(602) The Five Doctors

When the Three Doctors aired to celebrate the shows 10^th anniversary, it was done quite well and it had one simple premise with the three Doctors and a few of the regular companions. Fast forward 10 years and the show has progressed a lot since then. This episode got its world premiere on American TV and formed part of the BBC’s Children in Need night. There are a couple of problems before the story even starts and that Tom Baker isn’t in it because I imagine that as he only left two years before that enough time hadn’t passed by. Also William Hartnell had died eight years before so they decided to recast him with someone who looked like him.

The ‘episode’ starts off with a brief clip from The Dalek Invasion of Earth with the William Hartnell speech that he gives to Susan. It is almost as if they are highlighting the fact that the person that is playing the First Doctor isn’t the real one. In fact Richard Hurndall is the first of the Doctor to be picked up. Richard Hurndall does a fairly good job in what must have been an impossible postion to be put in. He was never going to convince us that he was trying to do William Hartnell but he does enough to make me appreciate that they tried to get around a problem in the best intended way possible.

The scoop effect is rather poor and looks a bit lazy really. Hurdnall’s happens when he is walking in a garden. The one with the second Doctor and the Brigadier is better. I think the one used for the special edition is much better but that’s with the advancement of about 25 years’ worth of technology.

The return of the Brigadier seems a lot better than in Mawdryn Undead. I like how he gets to spend most of his time with Patrick Troughton’s Doctor. The Brigadier is perhaps more associated with the third Doctor, I like how they work together on screen and I am reminded of such stories as The Invasion and The Web of Fear. The brief appearance of Jamie and Zoe is quite nice even if Zoe is wearing a bubble dress. Their appearance is rumbled when the Doctor reminds us that Jamie and Zoe had their minds erased which is true.

This episode sees the return David Saville to Doctor Who after playing Carstairs in The War Games. It was more of a cameo and I do wonder whether they realised this when they put him in but it was fun for the fans to watch. The “You’ve had this place redecorated….Dont like it!” seems to have become a bit of a running joke because it pops up in the 50^th Anniversary special.

Jon Pertwee is doing his action bit from the moment that he appears on screen. He has missed a beat since he left the show 221 episodes ago. The opening scene between the third Doctor and the Master is quite good because the Doctor is still very distrusting and even though Pertwee had some great chemistry with Roger Delgado’s Master. It seems that things don’t change even if the actor does.The Third Doctor gets to slide along a rope to get to the tower. There is no way that the other Doctors would do. Pertwee is just brilliant in this story and he gives it the same enthusiasm as he did when he was the main man. The brief reunion of the Third Doctor, Mike Yates and Liz Shaw is a good one that is used to keep the Doctor from progressing in the chamber. Sadly its ended with Liz doing a rather odd deliver of ‘stop him’.

Elisabeth Sladen returns to the show with K9. This is where people get confused because they assume that they were both together during Sarah Jane’s time on the show but it was only in the 1981 K9 special and this story that this happened. The reunion of the Third Doctor and Sarah Jane is slightly undermined by the Doctor trying to pull Sarah Jane up small incline. My back garden is steeper than the one in this scene.

There are clips from the transmitted story Shada used to at least have Tom Baker appear in the 20^th Anniversary. A plausible point is used to explain why the Fourth Doctor isn’t used in the story.

The Master’s first scene is quite good as the idea of the Doctor being requested by the Timelords is something that would have been expected and then the Master is left perplexed when he is asked to help the Doctor. After a while he does look like he wish he hadn’t bothered when he gets knocked by two Doctors. His plan to work with the Cybermen is quite clever and its clear that things aren’t going well in this partnership. He is going to use the Cybermen to his own ends but its clear that whilst he’s smarter than the Cybermen he still hasn’t got the nack of thinking his long term plans through. Sadly after a punch from the Brigadier, he is left to have a bit of a kip of the floor.

It doesn’t seem like Susan has really grown up in the 19 years since she left the Doctor. She manages to twist her ankle running along and it seems like we are back in 1964. She is then reduced to being stuck in the TARDIS with Turlough and this is a problem with this story and that there are too many companions and not enough for them to do.

The brief appearance of the Dalek is a bit of a shame really when you consider that the show wouldn’t have got to the 20^th year without the Daleks so they deserve a better role in this story. The first appearance of the Cybermen is very atmospheric. They get a better deal in this story. There is one shot when they are approaching the Fifth Doctor and the Master and Peter Moffatt did a great job with this. The Raston Robot is a brilliant creation and one that is used to superb effect. It’s a simple creature and one that doesn’t do a lot yet manages to create a lot of carnage. It’s attack on the Cybermen is one of the best scenes in this story. This sequence only last about a minute but is incredibly violent for a Doctor Who story.

I like the idea that the story takes place on Gallifrey as it seems right to use this setting for the 20^th Anniversary of the show. The Timelords are an interesting if yet flawed race and it seems quite obvious that they would do a treachery style story for Gallifrey. There is a scene which is funny to me. “No not the mind probe” is a line that Paul Jericho delivers quite well and yet everytime I hear it I find it amusing.

