Day 98: Volcano

We resume the adventure with Daleks by, oddly enough, having the Doctor not encounter the Daleks at all. Instead, the Doctor is being pursued by another old enemy, the Meddling Monk, a character whom he encountered once before in The Time Meddler. And again, he is very much appreciated here, because he brings a sense of joyful evil to the series, through the performance by Peter Butterworth and the writing by Dennis Spooner, both of whom have been involved with comedy and know how these things work. Indeed, Spooner contributes one of the funniest moments in the show so far, when the TARDIS lands on a cricket pitch and the commentators talk about its appearance and what effect it will have on the game, the Australian commentator being reasonably pleased with this development because it lessens the chances of England making a comeback. It's funny because it's taking a straight view of the extraordinary, and treating these things as if they're part of everyday life, when we know that they're not, and so we see the flaws come forth from the misguided cricket commentators. But Spooner can also write dark stuff as well, he has the Daleks state that their allies are far too interested in power to dare to undermine the success of their plan, and the Daleks brutally exterminate one of the other delegates for reaching a bit too far beyond his reach. It's the contrast that makes this work, because on the one hand we have fun on the cricket pitch, but on the other, we have murder, further showing that the Daleks are a truly evil force.

Day 97: The Feast of Steven

Annoyingly, the way that this blog is written means that, on the 27th of February, we look at Doctor Who's first Christmas special. Because this episode deserves to be seen at Christmas. It's unlike anything that we've had before, it is Doctor Who doing a full comedy episode. Previous comedy episodes have had some degree of dramatic tension, here every other moment is either a joke or a build up to something funny happening later on. And, oddly, it works. You might think that putting the Daleks away for an episode to have some fun might not be in the series' best interests, but, sometimes we just want to have fun, a breath of fresh air after the epic nature of the past moments.

And more than that, this episode is genuinely funny. It helps that the writer of this was Terry Nation, a former writer for Tony Hancock, because he brings an excellent knowledge of how to write comedy. Take, for instance, the sketch which is set on a film set. Each character is based on recognisable stereotypes, such as the emotional actress or the obsessive director, and they, whilst being not in the best of working relationships, can still work together. We then put three time travellers into the mix, and watch as things get completely out of hand. We are used to seeing the TARDIS crew land and then the surroundings changing because of their interference. Here, their interference, however unintentional, leads to farce, and creates a good deal of comedy. So, whilst others may dismiss this for being silly, it's actually rather fun, and something to be celebrated. And incidentally, a happy 27th of February to all of you at home!

Day 96: Coronas of the Sun

An interesting thing happens in this episode with regards to Steven. He, being the most headstrong member of the TARDIS crew insists that one way that they can create a fake version of the Taranium core, the item that the Daleks need to destroy the universe, is the best way to do it, whilst the Doctor and Sara dismiss it as primitive, as their science is beyond his. Which is interesting because Steven was explicitly introduced as being from the future, so it's nice to see that the series is developing a timeline, where some futures are far more advanced than others. And yet, it shows us that Steven is essentially being treated as just a character from the modern day, and it goes to show the sad lack of development that characters have. We might meet them and they might have interesting back stories, but that sort of thing won't really get developed or mentioned. They still have character, but for a show about time travel, it is sadly lacking in history.

Day 95: Counter Plot

It is perhaps now worth mentioning our new companion, Sara Kingdom. She's been created as a response to programmes like The Avengers, with their fighting heroines who aren't content with just screaming. And, in order to show this, one of her first actions in the series is to kill Bret Vyon, under the belief that he is a traitor. Which is one way to make an entrance, I suppose. And so this episode then has two functions: to put the Doctor and Steven in Dalek based peril for them to escape from, and to make Sara more likable. This is achieved through pitting her against Steven, probably the most headstrong companion we've seen so far, a man who has witnessed Katarina, someone who he was in care of, die before his eyes, and he is going to ensure that she sees sense, because he needs her to, if they are going to survive. And through this, she is able to slowly realise what has been happening, but she still continues to fight, not wishing to believe the truth of what she did. Because Bret Vyon, the man she killed, was her brother, and she desperately needs to believe that he was killed for a greater good, and not to further the Daleks' conquest. Through all of this, we are able to warm to Sara, we are able to see that she is an interesting character, and someone who we want to see more of. And on top of all that, we are able to appreciate the fact that we haven't got another mistake like Katarina,mthis companion has a degree of potential.

Day 94: The Traitors

We should probably talk about the Doctor's latest companion, Katarina. She's a handmaiden from Troy, has been hastily introduced, and is quite obviously a massive mistake. For a start, being from ancient times, she needs everything explained to her. Not just the futuristic stuff, but more mundane things like keys. It's annoying, and what makes it worse is that she just airs about the place thinking of the gods, and showing the audience just how much of a wonderful character Vicki was, because she was able to take situations and make them fun, lighten them up, and provide a wonderful viewpoint for the audience. Honestly, Katarina is an awful, awful mistake.

