FTA: Doctor Who Classic: Spearhead From Space, The Androids of Tara, Full Circle and Logopolis

This second volume of articles from Celebrate, Regenerate! covers the Third and Fourth Doctors. (See here for more on this project.)

Spearhead From Space (120 Words)

(Main article.)

Spearhead From Space is the definition of an archetypal Doctor Who story, and it defines the Tom Pertwee era almost as much as Inferno and Planet of the Spiders simply through a combination of luck, skill and what really feels like hard work. The story’s greatest blessing comes directly from the initial strike which prevented them from using video, and while it does start the Colour Era off very grainily, it also makes sure that the beginning of Pertwee’s time on the program looks and feels epic. Adding to that is the absolute wunderkind that is Robert Holmes, whose script mixes humour, scares and interesting concepts to provide not only a great opener, but also a monster that would be remembered by children around the country for the rest of their lives. 

The Androids of Tara

(Main article.)

So often these days, The Doctor is off saving the Universe time and time again. I remember the good old days. When The Doctor wasn’t saving a galaxy, or even a planet, but a small feudal kingdom on a planet of humanlike aliens far away from everything we know. The Androids of Tara, a barefaced if loving adaptation of The Prisoner of Zenda, takes Doctor Who the furthest it has ever been into the realm of fantasy, facing us with Princes, Princesses, Counts and Peasants, as well as the odd robot dog. What I love most about Androids is simply that the story not only adapts the fantasy setting to a more Doctor Who world, but that the transition is completely seamless. Only Doctor Who could take entire scenes from another work word for word and mess around with it enough for it to feel like a bona-fide Who classic.

     The story’s most memorable feature is by far the erstwhile Count Grendel, a villain whose villainy extends to such epic proportion that by the end he’s given up all pretence and is simply telling the officials around him to abide by his evil plans for the sake of common decency. His goatee, his incredibly potent voice – Grendel is, after maybe Count Scarlioni, one of the Classic Series’ most fun standalone villains simply for how much he gets away with. My favourites of his scenes are the scene in which he casually tells the Archimandrite that he needs a Wedding, a Funeral and another Wedding in quick succession, and his final words – “Next time, I will not be so lenient!”

     The story also allows us some fun with doppelgangers, allowing Mary Tamm a whopping four credits as Romana, Princess Strella and the android duplicates of both. Luckily, the story avoids playing this device for comedy, and thus it’s an actual shock when The Doctor appears to strike Romana down at the end of part Two. On that. This story’s cliffhangers are great too. First our heroes randomly start to fall unconscious, then The Doctor bludgeons Romana in the back of the head, and then Grendel manages to steal Romana from under The Doctor’s nose. It all ties together to produce a story that, while derivative in the extreme, is fun from start to finish in all of the good ways. 

Full Circle

(Main article.)

My first encounter with this story came due to the wondrous popularity of my name, which informed me as a child that this was the story that apparently I had written. That had always made me excited to see it, even when I learnt about (and experienced) Adric’s bad turns. For me, this was a sign that surely this JNT guy was great – hey, he allowed fans to write for the series. I think I secretly hoped that one day I’d be able to write for the revived series, and while that hasn’t quite come true I do spend a lot of my free time writing articles, like this, about my favourite TV show.

     What, then, of the story? What Full Circle does exceedingly well is to take a sci-fi idea and make it work in lots of different directions. The story’s main boasting point (and its biggest spoiler, don’t say I didn’t warn you) is the reveal near the end, where it’s discovered that the suspiciously-human-looking Alzarians are not the descendants of settlers from Terradon, but instead the hyper-evolved descendants of the planets’ native Marshmen, who had rushed to fill in the void when the crew of the Terradonian ship had died. There are subtle hints as to this throughout the story, presenting the idea of hyper-evolution and, unlike a lot of its bedfellows in Season 18, executing it properly.

     The story’s biggest contribution to the series is probably Adric, named after influential particle-physicist Paul Dirac (who predicted the existence of Antimatter) and possibly one of the least-liked companions in the show’s history. Of course most people will tell you that he’s not as bad as the stereotype says, and I’m one of those people. Despite how whiney and annoying he can be sometimes, at heart Adric is just a perfect representation of a troubled teenage boy trying to fit in. He’s flawed, sure, but those flaws fluctuated with his writers and in his initial story he’s actually one of the highlights.

     Narratively, Full Circle presents a strange turn for Classic Who, at least in this stage of its life. Two seasons prior had seen a big arc in the form of The Key To Time, but this was the first time that a narrative arc (or, more commonly for the JNT Era, a trilogy) had been dropped in the middle of a season. I’m strange, really, in that I think that Full Circle is perhaps the most entertaining story of the three in the E-Space Trilogy. It has cool monsters, an interesting and well-executed sci-fi idea, and proof of sorts that fans can actually write good Doctor Who. Which is always a nice thing to hear.

Logopolis
(Main article.)

It was the end of an era that had lasted seven years. The Tom Baker years are often heralded as the show’s Golden Age, featuring classics like Genesis of the Daleks, The Pyramids of Mars, The Hand of Fear and The City of Death. It’s strange then, that Baker’s final story in the role doesn’t hearken back to those halcyon days but instead chooses to look forward to the style that would be prevalent in the rest of the JNT era.
     The first outing of the Ainley Master shows off both sides of his character – the cackling, scheming madman and the clueless panto villain. One gets the feeling that this Master has bitten off more than he can chew, but he always manages to adapt his schemes to cause the most pain and suffering as is possible. In fact, going by death count, this accidental scheme is the Master’s most profitable, managing to destroy one quarter of the entire Universe. It’s amazing how his first serial manages to be so representative of his tenure – bumbling and incompetent most of the time, but dangerous when he manages to succeed.

     Logopolis is rather unique, in a way. There’s no setup, no normal, “The Doctor lands on planet X, meets villain Y, defeats villain Y and pops on his way.” No, the story (for the most part) feels a lot more fluid and refreshing. And while in some parts this manifests as Tegan trying to blow up a spare tyre, elsewhere it provides insights into The Doctor and Adric’s characterisations. This structure provides the story with that unique feeling that Tom’s swan-song needs, as well as facilitating the wonderful sense of forboding that the character of The Watcher creates.
     Important to note is that Logopolis not only ends the Tom Baker era, but also the wonderful Season 18. I like the storyline running through the season, but I tend to get bogged down when it comes to the individual story. Bidmead’s vast supply of technobabble doesn’t make this story any different, but what it does do is tie together the season’s themes of entropy and loss together into a single thesis.
     And so the era of Tom Baker is over. But don’t worry. For the moment has been prepared for, especially by JNT. At the end of this story, the TARDIS is stuffed with three companions, two of which have arrived somewhat traditionally and one which doesn’t really need to be here. Together, they advance into Doctor Who’s uncertain future – the true beginning of Eighties Who. It may be the end of one era. But there’s another still to come.

Thanks

Review: Doctor Who Classic: Terror of the Autons

For Josh's article on this story, see here.

