Doctor Who: The Daleks' Master Plan (Revisited) Episodes 1, 2 and 3

Yep, the two recently rediscovered episodes just dropped on to iPlayer this morning, and you probably knew this blog post was coming.

Before I get into the episodes themselves, though, plus revisiting Day of Armageddon because it would have been silly not to, a huge shout out to Film Is Fabulous, a splendid little charity from my neck of the country who specialise in preserving and locating films, telly and other footage for posterity, much of which may otherwise be lost. Importantly, there's no cherry picking or treasure hunting. Instead, they catalogue and preserve entire collections, treating every item with equal respect. 

Through their work, we now have these two episodes, previously thought lost. And, while we should just enjoy these for the time being, there may be more hope for the future, as we now know that cutting copies are a thing. For now, though, please do check out Film Is Fabulous' splendid website, do consider donating if you can, and please don't hassle them- they clearly know what they're doing, and their work can't and mustn't be rushed.

Anyway...

The Nightmare Begins

"If it's brain... or brawn, rather, versus brain..."

This episode, more than anything else, looks AMAZING. Douglas Camfield truly excels himself here. Much as we know damn well that the forests of Kembel are just a tiny studio in Lime Grove, his claustrophobic direction, as well as Brian Cant's desperate acting, really sells the sense of peril for Kert Gantry in particular. It's great to see him and Nicholas Courtney as Bret Vyon in action. We hardly have time to notice that Varga plants are only spoken of, not seen, and how tense, claustrophobic direction means we don't actually see much of the forest set- a wise decision.

It's amusing to see Mavic Chen being interviewed and discussed by a couple of lazy civil servants whose casual attitude contrasts with the selfless dedication of Gantry and Vyon, and the lady in particular looks very Swinging Sixties indeed. Such a contrast from the very bleak shot of Gantry after the Dalek kills him.

It's fascinating to see the dynamic between the Doctor and Katarina here- he's as affectionate as ever, but she interprets everything in terms of her own culture- she's in the afterlife, heading to the "Place of Perfection". As she says to Bret, they're "on our way through the underworld".

Then there's the visual of the Doctor's magnetic chair, the city, the framing of the shot where the Doctor sees the Daleks for the first time... we're so very lucky to have this back.

Day of Armageddon

"His ambitions exceed his usefulness."

I'm conscious that I've already blogged this, way back during the marathon days, but it would be silly to leave out the middle of three consecutive episodes, especially when this episode contains the key moment with the Doctor swiping the Taranium core. That aside, though, it's marked by three extraordinary performances. Hartnell, of course, but also Nicholas Courtney as the firm but brave Bret Vyon, and the always magnificent Kevin Stoney, whose performance as Mavic Chen is a joy to watch, both because of his line delivery and his physical mannerisms. We're lucky to be able to see his performance. 

The Daleks setting fire to the forest is an extraordinary visual, so much so that you can even forgive the fact that there are only three of them. All the scenes with the delegates are brilliant. And the whole thing is just so damn tense. Then there's the ever-extraordinary musical score from the underappreciated Tristram Cary, whose music both borders on the avant-garde and works perfectly in context.

And the inside of the Spar is a perfectly Sixties space opera future, with the design of the controls being, well, not quite as charming as the fridge magnet-based technology of the baddies in The War Games, but as close as you can get.

Devil's Planet

"All is ready for their space extinction!"

We've had quite a few Terry Nation-isms thus far. Hostile plants, the constant use of "space" as an adjective ("Excuse me while I nip to the space loo for a space number two"), and even a countdown. Here we get a lesser spotted one, later to be reused in the opening episodes of Blake's 7- the prison planet with no guards, where prisoners are just dumped into a Hobbesian existence. It's a rather bleak situation into which to crash one's spaceship.

Everything still looks great, though. The gripping scene leading up to Zephon's killing, for example, showcases Camfield's sublime qualities as a director- particularly his skill at the now-lost art of blocking. And even the (thankfully not overly drawn out) bleak scenes with the hostile convicts are absolutely gripping. So, of course, of more footage of Kevin Stoney's physical mannerisms and facial expressions as Chen.

And then there's Katarina, of whose five episodes, none of which once remained, we now have an incredible three. Yet, when she says to the Doctor, with those trusting eyes which we can now see, we feel a pang...

This episode, as with all of them, is bloody brilliant. 

 

 

The Sweeney: Cover Story

 "I think that fish fancies me".

Hmm. Good dialogue, good acting, and it all looks great- not surprising for an episode directed by the great Douglas Camfield. But... for the first time with The Sweeney, I'm not sure about this one.

