Tis a bit late but I think I should add my two cents. After all, I’m one of those who are noted as big Colin Baker “apologists” : P
And I mean it. I do really like the man and think he’s a fantastic Doctor. I love a character with a big ego who still is a decent person at heart. It’s why my favourite episodes of Mash are those which focus on Winchester not being a dick to people.
Besides Colin Baker, you also have Peri and well, she’s probably one of the most jawdroppingly attractive companions of the classic era, if not the most. I have nothing against Bonnie Langford, but I think many many viewers found her replacement of Nicola Bryant to be just as sad as the fact they had to listen to the Valeyard for so many episodes in a row, not to mention the real tragedy that audiences at the time didn’t know, namely what Trial of a Timelord actually replaced.
I will never forgive Michael Grade for denying us the second televised appearance of the Celestial Toymaker, nor a chance to see 1986 not that high budget attempts to create a video game environment for the Villain to mess around with, as envisioned in a script from 1984. I don’t know why but I just have the feeling it would look gloriously outdated even by the time it aired and for some reason I think it’s a shame we never got to see that. You can get away with audio dramas and novelisations of most dropped story ideas, but this is something purely visual.
And after all that I should probably get to something resembling a point. Well:
Not the best choice for the first Sixth Doctor story. While the end line of “Argue, mainly” is one of my favourite Sixth Doctor moments, the Master doesn’t exactly play off the Rani very well, and you have the rather silly tree costumes trying to convey a much much more disturbing visual then they can actually hope to portray. It’s not the worst Sixth Doctor story (hello The Two Doctors, how are you ?) but it’s a bit of a weak start in my opinion.
