The design of this story is rather splendid, with thanks going to Nigel Curzon the designer, James Acheson the costumer and Douglas Camfield the director. The titular Zygons, for instance, look wonderfully distinct, with their enlarged heads and blobs covering them, to increase the 'frighten factor' as they look rather weird and alien.
This then continues to the design of their spaceship, as seen to the right. Everything is consistent with the design of the Zygons, giving an organic look as the ship feels like it was grown by the Zygons on their home planet, making the entire thing feel memorable.
The same, sadly, cannot be said of the spaceship exterior, which looks rather generic after seeing the wonderful design work through the rest of the story. However, this can be forgiven as the rest of the design is memorable enough that we can look over forgettable spaceship designs and focus on the important things in the story.
The Zygons are shape-changing aliens, able to take the forms of any human that they have stored with their body-print. This is nothing new, it's a classic idea that we've seen tonnes of times before in various pieces of media, even in Doctor Who with The Faceless Ones. This time, however, the story is being produced by Philip Hinchcliffe, script edited by Robert Holmes and directed by Douglas Camfield all of whom have shown that they can make things truly terrifying. This is no exception, as a Zygon takes the form of Harry, one of the Doctor's companions. Sarah Jane, his other companion, sees that he is acting oddly and chases after him. He ambushes her in a barn, and we get a frightening sequence as Harry, the character whom we have grown to trust over the past series, becomes a figurative monster as he attacks her with a pitchfork. All of this horror comes from the writing of the story, by Robert Banks Stewart, however it gains an extra dimension on screen, thanks to the direction of Camfield.
The scene is set up such that we have two camera angles, one focussing on Harry and the other focussing on Sarah Jane. We cut back and forth from Harry menacing her with the pitchfork and Sarah Jane's reaction. This creates a strong amount of tension, particularly as the two are rarely in the same shot and so we see the action of the pitchfork stab before we see the reaction of Sarah Jane. It also means that the viewer gets to gain the perspective of Sarah Jane in the situation and feel her fear as Harry attacks the (from that camera's perspective) unseen figure. This comes to a head as the sequence ends and Harry lunges towards her. For a split second, it appears that he has actually hit her, due to the pitchfork moving towards the camera with some force, before we swap to a third camera angle where we see Sarah Jane dodge the attack and Harry fall off the platform that they were fighting on. The scene is frightening, tense and well created by all involved from the writing to acting to direction, showing that this team can and have produced great things.
This story sees the return of an old favourite to Doctor Who. I'm not referring to UNIT though (although they are certainly welcome and we will look at their role later), instead we are looking at the director Douglas Camfield. Absent from the series after heart problems that afflicted him during the filming of Inferno, he has now returned and brought with him an amazing eye for suspense. Take, for instance, the revela of the titular Zygons. He starts by having close-ups of their eyes, holding on them for longer than normal as they stare into ypur very being, making them seem intimidating as a result. Then, we move onto the hands, allowing the audience to form a pucture in their minds of what the creature looks like, showing them the other-worldly nature of the aliens and creating more suspense. This is helped by the dissolves between shots of the hands working, creating more of a sense of unease, due to this being an unfamiliar technique on the programme. Finally, when the decision is made to reveal the Zygon fully, it is done at the very end of the programme, present for only a handful of seconds thus leaving much of it as an imprint of fear in the audience's mind and not allowing them to pick flaws in the costume (which is actually incredibly good). All of this goes to show that Camfield knows how suspense works and is very good at using it. It's been a while Mr Camfield, but we're glad to have you back for a little while.
Despite being written by their co-creator, it is blatantly obvious that the Cybermen are very poorly written in this story. The problems behin with the title: Revenge of the Cybermen. The Cybermen are supposed to be emotionless beings, and yet here they are taking revenge on something or other. Their emotions do not stop there, with the Cyberleadr being very expressive for someone wihh the emotions drained out of them.
And that brings me onto the next point. The Cybermen were created as a warning of the dangers of science going unchecked, such that eventually our whole bodies will be replaced with mechanical parts until nothing that makes us human remains. This is at the core of the Cybermen, and is what makes them scary. This has also been forgotten, as these Cybermen seem to operate just as robots, with no hint of their true modus operandi, to make everyone else like them. This shows that time has not been kind to how the writers remember the Cybermen, and perhaps a new start is needed for them. But we will have to wait a very long time before we get that new start...
Day 400. Time to look back on how far we've come. Except unfortunately things have, shall we say, gone a little differently to how I'd like. Revenge of the Cybermen is a story written by Gerry Davis, former script editor from the Troughton era and co-creator of the Cybermen. It was commissioned by the previous production team of Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks to draw in viewers with a returning monster. Thus, its difficult to say how far we've come when the story is surrounded by the way in which we used to do things.
That said, we can still see some elements of change. The show isn't afraid to be scarier (c.f. yesterday's entry on the Cybermats) and it isn't afraid to try new things (such as the score by Carey Blyton which provides an interesting atmosphere to the piece). But this is all held back by the fact that this story isn't that good. It's not horrendously bad, just forgettable. It's disappointing that this had to be the story that we celebrate 400 episodes for, but this still shows that there is room for improvement and that we can look upwards as Doctor Who continues for around 400 more episodes.
The Cybermen have made a return this story after about 6 and a half years. So far they have been minor players in the plot, hiding away in their spaceship and having very little contact with the rest of the characters. However, the Cybermats have also returned after a slightly longer period of absence. In this time, they have clearly changed, as can be seen through the comparison above. Before, they were once like deadly toys, hiding a destructive power against a cute exterior. Now, they have become sleeker and more functional, and arguably scarier as they have the power to leap up and attack you with some force, giving you a deadly plague in the process. The change in design also reflects the changes that Doctor Who has undergone in the years that have passed. Before, Doctor Who was able to be a children's show, secretly better and scarier than you thought it was. Now, it is still for children but it has also come to terms with the fact that it can be scarier outright as it appeals to a larger audience. And what is Doctor Who if not a little bit scary for a larger audience?
The past few stories have been very interesting, in that they are all sequential. To explain: Robot ends with the Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry going off into the TARDIS as per normal. The Ark in Space then immediately begins with the repercussions of these actions as we learn that Harry, on his first trip in the TARDIS, accidentally meddled with the controls. After this, The Doctor and co. make a brief trip to Earth using the Nerva beacon's teleporter, and are then captured by the Time Lords to carry out a pre-emptive genocide of the Daleks, before finally arriving back on Nerva Beacon. It's an interesting experiment for the show to go on, as it all lends a sense of continuity to the series, as well as allowing for the series to save a bit of money by re-using the Nerva Beacon sets. However, the story neglects to make much of the fact that we are essentially watching a prequel to The Ark in Space by having this story take place in an earlier time frame, which is a bit disappointing, but you can't win them all as we continue to see why the Cybermen want Revenge.
And incidentally, a Happy Christmas to all of you at home!
Of course at the end of the day the Daleks survive. It's actually quite shocking to see their actions at the end of the story, as Davros first orders them to turn on the traitors to the Dalek cause, then later when Davros realises that the Daleks are taking over from him he attempts to stop them, only to be exterminated himself. He begs for mercy and pity, to be acknowledged as a being higher than the Daleks, however these terms are all alien to a Dalek, ones which he specifically had removed to make them better at killing. It's a dark moment for the series and a reminder that the evil metal pepper-pots are legitimately evil.
But this is not a sad ending. The Doctor at one point finds himself with the power to destroy the Daleks once and for all, and yet he can't quite bring himself to do it. He questions whether he has the right to destroy an entire intelligent species, even if that species is the Daleks. He knows that for all the suffering that the Daleks have brought, they have also inspired civilisations to go forth in peace, to protect others from the Daleks' menace. Alliances have been formed and friendships created all because of the Daleks.
I'm writing this at 11:42 on Christmas Eve. Watching Genesis of the Daleks in the lead up to Christmas has been interesting. I've not been able to feel as festive, knowing that each night I will see more destruction and death from this story. But in the end, it does oddly represent Christmas. It shows that even in the darkest places, there can still be hope and there can still be light. Even the Daleks, the most evil beings in the universe, can create hope (even if this may be unintentional), and through hope, the universe can be a little bit of a better place.
