It's not hard to see why this was voted the best serial ever back a couple of years ago when Doctor Who did it's Mighty 200 poll, even with new-series episodes filling the top ranks. In spite of Nicola Bryant turning in a barely decent performance and how completely Out Of Focus the Doctor and Peri are this episode, it works for two reasons—
The first is that this story would work fine on it's own as an episode of any anthology series without the Doctor's involvement. Yeah, it's got a Kill Em All ending, but it avoids one of the main pitfalls of the show's regular supporting-cast-of-the-week format and actually makes the political intrigue...well, intriguing. Nothing is completely spelled out for us, the characters are all manner of morally ambiguous, and everyone's motives are fairly air-tight—more than can be said for the usual Doctor Who villains. In fact, it's not even clear who the villains are here, as damn near everyone's out for personal gain or the supposed greater good and therefore most are consciously hindering the Doctor or using the results of his subplot to railroad him into local affairs.
The second is that it's rather fascinating to see the Doctor's influence on the people around him when he's not "bringing down the government" as Eleven would put it. It's utterly fascinating how his mere presence in the episode brings everything to a screeching halt without any of the supporting cast being aware of who they're dealing with. All the Doctor wants in this episode is to save himself and his companion from the poison they accidentally got dosed with, he pays no regard to the government waging war to up morale or the corporation trying to stop it to improve trade. Seeing the Doctor as a pawn is great because he simply refused to move across the squares properly or even acknowledge there's a game going on.
And, of course, it contains two of the best cliffhangers in it's history (I know, not saying much), the single most badass moment in the entire classic series, great performances with only one ham in the entire cast (and even he comes off as more Shakespearean than anything), and is generally the perfect cap to an otherwise uneven run for Davison, who just acts his heart out and totally sells you as the Doctor as a single-minded determinator without breaking character. In a word: classic.
The Caves of Androzani
It's not hard to see why this was voted the best serial ever back a couple of years ago when Doctor Who did it's Mighty 200 poll, even with new-series episodes filling the top ranks. In spite of Nicola Bryant turning in a barely decent performance and how completely Out Of Focus the Doctor and Peri are this episode, it works for two reasons—
The first is that this story would work fine on it's own as an episode of any anthology series without the Doctor's involvement. Yeah, it's got a Kill Em All ending, but it avoids one of the main pitfalls of the show's regular supporting-cast-of-the-week format and actually makes the political intrigue...well, intriguing. Nothing is completely spelled out for us, the characters are all manner of morally ambiguous, and everyone's motives are fairly air-tight—more than can be said for the usual Doctor Who villains. In fact, it's not even clear who the villains are here, as damn near everyone's out for personal gain or the supposed greater good and therefore most are consciously hindering the Doctor or using the results of his subplot to railroad him into local affairs.
The second is that it's rather fascinating to see the Doctor's influence on the people around him when he's not "bringing down the government" as Eleven would put it. It's utterly fascinating how his mere presence in the episode brings everything to a screeching halt without any of the supporting cast being aware of who they're dealing with. All the Doctor wants in this episode is to save himself and his companion from the poison they accidentally got dosed with, he pays no regard to the government waging war to up morale or the corporation trying to stop it to improve trade. Seeing the Doctor as a pawn is great because he simply refused to move across the squares properly or even acknowledge there's a game going on.
And, of course, it contains two of the best cliffhangers in it's history (I know, not saying much), the single most badass moment in the entire classic series, great performances with only one ham in the entire cast (and even he comes off as more Shakespearean than anything), and is generally the perfect cap to an otherwise uneven run for Davison, who just acts his heart out and totally sells you as the Doctor as a single-minded determinator without breaking character. In a word: classic.