Episode #196 - Fires of Pompeii

"Even the word 'doctor' is false. Your real name is hidden. It burns in the stars, in the Cascade of Medusa herself. You are a Lord, sir. A Lord... of Time."

Episode #196:         Fires of Pompeii.
Companions:           10th Doctor and Donna Noble.
Air Date:                 12th April 2008.

The Tenth Doctor tries taking Donna Noble to ancient Rome for her first trip in the TARDIS, but seems to have miscalculated. Instead of seven hills, they find a single mountain billowing smoke — Vesuvius. They're in Pompeii, 23 August 79 AD: the day before "Volcano Day". However, something else is horribly wrong. The Soothsayers' predictions seem to always be correct... so why can't they see tomorrow's disastrous events, the eruption of Vesuvius, the death of their city? What is blocking their perception, and will the TARDIS team be able to walk away from a fixed point in time, saving no one from certain doom? Well, Donna has something to say about that!

Fires of Pompeii is an excellent example of a time travel television show and a good example of what Doctor Who can do. Here the time travelers travel back to ancient Pompeii and have some just fantastic dialogue and interaction between the Doctor and Donna that hearkens back to the 1st Doctor and Barbara in The Aztecs. The Doctor being the Time Lord knows that the events here are fixed in time and cannot be changed but Donna just sees the human side of things, concerned for the people of Pompeii. It really makes the episode.

The monsters in this story, the Pyroviles are some of the best animated creatures that the show has had I feel. Shame that the same level isn't applied to everything the BBC animate in the show. These are giant rock men type aliens with magma interiors.

The episode features two actors who will go on to feature strongly in the show. Karen Gillen who would become companion Amy Pond, and Peter Capaldi who will become the 12th Doctor.

Episode #64 : The Time Monster

"One moment you're talking about the entire universe blowing up

and the next you're going on about tea."

 

 

Episode 64:    The Time Monster.
Companions:  The 3rd Doctor and Jo Grant.
Air Date:        Six episodes. 20th May to 24th June 1972.

 

The Master, in the guise of Professor Thascalos, has constructed at the Newton Institute in Wootton a device known as TOMTIT - Transmission Of Matter Through Interstitial Time - to gain control over Kronos, a creature from outside time. The creature is summoned but proves to be uncontrollable.

 

Despite a reasonable start, The Time Monster unfortunately is one of the more uninteresting stories of the Jon Pertwee era. The effects, especially those of the bird-form Kronos, are just laughable and the acting is fairly poor, though I put that down more to the script than to the actors themselves. They can only work with what they have after all.

 

The story starts off just outside of Cambridge and deals with the Master trying to access the power of the chronovore Kronos. When the Doctor dreams of disaster, though never explained, he an UNIT descend on a small university to deal with the threat. From there, the story travels back three thousand or more years to the last days of Atlantis, whose destruction is caused by the Master releasing Kronos. Ultimately the Master escapes yet again and everything goes back to normal.

 

In the past we have had mention of the destruction of Atlantis, in The Underwater Menace and referenced in The Daemons. In the latter story, Azal claims to have been the one to destroy the greatest civilisation of the ancient world but we now know that story to be a lie. We never see the actual destruction but seems more of a whimper than a bang.

 

There have been a lot of stories featuring the Master of late and I think the ideas for plots involving him have begun to wind down. Sometimes less is more and in this case, I think he has been used to much. Roger Delgardo was a great actor and it is his acting that at least keeps you interested when pondering why he keeps returning to UNIT's backyard all the time.

 

 

Episode #21 : The Daleks' Master Plan

"I am a citizen of the universe, and a gentleman to boot!"

 

 

Episode 21:    The Daleks' Master Plan.
Companions: The 1st Doctor, Katarina, and Steven Taylor..
Air Date:        Twelve episodes. 13th November 1965 to 29th January 1966.

 

In the year 4000, the Daleks conspire to conquer the Solar System. Their scheme involves treachery at the highest levels and a weapon capable of destroying the very fabric of time. Only the Doctor and his friends can prevent catastrophe — and there is no guarantee they will escape with their lives.

