Spearhead From Space - Episode 4

We start off the episode with the great chilling shot of the Auton Scobie approaching the normal Scobie. It’s good how they’ve gone to the trouble of making the auton duplicates look different and its simply by making it look like they are sweating. It’s simple but effective. The action moves around to various locations and it does feel like someone has hit the fast forward button because no sooner does it seem like their just bumbling along to executing their plan so quickly.

Hibbert is showing signs of not being quite under the control of Channing. From the moment in the museum to where he tries to destroy the nestene, there is a great decline and unlike Ransome, I was sad to see Hibbert go. It was clear that he wasn’t going to see the end of this story but he was a good character. In fact all the supporting characters have been good and the only thing that would have been better is if we had more Sam Seeley. Seriously, I loved this character.

The thing about this episode is that it features one of the most iconic scenes in Doctor Who. This is where the shop window dummies wake up and ‘smash’ their way through the windows. I laugh when I remind myself that they didn’t and it wouldn’t be until 2005 before they would. This isn’t just about smashing (or not) through the windows. The scene of shop window dummies walking along the highstreet killing people as they go along is something that stands out even by todays standard. It’s still a creepy and well done. Another thing I notice are the shops that appear, not one bookies or payday loan and no empty shops. That’s the main difference between 1970 and 2014.

The only thing that I’m not keen on about this episode is the scene where Liz is trying to get the machine used to kill the autons working and takes an age when its clearly visible (even from her angle) that the cable has popped out. It seems a bit silly and serves no purpose other than to have Jon Pertwee pull weird faces and delay the action a few moments.

The line of “Smith…Dr John Smith” was used by Patrick Troughton and I think its used here to remind us that Jon Pertwee is the Doctor and I think that this story has worked well to establish Pertwee in the role. It was the best possible story to launch the new era in Doctor Who, a solid story, a scary monster and it wasn’t padded out or rushed in the final episode (like I fear in the previous episode). Doctor Who is in safe hands and the stories are only going to get better.

Spearhead From Space - Episode 3

I didn’t think until now that its unusual really to have a cliffhanger which uses a character that the regulars haven’t come into contact with. If almost being wiped out by an Auton wasn’t a sign that his future in the story wasn’t going to last much longer then you would be in for a surprise.

I like how the Doctor is manipulating Liz into trying to get away. As he doesn’t have the key to the TARDIS, he persuades Liz to get the key of the Brigadier and give it to him. This shows that Liz Shaw has become a friend of the Doctors and instantly becomes someone that the viewer can trust as well. The fact that Liz does the Doctor’s bidding shows that whilst she might work for the Brigadier (in a sense), she doesn’t really like all the military orders stuff. When the Doctor tries to take off in the TARDIS we learn that the Doctor’s exile is exactly that. This shows the viewer that the Doctor isn’t going anywhere soon and that for the foreseeable future the adventures are going to be set on earth. I like this idea for some reason and think that the adventures we are going to have would only work on earth and not on some alien world.

The Spheres are now called energy units and Channing is missing one of them and it’s the swarm leader. That’s always the way isn’t it? Your missing one piece and its quite an important one. I think that Channing is a really good character and the moment when he’s staring at the Brigadier through that weird looking glass was a brilliant moment as does a good job in continuing to show that Channing isn’t as human as he looks.

I continue to like the Seeley’s. In particular the wife who I think stumbles through the events of this episode. She comes across the trunk that has the sphere in it and it leads to her exit from the story. There are several moments which are impressive in this episode. The scene where the Auton is walking slowly towards Mrs Seeley was one of them. The lack of expression on the Auton’s face is brilliant and it works so well with the shock and terror of Mrs Seeley. Another great scene with the AUton is when it rips its way into the tent that Ransome is resting in and within a moment kills him and makes him blow up into smoke. The final impressive moment is actually the cliffhanger and its where General Scobie opens the door to see his mannequin looking at him and starts walking towards him. It’s an effect that’s well realised and also it’s a creepy ending.

Even though it’s a four part adventure, it doesn’t feel like it. I know what happens in the story and so feel that it seems like Robert Holmes has been keeping our attention with other stuff until he gets into the final episode. That’s OK as the stuff so far has been entertaining and I think that despite some characters who haven’t quite worked (Munro & Ransome), I have enjoyed this story and my feeling about this season being my favourite continues to be the case.

Spearhead From Space - Episode 2

The beginning of the episode deals with the cliffhanger rather quickly. The Doctor isn’t dead just in a self-induced coma. I like it when they make random things up about the Doctor, if anyone can do this then its Robert Holmes. It’s quite lucky that the UNIT soldier was such a rubbish shot that all he managed to do was graze the scalp.

This episode sees the introduction of a different part of the plot. Ransome is working in a factory and gets the push and is a bit cross. The only reason why we should care is that its Channing is also a fixture of the factory. I don’t really like Ransome, I find him a bit whiney and just his whole character annoys me. I was happier when Seeley appeared. We got to see Mrs Seeley and the way they were together was very much of its time and it wouldn’t have worked in 2014.

