The Myth Makers - Horse of Destruction

Thankfully we have reached the final episode of this very lacklustre historical. Sadly it’s the last to feature Maureen O’Brien as Vicki. After less than 11 months in the role, Maureen O’Brien has decided to leave the Doctor and Steven. It’s the most action packed of the episodes and its where things finally start to happen. If only the previous three episodes had been liked this then I would have been writing a different review.

The story didn’t seem to have much to do for the regulars apart from Vicki. William Hartnell continues to seem like he is walking through the episode and Steven has slightly more to do but sadly doesn’t have much more to do. One thing that seems to have jumped out of nowhere is the inclusion of Katarina. She only really gets going when she is asked to bring Steven to the TARDIS/Temple. I must admit that I didn’t notice her before this and think that her presence is somewhat limited. 

Vicki has been a good companion and was better realised than Susan. I think that there were moments where Vicki seemed to be turning into Susan but on the whole I think that Vicki and Maureen O’Brien were a good force for the show. It’s a shame that this story was so poor to write Vicki out of the show, she deserved better. Her final scene was very dramatic and like Susan’s was helped by the music and the performances. That said I have been wonderful for the past four episodes as to why I have disliked this story so much and I think that after Mission to the Unknown and knowing that the Daleks will be coming soon that I have just been waiting for the episodes to come and go so we can get to the Daleks Master Plan. Now we are there and one of the most epic stories in Doctor Who’s history.

The Myth Makers - Death of a Spy

Oh well, lets just get through this as best as we can. These episode reviews seem to have been getting shorter and shorter as the episodes have been moving on. Thankfully this is the episode where it starts to pick up and things start to happen. Sadly it’s the latter stages of the episode where it all happens but at least something seems to be moving. This is the episode where the history starts to move things along and we finally get the Trojan horse which is perhaps the most famous part of this period.  What stands out foappen.to not suspect that anything is going to happen.to not suspect that anything is going to happen.

However the most interesting thing that happens is what happens to Vicki. It seems that at long last something has been done to prepare the exit of this character. Her love interest with Troilus is rather well done and I think that its given enough time to register in the viewers memory. I must admit that I Cassandra to be the most entertaining character in the whole thing though that’s not really a compliment when you consider how rather dull the rest of the characters are in this piece.

This is the most interesting episode of the serial though again that’s not really a compliment (it seems to be a regular thing in this episode). I thought that for the first time in a long time (if ever), William Hartnell seems to be walking through this story and doesn’t do anything really of any worth. This is turning out to be an even duller serial than Galaxy 4 and this third season of Doctor Who is quickly turning into the worst so far.

The Myth Makers - Small Prophet, Quick Return

After the rather limp opening episode. I’m happy to say that things have picked up slightly. This is the episode where everything from Vicki to the plot seem to wake up and get going. After spending most of the previous episode inside the TARDIS for various dubious reasons, Vicki finally gets to do something.  Like the Doctor, Vicki has to pretend to be someone else. However unlike the Doctor willing to pretend he is someone else, Vicki is willing to admit the truth and say that she is from the future. Speaking of the Doctor, he seems be thriving in the illusion. Steven gets to pretend to be someone though he is only pretending to be Greek.

The regulars are written much better than in the previous episode and also the supporting cast are also much better with Cassandra being my favourite. She is the one that I felt was the strongest and Frances White delivers her lines well and I like how everyone rubbishes her prophesies. She is also very jealous of Vicki as she believes that Vicki is a rival prophet.

Whilst I think that this is a much stronger episode. I think that that the story suffers a great deal from not being on video. The fact that it’s not the greatest story ever isn’t helping me enjoy the story. I am struggling to think of what to write. What I can say is that I don’t  think that Maureen O’Brien’s final story is going to be the finest finale story that a companion has ever had.

The Myth Makers - Temple of Secrets

The Myth Makers is the final story for Vicki who departs in yet another historical story.  It’s also the first story that is produced by John Wiles with Verity Lambert having departed at the previous episode. It’s also another story that doesnt exist on video in any form. This is a period of history that I know the basics and about 15 years ago I would have known quite a lot about this period however since then my interest and knowledge has ebbed away. The story starts off in a very shouty manner. It seems to continue throughout the episode but its at its peak at the beginning.

The Doctor is mistakened for Zeus which is quite an amusing and continues to the trend of the Doctor landing on his feet. The thing about historical stories is that the story is up and running before the regulars get involved and so there is a bit of a blur before I got a sense of what is going on.

