Downtime

 "I thought I was in Cromer..."

I know: still suffering Doctor Who withdrawal.

This is another one of those curious oddities from, ahem, "the Wilderness Years", as we Doctor Who fans call the '90s. I saw Shakedown not long ago, I enjoyed it despite its endearing flaws, so I thought I'd watch this. Any good?

Well... no. I mean, on paper, it seems good. Filmed on location, a sequel to The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear, loads of old actors and characters. And yet...

The direction is flat. Marc Platt's script has it's character moments and lots of nice metatextual lines, but it's a mess. There's a heavy focus on Victoria, with Deborah Watling being very good, and a welcome appearance from her real life father Jack Watling as Professor Travers. Nick Courtney is superb, as ever, as the Brig, and has a nice little family subplot. And, yeah, this is totally why UNIT today is led by Kate Lethbridge-Stewart.

Yet Elisabeth Sladen, despite being very good, is woefully underused as Sarah Jane Smith, and there's a little too much going on. And, despite some good character stuff, the plot is very muddled and oddly paced. And yes... inevitably, the whole thing looks very cheap.

This is an interesting curiosity, perhaps, and far from terrible, with very real good points. But it's not exactly great, sadly.

Doctor Who: Fury from the Deep (Revisited) Episodes Four, Five and Six

 Episode Four

"Why can't we go anywhere normal, where there's no fighting?"

It's nice how the groundwork is already being laid for Victoria's departure- it's all very '60s, very reserved, but there's some top characterisation in Victor Pemberton's script. But what's different about the animated version is the visuals- the scene in which the Weed gets Van Lutyens is, I very much suspect, far more visually impressive than in the now long-wiped original.

The scenes in the pipe with the Doctor and Jamie more closely mirror the surviving clips, but the tension remains, and the narrative continues to be both masterful and bloody terrifying while balancing plot and character. This is how you do a six parter. The arrival of Megan Jones, the big boss, doesn't waste too much time with tiresome suspiction. And, right on cue, the ending raises the stakes.

Episode Five

"It's beginning to give me the willies..."

The Doctor, with Robson having seemingly broken down, is in charge and finally listened to, while Megan tells the distraught Robson to "pull yourself together". attitudes to mental health in 1968 were, shall we say, not quite the same as nowadays, much like management styles.

However, we soon move to kidnappings, helicopters and the sight of a Weed-infested oil rig that, I suspect, looks far more impressive than it did originally. Similarly impressive looking are the possessed characters, led by Robson, who are part-Weed in a way which surely can't have been done originally.

Episode Six

"You don't want to come with us, do you, Victoria?"

It's all wrapped up, rather quickly, as the Doctor conjures up a Macguffin. Yet is doesn't feel like a cop-out, with the sense of desperation persisting to the end and a real sense of a race against time. The use of Victoria's screams is, of course, very meta, but it's all played in such a way as not to refer to the fourth wall. And, animated, it all looks superb.

And yet a huge amount of screen time is left over for Victoria's departure. It's all very stiff-upper-lip, the emotions are repressed, but they're all there, in a slightly Terence Rattigan sort of way. It's nice to see the TARDISeers stay for an evening meal, though, with even Robson being comparatively friendly. So much so that we almost don't stop to question wny the Harrises would adopt a semi-permanent house guest, and extra mouth to feed, without even knowing Victoria that well. 

Overall, though, this is a perfectly crafted animation that confirms Fury from the Deep to be a superbly paced story, utterly terrifying, and with subtly excellent characterisation. It stands revealed as a fascinating artifact, full of anxiety about all this new-fangled North Sea oil, soon to be powering the nation's homes and workplaces and, perhaps, an anxiety about modernity itself.

Doctor Who: Fury from the Deep (Revisited) Episodes One, Two and Three

 I am, of course, quite blatantly blogging it because the lovely Mrs Llamastrangler (with the equally lovely Little Miss Llamastrangler) bought it for me as a Christmas present. So it’s a somewhat out-of-sequence reminder that this blog originally existed so that I (alongside a bunch of other people on Gallifrey Base) could marathon ALL of Doctor Who, which we (and I) did. If you look at the Doctor Who index on this blog, it’s all there. 

However, whenever missing episodes are discovered (hooray) or animated (necessarily much smaller but nevertheless heartfelt cheer), I’ll blog them as I see them. This is a particularly exciting example.

Episode One

"Aye, and it’s always England...”

It’s a facile comment for me to always make in such circumstances, perhaps, but seeing a story animated, and with subtitles, makes it easier to follow, by orders of magnitude, than any recon could possibly be. That makes a huge difference to how I’m following the plot.

There’s another difference, though- this time I’m not watching this story in its chronological place, so I’m not watching my fourth (out of five) base under siege stories, with Robson as the latest (and most unreasonable) unstable base commander. I’m less frustrated this time round that the TARDIS crew so quickly come under suspicion and get locked up immediately, probably because I’m less cynical about seeing this thing all the bloody time. 

Also, the opening scene on the beach is far more fun with moving pictures, a bit of light relief to start off a story without much light in it. And the plot moves rather quickly. Robson is, indeed, unreasonable, but he’s not too far removed from a type of work colleague we’ve all met who insists that his experience is far more valuable than any of the fancy theories of the university educated young. It’s odd to see this type of person in charge, of course.

It’s also odd to see the sonic screwdriver in its first ever use- to unscrew some screws, with absolutely no indication that it does any more than that.

Episode Two

"It’s down there. In the darkness. In the pipeline. Waiting.”

In some ways the animation doesn’t really change things. Robson is perhaps a little more nuanced, but it’s the same story- and Victoria resolving the cliffhanger by screaming can’t just not be metatextual, certainly not in her last story.

But what’s very different is just how like a horror film this is when you have visuals. We can’t say, without the actual footage, whether it was directed that way, to unnerve and frighten us, but the terrifying surviving clip of Oak and Quill with Maggie is certainly like this. And so is the animation, simply suited by the pacing and the weird electronic music. In short, this is the episode where Fury from the Deep starts to get bloody terrifying. The scenes with Maggie, with quite a lot of screen time, have pretty much no other purpose. 

Episode Three 

"I don’t really like being scared out of my wits every second.”

This is an episode where the animation makes it much easier to follow the plot- it’s much easier what happens with Maggie and Robson at the end, for one thing. And all the stuff about Robson’s state of mind and the discontent among his senior staff is much easier to follow. Robson, again, somehow feels much more nuanced. We don’t see anyone other than a ranting, chippy sourpuss who seems frankly unprofessional- but we aren’t seeing him in a “normal” context.

The experiments in the TARDIS are, as I suspected last time round, much better with visuals. And following the plot much more firmly makes it clear how well written this is- a six larger with strong characterisation and that feels pacy, where every scene is justified for reason of either character or plot. And this episode, like the last one, is wonderfully effective at building up the scares.

Doctor Who: The Web of Fear (Revisited)

 So, here we are; I revisited Enemy of the World after Philip Morris unveiled its fiver previously missing episodes last October; now it's time for the obvious next step. Should Episode Three turn up soon then this blog could get very confusing...

Part One


"Is it safe?"

"Oh, I shouldn't think so for a moment..."


A direct continuation from The Enemy of the World, so we do get to see the aftermath after all. The Doctor and Victoria clearly aren't hanging on, and some of the roundels are clearly cardboard cutouts, but never mind!

I'm glad at least this episode survives so we can see Camfield's direction in all its glory- the scene with the Yeti transforming is great. And it's fun to see an older Travers with a beard and great, cantankerous dialogue- Jack Watling seems to be having a lot more fun this time around! I'm not sure about the character Silverstein here though- we seem to be getting a little too close for comfort to some rather dodgy stereotypes.

Actually watching the stories in order brings home just how soon it is for a sequel to The Abominable Snowmen to turn up. And it's rather odd that, if the Yeti are considered good enough to bring back, they then have to be completely redesigned!

This is great stuff, in large part a typical "exploring" part one, but also structured rather cleverly. We get the scene with Travers in the museum to establish the Yeti threat, but the next time we see him some time has passed, the army is involved and the threat is already underway with the minimum of exposition. In between these scenes, the web around the TARDIS in space adds tension and reminds us of the larger threat of the Great Intelligence- although why it lets go isn't made quite clear. All this, and the most postmodern line since a prisoner was kept in a corridor in the last story: "Funny, isn't it? How we keep landing on your Earth?"

