Meglos

I once heard "Meglos" described as Doctor Who's Greatest Hits, this despite it's at times comically bad reputation. It was noted that checked tick boxes include a religious cult worshipping an ancient artefact ("The Brain of Morbius"), the Doctor's double ("Enemy of the World", "The Android Invasion", hell take your pick!), a time loop ("City of Death") and there were also lots of neat other elements that were specifically present in other stories which I'm not inclined to recall and repeat. Suffice to say that ever since reading this I've always subsequently thought of this story as a traditional compilation, rather than as being original or different in its own right. As such, I've always been quite fond of it. After all, compilation albums are always the best; as the televisual equivalent of "The Best of Doctor Who", this has consequently always gone down well.

It's another one of those stories that is a little too blatantly Doctor Who for some people's comfort though, hence presumably the resistance to its charms (it's either that or because Edward Underdown is crap). We like to let Terrance Dicks pretend the Doctor always landed on a planet with two opposing Pels, but we don't expect them to actually be labelled and have matching haircuts. Or perhaps its the religious group worshipping a big glowing thing that people object to, again it's okay in "The Brain of Morbius" but not here. When something happens once, it's applauded, when it occurs again it's in danger of being uninspired or a weak copy.

But it's Tom Baker's performance that amazes me here. He was apparently supposed to be either ill, or not trying, or both in this season, a sullen, brooding figure telling Matthew Waterhouse to "fuck off" in the bar and working out his resignation period after smarting from having his show taken back by the BBC. Do we undervalue Tom that much? Doctor Who fans tend to have a very short memory when it comes to loyalty I think. He's great here, and you certainly wouldn't know he's apparently given up. Admittedly it would help if he'd had to play Meglos during one of his earlier seasons, where his natural performance (which at this point is world-weary and doom-laden) counter pointed a bit more with that of his alter-cactus. But he really is good, especially in the superbly visualised scenes where 'human' tries to break away. "Is that you Earthling?"

The ending is a bit rubbish though, if only because you can see it coming a mile off - couldn't someone have tried to come up with something other than the inevitable 'guess which one's the Doctor?' scene? The production also has a bit of the Season 17 about it - we don't mind them re-using a few old coats, but the design has a complete air of rummaging around in the Props box about it, and even the jungle looks strapped for cash. Still, this rather suits the Gaztaks, a coach-load of tramps and rogues. Not everything in life has a stylised design to it, or a smart coiffure to match. Some people DO wander around as if they've dressed out of a junk shop. And sometimes you can cobble up something good from the best bits of whatever's to hand. "Meglos", then, is very much exactly the sum of its parts.