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 Way Ahead (1944)

"I wonder what we'll look like in 1970, ."

I write this on the seventy-fifth anniversary of VE Day, in 2020. It's a weird anniversary, during the Great Plague and in the midst of lockdown. But oddly enough spirits seem to be raised. I took Little Miss Llamastrangler out on her scooter this afternoon and lots of people have decorated their front gardens and are socialising from a distance. A decent amount of alcohol, I hope, has been consumed. I'm doing my bit. The anniversary of Nazi rule being crushed is well worth celebrating, and can perhaps give us hope.

So what better to blog than a wartime propaganda film from 1944, when things were looking up but victory was uncertain? Prpaganda this may be, but crude it isn't. Eric Ambler and Peter Ustinov (also appearing as a pied-noir cafe owner in occupied Algeria) have given us a very human script full of individuals who ring true today, let alone in 1944. Lloyd (I recognise the actor from The Great Escape) is an unscrupulous landlord turned courageous soldier, while Parsons is a victim of such types. There's mention of the Beveridge Report. For much of the class consciousness and difference which is the main thing which ages social mores in this film, there's a real solidarity that demands a Welfare State along with victory.

There may be better way films than this, but it does a fine job of showing ordinary blokes slowly being turned into soldiers, with lots of action at the very end. David Niven is excellent and charismatic, Stanley Holloway is brilliantly comedic, but a young William Hartnell perhaps gives the best performance as the sergeant. It’s also clear that this was a huge influence on Carry On Sergeant in terms of plot, and not just Hartnell. Then again, a young John Laurie may as well be playing a younger Private Fraser from Dad’s Army, and the Chelsea Pensioners acting as Greek Chorus probably contain the seeds of a certain other character who was wont to mention fuzzy wuzzies. Very much worth seeing. And happy VE Day. Stay safe.

Carry On Sergeant (1958)

"Your rank?"

"Well, that's a matter of opinion..."

It's almost a cliche to point out that the first of the Carry Ons is not in any way like what we would later think of as a Carry On film. There's relatively little smut, not many of the tropes and it feels very much like a one-off comedy about National Service. William Hartnell is excellent in one of his signature sergeant roles- he was horribly typecast at this point- while Bob Monkhouse is, well, Bob Monkhouse. But the film is only mildly diverting, holding the attention but not exactly a laugh a minute. What raises a so-so script from mediocrity are the performances of certain members of its ensemble cast.

Charles Hawtrey, to begin with, is a huge comic talent wherever he appears. And you know exactly what to expect from him. Kenneth Connor is superb in his major role as Horace here, and a strangely non-camp Kenneth Williams impresses in what is only a middling part. Hattie Jacques is also superb as the exasperated doctor. This is a textbook case of a film being elevated by its cast.

Yet Hartnell, too, is an excellent straight man and it's a shame this is his only Carry On. It's a film well worth seeing for the performances and the curiosity value.

The Mouse That Roared (1959)

"Even a complete nincompoop like Tully can't spoil this war."

It's a nice idea- an obscure little English-speaking microstate, a kind of Monaco of the Alps, declares war on the USA so they can lose and receive US aid to solve their financial problems but, through a series of mishaps. Accidentally wins. Oh, and it's all against a themic background of nuclear annihilation. It's a great idea on paper, but in practice this is neither funny enough nor clever enough to be more than mildly diverting. Still, Peter Sellers is always good, if never quite as good as his reputation, and William Hartnell always does a great sergeant major.

Still, if you don't insist on your satire being too incisive, the film is entertaining enough. It looks good, it's all very Cold War and there's some nice slapstick with the bomb. But there really isn't all that much to say about it.

Doctor Who: The Three Doctors

Part One

“I am he and he is me.”

“And we are all together, goo goo goo joob?”

An interesting footnote at the start, courtesy of the extraordinarily uber-70s Open University lecturer supreme that is Dr Tyler. “We may not be NASA, but we still get results” he says, implying no British space programme. We’ve come a long way since Ambassadors of Death. In fact, by now there seems to be little or no attempt to make it appear that these stories are set in the near future.

We’ve also come a long way since UNIT was something to be taken seriously, of course, and this is not a situation which can be sustained. The Brigadier has now been reduced to comic relief, passing the Doctor a silver rod to stir his tea with. And he gets lines which hardly help either the character or the format: “Make yourself at home. We’re only supposed to be a top security establishment. Liberty Hall, Dr Tyler. Liberty Hall!”

But of course all this doesn’t matter, as the format is about to be pretty much dispensed with anyway. And besides, it’s all such good fun. And it’s odd, because before the marathon I always had a particular dislike for this story. But seeing it in sequence it’s such fun. Never has a story risen in my estimation so much during this marathon.

Anyway, back to part one. It’s all very Pertwee- weird music, magnificently bizarre plot courtesy of the Bristol Boys- but then we get a foreshadowing of what’s to come as the Doctor says to Jo “When I tell you to run, run!” It may not be intentional, but it certainly got me into a frenzied state of anticipation.

Incidentally, where’s Yates? Still in hospital after being blown up in The Time Monster? Benton, meanwhile, finally gets to see the inside of the TARDIS. And it’s been redesigned for the second story in a row. Blimey.

It’s a bit odd to see the Doctor call upon the Time Lords for help for only the second time- the stakes don’t feel anywhere near as high as they did in The War Games. There’ve been eight fewer episodes by this point, for a start. And we see the Time Lords’ planet (we don’t know what it’s called yet, of course) for the first time in colour. Is it me, or is there a very ‘70s-looking brown and orange curtain on the wall to the right? It’s all getting very exciting indeed: one of the Time Lords is a judge from the Doctor’s trial, the Time Lords are in trouble, and they suddenly start talking about bringing back the Trout! Apparently, the first law of time is “Thou shalt not cross thine own time stream”, but nobody cares much about the law at times like this.

It’s the Trout! Yay! And suddenly, after years of assuming the Troughton seen here to have been a caricature of his previous performance, in the context of the marathon I now realise I was dead wrong. Before, I thought of the second Doctor as the character seen in Season Six, because those were the stories I’d seen. But this Doctor, with his whimsicality, his recorder, his intelligence hidden behind a clownish exterior, is the Doctor I remember from recently watching all his stories in order. He’s just right. Extraordinary.

It gets even better though. Soon the Time Lords are talking about “the earliest Doctor” (interesting- it’s explicitly stated he was the first) and there he is. And it’s great to see him.

“So you’re my replacements. A dandy and a clown.” Fantastic!

Part Two

“Because he told me to. And I’ve always had great respect for his advice.”