I do like the scene where the UNIT soldier is killed transporting the sphere. It was quite different to anything that we would have seen during the Troughton era. The effect of crashing the truck was simply done but you don’t need to go over the top in order to achieve something effective.

Seeing the Doctor try on his new outfit is something that has become a part of the regeneration process and the fact that the Doctor gets changed in a hospital would be mirrored during Matt Smith’s opening episode. In fact that whole scene is rather strange. It’s the first time that we had seen the Doctor take a shower in seven years on the show. When the Doctor eventually makes it out of the hospital its clear which car he’s going to end up in (I prefer the red version to the yellow Bessie we see).

The second scene between the Doctor and the Brigadier is a lot better than the first. It’s better because Pertwee has quickly got to grips with the character and the whole scene is a lot of fun. I like how he instantly gets on with Liz Shaw and its clear that two scientists are always going to get on far better than with a member of the military. Even one like the Brigadier. The cliffhanger is another good one with Ransome about to become a victim of the Autons. It’s good more because of Ransome’s face and the way that the Auton just slowly moved towards him. On one hand I don’t think that it was as much fun as the opening episode but then it did what it needed to do and as a result it’s a perfectly fine episode. The feel of the episode is strange due to the outside filming and as a four part adventure its moving along nicely and it seems like Pertwee is going to have an easier time settling into the role and making it his own than Troughton did.

Spearhead From Space - Episode 1

I am really excited today as I embark on the seventh season of Doctor Who. It’s not that it’s the first time that we see Jon Pertwee in the role, its not that it’s the first time we see Caroline John as Liz Shaw and its not that this is the first episode of Doctor Who in colour but it’s the fact that I regard the seventh season of Doctor Who as the best ever. I don’t think that theres a weak story in the season. Whether this opinion will change, only time will tell. This story is unique because it’s the only four part story of the season (the rest being seven parters) but it’s the first time in Doctor Who history that an entire story was filmed outside of a studio. This marks the first time that we see the Autons and it also sees Robert Holmes return to the show after his less than successful start with ‘The Krotons’ and the dire ‘The Space Pirates’. I remember the first time that I saw this story and it was one of the first stories of Doctor Who that I saw on video.

I like the fact that we are introduced to Pertwee’s Doctor straight away. Its three long minutes before we get to see him fall out of the TARDIS and we don’t get a proper look at his face. This was clearly designed to tease the viewers of 1970. We have several things to try and get our heads around, such as the fact that the Doctor appears to have two hearts and that his blood isnt like human blood. Add this to the fact that unlike with the last time no one saw the Doctor regenerate means that the transformation isn’t going to be a smooth one.

Jon Pertwee’s first episode is an interesting one. He spends most of it in bed (bit like Tennant), and the episode feels like its moving at a rather pedestrian pace until the twenty minute mark when the Doctor is kidnapped and there begins a chance to see what sort of Doctor Jon Pertwee would become. It’s the first time that the Doctor has done anything this action driven. Liz Shaw comes across as a rather cold and snobbish person in this episode which isn’t how she would end the story. The first scene with the Brigadier shows that Liz has certain ideas about how a woman should be treated.

It’s good to see Nicholas Courtney back and this is the beginning of a five year involvement in the show. It feels like only five minutes since the last time that we saw him in ‘The Invasion’. I like the scene with the Brigadier and Munro which seems a lot like ‘The West Wing’. The look of disappointment when he goes to the Doctor expecting to see Patrick Troughton and instead sees Jon Pertwee. It’s something that the Brigadier’s going to get use to but on this occasion its like the Brigadier doesn’t know what to do.

Captain Munro is the Benton of this story and I personally don’t really like him because he doesn’t have much charisma and its clear why he didn’t have much of a lifespan in the show. Sam Seeley is a character which seems very much like Clancy in ‘The Space Pirates’. He’s designed to be a larger than life character but unlike Clancy, I find Seeley to be far more interesting and nowhere near as irritating as Clancy.

The cliffhanger is quite good as after just twenty five minutes the Doctor could be dead. Could this be the shortest tenure of any actor playing the role? Of course not but I think that it tells us that the style of the 1960’s has definelty been replaced by the new vibe of the 1970’s. It’s a good opening episode for everyone involved in the show and all the different aspects are introduced well and I have a good feeling that my view about this story and this season is going to remain true.

The Ice Warriors - 6

The final episode sees the story reach a natural end. Normally I would expect the episode to try and salvage the story but it didn’t need to do that as I think that this story has impressed me enough. The episode had a simple job to do and it did it quite well and what I liked was how it didn’t feel like they padded it or were rushing through the 25 minutes.

I liked how it was Penley who raised the temperature and the Doctor caused everyone to have a massive earache. It was a nice double act that shows why the character of Penley was so good but to single out Penley would be a disservice to the rest of the supporting characters who have all been solid in their own way.

