Pyramids of Mars - Episode 2

Marcus appears for the first time since his brief appearance in the first episode and he’s very different from that first scene. It looks like he hasn’t had a good night’s sleep for quite a while. I think that Marcus is quite an effective interim villain. There’s an interesting effect done when the gamekeeper is running through the woods and its suppose to look like he has bounced off it but it’s due to editing and it looks rather odd because it’s clear that it’s been cut which is a shame. What does work is the effect of Marcus being shot at and the smoke coming from him reverses back into him and he walks towards the window. This is simply done in reverse but it’s still a great effect.

I think that there is an issue with the mummies being used to chase people. The gamekeeper is running away and the mummies are walking at the slowest possible pace to catch up with him. I can’t quite believe that they would really be able to catch him. They try and make this believable by cutting back to the chase several minutes after it started and how the mummies didn’t trip over themselves is a mystery. He doesn’t get killed until the very end when he is squashed by two of them. I couldn’t quite make up my mind about Warlock’s death. Part of me thinks it was quite grim and the other part of me thinks that it was a bit silly and I think that Peter Copley over does it. I think that Michael Sheard gives a nice performance as Marcus’ brother though his best DW performance is yet to come.

The highlight of the episode comes when the Doctor takes the TARDIS back to 1980 (where Sarah is from) and shows her what it would look like if they left Sutekh to his plan. It’s a solemn moment and one of my favourite scenes in the entire story. It’s good that they explain why Sutekh is doing what he’s doing and its explained quickly which is the right thing at this stage of the story. The idea that Sutekh is trying to set up rockets to destroy a beacon on Mars that will free him might seem like it’s a bit convoluted but I think that on this occasion it is what makes the story feel that much more better.

The cliffhanger is quite good but I think that the final shot could have been a bit better. The camera hung onto Sarah’s shocked/scared face a bit too long. Apart from that the episode was a nice solid one. The story is still very strong and the more I watch it the more I am grateful that I have got past ‘Planet of Evil’.

Pyramids of Mars - Episode 1

After the previous story didn’t set the world alight in my opinion so I was reliefed to know that this story was coming up. It’s one of the classics of Doctor Who’s classic era and one of Tom Baker’s fines stories. The story is credited to Stephen Harris but actually it was written by Robert Holmes and Lewis Greifer and it seems like another story where Holmes has had to re-write a large part of the story which perhaps shows why the story is as strong as it was. The story sees the Doctor and Sarah still trying to get back to London to meet the Brigadier. It feels like a story arc like what was used in the previous season and its mentioned in this episode just to remind the viewer. The first thing that struck me about this episode is the impressive opening scene. The footage shots of Egypt help create the impression that the first time that we meet Marcus Scarman is in Egypt and not in a studio in London.

The opening scene with the Doctor and Sarah is quite a strange one because it reminds us of Victoria who travelled with the Doctor during the 1967/68 season. It’s a nice if somewhat unexpected reference and I wonder why they chose Victoria of all the companions that the Doctor has travelled with. It’s strange seeing the Doctor as sombre as he was in that scene because he has always been like a six year old after they have had too much sugar. To see him gloomy isn’t a good one but thankfully that doesn’t last too long.

Namin is the first ‘baddie’ that we are introduced to and its fair to say that he has a temper on him. His argument with Doctor Warlock is quite heated and fun to watch. Warlock represents a time of history when he jolly well thinks that he’s in the right because he’s British and that’s just the way it is. Warlock doesn’t last 10 minutes before he is shot by Namin. That shot comes a few minutes after Collins the butler/housekeeper is killed by an unseen force. I quite like Collins (played by Bilton) because he was a genuinely nice character and played well.

The short period where Namin is chasing the Doctor, Sarah and Warlock is quite a great scene largely because it was filmed on location and directed in a certain way but also because of the music. It was very atmospheric and that’s why it’s one of the best scenes in the episode.

I think that the mummies in this episode are very impressive. Ok so they less manoeuvrability that the Daleks but they are visually impressive and the fact they don’t have a face is something that has always made more sinister than perhaps some people would think but I think that they are one of the big selling points of this story.

The build up to the cliffhanger was superb and it was all down to the organ music. It peaks just as the black figure comes out of the time vortex. The effect of him walking on the carpet and smoke coming from under his feet is very good and its equalled by when the figure puts its hand on Namin and smoke comes from under his hands. After being somewhat underwhelmed by the cliffhangers and episodes from the previous story, its good that it feels like the show is getting back to what it does best and that’s action drama. I thought that the action was really strong in this episode with the performances at their best and I am looking forward to the rest of this story.

Planet of Evil - Episode 4

The final episode of this serial which hasn’t exactly been the greatest in Doctor Who history. The reprise was quite well resolved because the Doctor and Sarah are saved by Vishinky at what felt like the last minute. Once the Doctor gets saved he throws himself into the story and it’s the best episode for Tom Baker as far as I am concerned that he has had in this serial. Elisabeth Sladen hasn’t been paritcuarly memorable since the serial started. I was expecting things to get better for Sladen since Ian Marter left but obviously in the case of this adventure that wasn’t the case.

There is a nice scene between Sorensen and the Doctor. Unfortunately its over before it begins but there is a bit more between these two towards the end. I think that Frederick Jaeger has been one of the best things in this serial and really turns the madness up to 11 and he seems to be having lots of fun when the anti-matter version of the character really takes over. The effect of used on Sorensen which achieved a blue light effect was quite well done. It’s from this moment that I actually start to get interested in the adventure. The drama comes from when its revealed there is more than just Sorensen. The effect of the anti-matter Sorensen is far more impressive than the original anti-matter creature we saw in the first part of this story.

I think that Prentis Hancock is really good in this episode and his best moments come when he is arguing with Vishinsky. I think that the way that Salamar was killed was perhaps the best way that he could have done since the character had reached its natural conclusion. The best moment came between Salamar and Vishinsky came when Vishinsky took control and the reaction of Salamar’s face was pricesless. It looked like Sorensen was not going to make it during this episode but he makes it and is free of the anti-matter. It was the best way to end the character and it even ends

I think that this was a good end to what was a rather lacklustre story. Ok there was a good idea at the centre of it but for some reasons it just didn’t grab me in the way that I would have expected. That’s not going to be the case in the next story but the thing about Planet of Evil is my opinion of it hasn’t changed really but I think that the Zygons story is the better of the two that season thirteen have produced so far.

Planet of Evil - Episode 3

Ok so it’s clear that I am not going to rate this story as one of my favourite Tom Baker stories. Maybe with the final two episodes I might be able to find some positives to write about. The previous episode ended with the freeze frame of Tom Baker falling into the black hole. There is a good bit where the Doctor seems to be quite close to the anti-matter creature and then somehow manages to get out relatively unharmed. The thing about this episode is that it doesn’t feel like it’s achieving very much. At this point in a four part adventure it really should feel like it’s building up to something and yet it doesn’t feel like it at all.

Sorensen has gone from someone that I like because he has honourable (if slightly selfish) reasons to someone who is a little bit annoying. There is a distinct change in his look because he is changing. The scene of his eyes being the first thing of him to change did seem to have a bit of Jekyll and Hyde about it. It’s well performed by Frederick Jaeger.  Just a few minutes later, he is killing people and the full change is quite gruesome considering that this is a family show. Salamar goes from being a normal supporting character to someone that has drunk the mad drink because he then goes and point a gun at the Doctor. Way to go from hero to zero in the space of about 10 minutes. There is a moment when the Doctor punches Salamar and it’s a great punch. I know I should be surprised that the Doctor did such a violent act which seems more shocking considering that Jon Pertwee’s Doctor tended to use non violent means to subdue an opponent. It is perhaps the most exciting moment in the entire episode which is daming with faint praise.