It’s quite late before Steven really gets involved in the story. In fact its just past the 19 minute mark. Vicki had a blink and you’ll miss it moment at the beginning but she was side-lined because there isn’t much that could be done. It’s not a particularly action packed part of history and its made even harder to enjoy when you cant see whats going on.

I really cant get that excited about this story and it’s a shame because its Vicki’s last story. Hopefully the story will pick up in future episodes and the departure of Vicki is going to be fitting of the character but if memory serves me correctly then that wont be the case.

Galaxy 4 - The Exploding Planet

Back to the CD for the final part of this story and it seems like the time situation is back at the centre of the plot. Sadly as the episode is on CD I must admit that I wasn’t in the mood really to listen to this but if I am to stay on course then I would have to make the best of a bad situation. The Drahvins are still doing what they are doing which is trying to (badly) come up with their plan to steal the Chumblies ship. The Chumblies are trying to get their ship started ready to take off. The funny thing about that is they take off just before the planet is about to explode. It’s a trait in TV that is as old as storytelling.

There is a nice moment when the Drahvins see the Chumblies taking off and then they see the regulars running towards the TARDIS and try to get to them instead. Maaga is still a good character but sadly we don’t get to see if she pulls off the trick of making normal dialogue work brilliantly. There isn’t much to this story apart from getting the Chumblies ship to take off but as they only have 25 minutes they do what they need to do. When the planet does eventually blow up it would have been nice to see how this looks on TV because sadly the soundtrack doesn’t.

The end of the episode is great because it leads to the only episode in the shows history where non of the regulars appear. They are not even mentioned and it’s the prelude to the Dalek epic. Sadly that means that it’s the best thing in the episode which pretty much sums up my feelings about this episode and story. I would probably have had a different reaction to it had the entire four part run been on DVD but sadly its not the case. As a plot its

Galaxy 4 - Air Lock

Finally we get to the recently found episode and we get to see what Vicki was screaming at in the last episode. The Chumblies look even sillier when you can see them. Their base seems rather basic and it seems that whilst it’s a bigger area its not much better than the Drahvins. Sadly it looks like the budget is quite small even though it’s the first story of the series. It’s basically scaffolding with a few sheets of Perspex plastic.

As the leader, Maaga is the one that is the brains of the operation. She gets a wonderful scene where she seems to be talking to the other Drahvins but is looking directly at the camera and she gives a lovely speech which shows that she might be the only smart one there but she’s more than a match for the Chumblies.

We finally get to hear something resembling speech in this episode from the Chumblies as they capture a bit of something Vicki says and adopts then starts to speech English. It’s very much like the Judoon in the modern series. We learn how the ‘war’ between the Drahvins and we get to know that Maaga is slightly mad when she kills another Drahvin which she blames on the Chumblies. It’s another of the rather repetitive instances where we are told that the Drahvins are the bad guys and the Chumblies are the goodies. It seems like the repeated warnings about the Drahvins are a way of getting us through the episodes because otherwise its going to be a very short story.

Peter Purves seems to have drawn the short straw because for the first half of the story he just sleeps or pretends to sleep and then gets caught in the airlock. Vicki and the Doctor meanwhile get to interact with the Chumblies and their leader.  The Doctor does slightly more because he fiddles around with a machine.

Sadly whilst its nice to see an episode of this story. I cant say that it really makes the story any better. It’s a shame that the story doesn’t have much to it and it seems to have the same problem as The Web Planet where it just seems to jump from one set to the other. We are three quarters of the way through this episode and it doesn’t feel like the story has progressed very far in the two episodes.

Galaxy 4: Trap of Steel

There isn’t a great deal that I can write about this episode as nothing really happens in the episode. The problem with something existing on CD its hard to really get involved in the story, especially when everything that occurs in the episode is more visual than audio. From what I gather occurs in this episode there is more evidence that the leader of the Drahvins is a bit horrible and isn’t prepared to share a ship with the Chumblies. There seems to be a lot of walking around and after a while it all blurs into one.

Sadly the main problem with this story is that it lacks anything that comes close to exciting. Like the previous episode, we have one of the regulars left in the ship whilst the other two wander around and I think that its ok once but then gets slightly boring everytime after that. The only thing that seems to stand out is Steven who after having to spend four episodes refusing to believe what he is seeing, has finally got over that and embracing what he sees and in some cases fights with what he sees.

