I thumbed through About Time before writing this, just to see what others have said. And I have to admit that I'm amazed the authors never mentioned the Latin phrase panem et circenses.
Now, granted, I'm not about to claim that this is the Doctor Who version of The Hunger Games, because it's not. But somebody in this serial pretty much hit the nail on the head.
So there's this planet Varos, which exports this absurdly important mineral. It's so important that it actually powers the TARDIS, so naturally it was/will be destroyed during the Time War and Eleven will have to deal with that at some point. Yeah, right. Anyway, there's a little green slug named Sil who's overseeing the planet, ensuring that the mineral is mined for a slave wage and televising executions either to keep the population entertained, or to sell the videos off-world, or both. I can't tell which because I couldn't make out most of his dialogue. He is, however, given a fantastic over-the-top performance that must be seen to be believed.
Varos is nominally politically controlled by Governor Zaal'Koris vas Qwib Qwib, but if the people don't like how he's doing his job, he'll gets disintegrated. Of course, direct democracy is like two wolves and a lamb voting on what's for dinner, so it's remarkable he's lasted this long.
Unfortunately, his psychotic Grand Vizier is in league with Sil to depose him and keep the planet poor. The psychotic Grand Vizier is also the sole member of the judiciary branch, so he gets to basically re-write the law whenever the plot needs to be padded out a bit more by forcing the Governor to make a speech. Also in league with Sil is the Phantom of the Opera (in case you can't tell, I've long since given up on trying to remember contrived sci-fi names), who is the chief Gamemaker. There are various guards - who, by the way, have the best "evil fascist" uniforms ever seen on the show - most of whom defect to the good guys over the course of the story.
The "good guys" are a prisoner whose execution is supposed to be televised live, his love interest, their very doomed guard friend, and... some bloke in a patchwork coat who randomly hijacks the entire plot because none of the other "good guys" can act. At least, not until Martin Jarvis becomes a "good guy."
That's not entirely fair. Colin Baker delivers his best televised performance here. He's amazingly composed during the hanging sequence, and although the payoff is a bit of a letdown that shouldn't distract too much from the fact that for once, his part has actually been written as the Doctor and not some other lunatic.
Basically the plot involves the Doctor and company falling into their usual series of traps and escapes, ninety minutes of running around tunnels with some subtext or another, the difference is this time we get to see what All The Viewers At Home are up to. Apparently invisible cameras can follow the Doctor through the Punishment Dome (where the control room is just down the hall from the transmogrification room, which seems like a bit of an oversight to me). The script is a tad too self-aware, and by a tad I mean it makes Troughton's Doctor talking through the security cameras all the time seem subtle.
One of the first visuals sets the tone for the entire story. The rebel leader is being tortured by a device that looks an awful lot like a giant clunky video camera. Unfortunately, it just gets piled on heavier and heavier from there.
6 out of 10.
