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Post by Pinwig on Apr 25, 2014 22:14:47 GMT
No more Sensorites then, however I will say that the points made about its significance in About Time also made me appreciate it in a different light. I do see their points. It's better than Marinus.
From the beginning then. I might do this in line with my own marathon (which tonight reached episode one of The Ark).
An Unearthly Child - 8
First episode alone is a ten, but the decision after that to start with a caveman story has never sat right with me. I know in those days the show was perceived as an ongoing serial without individual stories, so it shouldn’t really matter, but somehow it does. Some early character decisions are also odd to the more informed eye, like the Doctor making to brain the caveman.
The Daleks - 10
Oh yes. Terry Nation has had a lot of misfires in the history of the show, but this one was spot on. Without it would the show have even lasted past its initial 13 episode commission?
The Edge of Destruction - 9
I like this purely because of what it is. Unique, an insight into characters we’re still getting to know, and a story set entirely inside the spaceship.
Marco Polo - 9
I’ve watched both Loose Canon recons of this and am salivating at the prospect of its return. I really want to see the sets.
The Keys of Marinus - 5
The first of Nation’s ‘different story in every part’ efforts. Clearly the show was still defining itself at this point, but when you compare this to the Sensorites you can see very quickly why this fails.
The Aztecs - 6
Yes, I know this is regarded generally as one of the all time classics, but compared to all the other historicals of the time on reflection I find it quite dull.
The Sensorites - 7
There is a point well made about this that it is the first time the Doctor is seen as an heroic character, out to do good for the sake of it, which then defines one of the corner stones of the show. It also gives Susan something to do other than just whine and scream all the time. However the Sensorite costumes are poor even by 1964 standards, and the plot doesn’t need six episodes to unfold. The first episode though with the alien faces looming outside the window is excellent.
The Reign of Terror - 9
Not Dennis Spooner’s best historical, but up there with Marco for the first season. All of the main cast have something to do in this one, and the story romps along given the subject matter could have made it very dry.
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Post by The Doctor on Apr 26, 2014 8:41:59 GMT
Burns refuses to vote! The two parters should be voted as one story not as individual episodes. That's how DWM does it. We didn't vote for Hartnell's individual episodes! -Ralph I feel New Who is a different beast. Sure, maybe Aliens of London/World War 3 is one story... but is Bad Wolf and Parting of the Ways? Or are they two linked one parter? Does season 3 end with a 2-parter or a 3-parter? Is Good Man Goes to War/Lets Kill Hitler all one story? This way madness lies, Ralph! DWM polls include all DW equally from 1963, which makes sense as the run from 2005 onwards was not a reboot or remake. It's all the same show. After all, if it wasn't, how could have a 'ninth' Doctor, etc? To avoid confusion, I suggest we use the multi-part groupings that DWM polls use. -Ralph |
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Post by The Doctor on Apr 26, 2014 8:42:53 GMT
Talk no more of the Sensorites. I'm about to rewatch it. It would be so much better if Stephen Dartnell was playing his first DW role Have you listened to the soundtrack release? -Ralph |
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Post by Philip Ayres on Apr 26, 2014 9:04:52 GMT
No I've had no really bad bouts of insomnia since you True Friended me a copy.
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Post by blueshift on Apr 26, 2014 9:42:17 GMT
I feel New Who is a different beast. Sure, maybe Aliens of London/World War 3 is one story... but is Bad Wolf and Parting of the Ways? Or are they two linked one parter? Does season 3 end with a 2-parter or a 3-parter? Is Good Man Goes to War/Lets Kill Hitler all one story? This way madness lies, Ralph! DWM polls include all DW equally from 1963, which makes sense as the run from 2005 onwards was not a reboot or remake. It's all the same show. After all, if it wasn't, how could have a 'ninth' Doctor, etc? To avoid confusion, I suggest we use the multi-part groupings that DWM polls use. -Ralph If you rate the individual episodes, we can always aggregate up and get the best of both worlds. But I really disagree with some of DWM's choices (Utopia is a standalone episode that leads into a 2-parter dammit, not part 1 of a 3-part story! You might as well bundle up Good Man Goes to War with The Rebel Flesh 2-parter if you're going to use that logic!) |
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Post by The Doctor on Apr 27, 2014 10:58:49 GMT
The easy way to know if a story from 2005 onwards is a 2 or 3 parter is if a big TO BE CONTINUED sign appears at the end of an episode. Easy. Simple.
-Ralph
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Post by blueshift on Apr 27, 2014 11:04:55 GMT
But that means the only two parters are uh, Stolen Earth/Journey's End and End of Time.
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Post by Pinwig on May 3, 2014 11:22:14 GMT
Big job this and it'll work better if I do it after my marathon run passes each season. Getting toward the end of season 3, but in the meantime here's a catchup for season 2:
Planet of Giants - 8
I like this more than I think many people do. I like the fact it’s unique because the TARDIS crew get an adventure almost entirely by themselves, the setting is contemporary to the production so it acts as a historical document of modern TV drama of the time, and I like the story. It’s very different to the usual Hartnell stuff. Diversity keeps the show going.
The Dalek Invasion of Earth - 10
At times with this the usual Terry Nation formula shows through, but I think this is his crowning achievement in Doctor Who. From the sinister slow reveals in the first episode to the feeling of genuine despair in the underground resistance HQ in later episodes, this has variety, great sets, Daleks being Daleks and a satisfying conclusion. The best Hartnell Dalek story.
The Rescue - 6
Bland start for a great companion. The twist is obvious and the story minimal. Not enough is made of the fact that Barbara suddenly becomes a gun toting space babe. Maureen O’Brien makes this work.
The Romans - 9
Never quite sure about mixing comedy and Doctor Who, but this works. It’s interesting throughout and the Roman characters verge on OTT without ever quite going that far. Feels like a story the Doctor is caught up in rather than controlling, and I like that.
The Web Planet - 4
This scores highly for the sets and monster costumes, but really there’s nothing else in it to recommend.
The Space Museum - 7
This story gives us the beginnings of the shift in style of sci-fi stories from the stuff like Marinus toward the Troughton era. Yes, I think it does begin this early but it isn’t until stories like the Ark that you really see the change in motion. The time slip idea itself is probably dragged out too long, but Vicki’s uprising is nice and the two races struggling against each other just about works.
The Chase - 6
Episodes one and two are fine, very good, but then once the actual chasing starts it deteriorates rapidly. The Mechanoids are under used, and what the hell is Steven doing running around after a stuffed panda? Makes no sense as it’s never followed up and doesn’t fit his character. With the sets and props they had for this is could have been rethought into a much better story.
The Time Meddler - 9
Love this. Love the Monk, love Peter Butterworth, love the fact that the audience for the first time get a glimpse into the Doctor’s own world and background. Those conversations are edge of the seat stuff. Also love the setting and the story. I really lament the fact that this is the only really good story for the Monk. His Master Plan cameo doesn’t live up to this. The Monk should have been to Hartnell what the Master was to Pertwee’s Doctor. He’s more fun than the Toymaker and if he’d been instrumental in the first regeneration as a revenge act… but then in those days that kind of thinking didn’t happen on a week by week serial.
