R4 - Journey Into Terror

Just when you I thought that this story couldn't get any worse, the TARDIS crew lands in what appears to be a haunted house, eventually finding several monsters and ghouls in the guise of the Frankenstein monster, Dracula, and some strange screaming and laughing woman wearing a toga. But here's the thing - they're actually androids! And the haunted house is an abandoned theme park in Ghana in 1996! Well, sure! It's also interesting to see that the default setting for these disused androids is "CRUSH! KILL! DESTROY!", as they all attack the Daleks when they finally arrive on the scene, and are, conveniently, impervious to Dalek weaponry. Obviously, the Festival of Ghana is run by the same proprietors of Itchy and Scratchy Land.

As a result of all this frivolity, the first three quarters of this episode is a complete embarrassment. But then, against the best intentions of the story thus far, some intrigue and, dare I say, plot development creeps into this episode when Vicki is separated from the rest of her friends, and has to quickly stow away on the Daleks' own time machine. The scene where The Doctor, Ian, and Barbara are gutted about accidentally leaving Vicki behind is a winner, and Vicki witnessing the Daleks creating an android version of The Doctor sets up a sufficient amount of interest for the coming episode.

Where was all this for the first hour and a half of this story? I'm actually interested in watching the rest of this story now, something I couldn't have said after the last two episodes. Roll on Episode Five!