Power of the Daleks
Thankfully, David Whitaker gives him a real fun adventure to
kick things off, as the confused crew lands on a colony world that has
discovered a crashed ship that – as the serial’s title indicates – has some
Daleks inside. These are unusually stealthy Daleks however, as they pretend to
serve the humans while they marshal their resources and numbers. You can hear
some of Troughton’s mannerisms and eccentricities coming out even in this early
episode, along with the distinct “I’m pretending to be stupid while actually
being brilliant” vibe he honed to perfection.
The Highlanders
The other half of the Third Doctor double act shows up here,
as Jamie McCrimmon makes his entry into the show. Frazer Hines is as much an
essential piece of the Third Doctor’s years as Troughton. The two had terrific
chemistry. It was so good, in fact, that Ben and Polly started to feel
superfluous to the adventures. Having the pair around was good for a time, as
it let the story beats be distributed among more characters, but these
holdovers never felt all that comfortable in Troughton’s new world.
The Underwater Menace
The Doctor makes his first visit to Atlantis. There’s a mad
scientist and a bunch of daft costumes (which you can see in one of the rare episodes that still exist). Next…
The Moonbase
The Cybermen return in what is essentially a remake of The
Tenth Planet, only with Patrick Troughton mucking things up for the cyborgs
instead of William Hartnell. The Cybermen costumes are a bit closer to the classic look
this time around – they appear to be made of rubber instead of gauze – and the
adorable-but-deadly cybermats also make an appearance.
The Macra Terror
About five seconds of this serial exist, as a scene of a
character being traumatized by a giant claw was deemed too frightening for
viewers in Australia. The crab-like Macra would disappear from the show for 35
years before coming back for a bit of fan service in Gridlock during David
Tennant’s second season.
The show’s merging of comedy and horror can make the
listener a bit queezy. We have another group of colonists being terrorized by
alien forces, though this time, they keep up an innocent, hip-hip hooray façade.
That includes composing happy tunes and, I’m not making this up (as much as I
wish it were part of some kind of fever dream), cheerleaders. Goofy and Patrick
Troughton go hand in hand, and that’s evident throughout here.
The Faceless Ones
We say goodbye to Ben and Polly, who at least get to say
goodbye on screen. We also meet a companion that could have been in Samantha.
She is ensnared in the plot, where aliens are stealing youth from the Earth for
nefarious plans. Her brother has gone missing and her dogged search connects
early on with the Doctor’s own investigations. It’s a mostly missing adventure
that plays OK via audio. The intriguing story manages to stay engaging even
without the visuals, and actually is one of the best non-monster stories for
the Second Doctor.
The Evil of the Daleks
When it was rumored that a number of the missing episodes
had been found in 2013, this mostly missing episode was on the top of most
people’s wish lists (Marco Polo and The Fury from the Deep were also popular
choices). It’s one of the absolute best Dalek stories and served as a fitting
send off for the creatures in the '60s.
Creator Terry Nation was taking his pepper pots to
America to try and develop a series there (it didn’t work) and Skaro’s best
wouldn’t be seen for four years in the program.
The send off includes human
agents, time travel back to Victorian times and a final confrontation as the
Doctor puts a “human” element into the creatures. There are plenty of guest
characters, who – in typical Dalek story fashion – all end up dead by the end
of this story. Well, there is one survivor. Victoria (not Vicki), is orphaned
after her father sacrifices himself for our heroes.
That sets up the first
classic Patrick Troughton crew, which leads nicely into his second batch of
stories: a season of monsters!
No comments:
Post a Comment