#24 (11.21 - 11.26): Planet of the Spiders.

Sarah Jane Smith encounters a giant spider.

6 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 147 minutes. Written by: Robert Sloman. Directed by: Barry Letts.


THE PLOT:

Mike Yates, now a civilian, is trying to find peace in meditation at a retreat run by Buddhist monks K'anpo (George Cormack) and Cho-Je (Kevin Lindsay). Even though he's no longer with UNIT, though, his investigative instincts remain. When he notices Lupton (John Dearth) and other students going to the cellar in secret, he follows and watches as they use the techniques they have learned to make contact with an otherworldly power.

Doubting that he'd be believed by his former colleagues at UNIT, he turns to Sarah Jane Smith. She interviews Cho-Je, ostensibly for a puff piece on the retreat, but she lingers with Mike to investigate Lupton's group. She watches as they repeat the ceremony from the previous day, this time summoning a giant spider that fuses with Lupton.

Meanwhile, the Doctor has received a gift from his former assistant, Jo: the crystal he had taken from Metebelis III. The crystal is the goal of the spider, which has come from that world to recover it for "The Great One." Metebelis is now under the total control of intelligent spiders, with the human population reduced to slave labor... and if they succeed in regaining the crystal, the next planet they conquer will be Earth!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: The first four episodes see the Third Doctor presenting his usual, indomitable front, whether investigating the retreat, pursuing Lupton, or searching for a way for the villagers on Metebelis to defend themselves from the spiders. The final two episodes introduce something new: fear. The Great One's psychic powers are such that it's able to easily pierce the Doctor's defenses, forcing him to turn in place, all the while assuring him that he is wise to fear her. Pertwee plays his final scenes particularly well, showing the Doctor's weakness as he stumbles out of the TARDIS at the end, an echo of how he arrived in Spearhead from Space. After years of railing against his exile on Earth, his words to Sarah are telling: "The TARDIS brought me home."

Sarah Jane Smith: Is paired with Mike in the early episodes, and Elisabeth Sladen and Richard Franklin play quite well off each other - so much so that I regret this being the only story in which they share any significant screen time. There's a bit of weak character writing in which Sarah, an experienced investigative journalist, somehow misses multiple cues by Mike to stop talking and leave. Outside of that, she gets a solid role. She's compassionate toward Tommy, the retreat's mentally challenged handyman. On Metebelis, with the Doctor injured and in need of medical supplies in the TARDIS, she doesn't hesitate to break the planet's curfew and go for them, putting herself in danger.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: There's an amusing bit in which a psychic (Cyril Shaps) describes the watch the Brigadier received as a gift from a woman in a hotel room, a story that the military man quickly cuts off. At the end, Sarah is certain that the Doctor is dead, but the Brigadier thinks otherwise: "One time I didn't see him for months... When he did turn up, he had a new face." Having met two Doctors already, he takes the regeneration in stride, remarking, "Here we go again."

Mike Yates: Given the circumstances of his departure from UNIT, he doesn't trust that the Brigadier or even the Doctor would necessarily believe him. I'm not sure why he'd expect Sarah to have a different reaction, given that her only interaction with him was at his worst while the others at least had seen him at his best. Still, while his reasoning seems odd, it at least allows for some entertaining scenes between him and Sarah. It's clear enough that while he's now a civilian, his investigative instincts remain intact... though his need to take action leads him to do something reckless near the end.

Lupton: Writer Robert Sloman realizes that the story needs a human villain, and John Dearth's Lupton works nicely in that role. We learn that he's a former salesman, and he's used his experience at persuasion to enlist others to help him in his pursuit of power. In a speech in Part Three, he recalls working his way up over a 25-year career, only to be made redundant: "Merger, takeover, golden handshake." His resentment is understandable, and it was likely shared by a fair number of parents in the viewing audience who had found themselves in or at least known people in similar situations. It doesn't change the insanity of his desire to take his anger out on the entire world, but it adds texture to an otherwise one-note baddie.

The Doctor confronts The Great One, the ruler of the spiders.

THOUGHTS:

Planet of the Spiders ends the Third Doctor's era, and it makes several nods at the entirety of his run.

The letter from Jo kick-starts the plot with the return of the crystal from Metebelis III, allowing this Doctor's primary assistant to have a presence (albeit offscreen) in his final story. The main conflict is crafted as consequences for the Doctor's trip to Metebelis III. The teacher that he has so frequently mentioned is invoked again, this time not for someone else's benefit but so that the Doctor may learn one final lesson. Finally, the Third Doctor's arc is brought to a true close in his final scene, as he refers to Earth - once a bitterly resented prison - as "home."

This is not to say that Planet of the Spiders is a story that's strictly about the Third Doctor's end. For its first four episodes, it plays almost entirely like a standard adventure. The first real sense that this Doctor may actually die comes in his first conversation with The Great One, midway through Part Five. But even in the early episodes, there are enough deliberate callbacks to give the sense of a narrative "summing up" of the era.

The first episode is the serial's best, establishing questions and raising a level of intrigue as Sarah and Mike investigate the retreat while the Doctor receives the crystal during an interview with a psychic. The two threads initially seem separate, but they merge as the psychic touches the crystal and sees a vision of spiders even as Lupton's group succeeds in summoning a spider. At this point, no answers are forthcoming, with only the questions and atmospherere being established.

The first half of the story focuses on investigations of the retreat, first by Sarah and then by the Doctor. This is the story's stronger half, with a setting and characters who feel convincing. The main action moves to Metebelis III for the second half, and the human village that the Doctor and Sarah push to rebellion seems like stock sci-fi stuff, with the villagers made up of familiar character types. The Metebelis scenes aren't bad, but they don't have the same sharpness... at least, not until the Doctor encounters The Great One and responds with fear, as the script begins building toward his exit.


