Review of all 4 episodes:
Review of all 4 episodes:
This story is not awful at all but is clearly a change in general direction for the series and not a good one. The first 2 parts are not bad at all but show clearly the start of the more humour based, lightweight story writing that was forced upon the series by bosses. Parts 1 and 2 fall into what I would term as the category 'quite fun and enjoyable with plenty of good aspects but not at all outstanding by Doctor Who's very high standards': 7.5/10. Part 3 then falls quite a lot further down into the category of rather silly and disappointing by Doctor Who standards: 4/10 and Part 4 is rather too jokey and flimsy, not too bad but below the expected level for the show: 6/10.
The story is a space adventure in which the TARDIS is infiltrated by 'the swarm', an alien intelligence that wishes to spread itself across the universe. The arrival of K-9, the robot dog who becomes The Doctor's companion is notable and K-9 is enjoyable in his debut. The line saying "I hope he is TARDIS trained" and a few other moments regarding him are examples of the sillier humour creeping in though. The idea of cloning and shrinking the Doctor and Leela then wandering about inside the Doctor's body to fight the virus is overly ambitious with limitations of effects and is not convincing (an idea re-used to rather better standards in 'Into the Dalek' in 2014). This journey inside the body and the rather embarrassing giant shrimp-like swarm nucleus are the low points.
The script and production is not bad but following more than three years of such amazing high quality it stands out as less high standard. There are some decent effects such as the spaceship coming in to land in Part 1 but also some really bad effects, some funny lines and some cringe-making ones, some good ideas and some problematic ones, some good sets and costume ideas and some unimpressive costumes/make-up, some nice touches and some clumsy bits. Overall a below par adventure but not really poor.
My ratings: Parts 1 & 2 - 7.5/10, Part 3 - 4/10, Part 4 - 6/10.
