Episode #66: Carnival of Monsters

"Would you kindly stop referring to me as "the creature", sir. Or I may well become exceedingly hostile!"

Episode 66:    Carnival of Monsters.
Companions:  3rd Doctor and Jo Grant.
Air Date:        Four episodes. 27th January to 17th February 1973.

The Doctor and Jo arrive on the SS Bernice, a cargo ship crossing the Indian Ocean. Things are not what they seem. A monster appears in the sea, events repeat themselves and a giant hand steals the TARDIS. Investigation reveals they are inside a miniscope, an alien peepshow sporting numerous miniaturised environments, which showman Vorg and his assistant Shirna have brought to amuse the populace of the planet Inter Minor.

The Doctor has been freed of his exile and takes Jo out into time and space, ending up not on the beautiful blue planet of Metabelis III but shrunken down inside a miniscope. Carnival of Monsters is quite a good and well done story. Part of it, I am sure is just the relief of getting away from UNIT's Earth based stories and back out into outer space. But, saying that, this story weaves a great tale that moves you from the deck of cargo ship, to a swamp filled with carnivorous drashigs, and deals with a pair of carnival style showmen. Plus, it features a dinosaur and you can't argue with that.

A crewman on the SS Bernice is played by Ian Marter, who would go on to play Harry Sullivan, a companion of the 4th Doctor.

Speaking of the SS Bernice, we have a sense here once again of time being something fluid. When they land on the ship and the Doctor realises where they are, he tells Jo that the disappearance of the ship is almost as famous as that of the Marie Celeste (see The Chase). However, at the end of the story, the ship sis sent back to where and when it came from, so unless something did happen to it in the Indian Ocean, it arrived safe and sound. So how did the Doctor know it had vanished? Sometimes thinking this stuff through can give you a headache.

Episode #65 : The Three Doctors

"Well Sergeant, aren't you going to say that it's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside - everybody else does."

Episode 65:   The Three Doctors.
Companions: The 1st Doctor, 2nd Doctor, 3rd Doctor and Jo Grant.
Air Date:        Four episodes. 30th December 1972 to 20th January 1973.

Time itself is in peril! The Time Lords find themselves besieged by a mysterious enemy, the legendary Time Lord, Omega. Omega has been inhabiting the anti-matter universe on the other side of the black hole from which the Time Lords draw their power.
They enlist the Doctor in his first three incarnations to battle this foe, who turns out to be a legend from the Time Lords' remote past.
But vital cosmic energy is draining into a black hole and the Time Lords are under siege. The Doctor is their only hope but, trapped in the TARDIS, he's powerless. The only way out is to break the First Law of Time to let the Doctor help himself - literally.

The first of the multi-Doctor stories and a rather good one to boot. Although called The Three Doctors, it is primarily Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee. William Hartnell was rather unwell at the time of filming so he is shown only on the TARDIS display screen giving advice to his other selves. Sadly, he would pass away only a few months after this episode. It does however set up the possibility of other stories where multiple Doctors can meet and interact. Other than the presence of multiple Doctors, what makes it work so well is how their interactions together are written and how you get the impression that different incarnations don't really get along with one another.

The villain of the piece is a former legendary Time Lord named Omega. He has been trapped in an anti-matter universe since giving the Time Lords the ability to travel through time and space. Driven somewhat mad by his isolation he wants to return to our universe. Although defeated, Omega will return much later during Peter Davison's time as the Doctor in The Arc of Infinity.

The Brigadier shows his usual lack of thought in this story, refusing to believe anything the Doctors tell him, and insisting that the anti-matter universe is in fact somewhere near Cromer in East Anglia. While it may work for the story it does make his character seem awfully thick.

Upon the completion of this adventure, the Time Lords forgive the Doctor his transgressions and free him to travel in time and space once more.

The Three Doctors is a great piece of entertainment that every fan of the show should watch.

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 #63 : The Mutants

"Grey cities linked by grey highways across a grey desert. Slag, ash

and clinker - the fruits of technology."