And within 5 minutes of this episode, she is ejected into space. It's a shock, because we assume that she is a companion, we assume that we will get to know her better over the course of the series. But suddenly, she dies. It's the first time that we see a companion, someone explicitly in the Doctor's care, die. And so we realise the true horror of this serial. Because we now know that this is unlike anything that has ever come before, because we always knew that the people in the TARDIS were safe. We didn't know how they would survive, but we knew that they would. And so to see a character die so suddenly, it goes to show that things are different now, this is what the Daleks bring. They don't have to be directly involved, but they lead to death and destruction, and we have just learnt that here is nothing that they will stop at for complete power.

Day 93: Devil's Planet

This episode sees the Doctor and co. attempt to escape from the clutches of the Daleks, and in the course of this, they find themselves crashed on the prison planet Desperus. It's described as a place where they dump convicts to go off and make their own society, free of any influence, no guards, no borders, nothing. Which is an interesting, but depressing concept. Prisons are intended not just as a place to put misbehaving members of society, but also as a place for rehabilitation, so that people can learn the error of their ways, and become functional members of a better society. And we have now been told that it is easier to just pick all the baddies up and put them away where we don't have to think about them. But isn't it right to actually care for these criminals, to give them hope of a better tomorrow? Or should we just leave them to their own devices, even if that means that they disrupt other people on this planet who perhaps want to make a new life for themselves? The case here is interesting, and one that is not dealt with too strongly, instead just being used as a simple plot related excuse. But even in excuses, gems of interesting concepts can be found.

Day 92: Day of Armageddon

Another thing that's wonderful is the way the villainous Mavic Chen,
about whom we will deal with later, holds his pens.

Once again, we find ourselves in the middle of an episode that has been mostly wiped from the BBC archives. And as such, we must cherish what little survives, as is the case with this episode, one of three to survive from this 12 part serial. Take for instance, the subtleties of the performance from Nicholas Courtney, the actor who would play the Brigadier in the future. Here, he plays a character who is subtly different from the Brig, Bret Vyon. Like the Brig, he's a military man, and he will fight if he needs to, but they're both different characters. Bret Vyon is a man who is secretly afraid, and whilst he manages to hide it in his voice, his eyes show the discomfort that he is facing. He looks on in horror as the Daleks begin to burn down the jungle, and he acts as a contrast to the regulars, who are far more used to this sort of thing, and are able to remain reasonably calm in these situations. It's a decision that allows for our main cast to become safer for us, and to remind us of who the real heroes are in this situation. We've already seen that the Daleks could theoretically have their own programme in Mission to the Unknown, but they don't, they're still in Doctor Who's territory and the main cast are the heroes here, not some deranged pepperpots. This is not the Dalek show with Bret Vyon, this is Doctor Who, with the Doctor, Steven and Katarina, who is jumping straight into the deep end with her first trip in the TARDIS. Hopefully, things will turn out better for her.

Day 91: The Nightmare Begins

This episode has an apt title, as The Nightmare does indeed begin today. The Daleks have now threatened to take over the Solar System, as hinted at in the previous Mission to the Unknown, and they mean business. These Daleks aren't the Daleks who are riding the wave of their own popularity that we saw on their last adventure, here they mean business. Their first appearance within the episode is striking, for instance. We encounter two space security agents, they spilt up, and one of them is terrified, he turns around, and a Dalek immediately kills him. What's striking is how swiftly this happens. You doubt for a brief second as to what has actually happened before your eyes, whether the Daleks really have come back. Indeed, most of this episode is spent with everything in the shadows. We know that the Daleks are going to dominate the Solar System, but we don't know how, and there's a mysterious character called Mavic Chen, in league with the evil metal creatures, and we don't know much about him either. Indeed, the one thing that we do know, is that the TARDIS has landed in a place where terrible things are about to happen. The nightmare, has indeed, begun.

Day 90: Horse of Destruction

I suppose that I was predisposed to like The Myth Makers. Because for all its gags and hijinks in Ancient times, the final episode is where things really start to happen. If you were expecting the culmination of the Siege of Troy to be a farce, you are wrong. It is a war. People die. It is shocking and disturbing to see Paris, Cassandra and King Priam, three characters that have previously been figures of fun in the story, get killed, because this is how history plays itself out. Odysseus is no longer the comical straight man, he is instead a soldier, fighting to kill all who get in his way. It's nice to see Doctor Who tell stories like this, where they do not talk down to the audience and make it into a simple case of goodies vs baddies, it instead allows for sympathetic characters to play their part in history, and if that means that they'll be brutally killed, then so be it. This is partly down to the writer, Donald Cotton, but also due to our new script editor, Donald Tosh. He won't be with us for very long, and we'll deal with this concept more when we reach his final story in a couple of weeks, but he has been able to help make Doctor Who more adult, while still keeping the children's programme status, and all the fun and adventure that it implies.

