Doctor Who - Meglos

For many years the most recent Doctor Who DVD release Meglos was a sort of Doctor Who Holy Grail for me; it wasn’t available on video, few people wrote about it, few people commented on it. What was this oddly neglected story actually like? Was it a hidden classic, just waiting to be found?

Quite simply, the answer is no. Unfortunately, it is just a bit shit.

It has one of those scripts that badly needs editing and rewriting; it feels like a first draft from a couple of writers who didn’t care much about the show or the quality of what they were producing. It is filled with padding, with endless info dumps and little to reward the discerning viewer. Mind you, the script isn’t helped by the production values that just exude a sense of “that’ll have to do”. The alien planets come across as a sort of clichéd take on Doctor Who - more for a lazy satire of the show that an actual story. And not for the first or the last time, we can tell that we’re dealing with aliens because they have stupid hats.

Upsides to the story? Well, Baker isn’t bad in the lead role, and Jacqueline Hill makes a welcome return to the show years after playing one of the first companions. Plus, the cactus people transformations are quite effective. But that’s it. And that’s not a lot for 4 episodes of TV. Mind you, even if this was on the verge of being a classic, having a villain who (at least initially) is a pot plant is always going to undermine the story somewhat.

There was some talk of bringing Meglos back as the villain in last year’s The Lodger. Thank God they didn’t – it would have pushed a comedic episode into the realms of absolute farce. The sad truth is that Meglos isn’t a lost classic waiting to be rediscovered. It’s a vapid story that is instantly forgettable – which is just as well, because this story heartily deserves to be forgotten about.