It's not that the chemistry between John Thaw and Prunella Gee isn't there. It's not that their relationship isn't believable, or that the dilemma isn't real- she genuinely is mysterious: is she in league with this week's villains? And yet... well, the is she / isn't she is driven up to a point of real suspense as the rubbish tip, et, tip she leads them on turns out to be false. But the revelation that she's kosher is just... fairly flat, nothing to it. And her disappearance- leaving because Jack loves his job more thsan her- is the most horrible cliche.

Which isa pity. Great script, characterisation... but the plot just fundamentally doesn't satisfy. Good job, then, that we've got all this '70s-ness to entertain us, the world of half a century ago when journalists mattered.

I'm sure this one is just a blip.

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. 

The Nightmare Man: Parts Three and Four

Part Three

“I blame television. Some people see The Sound of Music once too often, and something snaps.”

It’s a bit odd watching episodes two at a time and reviewing them two at a time, especially when it comes to reviewing Part Three while trying to pretend you haven’t also just watched Part Four. So I find myself being quite unable to write up the parts of my notes theorising about the Colonel and secret military cover-ups of aliens. It’s a nice part of the developing plot, though. We’re also constantly reminded of a mysterious soldier with a parachute.

And the plot’s coming on nicely. Things have taken on a regular pattern by now: each episode is a new day; the police are nice, normal people; Tom gets the best lines; the characters are getting to like and trust one another more and more. It’s nice that we have none of that tiresome nonsense where characters suspect each other of nefarious deeds for no good reason. But the undercurrent of horror starts to move into the foreground, and we get actual glimpses of the creature. Fiona’s impressive multimedia set-up lays the groundwork most effectively for the inevitable deaths of the coastguards. After all, for characters like this, living in an isolated place that might as well be a lighthouse, to get killed is pretty much a trope in itself. It raises the stakes, though…

Part Four

“A policeman’s lot is not a happy one.”

So, it wasn’t an alien, it was a Russian cyborg thingy. Well, of course. And the colonel and his mates, who’ve put the island under martial law, are also all Russians. I wasn’t expecting that. The Cold War: how very quaint.

I love the characters’ reactions, though. Inskip suspects something’s up with the colonel, and has his suspicions confirmed. Tom is as witty as ever. Fiona is deeply upset that all this horror has come to her beloved island. And Mike, with his military background, is the one who finally draws out the truth, and, I suppose, gets to be the hero.

I don’t know the original novel at all, but the twist fell a little flat to me. The plot, and especially the warmly drawn characters, are beautifully handled by Holmes, but this is a fairly standard thriller plot until the final twenty minutes, and the big revelation is not sufficiently related to anything we’ve seen earlier to have any real resonance or power.

Still, it’s possible that this fault may lie in the source material. Certainly, Holmes handles the nuts and bolts of the plot, and the characterisation, with consummate ease. But it’s a shame that this should be his only “original” drama. RTD once compared him to Dennis Potter; this script is good, but doesn’t back that claim up.

Incidentally, it's an instructive experience watching a BBC drama from 1981 just after a Joss Whedon series from 2001. Everything seems so much... slower. And I'm sure  it probably means I've failed to properly appreciate Camfield's direction here.

The Nightmare Man: Parts One and Two

Part One

“There’s been a murder.”

I’ve never seen this before but, as a rather full-on Doctor Who fan of twenty-four years standing, I can’t resist a thriller, from 1981, scripted by Robert Holmes and directed by Douglas Camfield. These two are pretty much the dream team.

Camfield directed Terror of the Zygons, of course, and it’s not just the Scottish setting that echoes this. The shots from the POV of the killer, or creature, or whatever it is, deeply echo the similar shots of the Skarasen. But here they are very effective, with their whole blood-red look contrasting with the realism we see elsewhere.

Otherwise, we spend the thirty minutes until the murder of Symonds exploring the frenzied murder of a Mars Anderson, and being rather effectively introduced to our cast of characters. It’s a rather unstarry cast; Celia Imrie and Maurice Roeves are the only two I’ve ever heard of. But then, this being a thriller, that’s probably a good idea. I can’t rely on relative levels of fame to predict who’s going to get killed.

I assume this was filmed on location on a proper island up in the Highlands; it certainly looks like it. And this closed little community, where Inspector Inskip has just four police officers at his disposal, feels simultaneously large and claustrophobic in the fog. The characters are interesting, and it’s interesting to speculate what will happen to them. Mike proposes to Fiona, so I assume at least one of them (him?) is not going to survive. The policemen are all likeable but realistic and human, as they should be from the pen of an ex-copper. It’s a nice touch to see Tom swearing in Gaelic! Roeves is excellent as Inskip- reassuringly normal and believable for a TV cop.

Part Two

“No creature on this Earth has a bite like that.”

This episode does something very refreshing; it slowly and plausibly gets our main characters to accept that they’re dealing with an alien without resorting to the tired and frustrating spectacle of characters refusing to believe anything which seems far fetched. With the cliffhanger, the final piece slots into place as even Inskip accepts that “Nothing human did that.”

