Doctor Who and the Silurians

Previous viewings - few

(Yes, it's Doctor Who and the Silurians, not The Silurians, production trivia is just that, trivia)

As Terrance Dicks is so fond of saying, this story was borne out of a desire to avoid the usual invasion of Earth or mad scientist scenario (did they ever do a straightforward mad scientist story? Robot might be the closest). Having monsters who aren't really monsters, but rather intelligent beings who happen to be reptiles, and who are native to Earth and want it back, is a fantastic alternative, because it opens up some political and moral issues in how they're dealt with. Even after seven episodes I think there's more mileage in the idea than is allowed for in the time available.

Malcolm Hulke writes Doctor Who and the Silurians. His is a very distinctive writing style - it always feels like he's trying to say something with his Doctor Who stories with his thoughtful depiction of aliens and in this story particularly how humans would react to aliens beyond the usual shock or fear. At times, it seems he is not writing an action/adventure at all, but something far more character-driven where any action is a natural consequence of the situation the characters have been placed in. For some reason he tends to be given the longer stories too, which fits his talent for writing epic but managing to keep it about the characters.

Is this what people want though? It's not the most exciting approach to a story - some early pure historicals like The Aztecs and The Crusade did something similar but the longer stories always seemed to be your more typical monster invasion of Earth extravaganzas, and with good reason. I'm not complaining, I loved those historicals I mentioned, and I love this.

The Doctor and Liz are summoned to Wenley Moor to help investigate power failures at a nuclear research base which is built into some caves. It's surprisingly difficult to pinpoint where Jon Pertwee nails the character of his Doctor and decides to play it that way until he leaves the role, although it's definitely somewhere in this story - in Spearhead from Space there were moments where I felt the role was written for Patrick Troughton, but as more familiar Third Doctor trappings show up, that has faded. Here we get our first proper glimpse of his less than flattering view of humans and the military in particular, which given his exile on Earth is an integral part of his character IMO, and while at the beginning of the story the Doctor is somewhat flippant that soon passes.

Just to note also, we have Bessie! How can anyone not love Bessie? That car has more personality than some of the companions.

The story doesn't exactly have me on the edge of my seat in the first episode, first of all we're back in the studio with the familiar colour videotape, which is a comedown after Spearhead from Space being handed its atmosphere on a plate, and secondly the power failures at the station aren't the most interesting problem. The Doctor becomes interested in a crazed worker who has seen something in the caves and is now making cave drawings in his hospital room. One could call the pacing here slow, but I prefer to think of it as relaxed - slow implies that it should be faster, but there's something to be said for a story that doesn't rush to introducing the monster, allowing time to establish the human characters while setting up the plot points that will be developed later. It's never boring because as the Doctor gets interested, so do the viewers.

The key base personnel are the resentful Director Lawrence, played by stalwart Peter Miles, plus the friendlier Dr. Quinn and his assistant Dr Meredith. Lawrence is yet another variation on the irrational base commander but here his behaviour seems understandable as it's not only the Doctor but UNIT interfering with his operation, quickly bringing it to a grinding halt, and he is at least co-operative at first. Peter Miles excels at playing unlikeable characters and Lawrence ranks as among the most unlikeable, with an irritating obsessive edge to him thats probably too lacking in humour. Quinn I liked more but it's too obvious that he's the traitor.

Believing the problems to originate in the caves, the Doctor goes down there himself to investigate and is attacked by a dinosaur in the show's first CSO nightmare. However, the creature backs off when it's called away by someone else. After a brief UNIT incursion into the caves, one of the reptile creatures escapes and goes missing in the countryside. This is definitely padding - at the very least the search for the missing Silurian plotline is allowed to run on too long, taking up nearly two whole episodes, but it's not like that's the only thing that's happening - one of the good things about the UNIT format is that there tends to be lots going on at any one time. While the Doctor does his own thing, the Brigadier and his troops are out somewhere else, and the screentime is shared between the various parties.

The Doctor notices Quinn's suspicious movements and realises he has taken the wounded Silurian captive. I was surprised that Quinn was killed off but in retrospect it was a good move because first of all he had to die, and if he survived beyond the reveal of the Silurians en masse, he would have been on borrowed time and that could have tedious. The Doctor has correctly guessed that the Silurians aren't your typical monsters, and that any attack of a human has been because of a perceived threat. The turning point for the story is the Episode 3 cliffhanger, where the Doctor is confronted by the Silurian in Quinn's cottage, resolved by a friendly greeting from the Doctor, which the Silurian seems to listen to until he's scared off. It's a turning point because it's where the Doctor turns from investigator into peacemaker, as his main priority becomes preventing a war between humans and the Silurians in the caves.

Unfortunately, both sides seem to be against him. Having discovered that a large contingent of Silurians are waking up in the caves, the Doctor warns UNIT not to attack them, but the discovery of Quinn's body and the capture of Major Baker, plus the attacks so far, suggest the Silurians are dangerous, which is enough for everybody to support destroying them. For some reason, it's slightly uncomfortable to watch what is essentially the Doctor committing treason by warning the Silurians about the UNIT attack - it's been a long time since we've had reason to question whether the Doctor is morally right, or even naive. It's not a situation we often see the Doctor in, and I was struck by how much more three-dimensional a character the Doctor seemed as a result. He's never seemed less like a superhero, and it's brilliant.

After being captured in Episode 4, the Doctor spends most of Episode 5 negotiating with the good Silurian, who is a rare example of an alien who looks like a monster but gets characterisation and seems like a nice guy. The ancient inhabitants of the Earth, the Silurians want their planet back, but the good Silurian is receptive to the Doctor's suggestion that they inhabit the areas of the planet that are of little interest to humans. There's a sense of inevitablility to the outcome of this story because the Doctor's proposition is obviously not going to happen, but like the arrival of the Time Lords in The War Games, I can't help hoping that somehow we get that happy ending, even when I know we don't.

Obviously, there's a bad Silurian, who plots against the good Silurian and develops a virus intended to kill the humans, which he infects Baker with and allows him to escape to spread it. The Doctor is allowed to go free to try to contain the virus, but it's too late. Viruses in TV shows are usually restricted to a quarantined area, and for a while here it seems as though the worst has happened as the virus spreads overseas before the episode is out. I don't think this is padding because as the main 'bad' thing the villain does, it was needed, plus it justifies the Brigadier's later decision to destroy the Silurians and allows for some neat city location filming, which I always love (I think an effective studio-bound story is generally harder to pull off that something with plenty of location work).