THE REGENERATION:

The regeneration itself is arguably Doctor Who's plainest, a simple dissolve from Jon Pertwee to Tom Baker with no other effects overlaid. Of more interest is the scene building up to it. Sarah Jane knows that facing The Great One would end in the Doctor's death, so she is already in mourning when she arrives at the lab. The Brigadier, who has known him longer, has faith in his friend's survival, recalling that the last time he was absent for a while he came back with a new face.

This is a smart bit of dialogue to include, not least because Jon Pertwee was very popular and his five year run was the longest yet for an incumbent Doctor. The groundwork starts being laid in Parts Five and Six, but this moment, just before the Doctor comes home to die, is a direct reminder that the Doctor has changed before. This story provides the process with the name "regeneration" and identifies it as a natural part of a Time Lord's existence, which also sets the stage for future changes. Working to further reduce audience resistance is the presence of the Brigadier and Sarah, popular characters who would provide direct continuity with the next story.

The Doctor pursues Lupton in Classic Who's most elaborate chase.

PLANES, BOATS, AND AUTOMOBILES:

As a farewell gift to Jon Pertwee, the series' production team crafted an elaborate chase scene. In Part Two, Lupton invades the Doctor's territory - UNIT - to steal the Meteblis crystal. The Doctor and UNIT pursue. The resulting set piece begins as a car chase. Then Lupton switches from automobile to helicopter, with the Doctor continuing the chase in the air. Finally, Lupton steals a speedboat and the Doctor a hovercraft as the chase moves to the water.

The sequence is long, but fan myth has exaggerated it. Before I ever saw the story, I recall reading on forums about a dreadful "episode long" chase scene. It actually takes up a little over ten minutes, just under half the episode's running time; and while I agree that it's overlong, it's far from an ordeal. It's kept fresh for some time with moments of humor, including a bewildered police officer who joins the chase and some picnickers who get startled by the Doctor's hovercraft. There's also a brief dialogue/exposition break before the chase moves from land to air.

I can only speak for myself, but it was only in the final shift, when the chase was extended yet again into the water, that I felt my attention begin to drift - and at this point, the scene was almost at its end.

It could have been cut shorter, but I don't find this chase to be a trial to get through. In fact, I mostly enjoy it. Car chases were a mainstay in 1970s and '80s detective shows - and I can frankly think of several of those that, even when occupying less screen time, still tested my patience more than this one does.


OVERALL:

Planet of the Spiders is a good story that manages to sustain tension while at the same time paying tribute to outgoing star Jon Pertwee's popular Third Doctor. It has its faults, notably sagging during the "slave village" scenes in the middle, but it makes up for it with several fine moments, notably Lupton's resentment-laden monologue and the Doctor's two encounters with The Great One. For the most part, it fills its six episodes comfortably.

A good story overall, in my opinion, and a solid exit for Jon Pertwee, whose Doctor I will miss.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

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#23 (11.15 - 11.20): The Monster of Peladon.

Ice Lord Azaxyr (Alan Bennion) declares martial law on Peladon!

6 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 146 minutes. Written by: Brian Hayles. Directed by: Lennie Mayne. Produced by: Barry Letts.


THE PLOT:

The Doctor brings Sarah to Peladon, hoping to introduce her to his old friend, the king... but his timing is a little off. It's been decades since his last visit, and King Peladon has died. The throne is now occupied by his daughter, Thalira (Nina Thomas), who is seen mainly as a figurehead, with the real power lying with the stern Chancellor Ortron (Frank Gatliff).

The planet is in the midst of civil unrest. The Galactic Federation is at war, and Peladon's stores of trisilicate are badly needed. The miners, led by Gebek (Rex Robinson), are already resentful that none of the benefits of Federation membership have trickled down to them. When the spectre of Aggedor appears and kills a miner, they cease work altogether, declaring it to be "the wrath of Aggedor."

Tensions rapidly escalate between the miners and the ruling class, and the Doctor's attempts to mediate only earn suspicion. As the situation worsens, diplomat Alpha Centauri (voice of Ysanne Churchman) calls for Federation reinforcements - which the Doctor, Ortron, and Gebek all recognize as the worst possible outcome.

Ice Lord Azaxyr (Alan Bennion) soon arrives with a contingent of Ice Warriors to resolve the situation. His solution? To declare martial law and threaten the miners with execution!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: For whatever reason, he thinks it's a good idea to bring his ultra-feminist new companion to a planet where women barely have the right to speak. I can only assume that Sarah Jane did something to really upset him. He spends much of the story acting as a voice of reason. He urges Queen Thalira to address Gebek's concerns, while also trying to stop hot-headed miner Ettis (Ralph Watson) from resorting to violence. When the Ice Warriors arrive, he provokes Azaxyr into threatening murder just to show the queen and Chancellor Ortron how serious the Ice Lord is.

Sarah Jane Smith: She takes exception to being dismissed as "unimportant" because of her sex, and she tries to get Queen Thalira to exercise her power: "Never mind why they made you a Queen. The fact is you are the Queen, so just you jolly well let them know it!" She's the one who recommends that Ortron and Gebek make everything appear fine so that the Ice Warriors go away quickly; and for all that Ortron is inclined to dismiss her, he follows her lead in this. She's still new at meeting aliens, and she can't help but react to the extremely alien-looking Alpha Centauri... but once she sees that she's hurt the ambassador's feelings, she takes care to apologize.

Queen Thalira: The young queen is viewed very much as a figurehead, and early episodes see her deferring to Chancellor Ortron. She begins to assert her independence when Ortron becomes determined to label the Doctor as an enemy, but she only starts to come into her own when the Ice Warriors arrive. She is absolutely defiant toward Azaxyr, and she refuses Ortron's appeal to flee to safety until the crisis has past.

Chancellor Orton: Though Frank Gatliff gives a fully committed performance, Ortron is one of the story's most poorly written characters. He assumes the villain role in the first half, and he's almost laughably obsessed with arresting and punishing the Doctor. He even sneers at the queen about protecting her from her mistakes and how females are "unimportant." Then, in the second half, he behaves entirely differently. With the actual antagonist finally present in the form of Lord Azaxyr, the narrative no longer requires him to be ludicrously unreasonable, and he defers to both the queen and the Doctor from that point on.