We’re given various pieces of the puzzle one by one; the creature’s teeth, the fact that it seems to be radioactive, and finally what appears to be its spacecraft. But there’s one other mystery here: Colonel Howard. At first I assumed he was just a red herring- he clearly isn’t the killer- but could he be more than he seems? Do the military have some connection with what’s going on? Is the military parachute a clue? Or is he a double red herring?

I really like Inskip; he may be a newcomer and a Glaswegian, but he’s part of this community and he cares for it (“Ah, Jamie’s a good loony, Tom. He’s not a killer.”). He’s clever, too; he sees that the killer’s moving in a straight line and follows it. We’ve also established that Mike, Fiona and Dr. Goudry are all decent sorts. They can’t all survive…

Blake's 7: Duel

“Not only is he primitive, he is pompous as well.”

It’s an odd start, with two bizarre-looking women, one of whom is played by Isla Blair, telling each other things that the other would undoubtedly know, but without leaving the viewer much the wiser. I presume that their longing to “be at peace” is essentially a death wish. Nice.

Anyway, Travis is busily chasing Blake in his pursuit ship, where he’s surrounded by some rather yummy goth girls. Except these ladies are mutoids, meaning they subsist via little green tubes full of blood. Urgh. The Liberator is running low on fuel, and needs to remain in orbit around the nearest habitable planet, for the period of time required by the plot, so that it can “recharge”. Recharge with what, exactly? Also, Travis claims to have pursued Blake “into this galaxy”. So the Federation spans multiple galaxies? Or does Terry Nation just not know the difference between a galaxy and a star system? I suspect the latter myself.

Blake, Jenna and Gan nip down to the planet to kill a bit of time, and find a world suspiciously similar to Skaro in Terry Nation’s first ever Dalek story for Doctor Who. Not only is the sight before them “Almost like the effects of a fusion bomb”, but there are stone (petrified?) statues. Suddenly, Gan sees two women, who quickly disappear before anyone else sees them. Interestingly, at this point he says “I hope my limiter hasn’t malfunctioned.” Why would he say that? Killing wasn’t an issue here, but women were. This seems consistent with the idea of his crimes having been sexual in nature.

Blake spots the Federation support ships, and they all teleport back on board. The Liberator is out of power, Travis has them surrounded, they have to ration their power, and they’re basically screwed. So Blake decides to ram Travis. What else?

Then time slows down, and the two alien women teleport Blake and Travis down to the surface. They spin a tale of a thousand year war, a “planet made barren by radiation”, and make it very clear that, like, war is bad, m’kay? They question Blake and Travis, and it’s interesting that Travis says that Blake is “An enemy of the Federation, tried and convicted.” Why not mention the child abuse charges? Surely it would be in his interests to do so?

Annoyingly, the two alien women conclude only that the two positions are irreconcilable; they don’t give a monkeys about the relative merits of both cases. I may have my doubts about Blake’s unrealistic pessimism, but I don’t like the Neville Chamberlain-style mindless pacifism being espoused here. This is very different to the message Nation seemed to be imparting in the aforementioned The Daleks.

Anyway, there’s to be a gladiator-style duel, complete with gladiator-style swords, which is supposed to, er, show that the aliens are more civilised. Right. And we get Jenna and that rather nice-looking mutoid goth lady teleported down, too. This dual takes place in a forested region of the planet which looks suspiciously like the South-East of England.

Interestingly, it seems Mutoids have no memory of their previous lives, and Travis’ sadistic attempts to tease his companion about her previous life are to no avail. Are Mutoids ex-criminals then, who are altered, have their memories wiped, and are made to serve as military slaves? And Travis clearly has a history with this Keyeira, as she was. Is he responsible for her condition?

Meanwhile, aboard the Liberator, Avon says something very interesting: “I have never understood why it should be necessary to become irrational in order to prove that you care. Or, indeed, why it should be necessary to prove it at all.” He may be a bit of a cold fish, and somewhat self-centred and cynical, but it’s interesting how he seems to imply that he does in fact care.

There’s a climactic fight scene in which, yet again, Blake refuses to kill Travis for some rather flimsy reasons. He seems to be making a habit of this. He’s returned to the Liberator where, interestingly, Gan makes a rather laddish comment about Sinofar, the younger of the two women. More evidence?

The mutoid, meanwhile, faces a bleak future of court martial and execution, yet continues to follow orders. Creepy.

I’m in two minds about this one. I really, really don’t like the central concept or message, but there’s some excellent characterisation, and the stuff about the mutoids was fascinating. And, of course, Douglas Camfield directs it beautifully.

Doctor Who: The Seeds of Doom

Part One

“That chap you called in from UNIT- is he quite sane?”