We have a deserted London and lots of soldiers... this all feels very Quatermass.

Yes, we've seen Part One before, but this is the copy recovered by Philip Morris, and it's a notably superior copy. It's still obvious, sadly, that Silverstein is portrayed as the grasping Jew, but the episode is as gripping and as addictive as ever. The prospect of five more episodes of Douglas Camfield's direction is utterly gripping.

It must be said, though: the better copy makes it even more obvious that the TARDIS roundels are just blown-up photographs.




Part Two


"A right old Fred Karno's army".


Back to the recons, Joint Venture this time. It's fun to see, or rather hear, Travers' reaction to seeing Jamie and Victoria looking just as they did forty years ago- and The Abominable Snowmen is retrospectively dated back to 1935. Interesting, as I don't recall anything particularly in the story to suggest it wasn't contemporary. Well, aside from occupying Chinese people, obviously...

The Doctor's not in this much, is he? this is the first obvious time Troughton gets a holiday. Still, he had an awful lot to do in the last story.

We get a very odd line from one of the soldiers: "He reckons they're abominable snowmen." So how come everyone is calling them Yeti?

Our first "new" footage, then. It's fantastic to see footage of the soldiers vs. the Yeti and their web guns. The characters are all distinct individuals and the performances make them seem very real in this high stress situation, the web looks fantastic too in all its foamy-bubblewrappiness. It's quite arresting how quickly it moves through the ground. The cliffhanger is interesting: oh, look, foam!

The Doctor's absence is really felt, so it is left to the other characters to carry the story. It is amusing to see the 1960's attempt at depicting a professional woman; Anne may be a brilliant scientist, but it is she who makes the tea.

Part Three


"Good to see you don't take things at face value."

A small glass pyramid! There's a blast from the past. As is the Doctor, who it seems we haven't seen for ages. he seems to be accompanied by some mysterious, moustachioed soldier type called Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart. we don't know where he came from, so he's probably a baddie.

Our heroes are by now entirely surrounded by fungus. at this point it becomes clear that we are indeed watching another base under siege.

Crikey, one of our heroes is a traitor, using the model Yeti- I bet it's that sinister Lethbridge-Stewart. But really, aside from the Doctor, Anne Travers and Victoria, it could be anyone. This is feeling even more Quatermass by the minute, and Pat Troughton makes a splendid Bernard. Good stuff.

This episode is not only still a recon, but a considerably worse recon than the version I watched above. It was clearly made in a hurry; there are NO captions- except one right at the very end! Things are very hard to follow,which is generally not the case for recons made my amateurs. Professionals, eh? Most revealingly, the reprises at both ends are not included, a sign of rushing.

It is of course frustrating that we are introduced to Lethbridge- Stewart in recon form. The character shines from the beginning, and is, from the start, a little more vulnerable than he would later become.


Part Four


"I have a craft that travels in time and space."


The Doctor's description of the great Intelligence to the Colonel (and us) is creepy, well-delivered stuff. Even more chilling is the realisation that the Yeti just came, took what it wanted (Travers) and went- it just doesn't see the army as a threat.

We get an extraordinary scene here in which the Doctor tells the Colonel about the TARDIS- and Lethbridge-Stewart believes him, showing not only an extraordinary amount of faith in the Doctor but also good judgement. But conversely, having sent a squad of troops to look for the Doctor's police box (!), he's entirely deflated and defeated once the others are all killed. This is a well-rounded and well played character, but not quite the one he would become.

I'm sure the long battle scene between the soldiers and the Yeti looked great, but I couldn't see it! but it was very long. And used the Cybermens' signature tune for some reason...

The cliffhanger is fantastic here. Unlike in The Abominable Snowmen, in this story the Yeti most certainly do pose a threat.

 At last we get to see Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart, complete with his Scottish regimental headgear. It's great to see him, and moving pictures. Everything looks amazing, from the bits of web on the camera (Camfield was a genius) to the sheer awesomeness of the Battle of Covent Garden. Best of all, though, is Troughton's performance; his little monologue about the Great Intelligence is truly awesome.

The Colonel is awesome too, open-minded and pragmatic, although yet again the signs of stress are visible in this story in ways which later stories will not show. This is certainly a better story than The Enemy of the World, in spite of its inferior script, and that is entirely down to Camfield. This episode simply looks amazing.



Part Five


"You'd better stay here. Evans. And don't go taking any chances."


I haven't mentioned Evans yet, but he's a nice character: at the same time comic relief and fulfilling a serious function. He reminds us how scary the situation is, shows us how brave everyone else is in contrast, and is himself quite tragic.

The Intelligence, issuing his ultimatum to the Doctor, is a very powerful adversary indeed, and the situation is about as hopeless as I can ever recall it being. This story is superb.

I'm liking the Colonel more and more. He and Jamie make a particularly good team. Incidentally, in a story broadcast while Syd Barrett was still in Pink Floyd, we get two characters called Arnold and Lane...

This may be black and white, but by Jove it's psychedelic, not something one would have guessed from the recon. It is arresting, too, to see the Intelligence speaking through Jack Watling having recently seen Richard E. Grant in the same role. The Web of Fear is a slightly different experience with Steven Moffat having used the Great Intelligence as the Big Bad for Season 33.

Nick Courtney is truly fabulous here; even my semi-fan wife singled him out for high praise. It's still a pity, though, that we know he's going to become a regular and can't be the mole, as is often pointed out. It's interesting to see Lethbridge-Stewart and Jamie getting on as well here as they will in The Invasion. 



Part Six



"Prepare for a great darkness to cloud your mind."



So Arnold is the traitor? I'd forgotten about him- I'd genuinely though there were no plausible suspects and so there must not have been a traitor after all. Although I'm sure it would have helped if I was genuinely able to suspect the Colonel, as the original viewers must have done!

There seems to be no hope as the Intelligence starts to drain the Doctor's mind. But we get a great ending as Jamie heroically saves the day only for it to be revealed that the Doctor would have drained the Intelligence's mind into his simply by switching the wires.

More visual treats, then, in the middle of the tension as we are treated to rare footage of the Doctor playing his recorder. More to the point, the presence of actual visuals makes this episode much, much easier to follow. Once again I'm left with the strong impressions that watching recons doesn't help you to follow what is actually going on as it seems to at the time.

The final showdown is tense and awesome, and it's equally awesome to see Troughton's facial expressions during his extraordinary performance.


Overall, simply magnificent, full of twists and turns as a six-parter should be, action-packed and generally very Quatermass and the Pit. An easy 5/5.

No arguing with my past self there. A triumph from beginning to end. Douglas Camfield is without a doubt the finest director ever to work on twentieth century Doctor Who. 

Doctor Who: The Enemy of the World (Revisited)

Many of my lovely readers may be unaware how this blog first started way back in June 2009, a long time ago when I was clean-shaven, single and free of grey hairs. a couple of lovely people on Outpost Gallifrey proposed that, as Doctor Who would be off our screens, barring the odd special, from mid-2008 until Spring 2010, it would be rather a good idea to fill the gap by "marathoning" the whole series from 1963 to 2010. A bunch of us agreed to do it together, writing our reviews of each story, watching them in order, and discussing our impressions. It was a fantastic experience in so many ways, from the new appreciation I gained of the series by watching it chronologically to the fantastic sense of camaraderie with my fellow Marathoneers.

In mid-2009, Outpost Gallifrey closed down, to be replaced by Gallifrey Base. In the event, the Marathon threads were transferred across very smoothly and the forum owner, Steve W. Hill, and his team of moderators were rather lovely about accommodating us. Nevertheless, this period made me worry about preserving my already considerably lengthty writings for posterity. Thus began the blog, in June 2009, firstly to archive all of my Doctor Who reviews going back to November 2008, and then to be updated with my reviews alongside the threads on Gallifrey Base. When the Marathon ended, in June 2010, I carried on with the blog, reviewing anything I fancied, and the blog soon became the beast that it is today.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, a lot of the 1960s Doctor Who stories, sadly, no longer existed in the BBC archive, and so my reviews were based on fan reconstructions which took the original soundtracks (all of which, thankfully, existed), spliced in any existing clips, and reconstructed the rest by means of still photographs, captions to explain what should be happening on screen, and various creative and innovative ways of making the end result more visually arresting. The third, fourth and fifth seasons were comprised mainly of such reconstructed missing stories, and it was hard going at times. The Enemy of the World was one such story.