We also, this episode, bid farewell to Vicki, as played by Maureen O'Brien. Vicki has been a wonderful character, more fun and light hearted than Susan ever was. She was the first new companion that the show has seen, and she has been able to take to travelling in the TARDIS well, and form a much missed double act with the Doctor, where she was able to act as granddaughter figure for him, where Susan, due to being mostly paired off with Ian or Barbara, was unable to. Vicki has been a wonderful character, fun and full of energy,nand has helped the show survive theough the loss of three of the four original regular characters. Her replacement is Katarina, a Trojan handmaiden, and as the TARDIS flies off to a new adventure, she is left questioning her own fate, particularly as it was prophesied that she would die. But that won't happen surely, the Doctor will save her, won't he?

Day 89: Death of a Spy

I suppose that I was predisposed to like The Myth Makers. It's a story that deals with time travel, as a reasonable proportion of it deals with the Greeks and Trojans discovering that the TARDIS crew is from the future, and as such, they want to receive advice about how they should act in order to secure victory. And it becomes quite the dilemna, because it is well known that the Greeks win, but they are being forced to make the Trojans win on pain of death, by telling their future. And it's this notion of time travel that's quite interesting, because for a series where time travel is an integral part of the structure, it doesn't come up as often as you'd think it would as a plot point. But now it does, and it adds a layer of suspense to the tale. Because the story of the Trojan Horse is well known, and so any dramatic tension as to what will happen is taken away, and so we need to find some other source of conflict, to allow the audience to remain interested, which is what we receive with this simple tale all about the future. And speaking of the future, it is not looking as bright for the next episode.

Day 88: Small Prophet, Quick Return

I suppose that I was predisposed to like The Myth Makers. It's because it's also a comedy story, with some incredibly funny moments throughout the story, indeed this episode's title is itself an absolutely glorious pun that took me several years to figure out, and when I finally 'got' it, I burst out laughing in the middle of the street at the beauty of this simple joke. There are other funny moments as well, such as the laugh out loud joy of Paris being forced to engage himself in a fight with Steven, where Paris doesn't want to fight at all, and Steven desperately wants to be captured. Because it's these little moments that make things memorable, and make them funny. We may look down on things that use comedy as a story telling device, on the grounds that apparently drama is better at it. But comedy is good as well, because it can leave the audience smiling at the absurdities of situations, or some particularly bad puns. The Myth Makers isn't just a massively underrated Doctor Who story, it's also a lost comedic classic.

Day 87: Temple of Secrets

I suppose that I was predisposed to like The Myth Makers. The Myth Makers is the overarching title that takes the following 4 episodes, and I rank these episodes reasonably highly. They concern the Doctor and co. arriving in Ancient Greece, whereupon they discover that they have arrived towards the end of the Trojan War. Hilarity ensues. But I was looking forward to experiencing this episode, and have done since I was a small child, and first discovered Doctor Who. I discovered the series in 2003, around the time of a Doctor Who repeat series on television, and my parents let me read the several books based on the series that we had lying about the place. One of them, the Television Companion, would become a book of great excitement for me, as I would read and discover about all these episodes that I had not yet seen, including those based on Greek myths and legends, a topic that I was very interested in due to a mild addiction to the video game Age of Mythology. And of the few that were based around these myths and legends, there are only two that I distinctly remember experiencing from around that period, one of which we'll get to in due course, and the other of which is this story. For I really wanted to watch this story, however it was missing from the BBC archives, and the novelization was has disappeared from our local library completely. So, I lived in hope that I might get to experience it one day. When I finally did, it ranked as a great piece that has finally been filled in my life. Because even though I had a vague idea of what happened, it was no match for experiencing the story as a whole, and it filled that vague thought process of mine, as to finally getting round to experiencing The Myth Makers.

Day 86: Mission To The Unknown

This story has a whole lot of things going on in it. Set on an alien planet, with the Daleks making a return appearance, it fulfils several interesting roles in the programme.

