M021 - Dust Breeding

This episode, which starts quite well, sees the 7th Doctor and Ace travel to a time just before the famous painting "The Scream" by Edvard Munch is about to disappear. The Doctor explains that he has been stocking his impressive TARDIS gallery with famous works, which he "saves" just before they are about to be lost anyway: a philosophy Ace quite rightly makes fun of the Doctor for believing. Funnily enough this episode was created just a few years before Munch's painting really was stolen (although it was recovered two years later).

After they arrive on Duchamp 331, the Doctor and Ace get caught up in the mystery of the barren dust world, which reveals a plot by the Master to take control of an ancient superweapon that has been trapped inside the painting.

It's unfortunate that the Master is involved in what is another overly-complicated and unclear story. The pseudo-science that is such an important part of Doctor Who is weakly explained and generally doesn't mesh the different elements of the Master, the superweapon, and the painting. Secondary characters are forgettable and (in the case of one accent) rather annoying. And the conclusion is nothing clever.

Overall, a skippable episode.