Doctor Who Season Five: A monster behind every couch

The fourth season marked a bridge between the original Doctor Who and the show that is more familiar to modern audiences. Sure, there were iconic monsters early on – well, the Daleks at least – but the mixing of science-fiction adventures and strict historical stories, along with William Hartnell’s caustic take on the character made for a show with a distinctly different vibe.

For the fifth season, we got a bevy of creatures, even with the Daleks sitting the next few seasons out. There are two Cybermen adventures, two goes of the Yeti and the Great Intellegence, along with the first Ice Warriors. The singletons of the season give us some sentient seaweed and a bad guy played by Troughton – and a thick “Mexican” accent – bent on ruling the world.

And while Victoria doesn’t have the best reputation as a Doctor Who companion, there is something special about the tight bond that she and Jamie form in these episodes. Both of them are characters out of time and there is a lovely brother/sister type bond that forms throughout the episodes.

Best of all, a recent find of missing episodes means that four of these stories are complete or near-enough to be watched. Considering that when I first saw the Troughton episodes back in the 1980s, it started with Season Six’s The Dominators, that is great news for those wanting to explore the early years of the series.

The Tomb of the Cybermen

This was the first one to be found and is a case where the reputation didn’t hold up to the actual show. There is good material in here, especially the first episode as we explore the upper level of the cyber “tomb” on Telos. Some of the visuals later on – especially the Cybermen slowly waking up as the temperature increases – are arresting as well. The whole thing doesn’t hold together very well, as the actual reason for going to the tomb by the Earth explorers never comes into focus.

The Abominable Snowmen

This is mainly an audio-only adventure, but it quite a romp to listen to. Not only do we have the crew hanging out in Tibet, but there are contemplative monks, a strange alien threat disguised by extremely cuddly creatures and a strong guest turn by Deborah Watling’s (Victoria) father, Jack as an explorer in search of the mythical yeti. Instead, they find the Great Intellegence (one of the bad guys from the most recent series of Matt Smith adventures) making its first go at an invasion.

The Ice Warriors

Here’s another strong outing that introduces our favorite Doctor Who Martians. The story has nice elements to disguise the fact that it is basically a base-invasion tale. In the future, an ice age has descended on the Earth, and a team of scientists is at the base on of the glaciers. They find something very tall and lizard-like (and with really, really impractical hands) and, in the way of not-thinking-ahead scientists in a lot of science fiction stories, they thaw him out. After wrecking some havoc, the warrior heads to his crashed ship and before you can say The Thing, the base is under siege. There are a number of solid supporting turns this time around, including Peter Barkworth as the hard-to-deal-with leader Clent.

The Enemy of the World

The full series was just discovered in 2013 and it gives audiences a chance to watch an intriguing story that turns on tour-de-force performance from Troughton. He not only plays the bumbling-but-brilliant Doctor, but the cold, murderous and brilliant Salamander, who has dreams of ruling the world with a pack of people he has hidden away in a secret base and has convinced that the end of the world has come. The series is really a romp, as we get globetrotting, a hovercraft and some helicopters along the way. In the end, there is a confrontation between the Troughtons, which must have been a lot of fun to shoot in the primitive studios of the 1960s.

The Web of Fear

Our favorite soft and fuzzy murderous Yeti are back for an adventure in the London Underground. Apart from bringing back the Yeti and Jack Watling for a round as the older Professor Travers, the series gives us the proto-U.N.I.T., as Nicholas Courtney makes his first turn as Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, though only a colonel in the British Army at this point. The sets are convincing enough that officials with the Underground were irked at the program – they thought the producers had snuck in to shoot after being refused permission. There is a real sense of danger throughout the episodes as the characters are trapped in the dark tunnels beneath an abandoned London as they try to work out what the Great Intellegence wants and how to defeat it.

Fury from the Deep

When fans look over the missing Patrick Troughton stories, this one (usually after Evil of the Daleks) is near the top of the list. Victoria gets his finale, and her constant screaming gets put to good use as sentient seaweed threatens a North Sea drilling rig. Here’s a case where the extra length is put to fine use, as the story builds slowly early on, giving us a sense of danger without revealing all until later. It’s a way to avoid the middle-episode bloat that threatens a lot of the six and longer-part series during the first 11 years of the series. (Once Tom Baker arrives, the six parters were largely abandoned except for, at most, once a year. They often felt like they were loaded with filler as well.)

The Wheel in Space

Well, you can’t have everything. The classic season ends with a bit of a dud, as the Cybermen return with an appalling complex plot that doesn’t stand up to a lot of examination. It’s not all bad, as Zoe makes her debut. She’s a bright presence from the start, set up as a brilliant foil for the boys. While her relationship never develops the same level of warmth as you found with Jamie and Victoria, the two companions do have a real fun chemistry. That’s important, because what’s coming is probably the most troubled season of the series not called The Trial of the Time Lord, as script issues, cast fatigue and tanking ratings will all combine to threaten the future of the show.