#16 (2.30 - 2.35): The Chase.

The Daleks face their archenemy: 

Alabama tourist Morton Dill (Peter Purves).

6 episodes: The Executioners, The Death of Time, Flight Through Eternity, Journey into Terror, The Death of Doctor Who, The Planet of Decision. Running Time: Approx. 148 minutes. Written by: Terry Nation. Directed by: Richard Martin. Produced by: Verity Lambert.


THE PLOT:

The TARDIS has materialized on Aridius, an apparently unpopulated desert planet, allowing the time travelers a chance to rest. It also gives the Doctor time to get working the device he liberated from the Space Museum: A Time/Space Visualizer, a monitor capable of viewing any point in time and space. Each of the team takes a turn viewing a moment of import: Ian, the Gettysburg Address; Barbara, the encounter that inspired Shakespeare to write Hamlet; Vicki, a performance by The Beatles.

The mood grows considerably more serious when the monitor picks up something they hadn't been looking for: The Daleks, discussing plans to locate and exterminate the four of them!

The team manage to escape Aridius, but they are far from safe. The Daleks have their own time machine, and are in pursuit. With the TARDIS unable to just remain in flight, they have no choice but to materialize at various points in time and space. Each stop reduces their lead over the Daleks, and it is clear that a confrontation is inevitable... Leaving the Doctor to work on a device that might stop their enemies, even as he and Ian evaluate each new stop as a potential battleground!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: The opening episode of The Chase affords a rare chance to see the Doctor and his friends relaxing. It's fun to see the First Doctor just enjoying himself, whether playing with his new toy or relaxing in the sun(s) of a desert planet. He's very pleased with himself when they appear to have escaped the Daleks - Then all business when he discovers that they are in pursuit. Season Two has seen Hartnell's performance moving from strength to strength, and he is wonderful again here - Though it should be noted that this story also boasts his most unintentionally funny line fluff, as he shouts to Ian and Barbara that they could "end up as a couple of burnt cinders, flying around in Spain! Er, space."

Vicki: I continue to adore Vicki. The opening scenes have a real sense of a family dynamic, with Vicki as the bored and slightly awkward teenager managing to accidentally irritate every single adult in the TARDIS. On Aridius, the Doctor compares her enthusiasm to explore to his own. I love the squeal of nervous laughter she lets in Episode One, right after Ian opens a passage to an underground city - a perfect mix of fear and excitement. She's smart enough to be nervous about going down into the unknown... But she (and Ian!) are far too curious at this open door to do anything but step through it.

Ian/Barbara: Ian remains a pragmatic man of action. As soon as it becomes apparent that they can't escape the Daleks, he and the Doctor survey each stop the TARDIS makes, evaluating it as a place they might make a last stand. Barbara defaults to being a caretaker. This is particularly apparent during the escape from the Mechanoids' city in Episode Six. The only route is to climb down a thick cord. Barbara expresses her reservations - Until Vicki reveals a paralyzing fear of heights, at which point Barbara focuses on trying to calm the younger woman while they wrap the cord around her and lower her down.

Steven: The final episode sees the debut of new companion Steven Taylor (Peter Purves). Steven is a pilot who crash landed on the planet Mechanus and has spent the past two years in isolation, with only the robot Mechanoids for company. He has basically given up on the idea of rescue, which earns a reproof from Ian: "We don't give up that easily." When he learns that the Doctor's ship is actually functional, his attitude changes significantly, the prospect of actual freedom spurring him to aid in the escape.


THOUGHTS

The Chase is silly, tacky, and occasionally downright bizarre. After The Dalek Invasion of Earth transformed Terry Nation's creations into a genuinely formidable foe, The Chase transforms them again... into the butt of multiple jokes at their expense, as they are thwarted by the TARDIS team sticking their heads up over rocks to draw fire, by mechanical recreations of Hollywood monsters, and by an American Southern yokel named Morton Dill. They are effectively taken from intergalactic conquerors to the space equivalent of Curly from The Three Stooges, making it no surprise that this story has often come under fire.

The story's saving grace? It's a lot of fun.

Much like Season One's The Keys of Marinus, also by Nation, the overall story here is more of a thread tying together the visits to different locations. The first two episodes feel like a standard Who runaround, as the time travelers find themselves involved with (and being captured and escaping from) aliens under threat of extinction by unconvincing puppet monsters. Episode Three is pretty much outright comedy, with the broadly-played Empire State Building scene followed by an encounter on the Mary Celeste that is - somewhat bizarrely - played as slapstic. Part Four sees hijinks in a haunted house. Part Five is more of a suspense piece, with the regulars surviving carnivorous plants while trying to evade the Daleks. Then Part Six moves the action to a futuristic city populated by robots.

This structure has its benefits. The pace remains energetic throughout the six episodes, only really threatening to bog down in the underground city in Episode Two. But it does mean that all scenarios and guest characters are only thinly sketched, with no real opportunity to explore or become involved in the narrative. While this story is enjoyable - as was Marinus - my preference would be for such stories to be rare exceptions to the norm, as I don't ultimately feel it plays to the series' strengths.

The Chase ends its story with a good ten minutes left in the running time - time that is devoted to the departures of original companions Ian and Barbara. Their farewell is effective, as the original companions take their chance to return to their own time and place. The Doctor, who originally viewed them as a nuisance, all but shuts down at the prospect of their departure. Vicki has to all but physically push her way through his defenses, while at the same time promising that she has no intention of leaving, before he agrees to help his friends return home.

He doesn't really say goodbye to them - As someone close to him in the future will observe, the Doctor hates goodbyes. But he does watch on the Time/Space Visualizer, making sure they made it back safely. The story ends as he quietly acknowledges what's obvious to all:

"I shall miss them. Yes, I shall miss them."