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Post by Pinwig on May 18, 2014 14:47:06 GMT
Sorry, I tried to keep this concise but it didn't work. Now I'm actively thinking about this thread while watching it's giving me more to ponder. I'm up to The Smugglers Pt 3 today on my marathon, aiming at bringing Hartnell's tenure to a close neatly by finishing Tenth Planet exactly six months after starting An Unearthly Child in November. So it's time for Season Three to be rated:
Season Three
Galaxy 4 - 8
First time I’d seen Air Lock watching this one, last time it was the recon. That one episode gives us a real insight into what the rest would look like. Dhravins, great. Rills, great. Chumblies, superb! This is an enjoyable story that moves the space based ones on significantly from The Space Museum and particularly The Web Planet. Obviously we know this was written originally with Ian and Barbara in mind, which shows in that Steven comes across awkwardly in this. To my mind Peter Purves hasn’t really settled in yet.
Mission to the Unknown - 5
Hard to rate this without counting it as being part of the Master Plan. Without the TARDIS crew it’s just an extended prologue, and one that had it been written with hindsight after the Master Plan scripts (not possible in those days) would probably have been completely different. We get enough of Kemble in the main story, this could have further explored Mavic Chen’s reputation on Earth (those glimpses of that in Master Plan one weren’t enough for me, see below) or given us a solo Monk episode showing how he escaped from 1066.
The Myth Makers - 7
The easiest way to describe this one is ‘Not quite as good as The Romans’. At least there is a vague attempt to give Vicki a logical reason to depart, although it’s handled almost as badly as Susan’s. It did make me think than in general companions get great introductory stories and sensible reasons why they’re with the Doctor, but they never get the same emphasis when they depart. Then Katarina turns up out of nowhere in Episode 4 and that theory goes out the window. Had it not been caught up in the turmoil at the time off screen this would probably be better than it seems, but as it is some great performances from the guest cast carry it. Very enjoyable.
The Daleks' Master Plan - 7
Scored really on episodes 1-6 and 11-12. I’ve said before, 7-10 is a poor reprise of The Chase and should have been removed to allow for a separate four parter for the Monk. As an eight part story this does sag a little in the middle, but the growing menace from the Daleks and the fact they start to become genuinely frightening here makes the finale a jaw-dropper. It must also have been exciting at the time watching this as a week by week serial that you were never sure who would live and die, given so many do. Just a pity that the reality of that was that John Wiles couldn’t make his mind up, rather than the same kind of feeling we get these days watching shows like Game of Thrones where the deaths are driven by the narrative and come out of the blue. Maybe it felt like that back then to the viewer.
I like the way this starts - with Chen being seen through the eyes of the people he leads on viewscreens. It reminds me of the way Vengeance on Varos is set up with Arak and Etta watching the public torture from their room. Given by this point the Daleks had become a phenomenon with competition from the cinema, the BBC probably felt they had to do something epic in nature to compete. Problem is that TV budgets can’t match the glory of cinemascope, and that leaves this feeling a little underwhelming for what it sets out to be.
The Massacre - 7
Very hard to rate this with so little visual material. Obviously two things stand out, one is Hartnell’s performance as the Abbott, which going by the audio alone you can almost believe is a different actor the delivery is so clear, and Episode 4, where everything hits the fan and we get to see Steven being a real person for the first time. That ending would have been fantastic had it not been for the last five minutes completely ruining it. If Dodo is supposed to be related to Anne, then this needed to be done much better to give the end of the serial some poignancy. Beyond that from the audio it comes across as a complex story with a lot of similar characters. Even the recon struggles to help the viewer make sense of it all. One that needs to be found.
The Ark - 7
Technically brilliant, but ultimately plain. The high cameras, huge sets and particularly the use of video screen communications give this a feeling of progression in the series. Okay, so we know director Michael Imison was effectively trying to create a showpiece to get his contract renewed, but it’s us who benefit. When you look at how the show was still made at that point, still pretty much shot as live, there is a lot that could go wrong here, but it’s all carried off with aplomb. That’s what kept me interested, not the so-so story and the over exaggerated arm waving from the Monoids in eps 3-4 to aid synching the voices.
The Celestial Toymaker - 3
This is dull, and largely very silly. Episodes one to three appear to be the same thing over and over again, and having the game with Cyril in the surviving Episode 4 makes me think that there’s actually no need to see any of the other ones at all. Perhaps the crockery smashing madness could be fun, but I think if I had to pick one story never to be recovered, then it would be this. The repetition and the lack of Hartnell kill it.
The Gunfighters - 5
The story that through the 80s was reviled as the worst ever, until the 90s came round, BSkyB showed it to us, and everyone realised it wasn’t that bad after all. On the one hand with this I can appreciate the rich story and attempts to do something different - in many ways it’s no different to Donald Cotton’s other historical, the Myth Makers. You get three episodes of comedy followed by a sombre, face slapping finale in a, “You may have been laughing, but it was actually really serious, right?” way.
However the thing about the Myth Makers is that the comedy feels more Shakespearian in tone, there is a tragi-comic feel to the whole thing so the end works. With this, the humour is too overt and placed next to the end of the Master Plan and the Massacre it feels out of place. It encourages Peter Purves to overact outrageously (end of episode one especially sticks out) and when the gun battle does come round you’re fully expecting flags with ‘pop!’ written on them to flip out of the end of the guns. Had this been played seriously right the way through I think it would have been brilliant. Like The Smugglers.
Mind you, Hartnell *is* brilliant in this, and the ‘Mr Wearp’ joke is hysterically funny every time. It just is. The scene in the jail with the Doctor trying to spin the gun on his finger: “I say, I say Mr Wearp can you do this?” is the funniest line in the entire history of the series. Hartnell here gets the comedy right while everyone around him overplays it.
The Savages - 9
I love this. Helped by telesnaps and a superb realisation by Loose Cannon, this story is in my top three most wanted Hartnell recoveries. While The Ark shows us technical excellence and the series moving toward the Patrick Troughton style of sci-fi adventure, this one is already there. Yes, the twist is obvious, but the mixture of location filming and tight scripting make it absolutely gripping. No more so than in episode three where Freddie Jaeger shows Hartnell’s mannerisms. This could have been how the regeneration was achieved, there were enough attempts to get shot of Hartnell at this point.
It was one of the first missing stories that I experienced when they began to become available on CD (as in not via nth generation audio cassettes from trading circles that were almost impossible to listen to) and I would love to see it. The tantalising glimpses of it from off air cine film recordings have me salivating. I believe this one has the potential to rise in popularity like Enemy did after it was found. Please find this Mr Morris!
The War Machines - 10
Watched in isolation I probably wouldn't have put this story as high as ten, but I've got the whole of the series so far to reflect on while doing this and I think this story really is good enough to stand alongside the first two Dalek tales as pinnacles of all-round achievement. That then brings an interesting question in to play – does the fact they are the only three stories I have given tens to mean that they are my favourite three first Doctor stories?
I don't think it has to mean that. I think a story can rate highly for many reasons, including but not limited to: writing, direction, technical achievement and general enjoyment. Enjoying a story is what makes it a favourite, not necessarily a 10/10 rating. And I can't list a top three Hartnells yet because there are still two to go.
