Doctor Who: The Space Museum

The Space Museum

"You wouldn't say that, young lady, if we ever meet [the Daleks] again. Which to say the least is very unlikely."


Nice opening model shots, and an intriguing conceptual mystery from the start. The Doctor's continual refusal to explain is most amusing. Vicki's dropped glass un-breaking and jumping back into her hands deepens the mystery, and it's good to see the food machine again. It's also great to see the Dalek, and Vicki's lines about the Dalek invasion happened over three hundred years ago is our first explicit suggestion that all the TARDIS's landings in the future take place in the same timeline which should in theory be internally consistent.

This is a great episode driven by fantastic concepts, for once making actual use of the time travel premise of the show. Great cliffhanger, too.

The Dimensions of Time

"Chesterton, this is no time to be playing cowboys and Indians!"


Suddenly this story is looking a lot less visually interesting, with some very dull corridors and costumes. The actors playing the Xerons don't exactly imbue them with charisma either. The time travel concepts now fade into the background, although the TARDISeers' attempt to avoid their preordained fate will remain as an intriguing element.

The Doctor namedrops James Watt here, although Jacqueline Hill has to prompt Hartnell for the line. Nice line from Barbara: "All the doors and corridors are exactly alike." No doubt this is the one and only time we'll be hearing such sentiments...

The Doctor'd monocle is very cool indeed, but is very quickly topped by his antics in the Dalek. This story may look dull, and have Xerons in it, but otherwise I must admit it's keeping me interested.

The Search

"It's nothing to do with me! I'm just a simple soldier!"

So, no Doctor in this episode! it's good to see Vicki getting a chance to shine though. Her attitude is great: "Sitting here planning and dreaming of a revolution isn't going to bring your planet back!" It's rather arresting to see this revolution taking the form of acquiring guns though- certainly not something you'd see in later eras!

Why do the Xerons, just because they're the goodies, have to be a perfectly peaceful people, free from all want? Can't they be allowed just one tiny flaw?

The Final Phase

"Have any arms fallen into Xeron hands?"


Vicki continues to be great here, effectively directing the revolution. We get a nice ending, with the TARDISeers all imprisoned but Vicki's already ensured their release- she's the real star of the story.

The last scene comes as a real surprise though- Daleks! With a time machine! And now with vertical slats- it seems that the lost old style Dalek we saw was the one in the exhibition.


Overall, I quite enjoyed this. The first episode was great, with the others not being as good (par for the course for the science fiction stories so far), but a lot of the dullness was the fault of the design and some of the guest actors- the script was good throughout. This is nowhere near as boring as its reputation- a solid 3/5.

Doctor Who: Planet of Giants

Planet of Giants

"The space pressure was far too great".


The Doctor's wearing his cloak again! And what with the Fault Locator and the TARDIS doors opening I'm almost getting nostalgic about The Edge of Destruction. Still no dematerialisation sound from outside.

Again we get some nice character stuff at the start. There's friction between the TARDISeers but we know that by now they all like each other underneath. That this is consistently done shows how good a job David Whitaker has been doing as story editor. Other large TARDIS crews in future years won't be handled nearly as well.

It's noticeably in this story that the Doctor's much more proactive, and seems to be the leader. It'll be interesting to see how permanent this is.

Farrow and Forrester look very Mad Men with the clothes and all the smoking. Forrester's a very cut price Don Draper, mind...

Oh dear, that photo used for Farrow's corpse looks a bit embarrassing. Still, great cliffhanger.

Dangerous Journey

"Yes, I'm fine. I told you I hadn't eaten for ages. I think that's what it must be. Don't make a fuss!"


Hmm, the cat's never in the same shot as our heroes! Interesting that the Doctor says of finding the murderer that "Normally I wouldn't hesitate"- in hindsight will this turn out to be a watershed moment in the Doctor's characterisation? He's much more of a hero here than he's been before.

The scenes between Forrester and Smithers are well-acted and played. Forrester's a great villain, all the better for his small-scale motives.

Oops, I don't think Barbara should have touched that seed! The fly looks great, but Barbara fainting... oh dear. I love Barbara's stiff-upper-lip determination not to make a fuss about her certain death from poisoning.

Crisis

"Why didn't she tell us?"


What a cheat this cliffhanger resolution is.

These scenes in the telephone exchange really show how long ago 1964 actually was. No previous story has seemed so obviously dated as this and it's mainly down to this bit of period detail. That, and the policeman's helmet with the strap not quite managing to reach beneath the chin in true Dixon of Dock Green fashion.

The Doctor's very mischievous and anarchistic here- there's no doubt about it, he's suddenly very Doctorish, right down to the pyromaniac tendencies! Speaking of which, it's very noticeable that once Ian and Susan strike the match the flaming part is always off-screen!

Hmm, Forrester sounds absolutely no different as Farrow. He's not even trying to sound Scottish, for a start...

So the Doctor and Susan have experienced an air raid in an untelevised adventure, presumably during the Second World War? Interesting. Of course, to the viewing public this would have been as recent an experience as the 1980s are to us.

Strange ending- the heroes are the telephone operator and the policeman; Farrow would've been caught whether or not the TARDISeers intervened. And there's no talk from Ian and Barbara that they've been cruelly deprived of a return to their own time by being shrunk- could they now be rather enjoying their new life?



Overall, the first story to be scripted by a writer who's still with us (?) is a delight. nicely paced, well-acted and great fun to watch, although I don't really see how this could have been padded out to four episodes. An amazing example of the sheer variety of the format at this point. 4/5.