I like how the Doctors seem to be on their own individual storylines that over the course of the story start merging into one. The Fifth Doctor (you thought I had forgotten about him didn’t you!) seems to have been given the role of trying to figure out who the traitor to Gallifrey is. The traitor turns out to be the President. He has done this to get immortality. He has clearly gone mad because he’s gone from wearing white to black. This is the most important plot strand so its not surprising really that he gets to do this but it’s a shame that he stuck for an awfully long time waiting before he figures out that there is a spare room.

The three Doctors don’t meet until 20 minutes before the end which is perhaps the right way of doing things. Whilst the Doctors are working together, its nice to see the Brigadier, Sarah Jane Smith and Tegan. The big scene takes place in the tomb of Rassilon and whoever removes a ring gets immortality. If I have learnt one thing from TV, its that immortality isn’t a great as it sounds. The President gets his chance at immortality thanks to the first Doctor speaking up him even though the others said the opposite. He ends up being part of the tomb which must be a horrible way to live.

The final line about running away in an run down TARDIS away from his own people being “How it started” is a nice way to end this adventure. I am a little confused as to how I feel about this because on the one hand it was a nice story but on the other hand there are way too many characters in the piece and as a result it slightly makes the end result a little bit odd. I think that there are some good things in it and the running time is one of them. They could have done four 25 minute episodes but the feature length running time allows the story to progress at a nice pace and Terrance Dicks did a great job of writing a story and Peter Moffatt did an equally great job in directing.

To end this review I would just like to point out that there is just one season of Peter Davison’s era left. That has gone quick although there is one or two stories that I must endure before I get to arguably one of the finest stories in Doctor Who history, The Caves of Androzani.

(541) State of Decay - Episode 4

This episode is the final episode to be transmitted in 1980. It starts with the reprise which still looks weird when Romana is backing away from Adric as he is about to be bitten. It must be said that there is a bit of Karma at play because later on Adric is prepared to sacrifice Romana to the Three Who Rule. I quite like Adric in this episode because he clearly trying to look out for his own interests but later on he tries to pretend that he was looking out for Romana. What makes this quite fun is the look on Romana’s face which clearly shows that she doesn’t believe him. Considering that this is the first time that all three regulars have appeared in the same scene.

The whole episode is building up towards the sacrifice and normally this would be either rushed or not really looked at but it takes up a nice amount of the episode and its dealt with in a good manner. I liked how the Doctor dealt with the situation and used the scout ship/tower as a weapon and used what energy it had left in shooting it up into the air and back down again. Tom Baker was on good form because he gives a good Henry IV speech and there were some classic fourth Doctor moments.

We finally get to see the great one twice. The first is a model mixed in with scanner graphic which works but had it been the model of the great one as it is then it wouldn’t have worked quite so well. The second is when its hand comes out of the ground. Visually it’s a strong image and one of the best shots in the entire serial. I think that overall this episode is the strongest in terms of directing out of the four. Peter Moffatt has done a great job in keeping the pace up and there are some great shots that he manages to achieve. Terrance Dicks has worked his magic again and has saved the best until last and tied things up nicely.

As the middle story it does a good job of being the middle story of being a trilogy it does what it needs to do but as a story in its own right its also very good. I think that its another good story in the JNT era and the next story is the final one for K9 and more importantly for Romana. The changing of the companion line up starts in the next story so there is still plenty to look forward to in this season.

(540) State of Decay - Episode 3

I watch these episodes at the moment on my Xbox and usually when I finish an episode I stop it straight away and come the next episode and it was whilst watching the closing credits Barry Letts’ name pops up and I forgot that during this time on the show we have the partnership of Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks in Doctor Who. Sadly this isn’t 1970 anymore and the heyday of Tom Baker’s tenure has gone so whilst it’s good to have a Doctor Who story with Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks credited it’s sad to think in a way that this isn’t their show anymore. The episode was watched by 4.4 million viewers which bearing in mind that just a year before episode three of ‘Nightmare of Eden’ which aired on December 8 got 9.6 million viewers it must have looked like they needed to hit the panic button but I can’t think why this episode got such low viewing figures. If I didn’t know I would have thought that the nightmare episode would have got 4.4 million viewers and this episode got 9.6 million.

The opening scene seems quite a long one compared to usual episodes and that’s not a critiscm because it’s a really well performed one with all the important characters (except Adric). Aukon is by far the best performer in the scene and the Doctor is a close second. It’s during this scene that the Doctor and Romana first hear Adric’s name. I still think that its impressive that Adric has been side-lined for so long. Really the Doctor and Romana should have seen this coming considering in a normal story with the pair they would have been separated at the earliest moment yet in episode three they have hardly been apart. Matthew Waterhouse has a pretty easy time of it in this episode as he doesn’t appear until the final few minutes of the episode. When he does appear his costume has improved dramatically and its just a shame that he doesn’t wear it past this story.