That said this story is brilliant. It's been said many times, but it does feel like a proto-UNIT story, and the scenes with bureaucratic officials are straight out of Jon Pertwee's era. It's contemporary life under threat from an otherworldly intelligence. You can't say at this point this is where the series is heading because we're about to enter the land of the monsters with Patrick Troughton, but when this style of story comes back with crackers like Web of Fear and the Invasion you can see the progression and the way the show is already evolving to reflect the period in time it comes from, it's almost growing with its original audience. What we can say here is that the Innes Lloyd led production crew had a far better idea of where the series should be heading than John Wiles.
New companions too. In Ben we have someone more dynamic than 'action-dad' Ian and the never quite properly defined Steven – within seconds of appearing in the series he's trying to start a fight so we know this is someone who will stand his ground and fulfil the role of defender of the group. It hints at a more action led, adult series on the horizon (well, until Victoria turns up anyway). In Polly we have a sensible evolution of the juvenile female lead into a real, rounded person. She's curious, sarcastic, funny, old enough not to have to rely entirely on the rest of the cast, and is everything that Dodo could never be. Susan and Vicki were always played younger than they were supposed to be in the story (15/16?) which made them children's story characters even when leading revolutions on alien worlds (regardless of how brilliant Vicki is) but here Polly has a job and a social life and comes across immediately as real. These two feel out of place with Hartnell's Doctor, but for a lot of this story their role exists without him really needing to be in it.
From start to finish this story just works. There are times when it does feel like Hartnell is almost superfluous to what is going on, but his character does fit. Here he is the advisor, the helper, the figure in the background while especially in episodes four his front line troops do everything else for him. He is the elder statesman figure, which is exactly what Hartnell was, and at this point now knowing he is heading for his last hurrah, I am genuinely quite sad.
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Post by The Doctor on May 18, 2014 20:08:18 GMT
I can never watch The War Machines too many times.
Your thoughts on The Celestial Toymaker echo my own though I do have a huge soft spot for episode 4 having originally encountered the grainy copy of it on The Hartnell Years VHS tapes back in the day. The unrestored picture quality and lack of episodes 1-3 made me imagine Great Things. Then years later episode 4 was restored for DVD and suddenly the sparseness of it jumped out. Then I heard the soundtrack cd of the whole serial and wept bitter tears!
-Ralph
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 18, 2014 21:15:10 GMT
I can never watch The War Machines too many times. The War Machines is an underated great! |
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Post by blueshift on May 18, 2014 21:19:43 GMT
I can never watch The War Machines too many times. The War Machines is an underated great! As is The Gunfighters! |
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Post by Pinwig on May 18, 2014 21:28:45 GMT
The War Machines is an underated great! As is The Gunfighters! I just don't see it. I tried really hard this time. I had all the context of the stories around it and it sticks out like a sore thumb. It's just too over the top. Myth Makers, yes. Gunfighters... No. |
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Post by Pinwig on May 25, 2014 11:35:11 GMT
Going to be a while yet before I get to the end of Season Four, but having now come to a genuinely tear filled end for the First Doctor (and those extras on the DVD are rather splendid are they not! what a great package, I even coped with the animation, but watched the VHS release recon straight afterwards to cleanse myself), I've been pondering a quick summary:
Pinnacles of all round excellence in production:
1. Dalek Invasion of Earth
2. The Daleks
3. The War Machines
Personal favourites, or the stories I'd reach for on a rainy afternoon:
1. The Time Meddler
2. The Romans
3. The Reign of Terror
Most wanted missing episode recoveries:
1. The Savages
2. The Smugglers
3. The Myth Makers
I've also realised now looking at the run as a whole that I'd want to adjust some of my scores. Myth Makers isn't a 7, it should be at least 8. It's hard with these ones that have no visuals. And I might have been harsh on Master Plan. Hmm. I need to review my reviews. I am also genuinely surprised that looking back at the list my three personal faves are all historicals. Before I started rewatching on this marathon I'd have laughed you out of the room if anyone had suggested that.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 1, 2014 15:10:20 GMT
Mr Marshall: Time for Tennant S1?
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Post by blueshift on Jun 1, 2014 16:50:15 GMT
Maybe! I thought I would give Ralph a chance to vote first!
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Post by The Doctor on Jun 1, 2014 17:56:40 GMT
I can't vote! I explained!
-Ralph
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Post by blueshift on Jun 1, 2014 18:02:12 GMT
Ralph if you just vote for individual episodes, we can aggregate up into stories. Everyone wins!
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 1, 2014 20:22:33 GMT
Or give his vote for the combined story to each episode?
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Post by Pinwig on Jul 13, 2014 10:12:27 GMT
Finished Season Four. I've put my comments below in spoiler tags not because of spoilers, but because the post otherwise would be stupidly long. It's more manageable like this. Season Four The Smugglers - 9 This sits alongside the Savages as another of the missing Hartnells that I would most love to see back. Again very nicely presented by Loose Cannon with the sensor cut clips restored in the right place, this to me is a thoroughly enjoyable romp which takes the historical story in a new direction. This isn't the TARDIS crew experiencing a real moment in history, this is the TARDIS crew becoming wrapped up in a child's adventure story, obviously Moonfleet or Treasure Island, and the larger than life characters never become boring. The absence of overt humour gives it an edge that lifts it above efforts like the Gunfighters.
It also gives us a chance to see Ben and Polly on their first real adventure out of their own time, and the pair come across superbly. In fact with Ben taking to the dynamic role so well, it's hard to see why the production crew felt they needed another male lead in the form of Jamie (although heaven forbid the series be without one of its finest companions). Love this, and would love it back. The Tenth Planet – 8 It's well documented that by this point Hartnell was a guest star in his own show, and his unplanned absence in episode three really hurts this story. Placed in the context of the rest of Hartnell's run this is another weak one for him that doesn't give him much to do, and long stretches are carried by the guest cast. Looked at in isolation, yes it gives us the first base under siege story, and where The War Machines comes across as a prototype Pertwee story, this is very much the true beginning of the Troughton style. In that regard it stands up quite well.
There are odd touches that lift it away from what has gone before, like the peculiar choice to put pin up posters on the walls by the bunks – almost in a blatant attempt to say, 'this isn't a kids' show anymore', but the stereotypical collection of characters and accents stick out even for the time the show was made. When this gets done again a few months later in the Moonbase we get to experience this idea slightly better worked.
The two important things for this one then. The Cybermen. Clearly the best non-Skaro based alien opponent the Doctor has faced in his run so far, but at the same time still very much prototypes of what is to come. The voices are good, but the fact they never synch with the mouths opening makes it all look a bit amateurish. As an invasion force they're all a bit clunky in a way we haven't seen since the Robomen and their wobbly hats. They look far more sinister in old blurry photographs and HVS recordings than they do in vid-fired crystal DVD clarity.
