Episode #51 : Spearhead From Space

"All right, all right, I suppose you want to see my pass? Yes, well, I haven't got one. And I'm not going to tell you my name, either. Now you just tell Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart that I want to see him. Well, don't just stand there arguing with me, man! Get on with it!"

 

 

Episode 51:     Spearhead From Space.
Companions:   The 3rd Doctor and Liz Shaw.
Air Date:          Four episodes. 3rd to 20th January 1970.

 

Exiled to Earth in the late 20th century and forbidden to continue travelling by his own people, the Time Lords, the newly regenerated Doctor arrives in Oxley Woods accompanied by a shower of mysterious meteorites. Investigating these unusual occurrences is the newly-formed United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT for short).

 

This for me is when Doctor Who really takes off. The show has returned in colour, and from here on the show just gets better and better. The writing improves, the acting improves and the effects are usually a lot better. All because the show has gone from black and white to colour. The show features a bit more action than usual and the humerous elements improve the show.

 

Spearhead From Space introduces us to a newly regenerated Doctor and sets up the physiological differences that are from here on often repeated such as having two hearts and his blood being immediately obvious not human.

 

Jon Pertwee's Doctor is immediately likeable and much more charming as a character. His new companion Liz Shaw is a strong female role model. She is a tough, uncompromising scientist and not the usual screamer that we are used to from a female companion.

 

We are reintroduced to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and the soldiers of UNIT who are now in charge of investigating strange occurrences around the world, though the Brigadier's mandate throughout the show seems to be protecting the United Kingdom. UNIT will continue to be the main focus for many stories to come as the Doctor joins them as a scientific advisor until he get can the TARDIS working again.

 

The story introduces us to a whole new recurring villain, the Nestene Consciousness and it's minions, the Autons - creatures of living plastic. Shop mannequins are creepy anyway and this story makes them even more so. These are perhaps the first enemies to play up on children's fears. Daleks are scary but you don't tend to see them on every high street.

 

Spearhead from Space is an excellent story and it is from here that I recommend viewers to start watching the show.

 

 

Episode #50 : The War Games

"All these evils I have fought, while you have done nothing but observe! True, I am guilty of interference. Just as you are guilty of failing to use your great powers to help those in need!"

Episode 50:   The War Games.
Companions: The 2nd Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot.
Air Date:        Ten episodes. 19th April to 21st June 1969.

The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe arrive on an unnamed planet. At first believing themselves in the midst of World War I, they realise it to be one of many War Zones overseen by the War Lords, who have kidnapped large numbers of human soldiers in order to create an army to conquer the galaxy. Infiltrating the control base, the Doctor discovers that the War Chief is also a Time Lord. The creeping realisation sets in that the Doctor cannot solve this problem alone, and that his days of wandering may be at an end.

This is the final story for the second incarnation of the Doctor, barring the three one off episodes in the future. It is a shame that at ten episodes it is by far too long and all rather dull because of it. Only at the end when we get our first look at the Times Lords does the interest factor once again come back. Very disappointing.

At the end of the story, when the villainous War Chief and the War Lords have been dealt with by the Time Lords, the Doctor is put on trial for his interference in galactic events. Other than the War Chief and the Monk this is the first time we get a look at the Doctors own people and what they are like. After defending himself in their court, it is decided that he is doing good in the universe and will be sent back in exile to the Earth with no knowledge of how to fly the TARDIS, and the Time Lords force him to regenerate.

As for Zoe and Jaime, they are both sent back to where the Doctor picked them up but the Time Lords wipe their memories of the time they spent with the Doctor. I find this curious as they don't do this to any of his other companions past or future.

Over his time on screen, Patrick Troughton plays a very different Doctor to William Hartnell. I just don't find him a particularly good actor, though he does seem better in later appearances with his future incarnations. Some of it I put down to 1960's production values with black and white television.

Episode #49 : The Space Pirates

Zoe : "Milo, there's one thing I don't understand."

Milo Clancey : "Well you're very lucky, girl. There's about a hundred thousand things I don't understand but I don't stand around asking fool questions about them, I do something useful. Why don't you do something useful? Why don't you... um... make us all a pot of tea or something?"

 

Episode 49:   The Space Pirates.
Companions: The 2nd Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot.
Air Date:       Six episodes. 8th March to 12th April 1969.

 

The TARDIS materialises in Earth's future on a space beacon just before it is attacked by pirates. The travellers find themselves trapped in a sealed section of the beacon. It is blown apart and flown to where the pirates will plunder it of the precious mineral argonite.

