#15 (10.1 - 10.4): The Three Doctors.

The 2nd and 3rd Doctors pit their wills against Omega
(Stephen Thorne), a Time Lord hero who has gone insane!

4 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 98 minutes. Written by: Bob Baker, Dave Martin. Directed by: Lennie Mayne. Produced by: Barry Letts.


THE PLOT:

Dr. Tyler (Rex Robinson), a researcher, brings his cosmic ray monitoring device to UNIT after he picks up unusual readings and after he sees Ollis (Laurie Webb), the man guarding the device, disappear. The Doctor and Jo leave to investigate the scene of Ollis's disappearance. They return to find that Dr. Tyler has also vanished, and that UNIT HQ is under attack by "Gel Guards," creatures made out of antimatter that seem to be specifically hunting for the Doctor.

Overwhelmed and with no options beyond hiding inside the TARDIS, the Doctor sends a distress call to the Time Lords. They have their own problems, however, with their power being drained from inside a black hole. They can't help the Doctor - but, as the Time Lord President observes, "Perhaps he can help himself."

The Doctor is joined by his second incarnation (Patrick Troughton). The Time Lords also send a projection of the Doctor's original version (William Hartnell) to advise. Between the three of them, they come up with a plan that sends them through the black hole to a universe of antimatter - a universe ruled over by Omega (Stephen Thorne), a hero to the Doctor's people for unlocking the secrets of time travel.

Omega supposedly died in the supernova that granted the Time Lords their power. He insists he was "sacrificed," and millennia of solitude have left him hungering for vengeance. He demands that the Doctors aid him - or else he will destroy their entire universe!


CHARACTERS:

The 3rd Doctor: Is annoyed the presence of his more frivolous 2nd incarnation, seeming embarrassed by his younger self's conduct. Though they end the serial on amiable terms, he doesn't hesitate to say that he hopes never to meet himself again. He's determined to stop Omega, but he still feels empathy for his plight. He takes the lead in the interactions with Omega, with the 2nd Doctor more or less acting as both disruptive force and backup.

The 2nd Doctor: Both script and Patrick Troughton turn up the comedy to a far higher degree than was usually the case during his actual era. The story makes his recorder (which was relatively little seen after his first few serials) into something he's obsessive about, though it does pay that off at the end. There is a nice moment when the 2nd Doctor plays up his manic behavior until Omega loses his temper. When the 3rd Doctor demands to know what he's doing, he replies that he's testing their adversary, observing, "The limits of his self-control... aren't very good, are they?"

The 1st Doctor: William Hartnell's poor health resulted in his role being pared back to a handful of pre-filmed inserts, with him addressing the other Doctors from the TARDIS scanner. Faced with his two successors, he reacts like a disappointed father figure at finding "a dandy and a clown," and he provides advice that steers his older selves in the right direction. Though his decline is visible, Hartnell still manages some fine deliveries, and I laughed out loud at several of his line readings.

Jo Grant: She is confused by the appearance of the 2nd Doctor, but she adjusts rapidly to the situation once it's been explained to her. She finds the 2nd Doctor to be "sweet," which sounds a bit like she's gushing over the Doctor's baby pictures (and, in a way, she sort of is). Her loyalty remains to the 3rd Doctor, though, with her refusing to abandon him even when he tries to make her do so.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: Unless I'm misremembering a later story, I'm fairly sure this story represents the character's low point. The normally composed and rational Brigadier is a complete buffoon here. When he sees the 2nd Doctor, he insists that one of his experiments changed his face back, refusing to listen when both the 2nd Doctor and Benton try to tell him otherwise. When the TARDIS transports them through the black hole, he insists they are in "Cromer." It's only when he finally sees both Doctors together that he even begins to accept reality. 

Sgt. Benton: He gapes in wonder when dragged into the TARDIS. But when the Doctor asks if he's going to say that it's bigger on the inside, he sensibly responds: "It's pretty obvious, isn't it?" There isn't the slightest hesitation in his happiness at seeing the previous Doctor, with whom he's paired for most of Episode Two. He seems slightly exasperated at the Brigadier's recalcitrance, making it a point to "look after" his superior as he strides out to idiotically march on "Cromer."

Omega: He should come across as a tragic villain, a man of brilliance and vision who was lost while making time travel possible. Unfortunately, Stephen Thorne's performance reduces him to a shouty, ill-tempered tyrant. It's left to Jon Pertwee's reactions to convey the sense that this is a great man who's fallen. Thorne shows none of that - and in fairness to him, the script gives him very few opportunities to.


