I like the first half of this one better than the second half, but I still like the whole thing too.
Avon seems to be risking his neck a bit, getting himself "beaten to a pulp" in order to get information. Perhaps he has a death wish.
The audio-commentary for this story is fairly hilarious, with Jaqueline Pierce not being sure what ship anyone is on, or barely what is going on at all. She also has some rather cutting digs at the lady playing Piri: "Not terribly good!", "Oh do shut up!" and, when the lady in question gets her comeuppance: "Oh good! GOOD!!!!"
When Piri says to Tarrant: "I don't really like clever people anyway!", Darrow quips: "Well, you've come to the right place!"
So, if only for the resulting commentary, I am glad this story exists. But it is nicely done as an episode, and I am fairly sure that, as a kid, I did not see the twist coming.
And Ian Levine saw this and showed it to JNT, which led to the casting of Richard Hurndall as the first Doctor in the Five Doctors, although I have always thought that Geoffrey Bayldon would have been a better fit. A long wig does not a Hartnell make, but Hurndall did, at least, create his own performance as the first Doctor from the ground up, so kudos to him for not trying to do a bad impersonation.
Soolin continues to be strong, but Stephen Pacey has held this episode up as one where Tarrant was shown to be dumb, to the point where the audience can lose respect for the character, so not one of his favourites.
Overall, we are into the second half and the upswing in quality is profound.
And at least an expert did not get killed this week, although - once again - someone they tried to help, Nebrox, dies horribly.