Gebek: Tries to find a way to appeal to the Queen and Ortron. Since this happens in the first half of the story, before he gains several IQ points, Ortron takes his warnings about the possibility of violence as a threat. To anyone who's not been infected with "Temporary Villain Syndrome," it's clear that Gebek is doing all he can to try to maintain the peace - which is made even more difficult as the other miners start listening to the hotheaded Ettis. Silly hairstyle aside, Rex Robinson does a fine job with the role, creating a character who is believable both as a lifelong miner and as a leader.

The Ice Warriors: This was the last televised story to feature the Ice Warriors until 2013's Cold War. After The Curse of Peladon showed them acting as honest peacekeepers, this serial restores them to their more familiar status as villains. This is carefully done in a way that remains consistent with the earlier story, with it made clear that Azaxyr represents an aggressive breakaway group and not the race as a whole... which actually makes the Ice Warriors even more interesting by showing that their society isn't monolithic. Alan Bennion is excellent, and the story really comes to life once he arrives. I particularly enjoyed the scenes in Episode Four as he and the Doctor verbally fence with each other.


THOUGHTS:

The Monster of Peladon is a story of two halves. The first three episodes have interesting elements, but they are mostly boring. The pacing is atrocious, and the narrative is repetitive. Both the Doctor and Gebek are arrested and escape multiple times; the Doctor at one point is tasked with taking a message to Gebek, only to be arrested when he... um, attempts to deliver that message. Every scene seems to run longer than it should, and many scenes don't really do anything to advance the story.

I found myself slightly reminded of Patrick Troughton's penultimate story, The Space Pirates. Like that story, the first three episodes feel as if they could have (and probably should have) been condensed into a single part. But also like The Space Pirates, it improves noticeably in the second half.

It picks up once the Ice Warriors arrive. Azaxyr makes a far more formidable opponent than Ortron, and there's a reasonable amount of suspense as the Doctor, Sarah, and Queen Thalira attempt to oppose him. The stakes actually start to rise, with each episode providing some new reveal. None of these are especially surprising, least of all the "secret villain" who should be easily spotted as a baddie by Episode Two. But the simple existence of new story turns keeps the pace alive in a way that wasn't true in the first half.

Flaws remain. Ortron either should have been toned down in the early episodes or should have remained obstinate in the later ones. As it stands, he essentially transforms into a completely different person between Episodes Three and Four. Repetition also remains a problem. Episode Five sees Sarah believing the Doctor is dead and relieved to discover that he's alive. Episode Six then... sees Sarah believing the Doctor is dead again. Pick one instance and lose the other, please.


OVERALL:

The Monster of Peladon's second half rescues it from ranking alongside The Mutants as Pertwee's worst story. Even with the narrative flaws, the last three episodes move along and are quite entertaining. Jon Pertwee gets some strong scenes near the end, notably when the Doctor endures a painful assault in order to save Gebek and his miners. The tag, with Sarah needling the Doctor, is also charming and concludes the serial on a fun note.

Had this had been four episodes, as its predecessor was, then I suspect this would be better of the two Peladon stories, as I think this one has more interesting elements and a stronger villain. But at six parts, it ends up being too much work to wade through the dreary early installments to get to the good stuff.


Overall Rating: 5/10.

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#22 (11.11 - 11.14): Death to the Daleks.

A Dalek is attacked by hostile natives.

4 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 98 minutes. Written by: Terry Nation. Directed by: Michael Briant. Produced by: Barry Letts.


THE PLOT:

A sudden power drain forces the TARDIS to materialize on Exxilon, a barren world whose surviving population has devolved to a primitive state. The advanced city nearby was once the pinnacle of their civilization, but they now worship it as a god, even making sacrifices to appease it.

The Doctor and Sarah aren't the only ones trapped. A human Marine Space Corps vessel was dispatched to mine the rare mineral parrinium for the treatment of a plague afflicting the outer colonies. Also marooned by the power drain, the crew has found itself hunted by the natives. A third party has also come, a race the Doctor is all too familiar with:

The Daleks!

Also without power, the Daleks reluctantly agree to work with the humans until they can restore power. But the Daleks are too resourceful to remain helpless for long...


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: His pragmatism is strongly shown in this story. He proposes the truce with the Daleks, even knowing that they can't be trusted, because working with them will increase the humans' chances of survival. Later, when they're attacked by the natives, he refuses to allow scientist Jill Tarrant (Joy Harrison) to get herself killed in a pointless attempt to retrieve a dead man's body. The natives surround them to take them prisoner, and he surrenders - the only choice, he notes, "when the only alternative to living is dying."

Sarah Jane Smith: This is the first story to write her more or less as "standard Doctor Who companion," but Elisabeth Sladen still boosts the material. When she meets Exxilon rebel Bellal (Arnold Yarrow), her body language shows wariness even after he's reassured her that he's friendly. It's only when she learns that the Doctor is in imminent danger that she forgets her fear and grabs onto Bellal's arm to beg for help. There are two scenes in which Sarah complains to the Doctor, and in both moments Sladen punctuates the line with a warm smile, which keeps the character from coming across as irritable.

Galloway: The first half makes Duncan Lamont's Galloway into almost a human Dalek, coldly willing to leave the Doctor and Sarah to their deaths. When the Daleks manage to jury-rig weapons to subdue the natives, they state that they will exterminate hostages until the Exxilons agree to their terms. Galloway approves: "That should bring them around to our way of thinking." He defends this to Tarrant, dismissing the Exxilons as primitives whose lives don't matter. Alas, instead of building on this, the story makes him as generic as the other crew members in the second half, with his former amorality all but forgotten.

Bellal: One of several Exxilons who are considered outcasts because they do not worship the city. When the Doctor admires the city, Bellal tells him that "to us, it is evil." He basically acts as the Doctor's companion when he takes him to the city in Parts Three and Four. As they navigate through a series of traps and puzzles that wouldn't be out of place in a 1990s LucasArts adventure game, he admits that he's afraid, but that there's no choice but to go on.

