Doctor Who Rewind - Galaxy Four

Only one episode of four remains of this third series opener, and that may be a blessing. Thanks to the Reconstruction contained on the special edition of The Aztecs, we are still able to feel the frustrations of a 1965 TV audience as they struggle to see the point of it all.

So, after a beauty like The Time Meddler, we get this! Basically, the TARDIS lands on a planet that is inhabited by to waring races who both crash landed there. On the one hand we have the Rill, an ammonia breathing Reptilian creatures who use small round Robots to do their bidding, and on the other, we have the
Drahvins, female clones who come from a planet called Drahva, headed up by the feisty blonde called Maarga.

Both of these races have landed on the planet and are battling to get off it before it before it blows up. The Drahva ship is damaged, so they are trying to take the Rill ship by force in order to escape.

Vicki names the Rill robots Chumblies, due to their wobbly nature, they are kind of like a demented version of R2D2, minus the loveable characterisation. Even the Rill themselves start calling the robots Chumblies, which is kind of cute really.

The Drahvin women, who also inhabit the planet, are a feminist no nonsense trouser wearing battle ready troupe who look like they've just performed a very poor sci-fi novelty song on Top Of The Pops. There leader is Maaga, who seems to have a big chip on her shoulders. When Steven asks about the male Drahvin, she cusses, "Men perform no particular function on Drahva."

Maaga is defiant that the Rill are plotting against her and that theywant to leave the Drahvin on the planet to die when it explodes in just 14 planetary cycles. But after speaking to the Rill the Doctor and Vicki discover otherwise, that the Drahvin were offered help by the Rill, who refused it.

The Doctor decides to assist the Rill to power up their ship (with the help of the TARDIS) while the Drahvin plot to take it by force.

There's not really a lot to like in this story, it bumbles along, without much humour, or come to think of it, action. The Chumblies are pretty pathetic as robots and the Drahvin are far too wooden. And the Rill, well, they sound like a demented Wizard of Oz.

Next time on Doctor Who Rewind - a one episode prequel to an epic Dalek story coming later in the series, which features none of the regular TARDIS crew, and, is missing from the BBC archive.