The cliffhanger was perhaps the best one of this serial because it was this one that seemed like it could have quite a grim ending. I am still not totally convinced that this story has improved that much but at least there is only one episode left and its not the worst Doctor Who story ever.

Planet of Evil - Episode 2

The second episode of this story starts with the less than convincing anti-matter monster. What it lacks in visual menace it does make up for it in ability to cause a convincing death. One thing I don’t get about the deaths in this story however is what happens to them. When they are killed they disappear yet in the next shot they are a skeleton. It might have been because they couldn’t make it work on screen but it just looks a bit odd as it is.

One guy in the supporting characters look an awful lot like Terry Scott from Terry and June. Clearly its not but it made me smile a bit. It was at this point that I realised that the story wasn’t connecting with me. I think that Louis Marks should be praised for trying to do a different type of story but unfortunately it just doesn’t work. Another major problem that there is about this episode is that apart from learning that the planet is trying to stop people leaving with its minerals, there is nothing that really happens and that’s a frustrating thing that happens.

I do love the bit where the tracking prop is flying around the jungle and the shot that we see from its POV is one of if not the best shots in Doctor Who. Even when it was flying through the jungle it still look really good. I think its quite good that its dropped into the plot that no one may be allowed to leave the planet because of what Sorensen has bought on board. It’s hard to dislike Sorenson even when the viewer knows that what he’s doing isn’t a great thing. His discovery is for the greater good but its made clear that he’s also thinking about his legacy.

The Doctor falling into the black hole ends with a freeze. It’s a trick that was last used in ‘Genesis of the Daleks’ and I think that it works better here than it did in that episode. Despite some good things that happen in this episode, I just can’t get excited about this story. It’s not terrible and its directed with a certain level of enjoyment but I just think that the story itself is not great. I would like there to be a bit more drama to proceedings because at the moment it’s one of the least exciting stories of Tom Baker’s tenure.

Planet of Evil - Episode 1

Planet of Evil is a story that I have never really had much love for this story. It’s not one that I have had any real interest but I am hoping that watching an episode a day will change my opinion. This story was written by Louis Marks who previously wrote ‘Day of the Daleks’ which was an ok story and before that wrote ‘Planet of Giants’ which is a highly enjoyable adventure. One thing that this story does have in its favour is the set of the jungle. It’s very dark and very claustrophobic which the point is presumably.

The death of Braun is quite simple but very effective and it pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the story. Baldwin is the next to go in a similar fashion. It’s very typical of the tone that Philip Hinchcliffe and Robert Holmes were aiming for and the more that this progresses, the more that its clear that the show is trying to (in a nice way) distance itself from the Pertwee/Letts/Dicks era of the show.

The famous Ealing Studios is where several scenes were filmed and this is perhaps the first time that it looked like some money had been spent of the story. It’s still obvious when it’s a BBC studio and when its Ealing but they still match up pretty well and it’s a good quality of the story that perhaps doesn’t get flagged up when people are knocking the show about production values.

It’s six minutes before we see the Doctor and Sarah and their first scene is in the TARDIS and it’s the first time that we have seen the TARDIS interior since ‘Death to the Daleks’. Tom Baker’s first TARDIS scene is a very good one because he races around it and pressing buttons like he’s been doing it for ages. Now that Harry isn’t around it means that the Doctor/Companion relationship between the Doctor and Sarah can become stronger as the stories progress and I think that Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen have become closer than Sladen had become with Jon Pertwee.

In the first scene with Salamar (played by Prentis Hancock), we are told that there is only enough fuel on their ship for a return journey and some emergency supply. This seems not to relevant in the first episode but it’s a point that will have some importance in future episodes. I think that whilst they are good characters, I cant believe that someone like Vishinsky would be answerable to Salamar. Michael Wisher makes his second appearance in two seasons when he appears as Morelli. At first I didn’t recognise him but it was only when he spoke that his voice became recognisable.

The cliffhanger was ok. It was just the anti-matter creature approaching the screen. I will comment more on the anti-matter creature as it becomes more involved in the story. As an opening episode, I thought that it was a perfectly fine episode but I still don’t think that the four episodes together will be any better than I previously thought. Then again it’s fair to say that it wont be any worse than I thought.

Terror of the Zygons - Episode 4

This is the final episode where Ian Marter appears as a regular and is the end of the regular appearance of UNIT. It is also the final appearance of Nicholas Courtney for a good number of years so it is the end of an era which is quite a sad moment. The episode starts of with the ship going off into the distance. There is a line about the spaceship last seen over Leicester but then they lost it. How exactly do you lose a massive ship like that. It’s a bit like in the 1998 version of Godzilla when it just disappears. Speaking of the ship I thought that the false perspective of the ship was a very good shot and I wouldn’t have noticed if it hadn’t been for the information text on the DVD. The model blowing up was another nice touch and it blowing up was another good blown up model.

The Prime Minister is mentioned and the Brigadier uses the term madam. This story was made four years before we got a female prime minister and so this just goes to show how ahead of the game the show was. Depending on your political views this was a nice moment or not.

I like it when we see the real versions of the caber, the duke and sister lamont. It shows that they are quite nice people and it. Sadly by the time we get to meet the nice versions they are written out of the show as the action moves away. I still think that Sister Lamont was the best of the supporting characters with the Duke being a very close second.

It’s good that it seems like the story is over when the Zygon ship is blown up but then the action moves to London at alarming speed when the Broton Zygon and the Skaran is about to attack the conference. It’s dealt with quite quickly with Broton shot by the Brigadier and the Skaran is left to go back to the loch.

The final scene is quite a nice one with the Doctor and Sarah going off leaving Harry and the Brigadier. Harry’s final line is about sticking to intercity isn’t the best departing line for a companion but it pretty much sums him up. The idea that Sarah only agrees to with him so that they could go to London seems like the wrong thing to say because it was obvious that she would really want to go with the Doctor anywhere so its no surprise that they don’t make it to London.

The line that the Duke gives to the Brigadier about being a Scotsman is a stereotypical line implying that scots are tight which I thought was probably intended as a joke but just comes across in todays world as a bit of a shame really but that said its hard to find any fault with this story because its been written well and a good start to the thirteenth season of Doctor Who. Now its just the Doctor and Sarah for the rest of the season and now that Harry is out it means that what I consider the golden era of the show can really get started. I’m sorry to say this about Harry and Ian Marter but I think that this character was a victim of circumstances and Ian Marter did the best he could.

Terror of the Zygons - Episode 3

The penultimate episode of this story is one where thing need to be introduced to keep the interest going because after the initial reaction to the Zygons has past, the story needs to have something else to keep the interest going. The reprise was of the Doctor being chased by the Loch Ness monster which as we all know is being controlled by the Zygon. Whereas the shots with the Doctor and the Loch Ness looked good the thing is that they never actually mix. In the reprise it does and it’s a shame to say that they don’t work quite so well.

The action moves to Forgill Castle which despite the rather lacklustre model/photo, the castle set looks very impressive. Every scene that takes place in the castle set is interesting and I wished that there were more because you could spend ages looking at various bits of it.

The effect of changing Sister Lamont to the Zygon is another good effect. I still think that Sister Lamont is one of the funniest characters in the serial. Not funny because it’s a poor character but funny because it seems like she’s escaped from an insane asylum or maybe she’s auditioning for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The final good effect is that of the Zygon ship rising from the bottom of the sea. It’s a good model shot and works well. Even when it’s coming out of the sea, it still is an impressive sight.

The sister waking the rock on the back of the head on a soldier is quite a shocking for family viewing. This is definelty not something that Barry Letts would have done and that’s not me saying it was something wrong but it’s clear that the show is being run differently. On the downside the bit where Sarah walking into the secret lair of the Zygons was a tad bit predictable and typical of what the female companion would be doing in future Doctor Who stories. It was redeemed slightly a few moments later though. I love the scene where Sarah is trying to tell if Harry is the real Harry and it’s only by him saying “old girl” that she decides that he is the real one.

