The second half of the latest Fourth Doctor set is comprised of two very different stories, not just in narrative tone but in quality. “The Caged Assassin” I found to be extremely annoying and quickly forgettable, while the boxset-titular “Metamorphosis” is a perfectly fine Master story that much like the Celestial Toymaker story that kicked off the set won’t surprise you but will still keep you entertained. Let’s take a closer look!
“The Caged Assassin” starts off with The Doctor (Tom Baker), Harry (Christopher Naylor) and Naomi (Eleanor Crooks) finding a radioactive tiger in the TARDIS and this leads them to Victorian England and Charles Jamrach’s exotic animals. Charles (played by Michael Fenton-Stevens) is frequently visited by famed animal artist Dante Rossetti (Mark Gatiss, oddly…) and, um, other female character Alexa Wilding (Isabella Inchbald) exists to round out the human cast. Dante is particularly interested in the wombats but this eventually leads to the revelation that at least one of the creatures called Top is an alien who happens to look like a wombat (and is voiced by Glen McCready). The story has all the comedy voices and silly moments you’d expect with that premise, including some scenes of Harry being knocked out and captured by the small creatures, but I’ll be honest I really didn’t get on with it. My mind drifted from time to time and it’s only been a week since I listened to it and I’ve already started forgetting things. There’s only so much mileage in a wombat with a ray gun, as the phrase goes…
“Metamorphosis” on the other hand is at least a bit more fun. The Doctor, Harry and Naomi arrive on the planet Jaxus and soon Naomi vanishes in a strange fog, something local Cahlo (Lydia West) warned the strangers about. She wakes up in a nearby prison and is taken away by the prison’s slave-like population, led by an emaciated man in a cloak, The Master (Geoffrey Beevers) Soon Harry is likewise transported in the fog, but due to his experience as a doctor Harry sees The Master, who soon falls to the floor weakened, and begins to try and help him instead. Meanwhile The Doctor and Cahlo head to the prison through more regular means, though this does mean having to convince sentient grass to part for them, which was amusing. Naomi is dipped into a mysterious vat of liquid and nearly drowns before managing to escape down a hatch, where she soon meets up with The Doctor who begins to piece together what’s happening, especially when he hears The Master’s voice on the intercom…
It’s a pretty by-the-numbers Master story but again much like “Matryoshka” that kicked this boxset off at two episodes it’s an inoffensive little slice of Who.
The Continuity:
Another look at the cover, which now makes even more sense given the whole Master thing… oh, and the wombat with a gun as well, I guess!
Not really any continuity to follow here. Even The Decayed Master as he’s made so many audio appearances now it seems kind of redundant to talk about his prior appearances like it’s a rare continuity link!
Overall Thoughts:
“The Caged Assassin” was a dud in my eyes, the comedy didn’t land and the human characters were quite dull without it, so it was an hour that just drifted by without holding my attention. “Metamorphosis” didn’t blow me away with originality but was at least a fun by-the-numbers story, which I was happy to take after the previous one…
The Caged Assassin:
Metamorphosis:
“Caged Assassin” sees the Wombat people ship arrive and prepare to rain down hell on Earth to honour the loss of their Queen only for The Doctor to have found the monarch and brought it back round. The wombat Queen then calls off the assault for a happy ending, with Top forced to live on Earth as penance for his actions, though he begins to adjust to life with Dante in the final scene. That’s it, as far as I remember…
“Metamorphosis” reveals that all the local people are being enslaved and drained of their lifeforce all because of a local material that if mixed just right will allow someone to rejuvenate their body, something obviously of great interest to The Master. The Doctor and Naomi confront him but he has Harry under his spell and forces him to point a gun at his own allies before our main villain pops into a chamber to get rejuvenated, even though the serum isn’t complete yet. While The Doctor and Naomi snap Harry out of it and save the local population The Master makes his escape, feeling better than he had in a long time. I assume this is supposed to explain the visual difference between the nearly-skeletal version in the Deadly Assassin and the more fleshy one from Keeper of Traken, which works, I guess!
Hogan Reviews 