#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.

Previous Story: The Crusade
Next Story: The Chase

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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.

Previous Story: The Reign of Terror
Next Story: The Dalek Invasion of Earth


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#7 (1.31 - 1.36): The Sensorites.

The Doctor, angry at being locked out of the TARDIS.

6 episodes: Strangers in Space, The Unwilling Warriors, Hidden Danger, A Race Against Death, Kidnap, A Desperate Measure. Approx. 148 minutes. Written by: Peter R. Newman. Directed by: Mervyn Pinfield, Frank Cox. Produced by: Verity Lambert.


THE PLOT

The time travelers find themselves inside a spaceship in the distant future. The two astronauts in the control room appear to be dead, but abruptly revive and explain that they had been put into a death-like sleep by The Sensorites, the natives of a strange world known as The Sense Sphere. The Sensorites have made no move to harm the astronauts, but they refuse to let them leave.

The Doctor decides the best thing to do is to just leave this sad situation. But the Sensorites have also disabled the TARDIS, taking its lock and fusing the mechanism so that there is no way inside. Then the Sensorites come aboard with an ultimatum: Either Susan comes down to the planet with them, or the humans will all be killed!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: After fumbling his way through Episode One with more line flubs than I think he even had in Part One of The Keys of Marinus, Hartnell gets back on form for the rest of the story. A good thing, since this story puts him more in the lead role than previous serials have, with Barbara outright stating that she and Ian follow the Doctor's lead. He gets some wonderful material, from his confrontation with the Sensorites in Part Two, in which he coolly stands up to their ultimatum with one of his own, to his very rapid progress in isolating and curing the contaminated water supply. Despite Hartnell's excellent performance, though, there's nothing that could make the Doctor's abrupt tantrum at the end of the serial convincing, as he goes from jovial to snapping that he's putting Ian off the ship at their next stop with virtually no provocation.

Ian: Largely acts as the Doctor's back-up this time. He does get a very good scene, in which he essentially repays the favor of the Doctor's defense of him in The Keys of Marinus. He handily cross-examines the Sensorite guard who attempts to implicate the Doctor for a murder, and seems to relish the chance. Other than that, this is probably William Russell's weakest story to date, with the previously quick-witted Ian suddenly reduced to acting as muscle.

Barbara: In case we might have any worries over her being permanantly scarred by her experiences with the Aztecs, she chirpily assures us within the first five minutes that she's "over that now." Oh, how very nice that there won't be any lingering trauma or, you know, character development. Jacqueline Hill remains as good as ever, though, and has some good scenes opposite William Russell and Carole Ann Ford as Barbara plays the voice of reason to both of them. Unfortunately, this serial marked Hill's holiday, and Barbara is absent from Episodes 4 and 5. When she returns in Episode 6, her return gives the episode an immediate lift as Barbara is allowed to take almost instant charge of arranging a rescue for the Doctor and Ian.

Susan: Actually gets some her very best material in this story. She senses the Sensorites' telepathic abilities almost immediately, and it's her plan in conjunction with Barbara that sees the group's first effective resistance against them. More interesting on a character level is her resistance to her grandfather's control, as she attempts to assert herself, telling him, "I will not be pushed aside." This leads Barbara to observe that Susan is growing up - even if the last couple of serials appeared to see her "grow down" from her starting point. Carole Ann Ford, whose performance has been hamstrung by a devolving character, does genuinely good work here, and Susan's ending complaints about wanting a place to call home seem poised to begin the build-up to her departure.


THOUGHTS

The Sensorites is one of only two televised Doctor Who stories that I've never previously watched/listened to (the other, at the time of writing this review, was The Underwater Menace). As such, I was rather looking forward to it. Sure, the story has a poor reputation. But so does The Keys of Marinus, which I quite enjoyed. As a fan of the Hartnell era, an all-new Hartnell story definitely had some appeal.

By the end of Part One, my enthusiasm was completely dashed. Strangers in Space is the worst first episode of a Hartnell story I've yet reviewed. Director Mervyn Pinfield stages a very imaginative TARDIS exit, in which the camera actually follows the time travellers out of the TARDIS and onto the spaceship - quite an ambitious shot, for a 1964 television serial. Unfortunately, his direction of the sets, camera crews, and actors is pedestrian at its best. Barbara and Susan leave the control room without anyone noticing... despite being only a few feet away from the rest of the characters! There's nothing wrong with the set design, which is quite functional. But the way it's lit and shot really emphasizes how small the set is, and no attempt is made to separate one area from another.

Fortunately, the story begins to take hold in Part Two. From there on, the story is never exactly what I'd call "good," but it's also never less than watchable. There are a couple of series' "Firsts" here. It's the first 6-parter structured as a 2-part unit (the spaceship) followed by a 4-part unit (the Sensorite planet). It presents the first sympathetic alien race. In a power struggle subplot involving the First Elder, the Second Elder, and the City Administrator, it effectively sets the template for the internal conflict seen in Dr. Who & the Silurians and The Hungry Earth. That doesn't make the execution of these elements any good, mind you, but it does make the serial noteworthy as a part of Doctor Who's history.

If only someone could have polished the script! The flat, expository dialogue makes The Keys of Marinus seem like the works of Oscar Wilde. The cliched power struggle subplot fails to engage on any level. It also doesn't feel like an organic part of the story. Introduced late in Episode 3 and largely vanishing for Episode 6, it's clear this element only exists in order to provide a threat for the regulars in the middle episodes. Finally, the ending - in which characters we've only just met are overcome with no significant effort - is the most unexciting climax the series has seen to this point. The makings of a good story are here, with the story attempting for the first time in the series' history to present a very alien society that is ultimately benign. But the execution is flat.

Even as it stands, it's a watchable enough story. I did enjoy it, even as I internally mocked bits like the City Administrator cunningly stealing the Second Elder's sash to impersonate him. It just... should have been a whole lot better.


Rating: 5/10.

Previous Story: The Aztecs
Next Story: The Reign of Terror


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