Episode 63:   The Mutants.
Companions: The 3rd Doctor and Jo Grant.
Air Date:        Six episodes. 8th April to 13th May 1972.

The Time Lords send the Doctor and Jo on a mission to deliver a sealed message pod to an unknown party aboard a Skybase orbiting the planet Solos in the 30th century. They are caught quickly in a power struggle between the cruel Marshal of Solos and the young Solonian Ky over the future of Solos - a future that hinges on the contents of the message.

The Mutants is a tale based upon an issue at the time in South Africa, apartheid. In this tale, the human "Overlords" from Earth have segregated themselves from the local primitive Solonians, and mining their planet for precious minerals needed back on Earth. When the Solonians begin to transform (a natural survival mechanism exacerbated by the mining pollution), the Overlords consider them diseased and shot on sight, or hunted down, uncaring as to why they are mutating.

The story as a whole isn't too bad though the pacing could be better in places. The story works well and the effects are very much the classic style that I grew up with. giving me good memories of my childhood viewing. The look of the mutant costume (above) is rather good especially when you see them in dim light in the caves of Solos. Sometimes I really do miss these old costume designs and special effects.

The villain of the story, the Marshall, is a megalomaniac madman who has worked for years to achieve everything he has on Solos, and cannot grasp of the Earth government giving the planet back to the primitive Solonians. All of which plays in even further to the apartheid overtones of the story.

Episode #62: The Sea Devils

"We shall destroy man and reclaim the planet."

Episode 62:   The Sea Devils.
Companions: The 3rd Doctor and Jo Grant.
Air Date:        Six episodes. 26th February to 1st April 1972.

The Doctor and Jo visit the Master in his high-security prison on an island off the south coast of England. The governor, Colonel Trenchard, says ships have been disappearing mysteriously at sea.

In this story we return to the Master who resides in an remote prison though in truth is hardly a prisoner any longer. He plans to contact the "Sea Devils", an aquatic species of Silurian and use them to wage war against humanity. The Doctor and Jo team up with the Royal Navy rather than UNIT to try and stop them.

The Sea Devils a rather good story that starts off as a mystery investigating missing ships and strange sightings at sea, and slowly transforms into an action story with much shooting, a sword fight between the Doctor and the Master, and a speedboat chase. The Sea Devils are basically just the same as the Silurians in their story but the creature suits are far far better. Their plans are again, the same as their Silurian brothers, in that they want to destroy humanity and reclaim the Earth for themselves.

On an odd note, unlike the Silurians, the Sea Devils were given clothing because it was felt too rude for them to be walking around naked. This seems odd but it does give them a unique and memorable appearance.

Other than the pacing at times and some poor incidental music, there is nothing wrong with this story all. Another big thumbs up from this fan.

Episode #61 : The Curse of Peladon

"I don't understand you! One minute you're condemning the Doctor to death

and the next you're proposing to me!"

Episode 61:     The Curse of Peladon.
Companions:   The 3rd Doctor and Jo Grant.
Air Date:         Four episodes. 29th January to 19th February 1972.

The Doctor and Jo make a test flight in the TARDIS and arrive on the planet Peladon. Seeking shelter, they enter the citadel of the soon-to-be-crowned King Peladon, where the Doctor is mistaken for a human dignitary summoned to act as Chairman of a committee assessing an application by the planet to join the Galactic Federation.

The Curse of Peladon is another excellent story from the Jon Pertwee era. It has an excellent plot full of action, mystery and intrigue. The story deals with an attempt to thwart the planet Peladon from entering the Galactic Federation so that an other civilisation (and Federation member) can strip mine it for the vast natural resources that it holds. With three other Federation delegates attending, including the Ice Warriors, it can only be one of them despite an undercurrent of dissatisfaction from some elements of the Peladon rulership. All of which is skillfully woven together into a great storyline. Supposedly the story is based on the events of the time with the United Kingdom about to enter the EC at the time.