The Brigadier’s face when he first claps eyes on the Trout is truly a sight to behold. And while his flat refusal to believe what he’s told seems less of a shark-jumping moment in context, it’s still a low point for the character. And his reaction to the TARDIS is even worse. Still, he gets a good line about the Doctor being his own assistant.

A very interesting first; the first Doctor to offer jelly babies is Troughton… in a Pertwee story. I wasn’t expecting that!

We get to see Hartnell again. Fantastic, utterly wonderful in context. There’s a parallel here in my reaction to Troughton this time around; I used to find the Hartnell scenes embarrassing, even wrong, as Hartnell is so clearly ill and struggling with his lines. And yet, in context, it’s really great to see him again. And yes, he may be struggling a little, but there’s something triumphant there too. His scenes are magical.

Part Three

“I’m fairly sure that’s Cromer…”

For the second story in a row we’re introduced to some important Time Lord mythology- Omega, a “solar engineer” who created time travel for the Time Lords by blowing up a star and creating a singularity. Those Bristol Boys and their big, big ideas!

Trout says “Oh, my giddy aunt”! This is such a nostalgia fest. Who cares if the Brig is a buffoon and the cliffhanger is pointless? 

Part Four

“All things shall be destroyed! All things! All things! All things!

It’s genuinely shocking and effective that Omega has nothing under his helmet and only exists through sheer will. Somehow this is such a fantastic idea that it doesn’t even matter that Omega has never once, in his thousands of years in this world, looked into the mirror directly opposite his throne. Those Bristol Boys and their big ideas!

This is as fantastic as all the other episodes, aside from the fact that everyone who walks through the smoke arrives on Earth at once. Troughton’s great, acting Pertwee completely off the screen. The Brigadier says “Wonderful chap. Both of him.” And best of all, the Doctor’s exile is over.

Wow. I thought I was going to give this 1/5. I’ve always hated this story. And yet, this time it didn’t matter that much of it made no sense, that Ollis and Tyler have no reason to be there or that the treatment of UNIT and the Brig was unforgivable. Far more important was the fun of the big, big ideas and, best of all, the old Doctors. It really was great to see them again.

Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet

Part One

"I don't like your tone, sir."

"And I don't like your face. Or your hair."


So, the "tenth" planet? But of course, Pluto was still canon back then...

We open with some stock footage, and some astoundingly advanced IT. The TARDIS doesn't land for a while, and instead we get some contemporary(ish) scientists and some naturalistic acting. However "traditional" an opening this may seem in hindsight, watching it in the marathon it's really quite jarringly new. There are some very effective nods to realism, not least of which is the girlie pics on one man's locker. The series has changed completely over the last season or so; this is a Troughton story in all but lead actor, and in hindsight the best arbitrary cut-off point is not the change in lead actor but the arrival of multi-episode story titles with The Savages.

More new and exciting sensory impressions: it's a very international group of humans, with a lot of American characters. The snow's clearly paper, but it's good enough. And then, finally, the TARDIS lands.

Ben and Polly have landed in 1986, only 20 years after their own time- surely this is close enough to be dangerous? They could easily get themselves in a position to do a Biff Tannen once they get back to 1966... Speaking of Biff Tannen, this seems to be scripted and shot very much like a Hollywood sci-fi movie, with the unstable commander, maverick scientist and general style.

Ooh! Our first taste of the Cyber theme, and it makes the hairs stand up on the back of me neck! These Cybermen look great. Oh, and I love what they've done with the closing titles.

Part Two

"Have you no heart?"

"No. That is one of the weaknesses that we have removed."


Hmm, how shall I put it? These disguises the Cybermen have adopted are... not entirely convincing, are they? Although their entrance is great; Derek Martinus having an outbreak of superbness plus a great look equals perfection. I can't emphasise enough how great these Cybermen are. Even their voices are fab, and we're talking Roy Skelton here.

Yes, of course... Mondas is an ancient name for Earth! I'm sure we'd all heard that before, hadn't we? It's very nice of this Cyberman to provide us with all this exposition; apparently him and his mates have been to "the edge of space". Who'd have thought it? Still, this is a great scene, and there's an interesting line in the light of more recent stories: after Polly accuses the Cybermen of being just robots their leader retorts: "Our brains are just like yours except that certain weaknesses have been removed"- pretty close to the new series. Well, apart from the human hands, that is...

This story manages to be extremely tense with the lurking physical presence of the Cybermen giving enough of a sense of threat that they don't have to actually do much. One Cybermen bending Ben's gun is enough to establish how hard they are. And their calmness, and casual dismissal of the horrible fate of the astronauts, are chilling. Of course, it's best not to analyse the backstory too hard even at this early stage, but this is great.

I like the guilt Ben feels after killing a Cybermen, emphasising their humanity. Naturally, the flip side of this is the presence of the threat of Cyber-conversion in a way it never would be again in the classic series- or, indeed, the remaining episodes of this story. The ongoing debate over feelings between Polly and the lead Cybermen is brilliant. I like the chattiness of these early Cybermen!

The cliffhanger is loads of Cyberships. Bet we'll never see that one again...

Part Three

"I don't understand it. He just seems to be worn out."


Almost the first thing we see is the Doctor, clearly played by a stand-in, collapsing, and Hartnell isn't even in his penultimate episode. It seems his health was indeed bad by this point. It's also clear that has absence only became clear at a relatively late stage; Ben obviously has most of the Doctor's lines. Polly gets a line which is... interesting, mind: "Well I could make some coffee or something."

Interestingly, the small group of Cybermen has now been defeated, yet tension is still ever-present: the real core of this story is human conflict, with the Cybermen mainly acting as catalysts, leaving the excellent Robert Beattie's General Cutler to be the real threat. In fact, he's the central character of this story, and this is perhaps the finest performance from a guest artist so far. Mind you, when the Cybermen arrive things are inevitably going to ratchet up even more.

What a cliffhanger!

Part Four (Ooh!)


"This body of mine is wearing a bit thin."


Hmmm... this BBC recon is all right, but it's not as good as Loose Cannon. But at least the Doctor's back for his final bow. And once the Cybermen kill Cutler the emphasis shifts: they can stop being rubbish and start being the threat. It must be said, though, fantastic though these Cybermen may look, sound and move, their plan's a bit rubbish. Still, we know we're in trouble when one turns up in Geneva. Incidentally, I like the way they have names.

Ben's very clever here, in fact the hero of the episode. His plan with the radiation is quite inspired. And when he tells Krang (what a pretty name!) that they'll wait for Mondas to start frying, the metal man starts getting a bit, well... emotional.

