The Creature from the Pit - Episode 4

Thankfully its not just good things that have to come to an end, its also not so good things or in the case of this story things that are just boring. Thankfully this isn’t the last story that Fisher would right as it would have been terrible if this were his last offering. It’s unfair to blame some of the writing at Fisher’s door because Douglas Adams should have reigned back some of the humour and put more of an effort into telling a good story.

Erato gets to speak for the first time when he is speaking using the Doctor’s voice. In just a few moments we learn a lot about the creature. He was about to offer a trade agreement and he met Astrada who threw it straight into the pit. This suddenly makes the story worth all the silliness that we have had to be put through. This explanation makes Astrada seem a much better villain than she was perceived to be in the previous three episodes. If only this had been mentioned earlier then I might have reacted much more fondly. The death of Astrada would normally indicate that the story has ended but quite cleverly this isn’t the case in this story because there is still some more action and its that the planet is about to be blown up because Erato’s people took its silence as an act of war and retaliated. I like how Erato isn’t too keen to help the people that imprisoned her/it for 15 years. Though despite its imprisonment it does the right thing and by the end of the story that trade agreement is still on.

The humour is still misplaced in this episode with a moment where the Doctor is saying goodbye to Organon before he is killed. There is also a repetitive yes answer between the Doctor and Romana which does get a bit tiresome. This is about as much as I am prepared to go on about the humour for this story.

I think that this episode saved this story for me. There wasn’t much time really for any of the humour that has bogged down the previous episodes. Tom Baker was far more his old self rather than the new even lighter humoured Doctor that we have had during this season. I still think his line to Organon was a bit out of character and perhaps was the most obvious clue so far that Tom Baker’s influence in the show was starting to have a detrimental effect on the show. I am now half way through the two stories that I thought were going to cause me problems and it’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be but I am still dreading the next story.

 

The Creature from the Pit - Episode 3

One thing that I should be thankful for about this story is that it is only four episodes long. Now that I am three episodes in I know that there isn’t much left for me to endure. The episode starts off with the reprise of the less than convincing CSO but does show the Doctor being squashed by the blob and his reaction is not as comedic as when the Wolfweed’s were on him. The Doctor was never going to be killed so the idea of pretending the Doctor is dead is a narrative tool that is somewhat pointless.

Romana’s interaction with Adastra is interesting one because there is a thing called the Blechdal test which sees whether films or television are fair to women and female characters and for most of this story these characters pass this test but for the moments when  the Doctor is mentioned it obviously doesn’t pass the test. When the Doctor has scene with Adastra I think that this is the first time for a while that the Doctor has been serious. I know you may be sick and tired about me mentioning this but the humour is a major issue for me and it just ruins what could have been a decent story. It makes all the serious moments special.

There is a period where I cant make my mind up about the humour and whether the Doctor is being humorous or not and it comes when he is talking to the creature. At least during this period we start to understand a bit more about the creature. Sadly its slightly undermined by the actual design which at certain angles look sillier than usual. According to the production notes, nobody was really happy with the design of the creature and so its impossible to be too hard on anybody because if they had said that it was ok then I would think that they deserved all the critiscm but as they all admit that the creature was rubbish then that’s the end of that.

This episode was better than the previous one but that’s not very difficult. I thought that like the previous episode the cliffhanger was the best part but in this episode there were more interesting moments in this episode and I think that I feel more positive about this episode than yesterday’s episode but I still think that this is a disappointing episode. The only question is whether its more or less disappointing than ‘Destiny of the Daleks’. At the moment I really don’t know.

The Creature from the Pit - Episode 2

As I get into this story I wonder whether something is going to make me change my opinion and make me say something positive about this serial. Sadly on the basis of these two episodes, that isn’t going to happen. The Wolfweeds which caused the Doctor no harm in the previous episode seem to have incapacitated K9 which I always thought was slightly odd. When the Doctor is hanging onto a rock in the shaft he decided to teach himself Tibetan which I think was a bit of a mistake. Whereas the humour in ‘City of Death’ was spot on in this story its just misplaced.

We get to see the creature in this episode and its….erm….well a bit silly. There’s no getting away from it, it just looks like a part of the male anatomy. It’s a bit difficult to take an alien menace seriously when that’s the only or first thing that comes to mind when it appears on screen. When we see the bigger version of the creature it doesn’t look to bad, sadly its mainly the smaller version that we see

Cast in the story is Geoffrey Bayldon who has appeared in a couple of Big Finish audios including playing the Doctor in the Unbound series. I think that his performance is quite good and seems to work well with the Doctor in his current mood. This is why the Doctor and Organon spend so much time together and I think that despite my misgivings about the humour I think that this is by far the more interesting.