THOUGHTS:

I first watched The Three Doctors a little over twenty years ago, when I got back into Doctor Who as an adult. It was a story I was particularly looking forward to watching, and... I hated it. It was cheap and silly. It felt like a bad comic book, complete with tacky (vaguely Christmas-like) monsters, tinfoil costumes, and sets that seemed to be generously adorned with tinsel.

A couple of decades on, I stand by all of these complaints - only this time, I enjoyed it. Ironically, I think that specifically because my degree of Doctor Who fandom has receded, with it now just one of several shows I enjoy, I was better able to get into the spirit of it.

The Three Doctors launched the tenth season of the series. Though it didn't air anywhere close to the show's actual tenth anniversary, it effectively fulfilled that function. I can only imagine how it must have felt to contemporary viewers at a time when reruns were rare and home video a rare thing. For the majority of viewers, William Hartnell's and Patrick Troughton's Doctors would have existed only in memory; for some, only in what was related by parents or older siblings.

The story fills out its four episodes well. The first part is mostly a standard (if broadly played) 3rd Doctor/UNIT story, with the multi-Doctor aspect introduced near the end. The second builds the mystery, with the 2nd Doctor and UNIT trying to get a handle on events while the 3rd Doctor and Jo explore the quarry... er, impossible world that exists on the other side of the black hole. The last two episodes pair the 2nd and 3rd Doctors as they pit first their will and then their ingenuity against Omega.

The frequent shifts give the story its greatest strength: pace. It's a very basic, slightly Flash Gordon-like story, with the Doctors confronting a futuristic madman. But it moves right along, with a generous amount of humor. I may wish that some of the humor didn't come at the expense of a couple of the characters, but it's light and lively and goes by quickly.


OVERALL:

"Light and lively" pretty well sums up The Three Doctors. The main appeal of the story is right there in the title: three Doctors, with William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton returning to their roles in a way that doubtless evoked waves of nostalgia in 1972.

It's not a story that stands up to any serious scrutiny, and it is very different from Baker's and Martin's ambitious original proposal, Deathworld. That treatment was recently adapted by Big Finish as part of their "Lost Stories" range, and it will be the subject of my next Doctor Who review.

The Three Doctors does its job as a fun celebration of ten years of Doctor Who on air. I used to hate it. On this viewing, I enjoyed it for what it is, but it will still never rank among my favorites. It's a fun romp, though, as long as you don't try to take it at all seriously.


Overall Rating: 6/10.

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#14 (9.21 - 9.26): The Time Monster.

The Doctor, Jo, and the Brigadier are
pitted against the Master. Again.

6 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 147 minutes. Written by: Robert Sloman, Barry Letts (uncredited). Directed by: Paul Bernard. Produced by: Barry Letts.


THE PLOT:

The Master is passing himself off as "Professor Thascalos" in order to run experiments at the Newton Institute, located near Cambridge. Using his TARDIS as a power source, and with the aid of the unwitting Dr. Ruth Ingram (Wanda Moore) and her assistant Stuart (Ian Collier), he attempts to summon Kronos, the most powerful of the Chronovores, time creatures who were once worshipped as gods. With Kronos's power, the Master intends to control the universe!

The power from his experiments draws the attention of the Doctor and UNIT. The Doctor tries first to separate the Master from his TARDIS, then engages in tactics meant to delay him. In the end, though, he will have to chase the Master into the ancient past, to the lost civilization of Atlantis - where the Master has already found an ally...


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: Spends much of the first four episodes fidgeting with gadgets and spouting Technobabble. Fortunately, Jon Pertwee is back on form, his authority and charisma giving a significant lift to what might have been dry material. He also gets a particularly good scene in the final episode. As he and Jo await execution, he reminisces about a day in his youth when he decided that life was pointless, only to have an old man point out "the daisyest daisy (he'd) ever seen." It's a lovely monologue, very well performed by Pertwee.

Jo Grant: Though the Doctor's assistant, she seems to also regard herself as his protector. She insists on accompanying him to Atlantis even when he points out the danger, insisting that it's her job to help him. When the Master seems to have defeated him, she announces that she doesn't care what he does to her.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: After a pompous official starts talking about conducting an official inquiry, using that to berate a Cambridge professor, the Brigadier intercedes by declaring the exact law, subsection, and paragraph to compel secrecy. He quickly shuts the official down, and it's clear that the Brig enjoys using his position to squash a bully. Later, when Capt. Yates is endangered, he tries calling for Yates on the radio. When he gets particularly worried (in time for the cliffhanger), he switches from calling him "Captain Yates" to "Mike."