The episode features a scene where the Doctor is locked in a cell with his companion and he talks about a hermit on Gallifrey. This is very much a Terrance Dicks trait because it appeared in two Jon Pertwee stories (where he was script editor). I thought that it was a nice bit of continuity in a time when the show was looking towards the future its nice that they did this nostalgic moment.

This episode was one of those that was a collection of moments and that is why this episode is quite good because those moments are so good and another of those good moments include any scene with Zargo and Camilla because it has a Macbeth feel to it which when done right (as in this case) is a strong image to have on screen. The death of Tarak is very grim by Doctor Who standards and not because its gory or particularly violent (even though it is), its because its quite prolonged. Instead of a quick death which is over in a second or two, Tarak’s death takes considerably longer.

The last minute sees Camilla about to attack Adric and Romana leaving him to his fate which I thought was very strange and not really in the spirit of the show but then she got her comeuppance of sorts when she is facing Zargo and this is the cliffhanger which normally would make me groan with disappointment because people would know that she is going to appear in future stories but in the case of this particular cliffhanger it works well and I am looking forward to the final episode. At the moment this is falling just short of ‘Full Circle’ in terms of ratings but I wouldn’t be surprised if the final episode goes just ahead.

(538) State of Decay - Episode 2

The second episode of this story still sees Adric separated from the Doctor and Romana. I don’t know if this is deliberate but the unexpected bonus because it is making Adric a stronger companion. The episode starts off with something rather strange, the Doctor has blue blood. Now the last time that the Doctor bled was in ‘The Deadly Assassin’ his blood was red and this is apparently a Tom Baker idea which is silly really but something else which was quite strange was the fact that Aukon was entering a room and it was clearly daylight outside which does slightly confuse the whole vampire thing.

The Doctor and Romana spend the vast majority of the episode exploring the tower which has a control room which will become relevant in future episodes but I liked the interaction between the two which considering how much tension there was apparently during recording is a surprising fact. The reaction that the Doctor gives when he comes across a barrel with blood in it is the sort of reaction he would have given during the early days of his tenure.

As this is a Terrance Dicks, it is perhaps not surprising that the story has worked as well as it has. The characters are all well rounded and at no point have I found myself bored with the story and it shows that Terrance Dicks hasn’t lost any of his magic that he has shown in the past. Peter Moffatt has directed this story rather well but due to the fact that the story is written so well and the performances are so good, the directing doesn’t really stand out which is a shame really but my abiding memory of this story so far isn’t the directing.

The revelation that Aukon, Zargo & Camilla’s names are similar to names that the Doctor and Romana read in the previous episode along with the control room development is perhaps the big thing of this episode. I really like the bit at the end where we see the model shot in the Resting place where the floor is moving up and down like a massive heartbeat. The last shot is of a close up of Aukon’s eyes which is good cliffhanger but for perhaps different reasons to normal. On one hand it was perhaps drama light but bearing in mind what had just shown up on screen it was the right ending to the episode and apart from a few individual errors, this was another solid episode with some solid performances.

(538) State of Decay - Episode 1

The middle story of the trilogy on the face of it should be the strongest one because it was written by Terrance Dicks but after enjoying the previous story I have to admit that I am questioning whether this is still the case. It’s always nice when a familiar name returns to the show because its been a while since Terrance Dicks was involved in Doctor Who. His last offering ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ was a really solid story and that was about three years ago and the show has changed so the sort of story that Dicks wrote may not work in this new era. The signs are good pretty much from the beginning because there is the model shot of the tower which looks impressive and that is followed by the appearance of Zargo, Camilla and Aukon who are the three who rule and if you didn’t know what was coming then you could easily tell that something isn’t quite right about them.

It’s quite a while before Adric makes an appearance and he spends the entire episode pretty much on his own and only interacts with K9 and manages to outsmart him (which isn’t too difficult) but its quite good that he gets to investigate on his own and not be introduced to the Doctor and Romana show. His scene where he tries to steal some bread and ends up with some food and a coat that is by far better than what he usually wears. Whilst I am starting to change my opinion of Adric, the one thing that will never change is my opinion of his costume which does look like pyjamas.

As far as the Doctor and Romana are concerned. It takes them an awful long time to get involved in the story. Once they do its when the story gets interesting. I think that Kalmar is an interesting character and despite being the oldest, Arthur Hewlett doesn’t allow that to get in the way of coming across as a believable leader. His group are an odd mix of living primitive surroundings and yet having a BBC computer in the base. I think that in 1980, the use of a BBC computer would have seemed quite a cutting edge piece of kit but sadly it dates the story horribly.

If I had to pick a fault with this episode is that it doesn’t feature as much of Zargo, Camilla and Aukon. What there is of them is good but I think that they are so good (Aukon especially) that I wanted them more involved in the story. I know that this will be the case but I wanted them more in the story now. The cliffhanger is quite creepy and just days after Halloween and that is why it perhaps works better than if I were watching this in mid-March. It’s an interesting opening episode but I cant say that I have been wowed by it. There are elements that I have always liked which are on screen again and with the new appreciation of Adric means that the future episodes will be fun to watch.

