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The Quest of the Engineer                                    


The Fourth Doctor Adventures 9.4                                              


On a planet that reconfigures it surface, the Doctor, Romana, Adric and K9 are seeking info on a CVE. They encounter the ‘Engineer’ who is also interested in CVE’s, though there is more to him and the planet than at first seems.

I had to check that I had started with part one, as it begins with Adic having been arrested for taking K9 though the streets where technology is forbidden. They meet Rigis Tel played by George Layton (perhaps more noted in DW circles as being the Space pirates) and go on to find the truth about the planet.

As for the plot… Well it is tempting to say what plot. The planet is… mild spoiler… a giant space ship. Being a Hitchhikers guide fan every time someone mentioned a ship the size of a planet I kept thinking Marvin. And it reconfigures. Having just heard a Jago and Lifefoot, where the house could be reconfigured its was a bit same - but that's just coincidence. The Engineer Is the last of his species and needs info and doesn’t care how he gets it.

I was quite surprised when I saw the ratings for this one, I’d lost interest by part three. Its one of those where I struggled to find a motive for what the Doctor and co were doing. Though I did carry on hoping that I would pick up the plot again, I just didn’t. Going back a few times to relisten  -it didn’t go in. I wasn’t interested and didn’t care for the events taking place.

There’s a double cliffhanger and the end of part two, slightly odd. By the time it resolved the one it ended with, the impact from the other was lost by the time its got back to it.

There were one or two interesting aspects, but I was never excited by it.

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