The Visitation

Premise: 17th century England plays host to plague rats, a murderous android and trio of escaped Terileptil convicts. The Doctor must stop them wiping out the whole human race.

Notes: After writing this story, his first for the series, Eric Saward was offered the position as the new script editor for the series and stayed until the end of Colin Baker's run. After the sonic screwdriver is destroyed by the Terileptil leader, it is not seen again until the television movie in 1996. This was a decision made by producer John Nathan-Turner who wanted to get rid of the devise as he felt it provided too easy a way of solving problems. The Terileptil mask featured animatronics to make it move, a first for the series.

Verdict: A fun story which roles along at an enjoyable pace. Everyone gets something to do and the Terileptil's provide a rather well done set of monsters. However, the Doctor himself often acts rather out of character and can be very irritating at times 8/10

Kinda

Premise: On the planet Deva Loka a seemingly primitive tribe - the Kinda - hides a dark secret: they are all that stands between this world and the next, and the Mara that lives there...

Notes: Sarah Sutton only appeared very briefly as Nyssa in this story because it was originally developed for only two companions so instead of re-writing the script to include an extra companion it was deciding to instead that she would faint at the end of the last story and be in an educed sleep for most of this story. This story has many strong Buddhist themes running throughout with the monster of the piece, the Mara, being named after the Buddhist word for temptation.

Verdict: A strong story which mixes sci-fi and surrealism to great effect. While it's arguably too intelligent for its own good, the end result is ultimately enjoyable and as for the snake, there have been far worse monsters in the series 9/10

Four to Doomsday

Premise: Arriving on an Urbankan spaceship, containing specimens of humans from throughout time, the Doctor meets Monarch who believes that he can meet a god at the start of time - himself.

Notes: This serial was the first to be recorded for the season despite being the second to be broadcast. This makes it the first recording for Peter Davison (not including a cameo at the end of Logopolis) despite it not being his first full appearance.

Verdict: A visual masterpiece, just a shame the plot's a bit off. Character move from one place to another but generally nothing much comes of it. However, the revelation of the androids is well handled and the Doctor's spacewalk is absolutely stunning 7/10

Castrovalva

Premise: The newly regenerated Doctor falls into the Master's trap while trying to avoid destruction within Event One. To escape, the TARDIS heads to the world of Castrovalava.

Notes: After the script originally intended to begin the Fifth Doctor's era, Project Zeta Sigma, proved unworkable and was dropped, outgoing script editor Christopher H Bidmead was commissioned to write a new story. For inspiration, Bidmead looked at paintings by MC Escher, most notably 'Castrovalva' and 'Up and Down'. Due to the previous seasons poor ratings, transmission for this season moved to a bi-weekly slot as opposed to the traditional once-weekly Saturday transmission. While there were some criticisms of the new time, the ratings did significantly increase. In a rather poorly researched article, The Daily Express accidentally called the story 'It's Castrovlava'.

Verdict: While not as visually stunning as the script may have intended, the story runs along at a great pace with Peter Davison giving an excellent performance. However, the resolution is quite poor and the plot itself doesn't have the best of foundations 8/10