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The Daleks face their archenemy:
Alabama tourist Morton Dill (Peter Purves).
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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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