Despite the time running out for the planet, there doesn’t seem a great deal of rush in getting things done and we get to an episode that was lost until very recently and its time to see whether the story would have worked on tv better than it did on audio.

Galaxy 4 - Four Hundred Dawns

Galaxy 4 is the first story of the third series and its where the number of episodes that exist on video is worrying low. The 82^nd episode of Doctor Who starts off in quite a weird way with Vicki giving Steven a hair cut. It’s certainly a different TARDIS to the one that we saw at the beginning of the second season. It feels like a different show at times. However one thing that hasn’t changed much since that opening story of Season 2 and that is the Doctor.

The story doesn’t get off to the best of starts when the first ‘creature’ of the story appears. The Chumblies are named by Vicki and it’s a silly name. How are we supposed to see it as a menace when Vicki goes and gives it this name. She might as well have called a bunny rabbit. Their involvement in the story is quite important but they have the same problem as the Zarbi had in ‘The Web Planet’ and that is they only communicate in a weird high pitch tone. We also encounter the Drahvins who are a group of women who use men purely for reproduction. It’s the first time that the threat comes entirely from women. It’s quite easy to spot them as the baddies in this piece. They try their best to make themselves seem like the victims and the mere idea that they want to take someone else’s property instead of trying to see if they can both leave together shows the mentality of the Drahvins and why they are no good.

I like how the purpose of the story is spelt out so quickly. The planet that they are on is about to explode quite quickly. The Drahvins wants to get off and their space ship won’t start so they want to steal the Drahvins ship so that they can survive. It’s a simple plot that you see what the end point is going to be and so there is no need to try and figure out what the point of the story is. Just enjoy it and sigh when the Chumblies appear on screen. As for the episode, it loses a lot being on audio. The narration by Peter Purves helps a bit but I think that when we get to Air Lock we can see how they story works better when you can see it.

The Time Meddler - Checkmate

The final episode of this story is also the final episode of the second season. This is where the Vikings come to Britain and the Doctor has to try and stop the Monk but first we have to get over the news that clearly the Monk is of the same race as the Doctor. Though obviously its not named its nice to finally get a bit more information about the Doctor even though we know that his race all look like humans.  

The Monk says that Stonehenge wouldn’t have been built with his technology. The Monk seems to want to meddle in time because he finds it amusing. Not for any egotistical gain he genuinely believes he’s doing good. I still find the scenes between Peter Butterworth and William Hartnell to be extremely funny. The Monk’s TARDIS is similar to the Doctor’s and what we see is a massive treasure trove of goodies. Another difference between the Doctor and the monks is that the console is raised up though its implied that the Monk’s TARDIS is superior to the Doctors. The camouflage circuit is referred to as the technology to change the TARDIS to match its surrounding. I don’t recall a name being given to it before and it obviously changes to chameleon later on.

The scene between Vicki and Steven where they discuss what will happen when the Monk changes history. The exact second it happens every history book ever written will change and it’s in this context that the not changing history takes greater significance. They seem to have been given a bit less to do in this episode after they enter the Monk’s TARDIS. Even what they do get given is a bit of a let down as Vicki has to tell the Doctor that they don’t have the TARDIS because the tide washed it away but this is quickly put down by the Doctor. The way that the story is wrapped up is quite strange. The Doctor isn’t the one that stops the Monk’s plans and the Doctor strands him in that period. That’s it. It seems a bit of a let down if I’m being honest and the final moment of the episode is another strange thing where the faces of Peter Purves, Maureen O’Brien and William Hartnell are imposed over a picture of stars. 

As a four part story, it certainly has some good things going for it. There are good characters and its definelty better than Dennis Spooner’s previous offering. I just think that it lacks from a proper conclusion to the story and it doesn’t feel like the Doctor has settled things against the Monk. It was ¾ a good story and ¼ an ok story.

The Time Meddler - A Battle of Wits

The penultimate episode of this story that I must be honest and say it has gone up in my estimation. Despite the quite good cliffhanger it quickly its not long before things settle down. There is a lot less action in this episode and a lot less going on that there has been in the previous two episodes. I like how the Monk has a to-do list. It’s such as childish thing to do. It also reminds the viewer what the Monk’s plans are and just how much he has to cram into two episodes.

I must say that William Hartnell is looking quite refreshed having come back of his holiday. Apart from one scene which he has with Alethea Charlton, all of his scenes are with Peter Butterworth. I think that their scenes were very funny and Peter Butterworth has been a revelation in this story because even though he’s the least menacing baddie in the shows history, he still manages to maintain my interest as an adversary of the Doctor’s. That’s more down to Butterworth than the writing.