Horror of Fang Rock - Episode 4

The final episode of this story is perhaps the darkest that there has been in a Doctor Who episode. It takes less than 1 and a half minutes for Vincent to become the first death of this episode which features a lot of death. I actually made a note of when the deaths occur. Vincent dies at 01:45, Adelaide is put out of her misery at 06:28 and Skinsale is the last to fall at 16:50.

The whole thing about the Rutan is that it has crashed landed and used the lighthouse to start a rescue relay. We learn a lot about this solitary Rutan in a short amount of time and it turns out that they are having a war with the Sontarans (they were mentioned in the previous Sontaran stories). The Rutans seem like they are just as stubborn as the Sontarans so its easy to see why they are at war with each other.

Adelaide is annoying from the very moment she’s on screen as she faints. Leela’s reaction is perfect and matches what I was feeling. Her death is a highlight and that might be harsh but there was nothing likeable at all about her. It seems that Terrance Dicks has put the character in just for this moment because we all know how he likes the female roles to be fairly clichéd in needing rescued or being in peril.

The Doctor hanging out of the lighthouse to hide from the Rutan Reuben is a rather odd thing for the Doctor to do but on the plus side the CSO effect/shot is quite good.

The sit down scene between the Doctor and the Rutan is one of those scenes that I have seen countless times and its one of the best scenes in the entire serial. Whilst I haven’t been entirely won over with the effect of the Rutan, the effect to get it up the stairs is well done.

The Doctor’s plan is to try and scare off the Rutans, this is thought up at the midway point of the episode. This means that the story has very little time to waste and the Rutan is dealt with very quickly and the rescue ship is done with in quick time. Yesterday I was mentioning about how this could have been extended to maybe five episodes and they could have spent an episode just on the Rutan.

The Doctor’s gag about throwing the diamonds on the ground didn’t last long as it led to the death of Skinsale. You could argue that the Doctor caused his death. Skinsale is the last of the supporting cast and this means for the final five minutes or so the story features just the Doctor and Leela. Without any supporting characters the final scene sees Leela’s eye colour change. To be honest I never noticed her eye colour. It’s a shame that no time was taken to focus on the fact that everyone is dead. It’s one of the things that slightly bothers me about this story but that aside, I still think that it’s a great story and has some great performances. Looking at the list of stories coming in this season, I think that this is going to be the best story of the season. I think the next month is going to be a struggle.

Horror of Fang Rock - Episode 3

The 15th season’s start continues in a good way. I often wonder with four part stories whether they could work as a five or six parter and part of me thinks that this episode would work with an extra episode so that we get more of the Rutans. As it is there is very little padding that takes place at any point during this serial.

Adelaide becomes even more annoying because for most of the episode she just seems to be shrieking and sobbing and just being irritated. I think that if I were a fan of Upstairs Downstairs and Downton Abbey then this sort of person might not have such a grating effect on me but I just don’t like the woman. The only good thing that comes from her involvement in this episode is when Leela slaps her for screaming.

Reuben has been taken over by the green thing. I thought that Reuben was creepy before but now he is definelty creepy. The green blob that looks like it came out of someone’s nose isn’t the great effect although its involvement becomes greater in this episode because it kills Skinsale. Skinsale is the first of the current crop of supporting characters. Harker dies a few minutes later. I think that Dicks knew how annoying the character of Adelaide was and decided to hold off her death until the last episode.

It’s impressive that the action keeps moving in such a small location. There are only three sets (not including Reuben’s room) and so at times it felt like a stage play. The performances have all been solid (bar Annette Woollett’s). The Doctor has been largely sombre and Leela has been her usual self and they have both been on good form during this story. The directing has also been good because its never been boring and the tight spaces have helped create a nice bit of claustrophobia and the base under siege theme is helping make this story work. Considering that the monster hasn’t really been involved in things, its impressive that there is as much tension as there is.

The cliffhanger does seem to come out of the blue. I didn’t realise that the episode was at this stage until the theme tune played. The episode ends with the Doctor making a horrible realisation realising that he has locked the creature in the lighthouse with them. It’s his face that makes it such a good ending. The endings so far in this story haven’t been really actioned packed but have still managed to be exciting.

Horror of Fang Rock - Episode 2

I could perhaps be very critical of the model used to show the ship crashing on the rocks. First thing that stood out in this episode is the rather cold reaction that Leela gives when it’s revealed that they have crashed on the rocks is a bit odd. Her attitude is slightly odd, its almost like she is bored of what is going on. The crew of the wrecked ship is a mixture of annoying and charming. Lord Palmerdale and Adelaide are both equally irritating. It’s like they stumbled out of an episode of Upstairs Downstairs. The ship crashing is largely down to Palmerdale so after just a few minutes we are left in no doubt that he is suppose to be an unlikeable person. Colonel Skinsale (played by a returning Alan Rowe) and Harker are the more charming characters. Skinsale seems to spend most of the episode revelling in the fact that Palmerdale is about to lose a lot of money. There is an instant friction between them which makes it quite an interesting.