And of course the First Doctor's exit. In the first two episodes we have the standing around and shouting Hartnell figure, which is what we've come to expect in recent stories (although the Smugglers does make him sound more dynamic), but in the fourth he is genuinely eerie and distant and I love the fact some of the lines he says carry ambiguity even to this day. Back then it must have been frightening to see his rambling on screen decline, 'it's far from being all over', to the point he collapses in the TARDIS. This is the Doctor in trouble in a way we haven't seen before. Something's very clearly wrong, the hero is down, the companions are helpless and the TARDIS is crying in anguish. As the faces blur and the theme tune crashes in it feels like the end of everything rather than a new beginning. It's very moving and arguably the saddest departure for an actor playing the Doctor because of all the factors happening off the screen. Both Bakers may have left the series in distressing circumstances, but here Hartnell's health and his love of the show and the character that he created make this more than a lump in the throat moment. It deserves not a 10, but an 11 in this scheme of ranking things, but that sole number needs to take all four episodes into account. Power of the Daleks - 8 The 8 I’ve put on this comes with the caveat that I don’t really know how to score it. It doesn’t help that virtually none of it exists visually but every time I watch the recons for this story I’m left wondering why it’s so sought after. I have this sneaking feeling that this would be like Tomb if it was discovered - the lost classic that doesn’t turn out to be quite so classic after all.
Why? Well the main reason is that this is a post-regen story in the true sense of the word; Troughton is just not the Second Doctor we come to know and love; maybe it should score highly because of that, but to me it leaves a hole in the middle of it all. It should score highly because this is the first time the Daleks do something other than just kill (Masterplan I don’t think does this). Here they are sneaky, clever and manipulative, and the finale in episode 6 with them on the rampage does sound like one of their most terrifying moments - but ultimately they are again easily defeated, this time by a power surge.
Lesterson’s descent into madness is unusually striking for an early Doctor Who story and does make you sit up - compare this to Zaroff in two stories’ time and the difference is easy to see. The colony uprising is also played with more intrigue than we have seen this kind of thing done before (The Space Museum) but again when it comes to it, it’s all a bit pointless. I want to be wrong about this. I want this to be the 10/10 it’s supposed to be, but I’m not sure it is. The Highlanders - 8 There are certainly highs and lows in this story, but in my head it deserves a place alongside Power as one of the better pair of the first four Troughton stories; the four that show the transition of the Doctor’s character from first to second.
The plus points here are that this is another romping historical yarn in the style of the Smugglers. This is why it works set after the Battle of Culloden rather than during - it can create its own historical novel romance with the characters, rather than being bound to historical accuracy. The Smugglers was Doctor Who in the vein of Daphne Du Maurier or J Meade Faulkner, this is Doctor Who does Walter Scott.
The sets support it, from the telesnaps they look the part, and like The Smugglers there is a moderate amount of location work to add to the authenticity. It has a lot going for it in that regard, which I think would come across far better if this existed on video. I really feel this would gain new respect if it was found.
So why doesn’t it get a 9 like the Smugglers? Well, it’s tied to the period of the show where Troughton was trying to work out who his Doctor was. We have the hat nonsense, the flute and worse than both of those, the pantomime dressing up. We have a Doctor who has to be in control because of the nature of the show, but also has to look like he’s anything but because of his fragile state. It’s a double edged sword. Troughton’s doctor has by far the longest ‘settling in’ period of any of them; he isn’t really himself until The Macra Terror, which you’d think would add subtlety and depth to his character. In reality it’s just annoying, and whether it was intentional or just the production crew experimenting with his character to knock the kinks out, it hampers the first four stories of his run. Okay, maybe it’s excusable in Power, but even by this point the introspective, secretive, flute playing dress up clown has outlived his welcome. The Underwater Menace - 3 This story is only fascinating in that it gives us the two earliest moving episodes with Patrick Troughton in (at the time of writing). The production feels like a throwback to the earliest Hartnell stories like Marinus and the Sensorites, and the acting all round is pretty dire. Joseph Furst provides a real pantomime villain which on the one hand is entertaining, but on the other is just too over the top, and Troughton here plays up to that with too much clowning himself. The dressing up is beyond tiring by this point and the biggest criminal of the piece, the plainly silly plot, lets the whole thing down even further.
The only three I’ve given so far was to the Celestial Toymaker. Is this as bad? On reflection, yes. This feels like Troughton trying to find his character without proper direction and the end result is something I really feel I don’t need to see any more of, despite the fact two episodes are missing. The only place this does score is in the chilling hand over between the first two episodes, which fortunately due to the recent recovery of episode 2 and the older censor clips we can now see. Like the hanging scene in The Highlanders, needles and Polly screaming is not the Doctor Who of William Hartnell’s era, this is trying very hard to be more grown up. It’s a pity in this story nothing else is. The Moonbase - 6 This gives the impression that it’s a remake of The Tenth Planet designed to push the Cybermen into the public conscious and fix any flaws they had, probably most visually the costumes. There’s nothing essentially wrong with the originals, they’re very Frankenstein in appearance, but they are also very clunky and if you’re looking for a Dalek replacement, and let’s face it that’s what the Cybermen were all about (no other villain has had such a quick return visit with such a dramatic makeover in the series, it’s almost like someone said, “No, that’s not what I meant, go and do it properly”). They needed to be a bit shinier and a bit more sci-fi for swinging 1967. Hence Mk2, and they work very well.
I’m not sure the story does though. There’s that special brand of silly sci-fi here which was outdated by the time Quatermass first appeared (cloth sacks can make airtight a hole the size of a door in a vacuum?) and Hobson just isn’t as interesting as General Cutler.
Plus points? Well the circumstances don’t allow for any silly dressing up, but the increasingly perceptive fancy dress box in the TARDIS does provide the regulars with some groovy spacesuits instead. The Doctor even says, “You need spacesuits! Come on, there’s some in the chest,” which reminded me immediately of the way Mr Benn used to walk through the shop door into a new world every week. Jamie obviously wasn’t intended to be in this story and his part is handled pretty poorly (What do we do, he has no lines? Well knock him out then).
Hmm. That was supposed to be the plus points bit. Well, it is a whole lot better than the Underwater Menace. Oh, and the animation for the DVD release. Very good. It feels like the production company have been forced to try and recreate this as closely as they can to the telesnaps, because a lot of it is shot for shot to what exists. I could almost, almost, take this instead of the recons. The Macra Terror - 9 Right, here we go. Being a fan of The Prisoner, there is a lot I find to like in this story. It’s also the third and final Ian Stuart Black script and I really wish he’d done more for the show as all three of his stories (The Savages and The War Machines being the other two) are among my favourites from the black and white era.
The opening here is unlike anything the show has ever given us before. Hints of swinging 60s youth culture mixed with strange goings on in a far flung earth colony. It’s a perfect balance of the surreal and the sinister, wonderfully gripping and desperately in need of an actual episode or two to show up to prove its credentials. I’ve watched the recon of this several times and never got bored of it.
Maybe if this was discovered the clunky Macra would be a let down on screen, but the few seconds of footage we have don’t make them look too bad, and their hidden menace beneath the colony is excellently played. Maybe this isn’t quite Fury from the Deep, but it is thrilling stuff. The Faceless Ones - 9 It’s difficult having no real visual material from the Macra Terror to tell whether that is the story where Patrick Troughton really hits his stride as the Doctor, but it’s certainly true here. The absence of Ben and Polly from most of the story also allows the legendary Doctor/Jamie partnership to shine for the first time, making everything since Power of the Daleks feel like a trial run.
