Day 204: The Wheel In Space Episode 1

It's a return of David Whitaker to the writing fold, and a realisation of just how much Doctor Who has changed since Whitaker first wrote for the series. It's because he's writing it very much in the traditional sense of how Doctor Who used to be, a first episode that consists of the regular cast (in this case the Doctor and Jamie) exploring their surroundings, with not much else in it. And back in those days, it was OK, because we were able to appreciate that it takes time to tell a story and that we need to set the scene before we can begin. But now, we've realised that there are other ways of doing this. We can, for instance, allow for the situation to be discovered through taking part in the situation and using this as a springboard to meeting characters and discussing the problems that are occurring. This can be seen in 'The Ice Warriors', which begins with the Doctor meeting the crew members, and discovering about the world that he's landed himself in through expository dialogue. Here, on the other hand, we're treated to the Doctor and Jamie landing on a ship, and then exploring the empty sip for 15 minutes. There's a brief stab at action when a pitifully slow robot attacks them, and Troughton begins to fall unconscious towards the end, but aside from that, it comes across as a very dull piece of work. But the odd thing is, that this wouldn't have seemed as dull 200 episodes ago, giving us a concrete example of just how much the show has developed over the course of the five or so years that it's been on the air. It's an interesting to think about, but not so much to watch.