Hartnell hasn't really done a lot all episode, but you've felt his presence, and his final scenes are so very powerful. I'll miss him. I've just watched all his stories and, well, he was my Doctor.


Overall, great, and I don't care about the blatant plot holes. This story reminds me of RTD: yes, the plot may be a bit dodgy in places, but the emotional beats are in the right places and there's loads of pace. And this story gave us so much iconic stuff, not all of it obvious.

Doctor Who: The Smugglers

Part One

"Ben, I'm scared. What's happened to us?"


It's back to normal for the story title- or is it? Is there an actual telesnap or did Loose Cannon slot the titles in themselves? Incidentally, great recon.

So the Doctor finally admits it: "I have no control over where I land!" these early scenes with Ben and Polly are great though- there's a heavily self-referential, here-we-go-again tone to it which is rather fun. The Doctor seems to be secretly enjoying the reactions of the young stowaways in spite of his surface curmudgeonliness. Although he seems to pretend to be annoyed when he says "I really thought I was going to be alone again" I strongly suspect, after The Massacre, he's relieved not to be.

I love Ben and Polly's attitude to time travel. Yes, there's initial disbelief, but it's played for laughs, and at last we have some companions who actually seem to be enjoying themselves! They've only been aboard a few minutes and already they're my favourite companions since Ian and Barbara.

It probably says more about my lack of familiarity with the pirate genre than anything else, but this reminds me of the pirate comics in Watchmen.


Part Two

"My dear sir, I'm sure you could see through any flattery of mine."


Blimey, that was a short reprise!

Polly is fantastic. She's locked up in a seventeenth century cell, presumably facing eventual death by hanging, and yet she says "I don't know. I find it pretty exciting!" Although it's not particularly plausible that all the guest cast seem to think this rather attractive young lady is a "lad"!

This is good stuff. Ben and Polly continue to be great in escaping from the cell, and it seems everyone is in on the smuggling, even Paul Whitsun-Jones!

Part Three

"In these dark days, honesty surely pays!"


The Doctor's escape with the cards is top stuff, I suspect one of the last few great Hartnell moments we have left. Of course, this leads to Pike killing Jamaica for his failure, and his death is suitably grisly to be graced with some actual footage.

Just as the plot strand of the TARDISeers being under suspicion was threatening to outstay its welcome, it comes to a natural end here, our heroes siding with the authorities in the shape of Blake, the Revenue Man. Interestingly, the Doctor chooses to stay behind because "I'm under a moral obligation!" Polly, being great, agrees heartily.

The conversation between Kewper and the Squire makes me aware of how the dialogue is actually quite a good approximation of the period, with real thought being given to the phrasing. I'm very much reminded of Channel Four's recent The Devil's Whore.


Part Four

"Oh, we have an uneasy conscience, have we, Squire? Ye lily livered rogue!"


The plot threads are drawn together rather cleverly in this episode, but it's only afterwards I realised how cleverly plotted it was as I'd been enjoying the ride so much. The riddle itself is clever, as is the unfolding of the "curse". Of course, as with The Gunfighters, I'm sure there are all sorts of nods to genre conventions I'm not getting.

By the point of Cherub's death it's become really quite amusing that the only footage that seems to exist at all involves knives and blood. And I can't help being amused by what, I'm afraid, is my favourite exchange in the entire story: "Polly." "Yes?" "Put the kettle on." Followed by which, of course, there's the incident with Spaniard and Polly goes back to the TARDIS to await the end of the story. Cos she's a girl, you see...!

For the second story in a row, the Doctor slips quietly away at the end. Ben and Polly, bless them, seem to have thoroughly enjoyed their adventure- there's no whingeing at all, which makes a nice change.

Ooh, very cold in the TARDIS? What's all this then?


Overall, this was good fun. A good old-fashioned, tightly-plotted adventure story. Not particularly big or clever, no, but there's nothing wrong with that. 4/5.

Doctor Who: The War Machines

Part One

""Oh, I dig your fab gear."


A whole story full of actual footage! On DVD no less! Something to cherish, as it's something that won't be happening again until the story after next...

The way the title of the story is displayed is very nice indeed, and it's a sign that, although the change in lead actor is still to come, we've entered a new era. It seems incongruous at this point in the show's history to have a story set in contemporary London, not least because the setting demands a degree realism alien to Doctor Who as we've known it. Certainly, the opening shot is reminiscent of the TARDIS' departure from An Unearthly Child, whether intentionally or not, but from that point onwards this is unlike anything we've seen before.

The early scenes of the Doctor and Dodo leaving the TARDIS are dialogue free, which is most effective, and the "Out of Order" sign is a nice visual gag which can only work because this is the first true landing in contemporary Britain. If only Ian and Babs were here! Instead we've got Dodo. it's nice to see Steven get a mention, though.

Surely the biggest Billy-fluff yet: "I can... I can feel... it's got something sort of powerful... it... look at my skin. look at that! I've got that pricking sensation. That sensation again, the same... just as I had when I... fought the Daleks. Those Daleks were near." Not for the first time in recent episodes Hartnell's poor health seems to be showing on screen. A lot of his lines in this story sound as though they're not as scripted, although all other aspects of his performance are spot on as always.

It's such a pleasure to see the lovely Anneke Wills for the first time, so much so that I'm almost prepared to just accept how easily the Doctor and Dodo seem to get into the Post Office Tower without any awkward questions. In fact, no one questions the Doctor's right to be there at any point in the story. This is in a way welcome as it removes a potential source of childishness, but some explanation, if only a throwaway line, would have been nice.

The Doctor's hat and cloak are coolness incarnate, incidentally- no wonder he's able to get past the doormen and into Inferno although, sadly, an opportunity is missed: we don't get to see the Doctor strutting his funky stuff. Still, the scenes in the club are Sixtiesness itself, and it's most odd seeing loads of mods in Doctor Who. This half feels like an episode of The Likely Lads, particularly the one with Anneke Wills in it.

The scenes with Polly and Ben are rather nice- Polly is a very likeable character indeed, although the fact that Anneke Wills is gorgeous probably helps.

I would mention the final line of the episode- "Doctor Who is required. Bring him here."- but let's face it, it's rather innocuous, and I'm sure we all barely noticed it.


Part Two


"Yes, I wonder, Sir Charles, do you suppose...er... no, I don't suppose you would."


Oh dear, the baddies are insisting that their top priority is to "enlist Doctor Who" and generally saying "Doctor Who" all over the place. Still, to paraphrase General Melchett, if all else fails then a straightforward refusal to face facts in the face will see us through.

Polly and Ben are a very likeable pair of characters. Interesting that Polly basically asks Ben out. It's a shame really that, as Polly's about to be brainwashed for the rest of the story, we won't see them again properly together in until the end. Still, there'll be plenty of time to get to know them.