Overall Rating: 7/10.

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#15 (2.26 - 2.29): The Space Museum.

The TARDIS crew as exhibits in a museum!

4 episodes: The Space Museum, The Dimensions of Time, The Search, The Final Phase. Running Time: Approx. 89 minutes. Written by: Glyn Jones. Directed by: Mervyn Pinfield. Produced by: Verity Lambert.


THE PLOT:

When the TARDIS materializes on the planet Xeron, the time travelers suddenly find themselves no longer in their Crusade outfits, but back in their normal clothes. More oddities follow. Vicki drops a glass of water, which shatters... only to reassemble itself, water and all, and jump back into her hand. Going out to explore the planet, Ian observes the thick layer of dust on the surface... in which they are leaving no footprints. When they reach a nearby building, a museum of the space conquests of the Morok Empire, the guards are unable to see them even when staring directly at them!

The Doctor deduces that they "jumped a time track," that they are exploring this museum before actually physically arriving. That's when they discover the museum's newest and most disturbing exhibits: The TARDIS; and the four of them, embalmed and encased in glass!
The Doctor informs them that this is one possible future. When time catches back up with them, they will need to act decisively to avoid it. But without knowing what actions led to their fate, how can they know whether a choice will avoid it or lead them straight to it?


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: Can't help but be fascinated by the various bits of technology in the museum. His curiosity works against him, as the others get just far enough ahead of him to not notice when he is captured. He is brought before the museum's governor, Lobos (Richard Shaw), who questions him using a device that visualizes the Doctor's thoughts on a monitor. The Doctor takes great satisfaction in thwarting this effort, summoning up a series of bizarre responses until Lobos finally loses patience and has him taken away. Hartnell is on great form throughout, and it's likely no coincidence that the weakest episode of the story is the one he sits out.

Ian: Put into a scenario where any action (or inaction) can be the wrong one, he becomes highly irritable. He snaps at Barbara and Vicki for losing track of the Doctor, then has a Hamlet-like moment of hesitation in which he reflects that "Choice is only possible when you know all the facts... We know nothing about this place!" He finally decides that, right or wrong, he will act, taking a guard's gun and staging a one-man rescue of the Doctor. His anger remains evident, however, as he appears almost eager for an excuse to shoot Lobos.

Barbara: It's her turn to be pushed to the background in this story. She does get a few good scenes with a rebel youth, as she helps him to move through gas-filled rooms to an exit. She also calls Ian on his irritability, getting him to at least admit to his own snappishness. Outside of that, however, she gets easily the least to do of the four regulars.

Vicki: After being backgrounded in The Crusade, she's back to getting strong material here. When the Doctor figures out that they've jumped a time track, Vicki is the one of the companions who actually grasps what he means. "Time... although a dimension in itself, also has dimensions of its own," she says, sounding very like she's puzzling it out as she talks - Earning the Doctor's enthusiastic approval. She falls in with the rebel Xerons, whose planet was taken over to create the museum, and pushes them to stop talking about a revolution and actually do something... And she makes that possible, when she figures out how to reprogram the automated security to allow the rebels access to the (conveniently unguarded) armory.


THOUGHTS:

The Space Museum is a good example of what I call "bread-and-butter Who." After an arresting first episode, time catches back up with the regulars... And we find ourselves in a bog standard runaround, with a group of militaristic aliens who need to be overthrown. Some capture/escape mechanics follow, until ultimately the regulars are able to help the sympathetic rebels to defeat the villains before flying off in the TARDIS. The End.

I think this is a big reason why The Space Museum is often rated on the lower end of the Hartnell era. It begins with a genuinely imaginative scenario that makes intriguing use of the series' time travel conceit... Only to see that scenario flattened out more and more, until the serial is left with nothing distinctive about it.

I can't argue that the first episode is considerably more interesting than the rest. However, Parts 2 - 4 remain entertaining. The dilemma of what action to take when any action can be wrong is an intriguing one, and fuels some engaging conversations among the regulars. It also spurs William Russell to one of his better Season Two performances, with Ian's frustration at not being able to just do something becoming a tangible force, particularly when he has the villain at gunpoint and is clearly itching to shoot.

There certainly are issues with the later episodes, though. The guest performances are below the usual standard. I know the Moroks are meant to be listless and bored, but Richard Shaw's Lobos feels like he's sleepwalking even when he finally is given something to investigate. The other Moroks are wooden. The Xeron youths are even worse; some of their line readings are so inept, you'd swear a random teenager had been pulled in from the street, given funny eyebrows, and asked to deliver lines they'd never seen before with no knowledge of the story context.

Some of the problem likely lies with director Mervyn Pinfield. In previous stories, Pinfield has proved himself adept with visual effects, but lacking much sense of drama.  He isn't particularly good with actors, and he stages things in a way that's not even remotely visually interesting. This is particularly apparent here, on the heels of the highly visual, energetically performed The Crusade.

Still, The Space Museum is never less than entertaining. A fascinating initial premise may be reduced to just a backdrop for a bog-standard Doctor Who serial; then again, if I didn't generally enjoy bog-standard Doctor Who, there's not much chance I'd be watching (let alone reviewing) it all these decades later.


Overall Rating: 5/10.

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#14 (2.22 - 2.25): The Crusade.

The Doctor restrains Ian from 

arguing with King Richard (Julian Glover).

4 episodes: The Lion, The Knight of Jaffa, The Wheel of Fortune, The Warlords. Running Time: Approx. 97 minutes. Written by: David Whitaker. Directed by: Douglas Camfield. Produced by: Verity Lambert.


