THE LEISURE HIVE
BY DAVID FISHER

PLOT SUMMARY
(Taken from the Television Companion, 1st Edition, by David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker)
The Doctor and Romana visit the Leisure Hive on the planet Argolis, the surface of which is uninhabitable following a twenty minute nuclear war between the Argolins and their enemies the Foamasi. The Argolins themseleves are now sterile. Pangol, the youngest, was created by the Tachyon Regneration Generator, a machine that runs games in the Hive. He now secretly plans to use the Generator, modified by an Earth scientist named Hardin, to recreate himself many times over, forming an army of duplicates to destroy the Foamasi. Pangol's mother, Mena, the controller of the Hive, is meanwhile coming under pressure form a supposedly human financier, Brock, to sell it to the Foamasi. Foamasi agents from their planet's government arrive and expose Brock and his assistant Klout as members of a renegade Foamasi group called the West Lodge. The Doctor then reconfigures the Generator equipment using components from the randomiser device previously linked to the TARDIS's navigation circuits, and Pangol's plan is foiled as he rejuvenates into a babe in arms.

PERSONAL REVIEW
BY BARRY STANTON
The Leisure Hive is hard story to measure against. It's style and look is so different from what preceeded it and really there is only one story after it in the Classic Series that it could be compared to, that being Caves of Androzani. over 25 years on it still works, it still looks modern in style and the music although, a little dated does work very well. Tom Baker's Doctor has been toned down from the larking happy go lucky Doctor of the previous season and this deos seem to work better with Lalla Ward's more serious and scientific Romana. The Guest cast is great. Adrienne Hill play Mena as the pompous leader of the Argolins on one hand but her relationship with Hardin and the tenderness really shines. David Haig stands out as the best guest star. His portrayal of Pangol who starts as a young man Argolin is opinionated and crude turns into a monster who will stop at nothing to furfil what he sees as his destiny, creator of the New Argolin Race. The direction is very single camera, rare in the early eighties especially in the studio and this gives a more film like quality to the proceedings. I am dissapointed with the Foamasi though. They do work better when only bits of them are showing on screen and not the full finished costume as it is a little dissapointing. I like this story though, and the Eighties stories are the period I have most watched. This is the start of the longest era in Doctor Who's History, John Nathan-Tuner's producership.

RATING
8 out of 10