"Do you want to tell me where you've hidden it?"
Five people (Barbara, Ian, Susan, Altos and Sabetha) used their travel dials to leave Vasor's hunting shack at the end of the last episode. Ian ends up getting separated from them somehow. He just pops up in the middle of a secured vault with no sign of any of the other four. There's no explanation as to why they didn't all show up together. This smacks of the LWS (Lazy Writer Syndrome) that plagued last episode and will become a hallmark of Terry Nation's work. The plot requires that Ian be there alone, but Nation can't be bothered explaining how this came to be.
This episode is an improvement over the last one, but it's no great shakes. It's nice to see the Doctor back after a couple episode vacation.
Hartnell is in good form as are the regular cast members. The guest cast is decent, but the actor playing Aydan doesn't do that great a job with what he's given. Remember back in Five Hundred Eyes when I complimented Darren Nesbitt for playing a convincing liar? Aydan is the anti-Tegana as far as lying is concerned. A fetus in the womb of a woman watching this would catch on to the fact that Aydan is lying.
In the tradition of this serial the worst guest actor in the episode dies before the end credits roll. OK the guy playing Vasor was decent, but he was the only guest star in that episode. The only exception to this was The Velvet Web, the one episode that I really liked from this story.
This has a decent premise; the Doctor, Susan and Barbara playing detective in a futuristic city where a criminal is guilty until proven innocent. There isn't much time to explore this unfortunately.
The justices have some pretty studly head gear going on though.
You know, during the episodes I thought the headgear was a bit out there but sort of cool looking. I still do, but now I can see how much he looks like a turkey leg.
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