This is the first time that Jacqueline Hill hasn’t featured at any point in an episode. Barbara is still on the spaceship and with Ian sick for most of the episode. He’s up on his feet by the end of the episode but he’s not 100%. The race against death that the title suggests is more of a sprint as its dealt with relatively quickly and Ian is up and about by the 2/3 mark. The Doctor is quick to figure out what might be causing Ian’s encounter with the floor.
The First Elder is quite trusting of the humans yet the Second Elder isn’t so keen. There is a nice split with some wanting to work with the humans and let them have what they need whilst some think that they shouldn’t be allowed this courtesy. It’s an interesting bit of conflict and it plays out well in the episode. The City Administrator jokes about not being able to tell the humans apart and that they don’t carry any signs of position. This is a theme of the episode and it is Carol that gives the city administrator a way of tricking the humans. The City Administrator works quick to come up with a plan.
William Hartnell seems to be in his prime in this episode as he goes from being angry at the First and Second Elders but then progresses to being the scientist. It’s good when the Doctor isn’t just satisfied with finding a cure but finding out the source of the problem and goes on an expedition. As William Russell is playing the patient for most of the episode it falls to Carole Ann Ford to be one of the people driving the story and she does it well and the partnership between Hartnell and Ford is one of the best things about this episode.
There is a nice montage where they are trying to find out where the poisoned water is coming from. It’s not something that we have seen before but it helps pass the time.
The City Administrator stages a coup d'etat when he steals the sash of the First Elder after he goes on a rant about the Doctor pretending to look for a cure and Ian pretending to be ill. He also manages to intercept the antidote. Now this could have led to another episode of trying to find the cure but its quickly resolved and it doesn’t hold up the story. It’s strange that with so little really happening the episode moves along at a good pace.
The last part of the story sees the Doctor venture into the caverns where he starts to suspect that this isn’t just a case of water poisoning. There is a myth about there being monsters in the caverns. The Doctor is rather blasé about these so called monsters and so goes straight into the darkness without so much as a care in the world.
The cliffhanger is a cracker. The Doctor is in a very dimly lit tunnel and comes across a possible conclusion to his mission and the light focuses on his face as he is ‘looking’ at a roar. Who knows what is making that noise. This story is impressing me just as much as it did when I have watched it in one go in the past.
The First Elder is quite trusting of the humans yet the Second Elder isn’t so keen. There is a nice split with some wanting to work with the humans and let them have what they need whilst some think that they shouldn’t be allowed this courtesy. It’s an interesting bit of conflict and it plays out well in the episode. The City Administrator jokes about not being able to tell the humans apart and that they don’t carry any signs of position. This is a theme of the episode and it is Carol that gives the city administrator a way of tricking the humans. The City Administrator works quick to come up with a plan.
William Hartnell seems to be in his prime in this episode as he goes from being angry at the First and Second Elders but then progresses to being the scientist. It’s good when the Doctor isn’t just satisfied with finding a cure but finding out the source of the problem and goes on an expedition. As William Russell is playing the patient for most of the episode it falls to Carole Ann Ford to be one of the people driving the story and she does it well and the partnership between Hartnell and Ford is one of the best things about this episode.
There is a nice montage where they are trying to find out where the poisoned water is coming from. It’s not something that we have seen before but it helps pass the time.
The City Administrator stages a coup d'etat when he steals the sash of the First Elder after he goes on a rant about the Doctor pretending to look for a cure and Ian pretending to be ill. He also manages to intercept the antidote. Now this could have led to another episode of trying to find the cure but its quickly resolved and it doesn’t hold up the story. It’s strange that with so little really happening the episode moves along at a good pace.
The last part of the story sees the Doctor venture into the caverns where he starts to suspect that this isn’t just a case of water poisoning. There is a myth about there being monsters in the caverns. The Doctor is rather blasé about these so called monsters and so goes straight into the darkness without so much as a care in the world.
The cliffhanger is a cracker. The Doctor is in a very dimly lit tunnel and comes across a possible conclusion to his mission and the light focuses on his face as he is ‘looking’ at a roar. Who knows what is making that noise. This story is impressing me just as much as it did when I have watched it in one go in the past.
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