The TARDIS appears to have been taken away by the tide. Knowing that this is a four part adventure, the idea of the TARDIS being washed away seems like a redundant thing to put in the story but at the time it must have been a genuine shock but nowadays its not so much of a shock but more of a plot point. It feels like a bit of the energy has left the story somehow. Not entirely sure how this happened. The Doctor and the Monk wander through the corridors. Vicki and Steven go from the monestary to the cliff and then back and that’s pretty much all they do.

There is a fair amount of violence in this episode. Admittedly its not Grand Theft Auto style violence but its not a typical sight to see the Doctor knock someone out with a stick. I suppose it’s the only bit of action in the episode as nothing else seems to happen here really.

When I first saw the cliffhanger I didn’t see it coming and I suspect those watching in 1965 would have been when they saw Vicki and Steven enter the Monk’s TARDIS. This is the first time that we see someone else have a time machine. Apart from the cliffhanger I must say that I was a little disappointed with this episode and felt like it was waiting for the final episode to come around. It’s good to have William Hartnell back.

The Time Meddler - The Meddling Monk

The second episode sees us hear more (and see more) from the monk. William Hartnell doesn’t appear in this episode except for the reprise from the previous episode and some pre-recorded dialogue. Any fans will know who and what the Monk is but at the time it must have been a nice mystery because he seems to know the Doctor and is trying to con the locals into thinking he’s a real monk. I like how creative they have been with letting Hartnell have his holiday but not impede the story. They just show the outside of the cell and have occasional cuts to hear the Doctor demand to be let out. There’s a strange cutaway moment to what appears to be stock footage from some film. I say film because someone is talking but we cant hear what is been said. Whilst it might be said that its good that they are trying to give the viewer a feel of the time but I think that they could have cut that few seconds out.

We have another situation in this episode where the locals seemed to be in the middle of a power struggle. It’s very much like ‘An Unearthly Child’ (which starred Alethea Charlton) and actually it’s done better here than in that story. The worst thing that there can be in a story is when you want the bad guys to win (like in The Space Museum).

When the Vikings do appear they look the part with their helmets and costumes even though one looks like he’s just come from a 1960’s episode of Top of the Pops. The Vikings immediately come across as baddies which depending on your stance in history is a good thing or a bad thing. Once they have arrived its not long before they become involved with the locals and a fight soon begins and ends. Steven becomes more willing to believe the situation that he finds himself and becomes quite clever when he fools the Monk and is convinced that the Monk is lying. He seems to be doing well in trying to be the action hero figure but I will state now that he will never be like Ian but I think that the partnership of Vicki and Steven is going to be a good one.

There is a bit of Spooner’s humour but it’s a blink and you’ll miss it and that shows that Spooner knows that he’s got a good story and hasn’t got time to allow the comedy to take centre stage.  There is too much going on for us to have a sequel to the Romans. The episode ends with Vicki and Steven entering the Doctors cell and find that under the blanket he isn’t there. It’s a good cliffhanger and I think that whilst its not as strong as the previous episode I do think that the pacing of the story works well and the characters are all relatively well.

The Time Meddler - The Watcher

I must admit that as I start the final story of the second series that I’m not quite sure about the show. It’s the first one that doesn’t feature Ian, Susan or Barbara and so three quarters of the original line up has gone. Now we are left with a very different Doctor to the one that we saw in ‘An Unearthly Child’. It was the same feeling (oddly enough) that I felt when Carole Ann Ford left. The Time Meddler is another historical story however it’s the first pseudo-historical adventure. Meaning that there is a bit of sci-fi mixed into the historical goings on. This adventure is also another by Dennis Spooner who wrote ‘The Romans’ which is an adventure that I wasn’t 100% keen on.

In one of the first scenes with the Doctor, Steven and Vicki. The Doctor is asked to explain the TARDIS and whilst he doesn’t see why he should its nowhere near as aggressive as it was back in ‘An Unearthly Child’. In fact he seems to thrive to the challenge and is looking forward to prove Steven wrong. When the Doctor shows Steven a Viking helmet he comes up with the great line “What do you think this is? A space helmet for a cow?” It’s a cracking line. Another is when he states to Steven that he’s “Not a mountain goat”. It’s a good thing that happens in this story where they are trying to show a doubtful Steven that they are indeed in the past. It does feel slightly frustrating because the viewer knows that this is the truth and I just want Steven to get to grips with the situation and then we can all continue with the show.