It’s just dawned on me how much Victoria’s outfit in this story must have inspired Peter Jackson when dressing the Hobbits in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. She continues her good run (for what time shes in it) and this has to have been her best story since she joined the show. I’m was getting bored of Jamie not doing very much he only benefits when Victoria disappears off screen.  Frazer Hines has done well with playing second fiddle to Deborah Watling but I suspect that he knows that this is a short term measure. Not that I’m saying that Hines was trying to hog the limelight but its usually the case that Jamie gets the better slice of the action pie than Victoria. Deborah Watling appears for the first half of the story before disappearing with pre-recorded dialogue and some good acting by Patrick Troughton. Not quite sure why they didn’t just write her out of the episode completely but I suppose they didn’t think of that.

The scene where the Warriors storm into Clent control room is simple, short and effective. I quite enjoyed it and I am impressed that they waited until episode six before Hayles did this. Clent gets more action in this episode than in the previous five and I also liked the bit at the end where there was a sense of humility when he’s talking to Penley. The ending is rather abrupt though which is a shame as we don’t even get a scene with the Doctor, Jamie and an off screen Victoria entering the TARDIS.

I think that this is the strongest Patrick Troughton story and I say that as a massive fan of The Tomb of the Cybermen. I think that is been consistently strong and has proved the exception to the rule about six parters being a bit rubbish.  I am really looking forward the next story as its Enemy of the World and I will be watching this for the first time ever and then there’s Web of Fear after that so the next twelve days are going to be a treat.

The Ice Warriors - 5

The penultimate episode starts off with a nice directed reprise of the previous episode. It allows the camera to show the Ice Warrior on the screen and the Doctor in the same shot. It’s always good I think when they decide to reshoot it instead of just replaying it and that’s because they can put a difference emphasis on something without actually changing the tone of the moment.

Jamie starts the episode being pulled along by Wallace. Both of them spend the early part of the episode trying to avoid being eaten by a bear. Again he’s being given the short straw and Victoria continues to be the better of the two. There’s a nice moment when she pleads with the Doctor not to help the Ice Warriors even though it would mean the end of her life. What a difference a story makes because normally it would be the other way around and I am liking how well Victoria is being used in this story and whilst its at the cost of Jamie, its good to see Deborah Watling elevated above her usual position. Patrick Troughton is also on good form and I love how he uses a stink bomb to try and escape. There is no way that William Hartnell would have done this but that’s what makes Troughton’s Doctor so good.

I like how Clent seems to have had a conscience operation between the previous episode and this one. He seems to be letting his emotions show a bit more. However this is a short term thing as he soon’s stops thinking emotionally and more coldly. My favourite scene of the episode comes from Penley’s interaction with Clent and one particular line where Clent says that he might be a physical coward but Penley is a coward of the mind. It’s a great line and I think that it sums up both of them perfectly. I love it when these moments come out of nowhere. Penley seems to have got better since the death of Storr which is a good thing

The thing about this episode is that it didn’t seem to have the same sort of zip that the previous ones did. That doesn’t mean that it was a terrible episode because it wasn’t. I thought that there was plenty to enjoy but I think that it was inevitable that this was going to happen but I think that it builds up to the final episode rather well and I think that this story is just behind Tomb of the Cybermen in terms of top Troughton Series Five stories.

 

The Ice Warriors - 4

Back to the live action episodes and its quite an odd thing that after it seemed like the Ice Warriors were going to kill Victoria from behind that they suddenly decide not to. The Ice Warriors think that the Ioniser is a weapon against them instead of just a way of melting the ice. This is the first time that I can remember a purpose for what is going on. Quite why it’s taken until episode four for this to happen I don’t know but at least it gives some credibility to the Ice Warriors’ motives.

Victoria gets to do something quite brave and different from her usual screaming and whining.  She has to try and not get caught by the Ice Warriors and just gets on with it. This is the best that I have seen/heard from the character since she first appeared. The chase between Victoria and the Ice Warrior was quite well done. Even towards the end when she is trapped by the snow and the Ice Warrior and cries out for a long time I still thought that it was a good performance from Deborah Watling.

Something I haven’t commented on was the double act between Peter Sallis (voice of Wallace in Wallace and Gromit) and Angus Lennie who play Penley and Storr respectively. Even though they only feature briefly in each episode their performances are fun and entertaining. I can’t help look at Sallis and think of his role in the BBC comedy ‘Last of the Summer Wine’. Penley is the more likeable of the two whereas Storr seems rather mad and I get the feeling that this is a bit of a red herring. Storr’s death was a bit of a shame really as I thought that the double act was working quite well.

Troughton is very good from start to finish. When Clent is being rather rude to Victoria he is quite calm and polite to her. Then there is the moment when he is using the weird machine and he says he desperately wants it and it turns out to be water. The comedic tone was quite good and the only thing missing was Jamie. Speaking of Jamie it’s a shame that he’s given a redundant role in this episode as he is getting over his trauma. I expected him to start talking about the phantom piper like he did back in ‘The Moonbase’.