The final action set-piece sees the Silurians attack the base (finally!) but the Doctor solves the problem by tricking the bad Silurian into thinking that his people must re-enter hiberation to protect themselves from the radiation from a reactor overload. Episode 7 is the most action-packed and action is welcome, but some reason it seemed shoehorned in, because a finale has to have lots of action.

As the story ends, the Doctor hopes to wake one Silurian at a time to make negotiations easier, but the Brigadier decides to destroy them while he has the chance, blowing up their entire network. It's a pity that we don't see the repercussions of this at the Doctor and the Brigadier's next meeting but that's probably beyond the remit of a family show and what we got did make a suitable ending for the story. Despite my noting that we're expected to take the Doctor's side, I'd say it only goes so far as to establish that fundamentally he is right - practically, the Brigadier's solution is the only solution. The Doctor's final line, "...but that's murder!" gives this viewer food for thought as the credits roll.

There are a few things I've not mentioned. First of all, the music! What was Carey Blyton thinking? The strange percussion sounds do their best to detract from the drama of this story, and is the sole thing responsible for this not being up there with Marco Polo. It's so distracting. Also, despite not having much to do here, Liz was better than in Spearhead from Space, and I prefer her new look to her old one.

All things considered, good show.

Horror quotient - As a deviation from the norm, the monsters aren't really monsters, but they still look like monsters. Less discerning children who don't pay attention to the plot might have been scared, or perhaps confused.
Comedy quotient - It's going to hard to get used to not giving the easy answer of the Doctor. There wasn't much going on here on that front.
Drama quotient - We're back to the times when drama was the highpoint, and I love stories like that. Mac Hulke scores his biggest hit.

A thoughtful, well-written story which manages its length particularly well. The Doctor hasn't been this interesting a character since 1964.

10/10

Spearhead from Space

Prevous viewings - many

Ask anyone what Doctor Who is about and probably one of the first things they will mention is the travelling about in space and time. As of this story, we've lost that, gaining a fixed setting for the series that will be with us for a few years. This is where Doctor Who was forced into a position where it had to change, however you'd be quicker pointing out the things that hadn't changed between The War Games and Spearhead from Space. More than any other 'relaunch' story, this one dares to hold onto viewers with its sheer quality and showing them how good the new setup is, rather than holding onto the past to reassure them that this is still the same show.

The first change hits viewers right away - a new title sequence, and it's in colour! I love the red swirls, it manages to keep the sequence mysterious. It's also interesting that with no regeneration this is our first glimpse of the new Doctor. The film look at first amplifies the feeling of newness, a shame it turned out to be unique too. It's not a perfect setup; when indoors it's sometimes too bright and the voices echo too much, however after a few scenes I barely notice.

Meteorites come crashing down (in quite a ropey special effect - so one thing hasn't changed!) in some woods in England. In the same wood, the TARDIS appears and the Doctor falls out, although we only catch the briefest of glimpses of his new face. While The Power of the Daleks spoiled us by dedicating the first ten or so minutes to the new Doctor before the TARDIS even reaches its destination, here that urge to see the new Doctor is exploited by delaying it, so that when he joins the action we're just glad to have the Doctor back, whoever is playing him. This has the benefit of allowing time to introduce Liz before the Doctor takes centre stage, however it does result in a first episode where the Doctor is hardly in it.

Anyway, the Doctor is found and taken to hospital by UNIT (bit of a coincidence!) and the (medical) Doctor there can't quite believe the x-ray showing two hearts and blood that isn't human. A porter hears about the medical mystery and reports it to the press. I really liked these hospital scenes. Every so often we need a reminder that above all the Doctor is an alien, mixing with humans who know nothing about aliens, and things can turn nasty very quickly if the wrong people know of his presence. It's purpose is really to alert the villains to the Doctor's presence but in a present-day London story I like these reminders that there's a world out there with real people doing ordinary jobs.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Shaw arrives at UNIT HQ and is interviewed by the Brigadier (strange that she isn't quite annoyed later that the Doctor takes over her job!). It's great to have Lethbridge-Stewart back, but given the bulk of his stories are in the Pertwee era, it retroactively makes his presence feel not so much like a return, but more that we've reached his era. Nick Courtney includes more humour in his performance here than before, likely to make him likeable given his new status as a regular. Liz also makes a good impression, seeming intelligent but in a more believable way than Zoe, whose intelligence was an aspect of her futuristic background. Liz also seems more mature than all the companions since Ian and Barbara, which is great in story terms as it lends credibility to her job as the Doctor's assistant. A shame that the establishment of the new Doctor leaves little time for development of Liz's character, as early on we're shown her skepticism that aliens exist, and this isn't followed up on. With so much going on it's easy to take Liz for granted, but the only thing I wasn't keen on was her look. I try to ignore the part of me that misses the uber hotness of Wendy Padbury.

The Brig and Liz arrive at the hospital where the Brig checks on the Doctor, however he obviously doesn't recognise him. Jon Pertwee is excellent in his first proper scene, the familiar mirror scene. I wouldn't say that Pertwee takes time to settle into the role, but at times the story seems to have been written with Troughton in mind (more comedy, less dry observations about the human race). However, I do think that Pertwee is the weakest of the three actors to play the Doctor so far - he's not bad, but while at their best Hartnell and Troughton were magnetic on screen, Pertwee never quite manages it. He makes up for this somewhat in the way he fuses with the role - it's never noticeable that he's acting, he just seems to be the Doctor, even in his more eccentric moments, handling his persona and quirks with ease. He'll probably always hover just outside my top five Doctors, but I still really like him.

Okay, a story with a lot to introduce is a story with a lot to comment on. Now lets get onto the story itself. The Doctor is kidnapped from the hospital by some sinister people led by a strange-looking man. He escapes but is apprehended by UNIT and taken back to the hospital. Pertwee's first cliffhanger comes off as pretty lame, with the Doctor apparently shot but as it turns out he wasn't, plus the absence of the sting at the end credits doesn't feel right at all.

The plot is a straight invasion, but not as in The Invasion. There isn't a strong villain, and the menace is kept as undefined as possible. We're never quite sure who the mysterious Channing is until the end, and some of the threat is kept ambiguous - Seeley, the man who finds a meteorite in the first episode, gets a surprising amount of screentime apparently just so we know the meteorites are important.

In Episode 2, we meet Ransome, a businessman who returns to his factory to discover that his partner has turned the factory to automation and changed their plans for the business. Ransome finds himself dismissed and forbidden to enter his former office, but he decides to investigate and finds some ready-made Autons, who come alive to attack him. He runs off and alerts UNIT (their penchant for being in the right place at the right time knows no bounds in this story!). Despite knowing little about him, I found Ransome a sympathetic character, we know what he thinks is only his job in crisis is much more and he can't handle the bizarre truth. I could have done without him drooling his tea though.

