Day 62: Invasion

This story features a contribution that is either from Bill Strutton, the writer, or Dennis Spooner, the story editor. It's to do with the Doctor's ring, and given Spooner's fondness for it in The Reign of Terror, and it cropping up most notably in stories that he had an involvement with, I'm inclined to say that it's Spooner's addition to the script. The main point is, the Doctor's ring has become like a sonic screwdriver, able to get out of all sorts of scrapes and do all manner of things, with no idea how it does these things. First of all, it's nice to see wonder and magic brought into the series, as the audience further sees the Doctor as a magical grandfather hero. He has evolved from grumpy old man to a more charming man, with a twinkle in his eye as he performs little magic tricks for us. They're all scientific, of course, but they're of a high enough technology to be indistinguishable to our feeble human minds from magic.

But the really nice point that I want to make, is that the Doctor's ring has been visible in almost every episode so far in the series, and it has rarely been commented on. So to see this thing that we take for granted being used in ways that we couldn't imagine, it's showing that the series is able to build on its mythology, and create new mythologies from existing things. It's Dennis Spooner once again bringing fun into this series and it is very much appreciated.