Firstly, it gives a chance for William Hartnell (the Doctor), Peter Purves (Steven) and Maureen O'Brien (Vicki) to take a holiday, as this story does not feature them at all, instead focussing on some Space Security Agents, here to transmit vital information about the Daleks' next move. So this means that we have a Doctor Who story without the Doctor actually appearing, which is odd. We've had episodes where Hartnell has been absent, yes, but he will always pop up later on in the episode, or at the very least Ian and Barbara would be able to carry the plot forward. Here we're being asked to sit down and watch this space adventure story that just happens to be on when Doctor Who should be on, and features the Daleks. Other than that, it bears little resemblance to any previous story that has gone under the Doctor Who banner. For a start, it's incredibly bleak, with all of the human characters being killed by story's end. With Doctor Who, we've come to expect that at least some characters will survive, at the very least the Doctor and his crew, but in a show that focuses on the Daleks, it's all fair game.

Which brings us to the second role. We've mentioned before about Dalekmania, and Terry Nation happened across the bright idea of giving the Daleks a spin-off series, where they would fight Space Security Agents across the universe. And so, this episode acts as a sort of pilot, a proof of concept, to show people that this idea could, in theory, work. It's an interesting concept, to see a series where space rangers fight metal monsters, but in my opinion, I don't think it's the sort of thing that I would be interested in. As a child, I probably would have lapped it up, but as an adult, I find that the things that I watch Doctor Who for are the storylines, and the sense of wonder that is felt as we discover new worlds. I don't watch the programme to see the Doctor face the Daleks week after week in a series of action set pieces. That said, nothing ended up being produced of the spin-off, so I'm only judging in hypotheticals here, and it would at the very least be interesting to see what direction this proposed series would have gone in.

Third role now, this story acts as a prelude to a future adventure, a trailer that lasts for 25 minutes. It's a nice idea, to show the groundwork for what will become a future adventure, and it allows the audience's appetite to be thoroughly whetted. To allow for a story to have this depth, and allow it to begin by laying the background to the adventure, before the TARDIS arrives is a really cool idea, because it means that when this adventure will happen, we are not only prepared for what is to happen, but also it means that the world now has depth. World building will have to find new ways to thrive, as time limits on stories get shorter and shorter, but to experience this privilege of getting to slowly building up a story is really lovely. If you can call a massacre by the Daleks that.

I should stress that she is trying to light a cigarette from
a live flamethrower. This lies in Health and Safety manger's
nightmares.

And so we've come to the end of this mammoth entry, and so too, we have come to the end of Verity Lambert's time on Doctor Who. One of the true heroes of television, she was not only a driving force in getting this series made, but many others as well. I haven't had much of a chance to talk of her roles in things so far, but her guiding influence has always been ridiculously appreciated, getting people involved who knew how to make a television programme, and more than that, make it well. Over her time, we've seen the programme develop from a curiosity featuring a grumpy old man in the lead role, to a programme full of wonder, as we discover new alien worlds, or experience history for ourselves. Without her, I am sure that this programme would not here today, and I doubt that it would have even made it past the first series, as she has got things done, and made things absolutely wonderful. Check out An Adventure In Space And Time if you haven't already done so, to get a perspective of how important she was, if you haven't already. I'll finish with perhaps the greatest image ever taken of any Doctor Who producer, and a candidate for best Doctor Who image ever taken. Thanks Verity, for all that you did for us.

Day 85: The Exploding Planet

The story that this episode concludes, known as Galaxy 4, is mainly known for it's basic storyline, which concerns the fact that the quite attractive Drahvins are pitted against the quite ugly Rills, with the twist being that the Drahvins are evil and the Rills are quite lovely. This isn't that much of an original concept, coming from the old adage of not judging a book by its cover. But it is still somewhat relevant today, particularly in a scene between a Rill and Steven that takes place in this episode. Steven has currently landed on a planet, been quite nice to some quite attractive women, been kept captive by these women, and in the process of attempting to escape was almost killed by these people, and here, he questions his rescuers. He is untrusting of the Rills at first, which is saddening, because it shows what the blinding effects of prejudice, as people can remain untrusting of others, despite what they may have done to help, all because of how they might look, or sound, and other such nonsense that leads to wars and the like. Because, even though we may be trained by society to not like the unlike, sometimes we should question society, and put a bit of faith into people, because you never know, they might be the ones who help you off an exploding planet someday in the future.

Day 84: Air Lock

First things first, this episode was found a couple of years ago, completely out of the blue. My recollection of discovering this news was to fall out of my chair in the middle of a study period and to walk around for the rest of the day with a massive smile on my face. Which is odd, because this story isn't really that well regarded, indeed due to being missing from the archives for several years, it was just a story that most people had never seen before. But upon watching it, it becomes apparent that it's actually not that bad. The story isn't that spectacular, yes, but the direction is absolutely phenomenal. It was previously mentioned that Derek Martinus showed promise in the brief pieces of surviving footage for this story, and seeing him do a full episode is spectacular. He has a fondness for crane shots, showing off the alien spaceships well by bringing to light their alienness. We are able to truly witness alien structures, as opposed to just seeing the same shot of three people over and over again.