The cliffhanger is rather disappointing considering how good the effect of the ship rising is. I think that it certainly lacks the drama of the first episode cliffhanger. Despite this rather damp squib to the episode, I think that the story is still a strong one with a very good creature and some very good pieces of casting. I am enjoying the fact that this feels like a different era of the show and not a Pertwee story with a different actor playing the role.

Terror of the Zygons - Episode 2

The first Zygon adventure continues with as much intrigue and darkness as the first. After the very good cliffhanger the story continues very quickly and before there is time to brief and settle down the Doctor is stood by the Sister. Sarah has disappeared and Sister Lamont is fantastically cold when she is talking to the Doctor. The bit where the Doctor and Sarah have been trapped in the decompression chamber is great because the Doctor puts Sarah into a hypnosis and does the same to himself.

I still don’t think that Tom Baker’s Doctor is suited to dealing with UNIT. In his brief scene with Benton it just doesn’t quite work and I think that it worked much better when it was Jon Pertwee. It’s perhaps the wisest thing that they have decided to pretty much do away with the UNIT stories because with a new Doctor should come a new direction for the show and UNIT was very much a product of the Pertwee era and worked for him but definitely doesn’t work for Baker.

Most of the Zygon mask/headgear does look quite good but it’s the mouth area that it looks a bit ropey. I think that it suffers from the same problem that the Vogans had in the previous story but that’s the only problem with the Zygon costume. From head to toe they look gruesome and they look rather effective. There is a nice shot where we see the real Sister Lamont and the real ‘caber’ and it leads to a good CSO where a Zygon.

I like this episode beause we get to see evil Harry. Of course its not the real Harry but a Zygon duplicate. When he comes in it turns into a nice little action sequence which seemed very much out of the Pertwee era. There’s a great shot of Harry’s eyes starring at the screen which is very similar to Capaldi’s stare in the 50^th Anniversary special. It’s quite a shocking moment when Zygon Harry goes for Sarah with a pitchfork, misses and then gets impaled on it. There is another big sequence which comes when the Doctor is trying to hide from the big creature. Whilst Tom Baker is good and some of the shots of the creature are good, its not a particularly great cliffhanger compared to the previous one. It’s still a solid episode with some great moments but it’s the ending that lets it down. It’s a shame but the opening story to the thirteenth season is one that has lots to enjoy and very little to knock.

Terror of the Zygons - Episode 1

The start of the thirteenth series starts just 112 days after the final episode of ‘Revenge of the Cybermen’. Normally I wouldn’t comment on this but its another stat that I can use and it’s the shortest gap since between the fifth and sixth seasons which were only 70 days apart. The shortest gaps were 49 days during seasons 1 & 2 and 2 & 3. The longest was 203 days between Jon Pertwee’s last season and Tom Baker’s first. Another fact is that this is the 80^th Doctor Who story. Anyway enough stats for today and the opening story of the season sees the introduction of an underused creation. This is one of the Tom Baker stories that I have seen the least for some strange reason.

The opening scene of this episode reminds me of the opening of ‘The Sea Devils’. This is the season when Philip Hinchcliffe put his stamp on the show and its clear that the show has progressed a little bit since the last season. Tom Baker seems more confident in the role and it seems Elisabeth Sladen is adjusting to Tom as the leading man. This is her 47^th episode overtaking Peter Purves and becomes the seventh longest serving companion. There that is the last stat of the review.

The Brigadier has some devise that can effectively recall the Doctor and whilst it’s a good idea, this is the only time that its used and seems like a plausible plot device to get the Doctor back to earth. Quite why the TARDIS couldn’t make it closer to where the Brigadier was is a bit of a mystery. It’s been an awfully long time since we last saw the interior of the TARDIS. In fact I think that it was during ‘Death to the Daleks’ that we last had a scene inside the TARDIS and that was over a year since this episode was broadcast. I best people were forgetting what it looked like.

This is the final story for Harry who has been rather under used since he first joined the show. He’s more use in this episode than he was for most of the previous season. However about the halfway point he get’s shot at. When he wakes up that is when his usefulness becomes important and what he heard that bloke say was what led to the cliffhanger. Not many times that Harry has been anywhere near the cliffhanger.

This story features John Woodnutt playing the Duke of Forgill who had previously appeared in ‘Spearhead from Space’ and under a Draconian mask in ‘Frontier in Space’. Like his previous two appearances, he instantly becomes an interesting character. Another fun character from the moment she appears on screen is that of Sister Lamont played by Lillias Walker. I cant let this review go by without mentioning Angus who comes across as a bit weird because he think’s that he has second sight but there is something quite charming about the performance that really sticks in the mind. It’s good to have the Brigadier back, even if its just to be mocked by the Doctor and Sarah.

Even though the title has Zygons in it, we don’t see a great deal of them. Just the eyes and hand of one until the cliffhanger when it is about to get very close to Sarah. It’s a great cliffhanger to what has been a very solid episode. I cant really find fault with it and the best thing is that as its Harry’s final story as a companion, he’s given something substantial to do and I will probably mention that a couple of time over the next three episodes but its perhaps the most interesting part of the story.

Revenge of the Cybermen - Episode 4

This is the final episode of Tom Baker’s first full season as the Doctor. The reprise that we got at the beginning of the episode is slightly different from the cliffhanger and that’s the shot of Kellman and Harry being taken out. It means that the beginning of the episode is much better than the cliffhanger and it’s a rare thing then that happens. I like the Doctor’s reaction when he learns that Harry was about to unbuckle the belt and makes the rocks fall. “Harry Sullivan is an imbecile” is a line that always makes me laugh. The bit where they are still travelling to the centre of voga doesn’t last that long and it makes way for the rest of the episode.

The fight sequence between Harry, the Doctor and Cybermen was a little disappointing but it was probably the best that they could do. I thought that Lester’s death was quite a good one. He had been a good character throughout the story and the fact that he gave his life to destroy two Cybermen was a noble death.

I’ve not commented on it before now but the Cyber Leader headpiece looks rather silly. It’s like they made no attempt to distinguish the leader from the rest of them. It’s only now that I realise that black and white television lent something good to the Cybermen which is lost now the show is in colour. What caps it off is one scene where the Cyber Leader is walking out of a room with his hands on his hips and rambling. Their demise is also a disappointment because its just them being blown up by the rocket from Voga.  It’s a shame that their only story of the 1970’s is such a let down. That was a weird thing to write. It was over 2,000 days since the Cybermen were last seen and I suspect that it will be the same amount of time before they turn again in ‘Earthshock’.

The idea that the Cybermat is used to kill a Cyberman mirroring the way that they were used in the first episode is quite a good idea. Sadly its only used a couple of times before its dropped and whilst it looks better than when the humans get bit, it means that the chest plate isn’t the only place that can get affected by gold. Even though they are metal, the ‘teeth’ on the cybermats are enough to do the job.

There is a scene where Harry is seen stood on the spot doing nothing. That pretty much sums up his involvement in this story and it’s a blessing that the next story will be his last because Ian Marter really has suffered during the course of this shortened series. Whereas Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen had been largely strong in this shortened season, Marter has been made redundant because the person chosen to be the Doctor is younger than they were anticipating when they cast Marter. Marter isn’t terrible and he’s nowhere near as bad as Jackie Lane but he’s not been one of the best companions.

As a story its not as bad as I remember. Like ‘Invasion of the Dinosaurs’, this story has some very sound moments but there are small things that due undermine this story and so the final story of Tom Baker’s first season is just about better than his first. I think that over the course of the past twenty episodes, it has been shown the show can survive without Jon Pertwee just as it had survived after Patrick Troughton left the show and after William Hartnell left. The next season will be the first that hasn’t had the Barry Letts touch to it and so I think that the show will go from strength to strength.