The cliffhanger isn’t quite as good as the previous one but its still a good ending. It’s another instance where the cliffhanger is the best thing about the episode. I still don’t like this story very much and despite this being written by David Fisher and being the last story to be directed by Christopher Barry, I think that this story doesn’t work because it cant quite make up its mind what it wants to be. I don’t really care much about the characters or the story. Despite the visuals and the fact that it doesn’t feel like padding, this is definelty the weakest story of the season so far. The effort that Tom Baker is putting into the story is getting weaker and weaker with every episode.

The Creature from the Pit - Episode 1

I have never been a big fan of this story although I have noticed that this story was written by David Fisher so it might not be as bad as I thought. This was the first story that Lalla Ward recorded as Romana but its been shown third for some reason. David Brierly is makes his first appearance in the show and this is the first time that K9 has been involved in a story since ‘The Armageddon Factor’ and to be honest I haven’t missed him. One thing that this story does have in its favour is that most of it is filmed at Ealing studios which gives it a different feel. It makes it feel like they are on a different planet and not a studio.

The Wolfweed look quite impressive and normally when they cover the Doctor it would be a moment of danger but sadly due to the fact that Tom Baker is using a more comedic style in his performance nowaways means that he treats it as a comedy moment. Speaking of Baker’s comedy it seems to span the whole episode because he spends a long time in some stocks which just seem silly

This episode sees Eileen Way return after appearing in the first story as the Old Mother I belief. She is very good in the role and I could belief that she is the ruler of the planet and not Lady Adrasta. This might be a problem in future episodes but its good that the main villain is a woman. There are two aspects of this story. The first is with Lady Adrasta who is the ruler of Chloris and the second is with a bunch of rough looking people who are obsessed with finding metal and wrongly think that Romana is Adrasta’s lady in waiting. Romana does have to try too hard to outwit her captures but she doesn’t really have anything memorable to do.

The only exciting thing that happens in this episode is the cliffhanger which sees the Doctor swing down into the pit. That shows the problem with this story when the only exciting thing to happen is the thing that is used to entice you to come back the following week is the best thing. Sadly despite the best efforts of Tom Baker and Lalla Ward, the rest of the performances (except Eileen Way) are a bit below par but that’s partly due to Fisher’s script.

I am willing to accept the fact that this could change in the rest of the story but at the moment my original thoughts about this story seem to be spot on. My friend came up with one word to describe this episode and it was simply……bland.

The Brain of Morbius - Episode 4

Let’s discuss the costume of Morbius now that its complete. It might look a bit silly with the head ware on but the rest of it looks quite good. I suppose on a BBC budget they couldn’t do the costume that they wanted but I still thought that the human hand was a nice touch.  The Doctor tries to get Solon to disconnect Morbius’ brain from the rest of its new body and tis clear that this isn’t going to happen. It’s another example of how slow the Doctor has become in his new incarnation to figure things out. He slightly gets the chance to redeem himself when he comes up with a plan to try and flush Morbius out with a special gas and that only kills Solon.

The ending of certain characters was a slight problem for me Kondo’s death is quite sad and happens early on. It would have been nice if he had survived until the end and would have had his hand reattached. Solon’s death was a bit of a cop out really because I think that considering he had been so involved in the story up until this point that he deserved a better ending. This wasn’t the way that Philip Madoc should have ended his time on the show but it seemed that he suffered from a lack of time because he was basically reduced to a supporting role which isn’t what he was really.

There is a rather fun mind battle between the Doctor and Morbius. We see faces in the mind screen which seem to suggest that William Hartnell wasn’t the first incarnation. This is of course nonsense as it could be argued that they were incarnations of Morbius but it’s something that gets bought up whenever this story and in particular this scene is discussed or watched. It’s the final encounter between the Doctor and Morbius and its not the sort of final battle that most people would have expected. It wasn’t a war of words or a fight with swords or anything like that but just a battle of who was the most powerful mentally.

Morbius’ death comes at the hand of the sisterhood who effectively push off a cliff. The last shot of him is spinning to the ground in the sort of way that Wile E Coyote use to fall to the ground. It’s quite a good if slightly odd effect though I don’t know if he should have been spinning around. That said it would normally be an issue if the Doctor weren’t the one that stopped/destroyed the villain but in this case, it worked that it was the Sisterhood that ended Morbius’ life. The sisterhood use the elixir on the Doctor which shows that they have pretty much got over their dislike of the Doctor.

I thought that it was a solid four part adventure. I don’t think that its as good as ‘Pyramids of Mars’ but it’s certainly one of the best Doctor Who stories in the classic era. The thing about this episode is that its one of those final episodes that doesn’t feel like it’s a final episode. That’s not to say that it was boring but it didn’t really feel like it was ending until the bit where the sisterhood are cornering Morbius. The story as it is continues the good trend that the show was heading on and this second season of Tom Baker’s is shaping up to be just as good as his first.

