Saturday, April 16, 2011

#8 (1.37 - 1.42): The Reign of Terror.

The Doctor impersonates a Regional Governor.
















6 episodes: A Land of Fear, Guests of Madame Guillotine, A Change of Identity, The Tyrant of France, A Bargain of Necessity, Prisoners of Concierigie. Approx. 148 minutes. Written by: Dennis Spooner. Directed by: Henric Hirsch, John Gorrie. Produced by: Verity Lambert.


THE PLOT

The Doctor holds firm to his edict to put Ian and Barbara off the ship at its next stop. He materializes the TARDIS on Earth, and declares that they are back where Ian and Barbara belong. But when they explore outside the ship, they soon discover that they are not in their own place or time. They are in France, not far from Paris. No great matter - except that they have arrived during the French Revolution, during Robespierre's Reign of Terror!

Separated from the Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Susan are captured by French soldiers and taken to Conciergerie, to await their turn at the guillotine. Ian shares a cell with a wounded English spy, however, one who passes along information before expiring. When Lemaitre (James Cairncross), a Parisian intelligence officer, learns that Ian spoke with the dying man, he arranges a stay of execution for Ian.

Which doesn't help Barbara or Susan, both of whom are still marked for execution!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Though the story is fundamentally a serious one, writer and future script editor Dennis Spooner infuses the Doctor's scenes with a strong comedic vein, particularly when the Doctor disguises himself as a regional governor. The way in which he bamboozles the drunken jailer (Jack Cunningham) is a delight. The Doctor is also cagey in his dealings with both Lemaitre and Robespierre, effortlessly deflecting Robespierre's questions about him in such a way as to actually gain the tyrant's confidence. His best material comes in Episode 5, as he and Lemaitre each try to outwit the other, but Hartnell is on fine form throughout.

Ian: Sensing the Doctor's resistance to even checking to make sure that they are in the right place and time, Ian tries a different tact. Instead of questioning him, he expresses confidence in the Doctor's abilities and offers that it would be best to part over a friendly drink. In this way, he keeps the Doctor close, in case they need to get back to the TARDIS. Beyond that, Ian largely fulfills his typical "action man" role, which William Russell does effectively enough but which by this point is starting to feel very ordinary.

Barbara: Refuses to allow either herself or Susan to meekly accept their death sentence. She spends the story searching for opportunities to escape (at least two of which are scuttled by Susan). She also shows a gentle but firm protectiveness of Susan, endangering her own welfare to make sure the younger girl receives help for her strange, Plot-Required illness. Episode Five sees another benefit to Barbara's background as a history teacher, as she sees the French Revolution in its full context. When Ian tries to dismiss the revolutionaries as black & white villains, Barbara angrily responds him that from their point of view they are patriots, reacting against an oppressive ruling class.

Susan: Not content with simply reducing Susan to "useless baggage," this story goes one better and makes her an active liability! Episode Two sees Barbara come up with a reasonable hope of escape, by shifting a loose stone to get to the sewers. But Susan sees a rat, and collapses into a whimpering ball until Barbara agrees that they won't dig anymore... They'll just stay put and get their heads cut off. In Episode Three, while they're on their way to the guillotine, Barbara sees a chance to escape. Susan protests that she has a headache, and effectively refuses to even try to make a break for it. Don't worry, Susan - The French Revolution offers up a 100% effective headache remedy. After being rescued in spite of all her whimpering, she comes down with a deathly case of Plot Contrivance, and has to be taken to an Evil Physician (the excellent Ronald Pickup) in order to be safely recaptured, at which point her illness instantly vanishes.  Given that we have seen her whimper at rustling plants, it is quite an achievement for The Reign of Terror that it marks the absolute nadir of Susan's time in the TARDIS.


THOUGHTS

The second TARDIS materialization effect is a substantial improvement over the first.  The effect's still not fully formed, and it seems strange looking back from decades later to watch a silent TARDIS materialization (I suppose A Time of Angels provided a likely-unintended retcon for why these early materializations don't have the sound effect). But the now-traditional TARDIS materialization is well on its way, and will be perfected the following season.

The story, the series' first offering by the man who would become script editor the following year, is a good one. It benefits from the usual high production standards of the historical stories, a handful of good guest performances, and a terrific, showboating performance by Hartnell.

Except for the misuse of Susan, the first five episodes work a treat. The various plot elements are intertwined effectively, and Dennis Spooner's script pulls off rapid turns from comedy to surprisingly gritty material. Episode Five is particularly strong, with Barbara's outburst in defense of the revolutionaries as people given a thoughtful counterpoint by Jules (Donald Morley)'s speech about anarchy vs. reason, while LeMaitre proves an intelligent adversary for the Doctor.

The momentum is broken by a static Episode Six. It's not that the final episode is bad. The portrayal of Robespierre's fall and the beginning of Napoleon's rise sees gives us a snapshot of important events while maintaining the TARDIS travelers' priority as getting away safely. But it is anticlimactic, with the regulars suddenly reduced to observing the action rather than participating in it. It works adequately, buoyed by Robespierre's end, the Doctor's final showdown with the jailer, and the last moments of the Doctor's closing speech, which run over a visual of the stars. But I can't help but feel that this final part doesn't quite fit with the five episodes preceding it.

Even so, The Reign of Terror is a good entertainment. It's well-made by the standards of the series at that time, with some good performances and a handful of standout scenes. I'm on the border between a "7" and an "8," but the issues with Susan's Plot Illness and the flat finale leave me rounding it down to the lower, but still respectable, score of:


Rating: 7/10.

Reign of Terror Missing Episode Notes


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3 comments:

  1. Wow! I've spent the better part of 3 hours on here reading these reviews. Extraordinary depth and breadth, as well as scope. Combine these with the plethora of Star Trek and indeed the Babylon 5 reviews and I doubt I have seen a better single blog devoted to all 3 series anywhere in cyberspace really.

    I do have one question, which is what the motivation was behind spreading your comments over such a wide timescale, and spread of the series. Taking one even one Star Trek would be an undertaking, and simultaneously reviewing all 11 Doctors (even the reconstructions of Hartnell and Troughton) is a feat of superhuman endurance. The one quibble is that it would obviously take years to 'finsh' them all!

    That said, please don't take that as criticism. This is one of the most detailed, and fairest reviews I have yet read of the First Doctor Who story, and really deserves a wider audience. As I say, a fantastic blog,and one with the departure of Outpost Galifrey, that is right up there with Androzani as a 'Must visit' for a Who fan. I especially concur that dismissing everything other than 'Unearthly Child' as poor is very sloppy. Thanks for posting

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  2. Apologies -This should have posted on the First Story -goddamn tablet.....

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  3. Thanks for the great comments. I'm glad you're enjoying the reivews!

    The main motive for spreading these reviews across all the Doctors is a purely selfish one - If I go entirely "in order," then there are several stretches where I'll get bogged down. This is as much "for fun" as anything else, so I don't want to turn it into a job. By moving through the Doctors in sets of stories, I keep it all fresh and enjoyable for me.

    You're quite right, though - It will take years to get remotely "done" with all of it. Still, by this point I've put a pretty decent dent into it, and I look forward to continuing to do these for some time to come :)

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