One other thing that Martinus brings is the way he directs a monologue from Maaga, which chooses to, as it becomes more and more horrific, as she describes the destruction of the planet, keep a never ending close up on her unblinking face, bringing to light her despicable nature, as the audience slowly turns towards the notion that she might not have the best intentions for the people around her. We also, in another scene, witness her killing one of her fellow crewmembers, who was obviously in some distress at the time, and she chooses to blame it on the Rills, the other species occupying this doomed planet. And this is cruel because the Rills are peaceful, and she probably knows this, or is unwilling to ask, instead choosing to make things easier for herself, to help her maintain order so that her crewmembers know that they have nowhere to turn to, and that she is their only hope. Fear is something which brings us all together, but there are those who only use it to further their own goals. We must stand up against these people, and realise that whilst there are some things to fear, sometimes it's better to open up negotiations with the monsters and find out about why they are here, instead of jumping to conclusions.

Day 83: Trap of Steel

Peter Purves, the actor who played Steven, has stated his disappointment with this story, on the grounds that it wasn't actually written for him. The story was commissioned before it was known that he would join the TARDIS crew, and as such, it had to be rewritten to allow for a new character to be introduced. And so naturally, this young male hero, filling the gap that was left through the departure of Ian Chesterton, fulfils the role in this story originally taken by Barbara Wright. Which makes it a little awkward. We know that Steven is a little bit more action oriented than what he is given to do in this script, which involves using wits in an attempt to escape, a scene which does come across as quite nice, but it is obvious that it was written with someone else in mind.

So why was this decision made, why didn't Steven go off to have action based fun with the Doctor? Well, there are two reasons. The first is that we need someone on the ship, allowing what happens on the ship to become more relatable, as we know that when we cut back to the spaceship adventures, we know that they are worth viewing as a character that we already know is in immediate danger due to the events that happen on the ship, we want them to survive what happens here and so we remain interested in the story.

But there's also another reason, and it's simple. The writer, William Emms, may not have known about Steven, but they certainly knew about Vicki. And so, they are able to take the relationship of the Doctor and Vicki and have fun with it, bringing out some of the on screen chemistry between the two actors, and allowing to show a wonderful teacher-student relationship. This would have been impossible with Susan, as it is a fundamental part of the series that Susan knows more about the universe than the viewer, and thus to see her having to be taught betrays the whole concept of the character. But with Vicki, we are able to show her learning from the Doctor and his compatriots, a relationship that simply wouldn't transfer to the connection developed with Steven and the Doctor, which is more similar to what was developed with the relationship between the Doctor and Ian. Which, I suppose, brings up the question of what Ian's role in the plot would be, which I can't answer, but I assume that it would be him with the Doctor and Vicki, but as we need someone with on the villainous Drahvin ship, that role falls to Steven, as Vicki already has her place in the plot. For it is better to write one character well, and one character poorly, than to end up with all characters written poorly and a poor story to show for it.

Day 82: Four Hundred Dawns

We begin a new series today with what seems to be just a standard run of the mill episode. It takes place on a world that's going to be destroyed in a couple of days, and the TARDIS crew are being held there against their will by the seemingly evil Maaga, who, whilst to all intents and purposes is acting reasonably friendly, is so obviously evil that you half expect her to have Sean Connery tied up in a chair somewhere off screen for purposes of torture. But the sad thing about this episode is that little video footage exists of it, most of it was wiped from the BBC archive, and what remains is about a 5 minute clip of mostly dialogue and a few pieces of footage from some bloke with a video camera pointed at the TV. But what does exist shows that the director, Derek Martinus, seems to be quite innovative, with a wonderful ability to move camera positions from looking down at something to moving in one manoeuvre to a level position with the other cameras. It's a shame that this one is lost, because the direction does seem as if it would lift this story up.

Day 81: Checkmate

In this episode, we get a discussion about what would happen if history were to change. Over the course of a second, the complete history of the world would change and noone would realise it, they would just go about their day to day lives not knowing that history had ever changed. Which is oddly terrifying, because it means that history could have changed, but we would never have realised, instead just going about or lives as if nothing had ever happened. It's an oddly chilling line that's stated by Vicki in this conversation in response to a question about history books and how they'll cope with being rewritten "That's alright. They're not written yet. They'll just write and print the new version". Which wonderfully manages to destroy the important thing about history books, that they are set in stone and are reminders of the past, and how it happened, and yet they can be rewritten because history has changed, meaning that they haven't been rewritten at all, just been made into an alternate time where things are different. So history has now gone from being the fixed points that we've known to a more fluid entity, and it's all thanks to Dennis Spooner.

