Day 46: The Dalek Invasion of Earth - Worlds End

After the success of the Daleks in the last season, it was obvious that there was going to be a second story. However it had to serve a purpose and that was to write out the exit of Carole Ann Ford who had decided that the restrictive character was getting tiresome. It’s also interesting that ‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth’ is production wise the last story of the first season. This story and Planet of Giants were kept over to launch the second season. This is also Terry Nation’s third offering to the show after the first Dalek story and ‘The Keys of Marinus’. This time the adventure takes place on Earth in 2164. Though it’s not the London that Barbara and Ian know. We get this idea due to the fact that they don’t encounter anyone for a long time, they don’t hear any traffic and Battersea Power Station has lost its chimneys.


First shot is of someone in ragged clothes walking into the river and killing himself. Quite a bold thing to do in a family drama. It pretty much sets the tone for this story. It’s not a cheery story with a faint hint of terror but the terror is the overwhelming factor and the Daleks haven’t even appeared. This episode has the most substantial location filming that we have had. It’s not just someone pretending to be the Doctor but actually outside filming at its quite good because it gives a great scale of where the story is set and makes it feel like London and not just a studio. The smiles on Barbara and Ian’s face as they realise that they are in London is a joy to see. It’s a very different reaction compared to in ‘The Reign of Terror’.

Despite this being Susan’s last story it’s a shame that she starts off by spraining her ankle. Then the Doctor tells her that she need a “jolly good smacked bottom”. It does muddy the waters of what her age is. Cant believe Gallifreyans would put up with that type of talk even from someone like their grandfather. The exit (or the Doctor and Susan) is somewhat stopped by the fact that a girder that has fallen on the TARDIS blocking the door. Like ‘The Keys of Marinus’ and ‘The Sensorites’ and ‘The Aztecs’ there is a contrivance that is put in place to prevent them from just leaving.

Nice bit of dramatic music to go over the scene where Susan, Barbara and Tyler are running. It’s helped by the where they were filming and the fact it’s a nice sunny day. We are introduced to David who’s first question to Barbara is if she can cook. Clearly womens rights took a battering in the year 2164. The first interaction between these future love interest doesn’t get off to the best start. Dortmund is the leader but has been put in a wheelchair. He’s not letting his disability get in the way and feels he can contribute just as much as everyone else.

There is a slight downside and its that the flying saucer is a bit poor. Apart from that it was a good and solidly produced episode. Richard Martin directs this six part story and its clear because its very good and there are some shots which are really well done.

When this episode went out no one would have known that the Daleks were going to return. So when the cliffhanger comes it must have been tremendously exciting for viewers. After being surrounded by guards. The sight of the Dalek coming out of the water is one of the most impressive sights since the show started. The mere idea of a Dalek underwater is something could have come out of the comic strips that were out at the time. It was a great opening episode as it was atmospheric and seemed that it was going to be very gloomy.

Day 45: Planet of Giants - Crisis

The final part of this three part story resumes where the Doctor and Susan are about to drown after Smithers pulls the tap. There’s some good acting when Susan and the Doctor are in the overflow pipe watching the water go past them.

We are introduced to the final two supporting cast members. Bert and Hilda who appear to be a couple and Hilda is the one answer the phone and is the one that starts to put things together. It all starts when Forrester decides to impersonate Farrow by putting a handkerchief over the bottom of the phone. It was never going to work and its all Forrester’s fault by thinking that this was going to work.

The regulars have to do a nice selection of weird and wonderful things. They first try and prop up the phone to raise the alarm but being so small it’s a difficult task and also it doesn’t work because their voices are too low to understand. It does achieve something as it further puzzles Hilda. I love the cut away that they use when the phone is being propped up. It’s such a funny sight and its obvious how they are doing it. Not quite sure how they could have done it without looking daft so it may have been a bit harsh of me to make fun of it. When that doesn’t work they try something far more ambitious. The plan is to set a fire in the lab to try and alert the authorities to the lab. They try and use a match stick against the gas tap. There’s some clever editing done to try and make it look bigger than a studio. The explosion is well done and it’s at this point that the policeman walks in and as their story ends it seems that they are being apprehended.

