At the time of the story's original transmission, however, many fans took the view that it contradicted the minimal details that had previously been revealed about the Doctor's race, and were absolutely infuriated by this. 'What must have happened is that at the end of The Hand of Fear the Doctor was knocked out when the TARDIS took off and had a crazy mixed up nightmare about Gallifrey,' suggested Jan Vincent-Rudzki in TARDIS Volume 2 Number 1 in 1977.
'As a Doctor Who story, The Deadly Assassin is just not worth considering. I've spoken to many people... and they all said how this story shattered their illusions of the Time Lords and lowered them to ordinary people. Once, Time Lords were all-powerful, awe-inspiring beings, capable of imprisoning planets forever in force fields, defenders of truth and good (when called in). Now, they are petty, squabbling, feeble-minded, doddering old fools. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE MAGIC OF DOCTOR WHO?' These outspoken criticisms from someone who was, at the time, President of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society had a very influential effect and were echoed and expanded upon by numerous other reviewers, including David Fychan in Oracle Number 12, dated September 1978:
'Here was a whole four episodes about the Time Lords; a chance to gaze deep into a society of immeasurable age; a chance to see what the Doctor left behind; an insight into the Doctor's mentality (why does he prefer the human race?) - and as such, it was incredibly, unbelievably wasted. It failed badly as anything but a thriller-SF story about an Earthly society. Time Lords were really only humans - for every emotion they showed, for every motive they possessed, there are clear parallels simply on Earth...
'What we "learnt" in The Deadly Assassin was quite revealing: no Time Ladies; a stiff caste system; a fact-adjusting society; torture; a constitution; a police force; Shabogan hooligans - all these go to make up the Gallifrey that we found...
'So, the most important question about the adventure is not "How does it fit in?" but "Is it worth trying to fit in?". The Deadly Assassin is an incongruity in Doctor Who.'
With the passage of time, the story has been re-evaluated, as was recognised by John C Harding in Frontier Worlds 9, dated June 1981: 'All civilisations rise and fall, and the idea of showing the Time Lords at the nadir of their civilisation was, in theory, a good one. At the time... I - like most fans - was incensed at this treatment of these previously god-like beings. It [was], however, a logical progression.'
'The degeneration of the Time Lord race is portrayed reasonably and realistically,' agreed Saunders, 'if one assumes that those seen in The War Games with the almost omniscient powers in fact belonged to the Celestial Intervention Agency [as referred to in this story]... This would seem to have been the reason for casting Erik Chitty and the (ever fascinating) George Pravda - I just love his intonation - as well as the two Prydonians from whom the Doctor "borrowed" his ceremonial robes. That our mysterious, pacifistic observers have now, in the main, become a bunch of old dodderers... would seem to explain the necessity of the Chancellery Guard.'
Harding also liked the way in which the principal Time Lords in this story were portrayed: 'By far my favourite character was Spandrell. Although at times the dry accent of George Pravda brought [it] close to going over the top, for the most [part] he maintained a sardonic and superbly cynical character... Cardinal Borusa (Angus MacKay) was perhaps the strongest character - a Gallifreyan Disraeli. He had the rare ability to bridge the gap between appearances and reality, although he was too ready to tip the balance in favour of appearances. He was played with disdainfully reserved authority, which is the only way to treat such a character without demeaning him: it is impossible to work behind the scenes and be seen as powerful at the same time.'