 

I have never seen this story. I'm not even sure whether it exists in it's entirety or it is missing one or two episodes. Maybe one day I'll get to see it.

 

The synopsis that I have read puts the story across as a strange mixture of science fiction and wild west. I sort of pre-runner to Firefly perhaps? The frontiers men have a stronger western miners appearence (see above) and mentality. All in all, not a mixture of genres I would expect to see back in the 1960s.

 

 

Episode #48 : The Seeds of Death

"You can't kill me... I'm a genius!"

 

 

Episode 48:   The Seeds of Death.
Companions: The 2nd Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot.
Air Date:        Six episodes. 25th January to 1st March 1969.

 

The TARDIS lands in a space museum on Earth in the late 21st century, where the Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe learn that contact has been lost between Earth and the Moon. In this era, instant travel -- T-Mat -- has revolutionised the Earth. Its people have lost interest in space travel. The Doctor and his companions travel to the Moon in an old-style rocket and reach the Moonbase, control centre for T-Mat, only to find a squad of Ice Warriors have commandeered the base and plan to use the T-Mat network to their advantage.

The Seeds of Death is a fantastic story. Certainly one of the best from this era of the show. Everything about it works, from the story itself, to the look of the sets and the ice warriors, and down to the acting. All in all, it makes watching it a real treat.

The story itself deals with an invasion of the moon, and soon to be the Earth, by a fleet of Ice Warriors. But first they must capture the moon and use the T-Mat (called transmat when reused in later stories) to transport strange fungus plants to Earth in order to make the planet more suitable for the invaders. This reminds in part of the red weeds from The War of the Worlds by HG Wells. The fungus only fails when you realise that it's just vast amounts of bubble bath and a few popping balloons.

One thing I love is just how much more characterised the second Doctor is in this story than ever before. This story really does bring forth my appreciation for the second Doctor than I usually feel in these old black and white episodes. Well worth watching.

There is one thing that I find odd however in this story. The Ice Warriors are a technologically advanced race; they can construct and fly starships through space, have powerful heat ray guns...etc, but are yet easily fooled into flying too close to the sun. Surely they would have realised something was wrong and changed course? They must know where Earth is in the solar system? That is the only problem I find with this story.

Episode #47 : The Krotons

Episode 47:   The Krotons.
Companions: The 2nd Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot.
Air Date:        Four episodes. 28th December 1968 to 18th January 1969.

The TARDIS arrives on the unnamed planet of the Gonds, who are ruled and taught in a form of self-perpetuating slavery by the alien Krotons — crystalline beings whose ship, the Dynatrope, crash-landed there thousands of years earlier after being damaged in a space battle.
The Krotons are in suspended animation, in a crystalline slurry form, awaiting a time when they can be reconstituted by absorption of mental energy. Periodically, the two most brilliant Gond students are received into the Dynatrope, nominally to become "companions of the Krotons" but in truth to have their mental energy drained, after which they are killed.

Although I have vague memories of seeing a Tom Baker Dalek story (probably Destiny of the Daleks) with my father, The Krotons was the first complete Doctor Who serial I ever watched, and it hooked me every since. I was 8 at the time and this was one story shown on the BBC in the run up to the start of Peter Davisons run.

The Krotons isn't a bad story for the era, and you can see that the production values have increased since the start of Troughton's run on the show. The acting from the secondary actors leaves a lot to be desired however.

The Krotons themselves look terrible. They are just silver boxes with strange bits on (see above). They are meant to be crystalline beings but they look more like robots than anything else. The voices sound like bad attempts at an South African accent and it doesn't fit quite right. But as a one off alien race you can't complain.

The above comments seem negative but the story is actually rather good and the pacing is spot on. It helps that there are only four parts to it so the length is about right. This, The Seeds of Death and Tomb of the Cybermen are the main second Doctor stories that I would recommend to anyone wanting to check out the better earlier stories from the Troughton era.

Episode #46 : The Invasion

"I hate computers and refuse to be bullied by them!"

 

 

Episode 46:   The Invasion.
Companions: The 2nd Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot.
Air Date:       Eight episodes. 2nd November to 21st December 1968.

 

Investigating the disappearance of an eminent scientist, the Doctor and his companions follow his trail to the London headquarters of International Electromatics, a global supplier of electronic equipment run by the formidable Tobias Vaughn. Teaming up with the newly-formed United Nations Intelligence Taskforce - UNIT - under the control of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, it soon becomes apparent that Vaughn is working to his own sinister agenda. As Cybermen invade in cities all over the world, can the Doctor convince Vaughn to help him defeat their plan for global domination?