The cliffhanger is rather good as the Doctor is put in danger and instead of just cutting away from him we get to see the Doctor’s panic expression as the credits start to roll was a nice way to end the episode. Not sure whether it was intended to end like that or not but either way I thought that the cliffhanger worked and overall the episode was rather good. I think that of the six parters that we have had, this has to be the strongest so far because I don’t feel bored and think that with two more episodes there is plenty that could be done so I am liking The Ice Warriors.

The Ice Warriors - 3

The third episode is the second to be animated. We finally get more Ice Warriors and the animation continues to impress me. After the slow start that the previous episode went through it was nice how this one seemed to be totally different and it was good to just sit back and enjoy the episode. The story effectively continues the Ice Warrior that has been stuck with Victoria waking up more Ice Warriors and the Doctor works things out.

There’s a nice moment which shows that they have some intelligence to go with their size. They assume that if others from the base don’t come then they wont have enough people to prevent an attack. Not only are they intelligent but they are quite ruthless and its showed by the end of the episode where are about to kill Victoria from behind. The only issue is that they don’t really seem to have a plan. It’s normally a major problem but I think that the mere sight of them is enough to put that issue at the back of my mind but with three episodes left they need to get a wriggle on. Though the idea that they instantly want to attack the humans instead of just trying to talk to them.

Clent’s arrogance is shown up her as he wants to take credit for all the good things that have happened. It’s good that there is a character like Clent but there is something about Peter Barkworth’s portrayal of the character that annoys me and I think doesn’t sit quite well in the story. 
 
Jamie has been seriously injured after being shot at by the Ice Warriors and that’s about as much as he gets to do. Victoria gets to be a bit more active after not doing very much in the previous episode and I thought that her grief at thinking Jamie has died was one of the highlights of the episode.  The loss is also felt by the Doctor and it shows just how close they have become even if sometimes Victoria is treated like a spare part. Patrick Troughtons’ performance was strong and without Jamie or Victoria around him we were able to see why he is such a good actor.

It’s another enjoyable episode which starts to feel like its picking up the pace and as we enter the latter half of the story it seems like there is more to come. Were done with the animated episodes and I have to say that on the whole they have added to the enjoyment of the story. Nothing has put a dampener on my interest in the action. Now we are back to the ‘live’ episodes and I think that this might be a six parter that I actually enjoy. More down to the setting and the creation of the Ice Warriors than anything else. Finally I should say that apart from the less than spectacular Abominable Snowmen, I think that this fifth Season is a lot stronger than the previous

The Ice Warriors - 2

The second episode is the first of two animated episodes and I think that the animation is very good. I thought that they have managed to make the walking look convincing and the eyes don’t do that thing where they seem like they are constantly on the move. I also like the fluidity of the movements and it just seems that a good job was done in animating this episode. In terms of how the animated characters compare to the real life I must say that they did quite well. In fact all the animated characters look right and the whole thing look really good even the opening shots when they were showing the episode name. So much so that it took me a little time to realise that it was animated.

Unfortunately, I thought that the animation was going to be the best thing about this episode.  The first 15 minutes of the episode were particularly slow and it wasn’t until the Ice Warrior and Victoria started to move that the episode really got going. The problem with the six parter is yet again on show here as very little actually happens after the Ice Warrior escapes with Victoria. Even though its animated the sight of several Ice Warriors waiting to be thawed out was a great way to end the episode.

I like the speech between the Doctor and Clent where the Doctor tries to convince Clent to true humans more than machines.  I must confess that I was quite pleased when the Ice Warrior knocked out Clent and hoped that it would last longer than it did. I thought that Troughton actually had a good episode and so did Jamie (to begin with). Whilst the Doctor and Jamie are ok together its Victoria that suffers and she spends the entire episode being the Ice Warriors companion. I think that the more the stories progress, the more that Victoria will be the spare cog in the show which is a shame but inevitable as the combination of the Doctor and Jamie gets stronger with every episode.

I enjoyed this episode and thought that once it got going, the episode was enjoyable and had a very good ending to it. I’m still not convinced about whether this story needs to be six episodes long but only time will tell but at the moment and I know that this is still quite at an early stage but I think that this might the second best story of the season so far (behind Tomb).

The Ice Warriors - 1

Today is quite a interesting day. Not just that I get to watch the Ice Warriors in full (with animated episode included) for the first time but episode 1 or 1 as its called on the titles aired on November 11^th 1967 so happy 46^th birthday goes to this story. There’s a pattern that’s emerged during this season so far. In Tomb of the Cybermen they were spending portions of the stories in the icy tombs, in the Abominable Snowmen they were in windy Tibet and now in this story they are in more snow. First thing that strikes me about this story is the lovely singing that accompanies the photos used to create the impression of the setting. When we meet the supporting characters there is a sense that humanity is out of control.