Meanwhile, the Doctor finally gets up and about, sneaking around the hospital in a bid for freedom (surely he could simply discharge himself?). Pertwee's at his silliest as he sings in the shower to get rid of the Doctor before he notices he's out of bed, then he steals a VIP's clothes and car and goes to UNIT HQ. In this new era, I've practically forgotten the travesty that befell the Doctor in The War Games. It's an interesting aside that the Doctor doesn't care about helping the Brigadier with the meteorite situation until he becomes aware that the TARDIS isn't going anywhere anytime soon. His attempt to make a quick exit after taking advantage of Liz's trust to get the TARDIS key could have come off as cold but Pertwee carries it off and turns it into quite a funny scene.

Unfortunately, once the Doctor decides to aid the investigation, the story becomes slightly less interesting, mainly because the Doctor has settled and the story itself isn't as gripping as The Power of the Daleks. What it does do is what should have been a difficult feat - making me forget about Troughton right away. By the end of the story, it already feels like Pertwee's been around forever.

Thats not to say the story isn't enjoyable. In the third and fourth episodes, the Nestene Consciousness, the intelligence behind the plastics factory takeover, sees to the replacement of UNIT General Scobie with an Auton (although he looks fake!), while the Doctor and Liz visit a mannequin gallery before making their way to the factory with the Brigadier, followed by a shootout between the Autons and the UNIT soliders while the Doctor and Liz tackle the consciousness. There's that iconic scene where Autons come to life in shop displays and smash their way into the street to menace shoppers - a great example of the clash between the ordinary and the extraordinary that Doctor Who does so well.

It does its job, however I always thought that actual villain wasn't so important to this story - the fact that it isn't revealed until the last possible moment supports this. The Autons are memorable, even if there's not much that can be done with them, and by the end of the story I'm sold on the new setup, even though the scope of the series has just been reduced quite significantly. It remains to be seen if the writers can support a story without the novelty film look and the diversion of all the introductions - all of this story's best points - but this is easily one of my favourite Pertwees.

Horror quotient - The colour makes a huge difference to the way horror works. The Nestene Consciousness is laughable, but the Autons are more successful.
Comedy quotient - It's not often cited as one of the funnier stories but certainly for the Pertwee era this is quite often hilarious, mostly because of Pertwee himself.
Drama quotient - Not sure. The way the Doctor is re-introduced is done better than the threat of the Nestene, but not to the extent that it jars.

Robert Holmes delivers his first classic, and the perfect template for the introduction of a new Doctor. Funny, scary, dramatic, it's a good all-rounder of a story. Pertwee couldn't have asked for a better beginning.

10/10

The Troughton Era

It's goodbye to the Second Doctor, the 1960s and black and white! Here are my final thoughts on the Troughton era.

Complete Troughton era rankings:
1. The War Games 10
2. The Mind Robber 10
3. The Web of Fear 10
4. The Power of the Daleks 10
5. The Tomb of the Cybermen 10
6. The Invasion 9
7. The Enemy of the World 9
8. The Macra Terror 9
9. The Evil of the Daleks 9
10. The Highlanders 8
11. The Seeds of Death 8
12. The Faceless Ones 8
13. The Dominators 7
14. The Wheel in Space 7
15. The Moonbase 6
16. The Krotons 6
17. The Ice Warriors 6
18. Fury from the Deep 6
19. The Abominable Snowmen 5
20. The Underwater Menace 4
21. The Space Pirates 2

Season averages:
Season 4 Troughton portion / 1966-67 7.71
Season 4 overall 1966-67 7.44
Season 5 1967-68 7.57
Season 6 1968-69 7.43

A good spread of scores with about the same average as Hartnells era, managing the same number of 10/10s with fewer stories. With Marco Polo, however, Hartnell still claims the top spot, and overall I'd say despite the growing pains, Hartnell's era is still the superior one, as Troughton's arrival coincided with an increasing sameyness to the stories, and a growing dependence on returning monsters.

It's interesting to note that Troughton's Doctor was poorly received by the audience at the time and viewing figures from his episodes never reached the heights of Hartnell's, despite received fan wisdom now telling us that Troughton is the real prototype for the Doctor, and his era is where the "behind the sofa" meme came from. I think - and I hate to say this - that if all the missing episodes were found, the era would be not be held in such high esteem. Seeing (or listening to) it all in context, immediately following the Hartnell era - as the viewers did at the time - makes it noticeable how formulaic the storytelling is, and that's a massive disappointment by itself, which I made an effort to get over before I considered the merits of each story. Much as I appreciate the strengths of the era - and the few stories which weren't a base-under-siege - at times it feels like the massive universe of the Hartnell era has turned into quite a small universe in the Troughton era, with the same events recurring endlessly with the same few monsters.

If held that against it, I wouldn't be able to see the great things about the era, and there were loads. The base-under-siege format gave us The Power of the Daleks, The Tomb of the Cybermen and The Web of Fear, which alone makes it worthwhile. The two finest stories of the era, The Mind Robber and The War Games, survive in their entirety, which is just fantastic.

The best thing about the era is undeniably Patrick Troughton himself. It pains me to admit it but he is a better actor than William Hartnell, and he creates an entertaining and fascinating character in the Second Doctor. There's a kernel of truth in the notion that future Doctors would follow his example, if only because all three 1980s Doctors cite him as their favourite. The writers have decided on the Docter's heroism as his defining characteristic, and Troughton has the absemindedness of Hartnell's Doctor and combined it with a greater dose of silliness (which I'm sure the kids loved), a greater rapport with his companions (especially Jamie) and a greater sense of the vast intelligence that lies beneath the harmless exterior. Cosmic hobo indeed. Troughton too shows on the whole a better understanding of the scripts, however far-fetched.

For all the reasons I listed in my Hartnell era summary, though, Hartnell is still my favourite. Troughton comes in a close second.

Stats:
Favourite companion: Jamie McCrimmon
Favourite alien: Ice Warriors
Favourite actor: Patrick Troughton, but Kevin Stoney gives him a run for his money!
Favourite actress: Wendy Padbury
Favourite cliffhanger: The War Games Episode 9 - stunning!
Favourite soundtrack: The Tomb of the Cybermen, I think
Favourite writer: David Whitaker
Favourite villain: Tobias Vaughn! "Packer!"