"The more he avoids the moment, the greater my ultimate
satisfaction." From nerdculturepodcast

Doctor Who - Season 8, Story One - Terror of the Autons
Written 14/9/13

"I am known as The Master. Universally." And so Season Eight begins, the season in which the villain is always The Master in disguise and in which he continually hooks up with alien intelligences just to piss The Doctor off and then saves the day at the last second due to their sudden but inevitable betrayal. Terror of the Autons follows this pattern with very little fuss, allowing Roger Delgado to shine in his premier as the ruthless, inventive and somewhat understated Master, while the villains from last year's premier hitch the ride for a series of sometimes hilarious and always disturbing murders, obviously concocted from the mind of a serial-killer left inside a Toys R Us.
     The Master shows up and steals a Nestene power device from under UNIT's nose, hypnotising his way into a Plastics Factory and assisting the Nestenes in creating a preliminary force to distract Earth's forces prior to a full-on invasion. The Time Lords send a strangely dressed man to warn The Doctor about his old enemy (appropriate, as The Doctor is at the top of a radio telescope at the time) and he follows The Master's evil schemes as much as he can. Bumbling new assistant Jo Grant (replacing Liz Shaw) gets hypnotised along the way, even though she comes good along the way and together Jo and The Doctor follow The Master's scheme to the point where The Doctor is able to convince him that the Nestenes will probably kill him too (cos he looks human and all) and to stop their scheme.
     Whereas the previous lot of Nestenes were all about freaky plastic dupicates and shop-window dummies, these guys are more sadistic and inventive, with serial-killing plastic dwarves, film-spewing daffodils and the stretching-credibility-for-a-cliffhanger telephone wire. While being in the presence of The Master is immediately a constant buzzkill for their presence, they are certainly more intimidating and it's much more believable when we're told that they can control all plastic when they literally do just that. In hindsight one could argue that they were trying to scrape the barrel a little bit on the concept, and a few of the executions do bring this to the light, but all things considered there's enough frightening stuff here to justify their frightening reptuation - the reputation that led to their placement as the villain of the revival's pilot.

I apparently get a starring role in this story...
From docoho

     Ainley was my Master, but the original is rather superb in his way. The character is at this absolute best here, where the execution is at its most fresh. The character outline of being the Moriarty to The Doctor's Holmes works perfectly, and it's especially satisfying to see the dozens of little plots and plans get played off one after the other and to see The Master himself enjoying performing them. He's also fantastically quote-worthy;  "Now, come, come, Doctor. Death is always more frightening when it strikes invisibly."
     The days of gritty realism and visiting a different high-tech research facility every week are definitely over, and Doctor Who begins to stray away from the sci-fi and crime drama influences of the previous season and into something that, while not as painstakingly brilliant as its predecessors, is far more distinctive. Whether I'll still enjoy The Master and his plots another 21 episodes down the I'm not sure, but at this early point in the season it looks as though I'd have a fair chance of enjoying myself.

Thanks.

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Even though my original plan was to carry on and finish Colourised Who, I tried watching Mind of Evil and the slog that is the Pertwee Era and the general vibe of early 70s stopped me dead in my tracks. It's been fun watching Classic Who, but for the meantime, I'm dropping out. Thanks for reading my Classic Who reviews over these past few years, and I'll see you next time.

Overview: Doctor Who Classic: Season Seven

The Brigadier, Three and Liz form a fascinating trio.
From doctorwhotv

Written 24/8/13.

In the past I've often separated my enjoyment of seasons into stories that I enjoy and stories that I, in some badly guided objective sense, think are actually good. Season Seven falls into that latter category, and against a big great heaping set of odds that in later years would have us all ringing the doom bells and foreseeing a complete and utter disaster. The line of Doctor Who "firsts" reads like the Prince of Bavaria's Christmas list - first serial in colour, first to be radically shortened, first to feature the Third Doctor, first to take place entirely on Earth. There are probably some more too, but I'll get to that. Season Seven was produced at a time when the show had decided to take budgetary concerns very seriously, but despite the constriction that being stuck on Earth should give the season, it instead gives it a platform upon which it bases its four exemplary stories.
     Not having to produce alien environments instead opened the series up to human settings, creating a definite style in which we spend the vast majority of our time in scientific research institutes, each being threatened by aliens/precursors and all of whom treat Jon Pertwee's burgeoning Third Doctor with a healthy degree of skepticism. Helping this along is the appearance of UNIT, the signature of the Pertwee Era, headed by Nicolas Courtney's Brigadier and assisting in the hiring of a new companion in the form of Caroline John's Liz. The use of this regular cast of characters in the same locations sweeps away the idea of "The Doctor and companion(s) in the TARDIS" for at least another four years, and instead presents The Doctor as an eccentric man in a very human working environment.
      This would be difficult to work with, if not for the deceptively long serials that occupy this season. Despite actually being the shortest season since the show's inception at that point in time (25 weekly episodes forming four distinct serials), the serials within are all still very long by modern standards, with all but the first lasting a blistering 2 hours and 55 minutes if viewed at once. The downside and the upside is that there's a lot of room for the serials to develop character, atmosphere, themes etc. with the show's relatively slow pace. On the downside, it means that the ideas and events are split up to the point where by the end a lot of the detail is lost on a modern viewer. (I hate to generalise, but my only sample is myself.) On the upside, this development does allow the season to create four very solid sci-fi ideas in a way which is both narratively bold and fundamentally entertaining.

Pertwee's Doctor is a dashing humanitarian hero.
From grufainia

      And those are my only criticisms. It's a personal thing that I think I've talked about before - I'm just a heathen when it comes to old TV, no matter how much Classic Who I've watched. I'm used to the pace of the 80s, where The Happiness Patrol manages to combine brash political statements with absurdist fun and have it sorted within the time it takes to commute to work. It's clear to me that Season Seven is immensely well-constructed, with the level of control that's apparent in the writing making it perhaps feel more professional and slick than it ever made out to be. Season Seven wants to be taken seriously, it wants to do this right and it doesn't have that many resources to do it with. But, a few dodgey Dinosaur props notwithstanding, this season has stood the test of time and remains one of the best, if not the best season of the show from an objective viewpoint. And that's no small accolade.

Thanks.

Review: Doctor Who Classic: The Ambassadors of Death

An iconic cliffhanger. From Wikimedia

Doctor Who - Season 7, Story Three - The Ambassadors of Death
Written 1/9/13

Doctor Who is known to borrow entire plots and premises from other works, then executing them in such a way that despite the remnant elements of the original, it stands out firmly as its own piece of work. This is true in the later years of the Classic Series and it is clear in the earlier ones, even though to modern viewers the premise of this story may be unique in and of itself. Despite this, The Ambassadors of Death is similar in quality to its Season Seven bedfellows, mixing well-executed high-concept science fiction with Doctor Who's trademark messages, reflecting not only Humanity's avarice but also its capacity for compassion when all the facts are available.
     A space probe has launched off from Mars after having lost radio contact for some time. When the recovery capsule returns, a mysterious group of people go out of their way to hide the occupants, who are alien beings hidden in the astronauts' spacesuits and who are forced to kill and steal for their human masters. The Doctor, immediately suspicious, tries to help find them, fighting along the way the continued efforts of those who have kidnapped the aliens. Eventually he takes the recovery capsule up to the ship, and discovers that the three aliens are the races' ambassadors, and that they are willing to trade the original astronauts for their people. The Doctor gets back to Earth in time to help the Ambassadors free themselves and to save the astronauts and Earth.
     The serial takes its premise from The Quatermass Experiment, a popular British science-fiction serial from 1956 in which astronauts return from a mission only to have been possessed by alien spores. The antagonist of the story (spoiler alert, even if this story is from 1970), General Carrington, seems to be a representative of that story's themes, in which the aliens are hostile for the sole reason that they are different and the protagonist is forced to destroy them before they invade earth. Ambassadors displays this as a sort of mania, instead showing us that in this case, the aliens are perfectly peaceful and that it is man's manipulation of them that has led them to their actions. It's a statement against prejudice, a statement about what good mankind can do to each other.