The Marathon ended. Years passed. And then a man called Philip Morris came along. It seems that, although nothing is likely to happen quickly, it is set to be revealed that he and a few others have discovered many, most or all of these missing episodes by methodically scouring the globe. The only episodes to be announced and released are The Web of Fear (barring episode three, at least for now) and The Enemy of the World. I would suggest, should you wish to look into the background of the missing episodes "omnirumour", the best place to do so is at the Planet Mondas Forum, of which I am, er, a moderator. Small world, eh?

So I have two stories to revisit for now, with a lot more to come. So here is my revisitation of The Enemy of the World for your edification and delight. I have reproduced unedited my original review of the recon from 2008, in italics, and I shall reply after each episode with my 2014 comments on the episodes themselves.

So, without further ado...


Part One


"They're human beings, if that's what you mean. Indulging in their favourite pastime- trying to destroy each other!"


David Whitaker's back. Yay! And this one's directed by some bloke called Barry Letts. I wonder whether we'll ever hear from him again?

In contrast to the previous story we immediately start with the TARDISeers. And for the first time since, I believe, The Keys of Marinus, the TARDIS materialises silently. This is a very unusual setting for Doctor Who- for all that this is supposedly set in the future we're not exactly being bombarded with futuristic things. In fact, hovercrafts and helicopters give us a very contemporary feel, and signify that we're going to see six episodes of Doctor Who's take on the '60s spy craze.

There's a most enjoyable exchange between the Doctor and Astrid after he insists he's a Doctor "not of medical significance". On being asked whether he's a Doctor of law or philosophy he replies "Which law? Whose philosophy?". There's also a running gag becoming established in which the Doctor, asked to explain where he came from, makes an oblique reference to the previous story for the second time in a row. Witty dialogue is pretty much a hallmark of this story's first three parts and, although a very unusual type of story indeed, it's been great fun so far. Better still, we get Bill Kerr of off of of Hancock, and an unusually intriguing cliffhanger.

There's been an awful lot of weather control in Doctor Who lately, mind!


Footage. Actual footage. Oh my God. and footage of Troughton, no less, something which is always priceless. It's a joy to see him splashing about in the water with such abandon. Incidentally, Mrs Llamastrangler, for whom this is her first "classic" story, instantly recognised the similarities in terms of performance between Troughton and Matt Smith.

This episode looks expensive, pacey and exciting. Barry Letts directs this far more dynamically than one would expect from such later attempts as The Android Invasion. I was amused, seeing how Astrid's helicopter licence tells us the date (2018, fifty years in the future from their perspective, and the point at which my fixed rate mortgage ends from mine...) at how fandom used to debate when this story is set. One is left to wonder at how many other fan arguments could be solved by the intervention of actual footage. I was also amused at how very reminiscent of the late 1960s is Astrid's interior decor.

The most electrifying thing of all is, of course, our first glimpse of Troughton as Salamander in a physical performance so different to his portrayal of the Doctor.


Part Two


"Which side is good? Which side is bad? And why should I interfere?"


More amusing references to recent escapades as the Doctor thinks he's being told about a "disused Yeti". But the plot thickens a lot during this episode. There's a lot of plotting and counter-plotting going on but it doesn't seem over-complicated, a testament to the excellence of Whitaker's script. Fariah's instantly an intriguing character who has an interesting job. But as she's characterised too well to be a simple food taster we begin to suspect there are things she's not telling us. And finally we get to see the real Salamander- a superb performance from Troughton. Although the accent... er, yes.

Jamie is once again magnificent, carrying out the dangerous plan to get into Salamander's confidence. Once again he's shown to be far from the simpleton of myth- particularly, it must be said, in David Whitaker stories!


There's something sweetly naive about predictions made in the 1960s into how we would be living around now. A unified world government, no mobile phones, weather control, travel by rocket between Australia and Hungary within two hours, state control of certain industries... it's as though neo-liberalism never happened. Whom would I rather suffer, I ask myself- Salamander or Thatcher?

 Troughton manages to exude an extraordinary amount of menace towards Fedorin as Salamander, showing without a doubt what a wide-ranging and brilliant actor he was. This is another gripping episode, although I was amused to find that even recovered episodes feature stock footage, in this case of volcanoes erupting.





Part Three


"People spend all their time making nice things and then other people come along and break them."


An episode with actual footage and, sadly we can now see that this story just isn't very visually arresting, great though the script may be. We get a confession early on that this story is the season cheapie: "Why is Mr Denes being kept in the corridor here?" "It's easier to guard him here."

Still, the dialogue continues to sparkle. Griff, the chef, gets most of the best lines, of course (I'm going out for a walk. It'll probably rain.") but the standard of wit is good all round.

All the same, whilst all this exciting stuff is going on, and Jamie is showing an impressive understanding of the low arts of political skulduggery, the Doctor, almost Hartnell-like, is doing sod all except watching everything on a television much like the viewers were watching back home. In the first clear bit of foot dragging, this normally uber-interventionist Doctor is refusing to do anything at all before he has absolute proof.

The poisoning of Fedorin is great ("Suicide, of course..."). Oh, and Fariah clearly does have a secret...

This still feels very strange for Doctor Who, but it's actually quite refreshing to have a bit of a breather from the standard formula the show seems to have adopted of late. And this is damn good stuff so far, however visually dull it may occasionally be.

I suppose, up to a point, that we were right to suspect that this episode, back when it was all that existed, was not exactly the most visually arresting of the six, but watching the episodes in context it's far less noticeable that this episode is the cheap one.

Still, Griff remains one of my favourite character. And the Doctor's uncharacteristic refusal to get involves is no less grating; indeed, it is if anything more obvious that this is down to the limited number of costume changes for Troughton per episode.

Part Four


"Proof, proof, proof!"


Fariah seems to get from Hungary to Australia awfully quickly! And from this point on we get quite a lot of this. It's often hard to guess which "zone" a scene is supposed to be happening in, especially as the rooms and corridors (or, to be fair, the photographs of them) tend to look rather similar.

Benik's line "These people are terrorists!" has a rather arrestingly contemporary ring, one of the things which tend to mark the fact that in this episode the mood changes sharply and everything becomes very serious. This is nowhere more apparent than with Fariah's tragic yet noble death, but rather unsatisfyingly we are told nothing of her story beyond the vague fact she was being blackmailed.

The seriousness fades briefly as Salamander makes his very Thunderbirds exit to his secret underground base. This scene is most peculiar with sound only, with the sound effects making me imagine the most bizarre Gerry Anderson style contraption imaginable! There's a big new revelation; Salamander is persuading loads of people to live underground in the belief a radioactive war rages overhead so that they'll help him cause natural disasters. And nobody questions any of this except one bloke called Colin. Er, right. This is, to put it mildly, less than entirely convincing and the story never quite recovers from it.

Oh, and it's just occurred to me that the Doctor's relative inactivity is obviously because Troughton's playing two characters and can't have too big a workload. Duh! And Jamie and Victoria weren't in this episode at all, were they? This is the first blatant cast holiday of the Troughton era, more than a year in.

Fariah's death is much more effective with actual footage, if I may risk a truism. And it is now entirely clear which "zone" the action is happening in, obviously. But the big difference footage makes to this episode is, of course, the long and dialogue-free stretch in  which Salamander gets into Thunderbird 2 and reveals to us his secret lair, replete with some very 1960s computers.

And then there's the cigar. I didn't expect that.



Part Five


"You must be either a complete fool or very clever."


Just a couple of minutes in it's quite clear Bruce is wavering in his support for Salamander, otherwise why is this scene happening at all? This scene doesn't quite work for me, although the part where the Doctor hands over his gun is great. Since last episode the story's tone has become very grim, which sits oddly with the intrinsic jolly japery of the central storyline and plot structure. A bit more lightness of touch, as with the first three episodes, and I'd happily accept scenes like this. But as things are it doesn't quite ring true. The confrontation scene between Swann and Salamander doesn't quite work either.

The scene where the Doctor pretends to be Salamander in front of Jamie and Victoria is very well done but also odd- why does he need to pretend? It's not for Kent's sake- he's (still) trying to convince the Doctor, not the other way around!


I don't know if it's because we now have footage or not, but this time round I felt that the scene in which Bruce is persuaded that Salamander may not in fact be a great benefactor after all was entirely convincing. I had absolutely none of the qualms I had when watching the recon. Perhaps this is because I now have the actors' performances to go on. Perhaps it's for no particular reason.