And the Troughton special category…

Favourite comedic scene: Any of Doctor Von Wer's scenes in The Highlanders

Modes of transport
My quest for a full account of the travels of the Doctor continues with the Troughton era:

As the driver
On foot (all stories)
TARDIS materialisation (all stories)
Climbing (The Underwater Menace, The Tomb of the Cybermen, The Mind Robber, The Invasion, The Space Pirates)
Swimming/paddling (The Enemy of the World)
Car (The War Games)
Helicopter (Fury from the Deep)
Space rocket (The Seeds of Death)
Canoe (The Invasion)

As a passenger
Sailing ship (The Highlanders)
Row boat (The Highlanders)
Elevator (The Underwater Menace, The Invasion)
Aeroplane (The Faceless Ones)
Dalek time machine (The Evil of the Daleks)
Car (The Enemy of the World, The Invasion, The War Games)
Being carried (Fury from the Deep, The Wheel in Space)
Helicopter (The Enemy of the World, Fury from the Deep, The Invasion)
Space rocket (The Wheel in Space)
Dulcian travel pod (The Dominators)
Being transported to the Land of Fiction (The Mind Robber)
T-Mat (The Seeds of Death)

Favoured mode of travel: Anything! Seemed to particularly enjoy paddling.

Reverse the polarity... colour begins in the Pertwee years :D.

The War Games

Previous viewings - none

My first marathon virgin viewing, and a story I tried to avoid learning details about until now - obviously there's only so much I can do with regards to the conclusion, being a turning point in the direction of the series and a frequent point of reference on the documentaries on the DVDs, but this is one case where knowing how it ends is okay, because it's as much a conclusion to the six years of the show so far as a finale to the story itself. The rest was nine episodes I was wary about approaching because when a story is highly regarded you have expectations, and for all I knew its reputation was mostly down to the final episode. I wouldn't rule that out, as it pushes a lot of fanboy-pleasing buttons, but what I found was that it's only the icing on the cake in finest Troughton story of them all.

After some explosive title captions, the scene is set for the TARDIS's arrival in no man's land, close to the German army perimeter in 1917. They're found by ambulance driver Lady Jennifer and taken to the British camp. The Doctor warns Jamie and Zoe that they've landed on the front lines of the first World War, a particularly nasty point in human history. The circumstances of their discovery prompts suspicion, however, and they find themselves accused of espionage, with their every attempt to explain themselves proving fruitless.

This is a very tense episode; the pace doesn't let up as the TARDISeers land in a pretty awful place and even from that starting point things get worse by the minute. In the best pure historical fashion, the idea of facing a firing squad feels scarier than any horde of lumbering monsters. Its a situation the Doctor should be able to talk his way out of, but he finds himself powerless to escape the death sentence as General Smythe seems determined to find him guilty at his court martial. We sense - as does the Doctor - that something isn't right, but everyone defers to Smythe so the Doctor's fate seems a foregone conclusion. I think a big part of the strong sense of danger here comes from the fact that the Doctor isn't dealing with a reasonable person or even staight-forward villain, his "opponent" is a mystery, secretly possessing sophisticated technology and controlling people's minds. We know not his motives or allegiance. This question mark hanging over the episode lends a lot to its impact. Interesting to note that in both the first and last episodes the Doctor is found guilty at a trial .

Anyway, the episode builds to the logical conclusion of the Doctor being shot - although from the cliffhanger it's clear right away that he hasn't been. The resolution is lame in comparison to the buildup (the shot was fired at the British by someone else) but the court martial business was really only cleverly disguised padding serving to allow the story to make a big entrance. With that done, and done well, the important stuff can begin as the Doctor investigates his surroundings, after he and Zoe rescue Jamie from the military prison. What follows is a hilarious sequence where the quick-thinking but resource-lacking Doctor pretends to be an Examiner from the war office and bluffs his way into the Commandant's office. He has no disguise, just a bad attitude. Even though they just get captured again, it's a funny scene.

We now get two allies - the aforementioned Lady Jennifer and Lt. Carstairs, who I thought seemed like a cross between Mike Yates and Benton. Considering the other officers around, they listen to the Doctor and suspected foul play at the court martial. The Doctor convinces them to break into Smythe's office, where his hidden technology is kept. I had my doubts that Carstairs would risk possibly lethal consequences of aiding the Doctor but considering the facsimile nature of the war and his mental processing, I'll put that aside. Having discovered a listening device behind a wall, the Doctor persuades them to leave, as their lives too are now in danger. The cliffhanger to the second episode is one of those WTF moments that only Doctor Who can do - after driving through some fog, the escapees are chased by Romans! At this early stage in the story, it's good to see a plot twist which widens the scope and raises loads of questions to be answered. I'm on the edge of my seat.

Episode 3 is the last of the opening WWI trilogy. Having figured out that the mist which surrounds no man's land leads to other times and places, the Doctor decides that they should look for a map of all the time zones. To get this they return to the British base and blow up the safe in Smythe's office. The urgency of the opening episodes has given way to more standard investigation approach, with plenty of humour from the attempts to keep the other officers from noticing anything is wrong. Conveniently, there is indeed a map in the safe, and between all the time zones is a blank space they must head for, giving the group a place to head for to reach the next plot point.

Intercepted before they get there this time by Germans, the Doctor and the others are taken to the German base. I really liked the scene that followed for a few reasons - I would have expected the Germans to be depicted as villainous but the main guy seems okay, being appropriately tough with them at first but being willing to listen and being amazed when he demonstrates the sonic screwdriver, which for the one and only time does exactly what it says on the tin (my other reason for liking the scene). As a further twist, he goes from reasonable to hostile after being subjected to mind control from the German camp's own version of Smythe, who uses a monacle instead of glasses to hypnotise his subjects (one wonders what the Roman general does?). Fortunately the TARDISeers escape and pass through more mist, into the American Civil War zone.

We now get our first glimpse of the operators of the scheme. The angry-looking War Chief wants the fugitives recaptured. At first I was thinking we were finding out too much too soon - we already know about the different time zones, the TARDISeers are closer to the centre, and now we're introduced to the main baddies.

Anyway, with Carstairs recaptured, the Doctor and Zoe investigate a craft which appears like the TARDIS but are inside it when it disappears, leaving Jamie and Lady Jennifer with the Americans for a couple of episodes. I enjoy the Doctor and Zoe as a team - there's usually a lot less goofing around than when he's with Jamie, so we can focus on the plot. They're close to the control centre and are led into a lecture on the mind conditioning devices used on the humans in the war zones. There's something cold about the way they treat the humans (considering they themselves appear to be human), bringing in Carstairs and brainwashing him as a demonstration of the device. The strange sort of 3-D glasses everyone wears make it even weirder.

Meanwhile, Jamie rallies some resistance fighters in the American Civil War zone. This less-important plotline did its job but didn't care much about any of the characters, I just wanted Jamie to meet up with the Doctor and Zoe again.

