Day 166: The Evil of the Daleks Episode 4

So the Doctor has been forced to work for the Daleks as they search for the 'human factor' and so Jamie is used as an unwitting test subject in order to observe the behaviour of humans. But what makes this so well done is that the Doctor must keep this test a secret from his companion, and so he has to coerce him into doing the test (rescuing the daughter of one of the characters in the story from the clutches of the Daleks). The way that he does this is by making Jamie lose faith in the Doctor, and so he'll go forth and do the adventure by himself and not wait for the Doctor's orders. It's the sort of thing that could only happen at this point in the series, where Jamie has been not been in the series long enough to trust the Doctor no matter what, but it also has to be a fair way into the series such that Jamie's accusations of betrayal still hit hard, because the audience has grown to like Jamie over the past serials that he's been involved in, and to see him be betrayed by the Doctor is a saddening moment, even if you know that it is for the greater good. This also shows the hidden darkness of the Doctor, that occasionally the ends may have to justify the means, and what makes this more unsettling is that the ends haven't entirely been revealed to us. But we'll get to that tomorrow.

Day 165: The Evil of the Daleks Episode 3

And so the Daleks' quest in this episode is to find the 'human factor'. It's because they're fed up with being defeated by humans all of the time and they want to figure out what's different about humans so that they can become stronger through it. It's a wonderful idea, because it shows the Daleks as clever beings. Terry Nation, the Daleks' creator, claimed that he never thought that David Whitaker 'got' the Daleks. This is obviously not true, because Whitaker understands how to make the Daleks work. They exist in a world full of monsters, each one of them waiting to jump out in front of you and give you a scare. And this is how the Daleks have operated previously, relying on direction and design to give the thrills that audiences need. But Whitaker understands that these are cheap thrills, and in order to give a longer lasting impression, he is to give the Daleks menace, and make them cunning. He makes it so that they learn from their mistakes, and are intelligent monsters, not the average creature that you'd expect to see on Doctor Who.

Day 164: The Evil of the Daleks Episode 2

And so this episode, not content with just having the Daleks involved, also decides to involve time travel. The ways in which it's involved are wonderful though. For a start, it's used to travel from one place to another, which means that the story is able to flow seamlessly from the previous story. Instead of having the harsh jump between a modern day adventure to a Victorian Dalek story, now we get to slide and so the series feels more real, so that the characters feel slightly realler because of this sense of continuity making the stories seem more real, not just a generic science fiction show. But time travel is also used for a Victorian gentleman to take pieces from his time, and sell them as antiques in the future, which is such a wonderful idea, showing that Whitaker is able to play with ideas and concepts, which draws curiosity for this viewer at least as to how this story will play out over the next couple of episodes.

Day 163: The Evil of the Daleks Episode 1

Like most Dalek stories, the Daleks are hidden for the first episode, in order to build tension for their arrival. This can either lead to the awkwardness of not acknowledging the enemy, or building up the story before the characters begin to get involved. Thankfully, this episode is written by David Whitaker, who is able to clearly define his story whilst building up an element of tension. It's only halfway that the science fiction element begins to seep its way through the script, before that it was a simple piece about trying to find out who has stolen the TARDIS, however slowly but surely, odd moments begin to appear. Hidden rooms and unknown forces guiding the characters, and yet the Doctor and Jamie are kept largely away from this action. But this doesn't matter because both story paths are good, we find out about the villain's plot by watching them, instead of having them explain it to the Doctor, and we get the Doctor and Jamie exploring the world as well, discovering more about the story. Through this, it means that when the Daleks do appear, while it's expected, it still brings with it a certain aura of having another problem to deal with besides the other issues that have been witnessed in this story. But questions still remain, the answers to which we might get sooner than you'd think...

Day 162: The Faceless Ones Episode 6

Gerry Davis. He'll script edit the show for a couple more episodes, but seeing as he'll leave halfway through the next story, I thought it best that a general round up of his time on the show be posted at the end of his last full story for Doctor Who. And, like any other script editor, he has certainly left his mark on the series, making it more modern, removing the outdated historical genre (no matter how good it could be when placed in the right hands) and perhaps most importantly, introducing proper science fiction elements to the series. To say that it was a generic space adventure series before he came along is perhaps doing the previous eras a bit of a disservice, but there is no denying that when Davis came onto the series, the science fiction elements became that little bit more fascinating. No longer are adventures just about monsters, instead they take science fiction ideas and use them, with occasional additions of monsters. Take this story, for instance. At first glance, it is your basic Invasion of the Body Snatchers pastiche until you begin to notice the ideas bubbling under the surface. An alien race which has lost their identities thanks to a large explosion on their homeworld, and so they have to assume the identities of humans that they've captured. It's an idea at the centre of the story, and this idea is what drives it, people being steadily replaced by an alien menace who just want this to survive. Also The Moonbase, which is about gravity controlling the Earth's weather, or The Macra Terror which is about mind control of a colony, these are all science fiction ideas that Davis has brought on board. And whilst we might praise Doctor Who for being silly, it can also be wonderfully serious, and this is something that Davis brought us, so we thank him for the work that he did, bringing some hard science fiction to the world of Doctor Who.

Day 161: The Faceless Ones Episode 5

So who do we get to replace Ben and Polly? The answer appears to be obvious, throughout this story we have made the acquaintance of a lovely young girl called Sam Briggs. She's feisty, as she's not afraid to fight Jamie if it comes to it. She also plays off Troughton well, being a spunky young sidekick to his older uncle, however she will not be a companion. It's interesting to note this, as it's the polar opposite of how Jamie was introduced. There, he was a minor character in a story that was inexplicably added to the TARDIS crew, but here we have a major character who is so obviously being built up to be the next companion, and yet the actress hasn't already been hired to be the next companion. It means that the character comes across as odd, feeling like something more was meant for her that never fully materialised.

Day 160: The Faceless Ones Episode 4

Ben and Polly don't appear in this episode. Nor did they appear in the previous episode, or will they appear in the next. They'll make a farewell appearance in the last episode, but I've got plans for that, and indeed tomorrow's episode (I know, this idiot has plans! Honestly, I'm as surprised as you are) so let's see why Ben and Polly have to go. The reasons may not be too apparent at first, they are incredibly likeable characters, Polly is certainly one of the better female leads that we've had and Ben brings forth some good stuff as well, even if his role as young male lead has been usurped by Jamie. However, they have been in the role for a year now, and so the characters are beginning to become a bit stale, and so the time has come for them to leave.

But lets just realise how important these characters were. They were truly modern, representing the height of the swinging 60's. Polly was remarkably well rounded, being able to be frightened, but also she was also incredibly sparky and developed an instant rapport with Patrick Troughton. Ben also shared this rapport with the Doctor, but he perhaps slipped into the role of young male lead a little too well, lacking the spark that Steven and Ian brought by being able to fight against the Doctor, although he did achieve this wonderfully in The Macra Terror. But the major thing that these two characters brought was the modern world. Doctor Who was no longer a stuffy old kids show with monsters, it was groovy, and ready to fully embrace the 1960's.