Doctor Who: Four to Doomsday (1982) - Review

The second story in Doctor Who's nineteenth season, 'Four to Doomsday' is a very run-of-the-mill installment, consciously designed from a production perspective for new leading man Peter Davison to warm into the role as the titular Time Lord. Three script editors were involved in working on Season 19; this story was pushed forward by Antony Root - editor between Christopher H Bidmead and Eric Saward - who felt that Terence Dudley's script was the only one vaguely ready for production. The first story, 'Project Zeta Sigma', was in a bad shape, and re-worked by Bidmead to become 'Castrovalva', and filmed much later on.

'Four to Doomsday' does certainly feel like a story that everyone signed off on without a huge fuss. It's a very by-the-numbers plot for a Doctor Who episode, setting up a mystery, a spaceship, and an alien who totally isn't evil but oh wait he is. The structure feels very familiar, and the twists not particularly surprising. Tegan and Adric have a fair amount to do, but Nyssa seems to be pushed to the sidelines somewhat. Peter Davison's first performance as the Doctor is very interesting to watch, but I can't help but wonder if he has been consciously underwritten. Davison doesn't command the screen in the way that Tom Baker and, later, Colin Baker did, but creates a more approachable Doctor - despite his friction with Tegan and Adric. Here in 'Four to Doomsday', the Fifth Doctor feels like a member of an ensemble as opposed to a leading man, and while that's understandable, I can understand the criticism this TARDIS team has had for being overcrowded. I mean, Nyssa ultimately adds very little to the story.

The villain Monarch is an interesting one, but his ultimate defeat feels a little random. The Doctor already knows whats going on, defeats him, and then brushes off a concrete explanation. Actor Stratford Johns brings a necessary gravitas to Monarch, and his henchmen Enlightenment and Persuasion are fun little side-villains, but they all feel very inactive in the story as a whole. It's not until Part Four when things really kick-off, by which time you've completely forgotten that Burt Kwouk is in this. The supporting cast have very little to do, and while the exploration of different Earth cultures gives the story a lot of initial intrigue, by the end it all feels like set-dressing - an idea that was ultimately superlative to the narrative itself. There's very little in the way of a confrontation with Monarch, and the final resolution is very much episodic Doctor Who in that the supporting cast explain their happy ending and the TARDIS team depart.

I appreciate the various technical aspects of 'Four to Doomsday', but there's no denying that it's a bit too "basic" by Doctor Who standards. The story very much plays it safe, and doesn't explore anything particularly new or original. Monarch's plan is ultimately that of the Cybermen, and the mystery element goes on a bit too long, especially when it all comes down to "evil villains wants to invade Earth". There's very little tension regarding that invasion as well. I appreciate the difficult circumstances that birthed this story in 1981 though, and perhaps a safer story to start production off with was a smart decision. I'm just struggling to remember much about 'Four to Doomsday'.

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