The Brain of Morbius - Episode 3

After two episodes, Morbius finally becomes involved in the story. The whole episode is building up to the when Morbius becomes more than a head in a jar. Sadly Sarah is still blind and that’s rather annoying, true it had a purpose in the previous episode but now they could have got round it somehow. Also if the Doctor said in the previous episode to Sarah that her vision should return in a couple of hours, why then did he then go to the Sisterhood for some of the elixir?

The Sisterhood are starting to lose their appeal as far as I am concerned. This is largely down to their first scene when the Sisterhood talk to the Doctor and they are still going on about his death. The issue of the elixir is solved by the Doctor and it’s a bit of a relief because it’s not the most important thing in the plot and yet it was the only thing that they would go on about so know they can get past this particular stumbling block.

Solon The shot of the green liquid pouring out of Morbius jar allowing the brain to just flop to one side is quite a grim image. Another grim image was when Solon shot Kondo and you actually see blood fly from his chest area. It’s perhaps another opportunity for Mary Whitehouse’s killjoy brigade to attack the show. Despite the potential hysterics that this woman would bring down on the show, I am happy that for once that production values aren’t at the centre of any problems with the show but instead the level of gore/violence is. Personally I think that there is just the right amount.

Doctor Who during this time was the era of borrowing from different movies and genres. Sort of the pre-Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz type thing. There is a Jekyll and Hyde theme before this episode and there is definelty a Frankenstein moment in this episode when Solon is working on the new body for Morbius. I was half expecting for Solon to shout “It’s alive!” at the top of his voice but sadly this didn’t happen.

On a totally random and weird topic. I quite like the day scenes set on Kahn. I think that its nice there are some light scenes in what is effectively a very dark episode. They only appear for a few moments and don’t actually contribute anything to the story but they I still like them.

The cliffhanger seems to be a nice mix of the previous two. That’s because it involves the new body for Morbius, Sarah and her being blind and unable to see anything. Whilst it looked nice I don’t think that it had the ending it should have done. It doesn’t weaken the episode because the whole episode kept me entertained from start to finish (despite the few moments that didn’t quite work) and the final episode should complement this story really well.

The Brain of Morbius - Episode 2

I wonder that if Terrance Dicks knew then what he knows now whether he would have wanted to take his name off this story because it’s a great little adventure and sure it might be stronger in tone than what Dicks would have seen during his time on the show but this is the sort of story that works for Tom Baker’s Doctor and for this period of the show.

It’s not very often I do this but my favourite line of the episode and possibly even the story is when Solon insults Kondo by calling him a “Chicken brain biological disaster”. It’s a great insult and shows why Solon is a really good character and Philip Madoc is such a good actor. The changes that Solon goes through in just one episode is quite remarkable and that helped me get past the last of anything really happening.

Once the episode gets over the reprise, the story starts with the Doctor talking to the Sisterhood. I commented that the sisterhood were a group that didn’t really get me interested in the story but this episode continues a change that I have noticed.

Morbius committed some crimes on Kahn which helps to explain why Morbius is held in the regard that he is. It forms part of a nice scene between the sisterhood and the Doctor where we learn that there is a bit of history between them and the Timelords. The Doctor soon finds himself about to be burnt at the stake by the sisterhood. Sort of out of the frying pan and into the fire so to speak. The shot of the flames in front of the Doctor is a good one. Sarah is blinded at the end of this scene and it seems to serve just one purpose and that is to make the cliffhanger seem more effective.

The scene between Kondo and Solon is a good one because Kondo shows Solon that he isn’t simply a simpleton. There is a nice bit of fear in Solon’s face and it shows that Solon isn’t quite as in control as he would like to think he is and it adds a nice bit of interest in their relationship. Solon’s involvement in this story becomes more interesting when during this episode we hear him talking to someone else who is clearly Morbius but this scene just shows that at best Solon is misguided and not the evil force that he pretends to be.

The episode seems to exist just to build up to the big reveal of Morbius is actually a brain in a jar. It’s one of two famous sci-fi brains in a jar. The other being Dave Lister in Red Dwarf VI. I think that the cliffhanger doesn’t quite have the shock that the previous one did but it’s still a good ending and I like that despite not a great deal happening in this episode, it’s still an engaging and interesting 25 minutes. It’s largely down to the performances from Baker, Sladen and Madoc but I think that this is a very dark and very entertaining adventure.

The Brain of Morbius - Episode 1

The Brain of Morbius is one of those stories used to highlight the Hinchcliffe era and one of those that was used to beat the show with during calls that it was too violent. This story was written by Terrance Dicks however due to ‘creative differences’ he withdrew his name from the script and Robert Holmes put a rather amusing name. Robin Bland is credited to writing this four part story so there wont be any more reference to Terrance Dicks or the creative issues. After being slightly disappointed with the previous story, I was hoping that the same problem would occur here. Like the first episode of ‘The Android Invasion’, it starts off in quite a dark tone. The opening shot is of what looks like a mutt from ‘The Mutants’ having its head cut off by a strange figure.