The Doctor seems to have put his brush with death behind him as he's already got the whole scheme worked out and is masterminding a way to put it out of action, first of all by saving Carstairs by convincing the scientist to reverse the conditioning, citing faulty equipment. However, the War Chief enters and recognises the Doctor (shock!) leading to a bit of a runaround until Zoe is captured. If there's one regret, it's that there hasn't been much opportunity for character moments so far, and with one of the largest guest casts the show ever had the TARDISeers do get somewhat lost sometimes, with their roles in many scenes consisting mainly of reacting to the latest plot development. I think during the marathon I've become so accustomed to the "typical" Troughton story that this feels a bit out of place. No enclosed setting, no monsters. In fact, I could more easily picture Hartnell or Pertwee in this story than Troughton, even though I'm in the middle of actually watching Troughton in it. Weird, huh?

The middle few episodes introduce the Security Chief and his antagonistic relationship with the War Chief. The Security Cheif questions Zoe and learns about the TARDIS, while the Doctor turns the tables on the scientist working on Carstairs and frees Carstairs and later Zoe. Compared to the fast-moving first four episodes, the story now starts to slow down, with the focus shifting between minor perils the Doctor and the resistance fighters face as they slowly gain a foothold in the war game scheme, taking control of the 1917 zone, and the growing animosity between the Security Chief and the War Chief, as the Security Chief thinks the Doctor was sent here under orders of the War Chief as they are both from the same race, a race that has mastery over space and time. What are major revelations like this are swept under the carpet - compare to the discovery that the Monk is the same race as the Doctor in The Time Meddler, which gets a cliffhanger all to itself - although perhaps a 1969 audience felt differently.

The War Lord is a late arrival in the story, providing a restrained counterpart to the more forceful War Chief. It's strange to think that Philip Madoc was in The Krotons only a few stories ago, he's able to seem totally different even when his face is the same in both. Over the course of the story, he becomes more crazed as his plan falls apart.

It's only now that we get something I've been wanting for a few episodes - a reason behind the scheme. Obviously it's because humans are dangerous creatures, perfect for fighting wars. The Doctor has been captured and pretends to help the War Lord capture the rebels. Episode 9 is where the story gets going again, because it plays the card that the series has always had the option of playing since Day 1 - introducing us to the Time Lords. The Doctor gains the upper hand by pretending to alter Jamie's mind with the scientist's machine, which soon allows the rebels to attack the control centre. Unable to send the humans back to their native time zones using the travel machines used by the bad guys, he's at a loss as to how to send them all home. The War Chief is terrified of even the possibility that the Doctor will summon the Time Lords. The rest of the episode builds up expectations thousandfold - the Doctor is even at first planning to leave Jamie and Zoe behind and try to escape the Time Lords himself. Of course, they can't accept that - they're not going to leave him now. Then we have that cliffhanger, which surprised me coming from a 1969 episode, not because of any technical feasibility, but having now seen 252 episodes from that decade I know what to expect from a ciffhanger and this isn't it. With the Time Lords arriving in the war zone to put things right, the TARDISeers make a run for the TARDIS, trying to escape before it's too late. We see them run in slow motion, each step difficult, the journey looking more impossible every second, until the Doctor slumps door at the door, having failed to turn the key in the lock. End of episode.

If that didn't have audiences tuning in next week, I'll have to assume some catastrophe befell them midweek.

Okay, so here we are at Episode 10, the last episode of the Troughton era (sob). Happily, this can be compared with Hartnell's finale in no way whatsoever. The episode itself is possibly Troughton's finest performance in the role, an award with so many candidates I'd find it impossible to choose.

It's an episode with a lot to accomplish. After trying to land the TARDIS on the edge of the universe, the Doctor fails and the Time Lords pull the TARDIS to land on the Doctor's home planet, as yet unnamed. We see... corridors. And men in black and white robes. In this story, the Time Lords are not required to seem real, but rather sort of god-like; we take their power for granted going by the way the Doctor reacts to them, we know the situation is lost even though we've never met them before. They don't seem like bad guys, not boring like later depictions, merely a sort of forceful killjoys. More than in stories like The Deadly Assassin, I can see that the Doctor left Gallifrey originally because he disagrees with their policies and way of life, rather than just being bored by it.

Anyway, the War Lord is on trial for his crimes. To give the rest of the story its due, he's allowed to briefly think he is in control as his guards show up with guns, only for the Time Lords to destroy them. The rest of the episode is an epilogue to the story, which for all intents and purposes is itself over. In a darkened room, the Doctor explains to a Time Lords played by Bernard Horsfall (great actor with a lot of presence) about the evils he has encountered and invasions of Earth he has foiled (good thing he hadn't just had pure historical adventures, he might have had a tougher case to argue!). While he waits for the verdict, Jamie and Zoe convince a Time Lord to let them see him. At first, they convince him to try to escape, but it's a short-lived attempt as the Time Lords are too efficient. Resigning himself to his fate, the Doctor says goodbye to Jamie and Zoe, who will be returned to their origins in space and time. I was surprised how emotional this was - for one thing we say goodbye to not one but two of the best ever companions, and Jamie has been around so long that him leaving has as much impact as a Doctor leaving. Then there's the manner of their departures - forgetting all but their first adventures with the Doctor, negating the positive character journeys they've taken, and yet the Doctor hasn't the heart to tell them that they'll forget him. I swear, I almost cried.

I've seen this last scene quite a few times before, so it held no surprises really. The Doctor is told that he will be exiled on 20th century Earth and is allowed to choose a new face for a new regeneration, although true to form he finds fault with all of the options. As he tries to stall for time, the regeneration takes effect and the Second Doctor fades away forever...

A story like this makes The Tenth Planet look even worse than it did before. In The Tenth Planet, Hartnell was past his sell-by date - at least, that's how it felt, as he was a spare part in a story that was more suited to his successor. Bowing out with The War Games is good way to go for Troughton, and it feels quite the opposite way: he's a Doctor cut off at the top of his game, despite a reasonably lengthy tenure and plenty of classic stories. After a story like this, I realise how much potential he still had. Heck, if he had been the Doctor for ten years, it still wouldn't have been enough. I missed the pure historicals and would have liked to have seen more of them in his era, and perhaps a few less base-under-siege stories, and way too much is missing, but - and I know others will disagree - his two finest stories, and those responsible for a large chunk of the different facets and imagination of he era - are this and The Mind Robber, and they both survive in their entirety, so it's not all bad.

No more Troughton! How did that happen? This isn't just the end of an era though, it's the end of Doctor Who as it was in the 60s, ready for its reinvention in the 70s. It will certainly be something to get used to. As for now, I'm still in mourning.