Another story from Robert Banks Stewart is an exciting prospect given how fantastic Terror of the Zygons was, and this starts off promisingly, with a mysterious and clearly alien spore being found in Antarctica. Our first sight of the Doctor and Sarah is a little odd though- from the beginning he’s basically acting as a government agent with the only reason given being a throwaway reference to UNIT. This doesn’t sit well with the Doctor’s recent impatience with his ties to UNIT, and seems to owe an awful lot to Banks Stewart’s history as a writer on The Avengers.

Still, it’s a great episode, however oddly it slots into the series- and it slots in particularly oddly in the context of the marathon. Tony Beckley gives an excellently camp performance as Harrison Chase from the start, although the character is yet another aspect of the story which seems to owe as much to The Avengers as Doctor Who. And John Challis is great as Scorby too. Maaaarleeene…

Oh, and just to remind us it’s the BBC in the mid 70s, we get the Governor from Porridge too!

Lots of great ratcheting up of tension here though, with a nice little base-under-siege style Quatermass Experiment situation developing. I could do without all these extra superpowers the Doctor keeps picking up, though- apparently he’s not that bothered by the Antarctic temperatures. I don’t remember hearing anything about this in The Tenth Planet.

Part Two

“I understand policemen are few and far between in the Antarctic.”

John Challis is fantastic as the cuckoo in the Antarctic nest, exuding real menace, and the presence of the weaker character Keeler really emphasises this. This episode has it all- it’s a tension-packed episode full of excitement with Scorby and the creature as this episode’s threat, while intrigue continues back in London with Dunbar’s betrayal (his reasons are petty, carefully calibrated for us to have no sympathy for him) and Harrison Chase’s general Bond villain demeanour.

But of course, this excellent two-part thriller is only the beginning.

Part Three

“A car boot?”

“A Daimler car boot.”

“The car is immaterial.”

This episode changes the scene4 to Whitehall and Chase’s mansion, but the non-stop action continues. And there’s never been so much fisticuffs from the Doctor as we see here, not even during the “Hai!” Pertwee years. On the other hand, there was a fair bit of this sort of thing from John Steed in The Avengers…

Oh, and Amelia Ducat is fab. If also a bit of an Avengers character.

We’re reminded this is Doctor Who, though, as the Doctor is marched up to Harrison Chase at gunpoint, entirely under Chase’s power, and he declares “Hand over the pod.” The confrontation between the Doctor and chase is great, Chase coming across as a cross between a Bond villain and Prince Charles. He also gets what is possibly the best line of any villain ever: “I could play all day in my green cathedral.”

Towards the end, we get even more fisticuffs from the Doctor…

Part Four

“What do you do for an encore, Doctor?”

“I win!”

The overall tone may be very different (no more harping on about The Avengers till the end of the review, I promise), but this story has a lot in common with The Ambassadors of Death in that the main threat, for most of the story, is not the alien being but the human reaction to it. Only in this episode does the threat from the Krynoid itself really start to become established.

So, the Doctor crashes through the glass skylight, gets stuck in with the fisticuffs, and pulls a gun on Chase- not the sort of thing you’d traditionally associate with the character, but then one thing this marathon has taught me is that the Doctor tends to use his fists and, yes, guns, rather more often than generally thought. Although, to put things in perspective, we also have Scorby being really violent.

We get even more fun in the shape of Harrison Chase’s nasty Bond villain deathtrap, and just when you think things can’t get any better Amelia Ducat herself turns out to be spying on chase for the World Ecology Bureau! Dunbar decides to redeem himself and is, inevitably killed, but the Krynoid is starting to grow very big indeed…

Part Five

“Invent a code word- they love that.”

Scorby has a change of heart and decides to side with the Doctor and Sarah, which is believable. Scorby may not be very nice- in fact he’s pretty much your standard psychopath- but he’s a rational psychopath and can clearly see that Chase is a nutter.

Sir Colin calls in UNIT. Ok- but why wait until now? Still, the Brig’s in Geneva and we won’t be getting any actual familiar faces at all. For the first time UNIT is portrayed as just some organisation, and feels much more distanced from the Doctor and Sarah because of it.

There’s some good character stuff here, with Sarah giving Scorby the sharp end of her tongue and the Doctor’s impatience at the reluctance of both Major Beresford (who he?) and Sir Colin to attack a private house. There’s a plot reason for this scene, yes, but it shows very clearly how less tolerant of this sort of thing this Doctor is as compared to his predecessor.

Unfortunately, the Krynoid can talk. This is something of a misstep, and feels very silly in the context of the atmosphere that has been built up. Nevertheless, things are getting a bit desperate, and it’s becoming clear that the ending of the story is going to owe as much to The Quatermass Experiment as the earlier parts.