This episode introduces us to what will become a Doctor Who trope, the death of a tramp, but at this point it seems very jarring, an injection of social realism into a Doctor Who sci-fi story. The same episode gives us Dodo's hypnotism and a brief appearance from the Doctor's magic ring- something we haven't seen for a while. We don't realise at the time, but this is the last we'll be seeing of Dodo. I was hardly the character's biggest fan, but her departure is not exactly befitting.

Oh dear, the baddies are saying "Doctor Who" left, right and centre now. La la la la, I can't hear you. Isn't it rather irresponsible of the Doctor to send Ben on such a dangerous mission?


Part Three

"All human beings who break down will be eliminated."


Anneke Wills plays the brainwashed Polly very well indeed- the scenes in the warehouse are very effective. Although once Polly gets caught not snitching on Ben it's rather awkward that she's sent to WOTAN to be punished instead of just shot.

Sir Charles' phone call to the minister gives me a thought: he's Willie Whitelaw!

Soldiers? In contemporary England? In Doctor Who? Heavens above! I wonder if we'll ever see such a thing again? The cliffhanger's great, I don't care how little sense it makes.

Part Four

"The miserable old so and so!"


It's most odd seeing the Doctor assisting the authorities. We've never seen this sort of thing before, and I wouldn't like to see it too often (oh, the dramatic irony!) but at this point it comes across as very sixties in an Avengersy, Adam Adamanty sort of way. The Doctor in this story is the scientist as hero, saving the day by thinking and inventing things, not by action adventure. For that we now have Ben, and very good he is too. But where's Polly? it's a good while since we last saw her.

The Doctor suddenly slipping away from the authorities once the baddies are defeated- another Doctor Who trope makes its entrance here! Dodo gets a mention at the end, which is something, I suppose, but now of course we get the great Ben and Polly aboard the TARDIS. I've never seen The Smugglers before; more than at any point up to now I can't wait to see what happens next.


Overall, that was all good fun. Nothing too clever, perhaps, but there's nothing wrong with that. 4/5.

Doctor Who: The Savages

Part One

"You don't have to do everything he tells you. You're a grown man. Or are you?"


For the first time the TARDISeers land somewhere the Doctor's known- he's famous! In fact, the city dwellers seem to be card-carrying Doctor Who fans and, initially, they seem very nice. But of course, there are sinister, authoritarian undercurrents from the moment the Doctor first meets the two guards- he "must" follow them to the city. We know they're the baddies pretty much from the start, that's not where the mystery lies- the very existence of "savages" excluded from their society reflects badly on them from the beginning. The question is how they are exploiting the "savages".

The central idea behind this story is an extremely powerful sci-fi concept, very reminiscent of Brave New World, and the development of this central idea throughout the story is very effective. There's a real sense of underplayed totalitarian horror throughout the story.

The bickering between the scientist and the security chief is a nice touch in a story which generally succeeds in fleshing out the guest characters. These people are quite normal, not evil- they've simply dehumanised the savages because they're the "other".

This is an excellent recon (I'm watching the new one, hence the delay in my watching this!), but unfortunately much of the story is very visual- there was a long stretch of this episode towards the end where I had to concentrate very hard on the text descriptions. But although visual this story is quite talky and light on action- I'm enjoying it but I suspect it wouldn't have much appeal to kids,


Part Two


"Oppose you? Indeed I'm going to oppose you! Just in the same way as I oppose the Daleks, or any other menace to common humanity."


This is actually a good story for Dodo, who does a lot of investigating early on. And the reactions of the city dwellers to their disappearance are quietly effective; the fate of the couple responsible for losing her is all the more horrible for being understated. This is no paradise even for the city dwellers, and the Doctor's eventual fate shows this society's stance towards dissent.

The Doctor's argument with Jano is a wonderful moment, one of the highlights of the crusading nature of Hartnell's Doctor in his later stories.

Part Three


"I'm afraid I'm- I'm not quite myself."


We get a brief moment of footage this episode, but it would have been nice to see what the cave looked like. The guest characters continue to be well-sketched- Nanina's kindness to Exorse is a nice touch.

One worry is that, although Hartnell seems to be on screen, he doesn't get much to do- is this another sign of Hartnell's failing health affecting things on screen?


Part Four


"I don't intend to leave these people in this oppressed state."

Lots of short, tantalising bits of off-air footage in this episode. It's a real shame this story is missing- more than any missing story so far I've been missing the visuals.

Once again the guest characters are well-written- Tor provides balance by showing the savages can be unsympathetic too. It's also nice that the baddies get a chance to redeem themselves; Jano's attack of conscience may be due to the Doctor's influence but Exorse changes his mind on his own.

Steven gets an excellent leaving scene, which fits his character very well, in a story which has shown him at his best. it's a shame that he never really caught fire as a companion after a promising start, but at least he ends well.



Overall, excellent; well structured in terms of plot, character and themes, and arguably rather more adult than any previous sci-fi story, which may well not have worked in its favour with younger viewers, a definite flaw, but I enjoyed this story hugely- 5/5.

Doctor Who: The Gunfighters

A Holiday For the Doctor

"I got no pianist on account of he was shot last week."


The first thing we hear is the song, and you either love it or hate it- personally I love it. It makes things clear from the start; there's to be no attempt at realism here. This is a pastiche of the Western movies, not a historical set in the American West. Plus, it's a great song. So there.

The name of Donald Cotton appearing onscreen at the start shows us that the dialogue is going to be uniformly great. Unfortunately, there's no guarantee that Cotton's lines are going to be as well delivered as they were in The Myth Makers, and the performances of the first actors we see, playing the Clanton brothers, are not encouraging. The accents are not just bad, they're not even trying. Plus things look a little cheap, especially as the story more or less invites us to compare it to Hollywood Westerns.

It's a great story if you can ignore the flaws, though, and if you can accept an outright pastiche comedy which deliberately makes no concessions to realism or historical accuracy. I love Steven and Dodo's new clothes, and the Doctor's introducing himself to Wyatt Earp as "Dr Caligari"- another postmodern moment.

Oh, and Anthony Jacobs is fantastic. Doc Holliday may be a rogue but he's a lot more likeable, charismatic and competently acted than the Clantons. His double act with Hartnell is superb. Hartnell's comic acting in the dentist's chair is also most excellent.

Don't Shoot the Pianist

"You know, in my whole life I never killed a friend."

"Aw! You're a real gentleman!"