 

The Invasion is another story that is heavily in the vein of James Bond for the most part, as the Doctor investigates an evil megalomaniac villain. The real villains, the Cybermen, don't actually turn up till over half way through the serial and then it goes traditional Who. It does seem that a fair bit of Troughton's time as the Doctor includes elements like this and with The Invasion it certainly works well.

 

This story sees the return of Lethbridge-Stewart who has since we last saw him, been put in charge of a new international organisation to help defend the Earth against threats from outer space, UNIT (United Nations Intelligence Taskforce). UNIT will go on to be a major element throughout the show, especially for the 3rd Doctor. We also have the introduction of John Benton, a UNIT regular.

 

There is an unexplained (if you need such things) issue with the Cybermen however. The events of this story predate The Ten Planet by about twenty five years chronologically but there is no explanation as to how and when the Cybermen arrived and why they hid in the sewers beneath London. But this story is, alongside The Tenth Planet, referenced in the Attack of the Cybermen.

 

Because a couple episodes were lost this story was the first to receive the animation treatment that other stories are now receiving. As a bit of fun, the animators dropped a "Bad Wolf" reference in for the keen eyed to find.

 

The Invasion isn't a bad story but at 8 episodes it is really far far too long and it drags in more than a few places.

 

 

Episode #45 : The Mind Robber

"We're nowhere. It's as simple as that."

 

Episode 45:    The Mind Robber.
Companions:  The 2nd Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot.
Air Date:         Five episodes. 14th September to 12th October 1968.

 

To escape from the volcanic eruption on Dulkis, the Second Doctor uses an emergency unit. It moves the TARDIS out of normal time and space. The travellers find themselves in an endless void where they are menaced by white robots.
Having regained the safety of the TARDIS, they believe they have escaped - until the ship explodes. They find themselves in a land of fiction, where they are hunted by life-size clockwork soldiers and encounter characters like Rapunzel and Swift's Lemuel Gulliver.

The Mind Robber is one of those early classic stories where after the first viewing you sit back and wonder what on earth that was all about. I certainly did. A couple more viewings and you come to see that it's not as strange or poor as you first thought. This really was what The Celestial Toymaker wanted to be. Had that story been similar to this in it's telling it may have been far better than it was.

The over all plot is a bit strange. It follows straight on from the end of the prior tale with the Doctor being forced to shunt the TARDIS into another reality to escape the encroaching lava. The companions are dropped into a strange cerebral world where anything that is fictional can exist. Throughout the story we encounter fictitious characters such as Gulliver, Rapunzel and Cyrano de Bergerac as well as robots and clockwork soldiers.These are all controlled by a figure called The Master (not to be confused with the villain to come in later stories) who is an English writer abducted from 1926 and set here to control the fictional universe. He in turn is controlled by some computer called the Master Brain whose plan is to draw all of humanity into the fictional world so that it can take over. Hopefully it isn't just me who sees plot holes in that. Who created the Master Brain in the first place?

I really enjoyed Patrick Troughton's portrayal of the Doctor in this story. I almost get a sense that he was channelling William Hartnell in places. Zoe however, just spends most of the story screaming and calling for help.
There is an odd part to Jamie's story here though. In one episode he is turned into a life size cardboard cut-out of himself but without a face. When the Doctor recreates his face wrong, he is restored to played by a different actor. It fits the story, but the truth was that Frazer Hines was ill for a few days with chicken pox.

The Mind Robber is a good story but it may take more than one watch to hook you.

Episode #44 : The Dominators

"An unintelligent enemy is far less dangerous than an intelligent one, Jamie. Just act stupid. Do you think you can manage that?"

Episode 44:   The Dominators.
Companions: The 2nd Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot.
Air Date:       Five episodes. 10th August to 7th September 1968.

When two rogue Dominators and their robotic servant Quarks land on the peaceful planet Dulkis, planning to drop a radioactive seed into the planet's core to refuel their spaceship, the Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe must attempt to inspire the pacifist Dulcians to resist.

The Dominators is an excellent example of the show from this era. Despite the length of the story the episodes are well written though the acting from the Dominators themselves is horribly over the top. My initial viewing of this story a few years ago had a not so great review from me but watching it this time around I enjoyed it much more than I did.

The Dominators are served by the robot Quarks who act as guards and soldiers with lethal energy weapons. Their appearance is fairly comical and their high pitched voices sometimes grate upon the ears.