There’s another kind of déjà vu that comes in towards the end, too- just one story after we saw a brain in a jar, we get a building being attacked from the outside by plant life. It’s The Keys of Marinus all over again!

Part Six

“I’m a survivor, right?”

Scorby gets a nice little speech about his mercenary past and self-reliance, and then pretty much gives up, which rather nicely serves both to flesh out his character and to make it clear to the viewers, who know their tropes, that he’s going to get killed very soon.

There’s a lot of nasty stuff going on with the composting machine- the sergeant actually does get crushed, while Sarah and the Doctor take turns in rescuing each other from that gruesome fate. Of course, Harrison Chase ends up a victim of his own machine, as we always knew he would.

Bizarrely, the Doctor actually offers Sir Colin to join Sarah and himself in the TARDIS. It would have been rather interesting if he’d said yes.

Well, that was all great fun, a very high 4/5. Unfortunately in this extraordinary season of mostly 5/5s it’s one of the lesser lights, but it would be a highlight of many a lesser season. I didn't really mind the way Doctor Who pretty much turned into The Avengers for six weeks as it was all such fun, but all the same I wouldn't like this to happen every time!

As for Season 13 as a whole… wow. 4.5/5, an incredibly high mark which easily takes first place. It simply blew me away. I’m genuinely excited to find out whether the next one can possibly top this!

Doctor Who: Terror of the Zygons

Part One

“My family have served this country for seven centuries, but that seems not to count these days, does it?”

This was my first ever BBC video and the first ever “old” story I ever saw. I’ve seen this many, many times but never before in episodic format. And it’s good to see the short clip from Disney Time as well as the BBC globe.

This is great from the beginning, with an oil rig being destroyed to the sound of some fantastic incidental music. It’s great to see the Brig (in a kilt!) and Benton again. I can’t help thinking though- was there really enough time to install a space-time telegraph at the end of Robot?

The Doctor’s attitude is interesting- in this incarnation he feels much less attached to UNIT and 20^th century Earth, and has a bit of a go at the Brigadier for recalling him only to change his mind suddenly when reminded of the loss of life. This Doctor is fascinating- more individualistic and Bohemian than his predecessor, but with the same underlying principles. And there’s something very charismatic about his changes of mood. I love the oil speech.

It’s great to see Angus Lennie, of off of of The Great Escape, as the very Hammeresque pub landlord. And this is just so well directed by Douglas Camfield- the moor sets a real mood, and our first shot of the Zygons hands and eyes is great. Suddenly we have a story of tightly edited scenes and a very nice moment where the injured Harry cries “No… no…” as the Zygon advances on him, and we then cut to the Doctor on the phone calmly saying “No… no…”. This is top stuff.

Part Two

“Asleep? Impossible, I was on duty!"

The whole organic look of the Zygon ship is great- original and a triumph of both design and lighting. And there’s more great directing on show as we dissolve between the faces of Sarah and the Doctor as he hypnotises her to avoid asphyxiation. This is so well directed it almost distracts from the fact the Doctor seems to have acquired yet another superpower, one he’s never bothered to use before in similar circumstances for some reason.

We get lots of atmosphere with the fog and the great music, a bit of actual journalisting from Sarah, and generally enough excellence on show that I’ve decided to completely ignore the fact that the Skarasen looks crap.

Part Three

“Aliens! With wireless sets?”

The Doctor is saved by Harry! Yay! This man is great. And Sarah shows how great she is, too, in discovering the Duke’s secret passage to the Zygon ship, swiftly rescuing Harry and returning in time for tea. Unlike the Doctor, who attempts the same thing and promptly gets captured.

I love the Doctor’s line “Sounds like the Brigadier” as UNIT merrily lob bombs into the loch. It’s sad that this is the last ever “regular” UNIT story, but at least they’re going out on a high.

Part Four

“Was that bang big enough for you, Brigadier?”

There’s some great modelwork on show with the Zygon ship, especially the landing scene. And it’s good to get a reason for the fact that, as the Doctor points out, there are only about six Zygons. It seems their home planet was “destroyed in a recent catastrophe” and that Broton wants to terraform the Earth for the benefit of other Zygons who are to arrive in “many centuries”.

The prime minister is apparently a woman (Thatcher was already Tory leader at the time) so it seems Jeremy must have lost an election. 

The Doctor nearly loses his life by underestimating the power of organic crystallography- a common error, to be fair. I’ve almost lost count of the number of times I’ve done the same thing myself. Still, he manages eventually to escape, gleefully vandalise the Zygon ship, and release all the Zygons’ prisoners, although the bit with him operating the Zygons’, er, interestingly shaped controls certainly caused me to raise an eyebrow.