Sgt. Benton: While he's guarding the lab, the Master attempts to lure Benton away by impersonating the Brigadier's voice. The sergeant isn't fooled, using the opportunity to set a trap. It fails, of course, or the story would only be two episodes long, but it shows resourcefulness on his part.

Dr. Ruth Ingram: As the scientist who has assisted "Professor Thascalos" (The Master) with his experiments, actress Wanda Moore has the most prominent guest role for the first four episodes. Sadly, she also gets saddled with a lot of annoying "battle-of-the-sexes" dialogue. She talks about how spineless or patronizing the men around her are - then patronizingly tells Benton to "stand there and look pretty." I'm fairly certain the point was to show male viewers how annoying sexism is by reversing it... but it mostly comes across as forced, and I suspect it did in 1972 as well.

Queen Galleia: Ingrid Pitt, a regular fixture of British horror films of this period, appears in the final two episodes as the queen of Atlantis. She is instantly smitten with The Master, recognizing him as a man who will do anything to achieve power, and she begins plotting with him against her husband, King Dalios (George Cormack). This might have made for an engaging bit of court intrigue, had the serial reached this point at least one episode sooner. As it stands, the entire subplot is rushed, with Galleia's coup occurring offscreen. Still, at least Pitt acts her lines instead of shouting them, which helps her to stand out from most of the other actors in the Atlantis segment.

The Master: Speaking of shouting... This is almost certainly Roger Delgado's weakest performance as The Master. He spends the first two episodes adopting a wildly inconsistent accent while pretending to be a foreign professor. He then spends much of the back half of the story shouting most of his lines. Given how many of the guest cast also adopt this style, I wonder if this was less a case of Delgado having an "off" day and more a case of questionable directing choices.


THOUGHTS:

The Time Monster has not generally been well-regarded. I actually enjoy the story, but I'll admit that there's a lot to criticize.

The story is focused on Atlantis, but the Doctor and the Master spend four episodes marking time in a present-day lab before they manage to get there. When they finally arrive, the Atlantis sets are tacky even by Classic Who standards. Between the costumes and the stagey/shouty performances, I had the distinct impression that I was watching a Greek myth as staged by an underfunded community theatre.

With most of the actual plot reserved for the final episodes, the first four parts consist of... well, padding. A lot of padding. The Doctor turns down the chance to observe the demonstration in order to follow his device that goes "bing," which leads him and Jo to... um, the exact demonstration he decided not to go to. He spends a big chunk of Episode Three building a thing to delay the Master. When he finally succeeds, it causes a delay that lasts... maybe as much as thirty seconds.

Other bits are actually a lot of fun. Characters are aged and de-aged. Others get stuck in time, running slowly in place until they just plain stop. The Master brings soldiers from the past to delay UNIT. The Doctor and the Master find their TARDISes fused, each materialized inside the other.

None of these set pieces do anything to advance the story, but they are amusing and clever. I just finished watching and already barely remember the Atlantis/Kronos plot. But I recalled the TARDIS-in-a-TARDIS and "soldiers plucked out of time" moments from my last viewing of the story, even though that was a good two decades ago!


OVERALL:

At six episodes, The Time Monster is too long for its rather thin narrative. It's also bizarrely structured so that almost all of the story is packed into the final two episodes, leaving the rest extremely padded even by '70s Who standards. It also features guest performances that are uneven at best - and sadly, I include the usually excellent Roger Delgado in that assessment.

What saves it, for me at least, is that a fair amount of the padding is fun. The various time tricks the Doctor and Master pull on each other are often enjoyable to watch, showing a scene-by-scene inventiveness that keeps the whole thing alive. The two worst episodes end up being the last two - the two where the story finally happens.

In the end, while I can't call this a good story, I would call it a fun one. Within this same season, The Curse of Peladon is "better" - but I was more entertained by this.


Overall Rating: 6/10.

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#13 (9.15 - 9.20): The Mutants.

The Doctor and Salosian rebel Ky (Garrick Hagon)
make a discovery in one of Solos's many disused mines.

6 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 146 minutes. Written by: Bob Baker, Dave Martin. Directed by: Christopher Barry. Produced by: Barry Letts.