Horror quotient - The usual source of horror (monsters) are absent but there's plenty else. The baddies are menacing, the cliffhangers are pretty much uniformly dangerous.
Comedy quotient - I've already mentioned a few of my favourite funny scenes. And they are funny scenes, rather than little moments. Troughton knows when to play it serious and when not to. I'll miss that.
Drama quotient - Obviously, the drama is sharpest at the beginning and the end, as Terrance Dicks says. However he doesn't give himself enough credit for the rest, which despite not being quite as riveting, is still top.

The Second Doctor era saves the best for last. Not just great Doctor Who, but great television.

10/10

The Space Pirates

Previous viewings - few (Episode 2), one (Episode 1), 1/2 (Episode 3), none (Episodes 4-6)

For some reason I don't feel qualified to review this story. I was so uninterested in it while listening that I made no effort to get into the plot or characters. The audio for this one was particularly bad, with most characters sounding like they were speaking with their mouths closed, in fact at times I barely recognised the Doctor's voice. How I came to this story depends on how you look at it; on my last marathon I gave up somewhere during Episode 3, so that makes the latter half of this story the first proper 'new' Doctor Who to me. However as I listened (or watched in the case of Episode 2) I rediscovered the reasons I quit the first time.

Stylistically, this is probably the closest Doctor Who came to aping Star Trek; the ever-present operatic singing voice reminded me of the opening credits from that show, and along with the music was very effective in setting the desolate tone of the story. Couple that with the way the space setting is used - it's more about people than monsters and involves an Earth space organisation and unconvincing actors. In its own way it feels as far away from the usual Doctor Who as some people claim the historicals are - the regulars seem to get only a few lines in each episode and story lacks the typical juxtaposition of the everyday with the subnormal that the show does so often. In fact this story's closest cousin in the classic series is probably The Smugglers.

It's not all bad. If Episode 2 is anything to go by it looks good and is well directed, and there is some interest in the TARDISeers quest to recover the TARDIS. The charismatic Milo Clancey is a fun character although his accent is down there with the worst of The Gunfighters.

Unfortunately that's about it! I'm a bit in shock that Robert Holmes really wrote something this tedious. In fact, it was so boring I can barely muster up enthusiasm to say bad things about it.

The first episode sets the pattern in that it's not really about the Doctor or his companions at all. They land on a Space Beacon in the middle of a raid by pirates, and end up in the wrong section of the Beacon when it separates, with the TARDIS in another segment. The guest characters, including pirates Caven and Dervish, with Hermack and Warne in charge of the mission to apprehend the pirates, use up most of the screentime. All characters are unfortunately dull, and I'm afraid to say it's down to the writing.

You know where occasionally in a story there's an episode or two where nothing happens? Well in The Space Pirates this applies to all six episodes. The TARDISeers never gain a foothold in the plot, merely being led around by Milo, getting us closer to the pirates even though I've been given no reason to care. We're led to wonder if Milo is mixed up with the pirates but I figured right away that he was innocent. That leaves Caven, who isn't villainous enough to make me invest in the pirate plot as opposed to the recover the TARDIS plot. This left me feeling disconnected, like I do when I have to watch a show I don't like because someone else in the room is watching it. I percieve a story - so what?

The surviving Episode 2 is representative of the overall quality of the story, and it's the episode I tried the hardest to get into. Aside from the usual fancying Zoe and waiting patiently for the Doctor to appear and quite enjoying Milo Clancey's antics, I found the episode painfully slow. Jamie doesn't do or say anything Jamie-ish, and even the Doctor is (perhaps understandbly) downbeat. Only Zoe still seemed like the character she is usually is. Other visual faults I noticed were some poor model work (had the money run out?) and Madeleine Issigri's bizarre metal hair. I was also surprised that Hermack was such a little man given his booming voice. The design work reminded me of The Wheel in Space, and like that was well done but lacking in imagination or originality.

After quite a rubbish cliffhanger - Zoe shouting "you murderer!" at Milo only for us to find out Jamie isn't dead, we soon arrive on the planet Ta. I was struggling to visualise the planet, and I imagine my picture of a barren planetoid is nothing like how it really looked. Zoe calculates that the beacon segments will soon arrive on the planet too, which is a point of interest given I don't care about the pirates. Milo and the TARDISeers try to warn Madeleine Issigri, whose mining company is based on the planet, about the pirates, only to find out that she is in league with them. This twist did briefly get me interested in the plot, but as soon as Episode 5 started and the shock was over (not that I bothered about the character's allegiance) things settled down into the boring routine again.

The final two episodes see more action as the story reaches its climax, yet nothing happens to correct the issue of dull storytelling. I could have listened again, making sure to catch every line, hoping for some magic moment where I "get" the story - I wouldn't rule out seeing it more favourably the next time I listen. By this point, howeve, I'd long stopped caring, because the story just wouldn't seem to end. In way the manner in which this story is bad is even worse than The Web Planet, whose flaws are visible for all to see. This is just as dull, but for some reason I feel like I should be interested. Space pirates are a cool idea, and I can hear action going on that surely must be more exciting that that in The Web Planet, whose conclusion was a mess of Zarbi beeps and embarrassed actors. I detected no enthusiasm from Patrick Troughton, which is very unusual.

As Caven decides to cut his losses and kill Milo and the strangers, Madeleine starts to have doubts about working with him. Madeleine's father, Dom Issigri, is still alive, despite being thought to be dead, and they work to stop Caven, who has finally opted to commit mass murder by bombing the V-ship and the base on Ta. With the destruction of Caven's ship, there isn't enough time left to be devoted to the search for the TARDIS, which should be quite easy now anyway.

Dear oh dear. I don't like disliking Doctor Who stories this much, but after a great season so far this really drags it down. I'm starting to wonder why Robert Holmes was asked to write that pivotal first Third Doctor story, given his track record of this and a merely decent story. I noticed a few things that Holmes loves so much that he uses again and again - argonite being a valuable resource, an illegal operation being the danger part of the story (in a way done far, far better in The Caves of Androzani) rather than simple monsters invading. However overall this is a ponderingly slow and dull story that Robert Holmes was probably better leaving off his CV.

Horror quotient - Get behind the sofa! Close your eyes and put your fingers in your ears too. If you can still see or hear it, switch off the TV. You might be better off smashing the DVD just to be on the safe side.
Comedy quotient - Milo Clancey, I suppose. Come on Patrick!
Drama quotient - I felt so disengaged from this. I wish I pinpoint why I found it so dull, I just did.