Hmm, so Dodo's enjoying playing the piano under duress? Shades of The Celestial Toymaker here. And I must admit the song is just beginning to grate. But everything is made forgivable by the unflagging wit of the dialogue and the knowing use of all the tropes of the Western. All this plus Hartnell doing comedy- surely no Doctor since has approached Hartnell for comedy acting?

There's no real sense of danger in this story, but we're constantly kept entertained, and yes, it doesn't always work visually, the direction's a bit meh, and most of the guest cast are a bit dull, but at this point I'm still having enormous fun. Roll on the next ep.

Johnny Ringo

"Now pick him up gentle and carry him slow / He's gone kind of mental under Earp's heavy blow."


Did I see that right? A well-executed cliffhanger resolution which doesn't in any way cheat? Is this a first?

The story takes an upturn with this episode. Up to this episode I'd been slightly underwhelmed, feeling that although the lines sparkled the plot was dragging a bit, the acting was often ropey and the whole thing looked dull. But this episode has won me over; the plot kicks up a gear, the main guest characters (not the Clantons") are suddenly more charismatic, and the lines sparkle even more: "I just ran into an old friend and, uh, he kind of lost his appetite." But this increase in the humour quotient is balanced by a sense of foreboding; by this point we know, and are meant to know, that the showdown is coming and people are going to die. Our first inkling of the coming bloodshed is Johnny Ringo shooting Charlie in cold blood: this marks a turning point in the mood.

I suspect the barman getting shot is a common trope for Westerns, but annoyingly I haven't seen enough Westerns to be sure. I'm sure there are loads of allusions to genre convention I'm not getting.

The scene with Dodo pulling a gun on Doc Holliday is hilarious- today I like Dodo again. There's a great resolution, hilariously performed by Anthony Jacobs: "And I didn't want to have to shoot you neither!" The killing of Warren Earp raises the stakes though- things now look very ominous indeed...


The O.K. Corrall

"Well, glory be. Now you really have declared war."


It seems Ringo is planning on taking the Earps from behind, to the evident surprise of Billy: "Never had you figured for a backshooter, Ringo." Oo er. But Pa Clanton is panicked by the Doctor's message; the Earps know about Johnny Ringo! They have Doc Holliday with them! The heartbeat of the plot is starting to beat more quickly; even the song speeds up.

What's great about this episode is that, as with The Myth Makers but less so, there's an underlying tension and even a sense of tragedy at times, but unlike Donald Cotton's previous offering the one liners just keep coming: "Why these get-togethers have to be at sun-up I'll never know- it ain't civilised!" Once more I must praise the great Anthony Jacobs.

Odd that the Doctor and Holliday should get on so well given the somewhat amoral nature of the other good Doctor, but I'll let that slide as I'm enjoying myself. But the final scenes with the TARDISeers bidding farewell to Holliday and Kate are great, and the Doctor gets a wonderfully postmodern line: "My dear Dodo, you know you're becoming a prey to every cliché-ridden convention in the American west." It's a shame the Doctor leaves Holliday's wanted poster behind, mind.


That was the most fun story ever, getting better and better as it went on. as much as I'd like to, though, I can't in good conscience give it a 5/5; great as the script was, there were serious flaws- not just the accents but the entire performances of most of the Clantons dragged the whole thing down. Still, a very good 4/5.

Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker

The Celestial Toyroom

"It looks dead boring to me. Come on!"


Whenever I think of Steven and Dodo it's in the clothes they're wearing here. Dodo herself looks like the absolute personification of the 60s. It's a strange beginning, with the Doctor becoming both invisible and intangible. There's some nice continuity here, with references to the invisibility of the Refusians in the last story, and the Toymaker showing the TARDISeers some clips from recent stories.

The Toymaker himself, a god-like being straight from an episode of Star Trek, is unlike anything seen before in the series and, at first, quite intriguing. Certainly he's well-played throughout by Michael Gough. This is very surreal and weird.

Sadly, after the first five minutes the plot is suspended while we're forced to watch a kids' game show slightly less good than Pat Sharp's Fun House. Ironically, the concept of the Toymaker forcing our heroes to play the games is in theory quite good, but the execution is so dull. There's no creepiness, no atmosphere.

Incidentally, the Toymaker- a powerful creature with an arbitrary nature who seems to be omnipotent- is presumably an Eternal as has often been said. It seems he's bored with his life; watching this story I'm beginning to understand how he feels.

Strange to see Carmen Silvera in this!

The Hall of Dolls"You know, I feel very foolish talking to a playing card."


The cost of losing is eternity with the Toymaker. A truly terrible thought. as is the fact we're not going to be seeing much of Hartnell for most of this story- he's now invisible, intangible and silent.

For the first time, Dodo is beginning to irritate me really quite a lot- could this story be largely responsible for her bad reputation within fandom? She's very stupid here, seeming to enjoy herself with no impression of the danger she's in or the weirdness of her surroundings.

The Dancing Floor"Why don't you go back in your box?"


It occurs to me that this is a very cheap story, with a very limited cast and a small number of sets, with nothing required to look particularly impressive. And the story's still not engaging me- in fact these games and fake TARDISes are getting tiresomely repetitive. Not much else to say about the episode. As this is the last reconstructed episode though i really must heap praise on Loose Cannon for the excellent job they've done, especially with no telesnaps.


The Final Test"Now don't start red herrings, you charlatan!"


"I think I'm going to enjoy this game" says Dodo, lightly dismissing the mortal peril she's in. Aaargh! And as for the bit where she goes to help Cyril...

Fortunately, halfway through the episode the games end, Hartnell is back (yay!) and the plot resumes. In fact, the second half of the episode is actually watchable at times. I liked the bit where Steven tries to punch the Toymaker- unlike Dodo, he has a personality. And in offering to stay behind so the others can escape he shows himself to be truly heroic.

Interesting to see the Toymaker offering power to the Doctor if he acquiesces- as far as I can recall this is the first such scene ever.

Odd cliffhanger though- the Doctor's got a spot of toothache?



Well, that was awful. Only the first ten minutes and last ten minutes of the story were at all watchable, the middle bit consisting entirely of tiresome games. Even worse, the writing for Dodo's character is starting to suffer alarmingly from the character's total lack of background and definition, and that's bad scriptwriting. This is my least favourite story so far by a long, long way.

Doctor Who: The Ark

The Steel Sky

"Look, stop prancing about over there. What happens if you get lost?"

"I catch a bus back!"


