The Planet of Witches

Fourth Doctor Adventures #9.3

Released: 12 February 2020

Listened: 7/13/22

The third story in the set finds the Doctor and Romana taking a methodical approach to finding a CVE and getting out of E-space, which bores Adric to death. Although Romana was defending him not too long ago, she seems frustrated by him now, even though he’s being less peevish and more typical teenager. This story emphasizes the fact that the entire TARDIS crew is extremely intelligent and rational-minded, because although everybody else is concerned with witchcraft and magic, none of the four of them believe it for even a second. This is one of those stories that seems to change dramatically which each part, starting out with prisoners on a ship, then wandering a mysterious planet with an enigmatic godlike being lurking nearby, to trying to stop religious fanatics. All that contrast makes the story more engaging, but it does seem like the characterizations jump around a bit, even if there is an in-story explanation for all of it. There’s an awful lot of bluffing and concealed identities in this story, to the point where it can be tricky to figure out what’s going on. Romana always seems exasperated these days, but in this story it’s worse than usual. Some of Lalla Ward’s line readings seem quite off, as if she can’t find an emotion other than “really annoyed.” There’s some interesting stuff going on here, but I don’t know if it adds up to much.