The worst Troughton by far. Unlike The Web Planet, it's quite well made and hasn't aesthetically dated as much as that one has, but then The Web Planet has one cracking episode, this has none. Those two even out to it gets the same score.

2/10

The Seeds of Death

Previous viewings - many

The Seeds of Death is probably the closest we've got to an "ordinary" Troughton story that survives in its entirety. It's a six-part base-under-siege story with a returning monster (The Tomb of the Cybermen might also qualify but it's a four-parter and not set on or near Earth). Brian Hayles returns to pen another Ice Warriors outing, although given the writer's track record I'm not exactly filled with confidence. Can he finally pull off a great story?

The overriding feeling of this story is familiarity, and the half-year absence of bases-under-siege has done nothing to make me miss them. Fortunately the time seems to have been used to work out the good and bad points of the genre and make some changes, and rather surprisingly a fair amount of what have been my criticisms of other stories have been addressed. These include the addition of extra locations, to avoid repetitiveness and a slow pace, easing the TARDISeers into danger rather than landing them in it, and dropping the moronic base commander (hard to think of another variation of one anyway!). Unfortunately, they've also added in some new problems; the budget isn't up to realising the various Earth locations and they all end up looking like the same basic set, Patrick Troughton is missing for a whole episode (fortunately a rare occurrence), and unlike the Season 5 stories this doesn't seem to want to be scary.

It's also one of those stories that starts with a lengthy prologue before we meet up with the TARDISeers. By whenever this is set, the Moonbase is no longer a weather control centre as in The Moonbase, but rather a relay station for T-Mat, Doctor Who's answer to Star Trek's beaming, only without the snazzy effects. For plot reasons it's poorly designed, too; without the Moonbase, T-Mat can't operate, which would throw the world into total chaos. This would stretch credibility if it wasn't for the way Hayles has written most of the characters, as people who have been raised in a world whose many privileges they take for granted, and where catastrophic problems just don't happen. Until now.

At Moonbase we have Commander Osgood, the pathetic Fewsham and technician Phipps. As they try to solve a problem of late deliveries, the base is broken into by a squad of foes. The reveal of the Ice Warrior is the cliffhanger to Episode 1, but we already know it's them before that, as we hear the heavy breathing whenever they speak, akin to "surprising" us that those creatures shouting "exterminate!" are in actual fact, Daleks. Thinking quickly, Osgood sabotages the T-Mat to prevent the Ice Warriors from invading Earth, which gets him killed. On the Moonbase side of things, I found Fewsham an excellent character, a man who was already barely coping with the day-to-day operation of T-Mat, and who fears death so much that he does whatever the Ice Warriors tell him to. We see him turn into a nervous wreck, driven by self-preservation but hating what he's doing, enough to convince himself that he has no choice.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor and his companions find themselves in a space museum (repeating ideas much?). Fortunately this time the presence of the museum makes more sense as we learn more about the history of T-Mat, and how the humans have lost interest in space travel because T-Mat has increased demand in instant travel. The museum is run by Professor Eldred but apparently isn't open to the public. It's all quite lucky too, because Eldred just happens to have a rocket ready for launch that could get people to the moon to repair the T-Mat. Eldred is a good character because, rarely for a base-under-siege story, he gets quite a bit of screentime but is never in danger himself. His temporary refusal to allow the T-Mat personnel to use his rocket is frustrating and probably qualifies as padding. Another strange thing is that he hangs around at Earth Control after the rocket mission is complete until the end of the story, and even seems to have authority there. I must have missed the explanation for that.

On the Earth side of the mission, we have Commander Radnor of Earth Control, a quite dull man who serves little purpose in the narrative except to provide a male authority figure. I did like Miss Gia Kelly, a character who exemplifies the problem-free lives of the people in this era. I think of her as a Zoe-type who excels in command and getting the job done rather than science. Louise Pajo doesn't quite carry off the brains-over-personality character as well as Wendy Padbury, but she's similar to the other characters in this story in that they seem real in a Star Trek: The Next Generation-type faux-futuristic way and has quite an individual look.

End of Episode 2, and the TARDISeers still haven't joined the action, they're up in Eldred's rocket travelling to the moon, with a contrived cliffhanger which is instantly reversed in the reprise. I've not really felt the Doctor is all there in this story, however his chipping in with the occasional comment is in-keeping with his behaviour in similar stories. Zoe is in her element in a time period that brings back memories of The Wheel in Space, while Jamie is his usual self although Brian Hayles seems to have forgotten that the Doctor and Jamie work better as a team, putting them together only sparingly throughout the story. As the rocket lands, the Doctor makes contact with Phipps, who has escaped the Ice Warriors.

Episode 3 is pretty much a runaround, with the plot progressing little despite the Doctor's presence. That's perhaps a big flaw of the story; the Doctor doesn't actually do anything until after his holiday in Episode 5. Sure, he's now where the Ice Warriors are, but he spends half the episode running away from them then the other half listening while they reveal their plan drip-by-drip as he pretends to help them like Fewsham. Apart from the wonderfully Second-Doctor-esque line "your leader will be angry if you kill me - I'm a genius!" Episode 3 isn't great. Unfortunately, with the Doctor knocked out by a seed (a white ball), he's gone for the next episode.

If memory serves, Patrick Troughton's only previous holiday was for Episode 2 of The Web of Fear, and I remember that story coping well with his absence. This one doesn't. As the Ice Warriors proceed with their plan, with T-Mat repaired, Fewsham is told to T-Mat the Doctor into space, and more of the seeds to the various T-Mat centres on Earth. An Ice Warrior also T-Mats down to Earth Control and rampages about a bit. The main thrust of Episode 4 is the Doctor, Jamie, Zoe and Miss Kelly's attempts to retake the base, but it takes them until the cliffhanger to put their plan into action, with Zoe sneaking into the control room to adjust the temperature controls to something the Ice Warriors will find uncomfortable. It's one of those episodes where really nothing happens, although it was a good cliffhanger I suppose.

In Episode 5, it turns out the Doctor was T-Matted into another part of the base, and conveniently the Ice Warriors have returned to their ship, so the surviving Moonbase personnel T-Mat down to Earth. We now enter the best part of the story, because the Doctor is in his element as he analyses one of the seeds, while Jamie and Zoe work out that an Ice Warrior is heading for the weather control station to prevent it from raining, as water is deadly to the seeds. The seeds have a similar effect to the weed creatures from Fury from the Deep, spreading foam everywhere, but it's not scary this time around, only providing us with some silliness courtesy of Patrick Troughton as the Doctor is overwhelmed by foam outside the weather control and pulls all the terrified facial expressions he knows. You've got to feel for the Doctor as he knocks on the door for what seems like ten minutes before Jamie and Zoe answer. A very memorable cliffhanger.