The aliens' culture is not important here - it is their sheer
alienness which drives the story's themes. From Wikia

     Unlike the season's other seven parters, which wouldn't hurt to shed and episode or two, The Ambassadors of Death earns its runtime and uses it to build us a sense of mystery and intrigue. The continual and seemingly omnipresent machinations of the organisation working against The Doctor and UNIT provide some interesting scenes, as well as a series of well-done battle scenes throughout the story that really don't pull their punches. Like The Invasion last season, there's a sense of the epic and the idea that there are going to be world-wide consequences to what happens here, which is something that the similarly epic The Silurians and Inferno never quite manage to do.
    As is custom on this blog, I've gone about this season in entirely the wrong order, but I'm glad that for now I've been able to appreciate what an astounding season this really is. The other serials in Season Seven had a style that took a while for me to get used to, but The Ambassadors of Death is by far my favourite for the sole reason that it's compelling and comprehensive from the outset, with very little padding at all. It takes a well-loved sci-fi idea and then executes it in a way which spins the message 180 degrees, turning it into a message of peaceful resolution of conflict that sums up in everything it does the messages that Doctor Who is known for, and the spirit that it pioneered so brilliantly in this fantastic season.

Thanks.

NEXT WEEK: Having done all of the other stories in Season 7, I move onto the next season, with the rise of The Master in Terror of the Autons.

Josh: Doctor Who Classic: The Daemons

Badly costumed Bok, Three and bloody Jo Grant

Doctor Who - Season 8, Story Five - The Daemons
Written between 2nd and 8th June 2012
"Fancy a dance, Brigadier?"

In the village of Devil's End people are dying without explanation though local 'witch', Olive Hawthorne claims evil is afoot and the deaths are a result of fright. Near the village, BBC Three are covering the excavation of the Devil's Hump with Professor Horner. When the dig begins at the start of the Pagan  festival; Beltane, they expect to find the treasures and tomb of a warrior chieftain. At UNIT, the Doctor and the others watch the television broadcast. Jo speculates the coming of the Age of the Aquarius and the supernatural which the Doctor scoffs at. However, as the dig starts and Olive protests and warns of danger, the Doctor believes her so he and Jo head off to Devil's End. During a sudden gust of wind, Olive is nearly struck down by a police officer under a trance as she goes to visit the vicar. It appears he has been mysteriously replaced by Mr Magister who is really the Master. The Master assures Olive nothing bad will happen but she dismisses him and goes to find someone to believe her. When the Doctor and Jo get lost and end up in a pub, a villager informs the Master of the Doctor who tells the man to prepare the ceremony. As the Doctor and Jo rush to the mound, the Master and 13 acolytes are chanting more and more frenziedly in a ritual in the Church's catacombs as the Master shouts the name of the entity; Azal, as the gargoyle Bok's eyes flash red. As the tomb is opened at the Hump,  icy winds burst out killing Horner and temporarily freezing the Doctor.
     After the village doctor notices the Doctor's two hearts and the latter starts to wake back up, Jo calls a confused Benton and Yates who agree to go to Devil's End the next morning by copter. The Master then prays as the police officer who had been in a trance falls to something gigantic which has risen. When Benton and Yates fly to Devil's End they spot massive burnt footprints on the fields. Yates contacts the Brigadier who calls himself a car to come down also. Benton finds Olive trapped in a cupboard in the Master's verger where a man called Garvin has locked her in. Garvin then appears with a rifle so Benton attempts to disarm him but seizes up on a stone the Master has marked. However, Garvin is soon engulfed in a heat wave that spreads right across the village waking up the Doctor.

Hipster Master was summoning the Devil before it was cool

     Olive and Benton venture to pub where Olive tells the Doctor of the Magister and realises he's up against the Master, again, and that she saw a large horned beast.  The Brigadier's unable to access the village due to a heat barrier as he's briefed. In the Hump, the Doctor and Jo find a small spaceship like the Hump as Bok tries to attack them. The gargoyle's own superstition drives him away when the Doctor talks in a strange language. The Master hypnotises the squire, Winstanley. The Doctor tells that all the horned gods in mythology over thousands of years have been the Daemons from Daemos who arrived 100,000 years ago. The shrinking and growing of their spaceship causes blasts of both cold and hot waves which have created a heat wave dome over the village. The Daemon the Master has summoned was small causing the cold wave but on the third summoning it will be massive causing the end of the world. The Doctor orders UNIT technician Osgood to set up a diathermic energy exchanger to break the heat shield. On the way to the barrier to explain the Doctor is attacked via the helicopter controlled by a hypnotised Tom Girton but the copter is destroyed. The Master summons Azal again who curses the Master for doing so.
     The Master wants Azal's power but he refuses to give it to him. Azal may give the Master control of Earth if he thinks him worthy after meeting the Doctor or he might destroy the planet on third summoning. After explaining the exchanger, the Doctor is captured by hypnotised villagers to be burnt alive. Olive and the Doctor convince the villagers to release him as Benton tricks them with his silenced gun and the Doctor with his remote controlled car; Bessie. Jo and Mike witness the final ritual as Jo fails to prevent it. Azal manifests himself as Jo is offered for sacrifice. The Doctor explains how psychokinetic energy of humans is used to summon the Daemons. The exchanger works so UNIT get through the barrier with it before it explodes. Bok guards the entrance to the catacombs but the exchanger weakens him so the Doctor is able to get into the ritual. As UNIT attacks Bok with all their weapons, Azal goes to kill the Doctor as the former wants humans to be left alone. However, Jo then self-sacrifices herself and the confusion turns Azal into stone before the church blows up. The Master fails to escape in Bessie which is remotely controlled to come back so the Master is arrested under maximum security as UNIT, the Doctor, Jo and Olive celebrate May Day.

