Always a favourite. Interesting that when I read it now my original picture of Vorg as a raffish, young wideboy type returns, along with my mental image of the huge spaceport apron under the baking twin suns, with all the action taking place in a tiny corner of it.
There's no Illustrated London News to tell us the date. Jo reads out the publication date of Major Daly's novel instead. (NB in the screen version that the weekdays on the calendar, and the one on the masthead of the magazine, can't belong to the same year - the one on the masthead is correct for 1926, the calendar isn't).
Jo does not call the audience 'horrible'. Rather the situation itself is 'terrible'. She and the Doctor repeatedly get caught walking past the saloon door, rather than trying to sneak out of the saloon. Her stay alone on the ship (while the Doctor gets outside the Scope) is more protracted, and Terrance hangs over it the threat of the Scope breaking down and the world ending in 'choking darkness'.
Pletrac is rather more sympathetically portrayed, as tradition-bound but fair-minded. Kalik is more of an out-and-out villain. He thinks Orum is a contemptible fool too. Kalik ends up prising open the Scope with a crowbar to let the Drashigs out, and is eaten for his pains 'crowbar and all'. (On screen it isn't certain whether he gets killed or not). Vorg heroically blasts down a whole succession of Drashigs with the Eradicator to save the day.
In the final ship scene, Clare's near-success in remembering what happened is transferred to the Major, who has a confused series of memories as he falls asleep, about the Doctor and Jo and monsters. 'Probably jumbled memories of some blood and thunder story he read long ago,' he excellently thinks.
The full Five Credit Bar rating for this one.
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