Spooner has either written or been story editor for the past 28 episodes, and he has left a sizable mark on the series. Aside from introducing other members of the Doctor's race, and the concept of being able to change history, he has also brought a wonderful and brilliant sense of fun to the series. Characters now joke with eachother, and more comedic plotlines surface to show that sometimes drama doesn't have to be dramatic, it can still be fun, just with some serious moments chucked in there. And, of course, we're not done with him yet. There are still two stories that he will have a hand in, and one of those is one of, if not the, most important episodes of Doctor Who of all time. But we won't just skip to it, because, We've Still Got Work To Do!

Day 80: A Battle of Wits

Doctor Who cliffhangers are important. They act as hooks, to make it more likely for the audience to tune in for the next episode, and can be done through a variety of ways, but it mainly boils down to having one of the characters in mortal peril, or a plot development that changes the course of the entire series. It's the latter case that this week's cliffhanger falls into, as we discover that the Monk not only is a time traveller, but also has a TARDIS, and it can be assumed that he is a fellow member of the Doctor's little mentioned race. As has been said, this changes the course of the entire series, acting a wonderful hook to keep people interested. Because we've already known that the Monk must have been a time traveller, but to see that he is a fellow member of the Doctor's race shows that we are discovering about the Doctor's people for the very first time in the series. We know that the Doctor has left them, but the circumstances through which he left are cloudy, and all we've really heard about his home planet is a vague description given by Susan in The Sensorites. So to see hints of this hidden past, and hints that there may be more to the Doctor, than him just being a wanderer through time and space, it intrigues the audience, and makes us wonder more about the time before the junkyard on Totter's Lane. Perhaps we will meet more members of his race, and perhaps we will discover more about his past. Either way, it's a hell of a cliffhanger, as for the first time, we learn that the Doctor is not alone, changing the course of the series forever, and opening the doors wide for more adventures like this in the future.

Day 79: The Meddling Monk

The eponymous monk in this episode represents one of the most important and pivotal moments in Doctor Who. To explain, the show effectively plays a game with us. It sets us down in a historical setting, with Viking invaders and the like, and as such, the viewer settles down for a historical adventure, with no science fiction stuff happening. And then, we discover a record player in the monastery, and we realise that things are not as they seem. Things have now completely changed, because now we have to accept the fact that there could be other forces besides those that we already know about that may affect history and historical adventures. The Meddling Monk represents that, he is an anomaly in what is known, we know that record players weren't around in 1066, let alone toasters or watches. It's refreshing to come across this mystery, as it brings new life into the format, and shows us that sometimes we can be surprised by what is presented to us, that Doctor Who isn't just a show that has historical adventures or alien adventures, sometimes we can now have both. This represents one of the most important and pivotal moments in Doctor Who, as it shows that we can sometimes have both historical and alien in the same story.

Day 78: The Watcher

We have gained a new addition to the TARDIS crew: Steven, the Doctor's new companion. He's a futuristic space pilot whom we encountered on the planet Mechanus, so let's have a look at how he fares in his first trip in the TARDIS. He brings a nice air of scepticism, choosing not to believe much of what the Doctor and Vicki have to say, but unlike our first sceptic companions, Ian and Barbara, where their disbelief was also that of the audience, here we have the leg-up, and can be entertained by seeing him be perplexed by everything, and immediately search for rational explanations. It helps as well that the Doctor and Vicki are quite nice people now, and so there's less unease about the whole affair, instead just enjoyment, which also could lead to his reactions, being fairly good humoured about everything that's happening, because the Doctor and his companion are helping him along, instead of being a nuisance towards him. It's the first time that we've really seen a character's first trip in the TARDIS since An Unearthly Child, and once again we can see how the show has evolved. Before, it was two school-teachers who were abducted into terror, here it's a space pilot who has unwittingly found himself in adventure. He greets this with a good humour, and is subtly different from what has come before, being far more headstrong than Ian or Barbara and willing to jump into a fight. And so we welcome Steven, on what will surely be the trip of a lifetime.

Day 77: The Planet of Decision

We've reached the end of the adventure. Not just the adventure featuring Daleks chasing a police telephone box through time and space, but the adventure of two school teachers, who were whisked away through time and space by an old man and his curious granddaughter. The end has come for Ian and Barbara, the two human interest characters who have been with the show since the very beginning. They've finally been given a chance to go home, and they've grasped it with both hands, finally able to return to the place for which they have been yearning for the past 77 episodes.

Ian, the young male hero, as been superb. He began it as the antagonist for the Doctor, able to show him that there were better ways to do things, and able to be strong when the show needed strength. He settled down in later stories, and became able to spar with the Doctor, but on a more intellectual sense. Take, for instance, the escape scene in this very episode. Here, they find themselves on a roof 1500 feet in the air, and both have to work together to find a solution to their problem. They greet it as a challenge, and quickly find a way to get down together. Through him, the Doctor has been able to become more active, and show more than just a passing interest in other races and people.