The Master rocks out in a ritual

Doctor Who is known to be purely that of science-fiction so when this serial began to deal with more supernatural themes I immediately became a fan. This serial's intelligent script is able to show the diversity between the supernatural and science and how the two can conflict on many occasions depending on the situation. This serial really alienates the Doctor as he appears to be the only person who realises it isn't demons and myths causing everything but science. This therefore just reinforces the idea that we should remember the Doctor is of much higher intelligence than any other character as well as being from a different species and this serial highlights his individualism. This serial is filmed differently and to be honest I love it. The direction excels the previous stories in this season and the many pieces of camera trickery used have worked efficiently such as shaking and obscure angles give the tone of the serial are more quirky, rough edge to it. This serial also sees an entirely different side to the Master. For the previous four stories of the season the Master has been coldly calculating and intelligently intimidating. This serial though exposed his desperation for power and the extremities of things he has to do to claim it even though his normal behaviour would usually defy it. This new side to the Master has helped develop him further as a character and so after a couple of mediocre performances, Roger Delgado is finally back on full form like he was in Terror of the Autons. Though the Master has been in each serial during this season we still haven't been able to explore his back-story and delved properly into his character. Having him arrested by UNIT as a cliffhanger leaves his story unfinished and the possibility that we can go and explore more about him. As a fan of the Master, I can honestly say Delgado's performances are fantastically acted and makes the character so very interesting.
     This has got to be season eight's most creepiest serial of them all. The supernatural rituals, unexplainable (at the time) random events, freaky weather and, though badly costumed, daunting creatures. We've had a variety of moods to this season as we've had the camp frivolity of Terror, the politics of Mind of Evil, the colonisation argument in Colony and the science of Claws and now we have the chilling supernatural of Daemons. I'd like to point out that Damaris Hayman's Olive Hawthorne takes the prize for the most annoying character for the season. Her character could have been potentially interesting if it hadn't of been for the silly over-acting and taking of the stereotype of a believer in mythology and witches but Who has taken that and given it to her and it's awful. Though this isn't a scratch on the previous season finale Inferno, I'm very glad this was the only serial of the season which didn't use any of the recurring plot devices such as group takeovers, extended gun battles. Instead we did have another capturing of Jo Grant, twice, again. So, I'd like to take this opportunity to complain about how I, let's not say hate but majorly dislike her. Jo's got to be one of the clingiest, most annoying companions that the Doctor has had. Though she doesn't meet the standards of Five's Adric, I don't find her too likable. She's supposed to be a scientist yet seems undoubtedly dim-witted and without common sense. She seems to be recycled between the same plot devices of being captured and near death every serial and yet Three isn't sick of her yet. Well, frankly, I am. I don't see why she hangs around when all she does is cause more trouble and complain about it later. Anyway...

COME AT ME BRO! (This-is-awful)

     The action sequence involving the helicopter, the motorbike and the car has got to be the most exciting action sequence of the season. It isn't overlong like all the others and is cleverly well-filmed. The special effects used in this serial are particularly jarring and not spectacular like others we have seen but are used for good effect when needed. I'd also just like to have a fan-boy moment as I spotted two of the most famous Classic Who lines; 'Reverse the polarity' and 'five rounds rapid.' I'd also like to say that its difficult to comprehend how Mike is higher up in the ranks than Benton when there's such a big age gap between them. Also, I'm happy Mike is back here and is featured heavily because as a new character to the show we haven't seen that much of him until now. I'd also like to say how I'm liking the adaption of Benton into a fighting man all of a sudden. Now, something I mentioned earlier was bad costuming. Our aliens, the Daemons, are not very well made even considering its the early Seventies, they could of been such better. Considering Azal is supposed to be this horrid Devil-like beast the voicing doesn't suit the character and I didn't find him that intimidating at all. Still, I like how Who here has tried to explore the effects of mythology on smaller, rural communities which is possibly still occurring today. Though there was a lack of sci-fi in the serial to explain certain things, the use of the supernatural made this story unique. It's humorous (remembering the Grand High Wizard - the Doctor), contains a intelligent script and delivers a visually chilling set of episodes. By far is this the best serial of the season making up for the disaster that was Colony in Space and an excellent finale. Due to it's originality and indifference to previous stories and defying Who's set conventions, Daemons deservedly earns its title as one of the more successfully popular stories of Classic Who. I definitely enjoyed this one.

Thanks, Josh.
P.S. This is my last Classic Who review until further notice, I may or may not resume sometime during the summer holidays, so, stay tuned.

Josh: Doctor Who Classic: Colony in Space

Jo takes her first trip in the TARDIS

Doctor Who - Season 8, Story Four - Colony in Space
Written between 6th and 7th May 2012
"I did a course in escapology...once."


Colony in Space is significant concerning Classic Who's history. It sees the first off-Earth colour narrative with a newly updated TARDIS interior and companion Jo Grant's first trip within it, the first of any companion to travel in it since Season Six's 'War Games'. Michael Briant makes his directorial debut for Who, soon going onto direct popular serials such as; 'The Robots of Death' and 'The Sea Devils'. The science fictional comment in the script by Malcolm Hulke is based on relations between European Settlers and Native Americans. Now let's explore this six part serial;
     The Master has stolen the Time Lord's secret file on the Doomsday Weapon so fix the Doctor's TARDIS so he and Jo materialise on planet Uxarieus in 2472. An excited Doctor free from exile and scared Jo off-world for the first time meet Ashe, the leader of a human colony who are struggling to survive. They have an uneasy truce with the Uxarien primitives, their crops are failing without reason and members are being killed by 'monsters'. They also fear losing their colony in favour of the Interplanetary Mining Corporation who want rid of the colonists so they can take the planet's rich source of duralinium. The humans not wanting to return to their repressive, polluted Earth object to IMC's wish for the much-needed mineral for profit. As Captain Dent from IMC calls for the Adjudicator to make a decision on who has rights to the planet, a man called Norton arrives claiming to be the last survivor of another colony attacked by the same monsters that are killing colony members. The Doctor investigates to find the monsters are actually holographic images produced by an IMC machine and the killings are a result of one of their employees. Norton's revealed to be an IMC agent who kills the colonist's chief scientists and vandalises their power supply as Dent tries to get the Colonists to evacuate.

Before Corrie, Helen Worth could act, and very well!

     As the IMC and the colony engage in armed hostility the Adjudicator, who's really the Master with falsified credentials, arrives secretly in search of the Doomsday Weapon. When Jo is taken hostage by the Primitives, the Doctor discovers the Guardian and the last of the ancient Uxariens. The Doctor, as long as he and Jo do not return to the Primitive city, manages to escape being executed. The Master rules in favour of the IMC which sees Dent threaten Ashe with execution for the colony's crimes unless they all leave. With no other choice, the colonists must leave in their spaceship whose conditions are so poor it explodes in flight before Jo and Caldwell, an IMC employee helping out the colony. Jo is then locked in a chamber in the Master's TARDIS and the Master threatens her death by gas if the Doctor doesn't help him find the Doomsday Weapon. So, the Doctor and the Master go to the Primitive city and in the Guardian's chambers find the Doomsday Weapon. The weapon can turn any sun supernova, and the Master wants universal control and offers the Doctor a partnership but he declines. The Doctor convinces the Guardian the weapon caused the fall of the Uxarien civilisation from greatly scientific to primitively religious. The Guardian lets the Doctor destroy him, the weapon and the city. Jo has been set free by Caldwell and the Master escapes in his TARDIS. Thanks to Ashe flying the ship alone, all of the colonists escaped and overpower the IMC. Confident the real Adjudicator will rule in their favour and the fact the radiation from the weapon caused their crop failure, the colony's future is now secure. The Doctor and Jo return to UNIT seconds after they left unbeknown to the Brigadier
     Colony in Space is one of season eight's more mixed serials. Whereas the previous three stories had the ability to be judged either as good or bad, Colony has some excellent moments balanced by scenes where I sat back thinking; 'Oh no...'. Colony is very clever and grapples with a challenging basis for a storyline excellently. The present day finds the concept of colonisation popular amongst scientists, to be seen as an option of what to do when things go wrong in the future. Though this serial was released in 1971, the script clearly identifies the possible problems humanity could face in the future. This is why I like Colony, because it delivers a brilliant exploration into the human agenda, how normal civilians behave when found in situations that cannot possibly control. Malcolm Hulke's script addresses an everyday, serious issue, merging the fiction of Doctor Who with what's going on in the real world. Colony's exposition of human nature is really what makes it satisfying to watch. Though, I can admit the usage of one of Classic Who's many quarries works well as the backdrop for this more, gloomy serial. Colony's adventurous attempts in CGI are very, well done for the time and because we're on another planet for the first time everything becomes very much more visually interesting.