Barbara’s getting worse and by the halfway point she’s fainted. When she recovers we learn that once they get back to the TARDIS they will return to normal size and she will be better so it’s a matter of trying to get the police to the house whilst getting back to the TARDIS in time. They do and the Doctor manages to bring a massive nut that when it goes inside the TARDIS it shrinks to its normal size. It’s a good bit of special effect.

The central performances are all good and no one really puts a foot wrong. Even Susan is given a good time in this story and its one of those rare stories where everyone is given a good crack of the whip. The supporting cast at times almost steals the show with Forrester being one of my favourite baddies so far in the show. Hilda and Bert were good late additions to the story and even though it was late in the story it was just right and they because quite important to the story.

The cliffhanger is leading us into the second Dalek story and the final story for Carole Ann Ford. As it is we don’t see anything because the scanner is faulty. As a three part story this is better than the second one as its more action packed and fun than the middle episode. There is a nice bit of drama with Barbara and trying to stop Forrester and Smithers. I have always liked this story and watching it like this shows why it wouldn’t have worked as a four parter. When the DVD was released they wasted their time in trying to reconstruct in some feeble attempt to make us wonder and feel like we were robbed but to be honest there was a lot of padding in that reconstructed episode and it works much better like we have it.

Day 44: Planet of Giants - Dangerous Journey

The episode starts with the regulars trying to not get killed by a cat. It’s actually quite good moment as they are waiting for the cat to get bored. Once it does then the story moves on and we are introduced to Smithers who seems to be working with Forester and is just as calm about the death of Farrow. He tries to be someone who wants the same as Forrester but is more interested in the scientific fame than the money.


There is a fair amount of credit that should go to Raymond Cusick. He has managed to create the sets for the regulars to walk around and do it too the right scale. The sets look brilliant and even when they are looking at a giant photo of something its still impressive. Also the fly that Barbara sees is well realised. The four regulars wander from one place to the other and its back to the amusing briefcase for Ian and the first time for Barbara and one of them get a tap from a paperclip which just adds to the madness of this tale.

There is an extra threat introduced in this story after Barbara picks up some wheat which at the time has this chemical on and its clear that its could kill her. Not quite sure why Barbara doesn’t persist in telling Ian that she has touched the insecticide. Even when she gets the chance towards the episode and she lets the opportunity slide. This might be to prolong some sort of exciting in the final episode.

There’s a shot where the Doctor is climbing up the pipe and he looks exhausted which is either acting or not (cant tell). William Hartnell and Carole Ann Ford get to do some good acting together and it’s the first time in a long time since its just been them two. It’s a nice opportunity to see what they were like before Barbara and Ian joined them. It’s a good performance from Ford and even though she’s talked down to by Ian its her interaction with her grandfather that is nice in this episode.

The B-Plot of this story is the DN6 insecticide. Forester has killed Farrow and the thing about Smither is that he is just a slightly less horrible person that Forrester and he’s quite a slow person because he spends most of the episode trying to clean up Farrow’s blood. He also never really wants to get involved in what Forester is doing even though he will benefit from it. It is Forester that is the fun part of this bit of the story and it’s Alan Tilvern that make it fun to watch. Sadly though not much tends to happen in this bit and its good how it tends to have a play like feel with just the two of them.

The cliffhanger is just as barmy as the previous one. The danger in this cliffhanger comes from a sink, as I write this it just seems to get stranger than I ever thought it was. As an episode it seemed to move along at a good pace and the idea of a tiny Doctor and a tiny Barbara is quite an amusing one. It’s clear why they reduced it to three episodes because there isn’t much of a story in four episodes.

Day 43: Planet of Giants: Planet of Giants

The second season of Doctor Who starts with a three part story. It was intended to be a four part but was reduced to three to make it more tighter. If you buy the DVD then you will the truly awful reconstructed episode. This opening episode doenst have to do a reprise so there its not clear just how much time has passed since the last episode. At the start of the episode the doors opening during flight and was quites interesting is that presumably outside is the vortex and yet its basically a white cyclorama. There must have been a worry for the viewers at the time this was transmitted that it was going to be like Inside the Spaceship which of course it isn’t.


