Logopolis

At the beginning of this story, the Doctor is in a bit of a pensive mood. Even though he’s been trying to get back to Gallifrey since his time on Tigella, the Doctor decides that it’s time he made some long overdue repairs to the TARDIS. After making a stop on Earth to do some research, the Doctor accidentally picks up two passengers: an airline stewardess named Tegan Jovanka and the Master. After leaving Earth, the Doctor heads to Logopolis to meet with the Monitor, who’s prowess in block-transfer computations will help the Doctor make the necessary repairs to the TARDIS. Once on Logopolis, the Doctor and Adric are reunited with Nyssa, who claims she was brought there by a friend of the Doctor. Having kept his presence hidden up to that point, the Master begins to search for the secret behind the Logopolitans’ powerful mathematics. The Master’s plot winds up putting the fate of the entire universe at risk. The situation gets bad enough that the Doctor is forced to team up with the Master. And while their short-lived partnership ultimately saves most of the universe, it ends up costing the Doctor one of his lives. The final story of the Fourth Doctor era is, honestly, a bit of a disappointment. All the timey-wimey mumbo jumbo about block-transfer computations and all-powerful mathematics is pretty boring. And the Master’s brief face turn towards the end of the story feels like it was lifted directly from Terror of the Autons.

Rating: Back in two shakes%

The Invasion of Time

The Doctor returns to Gallifrey, under mysterious circumstances, to claim the Presidency of the Council of Time Lords. Right away, Leela senses that something is wrong. The Doctor is acting strange. Stranger than usual, at least. After his induction, the Doctor appears to betray the Time Lords by helping the Vardans invade Gallifrey. While everyone else believes the Doctor to be a traitor, Leela remains convinced that the Doctor's actions are only part of a bigger plan. After the Vardans are defeated, it's revealed that they were merely pawns working under the direction of the Sontarans and the invasion of Gallifrey has only just begun. The Invasion of Time is a fairly middle of the road serial hampered by some poor lighting and production design. There are several scenes in the TARDIS control room that are lit in a weird magic hour style that makes no sense given the location. Most of the scenes on Gallifrey are very dark, possibly to cover for the lackluster sets. The serial ends with Leela and K9 staying behind on Gallifrey, ending their travels with the Doctor. Though, in a weird moment that breaks the fourth wall, the Doctor reveals a large cardboard box in the TARDIS containing another K9 unit.

Rating: Never heard of it%

The Sontaran Experiment

The Doctor and his companions beam down to Earth from the Nerva space station. It's not long before they encounter the crew of a crashed ship and the Sontaran warrior who's been hunting them. At only two episodes in length, The Sontaran Experiment is one of the shorter serials in Doctor Who's classic run. The fact that it was shot entirely on location also sets it apart from other stories. The plot is pretty thin, it was apparently supposed to be part of The Ark in Space originally. Also, the choice to bring back the Sontarans was due to the fact that they could save money on the production by reusing the Linx's costume from The Time Warrior. Tom Baker broke his collarbone during filming and there are some scenes in the second episode where he is clearly attempting to hide that his arm is in a sling.

Rating: This is extremely interesting%

The Time Warrior

Doctor Who wasn't supposed to be a show about monsters. The whole idea of the Doctor having a time machine was that it would allow the program to set adventures during historical periods, lending the show an educational element. Thankfully, audiences didn't care too much for the history lessons. They wanted to see monsters. And so, by the fourth season, the historical stories were largely dropped. The Time Warrior isn't a straight historical story though, it follows in the pseudo-historical footsteps of The Time Meddler. The Doctor and his new companion, plucky reporter Sarah Jane Smith, go back to the middle ages to find out who's been abducting scientists from UNIT's top research facilities. Once there, they discover Linx, a Sontaran warrior who's crash landed on Earth. It makes for an entertaining serial and a great debut for both Sarah Jane Smith and the Sontarans.

Rating: I'm very fond of delta particles%