As mentioned, this story sees the return of the Ice Warriors as Federation delegates from Mars. They seem to have given up on their violent ways since last the Doctor encountered them though I still wouldn't trust them. There is no mention of their inability to handle heat so I guess castle Peladon is rather a cold place.

Both the Doctor and Jo get plenty of limelight in this story even though the Doctor seems overly harsh towards her at times. Jo gets some good screen time with King Peladon (played by David Troughton, son of second Doctor Patrick Troughton) and the Ice Warriors.

One question remains unanswered, even unasked in the story itself, if the Time Lords have removed the Doctor's knowledge of how to operate the TARDIS how did he and Jo get to Peladon? Did the Time Lords interfere to ensure that Peladon gets admitted to the Galactic Federation? Who knows? Yes, pun intended.

The events of this story continue, somewhat, in an upcoming sequel, The Monster of Peladon.

Episode #60 : Day of the Daleks

"There are many sorts of ghosts, Jo. Ghosts from the past, and ghosts from the future."

Episode 60:    Day of the Daleks.
Companions: The 3rd Doctor and Jo Grant.
Air Date:        Four episodes. 1st to 22nd January 1972.

Freedom fighters from the future attempt to thwart a Dalek invasion by coming back in time to assassinate a delegate at the second World Peace Conference.

After a lengthy absence, the Daleks have returned to the show. It's a shame that it isn't a great story. The concept is fine and it starts off well but bleeds out the further in you go. The story deals with a temporal paradox where the death of numerous world leaders in a single moment sparks the third world war, and leads to the Daleks being able to take over the weakened peoples of Earth. A group of freedom fighters accidentally cause the paradox by being the ones who come back to the kill one of the delegates before he can cause the war. Hence a paradox of their own making.

As for the Dalek element of the story, it isn't made too clear but it would appear that these events in the alternate future time line replace the Dalek invasion that the 1st Doctor stopped. Already it seems that time can be rewritten.

The story also introduces the Ogrons, a servant race who only make a couple further appearances. How and why they are working for the Daleks is not really explained. After all, we know that the Daleks want to eradicate any life that isn't Dalek so why have they enslaved (or hired) them as soldiers? Doesn't make much sense to me.

This story also features one of the very few times that we see the Doctor actively using a firearm to kill an adversary, as he shoots Ogrons when they try to stop him.

Sadly, this is one story that could easily be overlooked. Bringing the Daleks back is a good move, but the story works out weak and just not very good.

Episode #59: The Daemons

"Jenkins...chap with wings there, five rounds, rapid!"

Episode 59:   The Daemons.
Companions: The 3rd Doctor and Jo Grant.
Air Date:        Five episodes. 22nd May to 19th June 1971.

The Master, posing as a rural vicar, summons a cloven-hoofed demon in a church basement.

The Daemons is perhaps my most favourite story of the Jon Pertwee era. Everything about it is so well written, acted and portrayed on screen. Whoever wrote it did their homework, because although it has been given a spin for the television show, a good amount of the Wiccan/Pagan dialogue almost spot on.

The story deals with the Master's attempt to gain ultimate power by summoning up Azal, the last of the Daemons. The Daemons (pronounced demon - daemon is just the old English spelling) were an ancient race who manipulated other younger races as part of some vast experiment, including early humans which explains legends of demons and of the Devil himself. Once again however, the Master hasn't fully thought his schemes through very well. At the end of the story, the Master is captured and taken away by UNIT at last.

There is a moment in the story when the model of a church explodes in flames. Apparently for the 70's audience, it seemed all to real and the BBC received complaints for them destroying a real church just for television. It does make you wonder I think.

The Daemons is also perhaps the first time that we see the show really do a horror themed episode. I find that some of the better episodes have been those which have the freakier or more scary approaches.

Even as I sit here writing this, I can't help but think that The Daemons is possibly the best story from the Jon Pertwee era. If you haven't seen it, I recommend checking it out.

