Rate and Discuss: The Androids of Tara

[SiHart]

There's trouble on Tara for the Doctor, and double trouble for Romana as she's meets her various dopplegangers!

Can they defeat the machinations of Grendel of Gracht? And what do you think of the fourth story of the Key to Time season?

[Terry Leptil]

Two in a row from David Fisher. It's not as good as his previous story but a fun tale nevertheless.

I like the swashbuckling element of the tale with the Doctor once more as in The Sea Devils fighting his opponent with swords. (Declan Mulholland is in both - shame they didn't bring him back for a part in The King's Demons. Coincidentally, all three came out on video in 1995.)

Tara has some wonderful elements to offer like the scenery, Romana's purple/turquoise costume and a great villain from Peter Jeffrey. However, the Taran beast is silly and does let it down a bit. 7/10

(I once met someone who said The Androids of Tara is his least favourite Doctor Who story and commented that the Taran woodbeast looked like the Sugar Puffs honey monster.)

[SiHart]

The costume design is a wonderous thing about this story. Aside from Tamm's most glorious costume you also have the delights of The Archimadrite's Hat- one the finest peices of millernery ever seen in the show.

I love this story.

[Stuart Wallis]

Well it's quite obviously a ripoff of someone else's story - just as well they've ripped off a good one. I'm a bit biased in that The Prisoner Of Zenda's a favourite of mine, and the embellishments, such as the electric swords and the idea that the peasants do the highly-skilled jobs such as android making, are generally good ones. (The one that doesn't work has been mentioned...) Add one of the better of Who's one-off villains, both in terms of acting and writing...

Far and away the best of the series, and the only one of the series that I had more than one or two really clear memories of seeing on first broadcast.

8/10

[Jon Masters]

It's not a story about swordfights or androids - as Si's picture clearly shows , it's a story about hats.

[SiHart]

Hats are obviously very important on Tara.

[Jon Masters]

Hats are obviously very important on Tara.

All the more puzzling why they should set fire to the Doctor's.

Notice, none of the peasants get to wear hats (or maybe that answers my own question)

[SiHart]

All the more puzzling why they should set fire to the Doctor's.

Notice, none of the peasants get to wear hats (or maybe that answers my own question)

It's an attack motivated by jealousy, isn't it?

[Rob McCow]

It's not called The Hats of Tara!

Though technically it is about who gets to wear the Crown, which is a kind of Hat. Count Grendel of Gracht (great names for the villains this year) clearly wants to upgrade his own, still rather fabulous selection of headgear for the gold of the Crown of Tara. Rather fabulously, Grendel lives to fight another day - there are surely more stories of Tara that do not involve The Doctor!

It's a bit strange that there's a double of Romana in a story where they can make android doubles. Though I do love the scene where the two of them are happily doing cross-stitch in the dungeon while the heroes are battling to save them.

[Stuart Wallis]

It's an attack motivated by jealousy, isn't it?

That explains why the peasants at school kept beating me up then!

[Andrew Curnow]

As a kid, I remember being really 'hooked' by the cliffhanger to part 2 - and now that I'm, well, a bit older, that kind of thing seems to be a bit of a 'David Fisher trademark'. Not so much a "How will they escape?" ending, more a "WTF?!!" one. Creature from the Pit part 3, and Leisure Hive part 3, are equally well-structured.

As for the story, it's like a perfect distillation of why I love the Williams era. It's such a gorgeous romp, telling an entertaining story through great set-pieces, captivating performances, and an extraordinary charm. And if it's raining hard here, I often tell the dogs that our evening's walk will be like the android prince's speech: "Not a long one!"

[Stuart Wallis]

There's no answer to that!

[Jeff]

That explains why the peasants at school kept beating me up then!

Because you wore nice hats?

[Stuart Wallis]

You're never alone with a hat. It keeps the rain out and the baldness in.