Doctor Who: The Sensorites

Strangers in Space

"There's not an ounce of curiosity in me, my dear boy. Tell me, why are you in danger?"


A very eerie and atmospheric episode in which the TARDISeers explore their surroundings. Already this is looking like a "typical" first episode, naturally including a scene in which our heroes are separated from the Ship. Great line from the Doctor: "I learned not to meddle in other people's affairs years ago." Ian's reaction is great.

Other observations; the women are doing the cooking, obviously; the guest actors are a bit cardboard; that door sounds exactly like the ones in the Dalek story- will we be hearing this sound effect often?

The Unwilling Warriors

"Isn't it better to travel hopefully than... arrive?"


We get mentions of two untransmitted adventures here, involving Henry VIII and the telepathic plants on Esto.

Oddly enough, this is the first real "space opera" story, but I very much get the impression that the production scene are not too familiar with the tropes, which are not being used in anything like the shorthand way we'll be seeing by the Pertwee era. The colonialism theme that seems to be developing is treated very oddly; in this episode the TARDISeers almost seem to be siding with big business against the native people.

The Doctor's speech about the melting points of iron and molybdenum... er, what? Mind you, the Doctor's confrontation with the Sensorites leads to some top lapel clutching action.

Once again, it's noticeably that once a script gives Susan some characterisation (not that I want to praise the scripting too highly, mind!) Carole Ann Ford puts in a good performance.

Hidden Danger

"I don't agree with all this splitting up. It always leads to trouble."


It's a shame, but the argument scene between the Doctor and Susan doesn't really work; the script treats Susan as being basically a child, not only perceived as such. The bargaining with the Sensorites seems odd, and the Sensorites oddly reasonable to the point of gullibility, which never quite rings true; they hold all the cards at this point. It's a shame, but although the story still entertains from this point, as soon as the Doctor, Susan and Ian reach the Sense-Sphere it becomes increasingly obvious that this is aimed at a very young audience. Funniest line so far: "Are the hearts of the human creatures on the right or left side of their bodies or in the centre, as in ours?"

As soon as Ian starts coughing, having drunk water from the plebs' supply, it's perfectly obvious that this is where the "plague" comes from and that Ian has just contracted it. We can already predict the cliffhanger and half the next episode.

A Race Against Death

"Who is to know that I am not the Second Elder now?"


Carol's line to the City Administrator about not knowing what she's do if the Sensorites swap their sashes all but reveals to us the half of the coming episode's events we didn't already know! The City Administrator's comment "I hadn't though of that" amused me no end- these Sensorites are not very bright, are they? Their certain eventual fate under earth imperialist rule already looks inevitable.

Incidentally, if the Sensorites don't like sound or darkness, who built the aqueduct? And surely it's obvious that the poison is being made there?

Still, this is all good fun, even though it's clearly aimed at very young kids!

Kidnap

"We have the perfect society. All are contented."


Interesting comment from the Doctor: "Something hit me under the heart and it was most unpleasant". Once again, that's heart, singular. Another interesting line from the City Administrator's underling: "I heard them over... over... talking!" The City Administrator seems to dispatch the Second Elder rather suddenly and easily.

Oh, more namedropping from the Doctor- Beau Brummell this time! This seems to be becoming quite a feature. And the cloak is rather fetching, it must be said.

Hmmm. So the TARDISeers recommend the City Administrator for the vacant Second Elder position, and the First Elder duly states: "And once this order is made, only a betrayal of trust can set it aside." That's the biggest problem with this story; dialogue can give away what's going to happen, sometimes a long way in the future. The story is hardly brimming with suspense. Fortunately though, the sheer predictability of it all is quite hilarious. A brief conversation between Carol and the scientist immediately gives away the identities of the baddies in the aqueduct!

It's quite a surprise that the cliffhanger happens to Carol, a supporting character. And the kidnap which gives rise to the title only happens in the last few seconds.

A Desperate Venture

"All they had left was the game they played- the game of war."


The City Administrator is hilarious whenever he refers to "The Man John".

Susan gets a wonderful speech describing her home planet to the First Elder- the first of a fair few good character scenes for the regulars in this episode: "It's quite like Earth, but at night the sky is a burned orange. The leaves on the trees are bright silver". Carole Ann Ford is really quite excellent in this episode, as she always is with good material.

Incidentally, Stephen Dartnell is also excellent as The Man John (as he must always be called!) especially as he really brings out the contrast after he's cured.

The way the humans in the aqueduct are depicted is interesting; they remind me of those Japanese soldiers who remained deep in the jungle after the end of the Second World War. And for once the script seems to indicate an anti-colonialist viewpoint on the author's part, something we can take for granted in later eras. It's still interesting how the tropes of space opera are being handled with kid gloves here; little things like the constant use of "space ship" rather than "ship" stand out.

The conversation between Susan and the Doctor in the TARDIS at the end is fascinating, and capable of multiple interpretations- do they both want to get home if only the Doctor could steer the TARDIS, or is the Doctor just saying these things for Susan's benefit? It's very difficult not to relate this to the revelations of later eras but I shall try to resist! It seems Susan's eventual departure is being prepared for: "Sometimes I feel I want to belong somewhere, not just be a wanderer".

The Doctor gets a bit stroppy at the end, threatening to put Ian and Barbara off the Ship! The thing is, though, we've moved on a lot since The Edge of Destruction; we know he doesn't mean it.



Overall... well, that was all very silly, but rather enjoyable just the same. I know I've been ripping the proverbial out of it, and some of the exposition was laugh-out-loud hilarious, but at least it was never dull. Plus the TARDISeers were all well treated by the script. I'm in a good mood- 3/5.