The scene to the left says an awful lot about the character of Davros. He can come across as a perfectly reasonable character, willing to engage in scientific discussion. But he's also a character that is insane, and has hidden that insanity away, only to reveal itself when he gets too emotional. He seeks power above anything else, and will achieve this by any means necessary. It's quite apt that towards the end of his rant he begins to sound like a Dalek, as he reflects his own creation, showing the influence that this God has had on his creations.
The underlying theme of this story is one of preventing a great horror. The Time Lords have seen that the Daleks will become far more evil and have thus decided to send the Doctor to either destroy them or introduce a weakness to be exploited in the future. This is a remarkably interesting move, as it portrays the Time Lords as uncharacteristically willing to change the course of history. Granted, they have done this sort of thing before in the Pertwee era, but never on this scale. This is the dark side of the Time Lords, the side where they are willing to use their god-like powers for the benefit of what they see as right.
The move is also rather interesting as it allows the series to play with the concept of time travel. Now more than ever we are confronted with the fact that time can be rewritten, for better or for worse. Indeed the cliffhanger to this episode is Davros forcing the Doctor to tell him of every single Dalek defeat, so as to prevent future Dalek defeats. Other cliffhangers feature the Doctor in danger, or a significant plot element being revealed. This time, it's history that's in danger, and the Doctor is powerless to stop it.
Lurking in the shadows of the story so far is Davros, the creator of the Daleks. Aside from his disfigured appearance and apparent lack of care for anything other than the Daleks, he has not had much worth commenting on so far. At this point in the story, however, we begin to truly see the way in which Davros operates. We first begin our suspicions when Davros is called for an inquiry and told to shut down his experiments within 12 hours. He accepts these terms and goes off on his merry way. But through all of this acceptance of terms, there is the underlying current that he is lying, and that he will have some other way to continue these experiments. Indeed he does, as we see that he has leaked valuable information to the Thals in exchange for his survival, and the survival of his experiments. We now truly get the measure of the man. He is someone who puts his dedication to his experiments above all else, even the survival of his own race. He is a nasty piece of work, but he is also an inherently interesting character, and one who we look forward to seeing through the rest of this story.
This story, being set on Skaro the home planet of the Daleks, features both the Kaleds (the race that creates the Daleks) and the Thals (who we have previously seen in The Daleks and Planet of the Daleks). We expect the Kaleds to be ruthless and evil, ad they are the ones who will create the villainous Daleks. The script generally follows these expectations, although there is some revelation that there are moderates who only wish for war to end between the Thals and the Kaleds, giving us hope amongst the bleakness that there are people who are on the side of good in even the darkest of places.
It should also be noted that the treatment of the Thals is not in line with our expectations. Previous encounters with the Thals have shown them to be on the side of good, but here they are as ruthless as the Kaleds, using slave labour in roles that will kill them, gunning down people before our eyes, they are just as bad as their enemies. But this is actually to be expected. In their first appearance in The Daleks, the Thals speak of how they used to be more war-mongering, but they eventually settled into a more peaceful role in life. We now get to see what they used to be and we can see why they changed. These Thals are horrible, and show the corruption that war and fighting brings to a race, bringing the notion forward that there is no good side in a war, only people trying to ensure that their side wins.
Doctor Who has been dark on occasion, particularly over the past few episodes. But it hasn't really been bleak, aside from a few exceptions (The Massacre, Inferno and select sections of The Daleks' Master Plan and The Myth Makers). This story is different. Despite being written by Terry Nation whose past few stories have been simple adventures, we get something which appears to be unrelentingly bleak. Death is everywhere, whether through old corpses or machine guns being fired with the intention of making some new ones. The bright corridors of Space Station Nerva seem light years away, as we are instead given shadows and black corridors, even the location of a traditional Doctor Who quarry comes across more as a wasteland than ever before, thanks to some well placed props and some excellent direction from David Maloney. All in all, this lets the audience know that we aren't going to be in for a fun sort of adventure, and that things are going to be different this time.
This story is entirely set on location. Instead of being confined to the studio, we get to see the Doctor and co. dash about on the desolate wasteland that is Dartmoor. This works incredibly effectively, as we never doubt for a second that this is the Earth and that it is in the process of regaining the ability to sustain life, due to it being a region on Earth which isn't ideal for sustaining life. It just goes to show that not all Doctor Who locations are quarries and that this experiment can be deemed a success.
Speaking of experiments, it's probably about time that we mentioned the titular experiment run by the Sontaran Field Major Styre. Styre is in the process of capturing humans and subjecting them to the limits of their abilities to observe what their weaknesses are and how to overcome them. This is achieved through torture, as we see people dying of thirst, Sarah Jane being subjected to mental torture through exploiting her fears and two men forced to hold an ever incresing weight so as to prevent the death of another man. It's gruesome stuff, showing that Doctor Who is no longer afraid to go into these dark places. It also fits in well with the Sontaran psyche, exploiting their military point of view, which is to be expected as is story is script edited by the Sontarans' creator: Robert Holmes.
But coming back to the point that was made yesterday, the shortened length of this story means that we don't get as much time to develop the characters, as plot strands are introduced and then dropped as quickly as they came. Cases in point are traitors amongst the humans, as well as the conclusion in which the Doctor defeats the oncoming Sontaran battle fleet by telling them that if they try to invade, they will be destroyed. It's anti-climactic, and lessens the overall impact of the story. All of that said though, this story wasn't that bad and shows great promise for stories of a similar length (although it will be a long time before we enounter another one), and it should also be noted that the art of writing 45 minute episodes will be honed in future years as the series continues.
This is going to be a quick one. The Sontaran Experiment is a rarity in Classic Doctor Who, as it is do e and dusted in 45 minutes. Thus, there's not as much time for character development, or having a longer and more detailed plot, however there's no danger of this outstaying its welcome meaning that we'll get a half decent story at the end of the day. All of that said though, this episode still feels like a Part 1 of a four part story. We're introduced to the guest cast and get a sense of the mysterious goings on. The monster, in is case a Sontaran returning from The Time Warrior, is also kept hidden from view, to increase tension and pad out the story. This implies that Part 2 will feel more rushed, as it struggles to conclude the plot strands that have all been built up whilst expanding on the actions of Part 1 at the same time. But this is all me hypothesising, and we still have Part 2 to come of this Experiment.
The other thing that Holmes has brought to the series, along with new producer Philip Hinchcliffe, is horror. The series has become far more terrifying over the space of the past four episodes, in thanks due to intelligent lighting, a surprisingly effective jump scare in this episode, and a dreadfully dark idea at the heart of the monsters. The Wirrn are creatures that infect their host and then take them over, slowly destroying every last part of what makes them human both physically and mentally. It's horrible to think about, and even more horrible to witness as we see Noah, the station's leader, overcome by the Wirrn. This is all remarkably frightening, and whilst I cannot comment on what younger audiences must think of this due to this actually being the first time that I watched this story (although I can say that ratings wise, this was the highest charting single story until Voyage of the Damned came along in 2007), but I can say that as an adult this was an incredibly tense and watchable experience. Any doubts about what direction the show will go in can now be laid to rest. The script editor and producer have a strong vision for the series, we have two excellent companions in the form of Sarah Jane and Harry and above all else we have Tom Baker as the Doctor, a part he was seemingly born to play.
The new script editor is Robert Holmes, a man who has written several times for the series before. This story is one which he has written himself, and thus we can get a feeling for what he is like off the leash, writing Doctor Who as he sees it. There are two major things that come across: horror and world building. We'll deal with the horror element tomorrow, but for now let's take a look at the world building that is in place here. The world of The Ark in Space is well constructed, with various details hidden away through technobabble and audio addresses from a lead politician thanking the crewmembers of the space station, but it's mainly through the dialogue between characters that we get a sense of a world that is inhabited. Take for instance the two technicians (Lycett and Rogin) who have been woken up from their 10,000 year slumber. They bicker about how they could have stayed on Earth (thus avoiding their current problem by being dead for several millenia), as well as express their fears about the risks that they undertook when they first went on this mission. They don't appear for very much lf the episode, but they become memorable characters and help to create the world that the Ark in Space inhabits.
