The Evil of the Daleks

Patrick Troughton's final adventure in his first season is, in my opinion, the wildest and most extravagant yet. Not only is it set in three completely different areas, it's also filled with some massive sets, location shooting, and lots of explosions.

Basically, when the Doctor and Jamie return to the TARDIS in the airport, they find that someone's stolen it, and a trail has been left for the Doctor to an antique shop, where the owner:  Mr. Waterfield, has been traveling in time back to the victorian era. Taking the Doctor and Jamie back with him, he and his friend Maxtible explain that they were forced to by the Daleks. The Daleks want the Doctor to figure out what makes the humans defeat the daleks all the time, and to do so, he must use Jamie in an experiment. The Doctor willingly proceeds but is deceived as the Daleks take his calculations and formula and reverse them. They then follow the Daleks back to Skaro in order to stop them from using 'the Dalek factor' on all of humankind.

It's complicated, yes, and it is quite a large expansive plot, but it is executed perfectly. Fast paced and filled with suspense, danger, and character, there is pretty much nothing to fault at all. From the start, you can see the story looks great and is acted brilliantly. The modern day guest stars are brilliant, and the victorian actors are as well. Waterfield expertly conveys a man under pressure, and Maxtible's got the mad scientist look and voice perfectly. Victoria Waterfield is great too, and there's a lovely subplot involving Kemel, a jamaican slave, having feelings for her. It's believable, as is the bond between Jamie and Kemel.

The Doctor however, shows a different kind of acting towards his companion. Here, he plays the audience into questioning his allegiances and friends, all while having great fun doing so. It's a testimonial to Troughton's skill that he can go from being delighted and enthralled by a tune on his recorder to being dark, serious, and scarily morbid about a situation or subject.

I could go on for hours, days even, on "The Evil of the Daleks"; there's simply so much to write about and discuss, and there are so many interesting themes, from slavery and the class system, to friendship, obedience, and despair. It doesn't get much better than this.

As an afterthought, I'd like to add that the human Daleks are hilarious and a delight to watch.

The Faceless Ones

And now on to one of my favourite Troughton adventures: "The Faceless Ones". The TARDIS materializes in the middle of Gatwick airport where Polly witnesses a murder. It transpires that Chameleon Tours, a seemingly normal company, is kidnapping their passengers and transferring their body shapes to their own bodies.

The Doctor and Jamie are the real stars here, and they bond over this story, solving the mystery and convincing the airport staff that they are telling the truth. The serial turns out to be fast paced, quite dark, with some great plot twists, and the story moving on at the perfect speed. Never a boring moment, and with some great location work. The shots of Gatwick really give this story scope and a sense of importance.

The sets and costumes are good too. Captain Blade and the other Chameleon crew are all dressed immaculately, and the commandant's costume helps show his character. Samantha also is interesting, with her 'regional' accent and modern dress sense. The sets themselves look the part, from the airport hangars to the immigration desks. Even the Chameleon Tours aeroplane interior looks authentic for the small amount of screen-time it receives. 

After a gripping adventure and an exciting end, the commandant gives the Doctor back his TARDIS, before Ben and Polly decide to leave the Doctor and get on with their lives. Sadly, Jamie accompanies the Doctor over to the TARDIS, where upon close inspection, it isn't the TARDIS at all, but just a plain old Police Box. The TARDIS has been stolen!

The Underwater Menace

The TARDIS lands in sunken Atlantis in this serial, and almost straight away, the regulars are separated: Polly being taken for a horrendous operation, Ben and Jamie being taken to work in the mines, and the Doctor gone to visit Professor Zaroff. Zaroff is revealed to be the mad scientist in charge of 'raising Atlantis' and is looked up to by the entire nation. However, it is soon revealed that Zaroff actually wants to destroy Atlantis and so the reunited regulars along with a good supporting cast set out to stop him.

The plot in The Underwater Menace might be a bit odd, but I find that it's paced well and is structured cleverly, so you never get bored. The excitement build as the story progresses, with lots of running around Atlantis and some fight scenes to boot. The story is quite complex though, and requires four locals to help the Doctor beat Zaroff. Sean and Jacko are an entertaining double act, and Rano also brings joy to the screen.

