Doctor Who Season 13: Nothing unlucky here

Doctor Who’s “gothic” era gets into full swing here, as Philip Hinchcliffe and Robert Holmes begin to produce stories that they’ve commissioned and ushered through the process. It results in series that are often dark and morbid, but also carry a light touch – mainly through Tom Baker’s increasingly strong performances and his easy chemistry with Elisabeth Sladen. It's also probably the single best season of the classic series.

The Terror of the Zygons

First off, we give U.N.I.T. a send off with an adventure set in Scotland – near Loch Ness even – and involving the much-loved-but-rarely-seen shape-shifting Zygons. They want to take over the world – don’t they always? – and are putting their final plans into motion when U.N.I.T. and the Doctor get involved. There are plenty of Scottish touches throughout; just about the first word we here is “haggis.” There is also a piper playing loudly in one scene, a dour Duke and a strong Gaelic-games champion. The BBC quarry puts in an appearance, though at least it is actually supposed to be a quarry this time, not an alien planet. It’s also time for goodbyes: Ian Marter leaves the Tardis crew, only coming back for a single series later in the season. That series, The Android Invasion, will also be it for John Levene as Benton. Nicholas Courtney’s Brigadier will eventually come back twice in the 1980s, but he essentially hangs up his swagger stick. The Earth-bound adventures that so defined the first half of the 1970s for the program are over.

The Planet of Evil

In contrast, the next story heads out to the farthest reaches of the known universe nearly 30,000 years into the future. While the previous story had an Invasion of the Body Snatchers vibe, this time around it’s a mash-up of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with Forbidden Planet. The titular planet is at the border between matter and antimatter. A scientist thinks that the antimatter will solve their society’s energy problems, but the Doctor knows better.

Our heroes need to fight the scientist (transforming into a sort of anti-man), a negative energy creature and the planet itself to sort things out and prevent a second big bang. The story hums along at a decent pace – enough to hide plot holes and the sometimes dodgy spaceship set. The planet set, however, is well realized. That’s aided by a clever use of “location” filming. Instead of putting the planet on the BBC quarry, the crew went to Ealing Studios, built the jungle set there and filmed it. Ealing allowed for plenty of more atmosphere than the BBC, as did putting the material down on film instead of videotape. It makes for one of the most distinctive looking shows of the era.

Pyramids of Mars

An episode of this serial was likely the first episode of the show I ever saw – I certainly have a memory of watching a few episodes around 1977 when it was broadcast on one of the local channels (KSTP 5 I believe) and the voice over introduction sticks in my mind. If it was, then the last 36 years or so have been largely downhill, because I’d consider this to be the show at its height. Mysterious evil? Check. Ancient myths that have a scientific background? Check. Mummy robots? Check. Cast of Edwardian gentlemen who get offed by the aforementioned robots and science-based myths? Check.

The plot involves an attempt by Sutek – not an Egyptian god but a immensely powerful alien – to free himself from his Earthbound prison, using the body of an unwitting archeologist and on a (thankfully for the budget) nearly deserted English estate. Robert Holmes uses mummy movies as a foundation here, building from there into something is at turns horrifying (the end of one character, killed by the animated corpse of his beloved brother, is particularly frightening), grotesque and thoroughly entertaining. It’s aided by good performances throughout, including the golden throat of Gabriel Woolf, who brings Sutek to life just through his voice. It’s one of two performances by Woolf in the TV version of Doctor Who – in the new series, he plays The Beast, an ancient all-powerful evil imprisoned… hey!

The Android Invasion

Following Pyramids of Mars wouldn’t be easy for any serial, and while there are good elements here – the first episode is particularly creepy – this UNIT postscript doesn’t hold up that well. The Doctor and Sarah land on Earth. At least, they think it is Earth, but the natives are acting oddly, all of the money is brand new and the calendar just has the same day over and over again. The title lets us know what is really going on, and there are plenty of duplicates running around from here on out. Barry Letts returns to direct and does his typical solid job, but he is done in by a script that lays everything out far too clearly early on and alien costumes that, while being somewhat effect, force the performers to overact just to get the lines out. Hammy performances can work – but not when they are on screen, talking over the plot, for long stretches.

