Returning to the universe of "Sympathy for the Devil," the David Warner third Doctor and the Brigadier arrive on Skaro for an adventure with the Daleks.

"Devil" worked because it told a story in an economy of moments. Clocking it at a single disc length, it didn't overstay its novelty or its welcome.

The same can't be said of "Masters of War." Expanded to two discs, the it feels padded in all the wrong places. Once we arrive on Skaro and find out the Thals and Daleks are locked in their seemingly never-ending struggle, the story come to a complete halt for a while. If it were to develop the characters, I could see that, but given that you've got a largely forgetable supporting cast of Thals and the Daleks only get interesting when Davros shows up, it all adds up to a slow moving story that should have been better. ( )

There are some excellent performances - Terry Molloy as Davros, Courtney as the Brigadier, Briggs as the Daleks, Amy Pemberton as one of the Thals - but there's a bit of a gap at the centre as Warner doesn't quite seem to know what hs Doctor is really doing. The plot, too, disappointed - it's a great idea, taking the Doctor and Brigadier to a post-Genesis Skaro where Davros parted from the Daleks on his own terms - but the key to the story turns out to be some rather dull all-powerful aliens manipulating Thals, Kaleds and now Daleks, and the plot has a lot of standing around getting bombed or shot at. It's not actually awful, but it is average where it could have been excellent. ( )