Day 60: Escape to Danger

Doctor Who has now been going on long enough for it to steal from itself. An awful lot of the ideas in this story can be found elsewhere in the past. There's for instance giant insects, which can be found in Planet of Giants, acidic bodies of liquid found in The Keys of Marinus and forces affecting the TARDIS, much like in The Edge of Destruction. But it all feels original, because their implementation is different. Before, giant insects were a curiosity to be looked at, here they fulfil the role of being both monstrous threats and rounded characters, with motivations and everything! The acidic liquid is also made more into a danger for characters, whereas before it was a world building tool, never fully followed up on.

There is at least one idea we haven't seen in the series before, and that is the faceless villain, here taking the form of the Animus, an ever present voice that has captured our heroes. It's a force that's one of the good things about this serial, being cool and menacing, as it exercises it's hold over the characters. There is no escape from the unknown, it would seem.