Fittingly for his last regular story, the Brig at last gets to shoot an alien baddie dead with an ordinary bullet. We finish with the Doctor claiming he’ll be able to make the short hop to London in the TARDIS an d offering a lift to both Sarah and Harry. Of course, it’s understood by everyone that the TARDIS will be doing nothing of the sort. Harry stays behind in an understated leaving scene, a little disappointing but probably in keeping with the stiff-upper-lip nature of the man, but Sarah, being fab, signs up for some further adventures in time and space.

Brilliant. Not only an easy 5/5, but the third best so far. Great story, great performances, awesomely well directed. This is Doctor Who at its very finest.

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 Daleks' Master Plan

The Nightmare Begins

"Well now! It's brain or brawn, or rather versus brain..."


It's great to see and hear the familiar Kembel sights and soundtrack, but even more great to see Nick Courtney. He's great, they should certainly think of using him again.

The scenes on Earth with the couple discussing the television news, sort of like a Greek chorus, are extraordinarily self-referential for Doctor Who at this time.

The short piece of footage we see, of Kert Gantry being exterminated by a Dalek, is quite magnificently directed. The camera angle, the "sting" in the soundtrack- have the Daleks ever seemed so scary?

It's a fascinating and new situation for Bret Vyon to get himself aboard the TARDIS with the Doctor apparently locked outside- it gives the sense of an unspoken rule of the narrative having been broken. If some recent stories may have seemed safe and cosy, it's clear this one won't.

Mavic Chen's speech comes across as very Blairesque to my modern eyes. He's slippery from the start, so although his treachery would no doubt have surprised the unspoiled viewer, it should not be shocking. Bret, on the other hand, may be a bit terse and ruthless but basically a decent chap, as he shows by giving Katarina tablets for Steven. Katarina's reactions to what she sees are fascinating.

Day of Armageddon

"Traitor? An archaic word for so advanced a... man as yourself."


Footage! Hooray! Doesn't this look great? Lots of nice touches abound, such as Mavic Chen's very odd way of holding his pen. Kevin Stoney is great, although the make-up used to alter his ethnic appearance certainly raises an eyebrow.

Naturally, the Daleks are eventually planning to kill all the delegates. Who, incidentally, look nothing like they did in Mission to the Unknown. And there are more than six of them to boot.

I love the scene where Bret Vyon and the Doctor tell each other to shut up, well played by both Hartnell and Courtney. You can see the growing respect between the two of them though; Vyon says to Hartnell as he goes in disguise to the conference that he's "a very brave man". And he is. The ambiguity stops here: the Doctor is behaving heroically and altruistically for entirely selfless reasons, showing little concern even for staying within reach of the TARDIS while the Daleks' plans are afoot. Long may this sort of thing continue!

So, the Dalek invasion of Earth started in 2157, seven years before the TARDISeers arrived?

This story is really quite superbly directed. In fact the entire production is slick and glossy looking with apparently high production values. Never before has a sci-fi story, if not any story, looked so great. The Daleks are beautifully shot here; they're so much more effective than ever before.

The plot thickens with the Doctor, in the action hero role for perhaps the first time, exploits the chaos caused by Bret and Steven to steal the Taranium Core before it can be placed into the Time Destructor. And once more Katarina shows a seemingly religious understanding of the Doctor. Nice cliffhanger, too. So far, this is great. Could we at last have a sci-fi story that can stand toe to toe with the historicals?

Devil Planet

"We have the Taranium so for the moment we do nothing. And by doing nothing we do everything. Do I make myself clear?"


It's a predicable resolution to the cliffhanger, but there's no let up in the pace as our heroes take off from Kembel. I'm really getting intrigued by Katarina (can't you just smell that dramatic irony?) and how much she understands of her surroundings. Of course, her reactions are far from realistic; you can't realistically portray the reactions of an ancient Trojan woman to all this space opera without constantly and tediously interrupting the narrative. But within the conventions of the genre her reactions are well thought through. Naturally, she assumes Kembel was Earth. Conveniently, she doesn't ask questions.

It's most amusing to see magnetic tape in use in the year 4000.

We're introduced to a planet called Desperus (!), a penal policy which is... interesting, some actual footage, and most notably the Doctor continuing to be heroic in a way he's never quite been before. This is another watershed story for the Hartnell Doctor's characterisation.

The Traitors

"I hope she's reached her Place of Perfection."

"Yes, but... not that way."


Katarina's death is utterly shocking, and fittingly followed by a long silence. Both the Doctor and Steven are shocked and upset; the scene is extremely effective, and with hindsight long foreshadowed.

The Daleks continue to impress; the Dalek Supreme's voice is among the finest I've ever heard and perhaps the ultimate Dalek voice, full of character, actually interesting to listen to, but unmistakably a Dalek. This Dalek Supreme is no fool, understanding Mavic Chen's motives perfectly. Never before have the Daleks seemed so manipulative and in control.