Daleks: Though they reach an agreement with the Doctor and the humans, they have no interest in honoring it. They hide their true numbers, making sure that no more than four Daleks are visible to the humans at any point while the rest lurk in the ship. Their ingenuity allows them to create primitive projectile weapons in place of their usual death rays - and they test their targeting on miniature TARDIS models, which is an amusing touch. Part Two is the only episode in which they are particularly resourceful, though, with the second half of the story making them appear more ineffectual than they've been since The Chase.


THOUGHTS:

OK, so is the Episode Three cliffhanger the most arbitrary one ever? As the Doctor and Bellal progress through the maze that is the Exxilon city, the Doctor stops Bellal from moving forward, urgently telling him, "Don't move!" Then the camera cuts to a dramatic shot of... a pattern on the floor. At which point the credits roll. I have to admit, I about burst out laughing.

Unsurprisingly, this was not the intended cliffhanger. A glance at the Doctor Who Wiki reveals that the episode was meant to end a few minutes earlier, with the Doctor trying to solve a puzzle while the Daleks are on the verge of entering. Part Three underran, and so the cliffhanger was moved, giving birth to The Floor Mural of Doom.

I would rate Death to the Daleks as the weakest of Pertwee's three Dalek stories. The cleverest conceits are the reluctant team up between Doctor and Daleks and Galloway's Dalek-like qualities. Both of these are abandoned after Episode Two, and the rest of the plot boils down to a quick-fire tour of Dalek clichés: Hostages, slave labor, self-destructing upon failure, and lots of shouting about exterminating without actually doing it. Writer Terry Nation seems less interested in his signature creations than in the Exxilon city and the divergent native factions, leaving his most famous creations feeling more than a little tacked on.

This serial makes up for some of its script weaknesses by being rather well-made. Lighting is dim in underground scenes, helping to make aliens and pieces of technology look less fake and more threatening than they otherwise might. Action scenes benefit from slight camera tilts, close shots, and (by standards of the time) rapid cuts. Unlike Invasion of the Dinosaurs, in which production decisions conspired to make the effects look as bad as possible, the choices made in this story result in what should be a dreary "quarry runaround" looking much better than it has any right to.

The first episode is the best one. There's some decent atmosphere as the Doctor and Sarah find themselves on this strange planet, and there's a building sense of mystery. The story gets weaker as it goes along, but it remains generally well-paced. Scenes of the Doctor solving logic puzzles inside the Exxilon city are silly and don't amount to much (the power drain is solved not by the trip into the city, but by an explosive planted in a subplot)... but I'll still admit to enjoying it.


OVERALL:

Death to the Daleks isn't what I'd call "good." Several elements aren't exploited to their dramatic potential, and plot turns sometimes end in narrative dead ends. The Daleks are at their most generic, and it's easy enough to see why a new direction was found for their next appearance.

Each of Pertwee's Dalek stories is weaker than the one before. This one feels more than a little threadbare, devolving too rapidly into a compendium of Dalek clichés. Still, it at least moves quickly from one cliché to the next, and it's generally well made.

I can't exactly recommend it, but I didn't mind watching it. I can certainly think of worse ways to burn off 100 minutes.


Overall Rating: 5/10.

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#21 (11.5 - 11.10): Invasion of the Dinosaurs.

The Doctor watches dinosaurs battle for territory in central London!

6 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 147 minutes. Written by: Malcolm Hulke. Directed by: Paddy Russell. Produced by: Barry Letts.


THE PLOT:

The Doctor returns journalist Sarah Jane Smith to London - except something is wrong. The city has been evacuated, with no activity outside of scattered bands of looters. Eventually reuniting with Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and UNIT, the Doctor learns that dinosaurs have been rampaging all over central London. The creatures appear, wreak havoc, and then vanish.

This is no natural phenomenon. Someone is deliberately causing this chaos, using the dinosaurs to clear out the area. Sarah is able to offer a lead: a missing scientist named Whitaker (Peter Miles), disgraced after the scientific community laughed off his theories about time travel.

It's clear that enormous power is required to bring the dinosaurs to present day London. The Doctor and Sarah each follow individual trails to the truth. But their efforts are complicated by sabotage. Somebody inside UNIT is working against them!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: As a Time Lord, he has a level of immunity to the time eddies being generated. This allows him to see time reversing when a dinosaur is sent back, something that the UNIT soldiers can't observe as time reverses for them too. He is delighted to meet Charles Grover, the Minister in charge of the emergency, having followed Grover's pro-ecology campaigns, and he tells the MP, "This planet needs people like you." He has less time for Gen. Finch (John Bennett), who is in charge of the military response and whom even the Brigadier regards with thinly veiled disdain. He has a degree of sympathy with the motives of the villains, but he agrees that what they're actually doing is madness.

Sarah Jane Smith: She is far too enthusiastic about telling people that she has information that she hasn't yet shared with others. She makes that mistake twice in this serial, which ends with her being abducted both times. That aside, this is an excellent story for her. As with The Time Warrior, she's presented as a character who could be the lead in her own series (which would, of course, eventually happen). When she feels dismissed by the Doctor and the Brigadier, she actively investigates on her own, and she turns up vital clues. Near the end, actions that she takes are almost enough to resolve the crisis, if not for a single flipped lever. She and the Doctor are separated for almost the entire second half, but the first two episodes allow her and Jon Pertwee to demonstrate good screen rapport, and they are charming together in the final scene.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: Though he values the chain of command too much not to show proper respect to Gen. Finch, it's still clear that he dislikes both the man and his orders. He's particularly exasperated when the general insists on devoting resources to stopping looters rather than focusing on the larger problem. His faith in his men is such that he has difficulty believing that any member of UNIT could be working with the villains.

