Underworld - Part Four
The Doctor, Leela, Idas, and the crew of the R1C break into the P7E. The crew of the R1C fight with the guards while the Doctor, Leela, and Idas go after the golden cylinders which contain the race banks of the Minyan people.
The seers decide to release Herrick and give him the golden cylinders. A temporary truce is declared. Herrick returns with the others and the cylinders (which turn out to be fakes) to the R1C.
The Doctor finds the real golden cylinders and has a chat with the oracle, the P7E's computer. It doesn't give up the golden cylinders willingly. The Doctor, Leela, and Idas return to the R1C. The fake golden cylinders are bombs, according to K-9's analysis. The Doctor returns them and comes back with all the Trogs.
The R1C blasts off and leaves the planet. The P7E blows up.
On the commentary track, Bob Baker talks about his writing partnership with Dave Martin, and Tom Baker talks about working with producer Graham Williams.
This ending was a bit lackluster. It all went a bit too quickly and too smoothly. I thought it was a little silly that the Oracle made these bombs in the hopes that they would destroy the P7E but then the Oracle was unable to disarm them when it realized that it had been tricked. It was very convenient how K-9 showed up to save the Doctor and Leela after they had been buried alive.
The special effects were disappointing but more disappointing was the story itself. It could have used a guest star or two who did more than just stand around or run around but actually engaged in conversation with the Doctor and Leela. It isn't hard to see why this story gets such low marks. I have some recollection of seeing it before, in the 1980s, but no strong memories of it.
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