THE PLOT:

The TARDIS materialises in 12th century Palestine during the Third Crusade... And the crew emerge right in the middle of an ambush of King Richard the Lionheart (Julian Glover) by the Saracen El Akir (Walter Randall). The Doctor, Ian, and Vicki are able to rescue a knight and fend off the attackers - But Barbara is kidnapped and taken to the brother of the sultan, Saladin (Bernard Kay).

Barbara is in the company of a knight who posed as King Richard, and he chivalrously tells their captors that Barbara is the king's sister, Joanna. El Akir eagerly presents them, anticipating glory... Only to be shown up as a fool when Saladin and his brother recognize the deception. Saladin insists the prisoners be treated with respect and dismisses El AKir scornfully - leaving the villain plotting to kidnap Barbara to take his revenge on her.

King Richard is persuaded, not without difficulty, to allow Ian to serve an emissary to the sultan. But by the time he arrives, Barbara has been taken again - leaving Ian determined to press on into El Akir's own territory to rescue her!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: While Barbara and Ian are left to carry the action plot, the Doctor becomes involved in the intrigue of Richard's court. He navigates by quick thinking.  He neatly transforms a clothes merchant's denunciations of him as a thief into a way to gain the man's confidence, much to Vicki's amusement. He is eager to protect Vicki, observing that the situation at court is potentially dangerous - And indeed, he makes an enemy of one knight when he denounces the man for arguing against even a chance of peace.

Barbara: Quick-witted in dealing with El Akir at Saladin's court, turning the villain's suggestions of torture against him by observing that it "sound like the punishment for a fool," leaving an amused Saladin to observe that El Akir has proved far more foolish than Barbara. Rescued by Haroun (George Little), whose family was destroyed by El Akir, she is entrusted with his remaining daughter and a knife - With a request to kill the girl if the villain's men find them.  Barbara is horrified, insisting that "life is better than this." When it's clear she and the girl will be discovered, Barbara saves her by revealing herself. She remains defiant when dragged before El Akir. Pushed to her knees, she looks at him with loathing, refusing to show any sign of weakness - Then uses his own taunts about how his gold will buy her torment as an impetus for escape.

Ian: "Brave, brave Sir Ian, he bravely ran..." Well, it's Ian, so you know he doesn't run away... But he does get knighted! The Crusade is Ian's best showing in a while. Finding Barbara is pretty much his only thought from the moment she is kidnapped. When the Doctor, reading King Richard's mood, urges patience in enlisting aid, Ian ignores him and presses the king at the worst possible time, prompting an outburst. Discovering that El Akir abducted Barbara from Saladin's camp, he insists on pushing forward on his own, despite the danger. He predictably runs afoul of danger, but through quick wits he manages to turn even that to his advantage.

Vicki: Left largely to the background this time...Which is more than fair enough; after three stories in a row with Vicki front and center, it really was Ian and Barbara's turn. Continues to make a fun counterpart for the Doctor, with her reactions to his interplay with the various members of Richard's court regularly entertaining.

King Richard: Portrayed in this story as young and impetuous, driven by passion from one extreme to another. He insists on staying in the forest, against his knights' advice, all but inviting the initial attack. Later, when Ian begs for help to negotiate for Barbara's release, he angrily refuses to trade with those who killed his friends - But then, feeling weary of war, not only sends Ian to negotiate but drafts a peace offer that includes the hand of his sister, Joanna (Jean Marsh), in marriage to Saladin's brother. He does so without consulting her, and flies into yet another rage when she refuses.

Saladin: Bernard Kay's Saladin is Richard's opposite number. Where the young English king is all temper and passion, Saladin is pure calculation. "You must serve my purpose, or you have no purpose, he bluntly tells Barbara early on. He is not portrayed as a bad man - quite the reverse, he is painted throughout as honorable. He also acknowledges the sincerity of Richard's peace offer, even as he doubts peace can be achieved. He is older than Richard, quite frankly smarter than Richard, and is determined to be prepared for whatever may occur. As he says to his brother, "Hold one hand out in friendship, but keep the other on your sword."

El AKir: Richard isn't quite a hero; Saladin definitely isn't a villain; but in El Akir, we have a figure who is utterly twisted, evil, and depraved. He becomes obsessed with Barbara for no reason other than that she made him look foolish in front of the sultan - And for that, he risks kidnapping her from Saladin's camp, he raids homes in a village, he is quite happy for his men to set fire to houses - All so that he can take his revenge. You could argue that such a melodramatically evil baddie sticks out in a story otherwise populated by complex, multilayered individuals... But actor Walter Randall throws himself in with vigor and just the right amount of restraint, making El AKir genuinely menacing.


THOUGHTS

This is the first story with missing episodes I've watched via reconstruction since Marco Polo, and the difference in viewing experience shows just how far the series has come in terms of visual ambition. In Marco Polo's case, the story was so dialogue driven, the still reconstruction felt almost as good as watching the real thing. It was, to coin a phrase regarding much archive television, "radio with pictures." By contrast, the action scenes in the existing episodes of The Crusade play out predominately visually, with the action well-choreographed, well-shot, and highly effective.

Which creates a bit of a problem in the two missing episodes. Part Two ends with a sequence of Barbara escaping from, then evading, El Akir's men. It is dialogue-free... Which turns the reconstruction into a sequence of still photos of Barbara in an alley at this point, or the audio into a string of narration over music. Full credit to those involved in either effort - But this just can't convey the tension the filmed scene would have. Part Four suffers even more, as the story climaxes with an action set piece at El Akir's palace. This does weaken the available viewing experience for this story; but it also demonstrates that even in its second season, Doctor Who had already moved forward significantly in purely technical terms.