There are lots of nice little bits of world building in the scenes on Earth, dull though the actual sets undoubtedly would have been. Earth, it seems, abounds with traitors, even Bret's mate Daxtar. It's a nice juxtaposition of events where Bret, to the Doctor's outrage, shoots Daxtar, only to be himself shot soon afterwards by Sara Kingdom. The Doctor and Steven are in real trouble; stuck on a hostile Earth light years from the TARDIS.

Counter Plot

"An alien device. There are small white creatures inside. They may be hostile."


Some footage, and although unfortunately given that footage is so rationed this episode is not all that visual we get some groovy special effects at the start. So good in fact that they went some way to distracting me from the sheer convenience of our heroes being somehow teleported halfway across the galaxy by means unknown last episode. The ultimate cliffhanger cop-out, but as it's all rather fun so far I'll overlook that.

Kevin Stoney is great, and so much is added by actually seeing his performance. It's eye-opening seeing how Karlton behaves towards Chen though- he's clearly a powerful chap, and very well played by Maurice Browning. There's a great sequence where Chen begins to rant like a madman, Karlton subtly shows signs of noticing, and Chen suddenly becomes self-conscious and changes tack. How many other such visual moments are we missing?

Coolness abounds: invisible creatures (These beings appear to be invisible!"),Chen playing with his pen again, that Dalek with the compass thingy again (yay!) and, best of all, the epic battle between the Daleks and the mice. And lots of nice directorial touches- the studio floor is cunningly hidden in the jungle scenes.

The scenes where Sara Kingdom is finally convinced to trust the Doctor and Steven is well done, and well played by Jean Marsh.

Coronas of the Sun

"You make your incompetence sound like an achievement!"


Our first episode written by Dennis Spooner!

The scene between Chen and the Daleks in which they debate who is to blame for the failure to capture the TARDISeers is nicely handled; Chen starts out on the back foot, in seeming danger of being exterminated for his incompetence, only for the scene to end with an embarrassed Dalek Supreme blustering that "It is not an emergency". The voice artist for the Dalek Supreme is doing a superlative job.

So Steven's from "hundreds of years" before 4000, which would place him in the 4th millennium?

There's a rather interesting row between the Doctor and Steven at the end about Steven's antigrav experiment. They've never seemed that close compared to the Doctor's other companions- I suspect we'll be seeing more of this sort of thing.


All good stuff so far.

The Feast of Steven

"Well, I suppose you might say I'm a citizen of the universe. And a gentleman to boot."


Well, that was... different.

The scenes in the Liverpool police stations are good fun, although the Scouse accents are variable, to say the least. Some interesting dialogue: Aye, I think you know all of the queer people!"

The Hollywood section is... bewildering, especially without footage! Within two minutes I'd given up all pretence of understanding what was happening in favour of just going with the flow. Even the excellent Loose Cannon recon doesn't clarify things too much here. Great line from Sara: "I don't know, but a strange man kept telling me to take my clothes off".

Oh, and there's also that line!

This is all very silly, but it's harmless fun, and I won't be so churlish as to pay this any attention when reviewing the story as a whole.

Volcano

"Their greed for power is so great that they can be trusted."


Back to the story, and the tone's still a bit light-hearted, a bit The Chase even. It's good to see Daleks again, finally realising the Taranium Core they have is a fake. Things are so serious a time machine has to be summoned from Skaro- time machines are clearly rare.

Surely Trantis' shocking death would cause the other delegates to have second thoughts, but apparently not...

It's the Monk! Yay! And he's still in his robes for some reason. It's great to see him again, not least because Steven gets the chance to say "I'll explain later" to Sara.

The Doctor's ring gets curiouser and curiouser. Apparently "it has, er, certain properties", my precious.


Golden Death

"Dalek extermination will not be questioned!"


Egypt! More pseudo-historical goodness from Dennis Spooner! Things are getting good again, in spite of the frog in the Doctor's throat at the start. There are lots of cool things her; the Doctor's hat, the Monk's shades, and best of all an epic battle between Daleks and Ancient Egyptians. The tone's a bit odd, what with the Doctor and the Monk playing their practical jokes on each other amongst the real menace of the Daleks, but somehow it works.

It's nice to "see" Walter Randall again too.

Escape Switch

"I also include that Monk fellow, although I don't know why I should bother with him."


At last, some more footage! The Monk as a mummy is very cool indeed. As is Chen's shoving the Dalek's eyestalk aside. Once again I'm led to wonder how much of this sort of clever visual storytelling we're missing out on most of the time.

At last the plot is moving full throttle though, with the Daleks finally seizing the Taranium Core.


The Abandoned Planet

"Do we deal with Mavic Chen now?"

"No. His arrogance and greed have a further use for us."