“We might all be dead” is delivered like there is a punchline and Tom Baker delivers the line with a smile on his face. It’s the only time that there is any humour in the episode. The Doctor doesn’t seem to stop moving in this episode. Tom Baker’s Doctor always has a lot of energy and he uses this quite a lot in the episode. Louise Jameson does a lot of moving around herself and the fact she isn’t dressed lady like in this story provides some humorous looks.

There is a glimpse of what crashed into the sea at the beginning of the previous episode and there is no easy way of saying it but it does look like something that came out of your nose. The fact that we only see a little bit of it is quite good as there gives a bit more mystery to see whats causing all of this. The deaths have stopped for now but it feels like a pause in the chaos which is probably the best thing. The episode ends with a  chilling cliffhanger. Reuben screams and yet the camera is focused on Skinsale. I think if it had ended with the camera seeing what happened to Reuben then it wouldn’t have been as good but I liked this ending. The fact that there have been some annoying elements introduced into this story doesn’t detract from what is still a thoroughly exciting story.

Horror of Fang Rock - Episode 1

Horror of Glam Rock is the first story of the fifteenth season and it’s the first with Graham Williams as producer after Philip Hinchcliffe is ‘relocated’ to another BBC show so it’s fair to say that the golden era of the show is over but at least Robert Holmes is still script editor and Horror of Fang Rock (and not Glam Rock as I have been tempted to write) is one of my favourites because it’s a base under siege story which is a type of adventure that I really love. The episode doesn’t get off to a great start with the effect used to simulate something crashing into the sea. We are introduced to the supporting characters and one of the many things that I love about this story is that it has a reduced number of people and one of them dies within ten minutes of the episode starting.

Vince is one of the supporting characters that we are suppose to like because he acts nicely towards the Doctor and Leela. Reuben is clearly there to be the exact opposite and untrustworthy. He suspects that the Doctor and Leela had something to do with Ben’s death. Death is done in quite a dark way because there is none of the humour that we have come to expect from the Doctor in recent stories.

The setting of a lighthouse might seem a bit odd to some and it wouldn’t be my first idea but the beauty of this is that it keeps people in a very tight location and yet give the chance to introduce other people when needed without it seeming contrived. The fact that it is a studio bound story is something that is forgotten until the episode ends and that is because of my love for this story means that I look past it and if it takes place inside a lighthouse your not going have much location footage.

The episode is directed rather well by Paddy Russell who uses what is available to her. I think that she manages to make the story move along at a reasonable pace which cant move too quickly because nothing can really happen until the ship crashes on the rocks at the end of the episode. It’s a great opening episode because it sets its stall out really well and gives us time to absorb the atmosphere and the setting and Terrance Dicks has written some characters that have been thought out really well and have paced it just right.

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 War Games - Episode 10

I feel really sad as I start to watch this episode knowing what’s about to come. The early stages are just of the Doctor, Zoe and Jamie trying to evade the Timelords. Knowing that this would be their final episode it seems pointless in hindsight but in dramatic terms its good because watching it I wanted them to find a way of escaping even though I know that they wont be able to. It’s strange to think that it’s the first time since the first episode of ‘The Mind Robber’ that we’ve been inside the TARDIS. That was back in mid-December and it’s great to be back. With the events of the War Games almost dealt with we can move onto the matter of learning as much as we can about the Timelords.

We learn a lot about the Timelords such as they don’t approve of meddling in the events of other worlds. Basically their horrible people, they are quite happy to sit back and watch things happen but get a bit arsey when the Doctor gets involved. If they are as powerful as they seem, why haven’t they seen the Doctor’s actions before this. I quite like the courtroom set that is used against the War Lord and the Doctor. It’s a much better set than the one we would get in 1986. Partly because its atmospheric and quite contained and I suppose if it were in colour then it would lose something.

During the War Lord’s trial there is a fair amount of defiance from him and his punishment is quite fitting as killing him would be too good and it seems like his punishment is the most extreme that the Timelords could bestow on a non-gallifreyan. There is a great moment when his soldiers come via a SIDRAT and there’s a lovely curve-ball that suggest the War Lord might escape but it’s the power of the Timelords that show this wasn’t going to happen. Without raising a hand the timelords we do see in this story show how god-like they are and its amazing whats achieved in 25 minutes.

The Doctor’s defence does feel like it’s a bit of a useless exercise and its during his trial that the Timelords come across as rather nasty. They exile the Doctor on 20^th Century earth and change his appearance purely because they want to. Cant quite think that had Troughton not left the show whether they would have changed his appearance.