THE PLOT:

In the distant future, the world of Solos is under the control of the Earth Empire. Though a barren and primitive planet with an atmosphere poisonous to humans, Solos is also rich in the fuel source thaesium. Based at the orbital Skybase One, the Marshal (Paul Whitsun-Jones) has made it his life's work to change the atmosphere so that it is breathable, but the experiments he has authorized with Professor Jaeger (George Pravda) have given rise to strange mutations among the natives.

The Doctor and Jo arrive with a box from the Time Lords. But they've come at a particularly chaotic moment. An Earth Administrator (Geoffrey Palmer) intends to grant Solos its independence, destroying the Marshal's career in the process. But when he begins to make his official announcement, the Marshal takes advantage of the chaos created by Solosian rebel Ky (Garrick Hagon) to assassinate the man, blaming it on the Solosians.

Soon the Doctor and Jo find themselves on the run from the Marshal's men. But in the heart of the disused mines infested by the transformed mutants, the Doctor makes a startling discovery...


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: Pertwee finds a few good moments, such as his indignation at Professor Jaeger's experiments resulting in "genocide as a side effect." For the most part, however, he's just going through the motions. His first scene features what I believe is his first botched delivery, as he repeats a line twice in order to get on script. Given that another actor does the same a few episodes later, I'm inclined to lay blame at director Christopher Barry rather than at the actors themselves.

Jo Grant: As I've noted in the last two reviews, Season 9 has been very good to the character of Jo Grant, who has been compassionate, resourceful, and quick-thinking. Until The Mutants, that is. This story reduces her to "generic companion" status. She exists for two reasons: to receive exposition from either the Doctor or Ky, and to be put in jeopardy so that the Doctor or Ky can rescue her. Even Katy Manning's chemistry with Pertwee doesn't provide the same lift as the season's previous stories, as the script unwisely separates them for most of the running time.

The Marshal: Paul Whitsun-Jones's Marshal initially seems to just be a "Pompous Bureaucrat," motivated by worries about his career and his future back on Earth should his mission to Solos end in failure. On first viewing, I remember spending the first few episodes wondering when the real villain would show up. Nope, the Marshal is it... which honestly might have worked, had the script played up how his position made him a serious threat despite him being just a dull little man at heart. But the story plays out as if the Marshal is inherently intimidating, which just isn't the case. Credit to Paul Whitsun-Jones, though, who gives his all to make this weakly written character register.


THOUGHTS:

The Mutants is the first Pertwee story that I'd actually describe as "bad." The script is both clichéd and very silly - which wouldn't be a problem, if it didn't take itself so extraordinarily seriously. It's also heavily padded, stretched like taffy to fill six episodes with a tale that would have felt minor and unexciting at four.

Pertwee and Manning find a few moments, particularly when they're on screen together - but they're separated early on and spend most of the rest of the serial in separate strands, with neither performer finding much chemistry with the guest stars they're paired with. This contributes to them giving their weakest performances of the season, and I'd wager also their weakest of their series tenure.

Guest characters are poorly written and thinly motivated. Guards Stubbs and Cotton help the Doctor escape in Episode Two, but I'm honestly not sure why. Native leader Varan (James Mellor) is introduced as the Marshal's ally and Ky as his enemy. But by the middle of the story, Varan is enraged at the Marshal (which at least does make sense in context), while Ky has been defanged thanks to becoming Jo's protector... and, other than getting some extra padding in, I'm honestly not sure why these two couldn't have been combined into a single character, which might also have helped to give that character an actual arc.

There are some moments that are downright bizarre. In Episode Four, Ky leads Jo and the guards to the "safety" of Varan's camp. When it's pointed out that Varan would probably as soon kill them all, Ky insists that he can deal with the man. If he ever had a plan, we don't see it. Varan doesn't even let Ky get a word in before taking all of them prisoner, while the motivation for them separating from the Doctor appears to be to get into danger again to keep the story from ending early.

The unfortunate part is that there are good ideas in the script. The early episodes, in particular, draw parallels between Earth's occupation of Solos and British colonialism. The administrator makes a pompous speech about how the Solosians are "partners" with Earth, but everyone knows who "the overlords" are. Jaeger smirks to the Doctor that the planet no longer belongs to the Salosians, but is now the property of the humans. In case anyone missed the parallels, the Administrator's phrasing of Earth's decision to grant independence to Solos is pretty blunt: "We can no longer afford an empire." This at a time when the existence of the British Empire was still very much in living memory. This in a story from 1972, when the British Empire was still very much in living memory.