There’s a lovely moment when the Doctor apologies to Barbara for being snappy with her. He admits that he loses his manners at stressful moments. This episode sees the return of the fault locator, its days are numbered but it was quite fun to see it. It’s clear that something has happened and when the regulars leave the TARDIS they notice that something isn’t quite right and the natural assumption for the viewer is the that the Giants refer to something else and the regulars are normal height.

It takes just before the half way mark before they figure out that they have been reduced in size. They spot an ant and also the tail end of an earthworm. At this point the story moves to introducing the supporting cast. Well we just get two of them. Mr Forrester is instantly a horrible character. He is behind a new insectide and is more worried about the money he would lose than its affects. I think that Forrester is a wonderful character and Alan Tilvern plays it brilliantly. Forrester kills the government man because he doesn’t give him the result that he wanted. It was a brief but important scene.

Ian is caught in a briefcase and he gets to do some fantastic acting in the briefcase. Not quite sure where you learn that sort of acting but it’s a unintentially funny moment. After Ian gets ‘caught’ Susan becomes a bit too hysterical and its seems like its back to square one. It’s another reason why you can understand what made Carole Ann Ford want to leave the show.

It’s not something that you notice at first but it’s a very small cast. There are only 6 speaking parts including the regulars. It’s a very tight number of characters in this story and that’s always good because it means that people will get more action.

This is an notable episode because it is the first to be worked on by Dudley Simpson who would go on to work on Doctor Who through out the 1960’s and 1970’s.

The cliffhanger is an absolutely barmy one. After being reunited, Susan screams and they all look at an extreme close up of a cat. It’s the only time in the shows history (until Survival 25 years later) where a cat becomes menacing. It’s a good opening episode. It’s clear that the production team felt comfortable to try and do something different because they feel that the audience could suspend their believe and go with the flow. I have always liked this story and it’s a good opening episode.

Day 42: The Reign of Terror - Prisoners of Conciergerie

The final episode of Doctor Who’s first season. It wasn’t the final story to be filmed in this production block but it’s the first season finale in Doctor Who. There’s an awkward moment when they stand around waiting for the captions appear on screen. It could only happen in 1960’s TV. When they do eventually get started its not quite the getting out of the blocks that I would expect from the final part of the story. The first six minutes are made up of just standing around and talking about things that cropped up in the first episode. Once the story gets going the action moves to a pub where Barbara is dressed like a maid and Ian looks like….well I don’t know what like but it’s a funny look.

Napoleon Bonaparte is possibly the biggest historical figure that the show has encountered. It seems like a late addition to include him in as when he does get introduced then the shift of the story seems to change. It’s almost like Dennis Spooner has thrown this in at the last minute because they were worried that the story needed something to keep the story going for 20 minutes.

It’s 20 minutes before Susan appears and its another episode where Susan seems to be given a redundant role. She cant really do much in five minutes and it would have been nice if they had done something else or re-written the script to have Susan at least appear instead of just stagger into the story. Barbara and Ian get the most amount of the action and the Doctor seems to be getting more and more impatient as he waits for Susan to be freed. It’s another episode where the regulars seem to be passengers in the story and allowing the historical figures to do what they need to do.

There is a rather crude map of what I think is France but could have been designed by a five year old. It’s then mixed in with stock footage of a horse and carriage. It seems to be a theme of this story where the production values aren’t quite as good as they normally would be. Even when you consider that the budget wouldn’t have been there even at this stage of the production process, you think that professional integrity was sacrificed

The Destiny is in the stars speech was a lovely way to end the episode. It would be seven weeks before the show returns and I suppose there is no point in doing a cliffhanger because people would have forgotten after nearly two months. As an episode it was slightly better than the previous one because there seemed to be bit more of people moving around. It seems to have halted the decline that there was over the last couple of episodes. As a story it was quite a good one. The first half of the story is stronger because it seemed more active whereas the latter half was just people standing around talking about French politics which with the best will in the world isn’t something that really excities me.



Day 41: The Reign of Terror - A Baragin of Necessity

This is the second episode to be animated. I’m still impressed with how good the animation looks and how it feels part of the episode. It’s great to see how this episode would have looked up. Obviously there are some things that they have probably had to make up but its still animation wise a good episode.