Revenge of the Cybermen - Episode 3

Today is the 400^th day of my journey to watch an episode of Doctor Who a day from the very beginning. I am now 50% through and the show has changed in the last 100 episodes and I don’t just mean in terms of leading man or even companions but more the tone of the show. It’s very much got darker since ‘The Daemons’. This is the first full episode that the Cybermen are properly in the story. I still don’t like the guns in the cybermens helmets. It means that they are hand free and I know that its good when your using Bluetooth but when you are on a beacon trying to destroy a planet. Also the voices aren’t quite right. It’s a bit like when the Daleks returned in ‘Day of the Daleks’ that the voices weren’t right.

Kellman does come across as quite a creep in this episode now he is face to face with the Doctor. His departure in the story comes at just the right time but there is a part of me that wonders whether he should have made it till the end and sacrificed it at the decisive moment. The purpose of the Cybermen is finally explained and its a good one because it makes sense. The Cybermen are there because they want to destroy Voga because it is pure gold.

The Doctor, Stevenson and Lester are going to be used to destroy Voga. Which is an interesting way of continuing their involvement in the story. The scenes where they walking through Wookey Hole are quite good and I just like the idea that the Doctor is freely admitting that he hasn’t got a plan but is forming one. It’s very much like the fourth Doctor. There is a nice scene between the Doctor and the Cyber Leader where the Doctor tries to belittle the leader by saying that they are nothing but a bunch of tin soldiers “skulking about the galaxy”. It’s clear that the Cybermen aren’t quite the force they once were and even the way that they have been written and are performing suggest that they aren’t quite the menace they were during their golden age.

Now the Cybermen are fully immersed in the story then I find myself a bit more interested in what is going on. That’s not to say that I can overlook some of the weaker elements of the story such as the vogans. The shoot out between the Cybermen and the vogans is rather silly as the Cybermen guns against the vogan guns. On a slightly more positive note, I do find the sight of the Cybermen walking through Wookey Hole to be a nice one because the contrast between the silver costumes and the brown rocks.

The cliffhanger is quite a good one because it’s the first thing that Harry has done in several episodes. It’s a shame that it could be to cause the death of himself and the Doctor. Of course that wouldn’t happen but it’s fun to imagine what might happen to the Doctor. It’s good that this episode is finally moving but it’s a shame that the Vogans are involved because apart from that I really like this story and its easily the best episode so far.

Revenge of the Cybermen - Episode 2

Just a few days before this episode aired, William Hartnell had passed away which the first loss that the show had suffered. Without Hartnell’s involvement in the show then its hard to believe that the show would be about to approach the 400^th episode. Since Tom Baker took over from Jon Pertwee, the show has found new feet and is going from strength to strength. The previous episode ended with Elisabeth Sladen doing a dance routine with the cybermat that wouldn’t look out of place on Strictly Come Dancing. Within moments Sarah has become infected and the action starts.

The idea that the Doctor can use the trans mat to get the poison out of Sarah is quite clever and there is a nice built of drama built up in trying to get it working after a part of it is missing. Then there is a nice standoff between Kellman and the Doctor with Kellman acting like the tough guy pretending he doesn’t know anything. If it weren’t for Kellman this this story wouldn’t be worth watching.

The story moves a bit more to Voga with Harry and Sarah now find themselves there. I think that its funny how Harry becomes obsessed with the gold that he finds. This is perhaps the most interesting thing that Ian Marter has been up to for several episodes. Another problem that I found with the vogans that capture Harry and Sarah is that they do look a bit like Godfrey from ‘Dads Army’.

The first appearance of the Cybermen in 172 episodes is somewhat understated. It’s just a group of Cybermen in their ship. I always thought that the cliffhanger is when we first seem them. It had been 2,317 days for fans in 1975 since the Cybermen last appeared and it’s good to have them back. They pop up in the brief scene early in the episode but they really don’t get involved in the story until the cliffhanger which is perhaps what should have happened in the previous episode. I really don’t like the Cybermen being able to

There are some familiar faces that appear in this story. William Marlowe previously appeared in the 1971 story ‘The Mind of Evil’ (directed by Michael E Briant), here he plays Lester and its good that he goes from pointing a gun a Jon Pertwee’s Doctor to helping Tom Baker’s Doctor. The next familiar face is that of Kevin Stoney who last time we saw him in Doctor Who was working with the Cybermen oddly enough in the last Cyberman story. The character he plays this time is Tyrum who is the complete opposite.

Whilst I find the stuff on Voga rather tedious, I can’t deny that the cave scenes that were filmed on location were very good indeed. It does provide some entertainment and it’s good that they have finally broken out of the studio for the first time since the early stages of the last Dalek story. They used Wookey Hole to film these scenes and it was famously used in a sketch on ‘The League of Gentlemen” and considering Mark Gatiss is a huge Doctor Who fan (having written a few TV stories and a couple of Big Finish plays.

“The beacon is ours!” I think is a great way to end the episode. I think that the problems that I had with the previous episode are still evident in this episode and that’s a shame because the first appearance of the Cybermen in about seven years isn’t quite the epic event that it should have been. I think that this is the same problem that the Daleks had back in ‘Day of the Daleks’ when they returned after five years the problem was that the theory was that the name alone would help

Revenge of the Cybermen - Episode 1

This is the 20^th episode of Tom Baker’s first season and the final story of that season and the final story of the Arc trilogy. I know that the idea to set this story on the ark was a financial one but its done in a way which makes it seem like it was planned all along. I like the idea that it’s the same place but at a different point in time and the TARDIS will eventually get to them means that the viewer can rest assured that they can relax into the action and our heroes will make it out alive at the end of the story. Despite the familiarity of the setting, one thing that separates this story from ‘The Ark in Space’ is tone. It takes less than two minutes for the first dead body to appear. The group of people on the ark are very different to the ones that we encountered in ‘The Ark in Space’.

Kellman (Jeremy Wilkin) is immediately a great character as he is clearly at odds with the rest of the crew. It’s clear that he knows more than Lester and Warner because he is going to the trouble of removing evidence of signals from the mysterious Voga. Unlike Vira, Rogin & Noah in ‘The Ark in Space’, the characters of Lester and Warner have something about them. They are clearly very weary and untrusting of the Doctor, Harry and Sarah. They have clearly been through a lot and they are infinitely more interesting than Vira and Rogin.

Even though this has Cybermen in the title, the episode is lacking in the silver menace. They are mentioned once or twice. Oh well, its been nearly six months since I last saw them so I suppose I could wait another day. Gerry Davis is teasing us with their return (or Robert Holmes is) and its clearly designed to try and build up some tension and suspense in their return but what I would have wanted is for them to appear at the very end of the episode.

There is one shot of the Doctor, Harry and Sarah walking in the corridor and there is one actor playing a corpse and the rest are dummies. They are clearly dummies and it slightly ruins the illusion of a plague. Sadly this is the beginning of the issues with this story. The next issue are the vogans, the masks just look rather poor and in some cases it’s clear to see where the mask ends and the face begins. Another issue comes when the cybermats attack people. The CSO used to show them jumping is blatantly CSO and it’s just cringing to see people trying to fight them off. In fact the very last shot of the episode is of Sarah trying to fight off the cybermat. I’m sorry but despite the best efforts of Elisabeth Sladen’s acting, its just a rather damp ending to what has been a bit of a mixed episode. There were things that I liked about it but there are things that I am nt so keen on and its these things that I think will undermine the Cyberman’s return. Oh well I suppose that I may be wrong and the next three episodes will change my opinion. I doubt it but one can hope.