The Guardian...the only Uxarien to speak...in a silly voice...

     So, though the aesthetics and examination of human nature makes Colony stand out from the previous three stories in this season there are several times where everything isn't going Who's way. Again, we were exposed to multiple use of Three's martial art skills. Yes, this can be acceptable when the character genuinely needs to escape a dangerous situation but several occurrences in this serial saw Pertwee's Doctor use of violence unnecessary on various occasions. His Doctor's violent attitudes to innocent Primitives and people damns his flamboyant image. Along with this, there seems to be a development of recurring ideas within this season. Each serial has seen a senseless array of gun-fights and takeovers from two forces alternately. After such an outstanding ending to season seven and the fantastically characterised introduction of the Time Lord villain the Master, season eight is letting itself down in this area. I'm become a little down-hearted that these stories are becoming to similar to one another and need more differentiation. With repeated storyline ideas all crammed into the same season, serial after serial, Season Eight becomes a little tiresome.
     Though I fully understand the integration of the character is essential, the Master's appearance for the fourth time in a row is becoming too predictable. His motive is usually the same and the coincidence of him and the Doctor meeting regularly is becoming most unlikely. Still, Roger Delgado's Master is great to watch. If there wasn't as many ridiculous moments such as Jo's claim to of done a course in escapology when she's tied up or the portrayal of the Guardian, then Colony could a much more enjoyable serial. I put off watching this for a while and there was a reason why. Colony isn't the most entertaining of Classic Who spectacles but it can be enjoyed in the sense that it's Pertwee's first off-world adventure. Not a very well executed but still a well-performed, gritty serial that leaves the Master available to reappear for the season's finale!

Thanks, Josh.

Review: Doctor Who Classic: The Sea Devils

The Sea Devils invade! Mwahahaha!

Doctor Who - Season 9, Story Three - The Sea Devils

What would happen if the Silurians was done again, with all of the soldiers as Navymen and with The Master as a spanner in the works? Malcolm Hulke's six-part sequel to The Silurians is by and large a much more consistently entertaining outing, if only by its comparative brevity. I wasn't looking forward to the Sea Devils because of my disinterest with this era of the show, but I was pleasantly surprised once the rather dull beginning gave way to a tale that most definitely surpassed its predecessor.
     Having been imprisoned by the authorities after Season Eight finale The Daemons, The Doctor and companion Jo Grant visit The Master (Roger Delgado). As they're about to leave, they discover that there have been a spate of killings in the area; boats going missing. As The Master conspires, The Doctor discovers that the killings are the fault of The Sea Devils, a soldier caste of reptiles that lived under the Silurians and had adapted for amphibious life. The Master reveals that he plans to help the Sea Devils, reviving their colonies and allowing them to commit Genocide upon humanity. When The Doctor attempts to make peace, human beaurocrats follow the orders given in The Silurians and try to destroy them with artillary. This fails, only making them angry. The Doctor sabotages their machinery and escapes, just as the base self-destructs.
     The most immediate thing you notice is the music, which is similar to that of its predecessor. It's jarring and often painful - sharp techno slurs at pitches usually reserved for the ears of small animals. A lot of the time it adds to the feel of the story, but quite often it just doesn't fit at all. However, nothing comes close to one scene in The Silurians where the already high-pitched beeping increases in pitch and volume for about a minute. Ouch.

Ol' Roger Delgado is helping the Devils.

     As for my opinion of the Delgado Master... this was somewhat of a new experience for me. The Delgado Master is a very different beast than the Ainley one I've been used to on my Five marathon, mainly because Delgado is the origin of all of Ainley's traits (at least in Season 19). He's suarve yet dirty, confident yet cowardly. A schemer of the more realistic kind. His presence here at least gives the six-parter something more to do, but it's a shame he takes over in a story called, "The Sea Devils." The eponymous creatures, in the end, only end up sprouting the same ideas from The Silurians but being a bit more aggressive about it.
     In this period of Doctor Who there are a lot of imperialist themes, and this story uses the Navy a hell of a lot. It helped that both producer Barry Letts and John Pertwee served in the Navy, and so they had the experience to go on. The presence is rather noticable, but it is to the story's benefit, as the eager Navy servicemen formed an army of extras for the team to use. It's a very sharp contrast for the anti-authoritatian attitudes of the Saward era.
     One of my problems is that the first half of the story is spent in the Prison environment, which is an interesting detour in the first part but then does drag a lot, considering that everyone there ends up dead anyway. This is still a four-part story that's had to be extended, and it drags. There's this one scene in Part Two where the the Doctor, out of nowhere, begins to have a swordfight with The Master. It made me giggle like mad, because it was completely over the top and clearly there just to bolster the story.

Sea Devilssss ssssay Byeeee Byeeee

      Still a little flabby around the edges, but The Sea Devils continues the Silurians' pedigree in theme and style. In parts it was a tremendously exciting piece of television. It may be from an era that isn't particularly my style, but it was very well made and performed by all those involved. The Sea Devils is yet another Doctor Who Classic to go down in the history of television.

Thanks.

NEXT WEEK: We start to look at the impressive Season 22, with Attack of the Cybermen (Revisited).

Josh: Doctor Who Classic: The Claws of Axos

The Time Lord enemies work together

Doctor Who - Season 8, Story Three - The Claws of Axos

The season long Master arc of Season Eight continues with the creators of K-9 and Omega; Bob Baker and Dave Martin writing our four-part instalment. The tag for this one is; 'The Axons promise Earth a golden age of prosperity and big frogs.' Let's hope it isn't as cheesy as it sounds.

     UNIT detect a UFO is heading towards Earth as the Brigadier, the Doctor, Jo, Yates and Benton are holding a conference with a security inspector; Chinn and an American agent; Bill Filer to discuss the threat of the Master. Chinn fails to destroy the craft with a missile, the craft then is detected to have landed nearby a power plant causing freak weather conditions, it then opens to reveal tentacles that bring a homeless man into the ship, scan him and consider him not usable so kill him. They also capture/scan Filer and keep him for further investigation along with fellow captive; the Master. The Doctor, the Brigadier, Chinn and two scientists from the power plant who shot the missiles go into the ship where the Doctor is also scanned but left alone. There they find the Axons whose world was destroyed by solar flares and now they need to refuel on Earth, in return they offer Axonite (a 'thinking' molecule that can replicate any substance). Seeing the possibility of unlimited food and power Chinn and the Nuton scientists are transfixed as they all overhear Jo's screams as she's followed them and met some kind of monster on her way to find Filer. The Axons blame her hearing on hallucinations which the Doctor agrees with, Jo doesn't accept this.
     Chinn accepts the gift of Axonite on behalf of the planet as his men put UNIT under security arrest and take control of the investigation into how Axonite works though the Doctor is allowed to assist one of the scientists; Winser. Elsewhere the Master and Filer fail at escaping and are reimprisoned for reasons unknown. The Doctor then tries to use a particle accelerator to discover Axonite's true meaning. The Master then strikes a deal with the Axons to help them distribute Axonite worldwide in order for his freedom but his TARDIS stays with them. The Axons duplicate Filer as they need a Time Lord and the duplicate goes to capture the Doctor but is killed by the real Filer who has escaped. Winser then interrupts and is killed by radiation from the Axonite which spawns monsters that turn into Axons. Axos, Axonite and Axons seem to be all the same thing as the Doctor and Jo are taken captive as the Master starts to hypnotise Chinn's men.