Ian spends the first few minutes of the story tied up after being fooled by Leon there is quite an exciting moment when Ian is saved and it’s a problem with this episode is that its not a particularly memomrable episode. After the initial couple of episodes, it’s a shame that this latter part of the story has essentially been about standing in rooms and trying to win this battle. It’s the problem that comes with historical stories because there is only so much that can be done and when it’s a historical story with aliens then its different but with a pure historical there is a pretty strict course of events and you cant really do much.

Another problem with this story is that there is a lot of nothing happening. The best that we get is Leon’s death leading to a moral debate between Ian and Barbara and their difference of opinion about how to feel about Leon. It’s different from what they were like in the early part of this story. Carole Ann Ford may as well have not bothered turning up because she wasn’t given very much to do as all we do see of her is her face through the bars of the cell door and then she tries to escape the jail and gets stopped. In fact this episode sees the lion share of the action given to the supporting cast which isn’t something that has happened before but the performances were all quite good.

The title refers to the deal that the Doctor does with Lemaitre. He has to as he says otherwise Susan wont be released and that would be the only reason that the Doctor would help him. Hartnell seems to be still having fun in his current role. It’s a shame that he will have to go back to his old garb because it’s a brilliant site and seems more eccentric than his old one and more in line with the other outfits.

The cliffhanger was another good one and was probably the most exciting part of the episode. The Doctor arrives back at Jules Renan’s house accompanied with Lemaitre and Renan claims that the Doctor has betrayed them. It’s a fair assumption based on what they see and it will be interesting to see how the Doctor gets himself out of this. Hopefully the final episode will redeem this because the last couple of episodes have felt a bit stagnant and what this story deserves is a cracking finale because its not just the final episode of the story but it’s the final episode of the season.

Day 40: The Reign of Terror - The Tyrant of France

The fourth episode of this story is the first animated one of the release. Up until this was released on DVD, all we had was the audio version and a narrated version on VHS. So this was the first time that we would get to see what this episode was like when it was first transmitted in August 1964. The cliffhanger from the previous episode saw the shopkeeper say that he’s got evidence of the traitor and shows the Doctor’s ring. The Doctor tries a nice bit if diplomatic diplomacy with Robespierre (Keith Anderson). It’s good how Hartnell seems to be having fun in this episode and its good how despite Robespierre being quite an important part of the story, the Doctor doesn’t really have much respect for him.


William Russell has come off holiday so he is back to being in the thick of the action. His return is rather dramatic after being bought in by Jules. After being out of it pretty much for a fortnight, it’s a shame that he doesn’t really do much except talk and sit down or the course of this episode.

Susan is getting worse and its deducted that Susan caught something whilst in prison. This means that Carole Ann Ford’s involvement is somewhat limited. The partnership between Carole Ann Ford and Jacqueline Hill is again quite good in this episode. Carole Ann Ford has been given a nice run of episodes where she hasn’t been a whiney schoolkid. Ok so she’s playing been unwell but its better than acting like a four year old. When the Psychian is treating Susan its clear that he’s making a quick exit so that he can report them to the Jailer. At least Susan and Barbara saw it coming straight away and were hampered by a locked door. However they are soon caught and end up back in prison. It seems like it’s a way of extending the story a bit because the whole thing about this episode is that it’s a lot of nothing happening. There’s a nice moment when Barbara and the Doctor are reunited. It’s a lovely little moment and a rare one of happiness. I always think about the early episodes of this series when the relationship as a lot more frosty than it is now and how they have all mellowed and become friends over the course of the series.

The shopkeeper who has news about the traitor is in one cell whilst the Doctor manages to dodge him (unknowingly). It creates a bit of tension about whether the keeper will be able to point out the Doctor as the traitor. Just as it looks like he is about to leave he is stopped by the jailer. It would be rude not to mention something about the animation. It’s the second story so far that has had lost episodes animated and this one was several years after the last lot and the style of the drawing matches the mood of the story and was very good to watch.

The cliffhanger was rather good as Ian was being set up and ended up being captured by Leon and his guards. With Barbara and the Doctor being reunitd and Susan bound to get better its just typical that someone is prevented from making it a proper reunion. It’s not been the most exciting episode as it was a lot of sitting down and talking and not much else happening. The only thing that makes this episode worth watching is seeing the very good animation.