Happily, these two episodes are just as wonderful as the first two. The third episode is primarily concerned with a deal between the Doctor and Count Grendel to get Romana back. The Doctor, naturally, suspects a trap ("They always want you to go alone when you're walking into a trap, have you noticed that?"), and the Count doesn't plan to disappoint him. But his villainy is so satisfying -- making an android assassin version of Romana and willfully stringing along his assistant, Lamia (who is hopelessly in love with him) -- that it's genuinely distressing when Lamia is accidentally shot down by the Count's men, as it seems cruel and unexpected rather than just desserts.
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Zadek and the android King, along with the Doctor, listen
to what
Count Grendel has to say. (The Androids of Tara Part Three) ©BBC |
Of course, these two episodes also highlight the continuing shift in Tom Baker's performance, to make the Doctor less serious than before. The third episode has the scene where the Doctor exits the little house where the exchange for Romana is to take place after the Count tells him that he has "my word as a Gracht you will not be harmed," only to be shot at by the guards' men, whereupon he ducks back inside, sticks his head back out to yell, "Liar!" and then ducks back in. It's a fun scene, but it does require us to take the Doctor as a more comic figure than before. There's also the start of the swordfight between the Doctor and Grendel at the end of part four, which has more clowning from the Doctor -- he might be doing it deliberately to provoke Count Grendel, but it still looks like Tom's not taking things seriously.
But honestly, those are minor complaints, and it helps enormously that this is the sort of story where such behavior fits in: the Doctor is playing the role of the charming hero, and so his actions are broadly in the same vein. And that climactic swordfight, once it gets going, is one of the best we've seen on the whole series so far; it has an energy and drive that a lot of swordfights on the show have lacked (due, presumably, to safety concerns), and it helps that it's recognizably Tom Baker (and not, say, Terry Walsh) for a lot of it -- it gives it that sense of verisimilitude.
The whole story is really one whole bright and charming tale, full of life and fun. It's also nice to have a story with such "slight" stakes: only one kingdom is at stake. Yes, obviously it's a take on
The Prisoner of Zenda, but it's done with such style that it's hard to care -- and it's not like
Doctor Who hasn't plundered other sources for stories before. It's not an Important tale, and there are a couple duff moments here and there, but overall
The Androids of Tara is a breezy, entertaining yarn.