Far more surprising, even shocking, is to read my original review of this episode and realise that I had entirely misunderstood what was happening at the end of the episode; it is obviously Bruce, and not Kent, whom the Doctor is trying to convince. If I can misunderstand something as obvious as this while experiencing a story as a recon then this gives rise to the question of how much else I may have misunderstood while experiencing a story as a recon. Perhaps I had overestimated how possible it is to experience a story without any footage and I haven't "seen" as much of 1960s Doctor Who as I thought I had.


Part Six


"And so you're going to kill me. How petty."


I admit this story has been dragging for me over the last couple of episodes, but I'm genuinely flabbergasted that Kent turns out to have been a baddie all along. just goes to prove the most effective whodunnits are the ones where you don't realise it's a whodunnit in the first place. And the scene where Salamander shoots him is actually quite violent in a very realistic way- I'm a lot more uncomfortable about the idea of kids watching it than I would be about something much more violent but with more of the fantasy element to it.

This feels a bit uneven- extraordinarily, the Doctor sends Jamie and Victoria off to the TARDIS early on, which highlights just how little they've been in the second half of this story. And the final scene with the Doctor and Salamander in the TARDIS is fundamentally a good idea but it all seems to be over very quickly. And surely Salamander should register at least some surprise that the TARDIS is bigger on the inside?

The plot holes are far more obvious this time around with a visual context. Astrid and Swann meeting as they do is an awfully big coincidence; Astrid forgets that a tunnel exists to the underground lair when the plot necessitates it; and there's no way that the Doctor could have got into Salamander's locked room. Still, in spite of all this, the episode is far more coherent and far more satisfactory to view than it was as a recon. Perhaps it's the simple fact that it is much easier to follow and it looks so good. And Troughton's performance is magnetic, as always.

It's a real shock to see the split screen at the end as we see both the Doctor and Salamander. The ending is still abrupt but, without the frustration of not being able to follow the story easily, this doesn't seem to matter as much.



Overall, a story of two halves- the first three episodes seem to be a fun and witty spoof on the action-packed spy genre that was all over 60s film and television from James Bond to The Avengers. But halfway through the witty dialogue disappears and the tone becomes very serious, which just feels wrong in a story which still seems plotted like a spoof. 3/5.

This time around I didn't notice the change of tone at all although, perhaps, the second half of the story is far more visual and thus easy to follow without frustration when one has the luxury of footage, which makes all the difference. Overall, the sets, the direction and the performances elevate the story, with added footage, to a 4/5. The two stand-out performances, without a doubt, come from Patrick Troughton and Patrick Troughton.

Doctor Who: Fury From the Deep

Part One


"You always seem to land on this planet."

"Aye, and it's always England."


Another Joint Venture recon, and so another BBC globe at the beginning, which is a nice touch. And the last story with all its episodes missing, I'm pleased to say!

So, the TARDIS lands from the sky. I don't think we've ever seen it do that before! And the other first is, of course, the sonic screwdriver, which, er, unscrews a screw with sonics. It may be a nicely understated introduction, but it still gives me a fannish thrill to hear the words. And, of course, it foreshadows the end of the story.

The obligatory tiresome bit where the TARDISeers fall under suspicion is mercifully not dwelt on, but it's immediately apparent that Robson is the most abrasive base commander yet to come under siege. Oh, and there's John Abineri!



Part Two


"There's something active in the pipeline. Down there. In the darkness. Waiting..."


My, Victoria's screaming at the start of this episode is truly magnificent! But things are indeed a bit scary, and the heartbeat in particular helps to make things very atmospheric. Another interesting sound effect is from the main refinery computer, which sounds exactly like WOTAN!

The footage with Oak and Quill is simply incredible, and makes me wonder exactly what visual treats we're missing. With nothing more than good direction and good sound effects, two men just opening their mouths is the single scariest thing yet to be seen in Doctor Who.



Part Three


"Oh, I'm not so sure. I don't really like being scared out of my wits every second."


I love the scene of the TARDISeers all doing chemistry together! It's a shame this doesn't survive- if there's one scene to perfectly illustrate this TARDIS team, this is possibly it.

Meanwhile, the tension is being ratcheted up nicely, and Robson is cracking up believably. It's done with a lightness of touch, but all the guest characters are believable, a testament to Victor Pemberton's writing.

I love the fact that Oak and Quill have their own signature tune! The tune and the pair's appearance together give the oddly sinister impression of an evil Laurel and Hardy.

It's hugely impressive how the build-up to Victoria's departure starts as early as the third episode. And although characterisation from story to story has never quite been the same since the end of Season Two, in the context of recent episodes the idea of Victoria being fed up with being scared is believable.

I wasn't sure what happened with Maggie at the end as my recon didn't make it clear- did she walk into the sea?


Part Four


"We don't know where we're going to land from one place to the next. That's the fun, isn't it."

"Is it?"


The conversations between Jamie and Victoria, and then Victoria and the Doctor, are wonderful, again foreshadowing Victoria's exit but good character development for both her and Jamie. And, of course, from another standpoint the fact that Victoria's so scared means we are too. For all that this excellently atmospheric tale succeeds mainly by atmospheric horror (in fact, this entire story is not really sci-fi at all, but horror), the characterisation is uniformly excellent.



Part Five


"Jamie, we're already in the lion's den..."


It's nice to get an explanation of who Oak and Quill are: the first two people to be taken over. But the explanations we get ion this episode aren't mere exposition- the situation seems all the more hopeless as our heroes have no idea where the Weed's nerve centre is.

I love the scene where Megan Jones confronts Robson- it's a shame she didn't become a therapist as she clearly has talents in that direction "Pull yourself together, man!". I like the character, mind. She's sceptical of the Doctor at first, but not long enough to annoy, and soon proves herself to be a capable, no nonsense leader.

Robson's infected hand looks great, and things are clearly gearing up to a climax as he kidnaps Victoria and steals Victoria. I love the bit where the Doctor talks to him in the helicopter- once again, it's clear that mind control and brainwashing is a particular bugbear of his.


Part Six


"Victoria, I want you to scream!"


The Doctor's confrontation with the weed-controlled Robson at the start drills home once again the Doctor's aversion to mind control. And then we get a very long helicopter scene with no dialogue and lots of screaming, which isn't ideal on audio!

It's a wonderfully postmodern moment when we realise that Victoria's screaming is what will defeat the monster- it's here that I completely fall in love with this script! The weed's defeat is suitably dramatic and scary, but is over with surprisingly early. For good reason, though- what follows is no less good as drama. It's nice that the TARDISeers and their new friends have time for a nice post-victory meal for once, which sounds most convivial and fuelled by good wine. There's a great exchange between Robson and the Doctor: "To think I wanted to keep you locked up, Doctor!" "Lots of people have tried..."

But the icing on the cake is the way Victoria's departure is dealt with- sensitively, not rushed, and surely the best companion departure since Susan. Dammit, I actually cried when Victoria and Jamie hugged for the last time. but it feels realistic that she's have had enough of the constant terror of travelling with the Doctor, and as she says it's appropriate for her to leave at this time period as she wouldn't find things easy as an "odd woman" in Victorian times.


Overall- well, I know I tend to give 5/5s out easily, but I mean them all. But this story really is exceptional, second only to The Massacre for me.

Doctor Who: The Web of Fear

Part One


"Is it safe?"

"Oh, I shouldn't think so for a moment..."


A direct continuation from The Enemy of the World, so we do get to see the aftermath after all. The Doctor and Victoria clearly aren't hanging on, and some of the roundels are clearly cardboard cutouts, but never mind!

I'm glad at least this episode survives so we can see Camfield's direction in all its glory- the scene with the Yeti transforming is great. And it's fun to see an older Travers with a beard and great, cantankerous dialogue- Jack Watling seems to be having a lot more fun this time around! I'm not sure about the character Silverstein here though- we seem to be getting a little too close for comfort to some rather dodgy stereotypes.

Actually watching the stories in order brings home just how soon it is for a sequel to The Abominable Snowmen to turn up. And it's rather odd that, if the Yeti are considered good enough to bring back, they then have to be completely redesigned!

