The Wheel in Space - Episode 3

For the first time since The Web of Fear episode six (November 28) I get to stick a DVD on and it’s the Lost in Time disc. This is the first time that we will get to see the restrictive atmosphere that the story would be set. It’s not the most awe inspiring design ever but once we get inside then it improves greatly. The reprise of the last episode sees the hand come out of the sphere. To be honest the sphere’s sound better in my head than what we would see. I know that its unfair to compare 1968 standards to 2013’s but even with the greatest will in the world, its not the best way to start the episode.

There’s a bit where Jamie looks for something and it says ‘Quick Set Plastic’. You would think that they didn’t need to label it so blatantly. I also like a shot where on the Cybermen’s ship there is a needle moving wildly and there is a company name on it and its nice to thing that the Cybermen have companies that make components for ships. Those tiny niggles aside the whole episode moves quite fluently and its good to have the Doctor and Jamie back as this keeps the theory that they are being considered as saboteurs.

We get to see the Cybermats again which serve a better purpose than back in Tomb. The Cybermen continue to be well hidden but still deeply involved in the story. It’s quite a good how they have been improved without making any modifications to them. The scene where they attack the guy is really well done. I really don’t like the Cybermen’s voices. They just sound too tinny and it’s the one downside to the Cybermen in the whole run of Doctor Who. There’s very little consistency and this is something that’s going to bug me for the next four episodes.

Patrick Troughton returns after his holiday/knock on the head and the way it’s done is really good as Jamie says that the reason he wrecked the laser was because the Doctor told him and then Troughton repeats it. Their chemistry is one of the best things about the Troughton era and as they don’t have Victoria around and Zoe hasn’t joined the team yet it means that they can show why they are so good together.

Zoe is still unlikeable and rolls of stats like she’s a machine and it takes Leo to be the one that tells her like it is. There is another round of Jamie picking at Zoe’s intelligence. I cant think what they were thinking by making her such a stuck up cow. There’s no need to be like the way she is apart from providing Frazer Hines with some opportunities to be quite smug in his own right. Speaking of Jamie he’s in the rare position of being the cause of the danger by putting the laser out of use.

It isn’t the best episode of the three but it’s a perfectly fine episode that feels like its starting to go somewhere now that Patrick Troughton is back and also the Cybermen have finally appeared. At the halfway stage its good that it feels like the padding is over and the fun stuff can finally begin.