This episode sees the return of Philip Madoc. Madoc plays Doctor Solon who is quite obsessed with finding a human head. I love the way that he is being as nice as pie when the Doctor and Sarah arrive at his home. By the end of the episode, the Doctor and Sarah have been drugged just after the Doctor realised that a sculpture was in fact Morbius. The Doctor is conscious long enough for us to learn that he’s not perhaps the nicest person to have ever existed and thus this means that Solon is equally as sinister.

Christopher Barry returns to the directing chair and there is only one shot that really doesn’t work and I would have left out and it’s the blink and you’ll miss it shot of a chandelier falling onto the table. It looks like it has been sped up because it was done slowly and just doesn’t work in the course of the scene and it’s the one thing that lets the episode down.

Apart from Solon, the episode focuses on the Sisterhood who are at this time concerned with the elixir that is burning itself out. The sisterhood are worried that the Doctor has been sent by the Timelords to steal the flame. I have never really been a big fan of the Sisterhood in this story as I felt that they go in the way of the plot.  This time however I think that it actually works in the stories benefit. That’s because it does a great job of making the Timelords to be quite happy to meddle in the affairs of other planets and civilisations.

The cliffhanger is quite a good one as Sarah discovers what we know is Morbius but at this moment in time is a headless creature. It’s been a sound opening episode and I feel a lot more warmly to this episode than I did during the previous four. The performances were all perfect for the setting and I think that Christopher Barry has done a great job. I am optimistic that the rest of this story will live up to this episode and the slight disappointment of the previous story is soon to become a distant memory.

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.

Robot - Episode 3

This episode is the one where the King Kong theme starts to take shape. Sarah Jane stops the robot from killing the Doctor. It seemed like a longer version of the cliffhanger than in previous cliffhangers.

The bit where the robot was escaping from the UNIT soldiers is a terrible part and that’s due to the fact that the robot moves so badly that it becomes laughable. Another laughable moment is when Jellicoe is helping Michael Kilgarriff (who is inside the costume) down the stairs in what is the slowest escape ever recorded on video. There is a silly bit where a toy tank appears in front of the camera to give the impression that its

Kettlewell just happens to be a member of the SRS and still has his membership. I love how he seems like a nice moment until the Doctor sheds light on his true intentions. I think that his hair is getting out of control and every time he is on screen I am drawn to his hair and not necessarily to his performance.

There is a moment when the Doctor talks about what would happen if the nuclear arms were released and the look on his face at the end of his speech is a great look and very much the look we would get in later stories. Another famous trait from Tom Baker is when he stands in front of the SRS group and acts like a bumbling clown

There is a scene where Miss Winters is talking to the SRS group and she gives a passionate speech. She is arguably the best thing in this story and puts some energy in the story because otherwise it would just be a pedestrian story with a new Doctor and that’s a weird thing to have in

I still think that its weird that Tom Baker is driving Bessie.

The action moves to the underground bunker in the latter stages of the episode and this is a good setting for this series. This is where I think that the story is making some strides towards a conclusion. I don’t know if its being low down but Winters’ madness seems to escalate and become more like a Bond villain.

The cliffhanger is a disappointing because it is just the robot appearing from the bunker and that’s it. I liked the previous cliffhanger because there was some drama to it but on this occasion here is the opposite. The more that I watch this story the more that I think that this is a Jon Pertwee story left over and that’s made even more plain by the information in the info text on the DVD saying that even though this was the first story in season twelve, it was actually filmed during season eleven which is why it doesn’t have the vibe of future stories. Oh well only one more episode of the Barry Letts era of Doctor Who to watch. Robot isn’t a terrible story but it doesn’t quite have the impact that other new Doctor stories should have.

Robot - Episode 2

After the up in the air style of the opening episode, it’s time to get involved into the main plot. Due to the reveal at the end of the previous episode we don’t have to have any secretive POV shots. I liked it when Sarah decides she wants to see the new robot after Winter’s tries to scare her. It’s the beginning of a good episode for Sarah Jane who forms an emotional bond with the robot. It’s very much like King Kong. It’s rare to have two strong female characters.

There is a good CSO shot when the robot comes through the wall of the MP’s house. That’s a rare example of CSO working and benefiting the story. The idea of this robot being used by Winters makes more sense in this episode though it’s hard to believe that in the previous episode that it could dig its way out of something due to the fact that its mobility is somewhat restrictive.

Kettlewell created the robot and there is a lovely scene where he’s talking to it and it’s like a father and son talking which is a weird thing to introduce into this show. I still think that the character of Kettlewell is a very interesting character and is played very well by Edward Burnham. Whilst Kettlewell is very good in this episode the same can’t be said for the Doctor’s new companion. Harry’s only purpose in the episode is to pretend to be some civil servant that goes to Think Tank. Even Winter’s thinks that it’s a bit odd. The problems with the character of Harry are already showing themselves in this episode.