This also marks the last performances of John Levene and Ian Marter, who return as Benton and Harry Sullivan. Marter went on to novelize a number of Doctor Who adventures and even continued his character’s story in Harry Sullivan’s War before dying far too young in 1986. Levene continues on in Doctor Who fandom (I met him in the late 1980s at a convention that also included Sylverster McCoy, George Takei and Walter Koenig; no the Who and Trek fans didn’t have a rumble at the con).

The Brain of Morbius

Hello, Dr. Frankenstein! Sometimes the influences of this era of Doctor Who sit pretty close to the surface. Here, we have a mad scientist piecing together bits and pieces of crash-landed aliens to make a body for, as the title suggests, a disembodied brain of a vile Time Lord. Meanwhile, across the rocky interior set, the Sisterhood of Karn – who are responsible for causing all the ships to crash – are on their last legs, as the elixir they rely is drying up.

The Doctor gets sent along by the Time Lords, likely to take care of the second crisis, but in typical fashion gets ensnared in both. There are a number of horror-film tropes that help each cliff hanger immensely, along with some particularly morbid humor from Robert Holmes, including the brain plopping on the floor in one scene. (Yes, they got letters about that.)

The story’s genesis is an intriguing one, as Terrance Dicks had been commissioned and wrote a similar piece, but one where the body is being built by a robot without an aesthetic sense (which would explain the hodgepodge nature). Rewrites were needed and Dicks was on holiday, so Holmes completely revamped the script to the point that the original writer didn’t recognize it and asked that his name be taken off. He asked that it be given a “bland” pen name, so it appeared on the screen as being written by “Robin Bland” (Holmes’ humor striking again).

The show is plenty of fun, owing a lot to an absolutely unhinged performance from Philip Madoc as scientist Solon, whose head-based obsession reaches new heights when coming face to face with Tom Baker’s curly-haired character.

The Seeds of Doom

I do know that I saw an episode of this during the 1970s broadcasts on Channel 5 – because the grinder turning poor folks into compost really freaked me out. This a glorious end to the season, with a six parter that doesn’t sag, a monster that isn’t really the villain, and a villain that – even in the realm of this show – is particularly mad.

The seeds in question are alien pods found buried in the Antarctic. The first two episodes find the Doctor and Sarah at the lonely outpost, doing the whole Thing thing as they try to stop a scientist who has been transformed by the pod into a vegetable creature bent on destruction. They aren’t helped by thug Scorby and scientist Keller, who have been sent by their boss – the aforementioned unhinged Harrison Chase – to get the pod at any cost. The first Krynoid is destroyed, as is everyone at the base.

The first is gone, but there is a second. That helps to fuel the second part of the story, as we return to England with a second pod (hence, the “seeds” part of the title). Our heroes spend most of their time trapped in Chase’s mansion, trying to not get ground up in the masher or absorbed by the newly hatched Krynoid, who has possessed poor Keller.

Robert Banks Stewart builds on his Terror of the Zygons success with another strong script. Tony Beckley dives into Chase with gusto, walking the ham tightrope expertly throughout. There are fine character pieces throughout and Baker and Sladen are fine as always.

So the lucky season 13 is in the books. Season 14, as typical with the program, is one of change, especially as the dark nature of the past two seasons comes home to roost.

Doctor Who Season 12: Enter the chap with the scarf

Back in the winter of 1980-81, I discovered that the local PBS affiliate had started broadcasting the show. I had caught a few episodes a few years earlier and had been intrigued in a fourth-grade way. Now, as a sixth-grader, I was hooked. I missed the first few stories of the season, picking it up with Genesis of the Daleks (a good place to start, really), but this is definitely where I came in as a fan.