This story is remarkably good so far. The story is tense, the characters are both well drawn and performed well by their various actors, in particular Noah, as played by Kenton Moore. He is a man who at first refuses to trust the Doctor and co. as per normal Doctor Who stories. However he begins to deviate from the norm when he blatantly ignores the Doctor's advice and gets infected by the aliens attempting to invade Earth, meaning that he begins to metamorphose into an alien being. His manner changes and he confuses his fellow crew-members as he behaves more and more erratically. This comes to a head when he shoots a fellow crew-member with a stun gun and reveals his already changed hand to both himself and the audience in a state of horror. However there is one small problem with this. Depite the fact that the actor is clearly performing the scene extraordinarily well, and they have use the best special effects they had available at the time, there is the large issue that Noah's hand is quite clearly made of bubble wrap. Granted, at the time it would have been seen as terrifying, but to a 21st century audience this comes across as cheap and takes you out of the story, which is a shame, as the story is remarkably good and it's disappointing to be let down by such a small special effect.
The series has now undergone a rebirth. We have a new script editor, a new producer, a new companion and a new Doctor. We'll look at each of these in due course, but for the moment let's have a look at our new companion, Dr Harry Sullivan. He's a character from an earlier age, not necessarily in time (he comes from aroundabouts the modern day) but in behaviour. He acts as a gentleman (especially around women), is quietly perplexed by everything that is happening around him and is able to act as the straight man. This makes him work well with Tom Baker as the Doctor, who is significantly more loopy. It's a Doctor/companion relationship that feels brand new and exciting, although it should be noted that it's a relationship that we've seen since the early days of the programme with William Hartnell and Ian Chesterton. However, the fact that we have a new production team and a new approach to the series manages to make this all feel fresh, and ensures that we shall be able to look forward to the adventures of the Doctor, Sarah Jane, and Harry for the next little while.
This episode marks the end of an era. It is the last story produced by Barry Letts, and is written by his long time script editor Terrance Dicks. Both will make contributions to Doctor Who in the future, but now is as good a time as any to reflect on what they brought to the series.
Both brought a sense of consistency to their respective fields, for a start. Stories up until they took over could wildly vary in tone, as well as quality. Both were able to ensure that what was put out adhered to a certain tone, and that it was of some quality. Granted, this did not always occur, but the overarching effects can be seen throughout the series.
Terrance Dicks as well brought with him an ability to write stories, or at the very least improve them. He can add necessary action, reign in unachievable ideas and enhance themes of various stories. This can be seen in Robot, as we get a reasonably action packed climax that also has at the heart of it a Robot struggling with a crisis over its function as orginally programmed, due to it harming various humans, not least its creator. This crisis is able to engage viewers who are looking for something more substantial than just a Robot attacking humans, as we can see that this Robot has thoughts and struggles with its life.
Letts as well brings new technologies such as CSO, or Green Screen as it is commonly known. This allows for new effects to be produced, occasionally enhancing what can be achieved in the environs of a TV studio, but also occasionally bringing with it yet more effects that age particularly poorly. And yet this sort of thing is to be commended, as it broadens the scope of what Doctor Who can do, as can be seen by the Giant Robot in this story.
But as the TARDIS dematerialises at the end of this story we can look forward to a new team, and see what ideas they will bring to the infinite table that is Doctor Who...
Taking a look at the story of Robot reveals some interesting ideas. Once again, we have an invasion of Earth not from aliens, but instead from political radicals. This time, they wish to replace all politicians with scientists, who will then choose what is best for humanity in all aspects of life. This is an interesting concept, as it is a cause that is not too hard to sympathise with until you realise that in effect you are taking away the freedom of humanity. But then again, you would achieve the best for humanity, even if this is at the cost of freedom. Much like with Invasion of the Dinosaurs, I am somewhat swayed by the villains argument and I'm pleased that it got at least some airing, even if it were in the context of evildoers plotting to take over the world.
Tom Baker is the Doctor. It's actually shocking to see how both how quickly he is able to settle into the character of the Doctor and how quickly his characterisation of the Fourth Doctor forms. He is a bit erratic, a bit wild, and instantly more fun than the more stoic Pertwee. And we can see all of this within his first episode. This is in part due to the way in which Terrance Dicks, the writer, has written him. But it's also in part due to the performance of Tom Baker, who is able to instantly prove to audiences that he is the Doctor, and the series will never be the same again.
The new Doctor has arrived. Much like Spearhead from Space before it, the decision has been made to surround the Doctor with familiar faces (in this case Sarah Jane and UNIT) in order to ease the transition. This certainly helps, because it allows for an immediate acceptance of the new Doctor, to help audiences accept him as well. It also helps that Sarah Jane has been built up as a character in her own right, as we can follow her adventures whilst the Doctor comes to terms with his new body, and we come to terms with the new Doctor. Although that said, we don't really need that long to come to get used to the Fourth Doctor, as we'll discuss tomorrow.
"I had to face my fear". The Doctor who has been defined as a man of courage, a man who is full of action, is afraid. But what is he afraid of? The way in which this story states this means that it could read that he is afraid of the Great One, the enormous spider which can control people with a single thought. But it can also be read another way. The Doctor set all of these events in motion by stealing the crystal on Metebelis 3. Now, there has been much death and destruction as part of his greed for knowledge. So is he perhaps afraid of seeing the consequences of his actions? This is something that we will see in the future, when the Day of the Doctor approaches.
But that's the future, and we are focussing on the present as the Doctor collapses to the floor. Death has overcome the Doctor. But with death comes life, at least for some people. The concept of regeneration is introduced for the first time in this episode, as we see the Doctor become reborn. We do not know what he will be like, but can look forward to seeing how this new man shall perform. The end for the Pertwee era may be nigh, but there's still a future, meaning that We've Got Work To Do...
There's a nice sequence that occurs about halfway through this episode. The Doctor is running to help Sarah Jane, when he encounters a voice. The voice tells him not to come any closer, because the radiation levels near it would kill him. It also tells him to return the crystal that he stole, all the way back in The Green Death. As described, it doesn't sound too intimidating. But actions speak louder than words, as the voice then forcibly takes control of the Doctor, making him turn around on the spot, to show the power that it has over him. This causes the Doctor great pain as he encounters something which has true power over him. His face is contorted into a face of fear as he tries to fight it but can't. It's disturbing to see Pertwee's Doctor like this, in particular as he is the Doctor that is the most cool in deadly situations, as he comes up against a foe that frightens him, and surely cannot beat. Well, maybe he can beat them, but at what cost...
The Pertwee era is defined by two types of story. Those which are set on Earth, and those which are set on another planet, which generally concern Earth colonists. This story somehow manages to weave the two together. It's achieved by having the Doctor and Sarah Jane, as well as the main human villain, investigate goings on on Metebelis 3, while we follow the actions of the characters that we've met previously in the story on Earth as they come to terms with the plot. It's nice to have this ability to leap between spaces in such a way, and takes full advantage of the spacetime travelling mechanic at the heart of the series. However, there is one small problem, being that half of what happens on Metebelis 3 (through mixture of writing, acting and direction) is incredibly poor. This drags down the overall quality of the story, which is a shame as there are some good things here, but we forget about them as we focus on the negative that it surrounds. Still, we have much to look forward to as we enter the final days of Planet of the Spiders.
The villains of this piece are over-large spiders. This is a fantastic idea as it brings forth one of the basic foundations at the heart of Doctor Who: the ordinary made extraordinary. Spiders are commonplace in society, and a common fear for several people. So by having Doctor Who involve them in its universe, we can make them even more frightening, giving thrm extra powers such as the ability to jump on people's backs and telepathically control them, which us builds on the pre-existing fear and amplifies it for the audience. In a way it harks back to Pertwee's first story, which took the mundane shop window dummies and made them something terrifying, using the fact that surrounding objects can be easily recognised to amplify the fear for the purpose of the story.
This episode makes the interesting decision to dedicate half of its running time to an extensive chase sequence involving Bessie, the Whomobile, a gyrocopter, a police car, a boat and a hovercraft. It sounds excessive, mainly because it is. The entire thing feels remarkably poor, much of which can be given in hindsight due to the fact that the enemy is teleported away at the end of the chase rendering the entire thing worthless. But, it does celebrate the Pertwee era. It shows us that it was all about action and cool stunts, something which hadn't really been covered in previous eras of the show. It comes across as fun, if a little overlong, and aims to excite and entertain the audience. This is one of the things that the Pertwee era brought: a renewed focus on excitement with bigger stunts and the like to both compete with other programmes and provide something new for the audience.