Considering that the entire episode is made in studio, the story moves along at such as pace that it doesn’t really become an issue. There is some much that is happening and that Dennis Spooner seems to have found the right balance between humour and drama. The Monk is a figure that has some mystique about him and even though he doesn’t actually utter a word he still manages to have something about him. Even though at this point Peter Butterworth hadn’t appeared in a Carry On film it’s the most high profile name that the show had cast.

The episode sees Alethea Charlton return after appearing in the very first story where she was impressive. Here she plays a similar character but probably a bit more normal. In this episode she’s weary of the Doctor (some might say understandably) and then after a small while she starts telling the Doctor all the things that he asks. The Doctor spends the rest of the episode being a bit curious with the music and working out the time and telling the viewer what is about to happen. I must admit that this is a part of history that I like so it’s probably why I don’t mind the history in this episode.

I must say that I’ve never been a massive fan of ‘The Time Meddler’ but based on the opening episode I am starting to warm to it. Whether that will still be the case at the end of the story remains to be seen but out of the two Dennis Spooner stories we’ve had this is definitely the stronger of the two and the process of getting over the departure of Ian and Barbara continues.

The Chase - The Planet of Decision

It’s a sad moment in this journey. It’s the final time that Ian and Barbara would appear in Doctor Who. It’s also the episode where Peter Purves makes his second and more significant impression on the show. Purves plays Steven Taylor who has been a prisoner of the Mechanoids for 2 years on his own. His first scene was quite a good one as we learn a lot about the planet and what the mechanoids are.

The problem with the Mechanoids is that they are big and don’t really do much. They are also quite dim really because they allow Steven and the regulars to go to the roof and come up with a plan to try and escape. The bomb that the Doctor has spent several episodes is used in rather a limp way. It’s activated and then the Doctor leaves to the roof. When it does go off it doesn’t really do much apart from kill one Dalek. In fact the Mechanoids do more damage than that single bomb. The battle between the Daleks and the Mechanoids is rather well done and even though there are only a handful of Daleks and Mechanoids it does feel like an epic battle.

The plot point about Steven going back to get his silly mascot was a way of separating him from the regulars. I thought that the point of them leaving Steven to his fate was rather a harsh thing to do and I got the impression that under normal circumstances that they would have gone back for him. It seems to be a running theme of just leaving people behind as it happened to Vicki earlier in the story.

It’s really sad that William Russell and Jacqueline Hill leave in this episode and the Doctors reaction after being asked by Ian and Barbara doesn’t seem like acting on Hartnell’s part. If this had happened in the early days then the Doctor wouldn’t have acted like this and it’s a clear indication as to how much they mean to the Doctor that he goes a bit over the top. It’s not as emotional as when Carole Ann Ford left but it’s still a lovely departure for two of the finest companions in Doctor Who history.

This is the final time that William Hartnell’s Doctor will encounter the Daleks and out of the three stories it’s the one that isn’t well liked but I think that it’s a perfectly fine story. I would probably rate this as the second best Dalek story so far. As an episode its quite a good episode that has to do a lot in just 25 minutes as does it rather well. It doesn’t feel like its rushed and only the stuff with the bomb that has taken ages to construct is what lets the episode down. That said it’s a good end to a six part story that hasn’t dragged in my opinion. There aren’t many six part adventures that I can say that about.

The Chase - The Death of Doctor Who

The rubbish idea of getting someone else to play to duplicate Doctor is thrown at us as we get the reprise. The title is called ‘The Death of Doctor Who’ and its one of the most intriguing titles in the series so far. The action takes place on Mecanous and we get to the dark side of the planet where we only encounter the huge broccoli-like creatures. They are somewhat silly in design and they show their weakness quite quickly when the sunlight appears and they go running. There is another silly moment when they attack the Daleks.

One of the reasons why this whole plan of the two Doctors fails so miserably is that for most of the time its clear that someone else is playing the Doctor. It’s hard to suspend my disbelief to this extent and every time I see this episode I ask myself the question ‘Why didn’t they film the good Doctor’s stuff first and the duplicate Doctor’s stuff second?’ It might be a bit time consuming but it would have worked a lot better.

