I'm enjoying this series with the 4th Doctor! So lovely to hear both him and Leela again! ( )

3,5 ( )

I went into The Renaissance Man not expecting terribly much, not after Destination: Nerva. The fact that it was by Justin Richards didn’t help, who I find typically turns in solid, but workmanlike efforts. The beginning didn’t really sell me on it, either; I felt like I was halfway through the first episode and all the Doctor had done was act eccentric and look at an art gallery.

Somewhere around that point, though, The Renaissance Man really picked up and never stopped going. It’s not a zippy, wham-bang action story, but a clever, fun adventure that keeps the ideas coming just when you think you’ve got it all figured out. The Doctor and Leela are supposed to be visiting the opening of the Renaissance wing of a space museum, but find themselves instead on the grounds of a twentieth-century mansionhouse owned by a voracious collector named Harcourt.

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At last the new Fourth Doctor adventures have found their feet, with the prolific Justin Richards very much on form, delivering a brilliant weird tale for Toma Baker, Louise Jameson and Ian McNeice as the sinister Harcourt (which was also his character's name in Edge of Darkness back in 1985). The Doctor brings Leela to the famous Moravanian Museum for the sake of her education, but finds instead a peculiar manor house where nothing is as it seems. The setting is one that has been done in many Who stories, but rarely this well, and the particular twists here are inventive; also Baker is on top form as clown, magician and moral leader. If you just want to sample the new Fourth Doctor range, this is where to start. ( )