The story itself is another fair typical one for science fiction where an aggressive alien race comes to a less developed one purely for the purpose of raping the planet for its resources. You would have thought that any significantly advanced race would have the technology to create suitable and sustainable power sources. But as such, it makes the story very familiar.

Jamie gets a lot more screen time and story focus than in the previous stories that I've been able to watch which is good. It is nice to see the companions getting the limelight every so often.

Episode #43 : The Wheel in Space

"Logic, my dear Zoe, merely enables one to be wrong with authority."

Episode 43:     The Wheel in Space.
Companions:   The 2nd Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot.
Air Date:         Six episodes. 27th April to 1st June 1968.

The TARDIS materialises on board a spaceship, the Silver Carrier, where the Second Doctor and Jamie are attacked by a Servo Robot. Jamie contacts a nearby space station known as the Wheel and they are rescued. Meanwhile, the Silver Carrier discharges Cybermats, which also travel to and enter the station. These pave the way for the invasion of the station by Cybermen, who intend to use its direct radio link with Earth as a beacon for their invasion fleet.

Only two episodes of this story remain so again this review comes from a couple of synopses of the story.

The Wheel in Space is a fairly typical science fiction story where a remote location comes under mysterious attack with no means of escape. When done right it works and I think it does here. The mysterious attack from the returning Cybermen though oddly despite chronological events no one on the station has heard of Cybermen or Daleks. It feels very similar to the early story The Moonbase in some regards.

The story sees the introduction of a new companion, Zoe, a genius of a young woman whose intellect seems to rival if not exceed that of the Doctor himself. This seems to aggravate the Doctor somewhat giving some conflict between him and his new companion. We really haven't had that since Ian and Barbara's time on the TARDIS. It is difficult to tell how she would come across to the viewers as the role of a companion is to ask the questions that we want to ask, and she probably already has those answers.

As this story is set in the late 21st century I'm guessing that the writers assumed we would be more advanced than we are, so this is probably the first time that we can assume that the Whoniverse is not our own, allowing for certain cover ups of alien appearances in the 1960's and 70's.

All in all, it reads like an OK story.

Episode #42 : Fury From The Deep

"Every time we go anywhere, something awful happens".

 

Episode 42:    Fury From The Deep.
Companions: The 2nd Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield.
Air Date:        Six episodes. 16th March to 20th April 1968.

 

The TARDIS lands on the surface of the sea, just off the east coast of England. The time travellers use a rubber dinghy to get ashore, where they are shot with tranquilliser darts and taken prisoner by security guards as they have arrived in the restricted area of a gas refinery.

 

Fury From The Deep is another story mostly lost to time and space. It deals with a undersea gas mining facility that accidentally picks up a weed creature which feeds on gas and can dominate the minds of people it touches. As monsters go, not one of the more memorable ones and nor is it one of the interesting stories.

 

What does get introduced in this story however is the sonic screwdriver that is as much as part of Doctor Who as the TARDIS these days. No explanation as to when the Doctor made it or how/why, it's just sort of there. A good addition to the character though as throughout the run of the show it certainly serves to further the stories and prevent bogging down in pacing.

 

In this story we see the departure of Victoria from the TARDIS. She has found a foster family and decides to remain in 1968. Bad things seem to happen wherever the time travellers go and she has become fed up of by it all. Victorian sensibilities I suppose. I've not seen much of her character but for the time she seemed like a good companion though in hindsight she is another less remembered one.

 

As for the story itself, I am again having to go by a synopses and it does not seen like a well written story. Despite the show picking up somewhat at the end of the Hartnell era, there is something about the stories told in the Troughton era that don't seem to flow well reading through the plot information. Maybe it is the change of script writers every so often or budget constraints.

Episode #41 : The Web of Fear

Episode 41:   The Web of Fear.
Companions: The 2nd Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield.
Air Date:        Six episodes. 3rd February to 9th March 1968.

The TARDIS narrowly avoids becoming engulfed in a cobwebby substance in space. It arrives in the London Underground railway system, the tunnels of which are being overrun by the web and by the Great Intelligence's robot Yeti.

At the close of The Enemy of the World, a special trailer was played to prepare viewers for the terrors that were to come with The Web of Fear. The audio remains and has been turned into an animated feature here:

 

 

The Web of Fear is a sequel of sorts to The Abominable Snowmen and continues the machinations of the Great Intelligence as it seeks physical form or whatever it's ultimate goal is at this time. This story also introduces one of the most loved characters in the show, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (though he is Colonel at the time of this story). It can well be argued that the events of this story would perhaps be the reason for the founding of U.N.I.T. later on.