A nice little mystery to open with, although I've no idea how obvious or not it may have been to the unspoiled that they were on a huge spaceship. I started this episode with some trepidation; we're about to get an exploratory episode one without a settled TARDIS crew. Instead we have a barely post-row Steven and Dodo who's... well, Dodo. There's an instability to the TARDIS crew that there hasn't been before, and a lot of this is down to the fact that Dodo as a character, with no hinterland whatsoever, is no more than a cipher. Incidentally, the comedy accent has been toned down but she sounds more northern than we're often led to believe.

From the moment Dodo leaves the TARDIS she's constantly annoying ("Earth? Earth? Well, it couldn't be anywhere else, now could it?"). But after a while, perversely, I start to like her, if not necessarily for the right reasons. Some combination of the lines and the delivery just makes me laugh- "I think I'm beginning to enjoy this space travel or whatever it is". I suspect to some extent I'm subconsciously rebelling against what I know to be fan orthodoxy (oh, to come to a story completely fresh!). Of course, the joke is quite likely to wear thin eventually and I reserve the right to perform a u-turn later. Or sooner.

Pausing only to marvel at the awesome computing technology of the far future, we're quickly introduced to our surroundings by means of, er, loads of exposition. But the ideas are good; this is a time when sci-fi was primarily seen as a literary, rather than cinematic, genre. Indeed, I recall the recently released BBC documents from the dawn of Doctor Who referred to the sci-fi novel as primarily based on ideas rather than character and as such it, er, shouldn't form the basis of television drama. But actually I rather like the fact that we're getting a literary sci-fi take on Big Ideas, and we certainly get some; a space Ark, with 700 years to reach its destination, most of the population of Earth miniaturised and frozen in filing cabinets (a detail that's dated somewhat!), and some individuals fated to be "guardians, living and dying on the Ark, never living to see their destination.

Incidentally, I assure you that I will endeavour never to write a sentence as long as that again. Clearly I need another stint in semi-colon rehab. But I'm enjoying the story so far.

The Plague

"That unfortunately tells me only one thing."

"What is that?"

"That the nature of man even in this day and age hasn't altered at all. You still fear the unknown, like everyone else before you."


Annoyingly, all the poncy things I've been wittering about have to be interrupted by the plot. And some recycled music from our first visit to the Dalek city, naturally. But I'm still enjoying this. There's no character development for the regulars here, of course, but there's a nice bit of acting from Hartnell early on as he starts moving to hug Dodo to comfort her but can't; he's not able to be tactile with Dodo as he was with her predecessors.

Nothing actually happens for ages, and the guest characters are all extremely bland. But the ideas nevertheless carry the story and carry it well; the idea of the travellers causing a fatal outbreak of the common cold amongst their far future descendants is actually quite good, and has a fair bit of mileage as long as it isn't dwelt upon too much, which it isn't.

The justice system aboard the Ark is a little dodgy, amounting effectively to mob rule, but fortunately that nice Commander manages to briefly gather enough strength to use his arbitrary dictatorial powers to sort things out. This is crude drama, perhaps, but I'm still quite impressed by the hard sci-fi ideas. This fantastic and radical season continues to experiment.

The ending rather glosses over the fact that people have actually died from the TARDISeers' carelessness, but rather more interesting is the treatment of the Monoids. Yes, the Doctor gets a line to a Monoid foreshadowing the next two episodes: "You're far more knowledgeable than most people realise". But I still feel uneasy that at no point have our heroes denounced what is pretty clearly a system of apartheid.

So far this story has been great, in spite of not actually being very good as such. A very nice cliffhanger, yet more gleeful experimentation with the concepts and format of the show. What a season! Oh, and apparently Michael Sheard was in this episode.



That's all for now cos I'm knackered- I'll post the rest tomorrow. In this story of two halves will the second half match up to the first, he said, trying not to exude too much dramatic irony...

The Return

"Are you up to something?"

"Um, no..."


There's something quite fundamentally comical about the Monoids' voices. And we hear a lot of them, as the first few scenes consist of lots of exposition. And the message suggested by the situation here (oppressed minority overthrows dominant majority due to "weakness" of dominant minority) seems on the face of it to be a bit Enoch Powell, even pro-apartheid. Or at least it seemed so at the time- fortunately the next episode makes it clear this isn't so. Phew. Don't worry, I'm not Lawrence Miles and this is not The Unquiet Dead.

The Monoids saying "Get back" reminds me of a certain most excellent video I've seen at a certain online location.

Still lots of exposition, plus a rather interesting take on science- so a solar flare turned the Refusians invisible, did it? And the cliffhanger is a bit artificial too. All of a sudden the fun and the great ideas seem to have gone. The concept of seeing the Ark again after 700 years and of the Monoids taking over was initially a great idea with real impact, but we've been treading water since a couple of minutes into the episode. This is very dull.

The Bomb

"Stupid trusting creature!"

Gosh, what imaginative names the Monoids all have. And why do they only communicate with each other through a device invented by the Guardians? Gah!

On a positive note, although none of the characters get any development worth mentioning Steven is at least shown to be resourceful and heroic in this episode, essentially acting as the Guardians' leader. But the episode is still infuriating. The bomb's going to explode in a whole 12 hours' time- oh, the suspense! How helpful of Monoid Four to tell a Monoid something he already knows just so he can be overheard by the hidden Doctor and Dodo. And what's motivating the Refusian to be so extremely helpful, to the extent of taking a shuttle to the Ark and staying there, in the full knowledge there's a bomb on it? Gah!

Oh, and the Refusians are pretty much the ultimate in (dare I say it?) deus ex machina. I mean, they're practically gods anyway and we know for the entire episode that at some point they're going to just walk in and stop the plot. But it's nice to see the Doctor's speech at the end, effectively denouncing South African apartheid. So the allegorical content is now clear, not that the story was in any way about this theme.

We end with Dodo's fab gear, Steven being allowed to operate the controls, and a truly bizarre cliffhanger...



Overall, it's a story of two halves. The first half, in spite of the stock plot and moments of clumsiness, was packed with interesting ideas and charmed me into liking it. But the second half was just plodding, dull, and lacking in any sense of real peril. sadly, this is below average overall and so gets a 2/5. But there's a lot I liked about the first two parts.

Doctor Who: The Massacre

War of God

"But you promise me you won't get into trouble?"

"Yes, of course!"


After several of the excellent more recent recons, it's somewhat frustrating to go back to static pictures, and even more frustrating that there are no telesnaps! Still, Loose Cannon have done an excellent job, as always.

Its quite surprising that apparently Charles Preslin was just a made up character, especially as its a little odd for the Doctor, without pausing to find out exactly where or when he is, to blithely leave Steven in a tavern while he goes to hobnob with a local scientist. This hardly seems to fit well with his more active characterisation of late; John Lucarotti seems to be writing the Doctor of Season One. Not that it matters much though; he won't be writing much of the Doctor at all!