It’s five whole minutes before the regulars turn up and they arrive upside down and there is a lot of comedy between Frazer Hines and Patrick Troughton which is quite fun. Its interesting how the Doctor finds himself helping people out within moments of being found.  In one scene the Doctor uses the true fact that they were in Tibet to explain how they don’t know about Clent or the current situation. I liked the scene between Jamie and Victoria about the fashion of the time. It’s the first time that I’ve noticed that Jamie is quite leery and its surprising how different he is. Patrick Troughton is on good form in this episode and everytime I see him in his furry coat I cant help but be reminded of The Five Doctors which is where I first saw him in that coat. Sadly it seems that Deborah Watling is just walking along with Troughton and Hines.

The cliffhanger is quite a subtle one as whilst Jamie is doing his best Sid James impression, the Ice Warrior has pretty much melted and whilst all it does is pull faces but its quite a good ending and its made even better by the fact that Jamie and Victoria are in danger and don’t really realise (yet). Its an interesting opening episode which lays things out quite well and it has a restricted feel to it in terms of setting but isn’t a classic base under siege. Not sure how this story will develop over the next five episodes but as I haven’t seen this story on DVD yet I am really looking forward to finding out.  

The Evil of the Daleks - Episode 7

After the joint second longest Dalek serial ever, we have finally reached the end. Despite it being the final episode it doesn’t exactly start in a particularly quick fashion. In fact there is a scene where they are all in the same cell and they are just talking/arguing.  After several minutes of inane chatter, the plot finally moves along again. After episodes of hearing about the Human Factor we are introduced to the idea of the Dalek Factor as Maxtible is turned into a Dalek. Maxtible’s demise was something that I was expecting in the previous episode and it happens in a rather unexpected way.

I wasn’t quite as impressed with Troughton doing a Dalek impression as I was expecting. It served a purpose so it wasn’t particularly terrible. It would have been a good sight to see the Dalek Maxtible and Dalek Doctor standing side by side. When the inevitable destruction begins it would have been a lovely sight to see as it sounds quite fantastic on audio. The fact that the story ends in quite an abrupt manner is quite good actually. The episode ending in explosion instead of all peace and tranquillity is quite a different way to end a story.

Edward Waterfield’s demise was quite well done and rather sad. It basically gave the viewer a warning that they would be seeing more of Victoria after this episode finished airing. I think that Edward Waterfield has been a rather good addition to the story and it’s just a shame really that they had to kill him off but it was needed. Maxtible has also been a good part of the story but I wasn’t so sad about his exit which I suppose is the point. The regulars (and I am including Victoria Waterfield) all did quite well with Troughton doing his best.

This was suppose to be the big send off for the Daleks as Terry Nation was going to take his creations to America to try and get their own show but Nation realised that as much as the Daleks made Doctor Who what it is, the Daleks have little value outside of the show but it would be five years before they would return to the show.

Sadly the problem with this seven part serial is that its too long and for too long there was not much happening and in a normal story its not such a problem but in a Dalek story its simply not good enough. When the story does get going it does make up for the lack of action but I think that the six parters are a bit of a doomed to fail type story and as such the final Dalek story of the 1960’s is a bit of a let down.

The Evil of the Daleks - Episode 6

So as I delve into the penultimate episode we return to the mad idea of Daleks playing games and saying such things as ‘Dizzy’ and ‘Trains’.  The fact that they are talking in rather childlike tones is a great idea and makes some of the duller parts of this story worth sitting through.  

For the first time in this story the planet Skaro has been mentioned and its where my interest peeked. When the story moves to Skaro, the landscape of the planet sounds like it did when we were first there way back in the second Doctor Who story. It was always going to be fun to see how the childlike Daleks would be treated by the normal hating Daleks.  We get to encounter the Emperor Dalek for the first time and only thanks to the pictures do we get to see what it looks like. It wouldn’t be until 2005 before we would see it on TV.

Maxtible’s nastier side shows itself in this episode and it doesn’t seem like a moment too soon. The fact that the Daleks are going to blow up his lab and wreck the secret fills him with dread and its quite a fitting ending but sadly the Doctor saves the moment. It seems like his time and usefulness is starting to run out. I thought that he would meet his demise in this episode but its obviously going to happen in the final episode of the story and season.

Victoria starts the episode locked up (again). This is becoming tiresome and it feels like we are back to square one as far as her character is concerned. Thankfully she does become more useful and by the end she has reverted to something more interesting and likeable. As for Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines, they were both on good form and at least the hostilities have ceased no which is good and they are focused on rescuing Victoria.

The improvement continues with the story moving along at a good pace and a fair amount of action happening. They spend the least possible time on Earth before moving the story to Skaro and the moment that the Emperor Dalek appears is when it seems to definetley be back on track and it feels like David Whittaker is doing the story he wants to do instead of padding the story with drivel. Hopefully the final episode will end the Daleks in the 1960’s off in fine style and also bring the fourth season to a fitting end.