The Axons in one of their many forms...

     The Axons remove memory blocks the Time Lords put in the Doctor's head to allow him to reveal to them the secrets of space-time travel. The Axons plan to drain Earth and move through the universe for fuel. Meanwhile the Master has no intention of helping the Axons but tries to fix the Doctor's broken TARDIS to escape, he tries hooking it up to the power complex where he's caught by the Brigadier and troops. The latter had arrived as the Brigadier had spotted one of the Axons in monster form making its way there. Chinn has now begun to export Axonite worldwide under the UN's orders. The Axons having control of the power complex have the potential to cause a nuclear explosion but the Brigadier agrees on the Master's freedom if he helps to stop it. The Master plans to reverse the power of the Axonite against the Axons killing the trapped Doctor and Jo in the process. However the plan fails and the Doctor and Jo escape for the Master and the Doctor to work together but the Doctor plans to escape Earth and leave it to it's fate.
     As the Axons attack the power complex the newly fixed TARDIS materialises in the Axos where the Doctor makes a deal with the Axons to link ships and take on the Time Lords. They agree as the Master tries to escape in his own found TARDIS. The Doctor tricks the Axons and traps them in a time loop causing all Axonite to disappear worldwide, the Doctor just manages to break out the loop and escape a detonated power plant. The Master's fate is left unknown.
     With a predictable yet casual entrance for the Master the Claws of Axos delivers a serial with various surprising events. The Master himself isn't our main villain for the first time this season even though he has a moment where he nearly works with the Axons. Instead we're shown a different, interesting side to the Master which sees him willing to do anything to help him escape to freedom even saving UNIT and working with the Doctor. We also saw a different side to the Doctor which disappointedly turned out to be a total charade, or was it? The fact he was willing to let Earth be consumed by the Axons in order to escape for himself showed a selfish, darker side and what appeared to be the need for revenge against the Time Lord High Council who exiled him. This serial is also visually excellent with it's use of sets and costumes for the Axons, the grandeur of the serial in terms of CG work and directory is the best of the season. It also makes me wonder whether the budget had been bumped up considering the firing of the previous serial's director who overspent though compared to this Mind of Evil appears cheap.

...and in another one.

     The script for this serial is clever in many ways with it's multiple twists and turns as you never know really what's going to happen next. It was a shame we never got to see any more productive dialogue between the humans and the Axons as we saw in the first episode. I'm also happy that we've been slowly drawn to new ideas about time travel such as the time loop and the reintroduction of the TARDIS was a successful addition to the resolving of the problem. I also find myself admiring the slight political aspect to this serial that was eventually thrown out of the window with the plentiful amounts of gun-violence as per usual with Pertwee's stories. The fact we had some kind of satire was different to this season's previous two stories and made things much more interesting. The satire studied the human condition which sees the endless possibilities of power overthrow the potential negative outcomes of taking advantage of the opportunities. The Claws of Axos takes it's time to get going and has a brilliant satirical side to it's story which is sadly dwindled to an attack of monsters. However, we explore different aspects to our regular characters in a serial that eventually becomes exciting but fails to beat it's predecessing story in terms of enjoyment and creativity in plot terms.

Thanks, Josh.

Review: Doctor Who Classic: The Silurians

The Doctor tries to reason with these strange reptiles.

Doctor Who - Season 7, Story Two - Doctor Who and The Silurians

Whatever you can say about JNT, there was one decision he had right on. Six and Seven part stories are too long. But I shouldn't let that cloud my judgement of today's story, The Silurians. The second colour serial, The Silurians took on a challenging set of themes concerning environmentalism and race issues by using the titular creatures as a proxy. The seven-parts are irritating for me, at least, but the story is incredibly well performed, written and directed - just as one would expect from a Season 7 story.
     Under the caves on Wenley Moor, workers are attacked, survivors reduced to a primitive state. Workers at the nearly Nuclear Plant suffer headaches. The Doctor and Liz, intent on discovering the source of these issues, discover The Silurians - ancient intelligent reptiles whose civilisation reaches back before the evolution of Man. A Silurian is forced up onto the surface, and The Doctor tries to reason with them. He speaks with the leader of the tribe, who is more than willing to co-exist with Man, but advances by UNIT into the caves incites the Silurian Lieutenant to take over and release a virus upon Humanity. It spreads out onto the Continant as an epidemic, as The Doctor races for time to try and find the antidote. He does so, but is captured by the Silurians. As he saves The Doctor, the Brigadier bombs and completely destroys the Silurians - much to the Doctor's dismay. Ultimately neither side comes out morally sound.
       In opposition to their later portrayal in Warriors of the Deep, the Silurians here have very distinctive characters and it's amazing how articulate these flimsy rubber costumes can be seen to be. Their heavy infantry, the Dinosaur, did give me Myrka flashbacks but at least its paint was dry. Notably, throughout the first two episodes the Silurians are only seen from their point of view, which is a wonderfully atmospheric move by director Timothy Combe which keeps the story's suspense throughout its first hour.

The Silurian on the surface.

     This story benefits from Season 7's stellar guest cast; notable performances include those of Peter Miles, Geoffrey Palmer and Fulton Mackay. Miles, a villain in two later stories (including the perfect Genesis of the Daleks) is the wonderfully anal and later deranged Dr. Lawrence who plays this story's Stahlmann - trying to look after his scientific institution and being beset by disease before dying painfully. Geoffrey Palmer... Geoffrey Palmer is just awesome.
     Compared to the Eighties, I will admit that the direction for this story is just on a different level. Not spending so much time in the Tardis or on alien spaceships, there's creative use of lighting, great cut-shots and an awe-inspiring sense of scale. Back in The Invasion you didn't really believe that London was being invaded by the Cybermen. Here you can understand why this disease has spread to the Continent and you do get the idea that this crisis is national rather than restricted to a field. The seventies' style is well-suited for the Third Doctor's requirement of sticking to Earth, and Season 7 is all the evidence you need to support this.
     If I have any criticisms, it's simply that the story is far too long. The plot can be condensed to four episodes, and you can see where the plot has been extended using extraneous plot lines. Inferno only really managed to avoid the problems of the seven-segment story because of the parallel universe dynamic, and even that comes out of absolutely nowhere. It's also a hell to review, because watching a seven-segment story twice is synonymous with watching the entirety of the Trial of a Timelord season!
     As an interesting note, this story is called Doctor Who and the Silurians because that was the name used on the production of the story. Usually the "Doctor Who and" would be removed, but this once the story ended up keeping its working title - to the consternation of many a fan, as the title implied that "Doctor Who" was the character's name. It doesn't really have any bearing on the quality of the story, but I thought I had to mention this unique mess.

The Doctor is forced to watch genocide - by the Brig's hands.

      At the end of the day, The Silurians is part of Season 7, a season that didn't get its extraordinary reputation for no reason. It's brilliantly directed in a true Seventies style, and its messages are portrayed incredibly well by a set of Silurians with much more fascinating characterisations than its successors. It may be far too long for its own good, but it's worth the watch

Thanks.

NEXT TIME: Two seasons later, we meet The Sea Devils and their Master.