Genesis of the Daleks - Episode 6

The cliffhanger from the previous cliffhanger works just as well at the beginning of this episode. At the beginning of the episode comes one of the most famous speeches and moments in Doctor Who. Its fair to say that there have been several such moments in this serial but this is perhaps this much more important because it sees the Doctor give a philosophical speech about whether you would stop a child if you knew that they would grow up evil and then the Doctor continues with saying that some worlds are better and are united because of their fear of the Daleks. This is a valid point and I would be surprised if people haven’t written a paper on this topic and cited this scene as an example. It’s a great scene because Tom Baker makes it work really well and is supported by Elisabeth Sladen, sadly Ian Marter is a bit of a spare part in this scene and doesn’t say a word until Gharman appears.

Another solid scene comes when Davros is trying to put his case to everyone which is clearly designed to stall things and one thing that he manages to achieve beforehand is to show that those opposing him don’t have the stomach for combat really. This ends quite grimly with all the Kaled scientists and members of the military being killed by the Daleks. The sight of all the dead bodies was quite a shocking thing to see on teatime telly.

Davros’ demise was a great one and one that people couldn’t have seen coming. It’s not an original thing that a creature has been destroyed/killed by its creation. The idea that the Daleks have already discovered that they don’t allow to think of anyone greater than the Daleks means that Davros’ use has come to an end. Michael Wisher has been a fantastic Davros is arguably the best of the actors to have played the role. Sadly no story that he features in will be quite as good as this one.

I was quite sad that Nyder met his death in this episode because I thought that it would have been nice for the character to pop up in a future story (perhaps even with Davros). The fact that you don’t actually see Davros’ death on screen allows the character to come back (and he does obviously). Peter Miles has been a very good supporting actor to Michael Wisher and did his job brilliantly.

At the beginning of the episode the Doctor nearly killed the incubation chamber but doesn’t do it. It’s quite apt that a Dalek does it for him. It means that the chamber is destroyed but the Doctor hasn’t committed genocide so it means that the character hasn’t done a truly appalling thing.

If there is one thing that I would have taken out is the stuff with the Thals and the mutos which just got in the way of things and with the Time Ring and Davros plot lines the story doesn’t really lend itself to much else. Even their goodbye at this episode is rather quick and short which suggest that they weren’t that important. The episode ends with the regulars swinging around with the time ring and the Doctor giving a speech which I always seem to miss because I am so amused by what they are doing.

I’m back to the stats thing and would like to point out that this is the 48^th episode that Terry Nation has written and it takes him 1 past Malcolm Hulke and becomes the most prolific writer in the shows history. This is David Maloney’s 31^st episode which puts him 10 behind Douglas Camfield and 4 behind Christopher Barry. Elisabeth Sladen has appeared in 42 episodes and it puts her 4 episodes behind Peter Purves and 6 behind Wendy Padbury.

As an episode I thought that it did what it needed to do and used every minute to do it. I thought that as a story it managed to erase the awful memory of ‘Death to the Daleks’ and now every time that there is a Dalek story in the classic era, there will be Davros in the middle of it. I think that it was one of the strongest stories that Terry Nation has written since the very first Dalek story. There has certainly been some critiscm of Nation’s quality in recent adventures but I think that this would have silenced those critics. This was one of the best stories of the season and some would argue the best but that is in the past now and tomorrow sees the return of a classic monster that hasn’t been seen in over 200 episodes and over 2,000 days (not in marathon days obviously).

Genesis of the Daleks - Episode 5

The penultimate episode of this serial is where the course of the story has changed when a new issue is introduced. Not only does the Doctor have to try and complete his mission for the timelords but there is the rebellion to Davros’ leadership and the main issue is the tape that the Doctor reveals the Dalek loses. I like how there is a fade over to indicate a passing of time which isn’t something that the show does very often. There is a great scene between Davros and the Doctor and was the highlight of the episode. I wish there were more of these scenes because it would have made this story one of the best stories ever. There is one thing about Davros’ chair design because I don’t quite know why he put a button on it where anyone could press it and it would affect Davros’ life support system. Why put it in such a place and why even have the button in the first place? That’s the only thing that I am not keen on about the character design of Davros.

I like the moment when Nyder seems to disagree with Davros and not in a way that is designed to con anyone considering that there wasn’t anyone in the room at the time. It felt at this time that his 100% loyalty had taken a dip a little but it went back to 100% after this. Peter Miles has really been a solid piece of casting in this story and has worked well with Michael Wisher.

The Doctor’s story in this episode is building up to one of the most iconic cliffhangers in the shows history. He has only one option left to him that the timelord at the beginning of the episode gives and that is to commit genocide. The idea that the Doctor would commit genocide is such a horrible idea and yet it could be argued that he has done this before in the show but this time has knowingly done it.

There is a scene in this episode which deserves mention and praise for David Maloney. The shot of the Daleks walking over the top of the bunker with the dark background is a fantastic. It’s easy to overlook his achievements in this story but one of the consistent things about the five episodes so far is that it has flowed well even though the story hasn’t moved along a great deal. The cliffhanger is quite a horrific one and is one of those that must have had people wondering just how the Doctor was going to get out of this one. As the penultimate episode of the story, it does a good job in ratcheting things up to give us a great final episode. It has been a problem in some six parters that they haven’t been able to make me feel the final episode was going to be the big pay off but in this case there is enough to feel like the final episode is going to compliment the rest of the story very well.

Genesis of the Daleks - Episode 4

As I approach the quatercentenary of Doctor Who episodes, today sees the whole of the country watching England lose (probably) to Italy at the World Cup in Brazil but I have decided to choose this moment to what the fourth episode of this Dalek renaissance. The episode doesn’t waste time in getting back into the action and within the first 90 seconds of the episode the dome is being attacked and the Doctor tries to stop the rocket. As the viewer knows that it was Davros that did the treachery it’s fun to see him blame Ronson. There is no time for a trial or any lasting speech but Daleks come in and do what they are famous for doing.

The death of Ronson is quite an important and interesting one. Chronologically speaking he the first person to be killed by a Dalek and also its quite interesting that its taken until part four before a Dalek kills someone. On another note its taken until episode four before we get another female character. Harriet Philpin plays Bettan and her first scene with the Doctor is quite a calm and controlled one. Someone that never gives a calm or controlled performance is Michael Wisher who continues to screech at anyone who can hear.

After what felt like a fast paced opening to the episode, the plot then seems to take a leisurely pace again. At least the story seems to be moving around a bit more. Apart from the opening reprise, there isn’t another scene in the rocket silo and that’s a good thing. It had some good moments but it has served its purpose and this episode needs to do what the story needs to do at this stage and that’s shift focus to keep the story going for another couple of episodes and Terry Nation seems to do it in a more subtle way that most writers have done in the past. The plot to try and overthrow Davros is what seems to take centre stage with Nyder being particularly impressive in this respect because he overhears a plot and then tries to pretend that he has turned against Davros when really he is trying to find out the exact names of people plotting against him. Nyder is strangely convincing of this. I think that Gharman (Dennis Chinnery) is a very good character and is played well.

The final five minutes of this episode makes this episode as far as I am concerned. From the moment that the Doctor is tied up it sets up a great scene between the Doctor and Davros. Davros is determined to find out how the Daleks lose their battles and forces the Doctor to try and tell him. If there is one thing that will make the Doctor cooperate it is the potential harm of his companions. It sets up a cliffhanger which matches episode two’s in terms of drama. It’s just Davros screeching and for me that’s a perfectly fine way to end. The thing about this episode is that it starts and finishes in quite a good way but it’s the middle part that doesn’t quite match it. It’s not terrible by any means and Terry Nation manages to make padding seem interesting but compared to the first and final acts of the episode its doesn’t quite stand up.

