The Horns of Nimon

"Skonnos shall rule the heavens!"

Writer: Anthony Read

Format: TV

Broadcast: 22nd December 1979 - 12th January 1980

Season: 17.05

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Romana II, K9

Synopsis 

When the TARDIS collides with a spaceship en route to the planet Skonnos, the Doctor, Romana and K9 soon uncover the horrific truth about its cargo. The ship is carrying young sacrifices for a powerful, horned creature called the Nimon. 

But why is the creature so desperate for the delivery, and what other dangers await the time travellers? All will be revealed at the centre of the labyrinthine Power Complex on Skonnos...

Verdict 

The Horns of Nimon is a pretty good story but mostly it's a mixed bag and with the abandoning of Shada it's rather a let down for it being a, albeit premature, season finale. This was a breath of fresh air for me though as it was my first colourised Classic since December 2012! I must say it certainly did feel like a long time and I think the first time I watched this story would have been roughly September 2012. I'm going to be honest and say I really couldn't remember much at all from my first viewing so it was almost like a new story to me. After so long without physically watching Doctors 3-8, it was so good to see the Fourth Doctor once again! Whilst doing the audios and novels are brilliant, there's nothing quite like visual television stories in my opinion. Not only was I happy to see Tom Baker as the Doctor once again, I was overwhelmed by how incredibly gorgeous Lalla Ward looked! Romana II is probably my all time favourite companion so seeing her look as astoundingly stunning as she appeared was magnificent. I loved the usual good humour between the pair and that's something I've really missed as I didn't do one audio with the pair sadly. They had some great standout audio performances respectively with the likes of The Oseidon Adventure and The Apocalypse Element immediately coming to mind. The reason I've halted off on continuing with the Main Range audios from Big Finish is because I knew the Nimon were returning in the next listen but because I could barely remember anything about them, I really wanted to rewatch this story first and I think when I come to listen to said audio it'll be of great benefit. To the story at hand then and I thought it started off relatively well with the ship malfunction. The reference to the sacrifices as being the cargo was good and I loved how the co-pilot shouted "weakling scum" every time he laid eyes upon them. The Doctor's meddling with the TARDIS time rotor was humorous and I also loved how he recognised that every time he said nothing could possibly go wrong something did. And then he said it again. I loved how Romana had built herself her own little sonic screwdriver and the Doctor tried to swap his own for hers! The Nimon I must say were really pretty pathetic which was a shame. The fact that they were "a distant cousin" of the Minotaur, as stated in The God Complex, wasn't really believable based on this appearance. Speaking of appearance, I didn't think the costume was very good at all sadly. I did though like their voices and their attempts to take over Skonnos. Soldeed was an excellent villain and I loved his fascination with the arrival of the TARDIS and how it was impenetrable to open. K9 was very good in this serial though this made it clear to me that John Leeson is certainly the best actor for the voiceover of the robot dog. The look on Soldeed's face when he saw that 'Lord Nimon' was not the last of its kind in existence was wonderful. The plan of the Nimon was good with them building a hyperspace tunnel between two black holes enabling travel between any points in the universe. I liked the threat of how it blew up the planet at the starting point though. The cliffhanger of episode three was very good with Romana going to Crinoth! I loved the moment where the Doctor said "I can explain everything" and followed it with silence. Brilliantly typical of the Fourth Doctor. The climax was pretty good and the explosion at the end was impressive I must say! But overall, there were quite a few flaws that brought the rating down. I think I would enjoy the Target novelisation a whole lot more! 

Rating: 7/10