There is a funny moment where the Ian fights what he thinks is the duplicate Doctor but is in fact the real Doctor. Again disbelief is hard to suspend when you can see the fake Doctor trying to mime William Hartnell’s lines. It is also quite fun to see both Doctors fighting each other. Thankfully they don’t drag this silliness out for too long and its quickly defeated. Now we can get back to the seriousness of the Daleks trying to kill the Doctor.

There’s a moment where the Doctor pretends to be the fake Doctor infront of the Daleks and it doesn’t work. I like it because its another example of how the Doctor has developed since Ian and Barbara first joined the show. It’s a selfless act and I think its one of the strongest moments for the Doctor.

It’s not until quite late in the episode that we discover the huge (and I do mean huge) city that stands above them. They decide that its where they have to get to and its where the final battle will take place. The cliffhanger is quite good as the regulars have to go with a giant robot. Normally they wouldn’t but with the Daleks about to attack them they have little choice. This is the first time that see them and they do look quite impressive.

With the exception of the fake Doctor and the Daleks, there aren’t any supporting artists. This means that the four regulars have to drive the story and they do it very well. I think that this episode is an improvement on the previous one and that’s a surprising statement considering for a good chunk of the story we had the fake Doctor storyline. It’s all shaping up for a great cliffhanger and I think that the departure of Ian and Barbara (and introduction of Steven Taylor) is going to be an enjoyable episode.

The Chase - Journey into Terror

We’ve reached the episode where they land at the haunted house. It does seem in the grand scheme of things, rather odd to include this in a Dalek story but actually it’s a nice bit of fun. It feels like this is the episode where the build up to the end starts to speed up. The title obviously refers to the haunted house but might also subtley refer to Vicki’s situation so what might seem like a throwaway title actually has two meanings.

This first part of the story takes place in what might look at first like a haunted house but its never really made clear whether it’s real or in the human mind. Are the people that the regulars encounter actors or monsters. There’s a moment when the Doctor and Ian encounter Frankenstein’s monster and you can clearly see a Dalek which isn’t suppose to be there. Now when I first saw this I thought (rather naively) that it was a stealth Dalek but in more recent times the obvious has come to light.

The light hearted-ness is somewhat cut short when the TARDIS leaves without Vicki and whilst the Daleks are being knocked about by Count Dracula (there’s a line I never thought I would write), she manages to get into the Daleks time machine. It’s sometime before the regulars even notice that Vicki isn’t with them. If I were Vicki I would be really hurt by that (and a bit miffed). We learn about a Dalek plan when we learn that they are planning on duplicating the Doctor (thus leading to one of the silliest ideas in Doctor Who).

The regulars (minus Vicki) come up with a  good plan of stealing the Daleks time machine so that they can go back to the haunted house and get Vicki back, obviously not knowing that she is on the Daleks machine. So they decide that the next planet is where they will fight the Daleks. At the same as they arrive, the Daleks duplicate is ready to operate. Sadly it looks nothing like William Hartnell and even  someone with bad eye sight would be able to tell the difference. It’s only the last shot that is of Hartnell. I cant understand why they could have come up with a better way of getting William Hartnell to play the duplicate. It ruins what is otherwise an ok plan. It’s a this stage that I started to lose a bit enthusiasm for this story but I still maintain that it’s a good story overall.

Day 74: The Chase - Flight Through Eternity

We learn that there is a device on the TARDIS that alerts them if someone is on the same time path. We also learn that the TARDIS takes 12 minutes to get itself together. I like the idea that it has to sort itself out instead of a quick departure. The Doctor talks about constructing the alert thing and whilst they couldn’t have known what the future producers and writers would do, it’s the first bit of discontinuity.

The first scene in the Daleks time machine isn’t quite the ideal scene that it should have been. There is the age old problem of dummy Daleks with a picture at the back of the scene. In fact I don’t really like the Dalek’s time machine from the look of it right down to the sound it makes when it lands and takes off. Compare the Daleks first scene to the regulars first scene its clear that the creator of the Daleks had an easier time coming up with good lines for humans than monsters.