The goodbye scene between the Doctor, Zoe and Jamie is heart-breaking. Everytime I see it I can’t help but get really sad. I always forget until this point just how good these three have been together. What makes its even more heart-breaking is that they will forget all but their first adventure so for Jamie the last three years are wiped and for Zoe the last twelve months.

I feel like this was a lovely goodbye episode. They finished off the War Lord perfectly and the Timelords were introduced and our three favourite characters were sent off in great style. It’s a shame that we didn’t get to see Patrick Troughton regenerate into Jon Pertwee but that was due to the fact that Pertwee wasn’t contracted until after this episode was recorded. It was the perfect way to end what has been a rather inconsistent run at times. I think that all three of the regulars performed brilliantly and it was one of my favourite ever episodes of Doctor Who and as a ten part adventure it was solid from start to finish and easily in my top 10.

As a story it has continued to impress me and maintain my attention. Its worked a lot better than some six parters and it’s one of the best of stories of Troughtons era and of the sixth series. Overall I must say that the sixth season has been largely good. I really didn’t like ‘The Space Pirates’ which you might have guessed, the Dominators was boring but the rest were all enjoyable. Patrick Troughton made 117 appearances which is just twelve behind William Hartnell and after an initial bumpy ride with stories, he found his suede feet and ran with a fantastic version of the character. It must have been intimidating to take over from William Hartnell but he rose to the challenge well. Frazer Hines has been a fantastic addition to the show. He bowed out on his 112^th appearance and made 35 more appearances than William Russell. Hines has always given 100% playing Jamie and at times his double act with Patrick Troughton have been fun to watch. Wendy Padbury has had more of an impact than I expected during her 48 appearances. As a trio they have been the strongest combination since the First Doctor, Ian Barbara and Susan and that’s quite an achievement. They will all be missed and that was the Second Doctor era. Goodbye to Troughton, Goodbye to Hines, Goodbye to Padbury, Goodbye to the 1960’s and most importantly, goodbye to black and white television. Now I will get to enjoy a different style of Doctor Who and I am about to embark on what is my favourite season in Doctor Who history.

The War Games - Episode 9

It’s strange to think that I’m on the penultimate episode of the Troughton era. It’s weird to think that I started watching episode one of ‘The Power of the Daleks’ back on September 27 that it was going to be a tough job more because of the missing episodes but I knew that there were some classic stories coming along so it was worth enduring ‘The Abominable Snowmen’ and ‘The Dominators’ when there were stories such as ‘The Invasion’ and ‘The Tomb of the Cybermen’ to enjoy. In fact whilst I have enjoyed ‘The War Games’ in the past I feel like I am enjoying ‘The War Games’ more than I was expecting.

The Doctor starts the episode having turned against his friends but its nice how he got the resistance there they wouldn’t be around when the neutron bomb went off. It’s a typically Doctor like thing to do as he has a plan to save his friends but just doesn’t have a time to tell them. There an interesting moment between the Doctor and the War Chief when they talk about the SIDRAT’s.

Shorting the life-span of the SIDRAT is an impossible problem and it’s one that the War Chief hasn’t been able to solve the problem. Though as the episode progresses it’s the least of his problems as the Security Chief has evidence about his treachery and uses secret recordings to topple him.

I thought it was a shame when the Security Chief was killed as he was a very good character but the only thing that made his death worth while is that it was the War Chief that did it and that seemed like a nice end to their rivalry. Despite getting one over on the Security Chief, the War Chief didn’t escape his own death as he is killed by the guards of the War Lord. Philip Madoc is back on form in this episode as he has a coldness that seemed to be missing in the previous episode.

When we say goodbye to Carstairs it’s a sad moment because I’ve quite liked him and feel like he became the fourth member of the TARDIS. David Saville has been consistently reliable and whilst he might have come across as a bit of posh soldier but actually he’s worked well with the regulars and hasn’t put a foot wrong for the entire nine episodes that he has appeared.

Due to the fact that the SIDRAT’s aren’t totally reliable this forces the Doctor to call the Timelords and this is the first time that he says that this is the name of his people. Quite a historic moment in Doctor Who I think.  The Doctor uses a box to send information to the Timelords and this would be used again in a Matt Smith episode. Patrick Troughton is very good again in this episode as the Doctor has to try and outrun the Timelords. Both Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury are good in this episode but their performances are somewhat overshadowed by Troughton.

This is the first goodbye that we get between the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe but it doesn’t have the emotional depth so its quickly ended and this leads to the cliffhanger which is another cracking one because its done in slow motion and this is suppose to illustrate the Timelords influence and the last shot is of the Doctor trying to get the key in the TARDIS. It’s a very good episode as it effectively ends this part of the story. The resistance are going to be sent back to their own time-zones and we are going to get the Timelords and the end is about arrive. I have a feeling that the Troughton era is going to end on a high note.