I will give the visual effects credit for ambition. There's a scene featuring a hull breach on the space station, with objects and even one character sucked out into space. Several scenes occur in a cave suffused with radiation, with the actors overplaying their way through various greenscreen effects. The effects aren't remotely convincing; coupled with overlighting and plastic-looking monster suits, it adds to the story being one that looks genuinely cheap. But the attempt itself is worth noting.


OVERALL:

The Mutants is a bad story, but there is something vaguely charming about it. It's mostly pretty boring - but when it's not boring, it's unintentionally quite funny. 

It's as if someone threw into a pot all the silliest recurring elements of "Classic Who," and this was the stew that resulted: The caves with the obvious CSO effects, complete with border lines surrounding Pertwee and his co-star... The over-dramatic deliveries of the supporting actors... The space station with the big airport-like directional signs that has less security than a neighborhood convenience store... Pertwee and Manning, both seeming mostly bored... and the overly grave dialogue, most of it delivered with utmost seriousness. If you were to throw together a Bingo card for bad Doctor Who tropes, this story would just about fill every box. 

Bizarrely, it's that very quality that makes it watchable in spite of itself. I won't defend The Mutants, but I don't hate it, either. It may be bad - but it's a comfortable sort of bad.


Overall Rating: 3/10.

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#12 (9.09 - 9.14): The Sea Devils.

The Master forges an alliance.

6 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 148 minutes. Written by: Malcolm Hulke. Directed by: Michael E. Briant. Produced by: Barry Letts.


THE PLOT:

Ships are vanishing at sea, all in a very specific area near a sea fortress being renovated by the Royal Navy. This is not on the Doctor's radar at all... until he and Jo visit the Master at his heavily fortified island prison, where the warden, Col. Trenchard (Clive Morton), makes an offhand mention.

The Doctor investigates, leading him to discover aquatic lifeforms that he recognizes as relatives of the Silurians. Like the Silurians, these "Sea Devils" have awakened to find the planet that was once theirs now belongs to man - and they want it back.

As before, the Doctor hopes to find a peaceful solution. But first he'll have to deal with the Master, who is planning to use this situation for his own benefit. But the Doctor's efforts are complicated when he realizes that his old enemy has taken full control of his prison, with Trenchard and all the guards now working for him!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: His trust in Jo has grown over time. When she says she's seen the Master at the Naval Base, he doesn't waste a second doubting her. He snaps at Capt. Hart (Edwin Richfield), the ranking officer, to lock the place down immediately. Jon Pertwee is on particularly good form throughout this story. While visiting the Master, the Doctor tries to coax him into revealing the location of his TARDIS. The Master refuses; and Pertwee shows the Doctor's reaction in his frosty delivery of, "Ask a silly question," before returning to his normal affability. Another good moment sees him bribing the boatman into running an errand that will allow him to borrow the man's vessel. He says he would run the errand himself, except that his bad leg is acting up. He runs through a couple historical battle sites ("Crimea... Gallipolli? El Alamein?"). Then he gives up and just smiles, holding up the cash and saying, "Does it really matter?" 

Jo Grant: I liked the Doctor/Jo relationship in Season Eight; in Season Nine, to repeat an observation I made about the previous story, the two of them positively sparkle. When Jo helps him to escape a trap set by the Master, they take turns beckoning the other to leave through the open door, exchanging "After you; no, after you" in a bit that feels unscripted (whether it was or not) in the best way possible. One minus, however: There are two scenes in which Jo is written to physically attack guards. In both cases, it looks hilariously unconvincing. I love Jo when she's interacting with the Doctor, or when she has flashes of ingenuity... but let's not try to make her into Emma Peel, because that really doesn't work.

The Master: Imprisonment has done nothing to make him less dangerous. He takes the measure of his captors, manipulating them to turn strengths into weaknesses that can be preyed upon. He does this with Trenchard in the first half of the story, then repeats the same feat with the Sea Devils. Roger Delgado is at his most charming, and his interactions with Pertwee are some of their best. He may want to take revenge on the Doctor for his captivity, but he doesn't underestimate him. When he discovers that Trenchard let slip about the missing ships, he is enraged, and he isn't at all mollified when Trenchard says that the Doctor didn't seem interested. He knows his adversary too well to think that he won't investigate such a mystery.

