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.

Day 70: The Search

Once again, the series dips into the past, although we're still set on a Space Museum on a distant world. The history here is in the themes dealt with in the serial, as we look back on colonialism, and the effects it has. Last episode, we met a bunch of characters who didn't seem to be on the same side as the museum guards, but were still morally dubious, kidnapping the Doctor for instance. Here, they explain to Vicki their situation, they are rebels, whose planet was colonised by the evil Moroks, and they are trying to overthrow their regime. The Moroks, on the other hand, are bored. It would seem that their space museum doesn't really bring in the tourists, and that it's just a bit of a dump. They have this planet purely for the purpose of having a planet. Which strikes me as a bit colonial. A bunch of people come to a land, overthrow the natives and take command. They don't really know what to do with it, but it's theirs, and it's all for the good of Empire, and all that. The major point of this is that colonialism was still a big thing when this was first broadcast. There's still guilt being thrown on people over what was done for colonialism, and how people came and destroyed cultures in the name of Queen and country. And so we see the natives, in this case the quite nice Xerons, as the good guys, because they overthrow the past, and the old ways. And in doing so, we come back to the guiding thread that holds this serial together, fighting the future of the Doctor and co. being trapped in glass cabinets, as exhibits. This is all being done to change the future, so that by fighting the past, we may fight the future.

Day 69: The Dimensions of Time

The Doctor in a Victorian bathing costume,
feel glad that he didn't think of more modern swimwear

After the initial weirdness of the first episode, which was all to do with time and other such fourth dimensional fun, we now settle into what will form the rest of the plot of this serial, revolving around the Space Museum itself. And whilst this may be seen as a disappointment by some, the major thing to be missed is how funny this episode actually is. For a start, you have the Doctor and co.'s first major obstacle. They're lost, mainly due to the fact that all the corridors look the same, and they can never tell where they are at any given moment. Which is a hilarious idea, because it's subverting one of the perceived tropes of Doctor Who, that all the corridors look the same, and that it's all just running up and down the aforementioned corridors. And what is being shown here, is that the writers are recognising this fact and implementing it. And whilst it was done in the series' second serial, The Daleks, to horrifying effect with it feeling as if everything is closing in upon you, here because the corridors are wider, and there aren't many scenes with just one person, that is to say, there is always someone to talk to in every scene, it feels less scary, and gives more opportunity for humour to arise from other factors such as dialogue, and situation, such as the events leading up to the cliffhanger, where the Doctor has his mind probed by a machine, however he manages to fool it into thinking all sorts of various pieces of nonsense, such as what can be seen above, where the Doctor is seen in a Victorian bathing costume. Silly, yes, but sometimes silliness isn't such a bad thing.

Day 68: The Space Museum

The Doctor and co. encounter themselves, bringing a
new meaning to the term, take a good look at yourself

The TARDIS malfunctions in this episode, and time travel based hijinks ensue. For a show that deals with time travel, this sort of scenario hasn't really occurred, so it's nice to see the show try new things out. Ad so what we get is an episode where weird things happen, and we are forced to figure out exactly what has gone wrong, and like previous stories of this vein, The Edge of Destruction and Planet of Giants, we learn these things alongside the characters, which is fun, because it gives the audience something to do, instead of just sitting back and enjoying the ride. But if there's one thing that makes this episode stand out from any other, it's through the following. Time travel has never been used in such a way as it is now as a driving force in a plot. To explain, near the conclusion of this episode, the Doctor and co. discover their bodies in glass cabinets, and realise that they are viewing their own personal futures. So it now becomes their job to rewrite their futures and prevent what they have seen from coming to pass. So don't rewrite history, not one line, except when the plot says so. But it's more than that. We are subverting the very nature of televisual serials themselves, choosing to have our characters witness the end and then have that as a driving force as something to build up to. It's like peeking at the last chapter of a book, to find out what happens to the characters. You now know what will happen, but you don't know how, or why. Time travel changes that, because, unlike books, which tend to stay the same every time you read them, timelines can be in flux, and so we see a possibility of a last chapter, a possible conclusion. And so we now have something to drive the plot, to make sure that what will happen does not come to pass by changing history, and by rewriting not just history, but also the script.