This is great stuff, in large part a typical "exploring" part one, but also structured rather cleverly. We get the scene with Travers in the museum to establish the Yeti threat, but the next time we see him some time has passed, the army is involved and the threat is already underway with the minimum of exposition. In between these scenes, the web around the TARDIS in space adds tension and reminds us of the larger threat of the Great Intelligence- although why it lets go isn't made quite clear. All this, and the most postmodern line since a prisoner was kept in a corridor in the last story: "Funny, isn't it? How we keep landing on your Earth?"

We have a deserted London and lots of soldiers... this all feels very Quatermass.



Part Two


"A right old Fred Karno's army".


Back to the recons, Joint Venture this time. It's fun to see, or rather hear, Travers' reaction to seeing Jamie and Victoria looking just as they did forty years ago- and The Abominable Snowmen is retrospectively dated back to 1935. Interesting, as I don't recall anything particularly in the story to suggest it wasn't contemporary. Well, aside from occupying Chinese people, obviously...

The Doctor's not in this much, is he? this is the first obvious time Troughton gets a holiday. Still, he had an awful lot to do in the last story.

We get a very odd line from one of the soldiers: "He reckons they're abominable snowmen." So how come everyone is calling them Yeti?

Part Three


"Good to see you don't take things at face value."



A small glass pyramid! There's a blast from the past. As is the Doctor, who it seems we haven't seen for ages. he seems to be accompanied by some mysterious, moustachioed soldier type called Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart. we don't know where he came from, so he's probably a baddie.

Our heroes are by now entirely surrounded by fungus. at this point it becomes clear that we are indeed watching another base under siege.

Crikey, one of our heroes is a traitor, using the model Yeti- I bet it's that sinister Lethbridge-Stewart. But really, aside from the Doctor, Anne Travers and Victoria, it could be anyone. This is feeling even more Quatermass by the minute, and Pat Troughton makes a splendid Bernard. Good stuff.



Part Four


"I have a craft that travels in time and space."


The Doctor's description of the great Intelligence to the Colonel (and us) is creepy, well-delivered stuff. Even more chilling is the realisation that the Yeti just came, took what it wanted (Travers) and went- it just doesn't see the army as a threat.

We get an extraordinary scene here in which the Doctor tells the Colonel about the TARDIS- and Lethbridge-Stewart believes him, showing not only an extraordinary amount of faith in the Doctor but also good judgement. But conversely, having sent a squad of troops to look for the Doctor's police box (!), he's entirely deflated and defeated once the others are all killed. This is a well-rounded and well played character, but not quite the one he would become.

I'm sure the long battle scene between the soldiers and the Yeti looked great, but I couldn't see it! but it was very long. And used the Cybermens' signature tune for some reason...

The cliffhanger is fantastic here. Unlike in The Abominable Snowmen, in this story the Yeti most certainly do pose a threat.



Part Five


"You'd better stay here. Evans. And don't go taking any chances."


I haven't mentioned Evans yet, but he's a nice character: at the same time comic relief and fulfilling a serious function. He reminds us how scary the situation is, shows us how brave everyone else is in contrast, and is himself quite tragic.

The Intelligence, issuing his ultimatum to the Doctor, is a very powerful adversary indeed, and the situation is about as hopeless as I can ever recall it being. This story is superb.

I'm liking the Colonel more and more. He and Jamie make a particularly good team. Incidentally, in a story broadcast while Syd Barrett was still in Pink Floyd, we get two characters called Arnold and Lane...



Part Six



"Prepare for a great darkness to cloud your mind."



So Arnold is the traitor? I'd forgotten about him- I'd genuinely though there were no plausible suspects and so there must not have been a traitor after all. Although I'm sure it would have helped if I was genuinely able to suspect the Colonel, as the original viewers must have done!

There seems to be no hope as the Intelligence starts to drain the Doctor's mind. But we get a great ending as Jamie heroically saves the day only for it to be revealed that the Doctor would have drained the Intelligence's mind into his simply by switching the wires.




Overall, simply magnificent, full of twists and turns as a six-parter should be, action-packed and generally very Quatermass and the Pit. An easy 5/5.

Phew! I admit that review was a bit rushed but I've got some catching up to do...

Doctor Who: The Enemy of the World

Part One


"They're human beings, if that's what you mean. Indulging in their favourite pastime- trying to destroy each other!"


David Whitaker's back. Yay! And this one's directed by some bloke called Barry Letts. I wonder whether we'll ever hear from him again?

In contrast to the previous story we immediately start with the TARDISeers. And for the first time since, I believe, The Keys of Marinus, the TARDIS materialises silently. This is a very unusual setting for Doctor Who- for all that this is supposedly set in the future we're not exactly being bombarded with futuristic things. In fact, hovercrafts and helicopters give us a very contemporary feel, and signify that we're going to see six episodes of Doctor Who's take on the '60s spy craze.

There's a most enjoyable exchange between the Doctor and Astrid after he insists he's a Doctor "not of medical significance". On being asked whether he's a Doctor of law or philosophy he replies "Which law? Whose philosophy?". There's also a running gag becoming established in which the Doctor, asked to explain where he came from, makes an oblique reference to the previous story for the second time in a row. Witty dialogue is pretty much a hallmark of this story's first three parts and, although a very unusual type of story indeed, it's been great fun so far. Better still, we get Bill Kerr of off of of Hancock, and an unusually intriguing cliffhanger.

There's been an awful lot of weather control in Doctor Who lately, mind!



Part Two


"Which side is good? Which side is bad? And why should I interfere?"


More amusing references to recent escapades as the Doctor thinks he's being told about a "disused Yeti". But the plot thickens a lot during this episode. There's a lot of plotting and counter-plotting going on but it doesn't seem over-complicated, a testament to the excellence of Whitaker's script. Fariah's instantly an intriguing character who has an interesting job. But as she's characterised too well to be a simple food taster we begin to suspect there are things she's not telling us. And finally we get to see the real Salamander- a superb performance from Troughton. Although the accent... er, yes.

Jamie is once again magnificent, carrying out the dangerous plan to get into Salamander's confidence. Once again he's shown to be far from the simpleton of myth- particularly, it must be said, in David Whitaker stories!



Part Three


"People spend all their time making nice things and then other people come along and break them."


An episode with actual footage and, sadly we can now see that this story just isn't very visually arresting, great though the script may be. We get a confession early on that this story is the season cheapie: "Why is Mr Denes being kept in the corridor here?" "It's easier to guard him here."

Still, the dialogue continues to sparkle. Griff, the chef, gets most of the best lines, of course (I'm going out for a walk. It'll probably rain.") but the standard of wit is good all round.

All the same, whilst all this exciting stuff is going on, and Jamie is showing an impressive understanding of the low arts of political skulduggery, the Doctor, almost Hartnell-like, is doing sod all except watching everything on a television much like the viewers were watching back home. In the first clear bit of foot dragging, this normally uber-interventionist Doctor is refusing to do anything at all before he has absolute proof.

The poisoning of Fedorin is great ("Suicide, of course..."). Oh, and Fariah clearly does have a secret...

This still feels very strange for Doctor Who, but it's actually quite refreshing to have a bit of a breather from the standard formula the show seems to have adopted of late. And this is damn good stuff so far, however visually dull it may occasionally be.

Part Four


"Proof, proof, proof!"


Fariah seems to get from Hungary to Australia awfully quickly! And from this point on we get quite a lot of this. It's often hard to guess which "zone" a scene is supposed to be happening in, especially as the rooms and corridors (or, to be fair, the photographs of them) tend to look rather similar.

Benik's line "These people are terrorists!" has a rather arrestingly contemporary ring, one of the things which tend to mark the fact that in this episode the mood changes sharply and everything becomes very serious. This is nowhere more apparent than with Fariah's tragic yet noble death, but rather unsatisfyingly we are told nothing of her story beyond the vague fact she was being blackmailed.

The seriousness fades briefly as Salamander makes his very Thunderbirds exit to his secret underground base. This scene is most peculiar with sound only, with the sound effects making me imagine the most bizarre Gerry Anderson style contraption imaginable! There's a big new revelation; Salamander is persuading loads of people to live underground in the belief a radioactive war rages overhead so that they'll help him cause natural disasters. And nobody questions any of this except one bloke called Colin. Er, right. This is, to put it mildly, less than entirely convincing and the story never quite recovers from it.

Oh, and it's just occurred to me that the Doctor's relative inactivity is obviously because Troughton's playing two characters and can't have too big a workload. Duh! And Jamie and Victoria weren't in this episode at all, were they? This is the first blatant cast holiday of the Troughton era, more than a year in.