Capt. Yates: After he's reunited with the Doctor, he admits that he had to take "a spot of leave" to recover from his brainwashing in The Green Death. He still seems to be suffering from a hint of PTSD, with him openly musing about how peaceful the evacuated London is. He organizes detention centers for looters and other details, and this seems to earn him a degree of trust from Gen. Finch. He uses that to advocate for the Doctor; when Finch dismisses the Doctor's reports as "rubbish," Yates interjects to say that he shouldn't be dismissed so casually. He goes even further in a later scene, stating that the Doctor is "probably the greatest scientist on this planet."

Sgt. Benton: He acts fast when a traitor within the ranks pulls a gun on the Brigadier, jumping the man and disarming him at the first opportunity. When Gen. Finch orders him to arrest the Doctor, he agrees - only to immediately tell the Doctor to knock him unconscious in order to stage an escape. He later pulls a gun on Gen. Finch to enforce UNIT's jurisdiction. Finch vows to court martial him, a threat that doesn't seem to bother Benton in the slightest.


THOUGHTS:

To get it out of the way up-front: The dinosaur effects are pretty much what you'd think they'd be, greenscreen shots of what look suspiciously like cheap plastic toys, and the directorial choices make them look even worse than they had to.

Too many of the shots featuring the dinosaurs are in bright daylight, showing off the cheapness to full disadvantage. Worse still, most of these shots are allowed to run for entire seconds longer than they should. Late in the story, there is one scene featuring a dinosaur underground, in dim lighting, and the scene works much better - but that scene is, sadly, the exception.

Outside of the "very special" effects, Invasion of the Dinosaurs has a lot going for it. In a series filled with evil megalomaniacs, this serial's villains believe that their actions are fully justified. I confess to preferring antagonists who believe they are in the right, rather than ones who are simply "Eeevil." They even have a worldview the Doctor can sympathize with, to a point; they've just taken it to an extreme conclusion.

The first episode is reminiscent of the first part of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, with the regulars exploring a mostly empty London and trying to determine what has happened. The T-rex doesn't get unveiled until the cliffhanger, leaving most of the episode to build atmosphere and mystery. This opening installment also allows us to see the Doctor and Sarah together as a team - a good thing, given that they were separate for much of their first story and are separated again for the back half of this one.

The final two episodes are quite good. The Doctor gets involved in a car chase that's one of this era's better such sequences. There's genuine cleverness as he uses the environment to his advantage. The scene also creates momentum by giving him a double problem: evading Finch's soldiers while at the same time racing to reach the villains' lair before they can put their plan into action.

Unfortunately, the narrative bogs down in the middle. There is repetition, from multiple attempts to sabotage the Doctor to multiple trips back and forth between locations. It never devolves into tedium, but there's a sense of the action being stretched to fill six parts.

Even in the midst of the tedious middle episodes, the serial manages to deliver what I think might be one of Doctor Who's best cliffhangers. Episode Three doesn't end with characters in danger. Instead, it delivers a sudden narrative curveball, one that doesn't at first glance seem to fit with the rest of the story at all. It's well-executed, from the reveal itself to Sarah's look of shock at hearing it, and it does its job of hooking you into the next episode if only to get an explanation.


OVERALL:

There's a lot to like about Invasion of the Dinosaurs. The ideas are interesting, and there are several memorable sequences, including an excellent car chase and an outstanding Episode Three cliffhanger. The story does a good job of showing off new companion Sarah Jane Smith, who gets strong material with the Doctor in the first half and on her own in the second half.

I remember when this story was almost universally derided by fandom simply because of the cheap dinosaurs. The dinosaurs are cheap, and iffy directorial choices make that even more apparent than it should have been - but this is a good, solid story at its core, and I've been glad to see its reputation recover over the last decade or so.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

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#20 (11.1 - 11.4): The Time Warrior.

The Doctor reluctantly teams up with
journalist Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen).

4 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 97 minutes. Written by: Robert Holmes. Directed by: Alan Bromly. Produced by: Barry Letts.


THE PLOT:

In the Middle Ages, the bandit Irongron (David Daker) has taken control of a castle adjoining the lands of Sir Edward (Alan Rowe) - who, thanks to the Crusades, lacks sufficient men to expel him. One night, Irongron and his men spot what they think is a falling star. It is actually a crashed spaceship belonging to Linx (Kevin Lindsay), an officer of the Sontaran Space Corps.

Linx strikes a bargain with Irongron: He will make the bandit weapons far beyond this primitive time, and in exchange he will be given space in the castle and resources to repair his ship. But he also needs experts and equipment, and he uses time technology to take them from the future - specifically, from a high security research center in the 20th century United Kingdom.

The Doctor is tracks Linx to the past, determined to rescue the scientists and to stop the Sontaran from disrupting the course of history. But he has an unwelcome guest: journalist Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen), who inadverdantly stowed away in the TARDIS. As soon as Sarah realizes that she has traveled back in time and that the missing scientists are here as well, she draws the only logical conclusion: that the one behind all of this must be the Doctor!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: He has encountered the Sontarans before - "unfortunately," he adds. He is scornful of their war against the Rutans, and he's appalled that Linx is providing Irongron with weapons centuries in advance of this time. Even so, he's willing to help Linx repair his ship and get back to where he belongs if the Sontaran will simply release the scientists and destroy the weapons he's made for Irongron. The Doctor values saving innocents and keeping history on its proper track. If that can be accomplished peacefully, so much the better. Linx refuses, of course, but the Doctor still strives to find a way to save the people in Irongron's castle, including the band of criminals. When Sarah mistakes a stink bomb he's created for poison gas, he's offended: "Good heavens, what on Earth do you take me for?"

Sarah Jane Smith: In her debut story, Sarah seems to think that she's the lead. She's proactive, managing to save the Doctor twice during this story. Her suspicion of the Doctor makes perfect sense, given that the scientists have been taken to the past and that the Doctor has a time machine. Though I doubt anyone would have guessed that she would go on to become the most iconic Doctor Who companion, both Elisabeth Sladen and the character make a strong first impression. The moment that most impressed me was her first encounter with Irongron and Linx. As she slowly realizes that she's actually in the past and in serious trouble, fear grows in her voice and eyes. Linx approaches, talking about her like some kind of lab specimen while touching her face and throat. Sladen responds with a perfectly played mix of disgust and terror.