This was the first Who story fully directed by Douglas Camfield (he had previously directed Part Three of Planet of Giants), and the existing episodes show him already making his mark. In addition to strong action scenes, actors are positioned to create a strong sense of dimension and depth.  Actors will be positioned in foreground, middle ground, and background, with reactions at all planes. At every turn, cameras are positioned to capture the actors in a visually interesting way... Which, however much I may love 1960's Who, isn't something that can generally be said of the series.

David Whitaker's script is a good one. After serving as the series' first script editor, it's hardly a surprise that he has the regulars down, and he balances them well. The dialogue is exceptional, and the guest cast seems to relish the words they've been given. Particularly noteworthy is the argument between Richard and Joanna in Episode Three, as she shouts down his attempt to marry her off for peace with absolute fury. As the king, he should ostensibly be the more powerful figure - But she seems dominant from the start, even before she invokes the Pope and the certainty that he would refuse to authorize such a union.

The final episode is the weakest of the set - Not just because it's missing, but because the story resolves a little too easily, with El Akir's palace proving remarkably easy for multiple parties to infiltrate. An epilogue in which the Doctor escapes a wrathful knight feels tacked-on and rushed. This isn't enough to make The Crusade less than an extremely good story, and even the missing episodes are engrossing and pass quickly... But the weakness of the ending does keep this out of my top tier.

Overall Rating: 8/10.

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#13 (2.16 - 2.21): The Web Planet.

The Doctor and Vicki: Prisoners of the Zarbi!

6 episodes: The Web Planet, The Zarbi, Escape to Danger, Crater of Needles, Invasion, The Centre. Running Time: Approx. 147 minutes. Written by: Bill Strutton. Directed by: Richard Martin. Produced by: Verity Lambert.


THE PLOT

The TARDIS is dragged down to Vortis, an alien world with a thin atmosphere. The planet is populated by man-sized insects. The Doctor and Vicki are captured by the ant-like Zarbi, who serve an evil being known as The Animus (alas, not the one from Assassin's Creed). The Doctor is able to convince the Animus of his value, and he and Vicki are allowed to remain alive and free if he helps thwart an invasion force.

The invasion is by a butterfly-like race known as The Menoptera. Vortis was their planet before the Animus came, but the evil intelligence forced them to flee to a nearby moon. Now they have developed a technology that will allow them to destroy their enemy - But only if they can get into direct physical proximity. No easy task, particularly when the Zarbi are impervious to their weapons!

As the Doctor tries to misdirect the Animus, Barbara falls in with the Menoptera. Meanwhile, Ian finds himself underground, with yet another band of insects, plotting an attack of his own...


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: Another strong showing for the First Doctor. Yes, there's an infamous bit early on that sees Hartnell visibly blank on the script, covering by chortling like a lunatic while William Russell gamely steers him back on track. But once that moment has passed, Hartnell is on form for the rest of it. Particularly good are the scenes in which the Doctor negotiates with the Animus, playing for time and opportunity by teasing out just enough information to keep himself and Vicki alive. I love the moment when Hartnell (almost certainly ad-libbing) refers to the interface with the Animus as a "hair dryer."

Vicki: Maureen O'Brien is wonderfully expressive. A scene late in the story has her pretending to be under the spell of the Zarbi's, uh, halter/stick thing (don't ask). Vicki cocks open one eye, then makes a subtle but very funny face before carefully freeing the Doctor and working with him to figure out their next move. Her tendency to make pets of strange creatures pops up when she and the Doctor capture a Zarbi, and she takes time to name it! O'Brien continues to have great rapport with Hartnell, and their pairing is so much fun to watch.

Barbara: Despite Jacqueline Hill being absent for Episode Three, Barbara ends up being central to the story. She teams with the Menoptera reconnaissance party, leading an escape from the ominously-named Crater of Needles in an attempt to stop the massacre of a Menoptera invasion force. The attempt is unsuccessful (in no small part due to the idiotic stubbornness of the force's leader), but Barbara quickly takes charge of the survivors, pushing them to regroup and carry on with an attack on the Animus.

Ian: Once again gets stuck with the weakest strand. After tagging along with the Doctor for the first two episodes, he's sent off to "find Barbara" ; apparently, searching an entire planet on foot for a single person is considered a simple task. Unsurprisingly, Ian does not find Barbara, but he does fall in with the "Optera," caterpillar-like aliens who communicate by grunting broken English and move by hopping. Ian convinces the Optera to take a perilous underground route to the Animus, in a subplot that in no way feels like a retread of the closing episodes of The Daleks. He reaches the Animus just in time to... watch as Barbara saves the day, while it becomes clear that his entire subplot existed only to pad the story out to six episodes.


WELL, THAT HAPPENED.

Um.

Readers of my reviews will know that I'm an unabashed fan of the Hartnell era. So many decades later, the First Doctor remains my favorite Doctor. Ian and Barbara are a serious contender for all-time best companion team, and I absolutely adore Vicki. I will defend the overall quality of the Hartnell era to the hilt, and I remain nothing short of in awe at the miracles Verity Lambert and her crew were able to pull off with such limited resources. I love the Hartnell era, pretty much unreservedly.

Except for The Web Planet. This is only my second time watching this serial, and I am fairly certain it will be my last. Ignoring all other issues, this surely is the most migraine-inducing story Doctor Who has ever produced. A rough text recreation of entirely too many scenes would run something like:

"Zarrr-BEE!" <<Pulsating Zarbi Chirp>>  "Zarrr-BEE!"  <<Alarm chimes>> (People in butterfly costumes inflict interpretive dance on the audience for entirely too many unbroken seconds.)  "Zarrr-BEE!"  <<Alien gun noises.  Pulsating Zarbi Chirp.>>  Repeat as needed to pad out runtime.