Part Five


"You must be either a complete fool or very clever."


Just a couple of minutes in it's quite clear Bruce is wavering in his support for Salamander, otherwise why is this scene happening at all? This scene doesn't quite work for me, although the part where the Doctor hands over his gun is great. Since last episode the story's tone has become very grim, which sits oddly with the intrinsic jolly japery of the central storyline and plot structure. A bit more lightness of touch, as with the first three episodes, and I'd happily accept scenes like this. But as things are it doesn't quite ring true. The confrontation scene between Swann and Salamander doesn't quite work either.

The scene where the Doctor pretends to be Salamander in front of Jamie and Victoria is very well done but also odd- why does he need to pretend? It's not for Kent's sake- he's (still) trying to convince the Doctor, not the other way around!




Part Six


"And so you're going to kill me. How petty."


I admit this story has been dragging for me over the last couple of episodes, but I'm genuinely flabbergasted that Kent turns out to have been a baddie all along. just goes to prove the most effective whodunnits are the ones where you don't realise it's a whodunnit in the first place. And the scene where Salamander shoots him is actually quite violent in a very realistic way- I'm a lot more uncomfortable about the idea of kids watching it than I would be about something much more violent but with more of the fantasy element to it.

This feels a bit uneven- extraordinarily, the Doctor sends Jamie and Victoria off to the TARDIS early on, which highlights just how little they've been in the second half of this story. And the final scene with the Doctor and Salamander in the TARDIS is fundamentally a good idea but it all seems to be over very quickly. And surely Salamander should register at least some surprise that the TARDIS is bigger on the inside?





Overall, a story of two halves- the first three episodes seem to be a fun and witty spoof on the action-packed spy genre that was all over 60s film and television from James Bond to The Avengers. But halfway through the witty dialogue disappears and the tone becomes very serious, which just feels wrong in a story which still seems plotted like a spoof. 3/5.

Doctor Who: The Ice Warriors

Part One


"Everything here is computerised."

"Oh, never mind."


Back to video, strangely enough for the first time since Troughton took over, about halfway through his tenure. And we get the kind of flashy visual representations of the story title as last seen in The Tenth Planet. The music and the ice is very effective.

Everyone's wearing very... interesting futuristic clothes, but we very quickly come to understand the central dilemma here- people are in thrall to the computer and its scheduling. Unfortunately this central theme has dated more than little- the computer as a vast centralised machine at the centre of the room making decisions- but as we'll see the theme is very well developed.

It's ages until we see the TARDISeers, and the Ship has landed on its side for some reason. I like Jamie's comment about the cold, looking back to the previous story. They're at an odd angle to climb out of the TARDIS, though. I'd like to see this scene from inside the TARDIS, mind- presumably ropes and grappling hooks were involved?

There are a lots of good character scenes between the guest characters, something which was notably missing from The Abominable Snowmen. Clent and Arden's antagonism here is nicely done and helps to develop the story's theme.

It's good to see a very young-looking Peter Sallis and good old Angus Lennie, who seems to be playing a somewhat hairier version of Ives from The Great Escape here.

The science behind this new ice age is odd, and probably seemed plausible at the time, but can't help seeming absurd today. Artificial food leads to plant growth being kept to a minimum, so no carbon dioxide gets into the atmosphere and there's a runaway greenhouse effect? Riiight...

(ETA: I've just started to read the rest of this thread, and realised that I'm just about the only person not to spot the obvious total wrongness of the way photosynthesis is described here. Duh!)

More good stuff fills out the episode, establishing the shape of the story to come. We get some stock footage of an avalanche- we'll be seeing a lot more of that. The Doctor quickly establishes his usefulness to Clent, and easily fends off questions by claiming to have been "in retreat" in Tibet. And, of course, it's made plain that the Doctor isn't at all keen on this reliance on computers.


Part Two


"We are part of the world plan."



Back to the recon, and at first I wasn't sure I had the right episode, as there seems to be no reprise and Victoria is captured very quickly. It's odd to think that Varga is played by Bernard Bresslaw- it certainly doesn't show, and frankly I'm mystified as to why they cast someone so high profile in such a role!

Not much is happening, but in a good way- there's good character stuff going on all the time. Arden says of Clent that he "should have been born a robot"! And the Doctor gets a couple of nicely done individual chats with both Clent and Penley, establishing the differences between them, essentiality individualism versus conformity.


Part Three


"Save the world? That has a nice Clentian ring to it!"


Peter Barkworth is superb as Clent, giving the character physical and vocal quirks which really make him come alive. The clumsy way Clent tries to convince Arden to not blame himself for unleashing Varga is a superb piece of acting. Meanwhile, Penley gets a great line: "Clent doesn't need me. He just needs a mirror. Preferably rose-tinted."

I love the scene where, having refused to use a computer for his calculations (!), the Doctor tells Clent he has a very important request- a pencil!

Victoria gets very hysterical indeed at the end of the episode- she's having quite a traumatic time so far.



Part Four


"Well, you don't expect me to face Clent alone? That mouthpiece of the computer? He's got a printed circuit where his heart should be!"



All footage from now on. Hooray! Unfortunately, it becomes increasingly apparent from this point on that the scenes "outside" with "walls of ice" are in fact taking place in rather small sets!

Nice touch that Jamie's pleased to hear fellow Scot Storr call himself a "loyalist"! Otherwise, character moments are not so frequent this episode, mainly because things are actually happening and the pieces are beginning to move into place. It's become increasingly apparent that the Ice Warriors are hostile mainly because they mistakenly believe the ionizer to be a weapon. Then again, they do kill Storr, so they're not exactly nice!



Part Five


"Our trust is in the Great Computer."


While the Doctor kills some time with the Ice Warriors, Jamie and Penley spend some time on film watching some stock footage of wolves, in the only episode to show any blatant padding. Still, there's still plenty of good stuff. It's notable that, while the Doctor is able to defiantly tell the Ice Warriors early on that "I always live in hope", Penley accuses Clent of behaving very differently: "You mean hope happens to be inconvenient. You've got to stick to your precious schedule, is that it?"

This theme of whether to accept the computer's direction is really coming to the fore now, not that it's ever exactly been subtext. But although the theme is well done it's unfortunately dated, not only in terms of computer technology but in terms of its implications of a planned society.

Oh, and why does one of the Ice Warriors seem to have a bigger helmet than all the others?

I like the scenes of Victoria pretending to cry- Deborah Watling is essentially acting someone who's acting badly, and doing it very well!


Part Six


"Computer says no!"


Everything comes to a very neat conclusion here in a more than usually satisfying finale, as Clent and Miss Garrett's almost religious faith in the computer is finally tested to destruction. It's nicely done how Walters' rant against the computer at the start of the episode is counterbalanced by a later rant from Clent. And the reconciliation between Clent and Penley is nicely understated but well done.

Hang on, why is the TARDIS suddenly vertical at the end?



Overall, most enjoyable. For the second time in a row we get a six parter which more or less justifies its length. It's interesting how the flaws and virtues of The Abominable Snowmen- great concepts and atmosphere versus often bland guest characters- are reversed here, where a fairly standard base-under-siege story is made to work through good characterisation of both the regulars and the guest cast. 4/5.

Doctor Who: The Abominable Snowmen

Part One


"The welcome of a lifetime?!"



So, the first story co-written by Henry Lincoln, he of the... interesting Grail theories! Should be interesting. Also, this is a story I know relatively little about.

It's good to see the BBC continuity announcement on the new Loose Cannon recon, which looks as though it's going to be excellent. The early TARDIS scenes with the chest too, giving Victoria another chance to bond with her new companions.

The Doctor says they're assured of a friendly welcome at the monastery. No need to worry about that then! Oh, and no doubt Jamie and Victoria will remain in the TARDIS just as they're supposed to.

I like the way the episode features only the main cast for most of its duration- reminds me of early Hartnell stories! But here it helps to develop the developing relationship between Jamie and Victoria. And, far from being the terrified screamer of repute, Victoria seems to have quite the sense of adventure.


Part Two


"This wasn't the welcome I expected, you know!"


Actual footage, and suddenly it's very clear that this was filmed in Snowdonia, which unfortunately looks very unlike the Himalayas! It's still very good, though, plus we get the Doctor playing his recorder again.

We settle down to the actual plot, and it's most intriguing- who exactly is Padmasambhava, and what's that evil voice he occasionally switches to? Very creepy.