Professor Rubeish: When the other kidnapped scientists are brainwashed, he manages to escape. He credits this to his strong will, but the Doctor realizes that it's because the man was taken without his glasses, without which he is functionally blind. He's mostly a comedic figure, but he's not incompetent. He spends his time in Linx's workshop crafting a lens with which to see. When the Doctor is at Linx's mercy, Rubeish is able to act, and he does so capably. He refuses an early attempt at rescue, however, finding the alien's technology too fascinating to leave before getting a chance to study it.

Irongron: The human villain, a bloodthirsty bandit who sees in Linx a path to stealing not just one castle, but the entire country. He's a sadist, deciding to use the Doctor as target practice for the firearms whose use he and his men barely comprehend. When Linx argues for simply killing the Time Lord outright, Irongron sneers: "Would you spoil good sport, old toad?" He boasts loudly in front of his men, but he's only marginally less cowardly than they are. As Linx observes, after the Doctor thwarts his attempt to seize Sir Edward's castle, Irongron himself leads the retreat - which doesn't for an instant stop him from berating his men for fleeing with him. Actor David Daker gives a large performance to match the character's bravado. He's often quite funny in his interactions with Linx, but Daker injects just enough base shrewdness to make sure that an element of danger sits alongside the comedy.

Linx: The television series' first Sontaran. Kevin Lindsay finds the perfect voice to match the make-up, and Robert Holmes's script makes sure that Linx works both to represent a new alien species and as a character in his own right. His relationship with Irongron parallels that of the Doctor's with the Brigadier: He is stranded on Earth, offering his superior knowledge and technology while trying to free himself. Where the relationship differs is that Linx finds the "primitives" surrounding him to be beneath contempt. He dismisses the Doctor's protests about the impact of his actions on human evolution, declaring that he cares nothing for that... though he's spiteful enough toward the planet he's trapped on to be amused by the prospect of it being ruled by the despicable Irongron.

Linx (Kevin Lindsay) holds the Doctor at gunpoint.

THOUGHTS:

"A straight line may be the shortest distance between two points, but it is by no means the most interesting."

Despite multiple later appearances in both the Classic and revived Doctor Who series, The Time Warrior remains the Sontarans' best television outing. Robert Holmes's script is excellent. A lot of information about the Sontarans is seamlessly slipped into dialogue: their attitude toward war; the millions of cadets "hatched" at each muster - "thus we can sustain enormous casualties on all battle fronts"; and their ongoing war with the Rutans, which the Doctor already is aware of and disdains. In a handful of lines that fit perfectly into the script, and featuring only a single representative of the species, Holmes creates a full background and backstory to make this new race seem real.

The dialogue is often a joy just to listen to. There's a lot of dark humor in the conversations between Irongron and Linx, each of whom believes that he is using the other. These two do not like each other at all. Irongron casually insults Linx's short stature and facial features. Linx sneers at Irongron's primitive understanding of the wonders he can offer. Each is individually shown to fantasize about what he'd do if he didn't need the other's assistance. The combination of mutual dependence and hostility adds an edge to their scenes, and the performances of both Kevin Lindsay and David Daker are terrific.

The serial benefits from being a four parter. It moves quickly from one scene to the next. Nothing feels rushed, but there are also no wasted moments, and it's one of the easiest Pertwee stories to sit down and watch in a single sitting. It's nicely structured, with each major element set up and paid off. This includes the way Linx is defeated at the end, which utilizes both the Sontaran's previously established sole weakness and the role (and profession) of one of the guest characters.


OVERALL:

The Time Warrior is one of the most entertaining serials of Jon Pertwee's era. It's energetic, benefiting from good performances, a terrific script, and generally decent production values. It's a fine introduction to Elisabeth Sladen's Sarah Jane Smith, a great first story for the Sontarans, and just a thoroughly enjoyable story in general.


Overall Rating: 9/10.

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#19 (10.21 - 10.26): The Green Death.

The Doctor is helpless to stop Jo from falling for
young Professor Clifford Jones (Stewart Bevan). 

6 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 154 minutes. Written by: Robert Sloman. Directed by: Michael E. Briant. Produced by: Barry Letts.


THE PLOT:

After performing some maintenance, the Doctor decides to try again to reach Metebelis III - but Jo won't be going with him. She declines his invitation, telling him that she's going to Llanfairfach, a Welsh mining town that's now home to Global Chemicals.

The company and its director, Stevens (Jerome Willis), tout their new refinement process, which will produce 25% more fuel from crude oil while creating minimal waste. It sounds too good to be true - which is why Professor Clifford Jones (Stewart Bevan) and his commune of hippie scientists at the nearby "Nut Hutch" are protesting, certain that any refinement process must be producing thousands of gallons of waste. Jo wants to help Professor Jones, while Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and UNIT are called in to investigate the death of a miner who was found with his skin glowing green.

By the time the Doctor arrives, after barely escaping alive from his "pleasure jaunt" to Metebelis III, Jo has already gone into the mine... where an act of sabotage by Global Chemicals disables the lift and leaves her stranded. The Doctor finds his own way down to rescue her, reuniting with Jo just in time to discover the source of the green infection: giant maggots, mutated by the waste that Global has been secretly pumping into the mine!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: This story is my pick as Jon Pertwee's single best performance as the Doctor. He essentially moves through the stages of grief at the prospect of Jo leaving. When she refuses to go with him to Metebelis III, he first ignores her refusal (denial) and then tries to persuade her to come (bargaining). While he never shows anger, there is a certain petty malice in his deliberate interruption of a romantic moment between Jo and the professor. Finally, the end sees him bid a gracious but subdued farewell to Jo (acceptance). These emotional beats are played with reserve and even subtlety, but the Global Chemicals plot allows Pertwee to display his showmanship, with him even using a couple of comedy disguises along the way.