Spearhead From Space Previous ------- Next Inferno

Josh: Doctor Who Classic: The Mind of Evil

The Doctor and Jo visit Stangmoor Prison

Doctor Who - Season 8, Story Two - The Mind of Evil

Jon Pertwee's second season as the Doctor becomes serialised as we meet the Master again in one of the darker tales of the Time Lord.
     We find the Doctor and Jo visiting Stangmoor Prison where Professor Kettering, in the absence of the inventor Emil Keller, is experimenting with the Keller Machine to enact the Keller process which removes negative thoughts in order to cure criminality. However, it causes some distress to it's test subject hardened criminal; Barnham whose reverted to a child-like state. At the same time both Kettering and a surveyor of the experiment both die of their fears when near the machine alone though neither were near anything. Jo just manages to save the Doctor when it appears he is enveloped in the memory of the 'Inferno'.
     Elsewhere, the Brigadier is heading security of a World Peace Conference where Captain Chin Lee of the Chinese delegation reports of missing papers, which she secretly burns, and of the Chinese delegate's death 30 minutes late on a secure line. As the Doctor and Brigadier investigate she manages to use the Keller process on Benton who follows her, where it fails, and then the US delegate who survives, before being deconditioned and found to be working for the Master. At Stangmoor a prisoner; Harry Mailer accesses a gun and temporarily takes control of the prison before hostage Jo allows the guards to take control. Then after hearing UNIT discuss the riots at the prison the Master supplies Mailer with gas bombs and takes control of the prison as the Doctor turns up. The Master plans to use the prisoners as a private army to hijack a Thunderbolt missile being transported by UNIT, in order to wipe out the conference and cause World War Three. He takes the Doctor and puts him into the Keller machine to experience his fear of Daleks and fire. However when the Master & the prisoners are affected by the machine too the Master switches it off, leaving the Doctor with Jo in a coma state whilst he experiences his fear of the Doctor and seals off the machine. The machine itself appears to be a life-form who feeds on fear.  When the prisoners hijack the missile Captain Yates is caught in the crossfire and taken hostage as UNIT investigate. The Doctor and Jo escape the cell as the Master leaves & the machine learns to move and starts to kill prisoners and then them.
     The Doctor and Jo are then re imprisoned and the Doctor is forced to try and control the machine by the Master which he succeeds in doing before the Master organises the set up of the missile at an aircraft hangar. Assuming the missile's at the prison the Brigadier comes to the rescue 'Trojan horse' style and UNIT takes back the prison killing Mailer in the process. As the machine becomes out of control the Brigadier heads to hangar after an escaped Yates informs him of the missile's whereabouts. The Doctor, Jo and Barnham are then attacked by the Keller machine however it appears as all the evil in his mind was removed that Barnham is immune to it when close. The Doctor then calls a meeting with the Master where he'll exchange the missile for his dematerialisation circuit from 'Terror of the Autons'. There Barnham and Jo are ready to use the machine on the Master and UNIT are ready to blow up the missile destroying both the Master and the machine. In a struggle the Doctor loses the circuit to an escapee Master who threats to destroy Earth one day and gloats about his freedom of the universe.

Benton goes undercover.

     With identical cliffhangers for parts one, three and four this six-part serial saw particular ideas repeated as the story progressed as well as many gaps. Season Eight already has begun to develop a familiar format just two stories in with recurring shoot-outs between UNIT and the bad-guys as well as the Doctor cancelling the Brigadier's raids just to meet the Master's needs. With this already been done in the previous story it doesn't feel as inventive or entertaining as it did the first time round. Continuity errors and a large hole in the plot of this serial really lets it down which is shame considering the standards it achieves. With the random disappearance of the entire police force and half the prison as well as an absent sonic screwdriver I'm left thinking this has been for plot purposes to the writer's advantage yet it leaves things messy. However, my main problem is the fact that the purpose of the Keller machine is never explained or what the Mind Parasite as it's called really is. It's like we've just been thrown an object that kills people yet as a heavily featuring and presumably important part of all six episodes I'd thought it'd have some significance.
     Nevertheless the story sagged at the beginning but soon picked itself up giving Jo Grant's character something to do and we finally got an exploration into the Doctor and the Master's relationship. It appears the Master isn't all he seems and is genuinely afraid of the Doctor and the Master becoming a regular in the show needs his character examined more and more as we progress as he's an interesting character study. Again for the second time around in the season we've got some brilliant CG work for the time but the thing was it was all well over budget! The great directorial work in this serial will never been seen in again in Classic Who's time as the director was fired and never seen again for his budgetary mistake. On the other hand we warmly welcome back writer Don Houghton who wrote 'Inferno'. Though it was a cop-out to use aspects of that serial we're given a truly chilling tone with a realistic and daunting prison atmosphere. With a jarring musical score that fits with the FX of the machine the Mind of Evil is one of the darker stories of the Pertwee era, clashing with the previous romp of the Autons. Ignoring Pertwee's incessant and pointless martial arts tricks on his fellows there's some superb acting and a cracking storyline to go forth with. I'm looking forward to seeing more of Captain Yates and the Master as I continue my journey of Seventies Who.

Thanks, Josh.
P.S. It's a real shame I couldn't access this in colour. Still, black and white's lovely.

Josh: Doctor Who Classic: Terror of the Autons

After his contribution to my Inferno review, Josh a series with some of his views on Classic Who. So, without any ado, here's Josh's review of Terror of the Autons. Archie.

Farrel surrenders to UNIT as the Master

 Doctor Who - Season 8, Story One - Terror of the Autons

The serial that opened Season 8 and Jon Pertwee's second as the Doctor saw the introduction of three new characters. Mike Yates, a UNIT Captain, Jo Grant, the Doctor's new assistant and the Master his Time-Lord adversary. The latter would become the Doctor's main arch-nemesis who would become a recurring villain in the Classic era and still be one of the show's staples in the present day. For his introductory story the hypnotic psychopath tries to use the Nestene and the Autons for his own use.
     With the help from a hypnotised circus owner Rossini the Master is able to steal the sole surviving Nestene energy unit from the National Space Museum. As the Doctor forcibly is made to accept Jo Grant as his new assistant, the Master then hooks up the unit to a radio telescope after killing the technician and taking the professor in charge under his control. With news of the missing men from the telescope facility the Brigadier, the Doctor and Jo investigate where the Doctor's warned by another Time-Lord that the Master is there to try and kill him. In the meantime the Master posing as 'Colonel Masters' hypnotises Rex Farrel the young owner of a plastics factory to make Autons, his father is suspicious of the Colonel. Jo who is investigating the factory  is caught, the Master wipes her mind of him and hypnotises her to open up a bomb pretending to be the found energy unit in order to kill the Doctor at UNIT. The Doctor throws the bomb away and gets Jo out of her hypnotic state and she's unable to remember the Master's whereabouts. The Master at the same time kills a suspicious Mr McDermott with an inflatable chair and later sends home the elder Farrel with an ugly plastic doll that strangles him to death at his home.
     The Doctor goes looking for Professor Phillips at Rossini's circus, both Rossini and Phillips under the Master's control. Jo, against orders, has followed the Doctor and both are temporarily imprisoned by Rossini who captures them, when free Phillips tries to kill them with a grenade. Appealing to his better nature the Doctor manages to get Phillips to try and rid of the grenade but it kills him. The Doctor and Jo are then attacked by Rossini's circus to be saved by two Autons posing as policeman shortly followed by the Brigadier and Yates. The Doctor and Jo escape the car they're in to witness a firefight between UNIT and the Autons, UNIT win and all return back to base. There the Doctor reveals he's managed to steal the dematerialisation circuit from the Master's TARDIS but it isn't compatible with his and so realises both him and the Master are stuck on Earth. Autons then disguise themselves in carnival outfits handing out plastic daffodils to the public which start to kill people. Investigating the elder Farrel's death the Doctor figures out which company the Master has been working at to produce the Autons and takes back the ugly doll that kill elder Farrel to UNIT. In that time the Master, disguised, has installed a new telephone wire and Jo is then attacked by the doll before its killed by Yates. The Doctor believes heat causes the 'alive' plastic to become sinister but is soon proven wrong. UNIT find out the Autons have chartered a bus with young Farrel and plan an air-strike as the Doctor is nearly killed by the plastic phone wire activated by the Master. It appears radio signals activate the plastic and a plastic film that dissolves in CO2 has been killing people.