The Evil of the Daleks: Episode 5

As we approach the fifth episode, I worry that the story is going to be one of the stories where my opinion changes the greatest and not in a good way. After four episodes we find that the TARDIS has been stolen, Jamie and the Doctor go back 100 years to help the man who took them there find a way of helping Daleks win wars and hope that they let his daughter go. That all happened in the first two episodes but the problem has been that nothing else happened.  It comes to the fifth episode before we actually get something substantial from Deborah Watling. She explains what has been going on from her point of view and it fills in some of the blanks that have been forming over the last couple of episodes.  They are continuing with the Mollie part of the story where they go to the trouble of hypnotising her to forget about seeing Victoria.

There is a weird ‘OBEY’ chant that sounds like a Dalek. It pops up once or twice and it seems like one of those things which would look great on TV but sadly on audio it lacks something.

I like the rather formal relationship between Jamie and Victoria. I like how Jamie calls her Miss Waterfield and I think that we should enjoy this whilst we can because it will soon be a lot less formal. Jamie is quite active in this episode and seems to have lost some of his annoyance that he had when he was talking to the Doctor. He gets to be the hero here and even when he reunites with the Doctor there isn’t any of that nasty feeling which I wont miss.

It feels like the story is moving along and making up for the lack of development in recent episodes and that’s a good thing. The experiment to include the human factor in the Daleks is also progressing and it seems like the end is nigh (in a way it almost is). What is quite odd is how Edward Waterfield has a massive change of heart which is at odds with the previous episodes and I just think that it’s an odd turn of events. Another reason why it’s a shame that this episode doesn’t exist on TV is that the cliffhanger would have been rather fun to see. The Daleks pushing the Doctor around for a game is not something that happens very often and so we have to imagine in our minds what this would look like.

This episode has restored my faith after a recent run of so-so episodes. It feels like the story is progressing towards something and things have moved on character and plot wise. I think that the final two episodes will determine whether this episode was a fluke or the beginning of a good run of episodes. Fingers crossed.

The Evil of the Daleks - Episode 4

I was somewhat underwhelmed with the previous episode, I was hoping that this episode would restore my faith and instantly it seemed like this was possible as there was a nice fight scene between Kemel and Jamie. Jamie saved his life and its such a good scene that I forgot that it was part of an experiment and we are reminded of this with the scene between the Doctor and the Daleks. This episode is somewhat light of Patrick Troughton and Deborah Watling as they only appear in pre-filmed scenes. This means that Frazer Hines gets to lead the episode and as usual he makes the most of it. It also means that Edward Waterfield and Theodore Maxtible get more scenes and I like how they are at odds with each other whilst resigned to the fact that they can’t do much about the situation now.

They are utilising Mollie as she discovers that Victoria isn’t in Paris and gets into trouble. The scene where she exits a scene in tears does a great deal to sympathise with her and Edward Waterfield and dislike the Daleks even more. The Evil part of this story is living up to its name and that’s the first time that this has been the case. The supporting performances are all quite good with Deborah Watling managing to be quite good considering all she says is her name several times. In fact everyone seems to be on better form the in episode three.  However when I try and think what happens in this episode all I can remember is the fight at the beginning of the episode, Mollie stumbling across the true location of Victoria in the middle and apart from that very little happens again. The story shouldn’t be called Evil of the Daleks but Daleks spy on Jamie to try and get the Human Factor but I don’t suppose that would have had quite the selling factor that they would have liked.

My original feelings to this story seem to be somewhat misplaced. It doesn’t seem to make sense why this story should be seven episodes long when it should a four part episode. At least in ‘The Faceless Ones’ the story seemed to have a zip to it whereas here there are moments of action but on the whole it’s a lot of nothing happen. Episode 4 is better than 3 buts that not much of a compliment but it does at least feel like its not freefalling to mediocrity..

The Evil of the Daleks: Episode 3

After the enjoyable previous episode and the mildly so-so first episode, this was a relatively boring episode. Nothing of any note really happens in the course of the 25 minutes which is a shame but I think this is one of those padding episodes which we will have to put up with from time to time. The whole purpose of this episode is to start the plan of testing Jamie so that the Daleks can have the human factor enabling them to win battles.

One of the few gems that exist in this episode is the partnership between Frazer Hines and Patrick Troughton. Jamie is started to lose trust in the Doctor and considering how strong their friendship has been in the past it’s surprising to see them being at such odds. Hines seems to be enjoying playing this side of Jamie and its good to see the Doctor being caught between a rock and a hard place.

At this stage of the story I feel like it should be more gripping than it currently is. I wish that something would have happened but it didn’t and its one of the weakest Patrick Troughton episodes so far. Only the final episode of The Highlanders is weakest and that shows how good Troughton stories have been. I have always thought relatively highly of this story as it was one of the earliest Doctor Who stories that I have listened to and sadly its not going the way that I thought but there are still four more episodes to turn this around.

The Evil of the Daleks - Episode 2

The second episode of this story is sadly the only one that exists on DVD. At least we get to see Deborah Watling’s first appearance. It’s clear that the double act of the Doctor and Jamie is starting to come along. The first scene with them in the Antique shop shows this when the Doctor tells Jamie to be careful and then knocks something over with Jamie giving him one of those looks. I am quite sympathetic towards Edward Waterfield. Even though he’s working for the Daleks, it isn’t out of choice as we will soon learn.