THOUGHTS:

The Web Planet represents an attempt to create a completely alien world. Doing so on a 1960's Doctor Who budget was arguably ill-advised in much the same way that it might be ill-advised to bungee jump over metal spikes. Without a cord. Attempts to showcase the alien nature of the atmosphere are conveyed, in part, by slathering enough vaseline on the camera lens to supply a 1970's porn extravaganza. This does create distortion... But also means that at least one entire dialogue scene plays out with a visible, static glob of stuff overtop William Hartnell's face.

Bizarrely, the vaseline misstep aside, the story's problem really isn't the realization. The sets and backdrops are surprisingly effective by the show's standards, comparing positively against those used in The Daleks. The Menoptera flying effects are passable, the ant-like Zarbi honestly look pretty good, and even the shoddier props convey a unified, organic feeling.

What lets it down are some bad directing decisions and some glaring weaknesses in the script.


BARRIERS TO ENJOYMENT:

I've mentioned elsewhere that director Richard Martin liked to push the envelope in his serials. More often than not, I quite appreciate his efforts to back up solid storytelling with cinematic technique. But in The Web Planet, he gets it badly wrong. I've already mentioned the vaseline, a decision which makes an already difficult story physically hard to watch. The choreography of the Menoptera is a good idea, but is taken much too far, with their swaying and hand-waving distracting from the story rather than enhancing it.

Then there are the sound effects. The Zarbi chirps, the alarms, the bizarre laser sound made by the one beetle-like creature (that looks more like a mop)... It creates a sensory overload that isn't particularly alien, but is definitely unpleasant. If the production team was actively trying to make the story impossible to enjoy, they couldn't have done a better job of it.


TOO MANY EPISODES, TOO LITTLE STORY:

Bill Strutton's script does have some good scenes. Pretty much everything involving the Doctor and Vicki works, and the Doctor's negotiations with the Animus are a joy to watch. Some of the scenes between Barbara and the Menoptera are quite well-written, though they're undermined by the excess choreography. Even in the Ian/Optera thread, there's a memorably gruesome moment in which an Optera sacrifices herself by using her body to plug an acid leak - A genuinely disturbing moment in an otherwise tiresome subplot.

But everything that's good is buried underneath so much junk! There simply isn't enough story to fill six episodes; I'm genuinely uncertain there's enough to fill four. As a result, each episode crawls by at an increasingly attenuated pace. On both of my viewings, I've found the first two episodes to be just about OK... But it gets ever more slow-paced, duller, and noisier as it goes.


THE ENDING:

The whole thing ends with the Animus defeated several minutes before the end of the final part, leaving a seemingly endless epilogue. The time travelers leave, and the last couple minutes are taken up by the Menoptera and Optera singing/grunting at each other, followed by another bit of choreographed hand-waving. I half-expect them to break out into a full-on dance number!

It's a mercy when the camera finally tilts up to the sky and the "Next Episode" caption appears, announcing the end of the dreary slog that was The Web Planet.


Overall Rating: 2/10.

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#12 (2.12 - 2.15): The Romans.

Partners in Crime: The Doctor and Vicki.

4 episodes: The Slave Traders, All Roads Lead to Rome, Conpiracy, Inferno. Approx. 96 minutes. Written by: Dennis Spooner. Directed by: Christopher Barry. Produced by: Verity Lambert.


THE PLOT:

An unusually rocky TARDIS landing sees the crew in ancient Rome, during the reign of Emperor Nero (Derek Francis). They are not in Rome itself, however, but in a villa near an outlying village. The owners have left the place vacant, and the TARDIS team have taken the opportunity to enjoy a month-long rest. A rest that Ian and Barbara have fully enjoyed, but that has left the Doctor and Vicki the tiniest bit restless. The Doctor announces that he's going to take a trip to Rome, and Vicki eagerly volunteers to accompany him, while Ian and Barbara decide to stay behind and enjoy their vacation.

Unfortunately for them, Barbara has caught the eye of a gang of slave traders, and both are captured. Barbara is taken to auction in Rome, while Ian is sold to a ship captain. A lucky storm allows him to escape, leaving him determined to make his way to Rome to rescue Barbara... Who finds herself sold to the court of Nero, who finds himself a little too taken with her.

Meanwhile, the Doctor is mistaken for a lyre player who was murdered on the road to Rome. He is also escorted to Nero's court, where he learns why the man was murdered - He and Vicki have found themselves in the center of a plot to assassinate the emperor!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: You can really see Hartnell enjoying himself. The Doctor's scenes opposite Nero, in which he flatters the vain emperor to keep out of trouble, are consistently delightful, and Hartnell and Derek Francis make a very funny double act. The story pairs him with Vicki throughout, cementing them as a duo and capitalizing on the two actors' chemistry.

Vicki: Maureen O'Brien continues to impress, as does the character she's playing. Vicki is game in a way Susan never was - She wants to explore, to see sights and go places and have adventures. While the others have enjoyed relaxing in the safety of the villa, she has become bored and restless. I think this is what makes Vicki and the Doctor so much fun together - They essentially fuel each other's worst impulses, but they are also both very quick-witted and able to think and talk their way out of any situations they land themselves in.