Episode #58 : Colony in Space

"You’ll never understand. I want to see the universe, not to rule it."

Episode 58:       Colony in Space.
Companions:    The 3rd Doctor and Jo Grant.
Air Date:           Six episodes. 10th April to 15th May 1971.

The Time Lords discover that the Master has stolen their secret file on the Doomsday Weapon. They grant the Doctor a temporary reprieve from his exile on Earth to deal with the crisis. Jo and he arrive on the planet Uxarieus and become enmeshed in a struggle between an agrarian colony and a powerful mining corporation.

For the first time since Jon Pertwee took over the role as the Doctor, we get him off of Earth and out in to space again. The Time Lords sent him and Jo to prevent the Master from finding and using an ancient weapon of mass destruction before he can hold the rest of the universe to ransom with it. As an episode hook goes it doesn't really see a lot of time except near the climax of the story. Most of Colony in Space is action and some politics as the Doctor tries to deal with two conflicting sides (colonists and corporate miners) who both claim the planet as theirs. The Master meanwhile pretends to be an arbitrator sent from Earth to settle things.

It is a nice change of pace to get back away from the Earth bound UNIT stories and the issues dealt with are even more relevant in the modern day than they were in the early 1970s. The story deals with ruthless corporate interests over the plight of the common man (or worker). As it is portrayed, even Earth has become very draconian in its dealings with colonists. A possible look at our future perhaps?

Colony in Space is not the most interesting or gripping of stories but it is worth a watch. The Doctor and Jo both get some good moments of screen time, especially Jo, for whom this is her first visit inside the TARDIS and her first experience with time and space travel.

Episode #57 : The Claws of Axos

"Obviously the Time Lords have programmed the TARDIS always to return to Earth. It seems that I am some kind of a galactic yo-yo!"

Episode 57:   The Claws of Axos.
Companions: The 3rd Doctor and Jo Grant.
Air Date:        Four episodes. 13th March to 3rd April 1971.

A group of gold-skinned aliens land on Earth and offer wondrous technology in exchange for fuel. The Doctor, however, isn't fooled, uncovering the Axons' true nature and once again facing his arch enemy the Master.

In this excellent story the Master is up to his old tricks again, only this time he has messed it up before the start of the episode. He is attempting to use the Axons, in fact a single being in multiple forms, to destroy the Earth only they have taken him captive.

The Claws of Axos follows a typical science fiction trope of an extraterrestrial race coming to Earth, offering advanced technology in exchange for something reasonable, but being in fact evil invaders. In this case it plays out quite well starting with the arrival and turning into a base under siege type story as the Doctor and the Master try desperately to find a way to defeat the Axos entity.

The Master is supposed to be this uber genius villain yet, as I have mentioned before, his plans never seem to work out mainly because of his own incompetence. Although it is some what annoying, in a good way, it does diminish him somewhat as a major villain.

At the end, the two time lords succeed in getting the Doctor's TARDIS to take flight and they are able to look the Axon's ship into a permanent time loop. However the Doctor is not free of his exile yet for the Time Lords have made sure that whatever happens he would always return to Earth.

The Claws of Axos is one of the better stories of this period and well worth a watch.

Episode #56 : The Mind of Evil

"Do you think for once in your life you could manage to arrive before the nick of time!"

Episode 56:   The Mind of Evil.
Companions: The 3rd Doctor and Jo Grant.
Air Date:        Six episodes. 30th January to 6th March 1971.

The Master plots to plunge the world into war through a complex scheme involving an alien entity that feeds on evil and fear, a prison riot, and a stolen nerve gas missile.

Lets see if this makes any sense to anyone else. The Master uses an alien parasite to drain the evil from men's minds (turning them into innocent child-like individuals) so that he can take over a prison, free the inmates and get them to steal a nuclear missile so that he can start the third world war. It sounds rather far fetched and unusual, and doesn't make much more sense on screen.