Robot

This is a baton-passing episode. Barry Letts is still the producer. While Robert Holmes is in place as script editor, Terrance Dicks (in an instant bit of tradition as outgoing script editor) crafted the story. It’s set on Earth and UNIT is around for a last Jon-Pertwee-like hurrah.

It’s also clear that this is a new show. Tom Baker’s fresh energy is present from his first upright scene, where he makes some allusions to the past (finding the Tardis key in his shoe, for example, just as Jon Pertwee had done five years before) and sets up the future and he talks rings around the sturdy-if-dim companion Harry Sullivan.

Like a lot of Jon Pertwee serials, the story doesn’t make complete sense and goes off the rails in the fourth episode as a plot about scientists wanting to take over the Earth and create a perfect society (wait, didn’t we do this last season with Invasion of the Dinosaurs?) ends without much resolution and turns into a pure King-King homage as the big Robot becomes a giant 50-foot-tall Robot carrying around a Sarah-Jane-Smith doll.

The Ark in Space

Philip Hinchcliffe starts his three-year reign as producer with a story that features the hallmarks of his era. It’s a bit of outer-space gothic, with a seemingly abandoned space station, an ancient terror that is still present and waiting to strike, and some pre-David-Cronenberg body horror as one of the characters is transformed into a slug and then a super-intelligent space insect thing.

In fact, the first episode is just our three main characters exploring the Nerva Beacon. They solve a couple of crises and discover a bigger one. The remnants of humanity are onboard in deep sleep, waiting for the Earth to be ready for human life again. Our team’s presence means that they start to wake up, but so do the giant space insect things. The effects are a bit dodgy (the show was popular and cheap; a network’s dream), with the slug phase monsters brought to life with bubble wrap that has been painted green, but the sense of unease and horror still come through.

The Sontaran Experiment

As a way to stretch that tiny budget, the producers tried some scheduling experiments. The Ark is Spacewas shot completely in the studio, using the time for a six-episode block. The scheduled location time for those episodes went to this two parter, which – thankfully –moves away from the quarry to the moors. Shot entirely on location, the short piece brings back Kevin Lindsay as a Sontaran – named Styre this time (they’re clones you see). He’s doing some, well, experiments on a hapless crew of humans (the flares only killed life on Earth; the colonies survived and thrived).

It’s pretty dark stuff, with tinges of Nazi-style experiments along the way, but the Doctor is able to solve it all and stop an invasion to boot. Things didn’t go so well for Tom Baker, however. He broke his collarbone on the moors early on in the shoot. He was able to finish (with his scarf hiding his neck brace and providing support for his arm), but his stunt double had to do extra duty for the rest of the filming.

Genesis of the Daleks

With a new Doctor and production team coming in, Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks planned to bring back some classic foes to ease into the new era. It ended up working 50-50. Genesis of the Daleks is rightfully considered at the apex of Tom Baker’s – and the classic program’s – stories. We have six episodes that keep the story going. We have an unrelentingly grim vision of a planet, Skaro, on the brink of complete destruction. By story’s end, only a handful of the characters we’ve met along the way have survived, and they are facing a life on a barren, scarred world.

And we have Davros. Terry Nation refreshed the somewhat tired Dalek concept by providing the maddest of mad scientists as their creator. Michael Wisher was the first, and really the best, actor to sit in Dalek-like chair, acting the hell out by really only using his voice, his lower jaw (the rest of his face was in a mask that also obscured his eyes) and one arm and hand.

Tom Baker also comes into his own here, providing a character who can be charming, fiery, and inquisitive – often all in the same scene. His moments along with Davros are remarkable, while his doubt at destroying the Daleks before they evolve into perfect killing machines.

And while the show was created on a shoestring like the rest of the season, the team was able to mostly hide the limited resources. The film-like lighting gives the show a dark, moody vibe, while the fact that there is only a trio of working Daleks works when you consider that they are at the start of their existence. Even the BBC quarry and BBC corridors work well in this one.

