Saturday 6 July 2013

Day 52: The Rescue - The Powerful Enemy

The Powerful Enemy is the first episode to feature a new companion since An Unearthly Child and it introduces Maureen O’Brien to the show as Vicki. It’s the first time that we don’t have Carole Ann Ford and it must have been weird watching this in 1965 to not see her with the rest of the regulars. O’Brien is the first person that we encounter in the episode. She hears a noise on the scanner which she thinks is rescue. She is stuck with Bennett who is bed ridden and is determined to be a killjoy when Vicki comes in with so much energy.


Koquillion is introduced into this story as a mystery figure. Both Bennett and Vicki are afraid. When we do get to see him the costume is rather good. The music helps create the menace and its good that we don’t hear anything from him at first. It’s a first good impression. Sadly when he does speak to Barbara and Ian it’s a little disappointing. No electronic effect is used and it’s a shame really.

It’s nearly four minutes before the Doctor, Ian and Barbara are introduced. The Doctor is asleep when the TARDIS lands and his behaviour is very unusual. At first there is no real effect of Susan’s departure until they are about to leave the TARDIS and I like how the Doctor is embarrassed that he made the slip. The interaction between the Doctor, Ian and Barbara is rather sweet. It’s almost like a small family.

When Koquillion is left alone with Barbara its clear that something bad is going to happen. She falls of the side of the cliff and is only saved after clinging onto a branch and she manages to survive. Before long she is helped by Vicki. Bennett then tells Vicki after his ‘meeting’ with Koquillion that they have died and Vicki tells him that one survived and the look on his face is priceless.

The Doctor has visited the planet Dido before and remembers it’s as a nice place and there is a lovely scene where he reminisces to himself and has a nice chuckle about whether he can convince Ian that it was done on purpose. William Hartnell seems to be different in this episode and it’s a wonderful performance. The scene where the Doctor comes out of the TARDIS after the explosion in the cave and there is no smoke or dust yet the Doctor is acting like there is seems to be a slightly odd moment. It seems like the dust was suppose to move quicker than it did.

This a good episode by Christopher Barry. The bit where the Doctor is choking on no dust is a bit of a letdown but there is a good moment where Ian and the Doctor are walking along the ledge and see the monster below. The shot where Barry fits both in I thought was a good camera effect and it set up the cliffhanger rather well. This is a good episode as it sets up a new character but doenst make it obvious. I also like the small cast as it gives the characters more on screen time and even though this is the first of two episodes, it still feels like they are taking their time in telling this story. This episode is about setting up the mystery and the menace of Kaquillion and its done very well.

Rating - 7.75/10

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