And so the end begins. Pertwee had decided that it was time to leave the series, making Planet of the Spiders his last story. As such, it begins with what feels like a reunion. The Doctor is back working for UNIT, the Brigadier and he are exploring strange goings on with a clairvoyant, while Mike and Sarah Jane are investigating a Buddhist monastery which is being remarkably suspicious. Benton's there as well fulfilling the role he always has of being in scenes and being likeable. There's even a letter from Jo Grant, and references to Metebelis 3. All in all, it feels like everyone coming together for the last hurrah, going through the motions one last time. There are some indications of the theme behind this story, and we shall delve into that later, but for now it feels comfortable and safe. This is, of course, one of the things that the Pertwee era brought to Doctor Who. Instead of being uneasy about each new story or location, we grew to know that we were always safe with these characters, and that we can just oet everything fold out in front of us. But then again, sometimes it's nice to be able to get something truly unexpected and out of this world. And who knows what the future will bring...
Much like Planet of the Daleks, as a child I somewhat wanted to see The Monster of Peladon above other stories. I'd already seen and enjoyed The Curse of Peladon, so The Monster of Peladon was high in expectation as something to look forward to. Unfortunately, in the 9 or so years between watching Curse and watching Monster, I discovered the reputation of certain stories. The Monster of Peladon, it is fair to say, does not have the best of reputations. This all meant that when I watched it, I wasn't allowed to fully engage with the story, instead I was already in a mood to criticise and poke fun at its flaws. I could make a comment here about how wrong I was, and how the story is actually incredibly good. But it isn't. That's not to say that I don't like it though. The fact that it chooses not to hide its flaws makes for some incredibly fun viewing, and I'm actually kind lf glad that I knew this story was going to be poor before I watched it, because it meant that I wasn't going to be let down again, like I was with Planet of the Daleks.
This story sees the return of the Ice Warriors. I rather liked the Ice Warriors in their last appearance due to them being on the side of good and adding another dimension to their role in the series. The same, however, cannot be said of their appearance in this serial. Here, they are clearly the villains of the piece, taking advantage of the Pels of Peladon, attacking them often with their advanced weaponry and planning to take over the universe. This is disappointing, to be brutally honest. I enjoyed the fact that by having the Ice Warriors as goodies in the last story, the story was able to play on the audience's prejudices as well as giving the characters something more to do. But here, they are reduced to lumbering around the place which makes them weaker as a result because we lose all the hard work in character development that we had seen before. That's not to say that this doesn't go unacknowledged though, people comment that they are a breakaway group, and that this is entirely unexpected. But it is still disappointing and adds to the list of disappointments that go with The Monster of Peladon.
Jon Pertwee is not getting any younger. This is quite apparent in this episode as the action scene towards the end features Terry Walsh, the stunt co-ordinator, wearing an unconvincing grey wig as he tries to fill in for the Doctor during various jumps and such. This serves as a sign to the end of the era. Pertwee has been defined by his stunts, and feats of derring-do. But this is no longer as achievable as it once was, and indicates that perhaps the best course of action would be a radical change of direction for the series...
The Monster of Peladon is remembered generally for only seven words. "There's nothing only about being a girl". These words are said by Sarah Jane Smith to Queen Thalira, when the Queen is feeling depressed over the fact that any order that she would give would be dismissed due to her only being a girl. This is a striking message, as it allows for Doctor Who to connect with an issue which sadly still affects us today, being the vast inequality in the way in which we treat different genders, in particular the way in which women are treated. And through those seven words young girls can see Sarah Jane, the main audience identification figure, telling them that they need to fight inequality and make their voice heard. Because there is nothing only about being a girl.
This serial has made a point of having the lower classes of Peladon revolt. It's due to a mistrust of the Galactic Federation, causing them to rise up and attack their superiors. This is a massive contrast to how things were in The Curse of Peladon. There, the focus was on the upper classes, as we saw the discussions made about the benefits and disadvantages of joining the Galactic Federation. Here, all elements of Peladon society get to take part in the discussions, and it becomes obvious that there are severe problems with the way in which the lower classes have been treated. By allowing us to see the hidden side of the planet, we can grow to have a better understanding of the conflict that is place within the story, and thus grow to appreciate the world building that has taken place on the planet Peladon.
I love The Curse of Peladon. Obviously, others do as well as we have a sequel to the story here. Returning to Peladon is an interesting choice, although somewhat obvious. Having a return appearance to a planet is interesting as it allows for us to see the impact of the Doctor's actions, as well can see the evolution that has taken place for the planet and the way in which it operates. It's similar to the William Hartnell story The Ark, which took place on a spaceship in two time periods and got to witness the true consequences of the TARDIS crew's actions (in that case it was a full sclar rebellion that took place and caused humanity to be subjugated).
But once a return visit is decided, it is clear that the only candidate is Peladon. Other stories were either too self contained or lacked the memorable characters that were present in The Curse of Peladon to warrant being remembered by the viewing audience. So we get to revisit this lovely little planet once more, hoping that we'll get a story of the calibre of The Curse of Peladon.
I have to be honest and say that I wasn't expecting to like Death to the Daleks. I was acting on the perceived wisdom that it was actually quite a poor story, and so it was with some regret that I sat down to watch it. What followed wasn't spectacular. The plot was less than stellar, the acting left much to be desired and the editing was sometimes remarkably poor, with the cliffhanger ending to Part 3 being a shot of the floor.
But all of that said, I rather enjoyed this story. This is mainly due to the direction from Michael E Briant, who is quickly becoming one of my favourite directors for the series. He is unafraid to use different techniques when using the camera, as he innovatively allows us to see through the Daleks' eyestalk, which grants the viewer an insight into the way in which the Dalek operates, as well as letting the camera become one of the characters in the story instead of just the omnipresent viewer. Also interesting is his use of darkness and shadows, which allows for the Daleks to remain hidden in the shadows, adding to the menace that the demonic pepperpots have. It all makes for some very engaging viewing, and has shown me that whilst a good script can elevate a story above poor direction, the inverse is true and a poor script can be elevated by some excellent direction.
When I was young and flicking through Doctor Who: The Television Companion, I would look through each story and see things like producers, directors, writers and guest stars. There was always a pang of disappointment as I'd look through the cast list and see a wealth of unfamiliar names, because there was always the hope that I would recognise someone who had been in something else. Then, one day, I encountered a name that I recognised. Indeed, I was actively surprised to discover that they had contributed to Doctor Who, because I knew them for something quite different. That person's name was Carey Blyton, the composer of Doctor Who and the Silurians, Death to the Daleks and the forthcoming Revenge of the Cybermen.
Blyton's scores are more experimental than other composers for the series. He has a tendency to go out of his way to use more unconventional instruments, which lend an otherworldly sound to proceedings. They do run the risk of being distracting to the viewer, indeed when watching the story I am often more interested in the soundscape than the plot or performances. There are also instances where the score is occasionally at odds with the action, choosing to represent the Daleks not with harsh music but with a clarinet based score, which doesn't do much to inspire fear in the hearts of humankind. But at the end of the day, it's still an interesting score and one which I would highly recommend.
But Carey Blyton had another contribution to the world that I was aware of. The popular Australian television series Bananas in Pyjamas was based on a nonsense song, written by Carey Blyton. As a child reading the credits at the end I would see his name pop up, recognising that this guy wrote this remarkably catchy theme tune. Discovering the connection between Bananas in Pyjamas and Doctor Who, therefore, was a mindblowing experience, as I learnt that there was more to the credits of TV programmes than just a list of names at the end.
This story also features, somewhat surprisingly, Daleks. Indeed, they have lost their guns due to an issue removing their power, forcing them to forgo their energy weapons and find some other way of surviving through an uneasy alliance with the humans who are also trapped on the planet. This is a fantastic idea, as it takes away the extermination from the Daleks and forces them to be more cunning (although thanks to being written by Terry Nation, cunning here means loudly stating your plan to the rest of the Daleks).
However, almost immediately, the Daleks find a work-around, using traditional projectile weapons instead of the energy beam, thus removing all of the tension that was set up in the first few minutes of the episode. But here, we have another piece of interest for the Daleks. They now have power but cannot use it without revealing themselves. It forces them to be stealthy, and to hide their true nature until they are ready for a full attack.
A full attack that comes later in the episode, thus squandering this plot development as well. Nation apparently had strong ideas about what the Daleks were and weren't, and that he was the only writer who really 'got' the Daleks. But to be honest, he really doesn't and it's a brutal shame to see all of these fascinating opportunities for the Daleks ruined through some incredibly poor writing.