Jo Grant: Whether intentionally or not, you can draw a direct line between the end of the previous story and the beginning of this one. At the end of Planet of the Daleks, Jo declined the Doctor's offer to take her to any planet, telling him that she was only concerned with one world - Earth. This story opens with her again refusing to travel, preferring to help Professor Jones to work for Earth's ecology. Jo describes Jones as a younger version of the Doctor, and her first meeting with Jones is a direct parallel to her introduction to the Doctor as she disrupts an experiment. Jo is as headstrong as ever, putting herself in harm's way multiple times. My favorite scene of hers is near the middle, though, when she mourns the death of a miner she had befriended.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: The buffoon of The Three Doctors is gone, thankfully, with him back to his usual competence. He is initially sympathetic to Global Chemicals, seeing the benefits of "cheap petrol and lots of it." However, he can sense that Stevens is hiding something, particularly when the executive interferes with his efforts to help Jo and the trapped miners. His superiors forbid him from taking action, so he sends Mike Yates to infiltrate the company in the guise of a Ministry official. He shuts down Professor Jones when he insists he's going down into the mine after Jo, flatly telling him to leave it to the Doctor: "My concern for Miss Grant is as deep as yours, probably more so," he says, and the combination of authority and compassion is enough to talk the younger man down.

Mike Yates: Richard Franklin does a fine job with Mike's scenes as he impersonates a smarmy government bureaucrat. He's limited in what information he's able to gather, communicating to the Brigadier that he's being watched at all times. He does gain a decent overview of the layout of the Global Chemicals building, which he puts to use to help the Doctor to locate Stevens' mysterious "boss." Then he has to get the Doctor out of trouble, exposing himself to danger in the process.

Professor Jones: Jo's love interest is a brilliant, occasionally prickly, proudly anti-authoritarian scientist who isn't afraid to put himself in danger to do good... which, as Jo observes, makes him basically an age-appropriate version of the Doctor. The script pulls off a tricky balancing act: Their scenes together are focused on the budding relationship, but every one of them also moves the story forward. As a result, the romance works without interfering with the overall pace.


THOUGHTS:

"Jo, you've got all the time in the world, and all the space. I'm offering them to you."
-The Doctor strives to keep Jo from moving on.

The Green Death ranks among the best stories of the Pertwee era. It effectively mixes two separate but related plots. The thread the story is most remembered for involves the giant maggots and the deadly infection they create. But maggots, even mutated ones, don't make for very interesting villains, so the story provides a callous human baddie: Stevens and Global Chemicals, who inadverdantly created the maggots by dumping waste into the mine tunnels.

The threads are closely linked in the first half. Global's determination to cover its misdeeds creates increasingly serious complications. The Doctor and Jo are trapped in the mine because Stevens orders a henchman to sabotage the mine lift. When their escape takes them into the Global complex, they have to flee from corporate security.

They plots separate in the second half. Global's agenda isn't related to the maggots, which were simply an unintended consequence, leaving the Doctor and UNIT with two problems to solve. Even so, the plots continue feeding each other, particulary when the final episode creates deadlines for both: the prospect of the maggots evolving into flying insects becomes pressing at the same time that Global Chemicals nears the culmination of its ambitions, and the growing sense of urgency in each individual thread adds to the tension of the other.

The plot works, and the story would be enjoyable enough on that level. What makes it stand out, however, is the authenticity of the emotion - not always Classic Who's strong suit. The Doctor/Jo relationship has grown steadily better as the seasons have gone on. In many of my Season 9 and 10 reviews, I described their interplay as "sparkling," with Pertwee and Manning elevating scenes and serials through amusing bits of screen business and ever building screen chemistry. This is the story that ends their partnership, and it was important for the series to get that right.

The script sets up Professor Jones as a life partner for Jo and as a replacement for the Doctor. Both men are shown to be protective of her, with the Doctor rescuing her from the mine in the first half and Jones putting himself in harm's way to save her in the second half. Most of Jo's screen time in the first half is with the Doctor, reinforcing the old relationship; most of her screen time in the second half is with Jones, building the new relationship.

I like that the Doctor is so resistant to Jo moving on. There's a desperation in his initial appeal to Jo when he's trying to convince her to go off in the TARDIS with him, and a forced cheerfulness when he interrupts her moment with Professor Jones. He may ultimately let her go, but it's clearly difficult, and that internal struggle is convincingly portrayed. I also love the final image: the Doctor driving away in Bessie, alone both physically and emotionally for the first time in years.


OVERALL:

I could raise a few quibbles. Though the early episodes benefit from Welsh locations that make this feel more grounded than most serials, later episodes look much cheaper. A few greenscreen shots are downright awful, notably when the Doctor deals with the maggots in the final episode. There are also cheesy moments, from overly earnest dialogue about replacing meat with fungus to scenes involving hypnotism and a blue crystal... though I'll also admit to finding The Green Death's brand of '70s cheese to be rather endearing.

None of this undermines the story's many strengths. The "A" and "B" plots work well together, each increasing the urgency of the other even when they cease to be directly related. The character material is strong, with the Doctor/Jo and Jo/Professor interactions working particularly well. It's also extremely well paced, with the character material advancing the plot rather than stopping it in its tracks.

Add in an excellent final scene, complete with perfectly judged final shot, and it all adds up to a serial that I'd rank as one of this era's finest.


Overall Rating: 10/10.

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#18 (10.15 - 10.20): Planet of the Daleks.

The Doctor and Thal leader Taron (Bernard Horsfall) ambush a Dalek.

6 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 144 minutes. Written by: Terry Nation. Directed by: David Maloney. Produced by: Barry Letts.


