If you go back and read the letters pages of Doctor Who Monthly, as it was at the time, then you'll know that problems began with this story's title. Several people wrote in to ask what it referred to.
Of course, it can be seen in two different ways simultaneously - it's four days until Monarch's ship arrives at Earth, and he plans to wipe out all organic life there; and it can also refer to the fact that there are four occupants in the TARDIS, and they are also headed towards potential doom should Monarch succeed.
Behind the scenes, this was Peter Davison's first production as Doctor - and you can tell he hasn't quite got to grips with how he intends to play the part.
As for the story...
The timescale for Monarch's visits to Earth don't tie up. It's stated that each visit sees his vessel doubling its speed, but the human civilisations represented don't mirror this fact. The key dates - derived from Bigon's dialogue - would be 35500 BC, 15500 BC, 5500 BC, and 500 BC approx. The Aboriginals might fit with the first date, and the Athenians with the last, but the Mayans and Chinese don't fit with either of the middle dates.
One of the reasons for the length of journey is supposed to be down to the Urbankans not yet mastering faster-than-light travel. And yet the series is filled with less technologically advanced races who appear to have such propulsion.
The Doctor claims that the TARDIS has only missed Earth by a short margin, but if Monarch's ship is travelling as fast as claimed then four days out would place it still a very long distance from the planet.
Why does he keep going backwards and forwards anyway? He has no interest in the human race - he's going to wipe it out - and only wants the natural resources. Why not simply take these on an earlier visit when there isn't going to be the technology (weaponry in particular) which might pose a threat to him?
Indeed, the Moon would hold most of what he is after on Earth. He is primarily after silicon, which he should have been able to get elsewhere a lot quicker and easier.
The androids go crazy when they indulge in any sort of organised activity. So how can they dance?
Monarch has no interest in the cultures of Earth, so why have the recreationals in the first place? What is the point of providing entertainment to robots?
(And on screen, these recreationals are boring and repetitive. A nice idea, which then gets used as padding).
Why does the Chinese dragon suit - product of an ancient Imperial era - have the name of a London kung-fu club printed inside it?
How can Tegan possibly know an Aboriginal language that's tens of thousands of years old? It can't be the TARDIS translation system in action - otherwise everyone would be able to understand them.
(So why can't it translate?).
If everyone on board is an android, where did all the food come from? We later discover that Monarch is still partially organic, but surely he doesn't need as much food as this.
Also, why do his ministers and the intelligent android leaders not twig that he can't be fully robotic (there's oxygen as well as food laid on the ship) and so see through his hypocrisy?
And why have these ethnic leaders on board in the first place? All Monarch needs are robotic drones to do the work.
The script has Adric claiming to know things about the Doctor that we haven't ever witnessed - the writer seeming to think they have travelled together a lot more than they actually had. If this really was the case - with various unseen adventures - then surely the boy would have known that the Doctor would oppose Monarch, and that it is wrong to side with him.
The idiotic, unlikeable Adric really starts here.
Why does Tegan try to pilot the TARDIS? She knows that she will be safe enough inside with the doors locked, and she knows that it rarely goes where it's supposed to go. She's only been in the ship for a matter of hours at this stage, and can't know anything about how it actually works - so what is she doing dematerialising? She must know that she is actually abandoning her friends.
Why does the TARDIS come to a halt in the vicinity of the spaceship, instead of, say, Skaro or in Medieval France? If this is the work of the TARDIS itself, why did it even allow Tegan to operate it in the first place?
Going back to Doctor Who Monthly's letters pages, there was much debate about the space-walk which the Doctor undertakes to retrieve the TARDIS. Most letters pointed out how stupid this was, quoting the science, whilst others took to its defence.
There's an effort to get round the lack of oxygen in space, but nothing is mentioned about the sub-zero temperatures. Even if the Doctor had some hitherto unmentioned ability to generate internal heat, this wouldn't extend to his cricket ball. This would have shattered against the side of the TARDIS, rather than bounce off it.
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