Galaxy 4 is a four part story beginning with Four Hundred Dawns.

This is a sort of run-of-the-mill adventure but it is well acted, especially by the regular cast and neatly scripted. Overall the story is presented very well and has some interesting ideas such as appearances proving to be deceptive. Most aspects are done effectively enough with a decent performance from leaders of the two rival alien races.

The development of the Doctor's new companions continues to create great interest. Steven is one of my favourite companions and Purves' performance in the part is establishing the character really well by this stage. The way the Doctor, Steven and Vicki interact and deal with situations provides a lot of quality.

The story is no classic but is a pretty well executed adventure all round so I am not sure why it is so disliked by many fans.

Episodes 1, 3 & 4 - 8/10, Episode 2 - 7.5/10.

Inferno has a tremendous reputation and that is very well deserved, it is fabulous in almost every way. The brilliance of the story, script and acting is clear throughout and particularly in the famous portion of the story which involves an alternative reality with fascist versions of the Brigadier, Liz, Benton and guest characters. This highly entertaining aspect of the story brings out fantastic performances from Nicholas Courtney and Caroline John as villainous versions of their regular characters. When this alternative reality is brought in, it is Doctor Who at its truly magnificent best.

The story involves a scientific project lead by Professor Stahlman to drill through the earth's crust which runs into trouble due to Stahlman's refusal to slow down or take precautions and due to a mysterious green substance coming from underground which causes physical and mental changes to those who touch it. The Doctor throws in a whole new dimension - literally - when he accidentally causes the TARDIS console to transport him to a parallel universe where the same scenario is occurring but in a fascist Britain.

The entire script is superb, intelligent and believable with great dialogue delivered perfectly by the whole cast. Pertwee, Courtney and Caroline John are at their very best throughout whilst John Levene not only fully establishes Benton as an extremely good regular character he also plays the fascist version of Benton with gusto. There are great realistic guest characters played to perfection. Olaf Pooley (Stahlman), Christopher Benjamin (Sir Keith), Sheila Dunn (Petra Williams) and Derek Newark (Greg Sutton) could not be better. The story has a nice gritty, grown up science fiction feel but also has bags of action, stunts, thrills and fun.

The plot thread where people touch a substance emanating from beneath the Earth's crust and turn into werewolf-like creatures known as 'primords' is the least impressive aspect of the story in my opinion and even that is very entertaining. At first I disliked the primords subplot but after repeated viewings I realised it makes more sense than it first appeared. The substance affects the people physically and mentally at different rates depending on how much they touch. It drives them to seek extreme heat and to try to achieve the penetration of the earth's crust. They use the knowledge they had before being affected to help them. It is actually a fun idea providing a lot of thrills but the make-up effects were limited by the age and budget. That does not detract from the quality of this really fantastic story which I would put in my top 10 or 15 stories of all time. It is a true classic.

The vast majority of this 7 parter is truly special and it deserves the huge praise it receives.

My Ratings: All 7 Episodes - 10/10

This is a fantastic character piece that explores The Doctor and Ace at a point in their adventures when they are getting tired of running. I absolutely loved the parallels between each of their arcs as well as The Doctor's and "Professor Nightshade" (the writer/actor). As someone who has never read the novel I assume these were explored to a little more depth than the 2 hour audio could afford. The premise was interesting enough to carry it, though, even if it was a little shallow.

'King of the Dead' is a small Short Trip that taps into the character of Nyssa and the effects that the events of her journey have had on her. When the TARDIS team of the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, and Tegan land in the middle of an impressive theater experience in 1980's London, they discover a dark presence acting in the curtains and looking for vengeance. While the Doctor does his normal thing of doing his best to save the day, it's Nyssa herself who ends up having the strongest role in having to deal with the darkness of her past as it ends up coming back to haunt her. It's a decent idea and the script by Ian Atkins does have some good moments. The soundscape does its best to build up a decent atmosphere and I will admit to being surprised at where it all ended up considering the title of the story. The Doctor, Tegan, and especially Nyssa all get some good moments and the theatrical atmosphere is very well handled. But at the same time, I found myself getting bored and lost with this story frequently to where it's definitely the most lackluster Short Trip I've ever heard. I normally love Nyssa and any story where Sarah Sutton is a part of the proceedings is usually at least decent (see the Short Trip "The Toy"). But this is definitely not one of her best stories as a whole and it all comes down to one issue: the narration. Her impressions of each character and moment are fine but her speech in this audio is not only ridiculously fast but also very almost uncaring in tone and structure. It feels like she read through and recorded the entire script on a lunch break in the worst way possible and it makes the story go by so fast that you hardly have any time to register anything or take a breath before it's all over. I have never heard a story get so flustered by the way it was delivered and it really makes you mindful in remembering that the way a story is told is just as key as the story itself. If Sutton had just told the story at a slower pace and given things more appropriate weight as opposed to speed reading the entire thing to jam-pack it into a half hour, I think this story might have had more potential. It's an utter shame because on paper, "The King of the Dead" could've been a very enjoyable audio and I liked what it was trying to do. But the way the narrative is mishandled kills any enjoyment out of it for me and the entire audio came and went like an unpleasant breath on the wind.