It's a problem throughout Season 22, in that the Doctor takes ages to get into the action. We get interminable TARDIS scenes, usually with the Doctor bickering with Peri and / or - as here - treating her shabbily. In this story, the Doctor simply gives up trying to resolve the TARDIS technical issue, hardly putting up any sort of fight - something we would never see with any other incarnation. He's happy to sit on his backside, with little thought to how his companion might be dealing with being stranded in space and time. Hardly conducive to helping the audience relate to the Sixth Doctor and come to like him.
The reason for their predicament is a stupid one anyway. Why would the Time Lords come to rely on a mineral supposedly only to be found on a politically unstable prison planet? They're Time Lords, so wouldn't be confined to this particular era of Varos' history anyway.
There's also the small matter of a big button he can press to call upon the Time Lords for assistance. He still thinks he's Lord President at this point, so - even if it might wound his not inconsiderable pride to call for help - he could simply call out the equivalent of a Gallifreyan pick-up truck.
The TARDIS does finally get to Varos, and the first thing the Doctor does is interfere with what is happening to Jondar. Now we know he's a heroic rebel and this is a cruel dictatorship - but the Doctor isn't to know that. Not only does he allow a potentially dangerous criminal to get free, but he arranges the laser weapon so that it kills a guard, who might very well be an entirely innocent family man going about his lawful duties.
Besides, if the Doctor knows about Varos' importance to Time Lord technology, why is he so ignorant of its history?
Why are Galatron even bothering to negotiate the price of Zeiton ore? They're clearly a rapacious and unscrupulous corporation, willing to send in an occupying force if they don't get their way. Why pay even a small amount for the ore if they could easily invade a little backward planet like Varos and simply exploit its resources to their hearts' content?
Why is the Chief Officer content to remain on this miserable planet when he could be asking for a nice job with Galatron elsewhere? They know how ruthless he is, so I'm sure they could find a use for him.
Watching the Doctor appear to die, Bax claims there is no sign of life - when we can clearly see that he is still breathing.
The Governor seems to know about the importance of the ore, so wouldn't it be sensible if Sil and his corporation kept quiet about just how vital it is? Sil's bargaining tactics would surely give the game away that this ore is important and ought to be commanding higher prices.
Who are all these people operating time-ships anyway? Don't the Time Lords police time travel? They'll be intervening in just two stories time.
We later discover that Quillam is also in the pay of Galatron - so why is Sil only now learning about the Punishment Dome videos and his experiments? The Transmogrifier is something that could surely be exploited commercially.
We all know that the Doctor doesn't throw anyone into any acid baths, but there is still the cruel Connery-Bond wisecrack when the two men fall in - which is not very becoming of the character. Not for the first time, we have to ask whatever happened to "never cruel..."?
And finally, the writer clearly doesn't have a clue about the basic principles of supply and demand. The discovery of another source of Zeiton ore would reduce the price, as it loses its rarity value, destroys any monopoly and potentially floods the market.
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