Steven's bewildered by the situation right from the moment the Doctor sets off, as are the viewers. Preslin's comment that he hopes the Doctor "succeeds" is especially confusing in that it isn't followed up. And what happens to Preslin anyway? A good episode nonetheless.

The Sea Beggar

"You are an extraordinary man, Tavannes. You see shadows where there is no sun."


Steven is caught up in an increasingly dangerous situation without a clue what's going on; this is extremely effective, and becomes even more so as events continue to spiral slowly out of control. His confusion over whether the Doctor is the Abbot of Amboise or not is shared by the viewer (although not by me, sadly, having seen it before). The script plays this up, making the Abbot a mysterious and less than trusted character even to his fellow conspirators. And Steven, of course, puts his foot in it; now almost no one trusts him, as the swordfight scene with Eric Thompson's splendidly hotheaded Gaston demonstrates.

Hartnell's hardly in this episode, incidentally, and he's credited only as the Abbot.

Priest of Death

"War is so tedious."


We're finally introduced to the childlike King and Catherine de Medici, silent for the moment. But once she does speak, her words have real power and we're left in little doubt that she means ill and will get what she wants. De Coligny gets a nice line: "Kings are recognised only by the power they wield. The Queen Mother seems to claim that power."

Hartnell is a revelation as the Abbot, playing a character sharply distinguished from the Doctor. Yet we're still left unsure whether or not they're the same person, which makes his death a very powerful scene. With the Doctor seemingly dead Steven ends this episode alone, apparently stranded, fleeing a mob which wants him dead. Has there ever been a bleaker ending?

Incidentally the lack of reprises works well, with no cliffhangers as such but each episode covering a day and punctuated by the tocsins. Each episode ends on a dramatic high rather than a cliffhanger, but this works.

Bell of Doom

"Now, they've all gone. All gone. None of them could understand. Not even my little Susan. Or Vicki. And as for Barbara and Chatterton... Chesterton... they were all too impatient to get back to their own time. And now, Steven. Perhaps I should go home, back to my own planet. But I can't... I can't..."


Easily the finest individual episode of Doctor Who yet, and that's saying something. Hartnell is quite breathtaking in this. We start with Steven lost, despondent, entirely defeated by events, until the Doctor suddenly turns up and takes charge. On my original viewing of this story I liked it a lot but marked it down for the non-explanation of the Doctor's whereabouts. But seeing it now in context I think I originally missed the point; the story is focused on Steven as he gets hopelessly tangled up in a situation hopelessly out of his depth. The absence of the Doctor is the point; we see how much he's needed, otherwise things can go very, very wrong. This is a Doctor Lite story, and better even than Blink.

The Doctor and Steven are in no physical danger from this point onwards, but the drama lies elsewhere. We get a foreshadowing of the later TARDIS scene as the Doctor, to Steven's bewilderment, quickly dismisses Anne to her aunt's. Steven asks him firmly "But Doctor, what is going on?" but the Doctor dismisses him in typical style: "There's no time for me to explain. Come along". This exchange may seem typical, and it is, but it's pivotal. The Doctor may not be acting unusually, but the wider situation makes the moral consequences of his acts far more serious than would normally be the case. This week we're in no light-hearted adventure serial.

Even Tavannes (the great Andre Morell) is horrified by Catherine de Medici's plans to use the mob rather than targeted assassinations to attack the Huguenots; this is genocide; "The innocent? Heresy can have no innocence". This is truly horrible. Fittingly, the Doctor and Steven leave at the exact moment when the massacre is about to start.

This story is part John Lucarotti style historical (something wonderful in itself of course, but...), and part radical experimentation with the format (Donald Tosh?). So the Doctor's comments about not changing history are, if anything, too reminiscent of The Aztecs and a little outdated post- Time Meddler. But the circumstances are very different here; Steven's anger is hardly unjustified. In sending Anne to her Aunt's, where she's certain to be searched for, the Doctor most probably has sent her to her death. The Doctor isn't really behaving differently to the way he always does here- his justifications of his actions on the grounds of not changing history are nothing new and, in another context, hardly controversial. But in a situation of such horror as this we feel very differently about it: "My dear Steven, history sometimes gives us a terrible shock. And that is because we don't fully understand. Why should we? After all, we're all too small to realise its final pattern". Hartnell delivers these words despondently, with restraint but also with more emotion than we've ever heard from him before. The Doctor firmly believes in his principles but doesn't feel the horror any less than Steven; he's just too world-weary to be shocked by it. It would be nice to see Steven's expression as he wordlessly leaves the TARDIS.

The Doctor's soliloquy that follows is the most revealing character moment the Doctor's had, and a triumphant performance from Hartnell, made all the more effective by well-judged silences, which will surely prove the highlight of his tenure. Forty years before Tennant, the Doctor's essential loneliness is laid bare. This is powerful stuff.

I'm actually quite tolerant of the final scenes, if we ignore Dodo's extraordinary accent. The policemen are a flimsy excuse for Steven to return, but I suspect they're supposed to be; Steven's made his point, but doesn't really want to leave the TARDIS this way. This lets him save face, and the Doctor lets him. Still, there's no excusing the glibness of Dodo's introduction or the carelessness of the fact that the TARDIS just takes off with this new passenger who, conveniently, has no friends or family to miss her. Dodo is poorly served by her introduction, but she actually provides a nice bit of catharsis for both the Doctor and Steven. The Doctor's comment that she looks like Susan is really just indicating what he wants her to be, as he's rather raw emotionally and afraid of being alone at this point. And Steven's ridiculous theory about Dodo proving Anne survived is no more than desperate straw clutching, but again it helps him get over his trauma and save face, and once again the Doctor lets him.



This is the best story so far by a long way- it works superbly as a historical but it's also a brave experiment with the format in this fantastically experimental season, with the absence of the Doctor, and the closing dramatisation of the core emotional themes of the show. And up to now Steven's been a vaguely defined character- a little stubborn, not too bright, but little else. Not any more. But the incredible thing about this story is that the Doctor has never seemed so three-dimensional and real. Hartnell is a revelation in the final scenes. 5/5.

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 Myth Makers

Temple of Secrets

"Oh, but you have killed this poor fellow!"

"Yes, but in your name!"


It's clear from the start that we're in for a treat as the dialogue between Achilles and Hector is very funny indeed, as is the dialogue for the entire story. Odysseus is also great, cynical yet likeable, and a very contemporary interpretation of the character. I've always thought the comedy style of this episode to have a lot in common with the Beyond the Fringe, satire boom type comedy of the early to mid 60s. The treatment of the Trojan War here is very much the sort of thing I'd expect Pete, Dud and the other two to come up with, and there's no higher praise than that.