Revenge of the Cybermen

Here’s the yang to Genesis of the Dalek’s yin. This is a terrible story where the cheapness can be seen in the awful effects, the use of obvious showroom dummies instead extras as corpses to the quartet of strutting Cybermen who plan to do – I don’t know, really what the ultimate goal of all the plotting is here. Our favorite humans-turned-cyborgs hadn’t been seen since The Invasion in 1968, and wouldn’t be back until Earthshock in 1982. It’s easy to see why.

While the episode is painful to watch, the DVD version contains an intriguing documentary about what it was like being a British Doctor Who fan at the dawn of the video age. Repeats were rare and fans would latch onto any bit of video they could find, sometimes paying hundreds of pounds to watch a legendary serial of yesteryear. We actually had it a lot better in the Untied States than our British friends, as we got to see all of the existing complete serials during the decade.

Doctor Who Season 11: Another era ends

The new year brings us the last quintet of Jon Pertwee adventures, the beginning of Elisabeth Sladen’s time with the show as Sarah Jane Smith. We also get a new title sequence that is essentially the same as the one I grew up with while watching Tom Baker’s episodes on public TV in the Twin Cities all those decades ago. Instead of the constantly mutating, howl-around effect used in the show’s first decade, the new sequence employed a slit-screen technique like the one used in 2001: A Space Odyssey. It instantly upped the mysterious mood of each episode, even if what followed only brought up questions about how terrible the special effects were (see “Dinosaurs, Invasion of the” below).

The Time Warrior

Elisabeth Sladen makes a strong debut, as do the Robert-Holmes-created Sontarans in this quasi-historical adventure. Holmes’ skills with characters are put to good use here, as we have a set of nicely created characters, from the militaristic alien to the good and bad denizens of the forest to an absent-minded scientist captured from the future to help Linx fix his ship. Sladen’s Sarah Jane Smith is tough and feisty here, believing that the Doctor is responsible for all of the bad things until she meets Link. Sladen said in later years that Sarah Jane was never as strong as written as she was here, and it all makes for a grand start to the character and the season.

Invasion of the Dinosaurs

So Malcolm Hulke gets called in and provides a pretty good script about a secret group of scientists and do-gooders who want to bring on a golden age by turning back the clock to the age of dinosaurs and repopulating the planet with folks who think they’ve settled a new world. The guest cast is fine and with plenty of good performances. There are some atmospheric shots of a deserted London in the first few minutes (shot verte style by the director and a single cameraman on a Sunday morning). Then it all gets ruined when the dinosaurs show up. Calling them horrible is an insult to horrible things. Doctor Who, especially in this era, has a reputation for dodgy effects and rubber monsters. Some of it is a bit harsh considering the era and the budget, but here every bad thing comes true. The effects nearly derail the story and have poisoned its reputation through the years.

Death to the Daleks

We’re off the BBC quarry for a tale of humans and Daleks facing off on an alien planet. One where their power is drained, leaving the Dalek guns useless (and the suckers couldn’t do anything except carry messages in those days). It turns out that an ancient city created by the Exxilons, who have since reverted to barbarism. The story gets dodgy in places, and the BBC corridor sets are used quite a bit as well, but there is some good tension among the characters as they try to solve their power troubles, defeat the Daleks and save the human colonies from a deadly “space” plague.

Monster of Peladon

There’s a distinct sense of déjà vu here, as a number of characters, character types and even events from the first Peladon story are employed in the second time around. We also get miners (not Welsh this time, but with badger-looking wigs) who are oppressed by the royal class (who have different, not quite as absurd wigs). Our favorite giant eyeball on legs, Alpha Centauri, is back, as is the furry spirit of the society, Aggedor. The Ice Warriors are here as well, and they’re back to their evil ways, working with a human agent to take the rare made-up mineral for themselves. This leads to a lot of action back and forth that ends up being entertaining, but showcasing some of the Third-Doctor six-part sag by the end.