Pompous Bureaucrat of the Week: Trenchard, the warden of the Master's prison, is a man whose career is mostly behind him. He was once governor of a British colony - but only for long enough to grant the colony its independence. No resentment is ever stated, but it's not hard to imagine his frustration at having his career apex snatched away, only for him to be treated as a silly old man and/or a nuisance thereafter. This makes him easy prey for the Master, who manipulates him with visions of being a hero.

Pompous Bureaucrat #2: Trenchard is basically a good man who has been led astray. The same cannot be said of this story's other bureaucrat, Parliamentary Secretary Walker (Martin Boddey). Walker arrives late in the story, introducing himself by being dismissive and sexist toward both Jo and a female naval officer, whom he treats as a glorified secretary. It only gets worse from there. He preens behind his desk, stuffing his face while gleefully ordering an attack. Later, in a position of weakness, he turns into such a coward that I think even The Claws of Axos's loathsome Mr. Chinn would look down on him in contempt.

Sea Devils: The oceanic cousins of the Silurians. Their design is impressive by Classic Who standards, with their amphibian qualities making them look correct as ocean dwellers and their cold eyes and stature making them threatening. Unfortunately, this story is more concerned with the Master than with them, so they are mainly relegated to the role of "monsters," though their leader at least briefly considers the Doctor's appeals for peace.


THOUGHTS:

The Sea Devils was Season 9's big production, with location filming, reasonably large-scale action scenes, a decent-sized guest cast, and cooperation by the Royal Navy lending significant production value. Aside from a submarine set that's unconvincing even by 1970s TV standards, this is a rare "Classic Who" story that looks good.

Malcolm Hulke's script juggles the different elements well. Though the Master is the main villain, the Sea Devils are established as a presence early, with their activities having drawn the attention of the Navy, the Doctor, and the Master all. The different threads all feed each other narratively. The Doctor sees the Sea Devils; though Capt. Hart (Edwin Richfield) is skeptical, he sends a submarine to investigate, and that submarine plays into the story in its late episodes. The Master spends much of Episode Three building a device, and the construction of a larger version becomes a key part of Episode Six. All the pieces end up fitting together.

The serial is mainly an action piece, and as such it feels less weighty to me than Season Seven's Dr. Who & the Silurians did. The design of the Sea Devils is superior to that of the Silurians; but as they are secondary villains in their own story, they just aren't as interesting on the page. The different Silurians in the earlier story had individual personalities and motivations. The Sea Devils are basically just monsters, with the Doctor's peace overtures feeling more like a token effort than like the increasingly desperate driving force of the earlier story. Unusually for a Malcolm Hulke story, the script makes theme subordinate to incident.

But it's hard to complain when so much of the incident is so entertaining. The Doctor and the Master get into a sword fight, with the Doctor getting the upper hand... and pausing mid-fight to munch on a sandwich. A Sea Devil rises from the water onto the beach where the Doctor and Jo are escaping, forcing them into a minefield. The Doctor descends in a diving bell; when the bell is brought up, he has vanished, with Jo climbing in and staring wide-eyed at the empty chamber. The overall excellent realization and sure-handed direction by Michael E. Briant helps each moment and visual to land that little bit harder.

My only real complaint is with Malcolm Clarke's music. His experimental score is deliberately intrusive. This is effective when the Doctor and Jo investigate an empty facility that has been attacked by Sea Devils, or in scenes that see the Sea Devils attacking or about to attack. In other moments, however, it's just distracting, with the shrill noises particularly detracting from the well-choreographed Doctor/Master swordfight. To the sound editors: We do not need to hear the score "bleep" at us every time their swords touch, thank you.


OVERALL:

I could wish for a bit more of a sense of personality from the Sea Devils themselves, and I don't think this story makes the impact that Dr. Who & the Silurians did. On its own terms, however, The Sea Devils is a well-made and engrossing action/adventure story. Pertwee, Manning, and Delgado are at their best, the script is efficiently structured, and it's among the best-looking stories of all of "Classic Who."

It's very much a set piece story, and I think it benefits from being watched one episode at a time over multiple sittings instead of all at once. But it's a really good set piece story, and it's probably among the serials that would be most accessible to modern viewers.


Overall Rating: 9/10.

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#11 (9.05 - 9.08): The Curse of Peladon.

The Doctor suspects the Ice Warriors of sabotage and murder!