Scientific Reform Society (SRS) is mentioned in this episode and they are considered to be a small but seemingly popular group (cant think that would happen today). After a short but good scene, we are left in no state of confusion that there is something about SRS that is important.

There is a shot of the Doctor driving Bessie which is very odd indeed and I think only happens in this serial. Bessie should have been only used by Pertwee because it was his car and he didn’t use it during his last season. Tom Baker discards it after this serial and so I don’t quite know why they bothered with it.

The cliffhanger is rather good with the new Doctor being put in danger. I don’t really like this but I think that because the Doctor is still new, there is a question as to just how he is going to get out of this particular situation. It’s a relatively good episode but it does feel like a Jon Pertwee story and so its hard to imagine that this will be in my top 10 of Tom Baker stories come the end of this era of the show.

Robot - Episode 1

Today is a moment that I have been looking forward to since I started this marathon. I am now in the Tom Baker era of the show and this is where we I am going to experience every different type of story that the show can provide. The show that I watch now is very different to the one that I watched on January 24 because for a starter there was a complete freshness to the show. It was filmed on colour, it had a new producer, a new doctor and also just felt like someone had injected with a whole load of vitamins. This time the only thing that has really changed is that there is a new leading man and the script editor has changed from Terrance Dicks to Robert Holmes. This is Barry Letts’ last story as producer with Philip Hinchcliffe waiting in the wings. So after the drama of ‘Planet of the Spiders’, it seems that the show has decided to take a gentler pace with former script editor Terrance Dicks writing this serial.

The initial post-regeneration scene is typical of what Baker’s Doctor would be like. There is a load of ramblings first but after a few minutes the Doctor seems to have got to grips which his new look and getting down to business. I don’t know why but I was quite pleased when the Doctor recognised the Brigadier and Sarah Jane. There is the now customary scene about the Doctor’s new garb.

Tom Baker gives a good performance in this episode and whilst it might take a while to get use to how he performs, I think that its good he goes for something that is completely different to Jon Pertwee. Elisabeth Sladen and Nicholas Courtney do a good job in helping the viewer feel like this is Doctor Who whilst Baker gets a handle on the role. Sarah is back to her journalistic day job though her clothing is somewhat different to what she wore back in ‘The Time Warior’. This is the first appearance of Harry Sullivan played by the late great Ian Marter. Sarah Jane mentions that Harry is a bit old fashioned and whilst that may be true it is quite a good thing because Marter gives a rather charming performance.

The threat of the story is one of those things that looked great on paper but sadly doesn’t work so well on TV. At first we see the just the POV shot and then we just see its ‘hands’, it isn’t until the end of the episode that we see the top half of it and I don’t know whether its my 21^st century attitude but I just don’t think that it’s a very good robot. I’m sorry to say that but it might be good at breaking into things and killing Dalek operators but apart from that it doesn’t carry quite the weight that it should.

Most (if not all) of the location is filmed at BBC Wood Norton which was where some of ‘Spearhead From Space’ was recorded and there is one particular scene where Sarah is climbing over a wall which was used in ‘Spearhead from Space’ and everytime I see it I cant help but think of that story.

I like the initial scene between Miss Winters and Sarah Jane because Sarah thinks the Jellicoe is the director and Miss Winters says she wouldn’t have expected chauvinism from Sarah. This is particularly interesting because you could hardly call Sarah chauvinistic. I think that Patricia Maynard is very good as Miss Winters and comes across as someone with less that honourable intentions and the fact that the villain is a woman is something that is a rare thing in Doctor Who and its done rather well. Alec Linstead as her deputy Jellicoe does well in supporting the character. Kettelwell has the maddest hair ever seen on television and the way that he’s introduced is rather fun because he is someone who works at the Think tank and left to pursue other interests and so the first time that we get to meet him he comes across as some nice if cranky old man. I think that Edward Burnham gives a good performance in this episode.

The cliffhanger is quite a good one but that is just because I am comparing it to the rather odd ones that I have seen at the end of ‘Planet of the Spiders’. I think that considering it spends the first 10 or so minutes with Tom Baker, the episode does get quite a lot done and yet it doesn’t feel like it is being rushed or that we are missing out on anything. I think that the Tom Baker era of the show has kicked off in a good if somewhat subdued manner and I think that this was the best story to introduce the viewers to a new Doctor with.

 

The Mutants - Episode 6

It’s felt like a long six episodes. It seems that this is the episode where things start to make a strange sort of sense. I should say that if they had worked this hard at the beginning of the story then I would have reacted better. Perhaps this is another example where quantity isn’t better than quality. I think that whilst its good occasionally to have six parters (like in ‘The Sea Devils’), most stories are better as a four episode format. After spending what feels like an eternity talking about him we actually get to meet the earth investigator. Thankfully it happens quite early on and from the moment he appears, the action seems to flow thick and fast. I like how it seems to be going the Marshall’s way before Jo, Stubbs and Cotton gate-crash the investigation. What follows are some of the finest scenes in the entire serial.