And so, on the 51st anniversary of Doctor Who, we come to Death to the Daleks. It's nice to see how far we've come in certain aspects. Michael E Briant is able to use the camera in ways that we wouldn't normally have seen back in the 1960's, using it as a moving element throughout the story, in particular on location, which adds a dynamic feeling to the proceedings. We also have trust in the Doctor and his actions, we know that each action that he makes in the story is one that is the right thing to do. And yet, there are some things that haven't changed, one of these being the writing. This story is written by Terry Nation, writer of the second Doctor Who serial and many others after that point. Unlike Malcolm Hulke or Robert Holmes, Nation is more of an adventure serial writer, and so we don't get much opportunity for morally grey villains or comments on foreign policy and warmongering. Instead, we are left with a simple adventure story featuring Daleks, which sadly involves Sarah Jane being tied up and needing rescuing. This last point is especially annoying as the past two stories have featured Sarah Jane in a more active role, instigating revolutions and capturing the Doctor from the hands of Irongron. Here, she puts her hand on a light and is tied up and sentenced to death. It just goes to show that whilst there are some things that we have improved on on our trip through the series, there still remains some areas for improvement. Put another way, We've Got Work To Do!
Well, this is nice. Today marks a year since I began this fun little voyage to watch every episode of Doctor Who in order. So far, it's been a fun ride as I get to relax and watch some occasionally brilliant television each night. So, to celebrate, I thought that I'd look back at what has been my favourite blog entry, which coincided with one of my favourite episodes. So here's my entry on Frontier In Space, collected in a special omnibus edition. Hopefully you'll enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
One day, I was watching television. I was nine years old at the time, and easily impressionable. My TV diet consisted almost entirely of the ABC, the Australian public broadcaster. Every day I would wake up to their morning cartoons, and in the afternoons I would return home and watch their afternoon programming, confident in the knowledge that everything went to some sort of order. If a new show were to be broadcast I would see the trailers for it, get from these trailers a feeling of what the show was and whether I would like it, and then decide on whether it would be worth checking out.
Then, one day, there was a trailer that didn't describe the series that was going to be on. All it said was that "It is returning" as weird patterns filled the screen and a wheezing groaning sound came forth from the TV set. I asked my parents about it, they'd seen it too and were talking about what it really was. They said that Doctor Who was coming back. Not new episodes though, the old ones from before I was born. They explained what the show was and took me downstairs. There, I was shown their Doctor Who collection. Books that I had run past rushing through the house were actually novelisations of these stories. A cassette tape that hadn't been played since a revolutionary time travelling nativity production a couple of years prior was actually the theme to this strange programme. And the video cupboard that only held Mum and Dad's videos was opened, revealing a handful of VHS copies of Doctor Who episodes for me to discover. That weekend, I sat down with my family and watched one of them. That episode was Frontier In Space, and it would be the gateway for me to a whole new world of discovery.
Frontier in Space is, on first glances, not the best story to introduce a kid to Doctor Who with. There's none of the fast paced action that hooks younger viewers nowadays, instead it is an altogether slower and more thoughtful affair. There is action, but there's also political intrigue and discussions on prejudice and fear. Ideally, I would talk about how this didn't matter to my nine year old self. That he was still intrigued by this piece of television that looked at the way in which we treat each other. But to tell the truth, I can't remember. I remember that I watched and liked the story, but it wasn't one that I revisited too often so I don't know how much of an impact it made on me.
But hiding in the back of my memory is something. A giant rabbit, a pink elephant, and a purple horse with yellow spots. The Doctor mentions them in an anecdote to Jo about how you shouldn't be afraid of people interrogating you with truth telling machines as long as you tell the truth, even if they don't believe you the first time*. I love this moment, it's a charming moment from the Doctor and endears him to the audience. I can't recall whether he endeared himself to me at nine years old though. But the memory stuck with me for eleven years as I grew older, and began to forget occasional memories from my childhood. The fact that that stuck says something to me about how maybe this magical little moment let me see the inner beauty of the series.
That said, there was still plenty of things that I forgot about until I was able to watch this story again as a young adult such as a certain sub-plot that made a strong impact on me. Essentially, the Doctor is sent to a Lunar penal colony to spend the rest of his days, as he is accused of being a spy for the alien Draconians and the evidence seems to back this claim up. Whilst on the colony, he meets like-minded people who have been placed on the colony for political crimes. These crimes are crimes of peace, attempting to prevent war from occurring. It's a revolutionary moment because it inspires in the audience a sense of realisation as to how society truly treats those that search for peace, and hopefully encourages them to join in the fight against war.
As I say, I was around 17 or 18 when I re-watched this story. I'd seen it a couple of times before, most recently about a year or two prior, although that was mainly spent realising that this story was actually quite good, and not noticing the subtleties present in Malcolm Hulke's writing. Watching it as a young adult made me fully realise how political Doctor Who could be, showing themes that reveal and reflect the time in which they were written. It helped to show me how awesome Doctor Who could be, and reinvigorated a love for the programme in my mind.
Also appearing in this story alongside lunar penal colonies is the Doctor's foe: The Master, as played by Roger Delgado, sadly for the final time before his unfortunate death. Delgado brings a suave charm to the Master with an ability to walk into a scene and instantly make himself the most attractive character. By this, I mean that the audience is drawn to him and his character. We may not necessarily agree with him or his ideals and yet there is the attraction there that makes us want to watch him. Add to this a wonderful chemistry that he has with Jon Pertwee as the Doctor and Katy Manning as Jo, the Doctor's companion, and we get a character that is truly memorable and it's fairly safe to say that we will miss him greatly.
Not that I was aware of who the Master was at the time of first viewing, of course. Instead, this character was someone else in the story, someone who I had no prior connection to and as far as I was aware, neither did the Doctor. But through the way in which the story dealt with him, and the way in which Manning, Pertwee and Delgado played off of each other. There was the indication that there was a greater mythology behind all of this, which I would grow to explore as the serial progressed.
The Draconians are a race who appear in this story, and sadly this story alone. They are probably my outright favourite alien race to appear in Doctor Who for so many reasons. For a start, their design is spectacular, being recognisably alien and at the same time able to show the facial expressions of the actors behind them, meaning that they can fully emote and express opinions instead of lumber about the place and shout. Although, they are created by Malcolm Hulke, aren't they, and so we don't really expect them to be lumbering alien menaces, instead we know that they are going to be treated as equally as the humans in the narrative, full of Hulke's shades of grey that he puts into the stories to introduce a sense of morality to the audience watching it. We can see this through their society, built up in a few brief scenes and yet it tells so much about them and what they think. We can see the high respect that they have for the ruling class, as well as their respect for tradition. But we also see that they are willing to listen, and to learn from the actions of the past. It is for these reasons and so much more that I love the Draconians, and every series that I sadly discover that they aren't returning is a tiny bit of disappointment that I have when I look at the excitement that lays ahead for what is to come.
I don't remember much about the Draconians on first viewing. Instead, I was focussed on how weird everything had suddenly become. The VHS copy that we had of this story had decided to forgo the usual theme tune for Episode 5 and instead use the 'Delaware' version of the theme, only heard in a few foreign markets due to a mistake made when creating the overseas print for the story. It was so weird and different to what I was expecting to happen that I was curious to find out more. To find out why this had occurred and what was behind it. This led me to have a hunt through the shelves of Doctor Who books downstairs to discover Doctor Who The Television Companion, a book that went through the history of every episode of Doctor Who up to The TV Movie. I would devour this book for information, to discover more about this strange series that I had been introduced to. And I still do to this day, as can be seen by the incredibly well read copy that sits beside the computer, for when I can't be bothered to use Google to look up something.
The Book that formed much of my childhood,
As New
The Book that formed much of my childhood,
As Old
As the conclusion of this story is reached a few things begin to become clear. Firstly, the major theme behind this story shows itself, being one of fear. Fear is a theme that we have seen throughout the Jon Pertwee era, whether through the Keller Machine using fear as a weapon in The Mind of Evil or the fear of the mutants in The Mutants drawing the worst out of people, several stories have built on the idea of fear being used as a dangerous thing. Frontier In Space continues that trend by showing the two alien races: Humans and Draconians, at war with each other because they both fear the other. The Master capitalises on this by using a machine to imitate their greatest fear and using this to convince each side that the other is attacking them, thus strengthening the fear that each side has over the other, with the intention of leading to all out war.
