"Doctor Who" Four to Doomsday: Part Four (TV Episode 1982) Poster

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6/10
Meh..
wetmars22 February 2020
Meh, this is extremely cheesy as heck. :Harold: xd
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5/10
It ends on a somewhat flat note.
Sleepin_Dragon28 July 2019
Four to Doomsday is not without its good points, sadly they all seem to occur during the first two episodes, when the mystery and intrigue cause real interest. As the story unfolds it sadly becomes a little dull, the final part being as dull as dishwater. The plot is somewhat messy, and the main three villains go from being the most powerful beings in the universe, to absolutely woeful.

I know this one is of its time, but the special effects do it no favours, The Doctor's attempts to get to the TARDIS look so bad, but as I say it was 1982.

Not much for Nyssa to do, apart from faint, this highlighted the obviously overcrowded TARDIS crew.

Four to doomsday begins well, but sadly ends in very ordinary style. 5/10
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5/10
Flat as a Panoptican Pankcake
anthonyjlangford17 August 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Not a highlight amongst Peter Davison's otherwise solid turn as the Doctor. This story is flat, empty and commits the worst cardinal sin, it's boring. So little happens until the last episode and even then, its all over so quickly and easily. The space jaunt is a little embarrassing, even for the times.

The companions are solid enough, whiny Adric, cute and efficient Nyssa and loud mouth Tegan, who at least has some passion. The rest of the cast are as dull as robotic frogs. There's some embarrassing moments, such as the glee demonstrated when the Doctor reaches the Tardis.

There's barely enough story for two episodes, let alone four. About the only redeeming feature is the production design. The walls look great as does the (overused) King's Throne.

I love Davison's Doctor, but I wish I hadn't bought this on DVD.

Fortunately, there's many better stories than this.
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5/10
"I wouldn't dream of interfering with your monopticons." OK Doctor Who story.
poolandrews2 April 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Doctor Who: Four to Doomsday: Part 4 starts as Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) manages to short circuit the robotic Roman guard & prevent it from decapitating the Doctor (Peter Davison), the evil Monarch (Stratford Johns) then spares his life after Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) gets involved. The Doctor must find a way to stop Monarch from wiping out the human race & he is running out of time as the spaceship drifts ever close to Earth...

This Doctor Who adventure was episode 8 from season 19 that aired here in the UK during early 1982, directed by John Black I thought Four to Domsday was an average Doctor Who story. The script by Terence Dudley hasn't really got me that excited during any of it's four episodes, they have had pretty weak cliffhanger endings, the main bad guy hasn't been that menacing, particularly evil or actually done that much besides sit in his chair & while the basic plot is alright it won't go down as a classic as far as I'm concerned. I also think there was too much build up during Part 1 & 2 so there wasn't really enough going on to retain my interest so by the time it did get interesting I was feeling a bit cold but having said that I'm positive Four to Doomsday would work & flow better if it was edited together as a 90 odd minute chunk rather than four 25 minute episodes.

This one has been quite impressive on a technical level, the special effects have been OK & the aliens have had decent make-up effects. The acting has been alright, Davison makes for a good Doctor & his style & personality is coming through in this his second story. Janet fielding as the ever moaning Tegan is annoying me although the cute Nyssa is definitely growing on me...

Four to Doomsday is an OK watch, it's not the best Doctor Who story but what can you do?
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S19: Four to Doomsday: Decent delivery of good ideas, but too much padding and not enough edge
bob the moo30 August 2020
After a lacklustre start, Four to Doomsday seems a decent entry early in the Davidson era. The plot sees the TARDIS land within a mysterious ship with a lot of technology and mystery; originally they had been trying to get to Heathrow to drop Tegan off to catch her flight. While that would have made for quite a boring four episodes, I honestly would have taken it if it got rid of one or more of the assistants, as they mostly feel like they are cluttering up the show, and at least Tegan and Adric actively irritate me. Anyway, it doesn't take long for the Doctor to realise that bad business is afoot, starting a race against time to save Earth.

As this serial settled in, I was quite enjoying it as it felt like there were lots of solid interesting sci-fi ideas and concepts being rolled out, and it did seem more interesting and focused than the serial before. Mostly this was the case, but unfortunately it doesn't bring a lot of things home. Now, having them as ideas and detail is all well and good in and of itself, but it did bother me that the serial clearly had space to fill, but didn't do so with good content. Instead what we got was lots of ethnically diverse dancing which adds nothing that I could see - the nature of it also means that it offers no sincere claim at diversity either (although maybe it did back in those days).

Davidson is better here than in the first serial, but he is playing it safe, not doing anything too colourful or animated - but he is solid. Waterhouse continues to bother me; not sure if it is his performance or his material but he always seems wooden and not offering much to like. He is helped by Fielding, who I found out of place here - the dialogue clunks and she can't make it work. Sutton has a better character and her Nyssa works better with the Doctor than Tegan. The supporting cast here are decent; Johns is good value, and finding Bert Kwouk was a nice surprise in a minor role. Not a great serial though, but decent enough in terms of ideas and events.
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