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.