Of course, this fails because both sides are able to see reason. Both decide to overcome their fears and to engage in conversation with the other, as they learn from their mistakes and try to be better as a result of this. The outgoing message of Frontier in Space one of peace. That whilst fear might instigate hostility and could cause war, it could all be based on misunderstandings, and that we must truly understand the situation at hand before engaging in any rash decisions such as all out war.
Not that my nine year old self paid attention to any of that. Instead, I was far more concerned with the fact that the story suddenly goes off in a new direction at the end. The Master stands at the top of an alien mountain and proclaims to the Doctor that he has some old friends that would like to see him again. Three Daleks suddenly appear out of nowhere and begin to attack them. When I was a kid, I sort of knew what the Daleks were. And by sort of, I mean that my parents had mentioned them in passing when they were telling me about this strange television series. But this took me completely left of field, as these evil metal creatures came forth and began to attack. Instantly, they became the coolest things that I had ever seen before in my life, and laying the kindling for my obsession with Doctor Who.
And this, I should add, really was a surprise. I am possibly the only person to see the VHS cover for Frontier in Space, observe the Dalek, and then be surprised when they turned up at the end, mainly because I assumed that they were just on there for no reason whatsoever aside from they looked kind of cool. There was one more surprise though waiting for me. The conclusion of Frontier In Space features the Master cornering the Doctor, before shooting him and escaping off into the distance. The Doctor gets up, and with the help of Jo goes into the TARDIS and activates the TARDIS's telepathic circuits to send a message to the Time Lords. And then the story ends. I waited to see what would happen next. I waited for a good five minutes until the VHS finished, and then I admitted that it was quite probable that this story would end on a cliffhanger. I didn't know why though. I didn't know how it would be resolved. I needed to get some form of closure to how it would all end. So I looked up what would happen next, resolving that I would watch the conclusion to Frontier In Space as soon as I possibly could. It was a wait that would last another nine years...
But that's another story (and a remarkably poor one at that). Instead, we can look at what Frontier In Space had to entice a new viewer to the show. It had exciting battles, weird alien monsters, messages of peace rather than war, characters who are instantly likeable, shocking twists, the Delaware theme and moments of charm scattered throughout. It sparked a lifelong obsession of Doctor Who in me, something which has changed my life completely. I've met so many friends and had so many opportunities thanks to this amazing programme. And I look forward to the future, where I'm sure that I'll meet more friends and get far more experiences thanks to this programme. And so as this episode comes to an end, I'm sure that there will be many others like it, but I've got to get back to working as We've Got Work To Do!
*(I could lie and say that this one moment inspired me to tell the truth always for the rest of my life. However, the truth is that a traumatising moment with Christian vegetables left me petrified of lying. This is a legitimate problem that I have in my life.)
So we reach the climax of this story. Now, the story has fully mutated. It is no longer the Doctor investigating a dinosaur invasion of the Earth, it is a story about the Doctor, Sarah Jane, the Brigadier and Sergeant Benton fighting against a group of extremists. It's relatively tense stuff and works well, although there is still the niggling problem at the heart of this story. It's a story that functions on twists. Having known all of these twists in advance, it lessens the impact and makes for a far more average story on the whole. It's still fun, but I have just a strong sense of regret about being spoiled of what happens.
And yet, there was one moment in this story that surprised me. I won't say what it was, only that I legitimately found it a highlight of my Doctor Who viewing experience. Seeing that moment reminded me that as I continue along this journey of watching Doctor Who, there can still be surprises where I least expect them. And these little moments make the entire journey worthwhile.
The plan has finally been revealed! It turns out that the bad giys are going to send a few chosen people back in time to repopulate the Earth and so that we can learn from our mistakes to create a better society. The obvious message that Hulke is trying to make here is one of political extremism, where extremists will go to such strong measures to get the ends that they want, in this case pretty much wiping out most of the human race to start over. We're obviously meant to be sided against them, we can see that this is a horrible move which we as humanity should obviously be against.
And yet I'm siding with the bad guys here. Hulke writes issues of grey morality, inviting viewers to consider both sides of the argument before making the final decision. And in this case, I personally have to side with the idea of rebooting the Earth and starting over. Every day I wake up and look at how the world is going terribly. Climate change and pollution are rampant in our modern world. There are also ideologies that exist that promote hate. That promote fossil fuels over climate action. And we as a society choose these people over people who are arguably going to make our planet better. And it's little wonder that some days I wish that we could go back to the time of the dinosaurs and start over, this time with clever people in charge. After all, we're already surrounded by war-mongering T-Rexes and stegosauruses with walnut sized brains in the modern day.
Another twist occurred at the end of the last episode as it was revealed that Sarah Jane had been put on a spaceship and had been on this ship for three months. As an audience, of course, we are pre-disposed not to trust this on the grounds that the episode continues to cut back to Pertwee and UNIT investigating the dinosaurs in the current time period instead of three months hence. Thus, Hulke uninetnionally reveals the truth behind the plot element thathe is currently using. But the motive remains hidden, we are still unaware of how each plot element works together. On the one hand we have dinosaurs roaming the streets of London as part of a massive conspiracy with people involved from science, the military, the government and UNIT. Aside from this, we also have a spaceship filled with prime human specimens who are being reminded of how polluted the Earth is and why they have left to find a new colony somewhere different. Hopefully we shall soon discover how these plot strands fit together, but it's obvious that this is going to make for some more overtly political themes than we're used to in Doctor Who.
The villain's plan is still yet to fully reveal itself, so I'll withhold discussion on that for the moment and instead bring up a very important point about Invasion of the Dinosaurs. DINOSAURS! As a young boy I loved dinosaurs. Their majesty and exciting features, coupled with the documentary series Walking With Dinosaurs sparked a youthful obsession with these terrible lizards. Naturally, when looking through Doctor Who: The Television Companion, I found the story with dinosaurs in it and got excited for it, wanting to see what would be presented to me.
The sad thing is that the dinosaurs as presented are not as CGI like the Dinosaurs that I walked with that sparke my interest in the topic, instead they are models. And somewhat poor models as well, which obviously gel poorly with the humans occupying the scenes with them. This makes for a depressing moment, as I can reflect on how I should never get my hopes up for special effects, as they'll always be less than special.
But the effects don't matter. When I was a kid and watching Walking with Dinosaurs, I wasn't thinking of the impressive effects, I was thinking of the dinosaurs that were in front of me. And the fact still remains that dinosaurs are in Doctor Who and that this is remarkably cool and exciting. We get to see the majesty of the Stegosaurus, the horror of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, the beauty of the Brontosaurus. The fact that they're less than convincing doesn't matter as we can still appreciate the meaning behind it and get excited to see Dinosaurs.
Captain Mike Yates is a character that we've not really discussed that much on the blog. He's one of the UNIT regulars, a reliable sort who is frequently seen either in an action set-piece or hanging out with Jo Grant. Watching this episode, however, makes you realise that something is different. He's asking more questions than he usually does and you can sense that he's not asking these questions out of curiosities sake, there's an ulterior motive at work. The ulterior motive is suddenly revealed as him actually working for a group of people bringing dinosaurs to modern day London. It's a shocking moment as we see the once reliable character who we could trust instead move to the side of the enemy. Over the course of the serial, we'll discover why this is the case, but it shows bravery that we can put the regular cast out of their comfort zone and into new and different scenarios.
You have to feel sorry for this story. The production team goes to all the trouble of trying to keep the fact that it's actually called Invasion of the Dinosaurs secret, and then it's all ruined due to a number of factors. One such factor is that halfway through, we get to see a dinosaur attack. This would be expected in stories featuring dinosaurs, that dinosaurs should appear throughout, and yet it's painfully obvious that it was at some point intended that the revelation of the dinosaur would be a cliffhanger reveal, to shock the audience into tuning in the following week to see the Doctor fight dinosaurs. Instead, it just comes across as a weak cliffhanger.
But there's more to it than just that, because any person who wants to watch this story will immediately be denied the pleasure of having the shock dinosaur reveal. This is because the dinosaurs are emblazoned on the front cover of the DVD. As is the phrase: Invasion of the Dinosaurs. And even a cursory glance at the internet will reveal other spoilers that are to come with the story. It's a sad reflection on the fact that we can't enjoy these stories any more in the ways that they were on first broadcast. We already know what is to come ahead of us and so we aren't allowed to be surprised any more. Some days I wish for amnesia, so that I can forget about what will happen and allow the story to be told to me, but this is just a pipe dream, and we must always continue on, as We've Got Work To Do.