Jamie and the Doctor are more active in this episode than in the first. Though Jamie is less active than the Doctor. He gets knocked out, wakes up and has a chat before being knocked out again. It seems that Victoria needs to get involved in the story sooner so that Jamie can hand over the knocked out duties to her.  Patrick Troughton gets a lovely speech about how the Daleks will take great pleasure in killing everyone and that their greatest pleasure will be in killing him. It’s a short yet impressive speech.

After a short period of time in the antiques shop, the story shifts to Victorian London and we get to meet Edward Waterfield and Theodore Maxtible 100 years in time to June 2 1866. Maxtible is quite an imposing figure but he does come across a bit of an arrogant person and he’s some rich guy who’s got too much money and its his money that has got him into his mess so its hard to warm to him unlike Edward Waterfield.

Maxtible’s lab is very impressive and is very much quite like I would love every lab to be like with test tubes and bubbling jars and the such. It’s almost clichéd. We finally get to learn a bit more about the goings on and learn that Waterfield and Maxtible’s experiments are what caused  the Daleks to arrive. It’s nearly seven minutes before the Daleks get a scene with the Doctor. How its done is quite good because its timed perfectly. Their first scene is quite good because the last time the Doctor met the Daleks he was still trying to get over his transformation and now he’s more able to stand up to them just as the Doctor should.

The way that we are introduced to Victoria is quite low key. She has been kept prisoner of the Daleks and compared to how other companions have been introduced in the past this has to be one of the grimmest. It’s hard to believe that she will soon be travelling through time and space. It was a blink and you’ll miss it performance but its long enough to tell us what she’s going to be like but more time is spent talking about her than talking to her.

I thought that this was a better episode than the first as it seemed like the story was moving on a bit more and we got a bit more meat to the pie of the story. I think that this is where the story starts really as we now have more to enjoy. It is just a shame that this is the only one of the story that exists because this would work really well as opposed to just existing on audio.

The Evil of the Daleks: Episode 1

The Evil of the Daleks is the final story of this fourth series and it picks up immediately after the events of ‘The Faceless Ones’. It introduces Deborah Watling as Victoria Waterfield but the episode doesn’t allow much time to get over the departure of Ben and Polly as the Doctor and Jamie try and find out who has stolen the TARDIS. There is a nice feel that came from it being in the modern day that there was during ‘The Faceless Ones’ that has continued in this episode. The first episode is quite a strange one as nothing really happens because the Doctor and Jamie are after the TARDIS, trying to hunt it down and Waterfield and Kennedy are setting things up. The most active that Jamie and the Doctor get is in the café and even then I was more interested in the music that was playing as its not something that we normally get in Doctor Who and so I thought that it was a nice moment.

The supporting cast are all very good and actually steal the show. Edward Waterfield is an interesting character because we know his story but back in 1967 the viewers wouldn’t have known this and so there would be something intriguing about him. He is played brilliantly by John Bailey and there is a nice balance between confident and anxious. Griffith Davies is also quite good as Kennedy and in his only appearance in the story, Alec Ross is fun as Bob Hall. These three are who help push this story and it seems like Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines pop up every so often to remind us that they are in the story.

Now one thing that is a sort of rule in Doctor Who is that the Daleks don’t appear until the very end of the first episode. Even if their name is in the title and this time its true to form as they don’t appear until the final few minutes and even then its only one. It was a very good cliffhanger and as an opening episode it managed to do the transition quite well and the final story of the series and the final Dalek story for five years has started well.

The Tenth Planet - Episode 4

Well the moment has been prepared for. This is the 134^th and final episode with William Hartnell as the Doctor. Sadly this is the final episode and it no longer exists so before we get the animated episode on DVD we get a mix of existing footage and telesnaps. After being away for the previous episode, William Hartnell returns for his final episode. There is a nice mention in his first scene where he talks about ‘this old body wearing a bit thin’. General Cutler is boarding on maniac. The desperation for getting his son down is quite fun to watch. He’s not interested in the Cybermen invading but is more concerned with his son’s rocket.  It’s a great little scene where Cutler is blaming the Doctor for his son’s death even though its not official. Sadly Cutler is killed and it’s a shame but I suspect that with everything going on he would have just been getting in the way.

The Cybermen make a welcome return and there’s a nice moment where the Doctor tries to negotiate with the Cybermen in trying to live on Earth in peace. They are more concerned with the rocket and the next portion of the episode is focusing on the rocket and disarming the warhead. Polly has suffered in the last couple of episodes and she has been reduced to being taken as a sort of hostage. Her purpose in this episode seems to be interacting with the Doctor. Ben helps Barclay to try and disarm the warhead and he comes up with a plan and uses his intelligence to try and defeat the Cyberman that is standing outside. The thing about this part of the episode is that despite showing that Ben is quite good at putting plans together, it feels like this area drags on a bit.

