Meglos: Part Four 

With the Doctor about to be ritualistically sacrificed to appease the god Ti for stealing the dodecahedron, Meglos and the pirates return to Zolfa-Thura with the dodecahedron to fire up an ancient weapon and blast Tigella out of existence.

Director:

Terence Dudley

Writers:

John Flanagan (by), Andrew McCulloch (by)

Stars:

Tom Baker, Lalla Ward, Bill Fraser

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Tom Baker	...	Doctor Who
Lalla Ward	...	Romana
Bill Fraser	...	General Grugger
Frederick Treves	...	Lieutenant Brotadac
Edward Underdown	...	Zastor
Jacqueline Hill	...	Lexa
Colette Gleeson	...	Caris
Crawford Logan	...	Deedrix
Christopher Owen	...	Earthling
John Leeson	...	Voice of K.9 (voice)
Simon Shaw	...	Tigellan Guard

Storyline

With the Doctor about to be ritualistically sacrificed to appease the god Ti for stealing the dodecahedron, Meglos and the pirates return to Zolfa-Thura with the dodecahedron to fire up an ancient weapon and blast Tigella out of existence.

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Plot Keywords:

doctor who | fourth doctor | robot dog | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Family | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 October 1980 (UK)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

20 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the original script, Lexa had simply vanished from the action once she had served her purpose within the narrative. Christopher H. Bidmead suggested her act of self-sacrifice as a more dramatic end for the character.

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Quotes

Earthling: I'll be in trouble back home.
Doctor Who: Oh?
Earthling: I told the wife I'd be in from work in twenty minutes.
Doctor Who: Why, don't worry about that. We can get you back before you leave.
Earthling: Oh, good.

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Connections

Referenced in The Chronic Rift: Time Loop-de-Loops (2018)

User Reviews

S18: Meglos: Solid serial but probably too much going on and not enough focus

The second serial in this eighteenth season of the original series is a solid enough affair. It continues a good start with a serial which is not particularly remarkable, but does the job mostly. It sees the Doctor invited to help on a planet, but get trapped in a time bubble while a villain called Meglos manifests himself in the body of a human, and enlists the help of a warring planet to steal an all-powerful energy source.

In the course of telling the story, there are high-priestesses, comedy villains, cactus-like make-up and effects, and lots of moving parts. It all works pretty well but it too often felt like it had too much going on and probably it could have easily dropped a character or idea or two and been better for it. In terms of tone it could also have done with being a bit sharper and focused to produce a more consistent feel; parts of it feel overly-heavy, others have a bit of slapstick. It all works more or less, but as a whole it feels a bit messy and uncoordinated. The cast and performances are decent - although the return of one actress didn't add much beyond a trivia item on IMDb.

Solid enough despite not offering a great deal on the whole.