THE PLOT:

The Doctor has thwarted the Master's plan to spark a war as a precursor to a Dalek invasion... but he's been wounded in the process. He manages to send a telepathic message to the Time Lords to pursue the Daleks before collapsing into a comatose state. He's still unconscious when the TARDIS reaches its destination. Desperate and unsure of what to do, Jo decides to leave the ship to search for help.

She encounters a group of Thals, who tell her that they have come to the planet Spiridon on an urgent mission to stop the Daleks. Jo directs them to the Doctor, but she is told to wait in their ship for their return.

The Thals find the Doctor, who is now awake. They reveal to him that the planet is inhabited, but that the native Spiridons are invisible. A token force of Daleks are experimenting on them to try to master the secret of invisibility. Taron (Bernard Horsfall), the leader of the expedition after the death of the original commander, intends to gather as much information as he can before acting. This is a source of tension with young Vaber (Prentis Hancock), who favors a direct assault, certain that their explosives are more than a match for a dozen or so Daleks.

The actual force turns out to be much larger. Spiridon is no research outpost, but a staging ground for a full-fledged invasion. Ten thousand Daleks are in suspended animation, just waiting for their activation orders!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: He gains the Thals' trust after saving Vaber from a malicious tentacle. It isn't long before he's adopted a co-leadership role, though he's careful to keep his presence from overpowering Taron's command. He fully agrees with the approach of cautious observation and planning, noting that recklessness helps nobody. Pertwee is in fine form throughout, and the script allows him to display the compassionate side of his Doctor, particularly in his scenes with Thal scientist Codol, who doubts his own courage. He has few moments of anger in this story - though one of these, a nonverbal glare after the Daleks appear to have killed Jo, is extremely effective.

Jo Grant: She spends the first half separated from the Doctor. She befriends a rebel Spiridon, Wester (Roy Skelton), who gives her (and us) backstory about the planet and its people. When Wester tells her that the Doctor was taken by the Daleks, she insists on attempting a rescue. This puts her in position to overhear the Dalek plans to destroy the Thals' explosives, and she acts quickly to save the bombs. Her role in the later episodes is weaker, with her mostly reduced to "generic companion" in the final parts. The less said about her would-be romance with one of the Thals, a plot development that comes out of nowhere and comes to nothing, the better.

Thals: Taron, the leader, is a naturally cautious man who likes to meticulously plan before acting. The hot-headed Vaber sees this is as a weakness, wanting to act immediately. Codal (Tim Preece), the scientific specialist, worries that he's not as courageous as the others because he is constantly frightened. Rebec (Jane How) is Taron's lover, who volunteered for a relief mission to be reunited with him. Latep (Alan Tucker), who appears to be the youngest of the group, falls for Jo after... she's, um, nice to him. None of these characters have great depth, but they are distinct enough to create the sense of a varied group.

Daleks: Though the Master's plan failed, the Daleks still plan to invade. As the Doctor observes, they have the numbers, and the Spiridons' invisibility will grant them a significant advantage in any conflict. They initially prefer to take prisoners rather than killing on sight, seeing them as resources for their experiments. Once the Doctor and the Thals escape, however, proving themselves a potential threat, they are quick to change to the Dalek default: Exterminate.


THOUGHTS:

"Be careful how you tell that story, will you? Don't glamorize it, don't make war sound like an exciting and thrilling game... Tell them about the members of your mission that will not be returning... tell them about the fear."
-the Doctor urges the Thals to remember the realities of war.

Planet of the Daleks was writer Terry Nation's first Doctor Who script since Season Three's The Daleks' Master Plan, and he borrows heavily from his earlier stories. The Dalek base might as well be the city from the original Dalek story, and the Thal expedition is pretty similar to the one in that serial. There are also slave workers and experiments, much like those glimpsed in The Dalek Invasion of Earth. It is narratively unambitious, a familiar story following a familiar structure. Oh, and it completely squanders the idea of invisible Daleks.

That said, "narratively unambitious" is not the same thing as "bad." This may just be a basic adventure story, but at least it's a thoroughly enjoyable one. David Maloney was one of Doctor Who's most reliable directors, so it's no surprise that this is well made. The planet features one of the series' better studio-bound jungles, and Maloney finds enough variety in the ways he shoots that it remains visually interesting throughout.

The story moves along nicely, fueled by multiple set pieces. One highlight sees the Doctor improvising a hot air balloon to escape up an elevator shaft. Other strong moments include a brush with an ice eruption while crawling through a cave and a sequence in which the characters hold off hungry animals while waiting for dawn, with only the predators' eyes seen in the darkness. Some bits seem to exist just to pad the serial out to length, such as a subplot involving a Dalek bio-weapon... but even that helps to add urgency, even if the whole thread ends up just being abruptly cut off.

The scripts benefit from a strong central theme about courage. Codal considers himself a coward because of his fear, though the Doctor points out that he's more courageous for feeling that fear and still doing what needs to be done. Vaber mistakes recklessness for courage, accusing Taron of lacking bravery because of his caution. Even poor, dull Latep has a good moment related to the theme, when he and Jo find a Dalek spaceship and realize that it will be possible for the expedition to return home. Jo is pleased, but Latep is happy the others aren't here to see it:

"We all thought that whatever happened, there was no way out. It was a suicide mission. That's affected everything we've done. We've faced dangers and taken risks because there was nothing to lose... Just knowing (about the ship) might mean the difference between success and failure."

None of this is exactly subtle; as a writer, Terry Nation rarely went in for subtlety. The sentiments are well expressed, though, and the theme fits with the overall story, adding an extra layer to an already entertaining work.


OVERALL:

Planet of the Daleks lacks the narrative ambition of Frontier in Space, but I actually think it's the more entertaining of the two. It's well made, and clever set pieces maintain interest despite the well-worn story elements.

It's clear that this was written as a completely separate story, with the links to Frontier mostly confined to the first episode save for a conversation between the Doctor and Jo in Episode Four. Still, those links are enough for both stories to feel complete.

Most importantly, I wasn't bored at any point. That hasn't always been true of longer stories, even a few that I consider to be better than this one.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

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