Considering the high science attitude of most of Season 18, this is something of an anomaly. It's more suited to a Hinchcliffe or Williams homage story - not surprising as it was held over from Season 15 originally. The story is a cunning take on vampire myths by Terrance Dicks, doing the old Who trick of giving a science fiction explanation for where a supernatural myth comes from. That the story takes place in E-Space (a pocket universe) is largely irrelevant, aside from the odd throwaway line to keep that particular subplot ticking over for the next story.

The storyline is tremendous fun, and sees some inventive ideas. The projected war between the Time Lords and the Great Vampires is interesting stuff, covering the theme of where myths come from, even if some of the imagery summoned up by the recollections of the battle are a little silly (the idea of giant ships that fire huge bolts through the hearts of giant vampires is taking the point a little too far), but the script generally manages to stay the right side of send-up. I'm not exactly sure where Terrance Dicks' script stops and Christopher Bidmead's script-editing starts, but the story succeeds in working on two levels - as a 'Doctor Who and the Vampires' pastiche and as a study of a source for a common myth. The idea of phonetic shift is a nice touch (one that definitely was from Bidmead), though Dicks also scores big points for the castle-as-spaceship twist.

Peter Moffat, making his Who debut here, does rather well, especially compared to his later disasters (the slope in "The Five Doctors" and the long shot revealing the Sontarans in "The Two Doctors" both being notably poor moments), and while this won't have you comparing his favourably to Sergio Leone, it does serve to build a wonderful atmosphere. Many of the staples of the story are based on cinematic vampire stories than Bram Stoker, especially Hammer. It feels a lot like one of Hammer's post-Dracula stories, an impression helped by the lack of a single vampire, and by Camilla, who is pretty interested in Romana (I know, who isn't?) in particular. It's too much of a coincidence for this not to be a reference to J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla, which was very loosely adapted as one of Hammer's more famous 1970s efforts, 'The Vampire Lovers'. Moffat helps this atmosphere, not going for the mistake of making things too dark, and there's a very sinister atmosphere early on. The story unfolds at a nice, natural pace.

Tom Baker brings the right amount of humour to proceedings, remaining affable without undermining the drama of proceedings. His chemistry with the superb Lalla Ward is never better than here, and the scene in the cell is one of my favourite of the whole series, being a joy to watch, defining both characters. It's a show of Baker's versatility when his ego isn't cranked up too high. That said, it's hard to be egotistical and domineering when you're about to be flattened by a minor character opening a door on you. I still can't decide whether that's intentional or not... K9 is well-utilised for the first time in Season 18, getting to help The Doctor a bit and shoot a huge number of guards. Less impressive is Matthew Waterhouse as Adric. Dicks taps into the 'cosmic artful dodger' of the original conception, but Waterhouse's toff kid interpretation doesn't gel with this, and the character comes off as brattish, spoilt and a bit of a prick - especially when shamelessly sponging off Marta. His flat performance does nearly come across as minor brilliance at the yet - his languid protestation that he was against the Three Who Rule the whole time totally fails to ring true, and it'd be nice to think this was intentional, but compared to Adric's characterisation elsewhere, it's pretty clear it wasn't.

The support cast isn't one of the show's best, sadly. Clinton Greyn does alright with the stoic Ivo, and Rachel Davies manages to make Camilla moderately sinister (though, at the risk of sounding chauvinistic, someone with more sex appeal might have helped). Arthur Hewlett does his regular little old man act as Kalmar, while Thane Bettany at least has a bit of go in him as simple Tarak. Emrys James hams it up as Aukon, however, while William Lindsay is utterly anonymous as Zargo - possibly due to an underwritten character. The problem is that Aukon is set up as the real power of the Three Who Rule, pitting him against The Doctor, and Camilla is after Romana, Zargo is left with very little to do, mainly loitering just off Camilla's shoulder and bearing his fangs whenever she goes for someone.

Production values aren't brilliant. The interiors are good enough, as are the costumes, but the great vampire and his demise are both very poorly realised, even by Who's standards. Also, the idea of the castle being a spaceship is lost as the design team lend so heavily towards it being a castle, making its' doubling-up as a spaceship seem faintly surreal.

Despite several failings, and feeling very out of place in the radical Season 18 despite the various bits of window-dressing, it remains a good, solid fun story. It's a bit like watching one of Dicks' Target books, and one of the few times a very talented, if prosaic, writer's work was successfully transferred to television. Good stuff.

Review written: 27/06/2006
E-Space Trilogy ("Full Circle"/"State of Decay"/"Warriors' Gate") VHS boxed set @ Amazon.co.uk