Paul Whitsun-Jones has saved the best until last. The Marshall does seem to have come unhinged as he ends up locking up the investigator and when he meets his end I was quite glad that he got his comeuppance. Jon Pertwee also gives one of his best performances for quite sometime. He seems to really go for it when he’s talking to the investigator. Even Katy Manning seems to get some good stuff to do though she’s put in a position where she doesn’t outshine Pertwee which is fair enough I suppose.

The effect of turning Ky’s hand from a human hand to a mutant is brilliantly achieved. Also some of the effects of the Technicolor CSO Ky are well done by 1972’s standards. It does do a good job of making it look like some sort of metamorphosis has taken place. The Mutts are quite good even when they are on Sky Base. I was quite critical before about how some of the studio sets were quite dull and were undermining the story. This time they were actually quite good and this might be more to do with what was going on but I thought that they looked good.

Whilst I am glad to see the back of this story I should say that they saved the best episode till last. Everyone was performing brilliantly and helped me enjoy this story for the first time really. I still think that its one of the weakest third Doctor stories so far and I can breathe a sigh of relief because the next story sees the return of Roger Delgado and the return of UNIT. Yes its TOMTITT and ‘The Time Monster’.

The Mutants - Episode 5

The episode starts off with the rather impressive cliffhanger which even with CSO doesn’t diminish how good it looks. I would have liked a bit more of an idea what the story is building towards because it doesn’t seem like theres much of an idea about what the climax will be. That said this fact is somewhat forgotten as there are enough things happening in this episode to make you forget this.

The Marshall seems to have regain some of his menace from episode three. The scene where Jo and the others are being put on trial is an interesting one and it shows how the Marshal is trying to balance many things at the same time. It’s good how at one point it seems like the game is up for the Marshall when the earth investigator arrives. Speaking of the investigator, I wonder how many people watching in 1972 were still thinking that it would be the Master. I am surprised that it was mentioned so often and yet he or she doesn’t make an appearance.

As far as the sets are concerned, it’s a story of two tales because the scenes on Solos are really well done and atmospheric but when the story moves to the studio, it loses something and this isn’t something that struck me until now. The lab that Jaeger uses is the best of the Sky Base sets but the rest all seem rather boring in comparison.

Jaeger seems to have had a sugary drink when he first appears in this episode. Apart from that he is still good to watch even though he’s on the bad side. You can tell when they have remembered Katy Manning is in this story as she suddenly starts to be proactive. Here she is tied up but she is the one that escapes and when they make radio contact she is the one that explains it all. She is not the dumb blonde in this episode which is a blessed relief. Even Jon Pertwee does some good stuff in this episode even though he spends most with Jaeger.

I nearly went an entire entry without mentioning my new positive approach to the story and that’s because I haven’t had to force myself to find the positives. Yes there have been moments which have caused me to be negative but the pros outweigh the negatives in this episode. I think that this was a solid episode that had a ok cliffhanger to compliment what was a productive episode. It’s a shame though that its taken until the fifth episode for me to feel like this. Sadly it will probably go down as one of the weakest Pertwee stories and certainly the weakest so far.

The Mutants - Episode 4

Ok so its day 2 of my new positive attitude to ‘The Mutants’. I think that taking a positive attitude is the right way to go when there are stories that I don’t feel so positive about. It seems like such a long time ago since I was in the heavenly glow of Jon Pertwee’s first season and I’m surprised to having to force myself to find positives in a story.

We find out who the mystery figure was in the silver suit that Jo encountered previously and it was good old Professor Sondergaard who looks like Richard O’Brien but is in fact John Hollis. I do like the character of Sondergaard because he comes across as friendly and more importantly interesting which hasn’t been the case really. The Marshall has lost a little bit of the coldness that he had in the previous episode but he’s still a good villain in this story. The solonians aren’t quite as interesting in this episode and Ky is pretty forgettable here which is a shame. Once the tablets are looked at his importance in the story is somewhat lost on me and I don’t really care about him. MUST BE POSITIVE!!!

The story moves on quite a bit and we get some answers about what the tablets meet. We learn that Solos takes 2000 years to orbit its sun with each season lasting 500 years. It’s nice that we finally learn something about this planet and the people. I’m a bit like the Doctor and a bit confused as to why the Timelords wanted the Doctor to take the sphere to Solos.

There is a moment when the Earth Council Investigator appears and people watching in 1972 must have thought that it would be the Master after he had turned up in ‘Colony in Space’ and when he appeared in that it was at the half way mark so it was perfectly plausible for him to just pop up but he didn’t and I’m wishing he did because it would be the perfect way to end the final two episodes.

The scene at the end when Varan is sucked out of Sky Base after the Marshall blasts a hole in it is very well done and I’ve said that in spite of the fact that it’s CSO. It leads to a rather good cliffhanger and it’s the best one that we have had so far.