Planet of the Spiders

Jon Pertwee goes out with a bang in this epic final adventure, which brings a number of ideas from past episodes back. The Doctor’s trip to Metebelis 3 at the beginning of The Green Death comes back to haunt him. As the blue crystal he returned with is essential for the giant spider ruler of the planet to complete her scheme to take over the world. The connection to Earth comes from a Buddhist retreat, where a group has made a psychic connection with the spiders. The leader, Lupton (John Dearth, who voiced the unhinged supercomputer BOSS in The Green Death) wants supreme power, but has bitten off more than he can chew.

All of this gives Jon Pertwee one last chance to do everything that he loves. We have an extended chase that takes up most of episode two. It includes cars, a gyrocopter, a hovercraft, and finally a speed boat. Richard Franklin gets to wrap up the Mike Yates character, redeeming him from his dinosaur betrayal. Behind the scenes, Kismet Delgado – Roger Delgado’s widow – voices one of the spiders.

The Doctor faces his fear, goes face to face with the big bad spider and defeats her. His body is used up, however. Pertwee gets one final moment before turning into Tom Baker – and heading into a brand-new era for the show.

Doctor Who Season 10: Hello old docs, goodbye Jo

It’s time to party! Doctor Who reaches its 10^th anniversary with the first meeting of the proverbial minds behind the show, a whole bunch of Daleks ready to invade and a fond farewell to Jo Grant.

The Three Doctors

After three years mainly marooned on Earth, The Doctor finally gets his chance for freedom – but first he has to travel across the universe to a realm of anti-matter to come face to face with one of the legends of the Time Lords. It takes more than one incaration to do this, as Patrick Troughton and William Hartnell join in on the fun. Hartnell was extremely ill at the time, his memory failing to the point where he couldn’t remember any of his lines. That kept him out of the studio (his segments were pre-filmed, with the lines written out in front of him) and the heavy lifting of the story to Pertwee and Troughton. There are conflicting reports on how well the two got along, but there is a terrific rivalry between the two characters – and even a chance for a quote from the Beatles. It’s really a fun romp that is the early 1970s Doctor Who at its best.

Carnival of Monsters

The Doctor’s good deeds allow him to travel freely through space and time again, which is put to good use through the bulk of the season. Robert Holmes gets us started with a comedic piece that finally showcases the storytelling and character skills that would leave such a mark on the Tom Baker years, when he became script editor. The carnival in question is a banned bit of technology that shrinks its subjects down for all to watch. This includes a ship terrorized on the Indian Ocean in the 1920s (with Ian Marter as a sailor, a couple of years before he became solid and stupid Harry Sullivan) and some nasties called the Drashigs. The Doctor and Jo are trapped inside, trying to get out, while the carnival barkers are faced with some officious officials who political machinations of their own. Good stuff.

Frontier in Space

We move out into the future Earth galactic empire for this six parter, as our heroes are shuttled between planets and star systems while uncovering a plot to set the humans and the Draconians off into a war. Who is behind it? The Master of course. Sadly, this turned out to be Roger Delgado’s final ride in the role, as he was killed in an accident on the way to a film set. He’s good as always here, but it turns out he isn’t the final brains behind the plot. That would belong to: The Daleks!

Planet of the Daleks

While the Doctor is able to wrap up the Earth/Draconian conflict at the end of Frontier in Space, there is still the matter of the massive Dalek army massing on Spiridon. An injured Doctor spends some time in a coma here, leaving Jo to explore and get entangled on her own. We have Thals (returning from the first Dalek adventure from a decade past), a deadly jungle planet and invisible natives, who thankfully wear big furry coats to let us know where they are. As usual, the Terry Nation script is fast paced and crackles with plenty of invention and character. That helps to distract the viewer from some of the dodgier moments, like the massive Dalek army that is obviously a bunch of toys waiting for their close up.

The Green Death

Jo Grant’s era on the show ends with a highlight from the Jon Pertwee years (season finales were often the best during this era). The plot involves: angry Welsh miners, ecological disaster, giant maggots (and a sad looking giant fly thing) and a self-aware supercomputer that is barking mad. Authors Robert Sloman and Barry Letts – also responsible for The Daemons and Planet of the Spiders (and, er, The Time Monster; no one’s perfect) – offer up a strong script that sends Jo off in style. The final scene – as the Doctor quietly slips away from Jo’s engagement party – is rightly considered a series highlight, and one that Mark Gatiss riffed on in a recent Sherlock episode.