Ian/Barbara: They are definitely a couple by this point. It's a family show, so the text doesn't come out and say so - But they are framed and scripted as a couple, most obviously in the scenes in the villa in Episode One. When they are captured, Action Man Ian remains poised and alert for opportunities to escape. Barbara knows her history all too well, however, and despairs, realizing the exact kind of treatment they (most specifically, she) can expect as a slave in the Roman Empire. Ian remains stuck in the least interesting of the story's strands, but Barbara's slapstick evasions of Nero's interest in Part Three gives her a chance to get in on the story's fun.


THOUGHTS:

The Romans seems to have been designed as an antithesis to the stolid, serious historicals that preceded it. Previous historicals have seen the TARDIS team desperate to get back to the TARDIS to escape the dangers of history. This story opens with them on vacation in the past, and in no hurry to put an end to their well-earned rest.

A restless Doctor and Vicki basically deliberately get themselves involved in Nero's court, and seem to be having a whale of a time mentally fencing with the emperor while untangling various plots and plans. And in a final slap to previous historical's insistence that "You cannot rewrite history - Not one line!", the whole thing ends with the Doctor inspiring a historical disaster... and being delighted by it!

That's not to say this isn't as carefully-constructed as previous historicals. Like The Aztecs, it's actually been very tightly scripted. The regulars are divided into three strands, each getting to explore a different facet of Roman society (or at least, Rome as envisioned by a 1960's middle-class Brit, filtered through a "G"-rated family television lens). The Doctor and Vicki mix with the aristocracy and their political games. Barbara gets a taste of slave life, and her friendship with Tavius (Michael Peake) gives a window into the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Ian gets a Vikings-style gladiator battle. Each strand allows a glimpse of a different piece of Rome, creating a much fuller picture than if they had all gotten involved in a single adventure.

Spooner's script is also brilliant in the way it moves between the strands. I particularly enjoyed all of the near-misses between the Doctor and Barbara in Nero's court, though it was also effective to see Ian imprisoned next to a woman who previously shared a cell with Barbara. The script manages to bring them just enough together to keep the narrative unified, while still having enormous fun with keeping them apart far longer than Who conventions have led us to expect.

Most of all, The Romans is just great fun to watch. It's well over 50 years since this story's original transmission, and it remains a remarkably entertaining and genuinely joyful viewing experience.


Overall Rating: 10/10.

Previous Story: The Rescue

Next Story: The Web Planet

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#10 (2.4 - 2.9): The Dalek Invasion of Earth.

The Daleks, Masters of Earth!

6 episodes: Worlds' End, The Daleks, Day of Reckoning, The End of Tomorrow, The Waking Ally, Flashpoint. Approx. 149 minutes. Written by: Terry Nation. Directed by: Richard Martin. Produced by: Verity Lambert.


THE PLOT

The TARDIS materializes in London - but the Doctor quickly realizes that they have not come to Ian and Barbara's time. The city is eerily quiet, with few signs of life and a strange sign near the River Thames warning against dumping bodies in the water.

The year is around 2164, and the Earth has been invaded by the Daleks! The Doctor and Ian are captured and taken to a Dalek saucer, while Barbara and Susan fall in with a local resistance group. Dortmun (Alan Judd), a wheelchair-bound scientist, hopes to defeat the Daleks using a bomb he has created that he believes will pierce the strong Dalek casing. The group decides to test the bomb in an attack on the Dalek saucer. Despite freeing the Doctor, Dortmun's device proves useless and only a handful of resistance members make it out alive - and they are scattered.

The Doctor, Susan, and young resistance fighter David Campbell (Peter Fraser) decide to head to mines the Daleks have started in Bedfordshire, something the Doctor is certain is significant. Barbara and the pessimistic Jenny (Ann Davies) reunite with Dortmun, and decide to head to that same mine. Meanwhile Ian, who escaped his cell in the attack but could not get off the Dalek saucer, finds himself at the mining site - where he learns that the Daleks are mining for the magnetic core of the Earth itself!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: "I never take life - Only when my own is immediately threatened!" One of the joys of revisiting the early stories is watching the selfish Doctor of the very first serials transform gradually into the same hero we recognize in the modern series. This is a strong piece for the Doctor, who takes the lead in defeating the Daleks (something that wasn't true in the original Dalek serial). Hartnell is terrific throughout, particularly in the scenes involving Susan. Seeing Susan's blossoming attraction to David Campbell, the Doctor sets aside his stubbornness and instead asks for the young man's suggestions as to what to do next, earning grateful smiles from his granddaughter. After Susan declares that she loves David, the Doctor makes a decision whose difficulty you can see etched in his wrinkled face. His closing monologue is one of the series' genuinely iconic moments, irreproachable in both its scripting and Hartnell's performance.

Barbara: After the failed assault on the Dalek saucer, Barbara quickly agrees to go to a museum at the heart of London where Dortmun believes others might gather. When Jenny points out that this will hurt their chances of making it out of the city, Barbara replies that the wheelchair-bound scientist would have no chance without their help - revealing not only Barbara's selflessness, but her sensitivity. If she were to simply offer Dortmun her aid, the man's pride might make him refuse; but by making him believe he is helping them, she is able to get him to in reality accept help. Barbara remains constantly alert for potential advantages, quickly identifying the device the Daleks use to control the Robomen and hatching an on-the-spot plan to try to make use of it.

Ian: Paired with the Doctor for the first two episodes, then is split off on his own, investigating the mines from the site even as the others work their way toward him. He has the least interesting slice of the story, having to pretend to be wary of a genuinely pathetic-looking man in a monster suit for the Episode Four cliffhanger. Still, William Russell manages to hold the screen even when tasked with carrying the weakest of the three main threads.

