Intriguingly, Robert Holmes expends little time on doing elaborate set-ups and looks into Time Lord society, preferring instead to toss in details as they come up. In one sense this can be a bit frustrating, as it sometimes looks like Holmes is just making it up as he goes along (e.g., Engin's comment in part two about how the Doctor appears to have survived being plugged into the APC because "his brain must have an unusually high level of artron energy" -- and yes, this is the first mention of that particular piece of lore), since no time has been taken to establish any of these things. But ultimately moments like this are outweighed by the more successful application of the same techniques, such as Runcible's off-handed descriptions of the Time Lord chapters, which add a sense of history even if they're about as meaningful to the viewer as talk of "artron energy". (Although there seems to be some confusion about which colors actually go with which chapters, as what we see doesn't line up with what we're told.)
The other interesting choice that Holmes makes is to make this first episode feel like a political thriller, as the Doctor races to stop the assassination of the outgoing Time Lord President even as the Chancery Guards try to apprehend him; meanwhile, in the shadows there lurks a shadowy, disfigured person who seems to have ensnared the Doctor in some sort of trap. Still, the Doctor gets pretty far, making it into the main ceremonial chamber (which looks fantastic, by the way) and even up into the balcony, where he finds a convenient form of rifle. And then, in what's really quite a shocking cliffhanger, we appear to see the Doctor shoot down the President. Why would he do that? What's going on? And who's that mysterious figur–oh wait, the credits say it's the Master. So, there's that answered, I guess.
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| The disfigured Master. (The Deadly Assassin Part Two) ©BBC |