The Tardis is broken and it’s about to explode… and that’s the entire plot. Really.
Early Who could be cheap, but it should stay away from boring because cheap and boring is no way to do low budget sci-fi.
The main problem of this episode is that the crisis is never fully communicated. Yeah, okay… the Tardis might explode, but never did I feel that the characters every believed that reality. A gigantic guillotine is hanging over their heads for the entire episode, and yet the characters take naps and bicker.
In addition to this, the Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Susan act strange in this episode. I know that they are dazed or have amnesia or something, but they were complete d-bags to each other. Susan’s overtly hammy overacting when her head hurts was more comical than terrifying.
The entire end of the episode feels like a cop out. I mean, yeah… it was 1963 and springs were a part of everything, but today that technical snafu just seems ridiculous. The clues left behind by the Tardis were of Scooby Doo quality.
The only redeemable portion of the episode comes at the end when the vitrol that had been displayed so virulently during the installment melted away and you finally see these characters growing fond of each other. Beyond that, however, it’s the weakest installment of the series so far.
Jason Gaston 