Genesis of the Daleks - Episode 3

Right so it’s clear the freeze framing the last shot is a great way of ending an episode. It won’t work every time but on this occasion it works. The fact that she doesn’t fall very far might seem like a cop out to many but I think that it was perhaps the best way that they could got around it.

It’s nearly five minutes before the Doctor and Harry enter the episode and it shows that Terry Nation saw Sarah’s plight far more dramatic than that of the Doctor and Harry. Harry’s first big thing in this episode is to be almost eaten by a clam which shows that Nation doesn’t really like to write for Harry and would much rather get back to Sarah and Davros. Sarah continues to be working on the rocket. She really did draw the short straw in this story when it came to job. Despite a spirited attempt at escaping she doesn’t really get to do a great deal. She even seems to have become somewhat dimmer during the previous episodes when she doesn’t realise until long after that they will die when the rocket launches. Considering she was suppose to be an intelligent person, she did seem a little bit dim.

I like the partnership (if you can call it that) of Davros and Nyder. They work well together and there is one moment when Nyder has a look on his face that seems like he is doubting what Davros is saying. I think that Davros shows why he’s such a good villain when he goes to the Thals and gives them a way of attacking the Kaled dome. I think that Michael Wisher owns this episode as Davros is really strong as he tries to show that his plans aren’t as sinister as they seem to be.

I haven’t commented on it for a couple of episodes but I think that Tom Baker has been superb since ‘Robot’ finished. When he’s given some good stuff to do then he shows that he’s just as good as the actors who have played the Doctor before him. I’m not saying that he’s better than William Hartnell but the stories have worked really well. I think that despite the occasional iffy episode, Elisabeth Sladen is still a very good companion and whilst I don’t like the fact that the character has been watered down, Sladen’s performance allows her to be more than the writing sometimes allows. Sadly Ian Marter is never going to be one of the greatest companions and I think he is a bit of a spare part and the calamity that befalls him at the beginning of the episode is just one example of this.

The cliffhanger occurs at the rocket and it’s the second episode in a row that this happens which pretty much sums up the problems with this episode. All the progression has happened has done so with Davros and the supporting characters. The Doctor and Harry just seem to have circled around a bit with Sarah staying where started. I am hoping that the next episode will be more active because I could do with a bit more running around corridors.

Genesis of the Daleks - Episode 2

As the second episode starts I thought that it was odd that we don’t get a reprise in this episode but it just carries on. This immediately puts the viewers on the back foot because they would have been expecting to be reminded what happened in the previous episode. The first thing that strikes me is that the bleakness continues and in fact at times it seems to get worse.

The Kaleds are much better in this episode.

The scene where Davros enters the room after his brief first appearance at the beginning of the episode is the one which I thought was his first appearance. It’s such an iconic scene in the show because it brings a Mark 3 travel machine in and it looks like it’s going to kill the Doctor before Ronson intervenes. Ronson starts the episode as being just like one of the other Kaleds but very quickly becomes someone that the Doctor and Harry can trust and as a result the viewer can trust.

Michael Wisher is fantastic in this episode. The scene where he is yelling at Ronson for interfering in the experiment is a great moment and is perhaps the most animated character in the entire serial. Quite ironic considering how restricted he is in movement.

The model of the rocket that we see from Sarah’s POV is quite an impressive model and does a good job in making us believe that this is actually what Sarah is seeing. I was thinking that maybe Sarah was being left out of the action in this story but after what could be considered a rather light involvement in proceedings, this was improved in this episode. Whilst I wish that Harry was the one that was separated from the Doctor instead of Sarah, I think that Harry would have benefited from being the one forced to work on the rocket.

There is a great shot when we see Harry and the Doctor looking through into a lab which has the most marvellous noises coming out of it. It’s a great bit of directing from David Maloney because it leaves the viewer with the responsibility as to what they saw. Maloney is one of the best directors that Doctor Who has ever had and one of the longest serving directors on the show. I think his best work is yet to come but does well in maintaining the drama and increasing the bleakness.

The final few minutes are the best of this episode because not only are the Doctor and Harry in a relative amount of peril, it is Sarah that gets the cliffhanger which shows that Terry Nation hasn’t forgotten about her. It’s something that I didn’t realise until I saw this bit was that at this moment in time, there aren’t any other female characters apart from Sarah. I suppose by 2014 standards it would seem wrong now to just have one female speaking part but I would hazard a guess that even in 1975 this wouldn’t have been ideal. The decision to end the episode with a freeze frame is something that had never happened before on the show and whilst it might become more common in future stories, it’s a great way to end an episode and they’ve used it in a good way. This is another great episode and the good form of the twelfth season continues.

Genesis of the Daleks - Episode 1

If I am being honest, this is the story that I have been waiting for since the Tom Baker era started. I enjoyed ‘The Ark in Space’ obviously and there was something to enjoy about ‘The Sontaran Experiment’ but this is the one that I think not only cemented the Daleks’ popularity again but also Tom Baker’s stature as one of (if not the) best Doctors. This is the first Dalek story since the rather dreadful ‘Death to the Daleks’. That story did a pretty good job of making the Daleks look boring and dated. What this story does is freshen them up and also set them on a new journey in the shows history. From the opening moments, this story looks like it’s going to be different to anything we have seen before in Doctor Who. Not being filmed in a quarry but the ‘Apocalypse Now’ inspired slow-mo of soldiers being shot down and walking into the mist. The first scene between the Doctor and the Timelord effectively sets up the entire serial and gives us something to worry about in later episodes.

The thing that is clear in this episode is just how dark it is. It doesn’t have any of the warmth of ‘Robot’ or even ‘The Ark in Space’. This is highlighted when the Doctor and Harry are told that they will be hung and not shot like normal. The Doctor is threatened with being killed all the time but somehow due to the rather bleak setting, this seems to carry more weight and menace. The bleakness continues when Nyder (Peter Miles) makes his first appearance. If he were any colder then he would have frost on him. This is the story where Miles really shows us how much of a swine he could be (acting wise of course). Sadly we don’t get a great deal of him in this episode but what we do get is still fun to watch. The rest of the Kaleds that the Doctor and Harry meet aren’t particularly memorable and seem to be more like the humans that we meet in the previous story.

Davros gets mentioned in this episode and it’s a teaser for his appearance later on in the episode. For some reason, I always thought that his first appearance came later on in the episode when he walks into the lab not being outside. It’s a rather understated debut and leads to a great cliffhanger with Davros saying that they can now begin before the camera zooms in on the Dalek. Despite this cliffhanger not giving us much in drama or tension but despite this I still thought that it was a great cliffhanger and one that shows that ‘Death to the Daleks’ was a distant memory

The Sontaran Experiment - Episode 2

Despite lacking a Sontaran or anything approaching an experiment, there was cause to be more optimistic within the first five minutes that things would change. Another thing that changes in this episode is the role of the humans. In the previous episode, I commented that they were rather dull and that I didn’t care about them very much but thankfully due to the introduction of the Sontaran it means that the humans are basically bit part players and that’s a good thing. I still don’t find the robot to be very menacing. Apart from pulling people along it’s a rather poor thing and should really have been left behind in the opening episode.

It’s implied that the Sontaran that we saw at the end of this episode is not Linx as seen in ‘The Time Warrior’ but is in fact called Styre and this is the first time really that we understand that Sontarans look the same. For the first time we see more than one Sontaran when we see The Marshal (both played by Kevin Lindsay. It’s a different headpiece that Lindsay wears compared to ‘The Time Warrior’. I don’t think that this headpiece is as good as the previous one and think that it looked rather poor in comparison. That said I still think that the Sontaran was a good creation and Kevin Lindsay was a very good Sontaran though he died shortly afterwards it’s quite good that he was able to leave such a mark on what is a rather inferior alien compared to others in the show. It would be until Dan Starkey in the new era that an actor would have some a good run with the character.