Basically, I'm going to spend this entire post gushing.

It's a very cynical yet also very modern view of war and "honour" we get here, with short shrift being given to any conception of war being at all glorious or honourable. Most of the characters are either cowards or fools. Even Menelaus isn't even that bothered about Helen's adultery; "If you must know I was heartily glad to see the back of her."

Already we can see that Hartnell is going to shine, as he always does in these types of stories.

Small Prophet, Quick Return

"Now don't be frightened, child. You shall die when I say so and not a moment before."


The Trojans turn out to be just as entertaining as the Greeks, and Max Adrian is excellent. In fact, the overall quality of the guest cast is exceptional throughout the story.

We "see" Vicki in the TARDIS wardrobe room- it's first "appearance". Oh, for some actual footage! And not for the first time, Vicki doesn't leave the TARDIS until some way into episode two.

The scene where Odysseus interrogates the Doctor and Steven is actually quite clever. For a start, he actually believes them when they tell him they're time travellers, both confounding our expectations and leaving us in no doubt that he's an extremely clever man underneath the cynicism. And although we already know what Odysseus' condition is going to be, and the plan the Doctor's going to inevitably come up with, the script milks our foreknowledge for maximum comic effect.

The scenes in Troy also sparkle, with the relationships between Priam, Paris and Cassandra being sketched out very economically through dialogue which also happens to be extremely witty: "You get back to the war. If you've not killed Achilles by nightfall I shall be seriously displeased". Priam's summing up of Cassandra, as having to predict the worst at all times as a sort of insurance policy to give her the "I told you so" factor at all times, is at the same time witty, accurate and dripping with dramatic irony.

The ensuing scene, with Paris very quietly shouting for Achilles and having to fight Steven is my favourite part of the story: "Well, I say, this sort of thing id just not done. Surely you'd rather die than be taken prisoner?"

A very effective cliffhanger, made all the more so by a very alarming title for the next episode.

Death of a Spy

"Woe to the House of Priam! Woe to the Trojans!"

"I think it's a bit late to say 'whoa' to the horse..."


Frances White is great as Casssandra, playing the character absolutely straight and being all the funnier for it. You can see why the Trojans pay her no attention.

It's nice to see the budding relationship between Vicki and Troilus getting some prior development, although it never quite seems convincing. There's nothing wrong with the way it's written or performed here, but it would have been nice to have some foreshadowing in earlier stories of Vicki's imminent departure.

Interesting line for a family show: "Upon my soul, you're making me as nervous as a Baccante at her first orgy"!

Horse of Destruction

"To be a prisoner of war is considered very bad form."


Katarina, rather surprisingly, only appears for the first time at the start of this episode.

I really have to praise the latest Loose Cannon recon here- not only are there lots of nice little touches (Frances White is shown with the hairstyle she presumably had in this story rather than I Clavdivs, no doubt through some technical jiggery-pokery) but there's a lot of moving footage, especially with scenes involving the horse in this episode.

There's plenty of wit still on show, but the episode is rather bleak and sombre, all the more so for being understated. The handling of Vicki's departure is interesting; we're not made privy to her final chat with the Doctor inside the TARDIS. Vicki's leaving everything behind to be with a bloke she's just met, from the 12th century BC, who thinks she's betrayed him, but the scene with Vicki and Troilus somehow works, and dammit, I cried. I'm sure Troilus and Cressida will be happy ever after, in no way eventually meeting a tragic fate.

Interesting final moments; Katarina's aboard the TARDIS more or less be accident, she's convinced she's going to die soon, and Steven's very badly hurt.


Overall, this is my new favourite story of all time. The dialogue was exquisite, and could almost have been written by Peter Cook. but unlike The Romans, another comedy, if of a very different sort, the regulars were in character and true to themselves throughout. Wonderful. I'd give it a 6/5 if I could.

Doctor Who: Galaxy Four

Four Hundred Dawns

"We have a small number of men, as many as we need, the rest we kill. They consume valuable food and fulfil no particular function."


The Loose Cannon recon for this story is great, with lots of creativity being used to give us as much moving footage as possible. This is the best done recon I've seen so far. Sadly, the quality of the original audio isn't as good, and what with my hearing being poor anyway I had trouble hearing much of this story. Still, an intriguing and entertaining episode one, as we've come to expect from the sci-fi stories. As always, we start with some nice character stuff, and it's nice to get the references to The Space Museum.

The Drahvins are clearly up to no good from the start, and I'm not just saying that because their doors make the same sounds as the ones in the Dalek city. They're very B-movie-esque alien Amazons, and if there's any serious comment about sexual politics here (I strongly doubt it) it's impossible to take it as such. Still, the Chumblies are great, and we get to see the Astral Map from The Web Planet again. Er, yay! Nice cliffhanger though- the TARDISeers are in more trouble than they'd realised...

Trap of Steel

"My Ship's not made of tin like this old trash!"


So far this story's quite good, dramatic and well-paced. I've often seen this story criticised because the Drahvins are so obviously the baddies, but although not judging by appearances is clearly a strong theme it's not this that's propelling the drama; it's the pressing need to escape from the imminent destruction of the planet that's the central fact here.

Hmm, so the Drahvins' doors have the sound of the Daleks', and the Rills' ship has the pulsating noise from Dalek ships. The Daleks are being most generous with their sound effects.

Air Lock

"We are not deaf, you know!"


It never fails to amuse me in these early stories how the episode starts with a cliffhanger reprise and then everything has to stop for the title and writer's credit to be displayed. Otherwise, not much to say about this episode. The first two episodes were quite engaging, but things are now beginning to flag. It doesn't really help that the script has no more surprises for us; we pretty much know what's going to happen from this point.

The Exploding Planet

"We respect you as we respect all life."


The speech to Steven by the rill is dull and patronising, as is much of this episode- the drama of how our heroes are going to escape the planet is largely gone, as no convincing obstacles are put in their way from this point. The moral of the story is all very good but the heavy-handed way it's conveyed- taking up much of this episode- is unnecessary and dull. Still, it's nice to see a full photo of a Rill.

Strange and interesting way of doing the cliffhanger, with Vicki making a random comment about a planet that happens to be on the scanner. Still, a Terry Nation episode next. oh look- it's set on a jungle planet.


This story actually works well and holds the attention for the first two episodes, but once the Doctor and Vicki start talking to the Rill the plot stops, as there are no more significant plot twists or threats to our heroes. Instead the time is filled with heavy-handed moralising. A shame, as there's still much to like about this story. 3/5.

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.