 

The sets were so well done that during the showing of this story the BBC received complaints from the London Underground claiming that they had filmed down there without permission.

 

This would be the last time that we see the Great Intelligence in the classic run of the show. It does return much later on for the eleventh Doctor where we also learn how it knew to use the London Underground for its invasion.

 

Episode #40 : The Enemy of the World

"People spend all their time making nice things and then other people come along and break them!"

Episode 40:   The Enemy of the World.
Companions: The 2nd Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield.
Air Date:       Six episodes. 23rd December 1967 to 27th January 1968.

On Earth in the near future, the Doctor and his companions are enmeshed in a deadly web of intrigue thanks to his uncanny resemblance to the scientist/policitian Salamander. He is hailed as the "shopkeeper of the world" for his efforts to relieve global famine, but why do his rivals keep disappearing? How can he predict so many natural disasters? The Doctor must expose Salamander's schemes before he takes over the world.

A very unusual tale that plays out more like a James Bond movie than an episode of Doctor Who. Since the prior story also felt slighty out of place maybe that was the plan with the current series? In this story Patrick Troughton plays both roles as the Doctor and the villain Salamander, an evil villain with schemes to rule the world.

Unfortunately we have here yet another story that is largely no longer in existence. Shame, as it does read like it could have been a real hoot of a story to watch. At six episodes though, the synopsis does feel like it was drawn out a bit too long though. Hopefully one day we'll be able to watch it and see how it plays out.

Episode #39 : The Ice Warriors

"In 2 minutes 38 seconds, you're going to have an almighty explosion!"

Episode 39:   The Ice Warriors.
Companions: The 2nd Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield.
Air Date:       Six episodes. 11th November to 16th December 1967.

The TARDIS arrives on Earth in a new ice age and the travellers make their way into a base where scientists commanded by Leader Clent are using an ioniser device to combat the advance of a glacier.
A giant humanoid creature, called an Ice Warrior by one of the scientists, has been found buried in the nearby glacier. When thawed, it revives and is revealed to be Varga, captain of a Martian spacecraft that landed on Earth centuries ago and is still in the glacier. Varga sets about freeing his comrades and formulating a plan to conquer the Earth - Mars itself is now dead.

The Ice Warriors is a story that feels much more like it should have appeared as a Star Trek story. It just has that Trek vibe rather than what I expect from Doctor Who. It even has some odd moments with the female "oooo" sort of singing over things. Very odd. But that aside, it is a reasonable story despite there being one or two moments where I found myself distracted because the story wasn't going anywhere. In places it needed more action.

This is the introduction of the Ice Warriors race who make a handful of appearances later on in the show, mainly for the second and third Doctors. These reptilians are the inhabitants of Mars which has lost its ability to sustain life. They came to Earth thousands of years ago and got stuck in the ice. Very ironic for a race people call Ice Warriors. They are aggressive conquerors but to me they seem a tad simplistic in how they do it. One last thing... although the costumes for the Ice Warriors are suitably iconic, they do often look bloody silly waddling around in them.

A reasonable story that introduces one of the lesser but also iconic villain races.

Episode #38 : The Abominable Snowmen

Jamie: Have you thought up some clever plan, Doctor?

The Doctor: Yes, Jamie, I believe I have.

Jamie: What are you going to do?

The Doctor: Bung a rock at it.

Episode 38:    The Abominable Snowmen.
Companions:  The 2nd Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield.
Air Date:        Six episodes. 30th September to 4th November 1967.

Mysterious forces are at work in 1930s Tibet. The once gentle Yeti have turned savage and besieged a Buddhist monastery. The Second Doctor, Jamie and Victoria arrive expecting a friendly welcome from the abbot, but soon become ensnared in the plans of the extradimensional being known as the Great Intelligence.

This story sets up another sort-of long running villain in The Great Intelligence, an entity also retconned into being another of HP Lovecraft's Great Old Ones. In this case, it is supposed to be the god-like entity called Yog Sothoth even though it bears little in relation to that being. There is a gap of 44 years between appearances, giving The Great Intelligence the biggest gap between appearances on screen of any villain so far.

Only the second episode of this story survives so again I am basing this review on episode synopses. With that in mind it is difficult to actually tell what the plot of the villainous Intelligence involves. It hints that it is seeking a physical form but I don't think it is implicit that that is the case. The story also sets up the appearance of the robot Yeti, who only make a couple further appearances at this point. Whether these are meant to be the new physical form for the Intelligence is unclear.

As episodes go it seems ok, but lacking in motivations for the villain, but again that could just be the result of reading the synopses.