We also see the Master for all his evil brilliance is really not as sharp as all that. In most of the stories in this time of the show the Master sets up some dastardly scheme only to have the Doctor point out an obvious flaw that we, the viewers, picked up on ages ago and he has to switch sides to stop his own defeat.

UNIT is shown as performing duties other than hunting for aliens and monsters. In this story their job is protect delegates from governments across the globe as they talk to avert war. The soldiers still get to amass a small body count however against the inmates of the prison.

I have to be honest and say that this isn't a great story by any means. It tries to do the James Bond thing again and fails to pull it off properly. The BBC are trying to give the show a different feel under Jon Pertwee but the political intrigue and world domineering isn't very well done.

Episode #55 : Terror of the Autons

"I am usually referred to as The Master!"

Episode 55:    Terror of the Autons.
Companions:  The 3rd Doctor and Jo Grant.
Air Date:        Four episodes. 2nd to 23rd January 1971.

The Earth is in terrible danger when an evil renegade Time Lord known as the Master arrives at a circus run by a man named Luigi Rossini and steals a dormant Nestene energy unit from a museum. He reactivates it using a radio telescope and uses his hypnotic abilities to take control of a small plastics firm run by the Farrel family, where he organises the production of deadly Auton dolls, chairs and daffodils.

This story features the return of the Autons and the introduction of a villainous time lord calling himself The Master! The Autons are more of a secondary villain in this tale as it focuses more on the introduction of the Master as a major recurring bad guy for this season of the show. The Master is played exceedingly well by the actor Roger Delgardo. His appearance with goatee, mad staring eyes and his voice immediately make the character a hit.

Elements of this story, mainly an Auton plastic troll doll and a killer inflatable plastic chair, were part of a campaign by Mary Whitehouse and others, who claimed that the show was too frightening for children. Of course the hype only served to make the show more popular. The show would get many such complaints in the 70s and early 80s.

We get an introduction of two new characters starting with this story; Mike Yates - a new addition to the UNIT team, and Jo Grant, a rather ditzy young girl would replaces Liz Shaw as the Doctor's companion. Although Jo and the Doctor don't hit it off immediately, the two of them have great chemistry. Jo will go on to be one of the memorable companions of the classic show.

Terror of the Autons isn't a bad story but it could have been better I feel. It mainly serves to introduce the Master and Jo Grant.

Episode #54 : Inferno

"Listen to that! It's the sound of the planet screaming out its rage!"

 

 

Episode 54:    Inferno.
Companions: The 3rd Doctor and Liz Shaw.
Air Date:        Seven episodes. 9th May to 20th June 1970.

 

UNIT is providing security cover at an experimental drilling project designed to penetrate the Earth's crust and release a previously untapped source of energy. Soon however the drill head starts to leak an oily green liquid that transforms those who touch it into vicious primeval creatures with a craving for heat.
The Doctor is accidentally transported by the partially repaired TARDIS control console into a parallel universe where the drilling project is at a more advanced stage. Thwarted by his friends' ruthless alter egos, he works to save both universes.

Inferno is an excellent story that keeps you fixed throughout. The story deals with two elements: a drilling operation that has gone too far and threatens to destroy the world, and an alternate dystopian Earth where the drilling has gone too far allowing the Doctor to learn how to avert disaster.

The story deals with a mining operation led by an unscrupulous man named Stahlman who seeks to drill down into the core of the Earth looking for something he has named Stahlman's Gas. Unfortunately all he finds initially is a strange green goo that transforms those who touch it into weird green furred primitives called Primords. The effects for these look awful and remind me far more of the old werewolf effects from the 1930's wolfman movies.

From there an accident sends the Doctor sideways in time to an alternate Earth where Great Britain is a dystopian society. Much like the classic mirror universe Star Trek stories there are evil versions of the characters from the Doctors universe, including an evil version of the Brigadier and Liz Shaw. On their world the drilling has punctured the core and the release of energy has set the Earth on the path to fiery death. The Doctor must find a way to travel back to his universe and save the Earth.