This is the first time since the story began that I genuinely feel like the story is progressing. I still don’t feel like there its building to anything spectacular but at least the story feels like it moving along and that’s a relief. I was flicking through my rather battered Doctor Who: The TV Companion book and was somewhat down to realise that ‘The Time Monster’ is next up but that’s still a couple of episodes away.

The Mutants - Episode 3

Against my better judgement, I have decided to be more positive with this story. I still maintain that it’s a terrible story but this story is going to take longer to endure if I don’t look on the Brightside of things. Firstly, Stubbs and Cotton are quite fun to watch and are a good double act. They have been good since the first episode but in a sea of mediocrity they are a bright beacon of warmth and humour. The Marshall is quite cold as he talks about wiping out the mutts. He seems less like pantomime villain from the previous episodes and instead is more of a serious baddie. The fact that he gets off his backside and goes onto the planet is what makes him step up a gear in my book.

Thankfully the story gets out of the studio and moves onto the planet for a large portion of the episode. The caves scenes are well done and are quite dramatic. The moments where Ky is trying to fight off the mutts is a good bit and the mutts themselves are quite good designs. The only thing that spoils the cave scenes is the disco bit where Jo encounters a silvery figure doesn’t work quite well because it’s a CSO scene so it was never going to fit in with the episode.

The first scene with the Doctor, Varan and Ky was very good because the performances were all just as good. Jon Pertwee again gets the better share of the action compared to Katy Manning. His quest to find out whats in the ball is over and now he’s on to a new mission to find out what they mean. Manning gets to have some good lines with Ky but again falls into the traditional companion trap and just runs and gets into trouble. Ky gets to hold the sphere that the Doctor has been holding onto and in it there are Solonian tablets. It does feel like this part of the story is moving forward because apart from that there is very little in terms of plot progression (it’s a struggle to remain positive).

Even taking my new positive attitude out of the equation, this isn’t a terrible episode as there are plenty of things that pass the time but it’s still a story that doesn’t have a great idea.  It’s horrible to say that the whole thing is boring because its directed by Christopher Barry and I think that Barry is a fantastic director and Bob & Dave Baker are good writers but this one doesn’t quite stand up.

 

The Mutants - Episode 2

I’ve reached a stage in this marathon (need to come up with a better more positive name for this) and I think my I sort of know which stories are ones that I am going to look forward to and which ones are going to be the dreaded ones. During the William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton eras I was prepared to expect that my opinion of the stories and episodes would change. They largely changed to a more positive view. The problem with the Pertwee era is that when his stories are good they are very good and when they are not good they are very poor and season nine has been the first season which has been largely below average. I have been trying to put my finger on just why I haven’t warmed to this adventure.

Now that Geoffrey Palmer’s character got killed in the previous episode it means that the Marshall is perhaps the most interesting of the supporting characters and he is the only one that has some colour in their performance. The rest of them are as bland and uninteresting as it is possible to be. This is possibly one of the reasons why my interest has gone on holiday for a few days.

One of the few positives to take from this episode is that at least we get to see what is inside the sphere even if its just for a moment and we don’t really know what it is. Another is that George Pravda returns to the show after appearing in ‘The Enemy of the World’. I was so happy when he first appeared in the episode because it was like a breath of fresh air.

Jon Pertwee has the better slice of the action in this episode as he spends the time trying to find out what’s in the sphere. He also gets to have some good scenes with Pravda. Katy Manning on the other hand gets some good stuff but unfortunately is stuck with Ky. She’s put in the predictable position of being put in danger where she has to walk on Solos with its poisonous atmosphere. This is about as good as it got for Jo.

Considering it has such an important political and social message, I cant help but admit that I find this story totally boring and nothing of any good has come from this episode. I feel like I am ready to give up on this story. Don’t get me wrong I am going to stick with it, but I think that this one of those stories that I will just have to endure instead of enjoy.

The Mutants - Episode 1

The Mutants isn’t the best story that I think that there has ever been in Doctor Who.This is another non-Earth story which should be a cause of celebration. However since the Third Doctor started travelling in the TARDIS, its fair to say that the stories in space aren’t as good as they were during the Troughton era. My opinion of this story hasn’t been particularly good but I am hoping that watching it an episode at a time will change my opinion. This is a Bob Baker and Dave Martin story who wrote the previous season’s ‘The Claws of Axos’. This time they have six episodes.

The Doctor’s mission is a lot clear than it was when he went off in ‘Colony in Space’. He has to deliver a ball to someone. The Timelords went to the trouble of sending it to the Doctor but not bothering to tell him who it was for. Bit careless of the Timelords really. If only they had put a name on it then it would have reduced this six part adventure to a four part adventure. The box does open when Ky walks by and this explains who it is for but it would have spared us some time if we knew who was suppose to get it.