I really like the bit where Sarah is scared many times by Styre. The performance from Elisabeth Sladen is brilliant and makes up for the rather downturn in how strong the character has been written for in recent episodes. This episode sees a good fight sequence between Styre and the Doctor. However Tom Baker famously got injured during recording and so many of the shots during this fight are filmed far away to hide the fact that Terry Walsh doubles for Tom Baker. To be fair to Baker, he gives a good speech just before the fight happens and he acts like nothing has happened after it becomes clear that he holding himself in a particularly way. I think that Ian Marter does suffer in this episode and I didn’t really miss him when he wasn’t on screen.

This is definelty a more interesting episode than the first. I like how the way to defeat Styre is quite a simple way and one that benefits the two episode running time. I think that despite this story serving no other purpose than to bridge the gap between ‘The Ark in Space’ and ‘Genesis of the Daleks’. It’s clear that this would not have stretched to a four part and this is probably one of the better Sontaran stories and I think that it complements the series rather well.

The Sontaran Experiment - Episode 1

The Sontaran Experiment is the first two part story since ‘The Rescue’ back in 1965. The bonus of having a two part adventure is that there isn’t the need to find things to fill the story to keep the running time to four episodes. This story was done because they couldn’t make ‘The Ark in Space’ last six episodes (which is a fair point). As a result we have a two part story which doesn’t have any studio filming, one Sontaran and a couple of supporting characters. The fact that this is the only story at this point to be filmed entirely outside is one of the big selling points of this story and it’s a nice sequel for the Sontarans. So at the end of the last episode, the Doctor was going to find out what earth was like for everyone on the ark.

It doesn’t take long for the no human’s thing to be shown as wrong when there are a group of humans with South African accents. On their first encounter with the Doctor they decide to shoot him first and ask questions later. The thing about the regulars is that they all get into trouble at various points of the episode and both Ian and the Doctor fall victim to the unexpected hole in the ground. Only Sarah doesn’t get this treatment which is normally the one person that I would have guaranteed to fall. However whilst she doesn’t do this she does get captured.

Whilst we don’t see the Sontaran, we do get a robot which glides along and I cant believe that this poses any kind of threat and yet everyone seems to be scared to death of it. It doesn’t fire anything or say anything so something dreadful must have happened before this story began. Maybe it didn’t invite the humans around for robotic tea when they first landed there.

It takes fifteen minutes before the Sontaran or the experiment part of the title becomes relevant. Even then it’s a small shot of the Sontarans hand that we see. It isn’t until the end that we see the Sontaran come out of the sphere which we all saw in ‘The Time Warrior’ and out comes Linx and that is how the episode airs. Whilst I enjoy the fact that this is a story that takes place outside the problem with the episode is that not a lot really happens. I don’t think that the colonists are particularly interesting and that’s going to be a major problem in the next episode and I think that considering this episode must have been thrown together at the last minute, this could have been a lot worse but it’s the holding story until we get to the Daleks.

The Ark in Space - Episode 4

The final episode of this story has to do a lot in 25 minutes. I liked the previous cliffhanger and I didn’t mention it in yesterdays review. The effect that is used to show that the wirrn is Noah is rather good. I think that the voice for the wirrn is rather good and it teams up well with the costume (worn by Stuart Fell). This opening scene is a great one to start with and it’s the first time that the Doctor has had proper contact with the wirrn. The ultimatum of leave the ark or die is one that could have been made earlier in the story instead of at the beginning of the last one. This does mean that there is a quick dash to the end of the story and the plan to try and defeat the wirrn.

Elisabeth Sladen is the most active that she has been during this entire serial when she gets to go through the vent. It’s a nice scene where the Doctor uses emotional tactics to try and get Sarah Jane to go through the final yards of the vent. This does become a tactic that the Doctor uses on some of his companions over the years and the most significant one happens during ‘The Curse of Fenric’. Tom Baker has been on fine form over the last couple of episodes and any doubt he may have had about how he was going to play the role were dismissed with the story and he has made me get over the departure of Jon Pertwee. I think that Elisabeth Sladen has done well in the previous four episodes with a character that has been watered down a bit but Sladen does the best she can. She has a better time of things compared to Ian Marter who doesn’t seem to do a great deal in this episode.

There is an interesting use of letting us see the wirrn crossing the ark and its by a small screen. They did look quite good but I suspect that had we seen a full screen then it would have looked a bit poor. That was a wise choice by Rodney Bennett who has directed his debut Doctor Who story rather well. It’s not been terribly spectacular but I think that he has done the best that he can with what is a pure studio story.

Rogin’s punch at the Doctor looked a bit weak. I thought that the sound effect made it seem more diluted than it would have been normally. That is my only real issue with this episode which shows how well it worked. There aren’t any issues with special effects as the wirrn costume works well due to how Rodney Bennett choses to shoot them. The main difference about this story to the previous one is that there is no CSO which is something that Barry Letts would have used. Even the model shot used in this episode wasn’t particularly bad.

Noah’s goodbye as the wirrn is quite good and shows that there were some of Noah left in the wirrn. I thought that the character of Noah actually became more interesting when he got infected and I like how there seemed to be a battle in his head as to who would win. I think that Kenton Moore has been one of the best things about this story and its one of the reasons why I cared about what happened to the other because of how they reacted to Noah.

There is a nice link to the next story when the Doctor, Harry and Sarah go down to Earth and it ends the episode rather well because even though Vira and the rest wont be returning, it does feel like its part of one relatively long story arc (forgive the pun). As an episode, it works rather well and has the nice build up to the final scene. The wirrn are a good alien and its surprising that it took Big Finish to bring them back because it is possible to have made more stories. As a four part adventure, it’s the first time that the story has felt like a Tom Baker adventure as opposed to a Jon Pertwee story. Philip Hinchcliffe’s first story has ended in triumph and I feel like the season has found its feet and the combination of Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen and Ian Marter has settled down and long may the good run continue.

The Ark in Space - Episode 3

When Noah hears the voice, I thought that it was just his madness taking hold. There is a sign that the wirrn haven’t taken complete control of Noah when he bashes his bubble wrap hand on the control unit. I like how after a brief moment of fighting it, he starts to become less Noah. It’s a great start to the episode and its good that it isn’t the Doctor, Harry or Sarah that take centre stage but Kenton Moore. Noah’s gradual development is quite impressive. The stage that Noah is at when Vira and the Doctor encounter him looks good even though its bubble wrap. Speaking of bubble wrap, there is one shot where a vent cover is filled with large bubble wrap and it just doesn’t have quite the dramatic weight that perhaps they were hoping for.

There is a lot more movement in terms of story development and Vira becomes the one who takes charge and she seems to have warmed up a lot in just the last episode and a bit. More and more of the ‘residents’ start to pop up but there are still a small number of characters and normally I wouldn’t care too much about them but due to Robert Holmes, I find myself not being 100% caring about them but I still want them to make it to the end of the story. I like how two of them basically regret going on the ark and not taking their chances on earth. They work out that they would be better off on earth and would be dead by now. It’s a particularly dark moment in what is still a family show.

There is a nice bit where we learn how the wirrn got on board the ark and what has caused all of this. It at least it gives us a bit of backstory which is what the story needed at this point having had nothing substantial in the previous episodes. It’s a shame that the there are two aspects of the wirrn that have mixed results because as I have mentioned the bubble wrap side is an issue but the actual full sized wirrn is quite impressive and even though there is just the one that we see it’s the better part of the wirrn and the thing that makes the whole story work.

There is a moment which seems terribly clichéd and it comes when they are trying to transport people from one part of the ark to the other and it happens just before Sarah is due to go. I just think that this seemed a bit silly and it was the one thing that slightly let the episode down as far as I was concerned. Apart from that I thought the performances were very good and the action moves along at a good pace and I thoroughly enjoyed this episode and the new era of Tom Baker continues to pick up.