This episode is the first time we see Peter Purves in Doctor Who as the first point of the adventure is the Empire State building in New York. Purves plays Morton Dill who is your typical tourist that you would have come across if you have been on holiday. When you consider his performance in the final episode it’s a blatantly comedic role. It ends when he goes a bit mad after encountering two time machines landing and departing and encountering the Daleks. I’ll comment a bit more when Steven Taylor arrives but I thought that the Morton Dill character was quite fun and very tongue in cheek

The story finally becomes a chase. The first as mentioned is the Empire State Building which is quite a small set and sadly doesn’t have a proper background to show the surrounding ‘Ancient’ New York area. Though it could be argued that it was a foggy day I suppose. The second place that they land I the Mary Celeste which famously was discovered to have no crew. The set itself is quite good as its quite big and also have many levels to it. In this part, Barbara gets caught as a stowaway and Ian gets knocked out by Vicki then they leave and the Daleks arrive and scare everyone to jump overboard. It’s not until the end that Barbara realises that her love of boats led her to being on the Mary Celeste. It’s not really made obvious until the very end.

Something that happens in this episode that doesn’t get addressed is the clear image of the Dalek on a different level which clearly indicates that they can fly. It’s just that don’t see it on TV. It’s the first of two instances in this story.

The 12 minute lead has gone to 8 which is the cliffhanger and its not as effective as it could have been because of the music really. It’s a bit to upbeat for my liking and thought that they could have lowered the tone to create the right impression. As an episode its good that they have finally got to the chase part and considering they go through two different settings, its quite an achievement of what they actually get done in the episode. The episode is starting to pick up but the end of the story is getting close and we all know what that means.

Day 73: The Chase - The Death of Time

The episode starts off with the Dalek rising from the sand. After that moment the Doctor and Barbara come across the Aridians. There’s a nice shot where the Dalek is high up on the screen and the second Dalek comes in from the side at a lower angle. The Dalek location film is quite good and the best bit comes when the Dalek is coming towards the screen.

We get a nice bit of exposition as to what is going on. It seems quite a good battle between the Aridians and the Mya beast which gets even more complex when the Daleks arrive. The thing about the Aridians are going to hand the Doctor and Barbara over to the Daleks is something that you cant really blame the Aridians. They might look a bit silly but their characteristics are quite good.

There’s an odd moment after the explosion where Vicki appears to be laughing before becoming concerned. In fact out of the two groups it seems that Vicki and Ian have drawn the short straw in this episode as they don’t seem to do as much as the Doctor and Barbara. Ian gets to do a bit of action hero stuff when he helps come up with the plan to get past the Daleks.

This is the most blatant reference to the fact that the TARDIS is very difficult to destroy when the Daleks try to blow it up. Of course as the viewer is aware, it survived falling of a cliff in ‘The Romans’ so a short blast from some Dalek guns is going to be no problem.

The Mya beast isn’t particularly good as it just looks like a bloke in a suit. I suppose it serves a purpose and you can suspend your disbelief in the idea that its terrorising the Aridians but I cant say it’s the most impressive monster in Doctor Who history.

The Daleks spend a long time not really doing very much. They talk to each other but don’t get very far. They show up, threaten to attack the Aridians if they don’t hand over the Doctor and Barbara, get fooled by the regulars and shout at the camera. Not their finest 30 minutes.

The scene where they are trying to get in the TARDIS and get the Daleks out of the way is a bit of comedy but it is rather well done. It’s helped by the fact that the scene is at night and its helps create a mood.

The episode ends with the Dalek coming towards the screen ranting and raving. It was a good cliffhanger though unfortunately the episode wasn’t as good as I would have liked. There’s an awful lot of people just sitting or standing and talking. I just want the chase part of the story to start and thankfully that is what is about to happen.

Day 72: The Chase - The Executioners

The Daleks are back!! It’s their second story of the season after ‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth’ which obviously saw the exit of Carole Ann Ford.  It’s the final story to feature William Russell and Jacqueline Hill. The Chase has a special place in my heart because it was one of the first stories that I owned on video when it was released with ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’ back in the early 90’s. The episode starts off with the regulars floating around the time visualiser that the Doctor took in the previous story. It’s one of those things that gets mentioned but never gets used again. When was the last time you heard the fault locator mentioned?

There’s a nice exposition where Vicki tries to explain (without knowing it at the time) what the time visualizer is. It’s fun that after more than 70 episodes, Ian and Barbara still are none the wiser when it comes to what the Doctor is talking about. I always like the scenes that take place in the TARDIS as it feels like a second home. In the opening scene we get to see US President Abraham Lincoln, an encounter between Queen Elizabeth I and William Shakespeare (which led to the idea of Hamlet being thought up) and also short clip of the Beatles (yes the very same). Apparently they were suppose to be involved a bit more than they were but their manager put a stop to it. To even get the clip was a move that would have been more fitting in the modern day era.

