (the first trial and subsequent punishment having been dealt on the second/third Doctors of course) by the Time-Lords who accuse him of 'meddling' in other cultures and times (something they don't encourage).

There are some great cameos, one by the inimitable Joan Simms as Queen Katryca and Lynda Bellingham as the Inquisitor (Time Lord Judge).

Still not brilliant, but a welcome return for the show and a vast improvement on many of the elements it had seemed lacking in for the last season.