There's a delicious irony to Chen's coup on his fellow delegates, given his own inevitable betrayal by the Daleks. Chen seems to cross a line in his desperation; he's no longer acting rationally. Of course, the other delegates are all surprised by their own blatantly obvious betrayal by the Daleks.

I love the way this episode gives us a "greatest hits" of the Dalek sound effects and music, some of which I don't remember hearing since the first Dalek story.

The Destruction of Time

"Such a waste. A terrible cost."


At last Chen is showing himself to be openly insane. This may not give him a motivation or make him any more than a cipher, but given his role in the story this doesn't really matter. Kevin Stoney has been brilliant since the start, and he's particularly good here as an increasingly desperate and deluded Chen gradually unravels. The scene of his extermination, with the long, ominous silences from the Daleks, is very effective.

This is an appropriately tense and gripping conclusion to the epic- the constant ticking of the Time Destructor is very effective in showing the relentlessness of the horror. Sara's fate is horrifying, and the ending is very bleak indeed.


Overall, utterly superb. Of course, it never pretended to be anything more than an epic adventure story and there was never any subtext to speak of, but there's certainly nothing wrong with that. This is the first science fiction story that I'd rank up with the best historicals. Aside from a slight dip in the middle it was constantly gripping. 5/5.

Doctor Who: The Time Meddler

The Watcher

"That is the dematerialising control and that over yonder is the horizontal hold. Up there is the scanner, those are the doors, that is a chair with a panda on it- sheer poetry, dear boy."

It's nice that we start with a chat between the Doctor and Vicki about Ian and Barbara. Suddenly the Doctor as well as Vicki is afraid of being alone.

Great to see Peter Butterworth, no less, as the Monk- our only major guest star so far to be heralded by stock footage of some waves.

We now have two companions from the future- and, incidentally, two northerners. Will their both hailing from future times do any harm to viewer identification in the long term, I wonder?

For the first time, the acronym TARDIS is explained by Vicki as "Time and Relative Dimensions in Space".

This is the greatest episode since The Keys of Marinus for lines from Hartnell: "What do you think it is, a space helmet for a cow?"; "I'm not a mountain goat and I prefer walking to any day. And I hate climbing."

Alethea Charlton appears again! Playing a very nice lady, addressed by the doctor as "Woman".

Nice bit of intrigue with the Monk obviously feeling for a wristwatch, followed up by Steven finding a wristwatch later. The Doctor's finding the gramophone ratchets this up even further. A genuine bit of mystery, and at last the sci-fi and historical elements are being mixed.

The Meddling Monk

"I don't think we've been as clever as we think we have."


We start the next morning, and the scene of the Monk making a rather modern-looking breakfast for the Doctor has made me come over all peckish. Bill Hartnell's off on his holidays again, I see!

I do wish everyone wouldn't keep calling it the 10th century! And as this is Northumbria they'd technically be Angles, not Saxons.

Some very nice stock footage of some Vikings there. Even once we get to the scenes shot for the programme it must be said their leader is sporting a rather impressive helmet.

The implied rape of Edith is rather jarring for a programme like this- not for the first time Dennis Spooner, while generally an excellent writer, misjudges the tone. Still, this aside it's all good stuff so far.

A Battle of Wits

"If I know the Doctor it's not going to be as simple as that."


It's Vicki who finds the secret passage in the Doctor's cell- she's great, and I'm liking her more and more. Meanwhile, the Doctor is telling a suddenly recovered Edith the next couple of months' worth of current affairs.

For the first time since the rape we see Sven and Ulf. Because of what they've done we instinctively know they won't finish the story alive.

The monk's chart detailing his plan is priceless, as is the Doctor persuading the Monk that his stick is in fact a "Winchester '73". "Well, as it happens, I happen to be a very curious fellow!"

Vicki's horrified to see the TARDIS submerged by the tide, although surely by now the viewer would have no fears on this score. Once again she's terrified of abandonment.

WHAT a cliffhanger- another TARDIS!

Checkmate

"It's a TARDIS! The Monk's got a TARDIS!"


So the Monk's from "50 years earlier" than the Doctor, and he's got a "Mark 4". No doubt this will all be picked up on in years to come.

Dennis Spooner has clearly changed his mind entirely on the mechanics of changing history since he scripted The Reign of Terror...! It's very noticeable, too, that the Doctor has changed over the last season, being very keen on sorting things out before returning to the Ship for entirely selfless reasons, although of course as the Monk is one of his own people he arguably has more reason to feel responsible.

Nice ending- the Monk gets his comeuppance, Steven's been fully initiated, and once again we end the season with a star field over the credits.


Overall, top stuff. A great central idea, well-executed and acted, with lots of good character stuff and a bit of intrigue as to the Doctor's origins. An easy 5/5.