A massive twelve part story! Unfortunately only three parts of this remain in the hands of the BBC. The Daleks' Master Plan is a sequel, sort of, to the one off story entitled Mission to the Unknown. In this tale we find that the Daleks are working with a handful of aliens to destroy Earth's solar system using a device called the Time Destructor. Seems unusual for the Daleks to be working with non-Daleks but I guess the Dalek hatred for everything else wasn't quite in the show canon as yet.

The story follows a similar pattern as was used in The Chase with the characters pursued across space and time by the Daleks and their agents. Quite why this was done I can't say but the story synopses reads as a rather chaotic jumble that doesn't make a lot of sense anyway. We also have the brief return of the Meddling Monk, who has escaped Earth's past but his presence in the story doesn't add anything and he isn't actually part of the overall plot.

During this story we lose Katarina. The first companion to die while travelling with the Doctor. Apparently it was decided that her character didn't quite work so they killed her off very very quickly.

This story also features a rather odd and random element. One episode fell on Christmas Day 1965. At the time it was customary to make an episode that did into a comedy, and in this case the entire episode has nothing to do with the story at all. The Doctor even breaks the "fourth wall" to wish everyone at home a Merry Christmas!

All in all reading this story it just seems terrible. Only one interesting element to the canonical universe comes from it. The Doctor ends up being drained of life energy by the Time Destructor, and it has become part of the reason why his body is so worn out at the end of his run and a possible cause for his regeneration.

Episode #20 : The Myth Makers

"Woe to Troy!"

 

Episode 20:     Mission to the Unknown.
Companions:   The 1st Doctor, Katarina, Vicki, and Steven Taylor..
Air Date:         Four episodes. 16th October to 6th November 1965.

 

When the TARDIS arrives on the plains of Asia Minor not far from the besieged city of Troy, the Doctor is hailed by Achilles as the mighty god Zeus and taken to the Greek camp. He meets Agamemnon and Odysseus. Forced to admit he is a mere mortal - albeit a traveller in space and time - he is given two days to devise a scheme to capture Troy.Steven and Vicki, meanwhile, have been taken prisoner by the Trojans. Vicki, believed to possess supernatural powers, is given two days to banish the Greeks to prove she is not a spy.

The Myth Makers is another story that doesn't exist. It was a pure historical story explaining the battle of Troy and the legend of the wooden horse. In this case the idea is that of the Doctor's even though later on in his fourth incarnation he will deny the idea being his.

This story sees the departure of Vicki. Her character was beginning to grow on me a little bit even though she feels like a poor replacement for Susan. We do get the arrival of the companion Katarina though she isn't in the series for very long.

Unfortunately The Myth Makers does read in synopsis as another extremely dull historical tale.

Episode #12 : The Romans

 

"Alright? Of course I'm alright, my child. You know, I am so constantly outwitting the opposition, I tend to forget the delights and satisfaction of the gentle art of fisticuffs."

Episode 12:   The Romans.
Companions: The 1st Doctor, Vicki, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright.
Air Date:        Four episodes. 16th January to 6th February 1965.

The four time travellers are enjoying a rare holiday, staying at a villa not far from Rome in the year A.D. 64. The Doctor soon becomes restless and sets off to visit the city, taking Vicki with him. In their absence, Ian and Barbara are kidnapped by slave traders.

The Romans is a historical story focusing really on Emperor Nero and the historical fire that he is supposed to have started. Of course in this tale it is the Doctor who gives him the idea to do it. As a historical story it isn't too bad. It works by splitting the companions up into two groups and each having their own adventures without interacting with the other. This by itself makes the story work.

The story does have a flaw though, and it is the introduction of a humorous element which is greatly unnecessary. While most of the story is quite serious and a little dark in places, the elements surrounding Emperor Nero come straight out of Benny Hill or the Carry On movies. In one chase sequence where Nero seeks Barbara it gets just painfully farcical.

The Romans features the first instance of a well known actor making an appearance. Derek Francis, who plays Nero, was a well known British movie and television performer at the time though I doubt any of now have ever heard of him. This is a trend however in later seasons that brings well known and household faces to the show, even if just as a cameo.

So in closing, The Romans is an OK story but let down by an infusion of unnecessary humour.