Barbara, his female compatriot, has often acted as the series' conscience. She has been able to point out injustices, and more often than not, acted in the way that normal human beings would in most scenarios. She tended to her fellow slaves when she was captured in The Romans, as well as saving the life of a caveman who only 2 seconds previously had been attempting to kill her. She's also been brave, standing up to Daleks, the Animus and the Morphoton amongst others. Through her, the Doctor has been able to care for others, and develop from being an unlikeable character to a more charming person, allowing us to grow and care for him.

Ian and Barbara have been the very best of humanity, and have been the true heroes of the series. And it's through them that the series shall continue, because they have allowed the Doctor to finally become the hero of his own show. It's often commented that the first handful of episodes show a completely unrecognisable Doctor from the one that we know and love today, but now, more than ever, we can truly state that this man, thanks to two random schoolteachers, is The Doctor.

Day 76: The Death of Doctor Who

It does look vaguely like William Hartnell. If you happen to
have lost your sight.

This episode's bonkers idea is that the Daleks have created a robot double of the Doctor, who will infiltrate and destroy the TARDIS crew. If you look to the left, you shall observe the actor who they used for his scenes, who looks nothing like William Hartnell at all, thus foiling their plan for the viewing audience at home. But let's look at the idea in detail. We're playing off the old concept of the familiar becoming unfamiliar, as we see a character attempt to kill others whom we have come to respect and admire. And on the occasions when the production team decide to use William Hartnell to play the robot double, it becomes genuinely unsettling to see him be evil, and try and kill his friends. Of course, as this is a clone story, we are in desperate need of a scene where we have to figure out which one is which. Here, that task falls to Ian, who picks up a rock and attempts to bludgeon the person who he thinks is the robot, not knowing that it is actually the Doctor. And this acts as a nice call back to the first adventure, where the Doctor was possibly going to attack a caveman with a rock, and kill him. Now we see him faced in the same situation, on the receiving end. But now, we see him as a hero, a figure to be admired. The audience can tell which one is the real Doctor, not by the way he looks, but by the way he acts. We are confronted with a man who is callous and nasty, against a man who had elements of that at first, but has grown before our eyes into a hero. Here, the time travel isn't across the fourth dimension, but showing us the past of our characters, and showing us how far we've come.

Day 75: Journey Into Terror

Interesting episode, this week, as the TARDIS lands in a house whereupon they meet Count Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and the Grey Lady. They escape in the nick of time, accidentally leaving behind Vicki, but the audience gets to see some horror monsters destroy Daleks. Let's start with the accidental leaving behind of Vicki. In leaving her behind, she is forced to stowaway on the Daleks' ship, which makes for a compelling concept. Danger now lurks at every corner even more so, and if she is captured then it is quite clear that she will be killed. The audience doesn't know what will happen to Vicki, we don't entirely know if she will make it out of this story alive. To see a character's life put in danger, not knowing that they'll survive, is a fearful concept, but one that is done reasonably well here.

Now to the beating up of the Daleks. It's interesting that they decided to show the Daleks as weak here, compared to the offerings that would have featured strongly in cinemas at the time, as it clearly makes sense to show the Daleks as supreme, conquering all lesser races. And yet, they are being destroyed, and shown as weak. But perhaps it's a comment on their very nature. It is revealed that these horrifying monsters are not real, but just amusement park attractions that have been abandoned, thus meaning that they are fictional. So the Daleks are being destroyed by fiction itself, in effect, the very conceit that they are not real. The thing that makes things terrifying is plausibility, it's why monsters get less scary as you get older, because you learn to see through the cracks and find how these things can't exist, and so for the Daleks to be confronted by things that are implausible, acting as mirrors to their own selves by showing them to be implausible metal monsters, it makes sense that they are destroyed, as they lose their edge, in the battle against implausibility.

Day 74: Flight Through Eternity

The Daleks, not content with invading the hearts and minds of children everywhere, have decided to invade history as well, through the use of a time machine. In their travels, they come across a sailing ship, and cause the entire crew to abandon ship out of fear of these evil metal creatures. This ship is later revealed to be the Mary Celeste in what must be one of the more bonkers twists in Doctor Who history. It wasn't things like piracy or drunkenness that caused the Mary Celeste to lose all hands, it was the Daleks. But let's move back to the opening statement. Kids are fascinated by the Daleks, and it stands to reason that they are making up stories about them, and that all sorts of weird stuff occurs in these stories. So if they were to discover about the mystery of the Mary Celeste, it is indeed possible that they would consider whether the Daleks would destroy them, in a way that only the imagination of a child could. The next handful of episodes will certainly continue along this thread, of amazing action happening to the Doctor and co., but more specifically, the Daleks, as we delve into a story that just feels fun, or to put it more bluntly, 'totes amazeballs'.