Susan: Her departure story gives her more to do than usual, and Carole Ann Ford does well with the additional material. Still, while this is the second above-average treatment of the character in a row, I don't find myself the slightest bit sorry to see her go. There was always potential in Susan, but the sad fact is that it was rarely tapped. She was usually called upon to either do something stupid or be put into peril to create a story crisis for the others. It's good that the character got to leave with more dignity than she was allowed for much of her actual run - But the honest truth is that Susan was never a favorite of mine, and I much prefer her immediate successor.

Daleks: The Daleks were tremendously popular in their first appearance, their first story sending Doctor Who's ratings from average fare to ratings juggernaut. Bringing them back was a no-brainer, complicated by only one thing: That they were completely wiped out as a species at the end of their debut. No problem for a time-travel show - When Ian brings up their extinction, the Doctor simply tells him (and us) that this is a much earlier point in the Daleks' timeline. The Daleks were already identified with Fascism, and Terry Nation's script makes good use of this by evoking World War II imagery at every possible turn, from the very French Resistance-like human rebels to the forced labor camp of the mines.


STORY VS. SET PIECES

The Dalek Invasion of Earth was the first story to bring back a previous villain, and it remade the Daleks from a weak and dying race trapped in a decaying city into a military force capable of conquering (and exterminating) entire planets. It was also the first companion departure, with the exemplary handling of Carole Ann Ford's departure setting the precedent for the many cast turnovers to follow.

The actual story, however, is quite thin and rather silly. The Daleks have invaded the Earth and enslaved the human race - Ultimately, we discover, in order to extract the Earth's magnetic core and then... throw that core away (presumably into a convenient black hole) and replace it with an engine so they can drive the planet around like a fancy new car. We don't even hear about this granting some tactical advantage; turning the Earth into a Dalek spaceship would appear to be an end in itself.

One imagines Ming the Merciless grinning his approval from some distant dimension... Before turning back to torturing some minions, of course.

What makes this serial work - and it does work - is how good many of the individual set pieces are. There are several wonderful moments and images that still work quite well today: The Dalek rising out of the Thames at the end of Episode One; Daleks gliding around a deserted, devastated London; slave laborers, disheveled and without hope, marching into a mine to be worked until they are useless and then discarded. Black and white is a tremendous asset here, making the proceedings feel a little grittier than if had been in color.


THE COLLABORATORS

One of my favorite moments is one that's largely irrelevant to the overall story. Barbara and Jenny are making their way to the mines when they stop at a shack that's home to two all-but-starving seamstresses (Jean Conroy, Meriel Hobson). The women have been allowed to stay because they are of more use to the Daleks making clothes for the refugees than they would be in the mines. They quickly turn Barbara and Jenny in, in exchange for a little food. The younger woman is rapturous at seeing their bounty, but the older one seems regretful, assuaging her conscience by telling herself that Barbara and Jenny would have been captured anyway.

Plot-wise, this is an aside, a bit of filler to pad out the story. It would make as much sense to have the Daleks capture Barbara and Jenny in London and just transport them to the mine. But it adds to the atmosphere, emphasizing the overall hopelessness and putting a face on human cowardice even as the rest of the serial shows bravery and resistance. In a later story, the women would probably have been brought back to either redeem themselves or be punished (probably both) - but I'm happy that it's just an aside, a convincingly-portrayed slice of life in a particularly bleak world.


PUSHING THE LIMITATIONS

This was the most technically ambitious serial of the first two seasons... Which means that the budget limitations are more visible than usual. Bits of set wobble, with the ramp to the Dalek saucer a particular offender. The actors have to pretend not to see items or people that should be clearly visible, be it the prominent poster warning against dumping bodies in the Thames (finally "noticed" several minutes after the regulars have each managed to look right at it), or the planting of a bomb just a few feet from where the Doctor, Susan, and David are having a conversation. Then there's the bit in Episode Six, in which actresses Jacqueline Hill and Ann Davies struggle gamely to hold their "magnetic restraints" in place, each shake of either actress's hand betraying that they're just holding bits of plastic against their necks.

Director Richard Martin's work for the series was often characterized by pushing the technical limitations. While some bits of staging fall flat, other visual moments work surprisingly well. In Episode Two, David fills Barbara and Susan in on the backstory of the Dalek invasion. As he talks, the episode cuts to a flashback of Robomen and Daleks escorting prisoners to their saucer. Then another person takes up the narration, and we come out of the flashback to find that someone else is filling in the Doctor and Ian on the same backstory - Thus making the visual not just a flashback, but a bridge between one scene and another.

A couple episodes later, as the Daleks exchange exposition, their exchange is lent a sense of menace by being shown threw a slightly skewed camera angle. Finally, we see through a Dalek eyestalk as it approaches the Doctor, preparing to exterminate him. None of this is very complex, even by 1960's standards - but it's just that bit more cinematic than the series' norm at this point in its run, and helps to make this serial feel like the "event story" that it is.


OVERALL

There is no questioning how important a story The Dalek Invasion of Earth is to the series. While the overall story may be thin and a bit silly, it is played very straight by the actors and script. This helps to sell the tension of the situation, while the quality of many of the individual moments within these six episodes makes it easy enough to overlook the weaknesses in the overall narrative.

I'd emphasize that this is not a story to watch in a single viewing. Viewed one to two episodes at a time, it is enjoyable and fairly suspenseful - Any more than that, and it starts to have a numbing effect. As a story, I don't think it's as quite good as the original Dalek serial. Still, by making the Daleks into a formidable opponent, it did well by the series' most iconic villains; and by handling the departure of Susan with intelligence and dignity it prepared the way for the many later cast changes.

The result is a serial well worth watching an episode at a time, to enjoy the many bits that work - And, more critically in the long run, this story is a genuinely indispensable piece of Doctor Who history.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

Previous Story: Planet of Giants
Next Story: The Rescue


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#9 (2.1 - 2.3): Planet of Giants.