I think the story is also a cracker, with the TARDIS crew back in 1960s London. This unfolds nicely over the six episodes with the first four giving an increasing number of hints that all is not right with Chameleon Tours before the Doctor brings his guns to bear. Perhaps the mystery goes on an episode too long, but you only really feel that after the event. The only problem this story does have is that there’s no real climax to it, it’s all very sedate and the conclusion is worked out almost too amicably. In that regard it feels like Malcolm Hulke’s earlier TV sci-fi work, Pathfinders in Space, which followed a very similar format.
There is comedy here, such as Jamie holding the newspaper upside down and the photo booth picture, but it’s less slapstick than earlier Troughton stories and works with the drama rather than against it - as was the case with all the dressing up and running around in Troughton’s first few stories. Have I mentioned I found that annoying? Oh…
Pauline Collins is also dazzling as Samantha, and every time I watch this I can’t help but wonder what might have been if she’d boarded the TARDIS at the end instead of Victoria in the next story (Big Finish should do this. Fraser Hines’s Pat Troughton impression is good enough to support a Companion Chronicles type spin off). She is the natural progression of Vicki, less aloof than Polly, and her cheeky, inquisitive and forthright nature would have played brilliantly against Jamie’s worrier. The conversations the pair have are one of the highlights of the story.
Ben and Polly’s exit is sad, much like Dodo they just disappear - although they do at least get an encore at the end to say goodbye. In truth it’s clear that the three companion arrangement wasn’t really working, but it’s Jamie that looks like the odd one out until this story because of the way he had to be sandwiched into the scripts. The production crew must have spotted the potential he had, and thank goodness they did.
It’d have been more fun to let Ben and Polly have a bigger finale. On reflection, and this is another oddity I’ve only come to ponder because of watching the shows in order, I think Ben and Polly were better companions for William Hartnell’s Doctor than Troughton’s. The dynamic worked better having the elder figure sitting back, with the younger companions taking a more front and centre role. With Troughton’s more active Doctor you don’t need that and through his run they almost became superfluous. Which I suppose answers the question of why Ben was the target character to be dropped. The Evil of the Daleks - 9 This story has such a monumental reputation for something that very few people have actually seen, or can remember. We have episode two to try and judge it by, which is hard going when the really juicy stuff doesn’t occur until the last two. Episode one sounds great, it’s a fluid continuation from the style of the Faceless Ones, and the mystery is intriguing, topped with the Dalek reveal in the cliff hanger.
I think it’s important to keep this in the context of the rest of this season; going by that this has to be at least a nine, but I think it sags noticeably in the middle. Episode 4 especially, where Jamie has to become Indiana Jones to negotiate that collection of bizarre traps (would Daleks really set that up to try and extract human emotional states? Surely they’d do it chemically with the victim strapped to some device). Perhaps it seems dull because Loose Canon have had an exceptionally good try at reconstructing some scenes with newly shot video and CGI, but in most cases the net result drains any energy from them. I think in terms of plotting, episodes 3-5 could have been done in two, or even one, which would have kept this tighter and the momentum up. How many times do the Daleks trundle in and out of that door in Maxtible’s lab to no real avail? Too many. Windsor Davies is great, but all of that could go. There’s definite padding here. If there’s anything that needs the slow build it doesn’t properly get, it’s the development of the humanised Daleks. They could have done with moving more subtly from choo-choo train babies to independent rational adult thought. There’s a conversation missing in this story where they could evaluate themselves against the other Daleks and begin to realise what they are.
Undeniably the episodes on Skaro are astonishing compared to what has gone before. Roy Skelton arrives to help with the voices, the ring modulation is nicely harsh for once, and thus for the first time we have the metal monsters sounding like they are supposed to, possibly the best Dalek voices in the history of the show. The Emperor is utterly fantastic and the civil war at the finale can’t possibly live up to the audio, but it sounds awesome (DO NOT FIGHT IN HERE!). These two episodes alone surpass the 10/10 mark, but coupled with the five previous they become the uplifting closing act to a beginning that isn’t as monumental. I wanted to know more about the Emperor, but then I’m a fanboy. You can see how at the time to finish the Daleks off there needed to be a leader for the Doctor to defeat - after all this was the ‘final end’ - but it just left me wanting to know who he was and where he came from. I have now arrived at what is probably going to be the highlight of this re-run through the canon: Season Five. For me this means many firsts and I'm really thrilled about it. First viewing of the SE Tomb DVD with associated new extras; first viewing of The Ice Warriors on DVD as opposed to VHS with the animated episodes and associated extras; first viewings of Enemy and Web not as recons (YAY! I waited!); and first viewing of Loose Canon's recon for Wheel, the only one left I haven't seen. In fact I think I've only ever experienced Wheel as a Target novel, and I don't remember it at all, so I suppose I should also note that Wheel is the last original series Who story I have never experienced completely in audio/visual media, just the eps on Lost in Time. Wow. I used to wonder which one it would be... |
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jul 13, 2014 12:11:55 GMT
Power has more material existing for it than any other missing story. There's lots of clips on Lost in Time.
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Post by Pinwig on Sept 20, 2014 17:02:34 GMT
Some more rambling from me, this time I'm doing Season Five. I'm enjoying writing my own commentary because I realise now it'll mean when I'm done I'll be able to remember all the stories in detail, which will be a bit of a problem with my memory otherwise. So feel free to read the spoiler tags if you want my justifications for the scores. SEASON FIVE{The Tomb of the Cybermen - 8}It seems to be generally accepted that this was one of the holy grails in terms of lost stories before it was recovered in 1992, and since then its mystique has all but vanished. It’s true a lot of this story is bobbins, most of episodes 3 and 4 in fact, but the start is incredible and if you’re looking for reasons why this stuck in the minds of people who were fortunate enough to see it first time round then I think they’re there.
I would guess it’s all about context again. It’s hard to know from my perspective because most of the previous season is missing, but if you put Evil & Tomb against, say, Menace & Moonbase, in terms of depth of story and level of intrigue you’re looking at two different shows.
Think about it, Tomb was the first in a new season, airing two months after the Dalek showdown, and has a very different feel to the start because of the TARDIS scene shot on film and the truly excellent location work. It’s a sit up and take notice moment, and the slow entry to the Cybertomb that unfolds over episodes one and two, leading to the first appearance of the towering Cyber Controller, is gripping stuff. Apart perhaps from the gun toting Victoria, who seems to be wildly out of character and far too eager to adopt her natty 1960’s dress (she actually seems in this to perform more like Samantha would, I see that character here more than the drip from Evil). It’s got explosive archaeology, psychedelic disco walls, Cyber-rats, people dying in clouds of smoke, a lot, and guns that make a noise like a cartoon character leaving the screen at high speed - what’s not to like?
On those two episodes alone this story looks like it’s heading for a score of 10, and it’d be about time we had another of those, but then it all goes wrong. That tomb set is amazing, and although we’re told by Frazer Hines that it used mirrors to make it look bigger, the fact it has Cybermen clambering about on it over three levels shows it must have been a sight to behold first time on TV. So the fact that the silver giants proceed to dance the hokey-cokey with it for half the story can only diminish its effect. Especially when the ‘left leg in’ is clearly the ‘left leg out’ played in reverse.