The world that the Doctor and Jo find themselves in is one of humans giving independence of Solos to the solonians. The earthmen (or overlords as they referred to) aren’t particularly interesting. They are as bland as boring as you could imagine. Only Geoffrey Palmer has any life in him. Even the Solonians aren’t very interesting and whilst I could understand their frustration, I think that they don’t find any of them particularly interesting which is a problem that is going to follow the rest of the story.

The cliffhanger was probably the best thing of the entire episode as it was the only time there was any excitement. So as you can probably imagine, I still don’t think that this story is as good as it could be. I am still hoping that things pick up but after being spoilt with a good monster and some good location filming, I don’t think that my opinion is going to change but there are still five episodes to change my mind.

The Daemons - Episode 5

The final episode of season eight has to do a lot in this episode and that is to give a satisfactory end to not just this story but to the season. The story starts off again with Azal appearing in his full form for the first time. It’s a good cliffhanger but I don’t think that it’s resolved very well. I like the explanation that the Doctor gives the villagers about what’s going on and after a while it goes back to the science vs magic argument between the Doctor and Miss Hawthorne. It’s fairly good that they use Jo as the sacrifice. It might be what you could argue the companion is for but it gives Katy Manning something to do other than fall over a lot.

After being stuck on the outside of the action for most of the time, the brigadier finally gets through and into the action and it’s a massive relief as I wondered quite what the point was for Nicholas Courtney to be in the story until this episode. There was also a look of relief on Nicholas Courtney’s face as he got to do something constructive. The episode features one of the most iconic lines in Doctor Who and the most famous that Nicholas Courtney says. “Chap with the wings there, five rounds rapid”. Once he’s involved in the story he doesn’t hang around and is firing at the gargoyle with everything that

There is a nice twist when Azal offers to give power to the Doctor and not the Master who refuses instantly. This must really have annoyed the Master after all he has gone through but this is clearly another instance where the Master hasn’t thought things through. Hopefully he goes away and thinks about how to do plans. Maybe watch a bond film or something like that.

The way that Azal is defeated is quite clever really as its Jo’s heroic moment of wanting to sacrifice her life instead of the Doctor’s does the job and I think that whilst it might have been the best way of finishing of the story, I found that it meant that the companion helped defeat the baddie and that makes a change from the Doctor swooping in at the last moment.

Now way back in episode one it was shown to us that the Doctor could use Bessie via remote control and it becomes relevant and prevents the Master from escaping. At the end of the episode he is seen being driven off and I still half expected him to find a way of escaping so it was nice and refreshing and felt like it left the door open for his return at a later date. Roger Delgado has been a  brilliant addition to the show and maybe a bit of a break will do the character and the show some good but he has been fun to watch.

The last shot is of them all dancing round the maypole with Yates and the Brigadier off to the pub. It does feel like the end of the season and it’s a nice way to sign off this season which has been largely good. I think that apart from Colony in Space, the stories have good but to be honest I think that the use of Roger Delgado in the vast majority of the season has been a bit of a mistake but I think that Katy Manning has really developed well in this season and I look forward to her second season.

The Daemons - Episode 4

The penultimate episode of this season finale story and I’m still in two minds about this story but for different reasons than at the beginning of the story. I think that the problem is that like most six part stories, this is too long for the story. Admittedly its only one episode too long but its still too long. Azal’s first appearance is a rather odd shot of its feet/hooves, the next would be the back and side of its head. His involvement in the episode is brief yet important and after spending three episodes talking about him its good that there seems to be some on screen development in this area.

In the initial moments of the episode, the Master looks like the assistant as opposed to the main person. This is just as surprising as the cliffhanger from the previous episode. This weird look doesn’t last for long as the moment he leaves the crypt he’s back to his old self. The sight of the Doctor on a bike is something that still takes a bit of getting use to. As is the scene where is he shot at and falls off the bike. Pertwee’s Doctor is very much an action figure and he shows it again here and has a very good episode unlike Katy Manning who does really get much to do apart from running from one place to another and falling down a lot. Roger Delgado on the other hand continues to impress from start to finish and has his best scenes when he’s in the crypt talking to Azal. Despite my disapproval of how the Brigadier has been used in recent episodes having been kept outside the main action, I must say that I felt he was given slightly more to do but compared to Jo he looked like he had a million and one things to do.

The whole business of the Doctor being tied up and trying to convince the locals that he has powers and it means that we get to see Bessie moving seemingly on her own like she did in episode one. When he was looking for things to move he had help from Benton who deserves some praise as he feels frustrated that everyone seems to be doing something or cant be found and he’s having to endure Miss Hawthorne who has a wonderful smile on her face for the whole episode.

The CSO shot of Azal didn’t start off particularly well but by the end it looked and it was a good cliffhanger and it ended was a pretty pedestrian episode. Apart from a few brief moments of action from Jon Pertwee, nothing of much interesting happened. It’s quite surprising that considering we are so close to the end that it doesn’t feel like the end is in sight and this also feels like a padding episode.