When the TARDIS crew land, they appear to be in the middle of a dessert which has two suns. The planet is called Aridious. There is a difference between the location filming and the studio stuff but the studio scenes were all quite good. It’s made to look bigger than it is due to Richard Martin’s direction and also Maureen O’Brien and William Russell do their best out of breathe acting. Also the scenes with the Doctor and Barbara help to create the illusion as the sand can be easily moved around to make it look different.

After the reprise from the previous episodes, its nearly the half way mark (15:07) before the Daleks appear again. It’s clear from their first scene that they are effectively on a revenge trip with reference to the previous Dalek adventure which if that really was their intention then it’s a bit unfair on Vicki who wasn’t even with them in that adventure. At the end of their scene where they go into their time capsule its clear that they are just walking through the door into nothing because that is all it seems to be. Slightly disappointing.

The action that takes place in the tunnels are rather well done and are well lit. It’s just as well that I like them as we will see more of them in the next episode.

The cliffhanger is rather good but is quite similar to the ending of ‘World’s End’. In that episode the Dalek comes out of the Thames and in this the Dalek rises out of the sand. I remember the first time that I saw this episode how cool that seemed and even when its clear that the ending is a rehash of another cliffhanger it still doesn’t lose any appeal. It’s a good opening episode and another thing that it has in common with other Doctor Who stories is that it the regulars don’t encounter anyone in the first episode of the story. It’s good that they get to enjoy (or not in Ian and Vicki’s case) the surroundings.

Day 71: The Space Museum - The Final Phase

The final episode of this story starts with what Ian actually saw when he walked into the room. The Doctor is asleep in some sort of chamber. Normally when the Doctor is in this situation it would lead to him being written out for the next episode but as this is the final episode of the story that is not going to happen. After spending several moments of talking about how the Doctor was cold in the machine but was still conscious we are reminded about the mystery of how the regulars ended up in the cabinet. Had you forgotten about it? I know I did so it was a nice reminder. Barbara spends the first 10 minutes of the episode doing very little before reuniting with Vicki and the Xerons. It’s nice to have the regulars are reunited. I’ve discovered that I actually like this foursome more than the previous.

The moment of revelation that the regulars don’t necessarily have to change their behaviour to prevent themselves from being in the cabinets but the others is a nice one in the story. The revolution that Vicki helped start is what they hope will change their fortune. The revolution itself doesn’t actually last that long and they seem to spend more time preparing for the revolution than the fighting itself. Actually the Xerons don’t really seem that good, try as I might I just find myself not really caring about their petty dismay at the Moroks. Maybe if there were some older people in the group then they might have worked more as the good guys. Normally if I don’t like the good guys then I side with the baddies but even the Moroks are poor. They are slightly more menacing in this episode but it’s a bit too late.

The answer as to what caused the different time track and the mystery of the regulars in the cabinets seemed to be a bit of an add on but it was quite a similar answer to what caused the problems in ‘Inside the Spaceship’. It was a satisfactory ending to the episode and it was good how the Xerons decided to dismantle most of the things in the museum and the Doctor takes something to put in the TARDIS which becomes integral to the next story. The final scene must have been a surprise for viewers in 1965. A Dalek was seen briefly in the first episode but to see one in all its menace must have come as a shock and they would have been wanting the next Saturday to come.  

Day 70: The Space Museum - The Search

After the mystery of the opening episode and the humour of the second. It seems that its been replaced with nothing. We get to see how the Morok’s really don’t like one another and are even quite nasty to each other whereas the Xerons are still a hiding around trying to stage a revolution against the Moroks. The regulars have all now split up with the Doctor being prepared for the museum, Vicki having some lunch, Barbara hides then tries to get out of a room before being gassed and Ian is walking around threatening people.

I don’t know whether it’s the fact that I’m not really in the mood for this episode or what but I am hard pressed to remember what is going on in the early part. It only really gets interesting when Vicki becomes more involved and helps the Xerons gain access to the armoury. She gets to use a bit of her feistiness and also her intelligence and it makes up for the poor way she was treated in the previous episodes. In this episode she has to try and get around a truth machine that is blocking the Xerons from the guns. It does raise the purpose of a machine that can be changed so quickly.

The cliffhanger is quite a good one because all we see is Ian looking in the camera’s direction and simply saying “Doctor”. We don’t see him but it paints a wonderful image as to what we will see in the final episode. I cant say that I was as bowled over by this episode as I was by the previous two. It picked up the final half but the first half was lacking in any excitement.