There’s a moment there at the half way point that it looks like Cybermen are really going to rival the Daleks in the awesome and overpowering stakes (“YOU WILL BE LLLLIKE UUUS”) and the one coming out of the hatch and grabbing the Doctor is a really strong moment, but ultimately they’re easily defeated again and *that* scene with Toberman struggling to wrestle a stuffed wetsuit into submission just leads us into facepalm territory.
What this story does give us is more of this curiously devilish side to the Second Doctor. He could here have found a way to stop this happening before it even started, so why does he let Klieg thaw the Cybermen out? If the answer is just ‘because there wouldn’t have been a story otherwise’ there should have been a better way to set it up in the first place. It feels more like he wants to see what’ll happen for himself, despite the peril, or that he wants the challenge of trying to defeat the Cybermen himself again.
It’s odd. Until this marathon run I’d have put Troughton at number two in my list of favourite Doctors, behind Tom Baker, but so far I’m still struggling to see him as a better central figure for the series than William Hartnell was. However I also think as far as his run goes, the best is very definitely still to come. {The Abominable Snowmen - 9}This story often seems criticised for having too slow a pace, but I don’t see it as any different to the slow build up that worked for The Faceless Ones. Doctor Who at this point is shifting from four to six parters as a standard, rather than being saved for the ‘big’ stories of the seasons, and when you look at this with the suspense in the first four episodes followed by the battle in episode five and the dénouement in episode six, it works better than the escapade with Chameleon Tours because it has a pay off at the end that was largely missing before. It’s a master stroke to put all the excitement of the Yeti assault into episode five, because it leaves the viewer wondering what’s left for the real climax.
In addition, it does that without going down the route of the Tom Baker era ‘four parter with an extra two parter bolted on the end’ approach. Speaking of which, I spent a lot of time musing over how lots of Hartnell stories showed signs of what was to come in the Troughton era - this story to me has all the hallmarks of what is to come in the 70s stories. There are bits of Azal here, Peledon’s throne room and Aggedor, the multitude of disembodied alien intelligences of Tom Baker’s era; I even see the latter stages of Pyramids of Mars echoing Padmasambhava’s chamber.
When you put it next to Tomb it also comes across as a sophisticated, well thought out story, and from the audio the slow build works extremely well. Whether that would be let down by the visuals is questionable - how well the Yeti are realised would be a big factor, but the control spheres moving by themselves is certainly disturbing.
I think though this can only be a classic Troughton Who story. It’s firmly embedded in the monster era, it’s a base under siege story done in such a way that you don’t really notice that’s what it boils down to, and the Great Intelligence is an interesting and other-worldly adversary that is a step up in imagination from giant crabs, body snatchers and the already overused Cybermen. Would the Macra Terror have been even better if the Great Intelligence had been the adversary? The mind control stuff would certainly have been spookier.
My only gripe with this story, and it is a minor one, is of how the robot Yeti came into being. If the Great Intelligence is an entity floating through the astral plane looking for a way to embody itself on earth (through foam? what?), then how did it manage to get the Yeti down first? Say it didn’t, say it mind controlled enough monks to build them, but then from what? Where’s the technology in a 1930s Tibetan Monastery to build sophisticated robots? And did they catch real Yeti to use the skins to cover the frames?
It’s a minor gripe though given the plot holes in most of this era’s approach to science fiction. I really want to see this story. I think potentially it could be a 10, but I’m giving it a 9 now on the grounds it may be a little too slow through episodes two to four. It does everything right though. I’m going to ignore the fact the whole thing is started by the Doctor finding the bell in that bloody fancy dress box, but it does at least score points here for providing Victoria with some sensible clothes. {The Ice Warriors - 8}Of all the stories so far, this one I am finding hardest to rate. So much of it should be a ten, yet there are elements too that drop it way below that point. Putting it side by side with the Abominable Snowmen we have a faster paced story with a potentially more exciting villain in the Ice Warriors, who can make a fairly legitimate claim to being the show’s third best non-human adversary to this point.
It also has an excellent supporting cast, particularly Peter Barkworth, who put into the ‘flawed base commander’ role alongside countless others since Tenth Planet holds his own as a unique character, walking stick aside. Wendy Gifford is also given the chance to be a real person as she joins the list of attractive and strongly independent female guest stars of the Troughton era.
The reveal of the Ice Warriors and the build up over the first three episodes is great, it’s 10/10 stuff. But like Tomb of the Cybermen, that build up doesn’t lead to anything significant and there’s a lot of people milling about in episodes four and five where not a lot happens.
It is one of the best stories for Victoria, who gets a fair crack of the whip here, even if a lot of that is cowering about underneath Bernard Bresslaw, and Patrick Troughton is really in full flow as the definitive Second Doctor by this point. It could be a ten, it should be a ten, but somehow it doesn’t seem quite as exciting and involving as the Abominable Snowmen was. {The Enemy of the World - 10}Okay, so first the disclaimer. This is not a 10 by virtue of the excitement generated by the story’s recent recovery; the thrill of actually seeing it for the first time. It’s a 10 because Troughton has had consistently excellent stories since the Macra Terror, but this I feel is the first one that gets everything right.
It’s an interesting story because it isn’t typical of the monster fare that has gone before, instead what David Whitaker has written is a thriller with strong science fiction overtones. We’re in 2018, forty years into the future of the story’s original broadcast, in a world that echoes the believable futures portrayed in the novels of writers like Arthur C Clarke.
On top of that you have Troughton being given a proper way to channel his dressing up fetish with a superb performance as Salamander, and the way the meeting of the two characters is kept right to the climax is brilliant. When I watched this originally as a recon I ached to see that scene, as I did the one when the reveal of the bunker comes in episode 4 showing how Salamander is orchestrating the natural disasters. The Doctor’s need for proof of Salamander’s wrongdoing is such a strong element in the first half of the story that you know it’s going to be something significant when it comes, so when it does it takes the story to another level.
Enemy foreshadows the Pertwee era style of Earth-bound sci-fi; there are more connections here to Invasion of the Dinosaurs and its ilk than a gang of hidden castaways being lied to by misguided visionaries. The tone is the same, the hard SF feel, and the plot unfolds with constant twists and turns that excite and intrigue. All that’s missing is UNIT, and to all intents and purposes they’re only a story away.
Other simple things also raise a smile, like the extended use of location filming and the introduction of expensive props such as the helicopter that kicks off episode one in a James Bond style. There are also technical nuances we haven’t seen before, such as Jamie walking toward Victoria on the park bench on back projected film before appearing in the studio after a close-up cut to Victoria’s face.
Above all though, there are no weak links in the cast. Every performance is strong; from the lesser characters such as Carmen Munroe’s Fariah and especially Reg Lye’s brilliant chef Griffin; through Milton Johns’ chilling Benik, Colin Douglas’s understated Bruce, Mary Peach’s dynamic Astrid and Tony Hancock’s side kick Bill Kerr as the shock villain Giles Kent; the entire ensemble don’t put a foot wrong.
The only possible thing I could criticise it for is the music, which punctuates every dramatic moment with such unsubtle vigour and regularity that it becomes too predictable that the same sting is about to crash in yet again. It’s far too Dick Barton Special Agent to match Doctor Who, which despite the thriller feel to this story is still at heart a science fiction adventure.
