History YMMV / DoctorWhoS18E2Meglos

* {{Padding}}: The final episode was underrunning heavily and the budget was tight due to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E1TheLeisureHive the previous serial]] going vastly overbudget. The cliffhanger recap is very long (lasting nearly three minutes of a twenty-minute episode), and the rest is heavily drawn out. The end credits were even slowed down in order to extend the runtime a crucial few seconds (meaning, for the music snobs, the end credits are in E minor like the original theme instead of the F# minor the Howell arrangement usually is in).

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: Dodecahedron is a reference to the Platonic solid that formed the basis for quintessence or ether (the perfect element from which Aristotle suggested the stars were made from). Nothing else in the plot has anything to do with this, though.
* WTHCastingAgency: Fan and academic Ray Dexter questioned the logic of bringing back Creator/JacquelineHill, only for her to play a different character and argued that bringing back an older, more mature Barbara against the Fourth Doctor would be a much better idea. Director Terrence Dudley had no idea she had been in ''Who'' before when he cast her, which mitigates this somewhat.

* WTHCastingAgency: Fan and academic Ray Dexter questioned the logic of bringing back Creator/JacquelineHill, only for her to play a different character and argued that bringing back an older, more mature Barbara against the Fourth Doctor would be a much better idea.

** Creator/JacquelineHill, who played the companion Barbara Wright back in the First Doctor days, also returns here playing a completely unrelated character and imbues her with infinitely more dignity and interiority than the script gave her.

* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: Even though the story is usually considered a boring fluff piece with [[MoodWhiplash tone problems]] due to a GenreShift mid-development, Creator/TomBaker actually does some of the best acting of his whole tenure in it, and in a season often criticised for Baker's lack of enthusiasm to boot. This is probably because he has something interesting to do - he has to play the Doctor, the Doctor's CriminalDoppelganger EvilTwin, and each one [[ImpersonatingTheEvilTwin pretending to be the other]] - so Baker had more room to show off [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct range and subtlety]] than he usually got. (The fact that he'd spent the last few seasons [[LargeHam mugging for the sake of it]] makes this even more striking.) In the review book ''About Time'', Tat Wood observes that Baker "is having fun finding ways of suggesting he's [[EvilTwin a mad cactus]]". Creator/JacquelineHill, who played the companion Barbara Wright back in the First Doctor days, also returns here playing a completely unrelated character and imbues her with infinitely more dignity and interiority than the script gave her.

* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: Even though the story is usually considered a boring fluff piece with [[MoodWhiplash tone problems]] due to a GenreShift mid-development, Creator/TomBaker actually does some of the best acting of his whole tenure in it, and in a season often criticised for Baker's lack of enthusiasm to boot. This is probably because he has something interesting to do - he has to play the Doctor, the Doctor's CriminalDoppelganger EvilTwin, and each one [[ImpersonatingTheEvilTwin pretending to be the other]] - so Baker had more room to show off [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct range and subtlety]] than he usually got. (The fact that he'd spent the last few seasons [[LargeHam mugging for the sake of it]] makes this even more striking.) In the review book ''About Time'', Tat Wood observes that Baker "is having fun finding ways of suggesting he's [[EvilTwin a mad cactus]]". Jacqueline Hill, who played the companion Barbara Wright back in the First Doctor days, also returns here playing a completely unrelated character and imbues her with infinitely more dignity and interiority than the script gave her.

* WTHCastingAgency: Fan and academic Ray Dexter questioned the logic of bringing back Jacqueline Hill, only for her to play a different character and argued that bringing back an older, more mature Barbara against the Fourth Doctor would be a much better idea.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: Dodecahedron is a reference to the Platonic solid that formed the basis for quintessence or ether (the perfect element from which Aristotle suggested the stars were made from). Nothing else in the plot has anything to do with this, though.

* {{Padding}}: The final episode was underrunning heavily and the budget was tight due to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E1TheLeisureHive the previous serial]] going vastly overbudget. The cliffhanger recap is very long, and the rest is heavily drawn out. The end credits were even slowed down in order to extend the runtime a crucial few seconds (meaning, for the music snobs, the end credits are in E minor like the original theme instead of the F# minor the Howell arrangement usually is in).

* LoveItOrHateIt: While it's generally considered a pretty weak, forgettable story, it does actually have some defenders among fans who preferred the DenserAndWackier approach of the previous few seasons and hate the more serious direction that Season 18 went in. A common observation is that this is the only Season 18 story in which Creator/TomBaker actually seems to be having any fun in.

* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: Even though the story is usually considered a boring fluff piece with [[MoodWhiplash tone problems]] due to a GenreShift mid-development, Creator/TomBaker actually does some of the best acting of his whole tenure in it, and in a season often criticised for Baker's lack of enthusiasm to boot. This is probably because he has something interesting to do - he has to play the Doctor, the Doctor's CriminalDoppelganger EvilTwin, and each one [[ImpersonatingTheEvilTwin pretending to be the other]] - so Baker had more room to show off [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct range and subtlety]] than he usually got. (The fact that he'd spent the last few seasons [[LargeHam mugging for the sake of it]] makes this even more striking.) In the review book ''About Time'', Tat Wood observes that Baker "is having fun finding ways of suggesting he's [[EvilTwin a mad cactus]]". Jacqueline Hill, who played the companion Barbara Wright back in the First Doctor days, also returns here playing a completely unrelated character and imbues her with infinitely more dignity and interiority than the script gave her.

* LoveItOrHateIt: While it's generally considered a pretty weak, forgettable episode, it does actually have some defenders among fans who preferred the DenserAndWackier approach of the previous few seasons and hate the more serious direction that Season 18 went in. A common observation is that this is the only Season 18 story in which Creator/TomBaker actually seems to be having any fun in.

* {Padding}}: The final episode was underrunning heavily and the budget was tight due to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E1TheLeisureHive the previous serial]] going vastly overbudget. The cliffhanger recap is very long, and the rest is heavily drawn out. The end credits were even slowed down in order to extend the runtime a crucial few seconds (meaning, for the music snobs, the end credits are in E minor like the original theme instead of the F# minor the Howell arrangement usually is in).