Doctor Who Season nine: Hey Daleks, nice to see you again

Considering how strong season eight was, it was likely that the follow up was going to seem like a letdown. Still, there is a considerable drop off here, buoyed mainly when the Master appears in a couple of series later on.

The 1970s presented an interesting point in the show’s history, as two actors played the role over the course of 12 seasons. Apart from Jon Pertwee (5) and Tom Baker (7) no other actor played the Doctor for more than three years. While that gave the show considerable stability during the era, it also meant that the relentless reinvention that has been a hallmark of Doctor Who had to take a back seat. The producers found other ways to freshen the show during these years, from changing companions to exploring season-long story lines to introducing a robot dog – but we’ll get to that in a bit.

Meanwhile, we have Pertwee’s third season here – remember, most often the final season for the actor in the lead role – and there is some fatigue. That’s not so much from the actor’s performance, as Pertwee remained strong in the role throughout, but the concept of the Third Doctor began to show cracks as producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks searched for a more winning formula.

Day of the Daleks

They got off to a solid start with the return, after being sidelined since The Evil of the Daleks, of some familiar foes. Apparently, the gap meant that the voice actors for the roles forgot how to bring life to the characters, as the first one we meet says…his…lines…very…slowly. Daleks are supposed to be relentless, cold-hearted killers, not brain-dead stoners. (Maybe there was a note – the delivery got much closer to the familiar cadence as the serial went along.)

Apart from that, we’ve got a story where time travel actually is the plot. Obviously it’s always been a device on the show, allowing the characters to get to their various points and sometimes even being used as a solution to a problem (see The Claws of Axos). Here, however, the story turns on a paradox: the ruthless-but-rather-incompetent freedom fighters travel from the Dalek-infested future to change history by killing off an overblown diplomat, but instead trigger the events they were attempting to stop.

Sure, it’s not “Blink,” but the intriguing story and fast past – and for once in this season, not stretched over six episodes – makes for a solid start to the season.

The Curse of Peladon

There’s a Troughton back in the house for this adventure, as Patrick’s son David plays a sort of primitive-in-space young Shakespearean ruler, King Peladon, who is leading an effort to have his planet join a galactic federation. It’s quickly evident that elements of his planet, led by his longtime advisor, don’t want any part of it. The Doctor and Jo get sent over by the Time Lords and then improvise their way into being the Earth ambassador and then working to unveil the plot. The Ice Warriors make a return but – in a fun twist – aren’t the bad guys. Some of the costumes – especially that of eyeballed alien Alpha Centauri – are pretty weak by today’s standards, but there is an engaging vibe throughout. So much so, in fact, that we’ll back in season 11 for another round at Peladon.

The Sea Devils

Here’s where the season starts to go pear-shaped. Sometimes you wonder if the scriptwriters actually thought out the storylines from beginning to end. Often, the longer Doctor Who stories would start out like gangbusters and then lose, literally, the plot as it grew into episodes four and five before finding some kind closure. New characters showing up late in the proceedings was usually a good sign that things were off the rails, and here we get an odious civil servant (Martin Broddey, who is really terrific as the annoying and always-hungry Wilson) who makes his appearance in episode five. Plot wise, we get the lizard cousins of the Silurians pretty much doing the same thing as in that storyline – waking up cranky and deciding to take over the world. Roger Delgado has his usual fun as the Master, including a famous moment (reflected in the new series’ scene with the Master and the Teletubbies) as he watches a nonsense children’s show and thinking they are aliens trying to communicate.

