There's also something marvelous how David Fisher (who, as the author of both this and The Stones of Blood, becomes the third writer credited with back-to-back stories) chooses to deal with the fourth segment of the Key to Time almost immediately, by having Romana locate it in the first ten minutes of the story while the Doctor's off fishing. Of course, this is also the moment where the infamous Taran Wood Beast appears. There are a number of stories that have a token monster to (presumably) keep the kids happy (The Talons of Weng-Chiang, The Caves of Androzani, and Ghost Light spring to mind), in which said monster is actually quite decent but still receives criticism from fandom just because it's in the story at all. While the Taran Wood Beast is another token monster, it deserves all the criticism it gets; it's clearly a man in a fur suit with an appallingly poor mask to complete the ensemble. Surely they could have spent a little time on that face?
But other than this brief blip, it's a delight all the way, as Romana is captured by the wonderfully villainous Count Grendel (who makes no attempt to hide his ambitions but doesn't insist on being a vile and twisted man as well), while the Doctor is grabbed (at electrified swordpoint -- "Do you mind not standing on my chest? My hat's on fire," the Doctor tells his assailant) by the other side: those working for Prince Reynart, who establishes himself as the obvious "goodie" of the story -- note the way in which he accepts the Doctor's word with a smile on his face, to show that he's a just and reasonable man. And since the Doctor knows about technology and the Prince and his men don't -- knowledge of such things being a peasant skill (one wonders if Fisher is making a sly comment on the sorts of upper class people who, say, don't know how their car works, just that they need to call a mechanic when it breaks down) -- Reynart knows that the Doctor will be useful in helping him being crowned king, thanks to an android replica of the Prince. There's also some stuff about how Romana is a very close lookalike for the Princess Strella, and so Grendel at first thinks she's an android and then decides he'll use the resemblance to his advantage. It's all pleasingly entertaining.
Obviously complications are introduced in part two, with Reynart being kidnapped by the Count and the Doctor having to use the android to fool everyone at the coronation, but this same feeling of charm runs through these events as well, and you can't help but smile as they happen. It's a well-balanced tale so far, and everyone in the cast seems to be having a good time making this -- there's not a misjudged performance among them. If things continue like this, The Androids of Tara will be a winner.