Doctor Who: Spaceport Fear

The Doctor and Mel arrive in an abandoned spaceport where the descendants of those once trapped there have devolved into a tribal society where Business and Economy have been rivals for centuries. This is obviously reminiscent of the TV story Paradise Towers and shares, for example the same trait of travel and business terminology being adopted into the peoples' language. Paradise Towers isn't necessarily the best thing you want to be reminded of, although here we lack the over-acting and have Mel being written properly, both of which help.

The arrival of the TARDIS does, among other things, set a monster free to roam to darkened corridors of the spaceport, but, while this is relevant to the plot in the final segment, the story is much more about the rivalry between the two tribes and the Doctor's quest to get to the control tower so he can put everything to rights. It does drag a little in places, although there are some clever ideas here and there, such as communicating through the hi-scores on a video game, and a few touches of humour amidst the general gloom.

To be honest, though, it's a fairly average sort of a tale. There's a monster, a villain, and a constrained setting that doesn't really make too much sense when you think about it, but not much more than that. It's well done, particularly the touches with the language, but I feel it's just 3.5 stars, which I'm going to round down.