The Ark in Space - Episode 2

After the regulars only episode, this episode sees the character numbers increase slightly. First of all that there is to comment on is the cliffhanger reprise. I was slightly disappointed with the fact that the wirrn didn’t fall onto Harry. I’m sure that this would have led to a funny early start to what is otherwise a dark(ish) episode. The first person that we meet who isn’t a regular is Vira (played by Wendy Williams). The way that she is bought into the story was clever and made sense. There is another dig by the Doctor aimed at Harry when he quips that Harry is only able to practise on sailors.

Vira is a cold person at first and says she is a doctor and comes out with a fantastic line of “either she will live or die” presumably she would have spent several years at medical school for that sort of training. The introduction of Noah was quite wise even though the name was a tad bit silly. Neither Vira nor Noah are particularly nice to the Doctor, Harry or Sarah. Noah didn’t last long before being infected by the green blob. Pretty much instantly, his starts to become affected. Due to the fact that this is a four parter there isn’t the time for a gradual change and so the quick transformation is something to enjoy. I thought that Kenton Moore was a bit ordinary until he started to become infected.

The pacing of the story doesn’t seem to be particularly fast as there is a lot of time spent in trying to revive people. Its nearly halfway into the episode before Sarah is revived and by the end of the episode only four people have been revived and one of those is killed by Noah. Whereas the previous episode was about the regulars getting from one problem to another this episode saw the plot move along to something but not making it clear as to what.

The main thing about this episode is that the main threat is introduced and the first shot that we get of the monster is a sort of green blob with what appears to be an eye. It’s very different to what we would have seen during the Pertwee and Letts era of the show. This is another example that the show has changed and that the age has matured very quickly in the relatively short time since Jon Pertwee handed the reigns over to Tom Baker.

The blob is an issue as far as many people are concerned. Now to a lot of people its silly that bubble wrap is used as a monster but considering that it wasn’t as common as it is now, it’s a critiscm that is a bit harsh. I work in a stationery shop and so I can’t look at bubble wrap now without thinking about this story. Sprayed green, the bubble wrap hand/claw that Noah looks at in horror in the cliffhanger is quite impressive. There is a slight sound of the bubble wrap but on the whole the revelation is well done. It’s an episode which takes the next step of the journey and it’s good that the Doctor, Sarah and Harry get to interact with other people and move around more.

The Ark in Space - Episode 1

The Ark in Space marks the first story with Philip Hinchcliffe as producer. It also marks the beginning of the gothic era of the show and this particular episode is the first time since ‘Inside the Spaceship’ that only features the regulars. I am watching this with the CGI effects used to replace the somewhat poor model shots.  The CGI effects are impressive and the opening moments of this episode show that this is going to be a different story from ‘Robot’. Due to the fact that there aren’t any other people in this episode, the drama has to come from the problems that the regulars find themselves in. Firstly it’s trying to get the oxygen supply working, then it is trying to get past the automatic guard.

It takes Sarah just over three minutes to get into trouble. Instead of sticking with Harry and the Doctor, she decides to go looking in another room which doesn’t have a great deal of oxygen. Sadly as I mentioned in the previous review, the feminism journalist side of the character has gone and replaced with a normal female companion. Her next unfortunate moment comes when the Doctor and Harry place her on a bed and when she wakes up finds herself being freaked out. There is the line where the Doctor responds to Harry by saying “There are only two of us here and your name is harry”.

It’s very rare that I comment on the sets but it looks very impressive and I like how there is a bit of continuity for a future story. Ok so the entire serial is a studio based one but when the sets look as good as these do then it doesn’t matter. The best set comes with the chambers which are holding all the crew of Nerva.

As there aren’t any other performances to speak of then I will have to talk about the central ones. Tom Baker really has got to grips of this story. He seems so different in this story to the last (probably because several months had passed since this story and ‘Robot’ were recorded). I am not sure whether I like the way that he talks to Harry. It just doesn’t seem very much like the Doctor and even William Hartnell’s Doctor wouldn’t have spoken to Ian, Steven or even Ben in the way that Tom Baker’s Doctor talks to Harry. I like how Harry is taking his first trip into space in his stride. There are moments when the posh twit aspect of the character comes into play and with this story being the way that it is, its needed to have a bit of light entertainment. I think that Ian Marter does his best with what is rather a flimsy role. That doesn’t mean there is something charming about Harry but its clear that his time on the show is going to be a little bit short. Elisabeth Sladen must have been disappointed that her role had been somewhat watered down since she started. In this episode along she’s been put in peril on three occasions. Sadly she suffers in this episode and gets the short straw out of the three regulars.

The cliffhanger is very good and very creepy. The wirrn falling towards the camera (from Harry’s POV) is a great way to end the episode and the episode on the whole has been rather good. I would have liked more from Sarah Jane but that aside I think that the proper start to the Tom Baker era has kicked off in tremendous manner and I am very confident about the future of this season and think that when the supporting characters get introduced to the story then things will start to pick up even more.

Robot - Episode 4

This is the final episode of this story which isn’t really a fourth Doctor Adventure. A stat for you to think about and that is this is the 128^th and last episode to be produced by Barry Letts. Letts’ first episode was episode one of Doctor Who and the Silurians and its no exaggeration that he was one of if not the person responsible for saving Doctor Who and ensuring that he leaves Doctor Who in a better shape that when he found it. It’s just a shame that his final story is nowhere near as good as his first. That said it’s time to focus on this episode and there were some serious problem with the episode and that were some of the rather cheap and rubbish things shown on screen such as the toy tank placed right in front of the screen to imply that it was a big tank.

There is a line where Miss Winters says that Harry and Sarah will have to be “disposed of”. Quite an odd choice of words, surely kill would have carried off more dramatic weight that disposed of. I think that Winters takes much less of an important part in the story in this episode as the robot takes the centre stage. Jellicoe does have a brief moment where he develops a spine but sadly it comes too late.

Kettlewell has a sudden change of mind which seems to come at a very odd moment. It happens just before he is killed by the robot in what has to be the campest death on Doctor Who so far. This leads to a major development as far as the robot is concerned because by killing Kettlewell it decides that its going to take his friendship with Sarah to the next level (whatever the robotic version of that is) and reset the countdown. He decides to restart it at 300 instead of the more logical idea of 002 which it was when the Doctor stopped it.

I like the moment with Benton and the Brigadier when they think that they have defeated the robot before it grows to the size of King Kong. Speaking of King Kong there has been this theme running through the last few episodes and the effect used is rather disappointing because whilst it initially might be a good idea to have a massive robot but its let down by the doll used to replace Sarah. There is something that seems a tad bit excessive. After the robot puts Sarah on top of the building, the UNIT soldiers decide to throw grenades and rockets at the thing not thinking about whether they damage the building or somehow kill Sarah. A bit reckless in my opinion. The scenes where the giant robot is quite well realised and there was the one shot where it squashes a UNIT soldier and it was surprisingly well done considering the budget of this show.

It’s quite interesting how the robot had affected Sarah. I think this is the moment where the feminine journalist is written out of the show and the more traditional companion takes centre stage. The final scene is quite nice because it shows how good the Doctor and Sarah will become. The inclusion of Harry Sullivan at the end did feel like it was added on at the last minute. The episode was a breathe of fresh air after the rather flimsy middle two episodes. I think that the rest of the season is going to be stronger because Philip Hinchcliffe is now in control and what the so-called gothic era starts to begin in the next episode and I am looking forward to this portion of the show. Robot is a goodbye to a portion of the show’s history that served a purpose at the time and suited Pertwee’s Doctor but with a new Doctor and a new actor that style isn’t going to do anyone any favours and one thing is for sure and that is the show is going in a new direction and the show goes up another level.