Although the story is really good elements don't make much sense. Why does the green go create Primords and why do they want to bring about the end of the world? That never gets explained. Also, considering that later on in the show we learn that Torchwood managed to drill down to the Racnoss ship at the centre of the Earth, why didn't they encounter the problems presented here? Think too much and there are continuity issues here.

Unfortuantely this is the last time we see Liz Shaw. No goodbye. She just doesn't return in the following season. The character of Liz is another strong female role and I wonder if she was replaced because it is easier to have a screamer type companion who can ask questions and needs to be rescued.

Episode #53 : The Ambassadors of Death

"No, no. You vanished first. I only seemed to have vanished because you went into the future, and I wasn't there yet."

Episode 53:   The Ambassadors of Death.
Companions: The 3rd Doctor and Liz Shaw.
Air Date:       Seven episodes. 21st March to 2nd May 1970.

The Doctor joins UNIT's investigation of the mystery surrounding Mars Probe 7. Space Control, headed by Professor Ralph Cornish, has had no contact with the astronauts on board since it started back from Mars seven months ago. Now the Recovery 7 rescue mission has run into similar difficulties.

The Ambassadors of Death is a difficult story to review. It features a mix of fairly typical science fiction elements along with aspects of conspiracy, first contact with extraterrestrials and action sequences. All together it is an odd mish-mash that also makes it tough to follow. The story deals with a first contact with an alien race who are never identified. For some reason it leads to a conspiracy on behalf of a military officer who first encountered them while part of the United Kingdoms space missions to Mars (though the aliens are not from Mars), who fears they are violent aggressors.

The alien ambassadors are not named and for some reason following the orders of the men who have captured them. These aliens are fed by radiation and can use it as a weapon to burn out electronics and even kill with a touch. They are not evil however, just being forced to serve.

Because the story is such an odd mish-mash it feels like it runs far too long when the length of the story overall is about right. The real problem is that the story just ends and you are left hanging with unanswered questions. What happens with our contact? Do they aliens leave or do they maintain contact with us? They are never mentioned again so I assume they leave, disgusted with mankind. A little explanation would have ended the story better.

This is another story to prove that the Whoniverse is not our own. The UK has its own space agency and in 1970 we have already reached Mars with manned craft, despite the Americans only just reaching the Moon a year earlier.

Overall it isn't a great story and it is another where I found myself looking to flick through books or whatever was at hand. Not a good sign.

Episode #52 : The Silurians

 

"My dear Miss Shaw, I never report myself anywhere, particularly not forthwith."

 

Episode 52:   The Silurians.
Companions: The 3rd Doctor and Liz Shaw.
Air Date:       Seven episodes. 31st January to 14th March 1970.

 

At Wenley Moor nuclear research facility, they're experiencing technical difficulties. The source is something old, the former rulers of the Earth, and they have awoken.

 

This story introduces a new villainous species, the former inhabitants of the Earth, a species that we call the Silurians. Not an accurate name but it fits for the purposes of the story. Fearful of a global catastrophe, the Silurian race entered hibernation along with some dinosaurs awaiting a time when the Earth would have been restored to being able to support life. Unfortunately the catastrophe never happened and their technology has broken down, preventing their awakening. When this group awakens they find that mankind has arisen in their place.

 

We are also introduced Bessie, the Doctors new car while he is exiled to the Earth. Throughout his time, the third Doctor upgrades the car to be something more suitable to him, and the start of that can be seen towards the end of this story.

 

I find the end of the story a little blunt however. The Doctor wants mankind and the Silurians to live together in peace. Throughout the story this seems to be his primary objective and at the end he thinks he may have started that. Unfortunately the Brigadier, under orders from the British government, blows up the hibernation compound, which upsets the Doctor greatly. Although he was following orders, I think it strips the Brigadier of something and he comes across as callous.

 

The Silurians is a very good story and I fully recommend it.