The final part of this three part story resumes where the
Doctor and Susan are about to drown after Smithers pulls the tap. There’s some
good acting when Susan and the Doctor are in the overflow pipe watching the
water go past them.
We are introduced to the final two supporting cast members.
Bert and Hilda who appear to be a couple and Hilda is the one answer the phone
and is the one that starts to put things together. It all starts when Forrester
decides to impersonate Farrow by putting a handkerchief over the bottom of the
phone. It was never going to work and its all Forrester’s fault by thinking
that this was going to work.
The regulars have to do a nice selection of weird and wonderful
things. They first try and prop up the phone to raise the alarm but being so
small it’s a difficult task and also it doesn’t work because their voices are
too low to understand. It does achieve something as it further puzzles Hilda. I
love the cut away that they use when the phone is being propped up. It’s such a
funny sight and its obvious how they are doing it. Not quite sure how they
could have done it without looking daft so it may have been a bit harsh of me
to make fun of it. When that doesn’t work they try something far more
ambitious. The plan is to set a fire in the lab to try and alert the authorities
to the lab. They try and use a match stick against the gas tap. There’s some
clever editing done to try and make it look bigger than a studio. The explosion
is well done and it’s at this point that the policeman walks in and as their
story ends it seems that they are being apprehended.
Barbara’s getting worse and by the halfway point she’s
fainted. When she recovers we learn that once they get back to the TARDIS they
will return to normal size and she will be better so it’s a matter of trying to
get the police to the house whilst getting back to the TARDIS in time. They do
and the Doctor manages to bring a massive nut that when it goes inside the
TARDIS it shrinks to its normal size. It’s a good bit of special effect.
The central performances are all good and no one really puts
a foot wrong. Even Susan is given a good time in this story and its one of
those rare stories where everyone is given a good crack of the whip. The
supporting cast at times almost steals the show with Forrester being one of my
favourite baddies so far in the show. Hilda and Bert were good late additions
to the story and even though it was late in the story it was just right and
they because quite important to the story.
The cliffhanger is leading us into the second Dalek story
and the final story for Carole Ann Ford. As it is we don’t see anything because
the scanner is faulty. As a three part story this is better than the second one
as its more action packed and fun than the middle episode. There is a nice bit
of drama with Barbara and trying to stop Forrester and Smithers. I have always
liked this story and watching it like this shows why it wouldn’t have worked as
a four parter. When the DVD was released they wasted their time in trying to
reconstruct in some feeble attempt to make us wonder and feel like we were
robbed but to be honest there was a lot of padding in that reconstructed
episode and it works much better like we have it.
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