The introductory scene in the TARDIS starts well -- there is a sense of bantering going on between Peri and the Doctor. Unfortunately, it goes on too long, and the bantering starts to look more like a genuine argument -- at least until the action gets going. And the action on Karfel isn't too bad -- some nice setup, and the stuff with the Borad leaves us intrigued by what's going on.
The problems set in, though, when we get to the main Karfelon council, and Karfel becomes a place where a handful of actors awkwardly insert exposition into all their conversations. "We are under imminent threat of invasion from our former allies, the Bandrils"; "I hope you're taking great care of my only daughter." "Of course. As my future wife, I could hardly do anything else"; "If we don't get the amulet back, he will destroy every Karfelon in the Citadel." "All five hundred of us?"; and many more examples like this. It's not the most graceful writing, and for the most part the actors involved don't do much to convince us that this is how they might normally talk to each other -- they're just words on a page to get through. And it's also early on in one of these scenes that we get the moment where Maylin Renis pulls a control off the board he's playing with and has to gracelessly put it back -- a feat he manages just subtly enough to not have Pennant Roberts call for a retake.
Things get marginally better when the Doctor and Peri arrive (and while the idea of control console harnesses to stop them flying around the console room when the TARDIS experiences turbulence is a rather nice idea, the actual straps look long enough that there's still a good deal of potential for injury as they're buffeted about), having traveled up the Kontron corridor (aka the time corridor). Somewhat unexpectedly, the Karfelons treat the Doctor as something of an old friend, since the third Doctor visited Karfel before and helped them out with some things. (But don't bother looking back at your Pertwee DVDs to work out when this was -- Timelash is a sequel to an unseen adventure. An admittedly interesting idea, although it does mean that the audience spends a lot of time wondering what happened the first time around.) "Only the two of you?" the new Maylin, Tekker, asks the Doctor as he arrives, which makes you wonder who exactly was traveling with the third Doctor during his last visit. (The Virgin Missing Adventure Speed of Flight suggests it was Jo and Mike Yates -- although no one seems to want to actually chronicle the third Doctor's visit to Karfel...) And thank goodness for Paul Darrow as Tekker (who not long ago in contemporary terms completed his time as Avon on Blake's 7) -- he may be acting somewhat over the top, but he's a hell of a lot more watchable than anyone else inhabiting this planet. Everyone else is just delivering unnatural dialogue in the most unexciting way imaginable, which does make watching this episode a bit of a chore at times.
It's not all bad, though; I actually rather like the androids (well, android, as they're all played by Dean Hollingsworth). It's a striking design and while the singsong voice is a bit irritating, it shows that at least someone is trying with this story. The android suddenly on fire in the caves is also a good moment, even if it's not explained. And there are some moments on 1885 Earth that are rather charming: Herbert may be somewhat unenlightened but he is rather likeable, even if he's intended to be comic relief. Plus Nicola Bryant gets to remark that "all these corridors look the same to me" on her guided tour of Karfel.
But despite nice moments here and there, Timelash has so far been a rather unengaging story, filled with unrealistic characters and dialogue. Maybe things will pick up in part two.