The Robots of Death [TV/1977.1.29 ~ 2.19]

★★★★★

  Still as sublime as the day I first watched it, The Robots of Death is a practically flawless piece of televised Dr. Who. The clever worldbuilding, the tension-ridden writing, the performances and the set design... it's hard to nitpick a flaw out of this one. Kaldor's culture is one of the classic series' best-developed alien worlds/future human colonies, and it's all done inside one sandminder in the middle of the desert. Like the best examples of low-budget TV/film, all you relaly need is a handful of interesting characters who offer a deeper insight into how their system works, how they think and what their goals are. The robots, the corpse markers, the lore behind Taren Capel and his motive for killing off the rest of the crew... everything's so rich, practically dripping with the yummiest of details, and I'm impressed by the density every single time I revisit the serial.

  A big disappoint for me back in the day was how Dask's identity became so obvious come Episode 3, when a barely blurred image of David Bailie shows up in glorious detail. This being an Agatha Christie homage, I remember thinking it was such a shame the killer was revealed so early (and seemingly against the production's intentions). Nowadays I don't think it harms the viewing experience in any way. Quite the contrary; the focus of the serial seems to be less on who Taren Capel is than why he's like this and what his motives are, anyway. Add to the fact that the killer's identity is merely one portion of an insanely detailed serial that focuses on the characteristics of multiple characters (Poul's robophobia, for example), and it becomes even less of an issue. Production flub or intentional cog inside a narrative, I think revealing Dask as Taren Capel makes the serial as good as it already is, if not leagues more interesting.

  With all these elements, and glowing performances from Tom Baker and Louise Jameson, The Robots of Death is a rightfully celebrated classic that I could watch again and again. It's claustrophobic, sharply written and acted to perfection; it's the perfect Dr. Who story to watch on a dark and stormy night.