You really can tell the actors are enjoying themselves making this. Zaroff's german accent is strong all the way through, sometimes providing slight comedic moments in an otherwise completely serious serial. The plot and acting is serious, but unfortunately, the costumes aren't. 

While it would have been great joy to work on costumes for a serial like this, the results are unique, but sadly, way over the top. Corral headdresses, clothes made from sea plants, and religious masks in the shape of paralyzed goldfish don't convey seriousness. Also to fault are the fish slaves.  The eye pieces look silly and the costumes are just odd. The silent acting is a joke.

However, it's a pretty enjoyable tale. Good action, a great villain and cast, and an excellent script are plagued by hideous costumes and the set pieces leave a lot to be desired. Nevertheless, it works well and it's a pity three episodes are currently not in the BBC archive.

Whatever Happened to Susan Foreman?

This radio one-off comedy was a pseudo-documentary about Susan's life after she departed the TARDIS. It's pretty accurate in terms of continuity but does reveal some amusing snippets about life on Gallifrey and her Grandfather's past. It's pretty funny for Doctor Who fans, especially all the parts about the Doctor retiring from a career selling 'imaginative ideas and concepts' in a small shop to travel in time and space.

Also explained in the programme is how Susan returned to present day Earth by phoning up her godfather to pick her up next time he was passing by in the space time continuum. It's all quite amusing, and contributions from Ian Chesterton (who has suffered time-lag and amnesia) help add even more humour to the story.

It's all quite lighthearted fun and I enjoyed it more and more as the half-an-hour programme progressed.

The Tenth Planet

So, it's time for William Hartnell's last story, and it really is very good. The TARDIS crew land in Antartica in a space rocket facility. Soon after their arrival, a planet appears in the sky and natives of the planet, called the cybermen, descend upon Earth, planning to 'refuel' their planet Mondas with all life and energy on Earth.

The cybermen here make fantastic villains, despite their atrocious costumes. The voices are chilling and it's unfortunate you don't see more of them in this serial. Also, the characters of Barclay and Cutler are good, with Cutler making for a good anti-hero. He means well, but you feel quite happy when he's shot dead.

Obviously, the most important part of this story is what happens at the end, and the regeneration is foreshadowed in episode three when the Doctor falls ill. Knowing about regeneration before watching this takes all of the surprise out of the moment, but I imagine that not knowing what's wrong with the Doctor would be quite worrying and the actual regeneration would leave people confused as to what's happening.

In order to explain this miraculous event, we have to move on to the next story, but not before clearing up one or two pieces of spin off media that take place during Hartnell's tenure as the Doctor.

The War Machines

"The War Machines" was a serial I particularly enjoyed. It's good after such a long time away, to finally spend an entire story on contemporary Earth, and it's brilliant. The characters of Polly and Ben make great additions to the cast, and really add a modern, forward-thinking feel to the programme.

The concept is a little dated now though, the computer is a little silly now, and the war machine itself is massive and clunky. Impressive, yes. Well-built, yes. But easy to make look threatening? Definitely not; especially as it bumps into something every time it attempts to move.

That said, I think this story is pretty good, with the characters of Sir Charles, the tramp, and the sergeant proving most interesting to watch and enjoy. But, on the other hand, Professor Brett and Wotan make terrible villains and I'm glad we don't see more of them than we do. Also, I'm glad that Dodo has finally 'gone' and I don't mind that she didn't get a great goodbye scene as Polly and Ben make up for that.

One more thing: even if William Hartnell was becoming unwell round about now, I didn't notice it on-screen. His character still commanded authority and I thought that in this serial in particular, I thought he was great.

The Daleks' Master Plan (Episodes 7-12)

The second half of this serial is a lot better than the first, in my opinion. However, the Feast of Steven is a bit of a wasted episode, as nothing important happens in that episode, it just serves the purpose of wishing all the viewers a merry christmas.

I can't really think of much else to say about this story except that it really is epic, and features some great moments, such as the confrontations between the monk and the doctor in Egypt and the thrilling conclusion.

Roll on the Massacre!

The Daleks' Master Plan (Episodes 1-6)

It's been a while since I last watched a story in my Doctor Who marathon. However, I've decided to get going again and continue from where I left off. I'd stopped after episode five of this story in October, so some aspects of it are a little foggy in my mind.

I enjoyed this immensely, which the characters of Mavic Chen and Bret Vyon being some of the best single-story characters yet. The death of Katarina is a powerful moment as it shows the Doctors do not always win confrontations.