It's Jamie's plan that leads to the capture of the Yeti- he may be no intellectual but the last few stories have shown he's far from thick, despite his reputation.

Hmmm... Travers seems to recognise the word "robot". [pedantic smartarse mode] If I recall correctly from general fan osmosis, this story was supposed to be set in 1935 (although we've had no date yet). If so, it should predate the coining of the word by Karel Capek by a full three years [/pedantic smartarse mode].

Part Three


"They came to get their ball back!"


Great as these recons are, I think this is the point at which recon weariness is starting to sink in. Still, not that far to go now! Besides, this recon is quite superb, with lots of moving CGI Yeti.

The plot is thickening- I love the mysterious hand moving the model Yeti about on the board. And we get some interesting revelations about a "great Intelligence" which wants to end its days wandering space to take on physical form.

Khrisong is turning out to be a more interesting character than the simple plot-serving adversary of earlier, as he learns to trust the Doctor. It's nice to see the chatracter developing a bit.

Once again Victoria shows far more of a sense of adventure than her reputation would have us believe, trying to sneak into the inner sanctum


Part Four


"Are you sure it's quite safe?"

"Well, quite frankly, Jamie, no. But there's only one way of finding out."


We're spoiled with a fair few actual clips this episode, and a most amusing scene where the Doctor and Jamie find the TARDIS blocked by a Yeti: "What are you going to do?" "Bung a rock at it."

Interesting stuff with Travers in the cave, the pyramid glowing, and things looking generally scary. Which is good, because there's not much of a sense of threat from the Yeti so far, frankly. Either they're inactive or they just barge straight through without harming anyone. In fact, it's already part four and nobody's dead yet! Is this a record?

There's far less of the Doctor's manipulative side on display in this story, although he notably would rather trace the sphere to its source than deal with the Yeti he knows to be potentially at large in the monastery! We get an interesting moment with Victoria too: "This Doctor- is he your guardian?" "I suppose he is, in a way."

I'm beginning to quite like Khrisong, with his defiance of the Abbot's apparent defeatism- quite a turnaround for such an initially annoying character.


Part Five


"I'm going to see a very old friend."

It's a particular tragedy that the visuals for the scenes with Padmasamhava speaking through Victoria no longer exist- this is chilling enough just on audio but it would be great to see it. It's a shame that so much of Padmasambhava's dialogue is pretty much inaudible, although much of that is probably down to my hearing.

The Doctor's visited the monastery before, of course, so this is the first ever reference to an untelevised adventure. But where does it fit in? Confusingly, Padmasambhava seems to recognise the Doctor by sight ("Good to look upon your face again.") so presumably it happened since his "renewal"?

We get another slice of plot exposition here; the Great Exposition came to Padmasambhava whilst he was meditating?! That's a scary and not uncool concept.

The Doctor seems almost most more interested in Padmasambhava than Victoria's catatonic condition, and has to be gently chided by Jamie! Although this Doctor's a genuinely nice chap, and genuinely cares about his friends, he can be quite shockingly "big picture first" at times.

Everything seems to be coming to a head...


Part Six

"Such a brain as yours is too small to grasp my purpose."


Again the recon gives us a continuity announcer! "And now, Doctor Who, and the final episode of The Abominable Snowmen." Is it just me who finds it impossible not to think of the many Monty Python continuity announcer skits while watching this?

A cool Doctor / Victoria moment before he explains his plan. The Doctor essentially makes a token gesture of sending Victoria away before the dangerous stuff starts, but then cheerfully admits he knew full well she'd refuse to do any such thing!

The situation by the end, in spite of the robotic trappings, essentially feels more supernatural than sci-fi, which is not necessarily a bad thing and certainly gives this story a refreshingly different feel.

The threat is finally defeated in a satisfying way, marred only by the fact we're shown so many close-up photos of Padmasambhava which make it very clear that his aged face is a mask!

Nice last few scenes with the real Yeti and the Doctor playing his recorder again (yay!). And a nice bit of foreshadowing from Jamie: "can you not land us somewhere warmer next time?"



Overall, a nicely done story with a very different feel which, compared to certain other six-parters I could mention (The Faceless Ones, I'm looking at you!), never seemed to flag. Perhaps not quite up there with the best (I suspect because none of the guest characters were ever quite interesting or layered enough), but nevertheless very enjoyable. 4/5.

Doctor Who: Tomb of the Cybermen

Part One


"Perhaps we don't want your help."

"That's just it- you so obviously do."


Good Lord- a story that exists in its entirety, the first since The War Machines- such luxury! And probably the first story for ages I've encountered in the marathon that I know very well indeed. That means I'm thinking about what I'm seeing, not absorbing new info, so this review might go on a bit more than usual! Although the fact we get 100% footage may have something to do with it too.

It's such a difference watching this story in context. We start on Skaro, of course, and Victoria is introduced to the TARDIS in a scene I once considered throwaway but is a wonderful little character scene after seeing The Evil of the Daleks- Victoria's father and Maxtible get a nice mention, and the Doctor compares his time machine to Maxtible's.

So, the Doctor's 450 years old. This is our first inkling that he's of any great age, and after the last story only the second confirmation that he's an alien.

We're just bombarded with goodness- Cyril Shaps, some awesome incidental music, and a particularly well-sketched group of characters, nicely introduced. The structure of the story is great from the start, and there's something cinematic about both the look and the style of storytelling.

The one thing that bothers me about this story is there pretty much from the start though; the big, strong, practically mute servant type, always spoken about and seldom spoken to even in front of him, played by a black actor. This is an archetype from an earlier, less enlightened age.

In a story with few laughs, I had to chuckle at the revelation that the Cybermen have "dynasties". And also raise an eyebrow that, in the 25th (?) century, the women have to stay behind while the men explore!

Jamie states of the dormant Cybermat that "It's as dead as a stone". In no way is it going to prove a threat later then...

There's a lot to praise in this episode, but I'm particularly enjoying the verbal sparring between the Doctor and Klieg, well scripted and well acted by both troughton and George Pastell. And the Doctor's manipulating Klieg even from the first episode, of which more later.



Part Two



"You belong to us. You shall be like us."


I love Viner, both the character and Cyril Shaps' general magnificence. A minor character plot-wise but he adds so much to the story by voicing the audience's fears. And whilst ostensibly a comic character in some ways you never actually laugh at him; you know his tragic fate is inevitable and you sense that so does he.

Parry is in no way the leader of this expedition- it's the Doctor and Klieg who are competing for the alpha male slot here and the winner's never in any doubt. The character dynamics are very well developed as the plot progresses.

Kit Pedler's influence is clear in the technical stuff on symbolic logic and general lack of howlers, but rather surprising the excellence in plot and characterisation must presumably come from Gerry Davis, who's not previously impressed me much.

Oh look, food pills! I love these charmingly 60s sci-fi tropes. And the Cybermen's awakening scene, again to that music, is one of my favourite dramatic telly moments ever. It's awesome.

Up until the last story, it seemed as though character development had been a thing of the past, of the days of David Whitaker and Dennis Spooner. And yet, for the second story in succession, the Doctor continues his development into a more manipulative figure. The Doctor admits he allowed Klieg leeway with the controls just to see what he would do- and as a result Viner is killed! Surely the Doctor is partly to blame for this? In fact, surely Jamie should be pulling him up on this, especially after what happened last story?

It's interesting seeing the ritual by which the Cybermen awaken their Controller. They may have no emotions, but they seem to have cultural practices of a sort.



Part Three


"We're not like you!"


"You will be."



Interestingly, this story is a battle between three manipulators: Klieg, the Cybermen and the Doctor (in ascending order). Klieg's own serious pretensions to control of the situation are punctured at the very start of the story, while the Cybermen reveal their motivation more fully than before: they attacked the moonbase as their machines had failed and their extinction was nearing. Desperate to survive, they fled to the tombs.

Once again the terrifying prospect of Cybernisation is raised, and once again a first wave of Cybermen is beaten back halfway through the story. For the first time in a Cyber story, though, we're not blatantly being fed the same plot as The Tenth Planet, or at least it's being done sufficiently differently. I won't be marking the story down for excessive similarity to The Tenth Planet as I did The Moonbase.

The Cybermats are actually quite scary, although why they're called that I have no idea.

