October 11: Four to Doomsday Parts Three & Four

It doesn't take long for us to learn what Monarch's really planning: according to Bigon, he wants to get rid of everyone on Earth, take all its silicon, and make more electronics in his quest to travel faster than light -- that way, he'll be able to travel back in time to meet the creator of the universe, who he believes to be himself.  Obviously the Doctor can't let this happen, so the rest of the last two episodes are about how he's going to stop Monarch from putting his plan into motion.

Of course, you need complications when something like this happens, and unfortunately much of these complications involve Adric and Tegan.  Adric continues his downward slide, being totally captivated by Monarch's "give everyone immortality by turning them into robots" plan for some inexplicable reason.  It feels an awful lot like the betrayal subplot in State of Decay, except here it's played for real.  The upshot is that you really want to smack Adric upside the head -- although his dressing down by the Doctor in part four (the conversation which begins with "Now listen to me, you young idiot.  You're not so much gullible as idealistic.  I suppose it comes from your deprived delinquent background") is made particularly entertaining because of Adric's prior behavior.  And Tegan is continually in hysterics, yelling at the Doctor and then running off and (somehow) causing the TARDIS to dematerialize and rematerialize out in space next to Monarch's spaceship.  It's not very pleasant or entertaining to watch her either.

The Doctor tries to spacewalk to the TARDIS. (Four to
Doomsday Part Four) ©BBC

But at least Peter Davison can be relied upon to entertain as the Doctor, working his way through the situation without tipping Monarch off too much as to his intentions.  It's fun to watch him and Bigon disable monopticons and try to devise a way to stop Monarch, and even when they're found out (in a dramatic cliffhanger to part three that ends with the Doctor about to be beheaded) the Doctor still manages to turn the tables.  A good chunk of part four involves him trying to reach the TARDIS out in space, and even this is entertaining, even though it just involves several attempts to try and float to the TARDIS.  (I'll not comment on the feasibility of the cricket ball stuff, as plenty of people have discussed that elsewhere, but I will say that the effects are really nicely done.)

This attitude sums up Four to Doomsday -- it's entertaining even when it's not doing much at all.  Even the resolution of the story, while being rather abrupt (Monarch confronts the Doctor, who throws the shrinking poison at him and ends his threat), still feels much in keeping.  It's clearly not a story for everyone's tastes, but if you're willing to accept it on its own terms then there's a decent amount of enjoyment to be had here.  Davison impresses in his first serial in the role, even if he's not quite settled yet, and the guest cast do a great job of propelling the story along -- Monarch is a despot who acts kindly toward his antagonists because he knows they can't threaten him, and it's a nice change of pace (even when this changes as Monarch begins to take the Doctor seriously).  It's not an important or epic tale, but that's okay: Four to Doomsday may be a slight story, but it's certainly not without its charms.