Now the time has come to talk of the real highlight of The Time Warrior: Professor Rubeish. For the uninitiated, Professor Rubeish is a scientist who gets captured by Linx and hypnotised to work for him. Unfortunately, the hypnotism fails due to Rubeish being incredibly blind as a bat without his glasses, and so Rubeish is just left wandering about the place. What makes him so brilliant is the way in which he is characterised, as he takes everything in his stride not realising the full predicament that he is in. He's not terribly bright in this regard, although this does make him surprisingly reliable as he wanders about doing what is right without fully comprehending it. He's just an incredibly fun character, and is the heart of what Doctor Who is: having fun through time and space. You wouldn't necessarily expect too much darkness in the series, instead you are just allowed to have fun with Professor Rubeish.
This story features a duo of villains, Irongron the Medieval baron and Linx the Sontaran. Both represent different ways of performing war. Irongron is the type who attacks without thought or reason, aiming to take over as much as possible through brute force. Linx, on the other hand, prefers a slightly more thoughtful and planned approach, choosing to use his technological advantage to choose the most strategic approach to receive his end goal. Linx looks down on Irongron as Irongron is a fool, while Irongron looks down on Linx as Linx is seen as weak in Irongron's eyes. The key point though, is that they are both, in essence, the same person, Linx being the natural evolution of Irongron. Both are warlike, choosing for violent ends to conflicts, both surround themselves with weaker people to remind themselves of their superior nature and both seek annihilation through conquest, it just so happens that Linx is more advanced than Irongron even though they are at heart, identical.
This story marks a return for historical adventures for Doctor Who, as we go back in time to the Middle Ages and fight knights in castles and such. The historical was abandoned as a premise because they were found to be unpopular with viewers (a shame, as they were actually rather good) but the production team has come up with a way of making them more interesting: introducing science fiction elements to the story. It's something that we've seen before, most notably in The Time Meddler, however this time the science fiction is slightly more overt as an alien walks the walls of the castle, kidnapping scientists to fix his spaceship. All in all, it's interesting as we get a new dimension in storytelling. Stories that have previously been confined to the basic ideas (modern day invasion, futuristic alien planet, historical drama/comedy) can now intermingle, to produce new concepts for us to witness. We'll certainly be seeing more of the pseudo-historical in the future as it is refined more as a genre and new ways in which it can develop are shown to us.
As we start series 11 of this series, it is clear that there is an awful lot to talk about with regards to the opening serial: The Time Warrior. First and foremost is the updated title sequence, which indicates a change in direction for the programme. This change is direction, however, is nothing to do with the production staff changing over, instead it is due to the introduction of a new assistant: Sarah Jane Smith. It makes sense, of course. The audience identification figure has changed, and thus the way in which the programme works changes as well. This continues into the new series as well, think of how much of a change occurred between the Doctor travelling with Amy and Rory to the Doctor travelling with Clara for instance.
But let's take a look at Sarah Jane for a moment. It's a little early to talk too much about her character as of this moment, however one thing is incredibly clear, being that her relationship with the Doctor is instantly different what has come before. It's spikier, with a bit more antagonism between the two. She's not willing to fall into the traditional assistant role, and he's not willing to have her around. It's a relationship that contrasts itself well with Jo Grant, where he got to be more of a father figure to her, looking after her as they travelled the cosmos. Now, the relationship is different and has the potential to go in different directions that we can't predict as of yet. We'll discover what will happen as the series continues though, and comment more on how Sarah Jane develops.
The end of an era is nigh. Jo Grant, companion since the first time that we met the Master, is leaving. She hasn't been mortally injured, nor has she been forced to forget all of her memories by the Time Lords. Instead, she has fallen in love. In love with Professor Jones, a man with enthusiasm and knowledge, a man with courage and care. A man who is a younger version of the Doctor, essentially. And so they go off together, ready to start their new happy life. But, in one of the most bitter-sweet moments for the series, the camera decides not to focus on their happiness. Whilst everyone is dancing and singing and celebrating the happy couple, we instead look at the Doctor. He's heartbroken because he's lost a friend, someone with whom he has shared adventures from invasions of plastic people to an invasion from the Devil. From Peladon to Solos. The person with whom he helped to prevent a war between Earth and Draconia. She's gone now, gone to find someone else. And so he walks away, silently into the sunset, leaving them to their fun. He's got work to do, I suppose. But it'll be different without Jo Grant around.
The villain in this story has been hidden, a voice coming from up high giving directives to its subo-ordinates. We can easily assume that this is some alien menace, perhaps the Master, and that their aim is to conquer the Earth. However, the cliffhanger to the previous episode reveals that it is instead a computer. Not just any computer though, a computer that has become self aware. It's a common trope when dealing with megalomaniacal computers that they lack any sort of humanity, and that humans will always win in the end with our creativity and inefficiency. This computer, BOSS, has realised this and thus decided to have itself programmed to be more like humans, more inefficient to become more efficient at what it does. We are thus confronted with an enemy that is impossible to beat. Life has been built up as something which, to paraphrase Jeff Goldblum, will "find a way", always surviving when the chips are down. So what happens when we create life and it turns against us?
This episode is embedded in the public consciousness as 'the one with the giant maggots'. It's easy to see why this has happened: giant maggots are a memorable image and one that sticks in the mind of the audience as maggots are fairly commonplace. Thus, by making the ordinary extraordinary through simply increasing the size, we can play off common fears and make the audience more attracted to the programme itself. It's also worth noting that most audiences will remember things this way, choosing not to remember the minutae, instead the general themes and images of the story. Thus, by finding a hook such as giant maggots, the makers of the series have been able to ensure that Doctor Who remains memorable not just for Daleks or for police boxes, but also for weird ideas and cool ideas for monsters, making the series one that will last for a remarkably long time in the memories of the viewer.
We see in this episode something that I wanted in Planet of the Daleks: grief. A quiet moment takes place halfway through this episode where Jo and Professor Jones mourn the death of one of the miners who looked after Jo in the first half of the episode. It's nice because we're allowed tok feel for the characters. The miner wasn't in the largest of roles, but he was still important and once in a while it's important to remind ourselves of the impact that deaths can have in the series. It certainly takes its toll on Jo, who needs to find a shoulder to cry on. That shoulder doesn't belong to the Doctor, what would be expected in such scenarios, instead it is that of Professor Jones. These two clearly have a strong connection, one which is more romantic than we've seen before in the series. Things are looking different for this serial, and we'll see how much different things become as The Green Death continues.
This story marks another step for Doctor Who into the political environment. This time, we focus on environmentalism, a subject that is still relevant today. The key point is about pollution, that companies come into the world and ravage the land, causing much devastation and destroying the ecosystem, including the lives of the people around the area. This could be similar to other stories that we've covered previously, such as Colony in Space or The Mutants. However, what makes this different is that it is firmly set in the modern day. This makes the issues more relevant, drawing our attention to the horrors that take place every day of our lives as we realise what these corporations do to us. These issues also deserve to be relevant, as they are destroying the planet and causing wide-spread destruction to our ecosystem, to the point where it may not end up being viable for us to continue living. So props to Robert Sloman and Barry Letts for making the decision to show the world these effects (even if it isn't as effective as you could have hoped) because it might just help open people's eyes to the horrors that lie in front of us every single day.
The Doctor finally gets to visit Metebelis 3 in this episode. Metebelis 3 has been a bit of a running joke throughout the Pertwee era, as the Doctor has been attempting to reach this destination for quite some time. However, things are not as we've been promised. Metebelis 3, although it has a beautiful landscape, also has a vast array of deadly obstacles and comes across as one of the more frightening planets in the cosmos. The joke, of course, is that the Doctor considers this place a holiday destination despite the fact that it's one of the least relaxing places in the universe.
But there's a hidden meaning to this. As the Doctor encounters these dangers, Jo, his assistant, is busy with her own agenda, attempting to save Earth through environmentalism. But this means that we get to witness an adventure of the Doctor's without a companion. It's suddenly more dangerous, and we as an audience aren't able to relate as much to the events occurring to the Doctor. But this is all foreshadowing for the events that are going to happen over the course of this story...