Apart from that though, I can’t fault this. I loved it as a recon, and the joy of seeing it only serves to reinforce how good and vastly underrated this story has been. {The Web of Fear - 10}The fifth season goes from strength to strength with a serial that is not only absolutely brilliant, but adds cohesion between stories by bringing back an ally for the first time to continue a previous adventure.
The setup for this story feels like it was intended to be revisited time and again, which is exactly what happens in the Pertwee era. Web is more of a prototype for the UNIT stories than I originally realised. The Great Intelligence is an adversary who has twice escaped the Doctor by the end of this story, foreshadowing the Master; and the Doctor’s companions in this tale are very much Anne and the army, as opposed to Jamie and Victoria - who are to all intents and purposes put to one side. The dynamic between Anne’s intelligence and the Doctor is a real eye opener, and seems part of the development of both Zoe Heriot and Liz Shaw’s characters. We don’t go back to a Victoria style female companion until Jo Grant. Liz Shaw could well be Anne Travers when you think about it.
The producers here are still looking for a super hit to replace the Daleks, and by bringing back the Yeti and the Intelligence so quickly, I think are experimenting with the idea of the Doctor making regular face-offs against the same earth-based enemy (one who can change his identify each week to boot), supported by a cast of earth based allies. I have read that it was intended Anne Travers would feature in The Invasion, which would support that, and the idea of the Doctor being a defender of the Earth against weekly attacks from the stars, much as Jon Pertwee becomes.
The refined Yeti with the glowing eyes have more life about them than the originals, and the setting in the Underground is a genius idea that immediately creates suspense and tension. Much has been said about the mystery of who is under the influence of the Intelligence being marred by the knowledge of who Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart becomes, but it’s not hard to set that aside and see the serial through the eyes of someone seeing it for the first time; he is clearly set out to be the red-herring in his first scenes. However when we as viewers now get to see him in episode four he is so clearly the Brigadeer we know and love in manner that it’s obvious Nicholas Courtney had already created the character in his mind; this isn’t Bret Vyon.
The standout moment in this story is episode four, which is possibly the finest single episode of the series to this point. The sense of urgency it carries from start to finish is nerve shredding, and the fight with the stomping Yeti is not only another precursor to the Havoc years, but takes scenes like the one at the end of the War Machines to a new level of dynamism. The cliffhanger also has the kind of double hit that gives you an unexpected sucker punch - it’s not just the Yeti crashing through the door that triggers the theme music, it’s Travers appearing between them.
To my mind the only thing stopping the Yeti surpassing the Cybermen as the series’ second top villain in the eyes of the audience at this point is their lack of speech and independent character. But in terms of on-screen frights the way these ones move and menace is far beyond the Mondosians.
Could this be improved? Well, as said, Jamie and Victoria are really just tagging along behind the rest of the cast in this one and don’t have the more defined roles that Enemy of the World gave them. It does feel like they’re being sidelined in an attempt to experiment with a new kind of support cast for the Doctor.
You also can’t help but feel a little let down by the fact that the villain reveal in the last episode doesn’t really lead to anything, given it has a six episode build up. In an Hercule Poirot novel summoning everyone to the drawing room to reveal the murderer is made more exciting by the explanation of how they did it, here you just get Staff Arnold appearing to no real avail. However, the fact the Intelligence gets away again is a nice touch, as is the Doctor’s frustration, which really points at their having been an intention for at least one more sixties encounter between the two. If only. In this case, Downtime will have to do. {Fury from the Deep - 10}This is much harder to rate as an overall package as there is so little of it to see, and what there is of the foam machine and the weed creature splashing about could go one of two ways on screen - absolutely terrifying, or riotously funny. Given the pedigree for this season so far though, I’m leaning toward the former, and the fact that this is again, for the third time in a row, not just good Doctor Who, but good sixties science fiction. Each episode has variety, a plot that moves along without running into dead ends, and none of it feels padded. Scenes like the one on the beach between Robson and Maggie are just plain eerie, and thankfully from the clips we do have of Quill and Oak we can see they are gloriously frightening.
It also again gives some of the guest characters a chance to evolve and become three dimensional - Harris’s dilemmas about Maggie and also how to handle Robson being a highlight. As this story is loosely based on Victor Pemberton’s radio series ‘The Slide’ (as well as coming up again in The Pescatons), it didn’t necessarily originate with the Doctor at the core, it’s more focused on the ensemble, which is one of the things that made Enemy and Web also work well.
It’d be easy again for the third time in a row to say that this serial foreshadows the Pertwee era, but it does in as much as the Doctor again needs to foil a mysterious alien intelligence which is intent on harming modern day earth. This kind of thing is still a relatively new idea for the show, given Hartnell’s earth stories were mostly historical and Troughton’s first season was based more in sci-fi elsewhere, but to this point in my own ratings I have found that it’s these stories which score the highest. I’m wondering now what that will do for the numbers when we actually reach season seven.
Obviously this is also Victoria’s send off, despite the fact that at an episode a day rate of viewing it feels like she’s only been in the show five minutes. Her departure is about as good as it gets for companions of the show’s original run, and here we see her begin to break down and give in to the constant terror of being with the Doctor. To be fair, her character does get a particularly monsterific run compared to what some companions have to put up with, but I can’t think of another character other than Tegan who puts their hands up and begrudgingly leaves the Doctor by saying, ‘enough’s enough’. The way that is worked into the second half of the serial and the fact a significant proportion of the final episode is given over to allowing Victoria to leave gradually and rationally gives a nicely bitter-sweet end to the story. It’s a pity Jamie and Zoe don’t get the same treatment at the end of The War Games. {The Wheel in Space - 7}Significant moment time again. On this watching run there have been a few missing episode stories that I’d never experienced in their entirety before. Despite having been a devout Doctor Who fan for as long as I’ve been able to understand and recall television programmes, there have always been a few stories that I’d put to one side thinking that perhaps one day I’d be able to enjoy them, or that it’s a nice feeling to know there’s always just one more classic story left unseen.
Well there isn’t any more. The Wheel in Space was the last. I’ve seen the two surviving episodes a few times, but I’ve never made any attempt to fill in the rest of the story. I think the others were Mission, Masterplan, Massacre and Web. So it is perhaps fitting that the recons for this story are among Loose Canon’s most recent output, and therefore benefit from a decade of reconstruction experience. They’ve left me wanting to see the ones for Web of Fear, which I hadn’t got as far as by the time the story’s recovery was announced.
Perhaps in some cases though the recon is a little too clever. The repeated reuse of short clips from the existing episodes does trick you into thinking you’re watching the real thing very easily, but it becomes quite jarring after a while when the same clips come up over and over again. However, I was bowled over with the progress in the CGI. The Yeti in the Abominable Snowmen recon were awkward to say the least, and Jamie’s climb up to the balcony in Evil of the Daleks wasn’t great, but the Servo Robot scenes here in episode one for a moment made me think there were some clips of this story in existence I’d not seen. Beautifully rendered. The Cybermen in later episodes weren’t quite as convincing, but for effects sequences the computer generated elements in this are fantastic.
The fact though that so many short clips of people talking into microphones, or going out of doors, could be reused in the recons highlights one of the problems with this story. It’s very repetitive and pretty flat. It’s not an outright stinker, far from it, but coming as the finale to one of the greatest seasons the show has ever had, it isn’t the triumphant send off Season Five deserved.