The Mutants

The season nine slog-a-thon continues with another piece that would have been considerably sharpened by a shorter length. By the end, it’s clear that the story is just marking time, going over the same plot points over and over again. There is some intrigue here, as the serial attempts to tackle weighty subjects like colonialism and evolution, but makes some ham-fisted decisions along the way that short-circuit the good intentions (such as having the natives mutate from dark complexions to becoming blond). The acting is, at best, variable with poor Rick James (no, not that Rick James) giving perhaps the worst performance in Doctor Who history.

The Time Monster

By almost all standards, The Mutants is better than The Time Monster. The story makes more sense. There is an attempt to actually say something. There isn’t a giant pantomime bird flying around, supposedly the eater of all time. Yet, watching the Time Monster is a lot more fun than slogging through the Mutants. The key to this? Roger Delgado. The chemistry the actor had with Jon Pertwee and the rest of the regular cast was fantastic, while his relish at unleashing his mad plot helps to rough over the poor pacing and plotting of the serial, which is a classic six-parter “one story for the first four episodes, a different-but-connected one” for the last two story. Still, we get baby Sgt. Benton out of the deal.

Next time, old friends return for The Three Doctors, and we finally get free of Earth for a while.

Doctor Who season eight: A Moriarty for the Doctor

So, you have the Doctor stuck on Earth. What do you do for fresh villains for him to fight? Give him a brother (though not an actual brother) Time Lord to duel with throughout the season. The Master would go on to define much of the Jon Pertwee era of the show and would continue to be a foil throughout the classic series, through to the TV movie and into new show. (as Derek Jacobi and John Simm; double classy!)

Terror of the Autons

And welcome to the Master. Roger Delgado arrives in a circus caravan, hypnotizes a blustery gent and proceeds to terrorize children everywhere with a plot to use the Autons from the previous season to well… it’s all in the title. Delgado is terrific in the role and even though there is some dodgy special effects (color separation overlay really begins its own terrorization of the show here) the whole series is creepy and effective, especially as everyday household objects – dolls, plastic flowers, a telephone cord (ask your parents, kids) – come to life to KILL everyone in their path.

Mind of Evil

As the season deepened, the fact that the Master was behind all of the plots became a bit of a joke, but his appearance midway through episode two here is actually pretty effective. The show has a bit of a Patrick Troughton vibe to it, mainly because the only copy that existed for many years was in black and white. In fact, the blurry black and white copy I have is a bit more effective than some of the color episodes from the era, as it hides some of the weaknesses in special effects. That means you spend more time focused on the story, which is what this is supposed to be about.

The Claws of Axos

When talking about this episode in the bonus DVD material, the word that came up the most was “psychedelic.” Perhaps “mad” would have been more appropriate. A race of golden-skinned beauties come to earth with an offer of unlimited free energy for humankind? Sounds good, except what they really wanted to do was eat – everything bit of life, and they weren’t really golden-skinned beauties, but quintessential rubber monsters with tentacles everywhere. Oh, and they could replicate us to wreck havoc. And the Master shows up… Just barking mad from beginning to end, but a really entertaining romp that stands as a definitive Third Doctor adventure.

Colony in Space

Script editor Terrance Dicks has repeatedly said that he and producer Barry Letts chaffed against the “stranded on Earth” edict from the previous production team. Doctor Who should be, in part, an adventure about traveling in space. That’s all fine and good in concept, except that – with the exception of stories with the name “Peladon” in the title – the Third Doctor space adventures are pretty terrible. Case in point is the first adventure beyond the bounds of the planet, which manages to be overstuffed with concepts and absolutely boring in execution. There’s a colony, and an evil mining corporation, and three distinct races of aliens… and I really don’t want to think any more about this one. Bring on the Daemons.

The Daemons

These five episodes are rightfully considered stone-cold classics. You get the Unit family in full flower, right down to the Brigadier in a kilt, Mike Yates and Sgt. Benton out of uniform and kicking ass, and an ancient science experiment that appears to be magic. There’s even Roger Delgado giving the Goat during a black mass. Much of the sharpness is down to the script, which was co-written by producer Barry Letts. Not only was Letts an experienced writer, but he knew the main characters inside and out – which meant none of the fun was forced in any way. The plot does share more than a passing resemblance with Quatermass and the Pit, but there was (and still is, current Doctor Who writers) plenty of territory in the idea of the ancient alien on Earth, affecting our folklore, legends and myths.

