The parallels with Carry On Dick get more obvious every time I watch it: a late entry in its era, seemingly with all the classic cast members, but with a rambling, wandering story which spends far too much time trying to amuse us with Jack Douglas/Stuart Hyde.
The Brigadier has had his final serious story in Day of the Daleks, and now he's reduced to permanent comedy relief, except for his bit of 'That can't be a V1' acting, nice though it is. Yates is basically sealed into his own separate storyline - and even if Benton does have his finest moment in temporarily outwitting the Master, he has to pay for it by having everyone laugh at his c0ck in the final scene. Perhaps on balance he'd've preferred just to be shouting at the troops in the background, as usual.
The time flow analogue stretches credulity too far. I don't know why they put that bit in since it's a plot dead-end anyway.
It's a relief to get away from Stuart and bossy woman and off to Atlantis (particularly as I always enjoy the limited TARDIS trips during the exile period). Interesting to see the Master trying his hand at conventional seduction. I wasn't terribly convinced by it I must say. I thought the incredible confusion of the 'Kronos devastates Atlantis' scene actually worked, it conveyed the idea of the place being destroyed about as well as you could manage with one set. (Compare the final scene of Frontier in Space for how not to do confusion).
Yes, obviously the Doctor isn't going to let the Master be tortured for all eternity. If there was no way to make that bit less predictable, perhaps it would have been more effective not to do it at all?
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