(1973), and Planet of Evil (1975). Broadcast and reception Paul Cornell, Martin Day, and Keith Topping gave the serial a favourable review in The Discontinuity Guide (1995), calling it "a lovely story". In The Television Companion (1998), David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker praised the "cracking set of scripts" and production values. They described Binro as "perhaps the most fascinating and well written of all the characters in the main part of the story set on Ribos" and also praised Mary Tamm's debut as Romana, despite noting that "she goes through the whole of The Ribos Operation giving the impression that she has got an unpleasant smell under her nose". In 2010, Patrick Mulkern of Radio Times gave the story a positive review, in particular towards the acting and production, but stated that he did not like Binro. The A.V. Club reviewer Christopher Bahn called The Ribos Operation one of Robert Holmes' better stories, writing that it was "a fun, tightly constructed caper". DVD Talk's Justin Felix gave the story three and a half out of five stars, writing that it was an "effective beginning" to the season despite being a "simple" story. While he praised Romana's character, he felt that Tamm's performance was "a bit flat". Commercial releases In print Ian Marter's novelisation was published by Target Books in December 1979. Curiously, it features the Doctor opening the TARDIS doors by means of an old brass knob. In audio It was released on CD in March 2011. John Leeson, who provided the voice of K9 in the original 1978 TV serial, reads Ian Marter's complete and unabridged novelisation of this story. Home media It was released on VHS on 3 April 1995. Along with the rest of season sixteen, it was released in North America as part of the Key to Time box set, as well as being marketed separately. It was released in a restored limited edition on region 2 DVD on 24 September 2007. The DVD box set was reissued in November 2009. It was also released as part of the Doctor Who DVD Files in Issue 107 on 6 February 2013. References External links Target novelisation Doctor Who serials novelised by Ian Marter Fourth Doctor serials 1978 British television episodes