So, that’s the Master season done and dusted – bring on the Daleks!

Doctor Who Season Seven: Meet the new Doctor, not at all like the old Doctor (and in color, too)

This is as close to a reboot as you will find in the original run of Doctor Who. The entire cast has turned over. A new production team would be in place by midseason. The Doctor is stuck on Earth with mostly unfamiliar characters. And it is in full living color (well, early 1970s full color at the very least).

But what about the stories? This is a bit of a messy season. The previous producers had decided that, as a way to save money on each storyline, that they would stretch out to seven episodes. The results were… well, not the best. None of the stories are complete losses, but they could have done with some (or a lot of) trimming to make them better.

Spearhead from Space

The new era gets off to a strong start with a cracking four-parter that introduces the Autons – the plastic people with guns in their hands that would make a couple of notable returns in the “new” series, first in the premiere episode and then with the whole plastic Rory storyline.

As is typical, it takes a bit for the new Doctor to settle into the character. Jon Pertwee came into the show best known as a comedy actor, and he puts it to good use in the early scenes as the confused Doctor makes his escape from the hospital, including a raid of the doctors’ wardrobe (shades of the 11^th Doctor’s first episode as well). We also get a sense of the dramatic flair he’d bring to the character as well (not to mention getting a look at proto-Bessie, the antique car that defined the Third Doctor far much more than the Tardis). Oh, and there's a terrific Robert Holmes script to hold it all together.

The Silurians

Now things start to get stretched out. There is good material within this story, especially the core idea that the Silurians are not alien invaders but actually the original sentient race on Earth. There are also good supporting characters throughout – including a youngish Geoffrey Palmer, who meets an untimely end due to an ancient plague – and the deepening of the relationship between The Doctor and short-term companion Liz Shaw. The alien costumes are a bit daft, but the political fighting among the Silurians gave them an extra bit of depth. The same goes for the end, which has the Brigadier – with some justification – blowing up the cave entrances to cut off the creatures and keep them off the show until the 1980s.

The Ambassadors… OF DEATH

While The Silurians could have used an episode or two trim, this series is a complete mess. There may be enough material for a four-episode storyline, but stretched out over seven episodes breaks the poor story’s back. Again, we have an interesting twist on the expected tale – as the titular ambassadors really are that – alien visitors who are being manipulated by a mad astronaut bent on destruction. However, there is no real drive to the story, which includes what seems like a million captures and escapes on the part of Liz and what feels like real-time rocket launches. On the upside, the series did introduce a landmark change in the theme – the familiar “scream” that now leads us into and out of every episode made its debut here, being used to introduce the show’s title and at the cliffhanger.

Inferno

While searching the library database for a copy of the DVD of this, the only show called “Inferno” I could find was an episode of Steven Moffat’s Coupling, which – while having some tangential connection to Doctor Who, and a very funny episode to boot – really wasn’t going to help. Thankfully, I have alternative ways to watch any of the series, via some crusty old video copies, which was good. This may be my favorite of the Third Doctor adventures. There are mutated humans affected by a poison from deep in the Earth’s crust; a drilling project that could end the world; and some parallel dimension hopping that features Liz Shaw in a black uniform and the Brigadier with an eye patch.

Fascist Britain aside, the story actually delves into the concept of free will and affecting change. The Doctor has to think quickly on the side-Earth, knowing that it is doomed, but with the sacrifices of the alternative characters he may be able to save his home Earth. It also features the less-than-ideal sending off of Liz, with the last view of Caroline John is her laughing at the Doctor’s expense. Alas, a cerebral modern woman who was an intellectual rival for the main character wasn’t in the cards in 1970. Goodbye Liz, and hello somewhat ditzy (but eventually a very good character) in Katy Manning’s Jo Grant.