I felt that the story was just about to kick off at this point, so I'll save the rest for the second part of this story review.

The Chase

"The Chase" is the third Dalek story, excluding "The Space Museum", which did not feature the Daleks as enemies. In this serial, the Daleks pursue the TARDIS crew through space and time, stopping off for an amusing scene at the Empire State Building and explaining the mystery of the Mary Celeste.

This story has a lighter feel in comparison with some of the earlier stories in this season, and it greatly benefits this story; you don't feel like anything is repetitive. The Daleks make their comeback, and as always, they're better than ever.

The first couple of episodes see the Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Vicki held captive on an alien planet while their captives reason with the Daleks. These episodes start off "The Chase" by giving it a dark tone, but that's lost as the travelers escape. Following up are great scenes about the Mary Celeste and on the Empire State Building. The latter is the high-point of this particular serial, as it's great to watch, and feature the great Peter Purves (who later appears in the same serial as Steven).

It's an upsetting moment at the end of the last episode as Ian and Barbara return to Earth, leaving the TARDIS at it's lowest passenger count yet. Now it's only the Doctor and Vicki left to tour the universe, but the mysterious disappearance of Steven suggests that the TARDIS might be picking up a new recruit sometime in the new future.

Planet of Giants

The first serial of season two is 'Planet of the Giants'. For this story, I only read the scripts and from what I read, it was an interesting story. The TARDIS crew have pretty much nothing to do with the main plot or villains for a change, and they never meet each other. Basically, the Doctor, Ian, Susan and Barbara have all shrunk and have landed in a garden, which belongs to the developer of a new kind of insecticide. Our heroes want nothing more than returning to safety, but when Ian and Barbara are lifted up in a briefcase accidentally, it's up to the Doctor and Susan to find and rescue them.

Compared to earlier season one serials, this serial is rather light-hearted. The TARDIS crew never really being threatened by the villains means that the story is more humourous and contains a lot of interesting little moments, like when they meet an oversized cat, and get stuck under a sink plug. Also, Planet of Giants has an important theme which doesn't fit the nature of the story. All throughout, I felt nothing but pity for all the insects that have done no wrong but have been killed needlessly, and this dampened my joy from this story.

The villains myself aren't that threatening. The most important baddie doesn't have much screentime, and his (and most of everyone else's) dialogue is shoddy. Overall, it's got a mixture of great and terrible moments, but it's certainly a unique serial, and was probably more interesting before 'Honey, I Shrunk the Kids' was released.

Dr. Who and the Daleks

It was the first time the Daleks had been seen in colour, and on the big screen as well. It's a great children's film, but only if you forget that it's supposed to be Doctor Who. Peter Cushing plays Dr. Who, an eccentric English inventor who has invented TARDIS. If you're a fan of the series, the film seems a little strange compared to the serial "The Daleks". It get a lot of things wrong and has dumbed down a lot of the things that make Doctor Who what it is.

However, the general storyline remains similar, and I think it was the first time the Dalek voices sounded at all decent. Perhaps it can be forgiven for changing too much and deviating from the TV series with it's simple charm and some oddly placed jokes. It's a high budget stroll through familiar ground and can be a great film to watch when you're with a group of fans. This could be great, but failed a bit.

An Unearthly Child

The first story in Doctor Who's history is not one of the best overall but the first episode is one of the best episodes ever, in my opinion of course. It introduces all the characters and has to explain the TARDIS to a nation of people who still don't know what Daleks are. It accomplishes this easily, and after an intriguing first twenty minutes, the unfortunate cast are whisked off to goodness knows where.

And so we get to meet the first adversaries in Doctor Who, who turn out to be a tribe of cavemen who all speak BBC English. It's their speech that is the constant reminder that this is just a small television series, and watching it now reminds us of the programme's humble beginnings. A clever but quite silly plot brings the story to it's climax and after a tiny preview of what's to come, we're left imagining what will happen next week.

Pilot Episode

So, the first Doctor Who episode produced. It's pretty similar to the first episode of An Unearthly Child, although Susan is made to seem even more alien-like, and the Doctor is a bit too unlikeable. However, this shows how the producers intended to make Doctor Who, so it's a pretty interesting watch, especially for hardcore fans.