The Faceless Ones - Episode 1

The Faceless Ones is the final story to feature Anneke Wills and Michael Craze. It’s the first to be written by Maclolm Hulke who would write several Doctor Who stories and also Target novels. It’s also the first six part adventure since Troughton’s first adventure and I’ve gotten use to the four part adventures because they are narratively better. This story takes place in ‘modern’ London although its suppose to take place at the same time as ‘The War Machines’ which would imply that there are two Doctors in the same period of time.

The flying Beastie is a fun line from Jamie as it’s the first time that he’s ever seen a plane as they are about two hundred years in his future. Even though it must have been in London, its never specifically revealed which airport this all happens at but lets assume in just a generic airport. When the Doctor tells the others to scatter its only Ben that runs in the opposite direction to the others and it looks like he’s about to be captured by the police officer but somehow manages to escape. The main villains are a group of people who work in the Chameleon hanger at the airport and instantly there is something strange about them. It gets stranger when we see the hand of someone or something. We don’t get to see them due to some rather ingenious camera angles, the best thing we get is the back of its head which concludes the episode.

It takes less that four minutes for things to go a bit wrong as Polly witnesses some get murdered whilst hiding. She manages to escape and thus starts a process of the Doctor and Jamie trying to convince the Commandant that there has been a murder in the hanger. Most of the episode consists of everyone running all over the airport. It’s quite surprising that even in 1966/67 that there wouldn’t have been police swarming over that airport. I liked the Commandant from the very beginning and thought he had the same sort of toughness that Hobson and General Cutler had. He didn’t have time to deal with any of the nonsense that the Doctor has.

The departures of Ben and Polly are put into motion. Sadly their departure is somewhat badly handled and it isn’t helped by the fact they get they kidnapped by the Chameleon tour people. By the end of the episode, Ben has gone and Polly has been brainwashed so she does back the Doctor and Jamie’s story when they try to explain things to the commandant. It’s clear that the friendship between the Doctor and Jamie has taken hold because theres' a bit where the Doctor and Jamie walk away from a hanger and they are followed by Polly and when she gets taken the Doctor and Jamie just carry on walking and they don’t mention the fact she’s gone until their next scene.

This is a good opening episode. The modern day setting helps create an authentic feel to it and makes it feel more real. This is one of those stories that I have always enjoyed in the past and the first episode backs up that fact. Sadly this story is remembered for the poor way that Ben and Polly are used but there are other things to like in this story and they are all to come over the next five episodes.