George Pastell shows what a fantastic actor he is, convincingly looking scared as Klieg knocks for the others to open the hatch and let him out. At this point Klieg is no longer at all in control, being manipulated by Kaftan. But even she is worried by his erratic behaviour,

The chat about bereavement between the Doctor and Victoria is a wonderful little scene, once again all the more so for seeing the story in context.



Part Four


"Well, now I know you're mad. I just wanted to make sure."


The final cliffhanger, with Klieg the threat, is appropriate as by this point, with the Cybermen safely below, he's the only potential cause of further danger. The threats posed by the Cybermen throughout this episode are all caused by him. This episode centres around the psychological battle for dominance between the Doctor and Klieg, but not without some other nice touches. Victoria is clever to feed the paranoia of Kaftan and Klieg with talk of "the other weapon". And I notice in the Doctor's scene with Toberman he tells him the Cybermen want to control him and make him their slave; this Doctor's dislike of slavery and control is becoming a definite character trait by now, as much as his interventionism and the hiding of his razor-sharp intellect behind the clownish exterior.

The Doctor's never been so manipulative, though, and this is a fascinating trait to behold. Al throughout the final scene with Klieg, with a gun being pointed at him, the Doctor is always in full control as he goads Klieg for just long enough for the Cyberman to sneak up behind him.





Overall, superb. The pacing was masterful, with every scene having its part to play, as was the characterisation of both regulars and guest characters. And the Cybermen have never seemed so threatening. And most of all I'm fascinated by the development to the Doctor's character, played awesomely by Troughton. Best season opener since An Unearthly Child?

Doctor Who: The Evil of the Daleks

Part One


"Follow that car!"


Alas, I haven't been able to get my hands on the Loose Canon recon in time, and I'm not prepared to wait and get even further behind! So for the first time in the marathon I'm experiencing this story by means of a Joint Venture recon- and it's not bad at all. Clearly it's not a patch on most of the Loose Cannon stuff but it's a fine effort nonetheless, and I was relieved to find it better than the Loose Cannon version of The Faceless Ones. All this, of course, is on the evidence of but a single episode, but early signs are encouraging. And the continuity announcement at the start is a nice touch.

We start with an intriguing mystery which feels like a different programme entirely, as the Doctor and Jamie piece together clues and lounge about in a 60s coffee bar to the sounds of Paperback Writer and some decor straight out of Austin Powers. Groovy! it's a nice touch that Jamie knows little of trains, although he seems to speak of the Victorian era with a little too much familiarity. It's an intriguing set-up though- a Victorian gent who's somehow in 1966. And the cliffhanger is chilling. A superb episode.



Part Two


"You will not feed the flying pests outside!"


An episode away from the recons, and the luxury of actual footage, on DVD no less. Something most definitely to savour. It's immediately apparent that the scenes are well shot. And also that the pictures of the Doctor and Jamie are publicity shots from The Highlanders! Perhaps a Dalek photographer travelled back to 1746?

The plot continues to grip; this episode is every bit as excellent as the previous one. We get to properly examine two well-characterised individuals; the arrogant and hubristic Maxtible and the guilt-plagued Waterfield- both of whom possess personality traits which mean, as this is Doctor Who, neither will survive the story. And we get to meet Victoria. Yay!

I love Maxtible's Bride of Frankenstein-esque lab, with all those phials filled with bubbling liquids! And also, as this is great, I shall overlook the, er, interesting science spouted by Maxtible!

Part Three


"Do not be afraid. You are not to be exterminated."


This is still gripping drama but, well, where exactly is the plot going? I know it serves to introduce Terrall and his plot strand but the brief kidnapping of Jamie seems oddly purposeless. It's also very notable that the Daleks don't seem very active at all, and only ever seem to appear in ones and twos. still, this is gripping stuff which shows us (however justified he may be) a dark and manipulative side to the Doctor, overheard by Jamie. For the first time in ages, both the Doctor and his companion are getting some serious character development- that'll be a David Whittaker script then.

This is the first appearance of sci-fi elements in an historical setting for ages, since the Egyptian segments of The Daleks' Master Plan, in fact. but this feels a very different kind of epic, on a more human scale. A couple of things are odd, though- is the Daleks' desire for the "human factor" really consistent with their racial supremacism? And it's notable that they say of the Doctor: "You have travelled too much through time. You are more than human." Once again, it's made clear that the series does not yet consider the Doctor anything other than physiologically human. Well, the small matter of his "renewal" aside, obviously. And for all we know, that was just "part of the TARDIS".

It has to be said, some basic elements of the plot make no sense at all. Is the explanation for the Daleks' desire for the "human factor" really convincing? Why do they need to go to all the trouble of kidnapping the Doctor and Jamie rather than any old human? How does the test work? And yet this is gripping drama, and on course for a 4/5 at this point in spite of everything. The confrontation scene between the Doctor and Jamie is electrifying- great writing and acting.


Part Four


"The Daleks know many secrets. You will learn the most important."


We start with a long fight scene with no dialogue for a very long time. An unfortunate episode to be missing, then! The gradual widening of the rift between Waterfield and Maxtible in their scene is well developed, and although not that much actually happens in this episode the time is more than adequately filled by good character stuff. On the evidence of this episode Maxtible seems to be becoming more like Mavic Chen with each passing minute...

Part Five

"No, Mr Terrall. I am not a student of human nature. I am a professor of a far wider academy, of which human nature is merely a part."


So this new generation of Daleks will have "positronic brains", will they?

There's a real sense of high stakes and foreboding being stoked throughout this episode; Molly, Ruth and Terrall all leave before the real bad stuff starts, which gives the impression that none of the other guest characters are going to survive. And when Waterfield speaks of the destruction of an entire race, the Doctor's reply ("Yes. I don't think you quite realise what you're saying, but yes. It may come to that. It may very well come to that.") is interestingly ambiguous as to the race concerned!

There's a fantastic scene between the Doctor and Jamie as the consequences of the Doctor's betrayal of his friend are made clear; "You and me- we're finished! You're just too callous for me." The episode ends with Jamie still not fully trusting the Doctor. I can't help noticing, though- whenever it's just the Doctor and one male companion travelling in the TARDIS there always seems to be a huge row!

Part Six


"I've beaten you, and I don't care what you do to me now."


Daleks playing trains? Er... ok. Fine in the context of the story, but it certainly diminishes the Daleks. It's interesting to hear the differences in the tones of their voices, mind.

The Daleks betray Maxtible? Well, blow me down! And then it's suddenly a double whammy of Dalek tropes as we get a countdown. And then everyone's off to Skaro and things start happening thick and fast. Before they do, though, we get a sweet little scene in which Victoria tells Kemel she'll look after him. Whitaker's very good at these little character moments.

At last we get to see the surface of Skaro again. Or rather we don't, as the episode is missing. In fact, the scenes in which the Doctor, Jamie and Waterfield travel towards the Dalek city are extremely reminiscent of the first Dalek story. Even better, once again we hear the music from the Dalek city and best of all, in Maxtible's cell, that throbbing sound!

The Emperor is awesome to behold, or at least his photograph is. I love the Doctor's line: "We meet at last. I wondered if we ever would." In fact, Troughton is particularly brilliant in this scene, but this is a story in which the Doctor has been better played and written than ever before. The moment when the Doctor realised he's been manipulated all along is awesomely effective.



Part Seven


"Dizzy! Dizzy! Dizzy Daleks!"


The Doctor's recorder is back! Yay! I do believe we haven't seen it since The Moonbase. It's nice that there's room in this final episode for the Doctor to finally get a chance to bond with Victoria. I don't think they'd even spoken before.

The Daleks' plan seems to make sense now, certainly more than it did, but I'm not convinced that Daleks imbuing other races with the "Dalek factor" is consistent with their obsessive belief in their own racial superiority. Maxtible gets what he deserves, though.

I notice even at this stage, and admittedly after he's supposedly been given the "Dalek factor", Jamie still isn't sure of whether to trust the Doctor, and after what has happened this has resonance.

So, the Doctor is not impregnated with the Dalek factor because he's not from Earth! He is physically different from humans, then, contradicting everything I said a couple of episodes ago!



Overall, this is breathtakingly, Earth-shatteringly awesome telly, and it's a shame so little of it exists. Yes, there are plot problems in the way the early episodes hang together and yes, the Daleks are not exactly treated with dignity here. But this is just quality stuff, an easy 5/5, second only to The Massacre.



And overall Season Four gets 3.889/5, close behind Three.