It’s base under siege time yet again, and in this case the characters aren’t as interesting as the ones in the Ice Warriors, despite all the small talk they get; the story isn’t as dynamic as The Abominable Snowmen or The Web of Fear; and it doesn’t have the eerie feel of edge of genuine terror that Fury throws up from the depths of the sea. Instead the clodhopping Cybermen are once again trying to find a way into an Earth base, this time with a ludicrously convoluted plan that just ends up making them look rather silly. Or maybe just David Whitaker. I couldn’t help but watch this imagining David Banks’ Cyberleader face-palming at every twist of the Cyber-plot. From the exploding star to the Cybermen hiding in boxes, it’s all very laughable. And boiled down to basics you have to ask why if the Cybermats could penetrate the Wheel’s outer skin that the Cybermen themselves couldn’t, given their ability to flounce about in space shown in episode six. It would have made things an awful lot more simple.
Rating this story worked itself out based on my opinions of the other Cyber-tales so far. It’s not as good as Tomb or Tenth, but despite its failings it’s still better than The Moonbase, which means it has to be a 7. Which I think is about right. It should come under The Ice Warriors and Tomb as the other weaker stories in this tour de force of a season. In the wider context of the series so far, the schoolboy imagination the plot is imbued with is on a par with the earlier Hartnell sci-fi’s, and had this been a Season Two story it would probably be far more highly thought of than it is, but coming as it does after three of the best stories the show has ever had, and reusing a very similar formula to them, it doesn’t quite cut the mustard.
It does have some plus points though. Zoe from the outset is clearly destined to become Victoria’s replacement, and her role in the story sets her up as such. She sticks out like a sore thumb among the rest of the Wheel’s crew, comes across as largely ignored and isolated, and her hyper-intelligence wedged into the role of bored librarian is screaming out for the Doctor to turn up and take her away. There’s sense in it. Her delight at the chance to learn from Jamie’s wider experiences shows that, as does the way the two are operating as a pair by the end of the story. The fact she turns up in the fancy dress box at the end of episode six is no surprise at all. The odd thing is that she only really gets one good conversation with the Doctor in the story, enough for him to judge her a suitable companion prospect, but he doesn’t take to her like he does many of the stronger, older female leads the stories in this season have. Anne Travers especially, and even Dr Corwin in this one. But perhaps that’s more about Patrick Troughton than the Doctor.
I also have a view at odds with most people’s over the first episode. I hadn’t realised the Servo Robot was only in this one, which has put it high up the list of my most wanted episode recoveries. I want to see this chap on the move properly to compare him to all the other proto-R2D2 types the black and white episodes have. It’s also a beautifully simple episode, being almost entirely the Doctor and Jamie conversing under no pressure. It’s slow, yes, but it’s also unusual in that it’s just two friends talking without being driven by the need to solve a problem. It’s like those fleeting TARDIS scenes you sometimes got at the start of stories in the early 80s. I craved those - the moments when the TARDIS crew were ‘off duty’. There’s another great moment like that in episode three when the Doctor has come round somewhat grumpily and Jamie doesn’t quite know how to handle him. It just goes to show how by this point Frazer Hines and Patrick Troughton had these characters well and truly cracked.
So to summarise then, The Wheel in Space has a flawed plot and lacks the excitement of the stories before it, but it shows how even on a off day the series at this point is absolutely flying. Season Five, I salute you. We will not see your like again. |
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Post by Pinwig on Apr 2, 2015 11:21:50 GMT
Finished Pertwee on my marathon run at the weekend, so I thought I'd update my ratings:
The Dominators - 6
The Mind Robber - 5
The Invasion - 9
The Krotons - 7
The Seeds of Death - 8
The Space Pirates - 7
The War Games - 10
Spearhead from Space - 9
Doctor Who and the Silurians - 7
The Ambassadors of Death - 9
Inferno - 9
Terror of the Autons - 6
The Mind of Evil - 10
The Claws of Axos - 7
Colony in Space - 6
The Dæmons - 9
Day of the Daleks - 10
The Curse of Peladon - 2
The Sea Devils - 8
The Mutants - 6
The Time Monster - 10
The Three Doctors - 9
Carnival of Monsters - 8
Frontier in Space - 5
Planet of the Daleks - 8
The Green Death - 10
The Time Warrior - 8
Invasion of the Dinosaurs - 7
Death to the Daleks - 4
The Monster of Peladon - 3
Planet of the Spiders - 7
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Post by The Doctor on Apr 2, 2015 12:44:20 GMT
Only 4 for Death to The Daleks?  ?? *stops suddenly at floor of death* -Ralph |
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Post by Pinwig on Apr 2, 2015 13:03:41 GMT
So torn with that one. Being the second Pertwee video release it's among my earliest memories of enjoying discovering pre-Baker Who, and I do think the first episode has a lot going for it, but after that... oh dear. In context it really doesn't stand up.
Doing this has shown me how bloody lazy the production crew were with season eleven. I'm surprised at how I've rated it, I used to think much more highly of those stories, but coming after nine and ten it's shoddy all round.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Apr 2, 2015 14:16:08 GMT
There is no way the Space Pirates is a 7.
You forgot one of Inferno's marks.
Curse of Peladon is waaaaay better than a 2.
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Post by Pinwig on Apr 2, 2015 15:59:41 GMT
Space Pirates is great. Have you watched it using the recon? I think approval for that would rise considerably if we could actually see it. Not Enemy of the World good, but it's a solid enjoyable space story to me, it just doesn't fit the standard Troughton formula. I think Blueshift is of the same opinion.
Inferno is extremely good, I rate it more now than I did before rewatching it, but if anything in that season is getting a 10 from me it would be Ambassadors. What season seven is compared to the other Pertwees is consistently very good. It's all strong. After that you have peaks and troughs.
Curse of Peladon to me is the lowest point in the entire series and always has been. I'd rather watch Timelash or even The Web Planet. It is just rubbish. I don't foresee rating anything else anywhere near that low from here on.
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Post by The Doctor on Apr 2, 2015 16:21:37 GMT
Space Pirates usually tanks with me but last time I listened to it I was surprised by how much better it was in context of having listened to the other Missing Pat Episodes first. General Hermack is so badly acted he's brilliant.
-Ralph
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Post by Pinwig on Aug 15, 2015 19:40:48 GMT
Time for another update. I'm glad I'm doing these numbers after rewatching the stories in context because it hasn't half changed my opinion of some of them. So this time - The Phillip Hinchcliffe years:
Robot - 7
The Ark in Space - 8
The Sontaran Experiment - 6
Genesis of the Daleks - 10
Revenge of the Cybermen - 8
Terror of the Zygons - 8
Planet of Evil - 4
Pyramids of Mars - 9
The Android Invasion - 8
The Brain of Morbius - 3
The Seeds of Doom - 10
The Masque of Mandragora - 8
The Hand of Fear - 7
The Deadly Assassin - 10
The Face of Evil - 8
The Robots of Death - 9
The Talons of Weng-Chiang - 10
Kick those two stinkers out of Season 13 and I think you're looking at a really strong run of stories there.
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Post by The Doctor on Aug 15, 2015 22:33:33 GMT
I think you'll find that Sontaran Experiment is a solid 10!!!!!
-Ralph
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