The War Games - Episode 8

This episode was watched by 3.5 million people which is average viewing figures by today’s standards but this remained the lowest rated episode for 20 years. I was rather disappointed with the cliffhanger to the previous episode because after all the interesting and grim endings, it seemed like episode seven’s cliffhanger was a bit flimsy. Thankfully we get past that rather quickly and a large portion of the story seems to take place in the centre of the alien’s base where there is more bickering with the Security Chief and the War Chief.

We finally get a meeting between the War Chief and the Doctor. There is an intriguing reference about the War Chief having met the Doctor when he looked like William Hartnell. We learn that the Doctor stole the TARDIS. I like how there seems to be a possible way of ending all this and that’s by getting help from the Timelords but he doesn’t want to do this though it’s never mentioned why. Patrick Troughton has been on fine form during these eight episodes. Apart from The Space Pirates, he’s been on terrific form and both Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury are also on good form as they help lead the resistance.

I like how there are wars involved in the war games that I hadn’t heard of before such as the Russo-Japanese War and the Peninsular War. A quick look of Wikipedia says that the Russo-Japanese War occurred between February 1904 and September 1905 and described as the first great war of the 20^th Century. The Peninsular War was between 1808 and 1814 and was a battle between France and Spain. It would have been nice to see something from these periods but I suppose their not really relevant to the story and they cant stop at this stage of the story to take us there.

This is the episode where the resistance starts to act like a resistance and it’s where the Security Chief starts to look a bit silly and incompetent. They start to attack different zones in an attempt to have the main alien base as empty as possible. The Security Chief takes great delight from this and the War Lord seems to be getting tired of this and I don’t think that Philip Madoc is as good as he has been. There are a few moments where he seems to be like he was when he first appeared but this wasn’t his best episode.

The cliffhanger to this episode was much better than the last one as the Doctor seems to have turned on Jamie, Zoe and the Resistance. The whole episode seems to have picked up the pace after the rather slow previous episode. It feels like there is more questions forming as we learn about the aliens, the Doctor and the Security Chief. Even after eight episodes I am still gripped with this story and despite this getting three and a half million episodes, I think that that number rather implies that the story and the episode have gone stale and I don’t think that this is the case. With two more episodes it feels now like things are going to heat up.

The War Games - Episode 7

We are starting to enter the business end of the serial and today marks the 250^th episode of the show and the thing that stands out about this episode is that there isn’t any time for celebration. The regulars have been put in danger at regular intervals and whilst that is part of the course the thing that I am always reminding myself of is the fact that this is their last story and so the tension is cranked up.

Sergeant Wilkins is bought in a talking head but he doesn’t really do very much here except for interact with Smythe. Speaking of which, Smythe makes a brief return in this episode though it ends badly when he is shot. Though for the time that he is involved allows him to enjoy his badness. I have enjoyed him during this story even though he had a very short shelf life and like other characters that have appeared in this story, he has stayed just long enough. However compared to the War Lord, he looks quite charming in comparison. We get more mentions of the War lord. When he finally appears he does instead steal the scene and I love it when he has had enough of the bickering between the War Chief and the Security Chief. It’s the first time that it feels like an adult is in charge. The capsule is called SIDRAT which is cleverly TARDIS backwards. There is more mentioned about the technology and how the War Chief’s people are the only ones that have the technology of time travel which implies that the Doctor is of the same race as the War Chief. Philip Madoc lays down the law to both the Security Chief and the War Chief. There is no sense that he takes fools gladly but has no choice but to keep them around despite their incompetence.

It does feel at times like the story is starting to recycle things. The budget is clearly starting to run out as at one point we also have a reprise from episode two cliffhanger. It’s not just a copy of the cliffhanger but it’s the exact same shots that they used in episode two. Thankfully that seems to be all that they copied but I wonder just how run down everyone involved was feeling as they will have been working on this story for nearly two months and there’s more to come.

I must admit that this is the first time in this story that I have been disappointed with the cliffhanger. It just felt rather flat and that was a shame because every cliffhanger so far had something about them but this didn’t have anything and I think that this is the weakest episode so far. There are just three episodes left before we say goodbye to Patrick, Frazer and Wendy and it feels like it’s the end but that the moment has been prepared for. An ok episode with some good performances but nothing special.

The War Games - Episode 6

So at the end of the last episode I was Jamie’s turn to be at the centre of the cliffhanger. It did seem on the face of it that Jamie was an ex-companion. It’s good how they continue with the pretence that he’s dead as the Doctor, Zoe and Carstairs leave without him. After a short time they realise that he’s not dead but just stunned. Sadly he spends the early part of this episode being interrogated by the Security Chief just like Zoe was in the previous answers.

I like the Security Chief. He’s a fly in the War Chief’s ointment. He is starting to put things together and putting pressure on the War Chief. The scene between the War Chief and the Security Chief whilst Jamie was being interrogated was a lovely scene as just bicker. Despite acting like a group of petty children, I still find both Edward Brayshaw (War Chief) and James Bree (Security Chief) to be very striking characters and believable villains. I like the way how the War Chief takes delight when he and the Security Chief walk into the room that the Security Chief thinks that the resistance members are cornered but they have managed to escape. There are mentions of the War Lord which implies that his arrival is very close and Philip Madoc will get to steal the show.