4 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 98 minutes. Written by: Brian Hayles. Directed by: Lennie Mayne. Produced by: Barry Letts.


THE PLOT:

The primitive but mineral-rich world of Peladon is hosting a delegation from the Galactic Federation, one which may result in the planet's admission. Chancellor Torbis (Henry Gilbert) and High Priest Hepesh (Geoffrey Toone), are split about this plan. Torbis hopes that the Federation will lead Peladon to a new age, free of superstition. Hepesh believes that the Federation will turn Peladon into little more than a vassal state.

Young King Peladon (David Troughton) agrees with Torbis. But when the chancellor is mauled to death, Hepesh loudly declares that this is the wrath of Aggedor, the ghostly Royal Beast of Peladon. The priest adds that, unless the planet returns to its old ways, more deaths are sure to follow.

It's into the middle of this situation that the Doctor and Jo arrive. Mistaken for the Earth ambassador and his royal charge, the Doctor takes control of the investigation. It takes little time to realize that Hepesh is involved, but the plot is too elaborate to be his work alone. The priest has to be in league with one of the Federation ambassadors - which includes a delegation from Mars, in the form of the Doctor's old adversaries: the Ice Warriors!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: As Jo observes, he enjoys playing the role of Earth delegate, particularly when the others make him the chairman of the group. In a conversation with Hepesh, he gets the other man to admit that he has outside help, largely by just keeping him talking long enough to let it slip. His suspicion of the Ice Warriors is only natural given their past encounters, and most of his exchanges with Izlyr (Alan Bennion) are adversarial.

Jo Grant: For all that she projects being an airhead, she's anything but dumb. When the High Priest announces that the only women allowed in the throne room are of royal blood, she doesn't hesitate in adopting a haughty manner and playing the role of "Princess Josephine." This is quite a strong story for her overall, with her challenging the Doctor on his assumptions about the Ice Warriors when she isn't pushing King Peladon to stop relying so completely on his advisors and to take a stand for himself.

King Peladon: I'm afraid that I find the king himself to be one of the story's weakest elements. David Troughton is decked out in an outfit that's a bizarre combination of Shakespeare and 1970s disco, complete with thigh-high boots. If he were to suddenly burst into song ala David Bowie, it wouldn't seem out of place. The story wants to give him an arc, going from weakness to strength. Unfortunately, there's not much to signal that he's become particularly strong by the end, with him still seeking more dominant personalities such as Hepesh or the Doctor to tell him what to do. When he tries to persuade Jo to stay at the end, all I can think in response is, "Run, Jo. Run fast."

Hepesh: He genuinely believes he's acting in Peladon's interest, which should make him an interesting character; I usually prefer villains who believe themselves to be in the right. However, his actions are sometimes in conflict with his motives. He plots to kill the Doctor... even though he believes that the Doctor is the Earth delegate and that his death might bring Federation retribution down on the planet. Surely he should just be trying to kick him and the other delegates offworld? Geoffrey Toone plays too much to the character's fanaticism, when a more restrained performance might have highlighted Hepesh's entirely legitimate worries, which leaves the character coming across as more two-dimensional than he should have.

Ice Warriors: Writer Brian Hayles plays on audience assumptions. Their two previous appearances were as villains, so both the Doctor and the viewer naturally assume they are the baddies again. Jo points out that the Doctor is making assumptions based on very little evidence, to which he hotly replies that he knows them and what they're like. The Ice Warrior designs translate well to color, and they remain an effective presence. Izlyr, the career diplomat, allows us to see another side to Hayles' creations. Izlyr may not be above using force when all else fails, but he prefers to rely on his own determination, observational skills, and intellect.


THOUGHTS:

There is much to recommend The Curse of Peladon. The serial is well put together, with interesting ideas about the conflict between tradition and progress and between superstition and modernization. Mix in some nods to Shakespeare that somewhat justify the staginess, a stronger-than-usual role for Jo, and a fresh and unexpected take on the Ice Warriors, and it's not hard to see why the story has garnered such a strong reputation within fandom.

Unfortunately, while I don't mind the story at all, it's also one I've never been able to get excited about. I like it a lot on paper - but not so much when I actually sit down to watch it.

Hepesh's fears about his world being exploited should come across as anything but unreasonable. Historically speaking, when a more advanced civilization becomes involved with a more primitive one, the primitive one doesn't tend to end up the better for it. Too bad, then, that the Doctor - the show's moral and expositional authority - brushes this aside, assuring us that the Federation will only help Peladon. That instantly strips away a potentially interesting layer and makes Hepesh seem even more like the cartoon baddie that the actor is playing.

