Barbara is the one that is
continuing to be the one that is trying to work things out. She thinks that they have been given nothing
but clues and put things together. Jacqueline Hill puts in another solid
performance and maintains her dignity and is wonderful in the show. When Susan
enters the console room she’s quite mysterious but then reverts back to her
normal self. It’s great to see Carole Ann Ford get something else to do apart
from shriek. She can get away with due to the plot. It’s probably going to be
her best story in her time on the show. William Russell spends a large portion
of the story trying to recover from falling on the floor after nearly
strangling the Doctor. Russell makes way so that Jacqueline Hill and William
Hartnell can shine and even with what he does its still good. William Hartnell is
on fine form in this episode. The scene where the console room has plunged into
the darkness and the camera focuses/zooms in on William Hartnell and his speech
is one of the best moments in Doctor Who. It’s a brilliant speech and whilst I don’t
understand exactly what he was saying, it was done in such a way that it wasn’t
what he said but more how he said it that was why it worked.
The fault locator shows that
everything is wrong. This means that the fault locator is absolutely no use
whatsoever. The Doctor soon realises that something is wrong though there is
the impending sense that he cant do anything about it. Soon the realisation
that that the TARDIS is trying to give them clues, leads the to the Doctor not
liking the idea with that notion. The idea that the TARDIS is a living thing
might be perfectly normal now but back then it was something quite original. The
realisation that they only have 10 minutes to survive is something that works
only because of Barbara and the Doctor’s reaction. There is a nice moment
between the Doctor and Ian where they are acting like comrades instead of two
people pecking at each other. The dialogue is snappy and it switches from one
person to another in this part of the story.
The problems have come from the fast
return switch which hasn’t released itself. I like the idea that the reason for
all the problems was due to a switch. What slightly ruins it is the fact that
FAST RETURN is written in felt tip on the console. Now with 2013 CGI that could
easily rectified but in 1964 it probably wasn’t as easy but it’s something that
provides material in books and documentaries on the story. When the problem has been resolved things go
back to normal. The humming is a welcome return as is the light. It’s good to
light things properly but 50 minutes of near darkness it’s good that light has been
bought back to Doctor Who. Nice bit of exposition by the Doctor when he
explains what happened to Susan.
The reaction of Barbara after the
Doctor says that they owe her their lives is superb as Barbara seems emotional
drained after what has happened. I like the scene where the Doctor tries to
make up with Barbara. It is a nice moment as it repairs the damage that was
done over the course of the story and by the end they have made up and it seems
that the who team has made up and is stronger than the one that debuted thirteen
episodes.
The cliffhanger is quite
interesting. Susan and Barbara are outside and show the Doctor and Ian via the
scanner of a rather large footprint. The mystery of what caused the footprint
is the big selling point for ‘The Roof of the World’. It’s a good cliffhanger
and reminds me of the cliffhanger for An Unearthly Child where it’s not clear
who or what caused the shadow.
As an episode it was really good
and everyone was on fine form. The scene with Hartnell in darkness is a great
scene and as a two part adventure, it served a purpose and it wasn’t just to
give the production of Marco Polo a two week breather, it was to change and solidify
the relationship of the TARDIS crew an it does it in a wonderful way. 
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