The episode benefits from the telesnaps and also the captions that run at the bottom of screen. It does its best but I don’t really pay much attention to the caption as the plot was quite entertaining.

William Hartnell’s final few scenes are quite sad to watch. It’s unclear how much acting is going on and its weird to think that this is the same William Hartnell who was the cranky grandfather figure that we met in that Junkyard. The regeneration is quite a mesmerising one it’s the build up to its that quite interesting. The way that the transition from William Hartnell to Patrick Troughton  was achieved was very good and works effectively even 47 years after it was done.

The way that the Cybermen are defeated is a bit odd. It’s got nothing to do with the Doctor’s involvement. Mondas’ destruction is solely of its own doing and its only by nothing being done on Earth that meant that Mondas was destroyed. The story is written so that the Doctor isn’t involved as much as he normally would be and its probably because Anneke Wills and Michael Craze that make you realise that the Doctor’s involvement is pretty small. It’s a weird episode to try and review because of what happens. It’s not a normal season finale or final episode of a story. It’s the end of the first era of the show. It’s a shame that the Hartnell era is over. It’s been quite an enjoyable ride since the very first episode way back with An Unearthly Child. As a story, it’s a great first story for the Cybermen and the whole under siege base format makes the story much more claustrophobic and enjoyable. A brilliant way to end the Hartnell era.

The Tenth Planet - Episode 2

The second episode is where we finally get to hear the Cybermen talk. After the great first glimpse at the end of the previous episode. It’s nearly five minutes before we get to hear them speak and it’s a great build up. It’s done with someone doing the voice off screen with the actor opening their mouth to try and time the words. Sadly this doesn’t quite work at times as the actor opens his mouth just a second after the speech starts. It’s the same problem that they have with the Daleks. There is a nice backstory as to what the Cybermen and where they have come from. It’s a short yet concise explanation and it fits the Cybermen well. The Cybermen instantly show their dominance over the humans by twisting a gun that Ben is holding like it’s a plastic prop. Oh wait a second!!

Ben gets to be quite resourceful when he is locked in a projector room. The moment is made even more dramatic when he has to kill a Cybermen and is horrified when he’s done it. He is the most active of the regulars in this episode as William Hartnell doesn’t really do anything apart from sit down. His involvement in this episode is somewhat limited. It’s a shame that in his final adventure he isn’t more active but that’s a fact of his illness and Anneke Wills also suffers from the same fate but at least she gets to stand up to the Cybermen for a short while.

The stakes get even more raised when General Cutler discovers that his son has been sent into space and the General thinks that his son has been sent on a death mission. This turns an amusing character into something quite different. The fun and humour has gone from him and we have someone who doesn’t care about anything else except for getting his son back.

The cliffhanger lacked the impact that the first one had. It was good but compared to episode one it was never going to be as good. As an episode it did its job very well and I thought that it was carried the story along well. Despite the Doctor being somewhat side-lined, the story continued well without (as many of the last half dozen stories have done) without him. I still think that the story uses all its positives well and I’m enjoying it immensely.

The Tenth Planet - Episode 1

It’s the end, but the moments been prepared for. This is the final story to feature William Hartnell as the lead man. It’s a story that also introduces the Cybermen to the world. Now this comes out on DVD in October (2013) and so all I have is a old copy on VHS so I was wait for this to come out but then decided against it. This is the period in Doctor Who where base under siege stories were commonplace. The story takes place in a base in the Antarctic and the claustrophobic setting is helped by the sound effect and the snowflakes. The story takes place twenty years in the future  and its good how they haven’t let their imaginations run wild when imagining what the future would be like.

Some of the people at the base do seem like they have come out of a Carry On movie with the Italian’s reaction to being told there is a woman outside verging on the slapstick. Thankfully after the initial arrival of the Doctor, Ben and Polly they are kept to a minimum. What we are then dealing with are some well realised characters. General Cutler is instantly entertaining. When the Doctor says that he doesn’t like his tone, the General replies with I don’t like your face or your hair. It’s a great line and it’s the start of one of the standout characters in the story. I like how the Doctor knows what they will see before they have seen it.  When the new planet is seen on a screen no one has clued that its basically the earth upside down. Someone has got a globe and spun it upside down.

The title is somewhat out of date because in 2006 it was decided that Pluto wasn’t a planet so Mondas is actually the 9^th planet and not the tenth.  However this is irrelevant and the Tenth Planet title isn’t mentioned at all during the story so

The final portion of this episode is brilliant. The sight of the Cybermen walking over the horizon towards the TARDIS is a fantastic shot and also the final shot for the cliffhanger is one of my favourite in Doctor Who. I love the look of this Cyberman and think it’s the best one ever. I know everyone will disagree but if you don’t think that this Cybermen has the best design then I’m sorry but your 100% wrong.  This opening episode has a different feel to previous episode and I don’t know whether those who watched in 1966 could tell that the end was going to come in this episode but as it stands it’s a cracking opening episode with great characters and the rest of the story is going to be a good send off to the original Doctor.