With the seeds taken care of, the Doctor turns his attention to the incoming Ice Warrior spacefleet. The Ice Warriors approach Earth by tracking their homing beacon, which gives Fewsham his inevitable heroic sacrifice moment as he gives the fokls on Earth a chance to duplicate the signal, which the Doctor uses to divert the fleet and send them spiralling into the Sun.

There are loads of reasons why I like The Seeds of Death. The main one is that it's very well directed - I can see how low budget it is but I just don't care. The cleanup for DVD is particularly lovely. The side characters work much better than usual, for one thing I remember all of their names (on first viewing). True, the Doctor is hardly there but I'm a fan of the Hartnell era so that's not enough necessarily a criticism in my view. The other characters are good enough to keep the thing going, and the Ice Warriors themselves are better than they were in their debut.

Horror quotient - Okay, so it's not scary. We've had Ice Warriors before, we've had foam before, and Fewsham occasionally seems over-the-top in his hysterical manner. I don't think any of this hurt the story at all.
Comedy quotient - The usual - Troughton gets the best lines and Jamie has the second-best.
Drama quotient - You wouldn't think it but this story is actually quite dramatic, though I'd attribute that more to Michael Ferguson's direction than Brian Hayles's writing (though this is his strongest story).

There are flaws galore but I love it. One of my biggest Who guilty pleasures.

8/10

The Krotons

Previous viewings - one

The return of the four-parter couldn't have come at a better time, with the debut of future script editor Robert Holmes. This is a standard monster/robot story with the extra element of the oppressed docile race that we saw so often in the Hartnell era. Neither are anything to get excited about but if Robert Holmes seems to "get" anything right away, it's how to structure a four-parter to avoid using up the interesting ideas in the first episode as many other writers do, so we get a strong sense of beginning-middle-end and the quality is consistent throughout. Ah, but consistently good or bad?

The story begins by introducing us to the Gonds, as they select two of their people to join the Krotons. I usually prefer a story that starts with the TARDISeers, but when we meet the guests first this is the best way - a good scene that's about the plot, allowing us to get to know the characters later. We meet the Gonds, a race of badly dressed people who are choosing two of their teenagers to become companions of the Krotons. Only not all is as it seems, as the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe find when one of the chosen ones is gassed and dies outside, with the Gonds unaware. As soon as we hear that generations of Gonds have been handed over to the Krotons, probably suffering the same fate, a fan should by now be able to suss the entire plot. It's revolution time!

Quite wisely, the Krotons stay out of sight until unusually late in the story. Early on, the pacing is rather slow (unfortunately that doesn't change) as after his relevation the Doctor has little to do except chat to the leader Selris, while some of the Gonds start smashing up the Krotons' machinery. You'd think people as quick to violence would have long ago changed the status quo that led to their deferral to the Krotons, especially since the Krotons themselves haven't been seen for years. However I was delighted to find the Gonds more individual and reactionary than what is probably their closest counterpart - the Xerons from The Space Museum. Not quite individual enough for me to remember their names without looking up Wikipedia, though!

Things get more interesting in the second episode. Zoe (looking gorgeous in this story) takes a test the Gonds take to measure intelligence, and gets the highest score ever, prompting the Krotons to immediately summon her as a companion. The Doctor is angry, but takes the test himself so Zoe doesn't face the Krotons alone. It's unclear whether this is because he's worried about Zoe or because he wants to use the opportunity to confront the Krotons, but it was a nice scene anyway, made entertaining by the Doctor's absentminded manner as he interacts with the test machine, resulting in him getting questions wrong. Yes, and the Doctor isn't perfect, isn't it brilliant? Unfortunately we missed an opportunity for the further comedy of having Jamie take the test and get the worst score ever.

In the Dynotrope, the Doctor and Zoe meet the Krotons, who are quite disappointingly nothing but the usual lumbering robots with "scary" mechanical voices. After a mind attack, the Doctor and Zoe are able to slip away quite easily. Jamie enters the Dynotrope to find the Doctor and Zoe, but is attacked by the Krotons, who question him and find out about the TARDIS. This story does a good job of keeping the Doctor and Jamie at their most entertaining but apart, while the Doctor and Zoe make a surprisingly good team - I enjoy the moments where Zoe is embarrassed when the Doctor shows he is her intellectual superior.

While all this is going on, the Gonds are arguing amongst themselves, with Eelek wanting to take control, replacing the more cautious Selris. Unfortunately one's as boring as the other so I couldn't care less who leads the Gonds.

The Doctor and Zoe return to the Gond city as the story moves towards its climax. The Krotons have been educating the Gonds through the years, but neglecting their chemistry studies - a clue, perchance? The Doctor knows that the Krotons and their ship (the Dynotrope) are susceptible to sulphuric acid as they're made of tellurium. Unfortunately the story doesn't become more exciting at this point, as I was hoping. The Doctor and Zoe are handed over to the Krotons by the less-than-grateful Gonds. The only entertaining aspect of the finale is the Doctor's attempts to stall the Krotons while he exposes them to the acid. The actions itself is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it affair.

The Krotons is a story that isn't as good as it should be. The direction by David Maloney is great at least, but it's all so dull - duller than The Dominators was reputed to be. Like I said though, great moments are scattered throughout, mostly involving the Doctor and Zoe, with Patrick Troughton once again making something out of nothing (I suspect there was some ad-libbing going on in some of his funnier scenes here, to liven things up). Jamie does nothing but wander around looking for the Doctor, being a few steps in the plot behind him, and despite my earlier comment I don't like Jamie being made out to be stupid or foolish, he's just from a less developed time period. The Krotons themselves are too familiar to stand out, with motives and voices lifted from half a dozen other Troughton stories. A decent story but lacks the sparkle that better stories have.

Horror quotient - When I look for the horror quotient, I try to think as a child, and it's difficult but I remember being scared by some rather non-scary things as a wee yin. I reluctantly submit the Krotons. The Gond city is quite dark too, which was a good design choice.
Comedy quotient - As ever, Patrick Troughton is on form, enough that he actually saves the story with his performance, and he doesn't even have Jamie tagging around with him for most of it. The Gonds are humourless and I could have done with less scenes of them arguing with each other.
Drama quotient - Drama is the main thing that should have been built upon. The repercussions of generations of the brightest Gonds submitting themselves to die is horrific but forgotten about right away, and the girl who survives might as well have died because she did nothing afterwards.

A standard Doctor Who featuring familiar story elements, but there are finer examples of such; if you showed this to a non-fan, they might not hate it but at the same time they'd probably wonder what all the fuss was about.

6/10