Who said telephones weren't dangerous?

     Coming to retrieve his dematerialisation circuit the Master takes the Doctor and Jo hostage when he finds out about the airstrike which is called off. Farrel coming back to normal diverts the Auton bus and the Master sets off to the radio tower to activate the Nestene invasion force. The Doctor and Brigadier follow as the Autons and UNIT battle, the Master then helps the Doctor stop the invasion realises he'd die with the human race too. In the hubbub the Master escapes later to be shot dead by Yates but it turns out it's Farrel in a mask and the Master is somewhere on Earth for the next adventure.
     'Terror of the Autons' is slow and rather mildly entertaining during it's first two parts. Episode three's beginning sequence suddenly picks up the pace of the story. The serial is more or less a parallel and more camp version of Spearhead from Space but with the Master at the helm. There are some brilliant action sequences and very interesting plastic based deaths but characterisation following such events is short-lived. The story in perspective is your generic end-of-ther-world-by-invasion plot but still an interesting concept. The best part of the serial is our introduction to Delgado's magnificent Master who's true nature develops over time but when his character is formed we understand him in a way. TOTA leaves the audience speculating what's next for the Doctor and the Master and leaves things very open-ended about their history and relationship. It's a new dynamic to the mythology of Who at the time and was the inventive thing to do to keep it going strong in it's eighth season. Beginning as a slow-burner season opener radically changes and things become more exciting with a repetitive yet insightful musical score. The special effects and stunts are surprisingly good but the constant bickering between the Doctor and the Brigadier becomes predictable and sometimes time-wasting.
     Still, Terror of the Autons gradually becomes a well-written action romp with only few Autons and an interesting insight to the Doctor's mysterious past. A particularly effective season-opener but with a lot more potential in certain areas. It's a shame more screen-time wasn't available for Pertwee and Delgado's characters to talk or that Katy Manning's performance is a little empty. Still, the Pertwee-Era remains strong.

Thanks, Josh.
P.S. As Archie mentioned; I'm back. And I'm here every week to review Season 8 and onwards through the Seventies era.

Review: Doctor Who Classic: Inferno (Revisited)

The parallel universe offers up interesting new characters.

See here for my previous look at this story.

Doctor Who - Season 7, Story Four - Inferno (Revisited)

While I'm a big fan of the Eighties, I do recognise that there are clear problems in the show's development team. Season Seven is completely and utterly different. The team, used to working on the Sixties era, took the new tech avaliable in the Seventies, added a new Doctor and ran with it, producing what is oft considered one of the show's finest seasons. Inferno is no exception, and regularly appears at the top of best episode polls.
      My first impressions of the serial when I first saw it back in 2010 were that the opening episode felt too slow. That is the serial's genius, however. The setting may not be exciting but these new characters are incredibly well-written and acted, meaning that our full cast of characters is already established and running by the time the story begins. Crucially, it also contrasts that which we see in the alternative Universe. For example, the jovial relationship between Greg Sutton and Petra Williams in our world becomes one of sharp difference, with Petra as a tool of the state and Greg as the unwilling underling.
      One also has to look at the story's context. In 1970, the worlds of Parallel universes and the like were in the domain of pure science fiction; Inferno took this concept into the living-rooms of a nation and applied it to a set of characters loved by the British people. And, even by today's standards, it's a fairly ggood execution of the plot template. The fact that the Doctor effectively loses for the first time is a big part of the story and makes the otherwise completely irrelevant parallel world storyline one of the story's most important aspects.

The Primords are good for what they are.

      The Primords are a difficult matter because they're a relatively low-scale sci-fi idea trying to co-exist alongside the parallel-world dynamic; the story's original plot, fighting with a more highly skilled immigrant. But despite that, the virus-esque nature of the Primords and their appeal to more savage, early-human tendencies takes the escalating circumstances of the Inferno scenario and sharpens it into something immensely powerful.
      I'll admit now that I'm not really a Pertwee fan. His Doctor always comes across to me as arrogant and snobbish without any of the compassion or charm to make up for it. Despite the violent and erratic nature of the Sixth Doctor, you always knew that he could save the day - something that, as Inferno shows, is not always the case here. However, I get the feeling that Pertwee's excursion to the other world tones his personality down somewhat - so as not to compete with entertaining turns by the rest of the regular cast in their parallel guises.
      And now I'll give you to Josh for his first impressions of the story.

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This is 1970. Ignoring the technical faults that were bound to be a regular occurrence in television on any programme at the time, this is remarkable. I'm not just saying that as a Whovian, but 'Inferno' grapples some interesting sci-fi concepts whilst able to study the human condition and hand us some pretty decent monsters. I'm new to Classic Who and so for me it takes the story a while to get going but after the interesting second part cliffhanger things continually went upwards in my estimation. Even though the Dr Who team faced budget-cuts, they do their best to produce some great-looking aliens and the constant sound of the drill fits the tone nicely, enhancing scenes instead of spoiling them. Considering the fact that Inferno is reaching it's 42nd birthday, the visuals provided for the first in-colour season finale are excellent and I like the idea of the lava opening credits.

Douglas Camfield and Barry Letts direct.

     Down to the story; we've got two different plots running parallel to each other - The Parallel Universe and The Drilling plots. It's clever how the two interweave with one another nicely and make the concept even more innovative. Inferno is the first time Doctor Who does parallel universes and the fascist British regime we're shown seems chillingly realistic. To add to this, the performances from our regulars in that side of the plot are played naturally well. Jon Pertwee is on fine form but Nicholas Courtney's 'Brigade-Leader' steals the limelight with the strongest performance. The soundtrack to the story is unique and genuinely spooky and there's plenty of juicy dialogue and action sequences to thank the writer Don Houghton and the directors; Douglas Camfield and Barry Letts, for. Inferno is one of the staple serials of Classic Who's history and now I can see why; with its superb acting and wonderful direction it delivers a chilling tale that ties up Pertwee's first season nicely. A new Classic favourite of mine.

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I'd like to thank Josh for his perspective there.

     Inferno is a great story on many levels. It takes two scientific ideas not used much on 70s TV and executes them together with the utmost style, not only showcasing the cast but providing the finale for an excellent season of Doctor Who. It's one of the best, and while it isn't my favourite, it showed me just how good Doctor Who can and should be at its heights.

Thanks.

NEXT WEEK: I'm half-human. On my mother's side. We revisit the TV Movie.