Two things about this episode make me quite cross. One is the way in which the plot has been wasted. The Episode 1 cliffhanger features an invisible Dalek. This is promising. We can now expect a story with invisible Daleks rampaging through the jungle, ready to attack when we least expect it. It is, however, never dealt with again. This is such a waste of what could have been a fantastic concept, and brings further to light how poorly this story has been written.
But that's not the episode's worst sin. The end of it has the Doctor telling Taron, the Thal leader, not to glamourise the events of this story and not to treat it as if it's some sort of exciting and thrilling game. However, the past story has been all about having fun and excitement with the Daleks. Yes, there's been death and destruction, however this is par for the course for a Doctor Who story, and in addition to this the deaths that occurred were never fully dwelt upon to make us feel anything and realise the consequences of the actions that have taken place, thus meaning that this ham-fisted attempt at a moral is too little, too late for this story.
One of my problems with this serial is something that I've only noticed on this watch-through. Codal, my favourite of the Thals, is an interesting character. He has strong doubts about whether he should be on the expedition, and spends most of his time being mildly frightened, yet continuing on with the mission at hand. This is all wasted by Terry Nation, the writer. After the Doctor gives Codal a quick speech about courage, Codal becomes horribly generic, wandering around with the rest of the team. It's disappointing as Nation clearly decided to flesh out the other characters, introducing romantic sub-plots, concerns about the mission going ahead and explosions, but Codal is left by the wayside. An interesting character left to rot in their own story. It's not that this decision is bad, but it is incredibly disappointing and does not bode well for the rest of the serial.
The Doctor has allied himself with some soldiers who have arrived on the planet to fight the Daleks. These soldiers are Thals, making a return appearance after ten years away from our screens. This shows that Nation is keen to revisit the past, even if the past is too far away for the normal viewers. A child of nine years old watching the first Dalek serial would be 18 now. How much do you remember from 10 years ago? It's clear to me at this point that the only people who would know who the Thals were would be those who would go on to be obsessed with the minutiae of the series, and continue loving it for years and years hence.
But for those who weren't around when the first serial was broadcast, there's a helpful reminder of who the Thals are. Alongside this, Nation mentions that that first Dalek serial has now become a legend of the Thal people. The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan are now mythical creatures, who only exist in fairytales and the like. Doctor Who is playing with its own mythos here, and it's quite fun to see the result.
And as I wrote this entry, I suddenly realised something. When the repeat series of Doctor Who began on the ABC, I watched the first Dalek serial. I would have been 9 at the time, easily impressionable. By the time that I reached the age of 18 and watching Planet of the Daleks, I knew who the Thals were because I had spent all that time loving and discovering about the minutiae of one of my favourite programmes. In the first paragraph I asked a question. My answer is that nine years ago I was watching a weird TV series. There were these creatures called the Daleks (everyone knows who they are), but there are also these kindly aliens called the Thals. And, of course, the Thals would stay with me across those nine years until I saw their return in Planet of the Daleks.
There's a supremely beautiful moment in this episode concerning a conversation that the Doctor has with a fellow scientist after they have both been captured by the Daleks. The scientist, Codal, seems annoyed at himself. He isn't brave like the other members of the expedition. Instead, he spends his time in fear of everything that surrounds him, too afraid to do anything. But the Doctor points out that he does do things, and that this is courageous. Courage, the Doctor explains, is being frightened but doing the right thing anyway. This is what Doctor Who does. It frightens children, but it also teaches them that it's OK to be frightened, and that being brave is OK as well. It's a simple message but one that's effective and works well within the episode.
It was a long time until I got around to watching Planet of the Daleks. By the time that I watched it, I was no longer the bright faced young boy who was able to look forward to everything. Instead, I was a somewhat cynical teenager watching this story with an apparently poor reputation. It's somewhat depressing, watching this again, because the faults become more pronounced. The problem isn't with the direction though, nor the design, both of which are reasonably strong. Instead, the writing is somewhat lacking, as we come off a highly political story with themes to satisfy older viewers to a simple space adventure story written by Terry Nation. As a child, I would have been pleased and excited to see this story (indeed I remember reading the novelisation when I was 11 and being impressed by what was unfolding before me), but as a teenager there was little to excite me, so I just sat down and hoped that this story would somehow get better.
As we reach the conclusion of this story a few things begin to become clear. Firstly, the major theme behind this story shows itself, being one of fear. Fear is a theme that we have seen throughout the Jon Pertwee era, whether through the Keller Machine using fear as a weapon in The Mind of Evil or the fear of the mutants in The Mutants drawing the worst out of people, several stories have built on the idea of fear being used as a dangerous thing. Frontier In Space continues that trend by showing the two alien races: Humans and Draconians, at war with each other because they both fear the other. The Master capitalises on this by using a machine to imitate their greatest fear and using this to convince each side that the other is attacking them, thus strengthening the fear that each side has over the other, with the intention of leading to all out war.
Of course, this fails because both sides are able to see reason. Both decide to overcome their fears and to engage in conversation with the other, as they learn from their mistakes and try to be better as a result of this. The outgoing message of Frontier in Space one of peace. That whilst fear might instigate hostility and could cause war, it could all be based on misunderstandings, and that we must truly understand the situation at hand before engaging in any rash decisions such as all out war.
Not that my nine year old self paid attention to any of that. Instead, I was far more concerned with the fact that the story suddenly goes off in a new direction at the end. The Master stands at the top of an alien mountain and proclaims to the Doctor that he has some old friends that would like to see him again. Three Daleks suddenly appear out of nowhere and begin to attack them. When I was a kid, I sort of knew what the Daleks were. And by sort of, I mean that my parents had mentioned them in passing when they were telling me about this strange television series. But this took me completely left of field, as these evil metal creatures came forth and began to attack. Instantly, they became the coolest things that I had ever seen before in my life, and laying the kindling for my obsession with Doctor Who.
And this, I should add, really was a surprise. I am possibly the only person to see the VHS cover for Frontier in Space, observe the Dalek, and then be surprised when they turned up at the end, mainly because I assumed that they were just on there for no reason whatsoever aside from they looked kind of cool. There was one more surprise though waiting for me. The conclusion of Frontier In Space features the Master cornering the Doctor, before shooting him and escaping off into the distance. The Doctor gets up, and with the help of Jo goes into the TARDIS and activates the TARDIS's telepathic circuits to send a message to the Time Lords. And then the story ends. I waited to see what would happen next. I waited for a good five minutes until the VHS finished, and then I admitted that it was quite probable that this story would end on a cliffhanger. I didn't know why though. I didn't know how it would be resolved. I needed to get some form of closure to how it would all end. So I looked up what would happen next, resolving that I would watch the conclusion to Frontier In Space as soon as I possibly could. It was a wait that would last another nine years...
And this, I should add, really was a surprise. I am possibly the only person to see the VHS cover for Frontier in Space, observe the Dalek, and then be surprised when they turned up at the end, mainly because I assumed that they were just on there for no reason whatsoever aside from they looked kind of cool. There was one more surprise though waiting for me. The conclusion of Frontier In Space features the Master cornering the Doctor, before shooting him and escaping off into the distance. The Doctor gets up, and with the help of Jo goes into the TARDIS and activates the TARDIS's telepathic circuits to send a message to the Time Lords. And then the story ends. I waited to see what would happen next. I waited for a good five minutes until the VHS finished, and then I admitted that it was quite probable that this story would end on a cliffhanger. I didn't know why though. I didn't know how it would be resolved. I needed to get some form of closure to how it would all end. So I looked up what would happen next, resolving that I would watch the conclusion to Frontier In Space as soon as I possibly could. It was a wait that would last another nine years...
The end of an era is nigh. Jo Grant, companion since the first time that we met the Master, is leaving. She hasn't been mortally injured, nor has she been forced to forget all of her memories by the Time Lords. Instead, she has fallen in love. In love with Professor Jones, a man with enthusiasm and knowledge, a man with courage and care. A man who is a younger version of the Doctor, essentially. And so they go off together, ready to start their new happy life. But, in one of the most bitter-sweet moments for the series, the camera decides not to focus on their happiness. Whilst everyone is dancing and singing and celebrating the happy couple, we instead look at the Doctor. He's heartbroken because he's lost a friend, someone with whom he has shared adventures from invasions of plastic people to an invasion from the Devil. From Peladon to Solos. The person with whom he helped to prevent a war between Earth and Draconia. She's gone now, gone to find someone else. And so he walks away, silently into the sunset, leaving them to their fun. He's got work to do, I suppose. But it'll be different without Jo Grant around.