Day 73: The Death of Time

So the plot of this particular serial revolves around the Doctor and co. being chased through time and space by the Daleks, who have the Doctor as their sworn enemy, meaning that it's now official, the Doctor has moved up through the ranks from mild inconvenience to sworn enemy. How lovely, I hope he got a card or something to celebrate this momentous occasion. Because it is momentous, it marks the first time that enemies have acknowledged previous knowledge of the Doctor, and that they bear some sort of grudge against him. It shows a character who is becoming notorious for his actions, and that he is being recognised for this. The Doctor is being recognised for his meddling in the affairs of evil creatures, which allows for a sense of continuity to develop. Continuity is important, it means that the series is not just adventure after adventure each week, it allows for things to develop. Here, the Doctor's actions are shown to have consequences, allowing for the Daleks to acknowledge him as a threat and seek him out through time and space to destroy him.

But there is a nagging feeling that something's wrong with all of this. The Doctor has faced the Daleks twice, so far. Defeating someone twice over the course of several centuries does not make you sworn enemies, it should just be viewed as a coincidence. There are two ways that we can read this. One, the Daleks are really quite pernickety and see these two defeats as blemishes that should be wiped out through travelling through time and getting revenge on the person who did it. The other way, and my personal favourite, is that these Daleks are not the Daleks that you think that they are. They are Daleks from the future, travelling back in time to prevent the Doctor's meddling in future affairs, and in doing so, they create some of the opening shots during the Time War. I like the last explanation because it allows for the continuity that has developed around the Doctor to make more sense, and that this continuity will develop over the course of over fifty years. Because the Doctor is leaves footprints, and it  stands to reason that he ought to be noticed.

Day 72: The Executioners

The two most important things in the cultural landscape of the United Kingdom as of 1965 appear within 10 minutes of eachother within this episode. The first is the Daleks. We've probably spoken before about how important they are, but to sum up they combine a post war fear of the Nazis with a spectacular design and an uncanny knack to be able to be imitated by children in playgrounds. They took the country by storm, and allowed for a wave of Dalekmania to hit the streets, there were Dalek toys, comic books, films, they were everywhere. It could be stated that they were the most important creations in the 1960s.

But anyone who says that is thick. Because we move on to the second thing that appears in this episode, the Beatles. They appear through stock footage, and are viewed through a time-space visualiser, but the undeniable fact is that they allowed for them to be put into Doctor Who, and indeed, it is reported that they wished to film a guest appearance where they played senile versions of themselves (in what would be one of the most depressing appearances of John Lennon and George Harrison ever). I don't need to talk about how important the Beatles are, but it's worth mentioning their appearance here shows one simple fact. Doctor Who is acknowledging 'cool'. They are putting the Daleks and the Beatles in the same episode because they are 'cool'. And whilst the cynic wishes to say, why should you try to be cool, cool things are all stupid, there's still an admiration to be had that the Beatles did actually want to be in Doctor Who. Because like it or not, the Daleks were the coolest creatures in the universe for a good couple of years, and they allowed Doctor Who to be cool through association, thus making this little show into a well watched viewing delight. This serial, by the name of The Chase, is one where the Daleks chase the Doctor and co. through space and time. And through doing so, they are able to excite children everywhere with their exploits. Because like it or not, Doctor Who is a show that excites children, because Doctor Who is one of the most important things in the cultural landsacpe of the United Kingdom for a good chunk of the past 50 or so years. And that's because, Doctor Who is cool.

Day 71: The Final Phase

Halfway through this episode, the Doctor and co. discuss whether they have changed the future at all, and whether the events that they have performed have really made any difference to their plights. It should come across as a depressing scene, with a semblance of hope at the end, as they comment that while they may not be able to change the future, they can possibly have their future changed for them through other forces, such as the revolution that has been started with the help of Vicki. However, there is one small detail that has been wonderfully forgotten and I was shocked that this was not picked up on in the entire story. Barbara has her cardigan on in the 'future' version of her. Midway through episode 2, it is taken off to make a trail, so that they don't end up getting lost in the museum. And in destroying that cardigan, they change the future. One of my personal little joys is the notion that even the tiniest of choices can change the very future of the Earth, because it means that everything and everyone is in their own way, important. In changing what clothes Barbara was wearing, a chain reaction was set off that prevented them from being placed as exhibits forever. But what really thrills me is that this is a tiny story feature, never mentioned, but to the observant viewer, it stands as an easter egg, allowing the plot conclusion to be foreshadowed. One of my favourite things that the internet has brought up is the amount of Easter Eggs placed in films foreshadowing their conclusion, and it;s nice to see Doctor Who doing that in 1965.