This episode is the first time in 249 episodes, that the term ‘Timelords’ is mentioned in the show. We aren’t told yet that this is the race that the Doctor belongs to them though the fact that the Doctor is quite accustomed to the control switches still hasn’t been properly addressed. Though Zoe does ask the Doctor this with the Doctor replying that it’s not too difficult. This is clearly designed to put doubt in the viewer’s mind but just let it fester until it’s needed in the story. The whole

The episode does a lot of running around corridors with moments of the War Chief and the Security Chief bickering. I didn’t find myself being bored and felt that there was more going on than in the previous episode. The cliffhanger was rather good again with the Doctor, Jamie and Carstairs being in danger with the possibility of them being squashed. It’s still maintaining my interest even after six episodes, how many times over the previous 248 episodes have I moaned about six parters yet with four more episodes to go I don’t find myself being bored and this is down to the characters that are on the screen. The regulars have all performed well so far (even if Jamie has been under used from time to time), the supporting characters are some of the best that we have had for quite some time and had this story being written by anyone other than Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke then it would have run out of steam quite early on but the introduction of new characters and the writing out of some ensures that they don’t outstay their welcome and keep the tempo going long enough so that we can get to the end.

The War Games - Episode 5

As we approach the half way point of the serial, its important that at this stage we start to get some serious development or something to help feel like we aren’t in the padding zone. It seems that Jamie has drawn the short straw  and doesn’t really get to do very much in this episode whereas Zoe who should be in a good position doesn’t seem to do much apart from being interrogated and running around with the Doctor.

We are introduced to another of the ‘aliens’ in this story in the form of James Bree who plays the Security Chief. He seems like the one who enjoys bureaucracy the most. He seems like the sort of person who isn’t very popular and is very good at his job. This is where the bickering between the ‘aliens’ seems to be getting out of hand as there is a power struggle between the War Chief and the Security Chief. It’s clear that the Doctor isn’t the only one hiding something as the War Chief seems to know more.

This is the last episode to feature Lady Jennifer. To be honest she served a purpose during the first few episodes but since the ‘aliens’ have been more introduced, she has become surplus to requirements and she was written out at just the right time. Jane Sherwin’s last scene was quite nice as it became clear that Lady Jennifer had formed a bond with Carstairs but they wouldn’t get a final scene as Carstairs is still being used well.

It’s Jamie’s turn to become the focus of the danger as he is shot at by the guards. There is a pattern emerging and it must be clear to the viewer of 1969 that nothing was going to happen to the regulars just yet. So out of four cliffhangers, each of the regulars have 1 each and it is Troughton’s who cliffhanger had the grimmest tone. I do think that the story does feel like its slowing down a bit, not too much but it doesn’t have the same pace to it. There is a problem with half the episode being set in a very confined barn and the Doctor and Zoe being stuck in the alien’s world where the rooms and corridors do look alike.

The War Games - Episode 4

I like the moment when Zoe asks about who else could have something that’s bigger on the inside than the outside and the Doctor has an idea but is almost to scared to admit it. This shows that he knows more than he’s willing to admit and that he’s deliberately keeping Zoe and Jamie in the dark about things. The story splits its time between two areas which is handy to keep the episode feel fresh and not feel like padding.

Whilst the Doctor and Zoe are in the time capsule, Jamie and Lady Jennifer are stuck in the American Civil War and it’s the return of Von Welch. During their scenes we see a very young looking Rudolph Walker who goes on to play Patrick in Eastenders. There is also an appearance from David Troughton who would play King Peladon during the Pertwee years. It’s during this period that we learn that there are those who don’t believe that they are where they thought they were and the brainwashing that has occurred has worn off.  I didn’t really find the American Civil War stuff to be interesting in this context. When the story returns to the Doctor and Zoe its here we learn a bit more and Zoe realises that they aren’t on earth. When Carstairs has been re-brainwashed and points out the Doctor and Zoe as spies the look on their face is quite good. Patrick Troughton and Wendy Padbury seems to be getting on well together and work well on screen together.

It’s seems like another episode where Jamie is kept away from the Doctor and Zoe. They get to do the exciting stuff and learn things whilst Jamie gets to hang around with Lady Jennifer. That said I thought that Frazer Hines got to do some good stuff especially riding the horse which he seemed to enjoy and the location stuff was quite well done which is credit to David Maloney.

The cliffhanger was a bit like the first but less grim. With Zoe at the end of Carstairs gun is another indication that the regulars aren’t going to get out of this story unscathed. I thought that on the whole this episode was pretty much the same as the other three. I think that its still moving at a good pace and we learn a little bit more and its interesting stuff. Whilst I wasn’t blown away with the sets used on the main base of the War ‘people’ but I must say that found them all to be quite good and after four episodes the story is still holding my attention.