Barbara is startled by a gigantic insect.

3 episodes: Planet of Giants, Dangerous Journey, Crisis. Approx. 74 minutes. Written by: Louis Marks. Directed by: Mervyn Pinfield, Douglas Camfield. Produced by: Verity Lambert.


THE PLOT

While the TARDIS is materializing, the doors suddenly open of their own accord. The Doctor is convinced that this means some disaster - Yet save for the scanner breaking, everything appears perfectly normal. Not without some foreboding, the Doctor and his companions venture outside to explore their newest landing site.

They find themselves in a wonderland of giant insects and earthworms, all of which are dead. At each corpse, they smell a peculiar chemical substance. The Doctor and Susan deduce that the opening of the TARDIS doors must somehow have resulted in them shrinking to practically microscopic size. As for the dead insects and the chemical smell? Clearly a pesticide - Though an overly effective one, if it's killing worms as well as insects.

They have arrived at the home and laboratory of Smithers (Reginald Barratt), a scientist developing an experimental pesticide so far known only as DN6. He is away, but Forester (Alan Tilvern), the businessman financing him, is present - along with government scientist Farrow (Frank Crawshaw), who informs Forester that he cannot authorize the overly-lethal DN6's approval. Facing financial ruin, Forester coldly murders Farrow, intending to forge the government reports and send them in before staging a boating accident for the unfortunate government man.

When the Doctor finds the formula, he realizes that the chemical is even more dangerous than it appears. In sufficient quantities, exposure could prove deadly to humans and animals as well as insects - And Barbara, having accidentally touched some of it, is already becoming ill!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: This story is something of an unheralded landmark, as it is the first time the Doctor decides to try to stop a threat for completely unselfish reasons. He observes in Episode Two how concerned he is that the pesticide kills earthworms, which he explains are vital to the planet's ecology. When Barbara insists they stay and try to do something to stop DN6, the Doctor says that she's "quite right," and argues against Ian's urging to return to the ship and simply trust the government to refuse to sell the chemical. A scene cut from the script, available in the DVD special features, makes this even more explicit, with the Doctor delivering a speech actively encouraging intervention to stop something a threat to all life on Earth.

Ian: Resists the idea that they could have been miniaturized, even after encountering the giant insects and the enormous matchbox. As with his initial entry into the TARDIS, his first impulse is to grasp for more familiar explanations, such as an exhibition as for a World's Fair. When Barbara becomes ill, he focuses on getting back to the ship. He only becomes invested in "making trouble" to stop the pesticide after Barbara insists that they must intervene.

Susan: After the all-time-low of her portrayal in The Reign of Terror, she actually gets a decent showing here. The first episode pairs her with Ian while Barbara is with the Doctor. Uniquely, the script allows Susan to be the dominant figure, piecing together that these insects and objects are not larger than usual but that they are the ones who are smaller. Some clever intercutting sees Susan and the Doctor finishing each other's sentences as the Doctor explains to Barbara exactly what Susan is explaining to Ian.

Barbara: Apparently took Susan's stupid pills for this story. Even after knowing that some dangerous substance is killing everything they've come across, she decides to touch a pile of seeds in the laboratory. Once she realizes that the seeds were coated with poison, she tells the Doctor and Ian right away... Oh wait, no. She conceals that she's been exposed, even when it becomes apparent that she is ill. Is this the same highly competent character we've been watching for a full season? At least the final episode sees her refusing to return to the ship until they've done something to stop the insecticide from being used, showing her willingness to put the greater good above her own welfare - But overall, this is one of the character's very weakest showings.


THOUGHTS

The concept for Planet of Giants was originally proposed for the series' first story - That the TARDIS' first dematerialization would end with the regulars in the same place, just miniaturized. That did not come to pass, which I think is for the best. The production demands would almost certainly have been too great for that very first outing; and the straightforward capture/escape scenario of the bulk of An Unearthly Child was better-suited to setting the cast dynamics for the series to come.

Besides, based on the end result, there may not have been all that much mileage in the concept to start with. Planet of Giants is a rare story for '60's Who. The production consistently impresses. Giant versions of everyday objects are recreated with imagination and to a startlingly high standard considering. But all the imagination went into the production, stuck in service to a disappointingly pedestrian script.

As the plot summary reveals, the miniaturization of the regulars is window dressing on an entirely standard crime drama. The murder story moves very slowly (DVD special features reveal that it would have moved even more slowly and repetitively had the decision not been taken to edit it), and the plot involving Forester and Smithers seems mostly disconnected from the plight of the regulars. Indeed - The way the story unfolds, the time travelers might as well have run back to the ship, as they have nothing to do with Forester's apprehension.

The serial is most-remembered for having been cut down from four episodes to three. The dvd reconstructs the cut footage in an extra feature, utilizing soundalikes that vary from a dead-on double for the FIrst Doctor to a couple of dead-awful doubles for a telephone operator and a policeman. Sadly, the reconstruction largely validates the production decision. Most of the cut footage is filler, including multiple scenes of Forester attempting to forge the dead man's signature on a report and multiple scenes of Forester calling the nosy operator on the telephone. Though a few transitions would have been smoothed out had the edit not occurred, the plot feels slow and talky even in its broadcast version - as originally scripted and shot, it would have become downright boring.

The story is somewhat redeemed by the usual strong performances of the regulars, and the miniaturization visuals hold up strikingly well 50 years later. Still, non-completists might just want to give this one a pass. It's not uninteresting... But the storytelling is noticeably below the Hartnell era's normally very high standards.


Overall Rating: 4/10.

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