The guest cast mostly take themselves extremely seriously - to the point of eliciting giggles. I think the trappings here match a lot of people impressions of "Classic" Doctor Who: costumed aliens, an older man (Hepesh) whose every line is a grave pronouncement, and a healthy heap of narrative clichés. Oh, and a plot that is twisted around the need for cliffhangers, with both Parts Two and Three getting cliffhangers out of the same plot turn: the Doctor arrested for a crime with "only one punishment... (say it with me now)... Death!!!"

Lest I overstate the negatives, I should say that I still find this story easy to take. At four episodes, it moves along briskly. In terms of realization, the alien designs and the "actor-in-a-suit" creature are well above the series' average. Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning are at their best, with the dynamic between the Doctor and Jo sparkling throughout. I may have rolled my eyes here and there, but I wasn't bored.

Still, if the actors and script took these theatrics just a little less seriously, I actually think I'd have found it easier to fully connect with it.


OVERALL:

I don't really have much else to say about The Curse of Peladon. It's a decent slice of "bread-and-butter" Doctor Who, and I'd happily rate it as average or even slightly above. Even so, I find it frustrating, because the ideas were here for something more than that. And despite the story's status as a fan favorite, I find that the end result falls short of that potential.


Overall Rating: 6/10.

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#10 (9.01 - 9.04): Day of the Daleks.

The Doctor is interrogated by the Daleks.

4 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 95 minutes. Written by: Louis Marks. Directed by: Paul Bernard. Produced by: Barry Letts.


THE PLOT:

International relations are tense, with troops preparing for battle along the Soviet/Chinese border and a third World War seeming increasingly inevitable. A conference meant to de-escalate the situation has fallen apart, with the Chinese refusing to take part. It falls to Sir Reginald Styles (Wilfred Carter) to persuade the Chinese government to reverse its stance and work toward peace.

The Doctor has little interest in any of this. "Humans are always squabbling over something," he declares. But his curiosity is piqued when UNIT receives a report from Sir Styles' country house, designated to be the site of the talks. A "ghost" appeared and attempted to kill him!

Though Styles insists that he simply had a bad dream, the Doctor believes otherwise. He finds muddy footprints near the window of Styles' study. Then he discovers a futuristic weapon and a crude portable time machine, confirming that an outside force is at work.

He soon comes face-to-face with them: a guerilla force from the future, determined to assassinate Styles to prevent their world from coming into being. Theirs is a future in which humanity has become a slave race, ruled over by the Doctor's oldest enemy - the Daleks!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: As was true in The Enemy of the World, the Doctor refuses to rush to judgment without full information. When the guerillas capture him and Jo, he tries to get more information about their motivations. Throughout the story, people try to rush him toward action: the guerillas, Jo, even the human Controller (Aubrey Woods) working with the Daleks. He just keeps probing each of them for more information, so that when he does take action it will be the correct one.

Jo Grant: In contrast to the Doctor, she acts impulsively, barely stopping to breathe let alone to think. With her and the Doctor captured by the guerillas, she frees herself and threatens to destroy their time travel device, not letting it go even when the Doctor urges her to. She sees the situation in simple terms: An armed group kidnapped her and the Doctor and plans to kill Sir Reginald, so this group surely must be evil - which also makes her a little too willing to believe that their opponents must automatically be good.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: An early scene sees him smugly needling the Doctor over his inability to get the TARDIS working... and I say fair enough getting his digs in, given all the barbs the Doctor's thrown his way. Despite the banter, he has absolute faith in the Doctor's judgment when crisis hits. The final episode sees the Doctor telling him to do two things. One of these is politically tricky and the other seems tactically foolish - but there's no time for an explanation, so the Brigadier puts full trust in him and gives both orders.

Capt. Yates: A fun early moment sees him pulling rank on Benton for the express purpose of confiscating some food and wine. When Jo confronts him about it, Mike smirks while telling her, "R. H. I. P., Jo... Rank has its privileges." When the Doctor and Jo disappear, he goes straight to the Brigadier, recognizing that something has gone badly wrong.

Daleks: This was their first (new) appearance since Season Four's The Evil of the Daleks, and they were a late addition to the script. This has led some to complain that they feel tacked on, but I actually think they add quite a bit. Sure, the base story would work fine without them. But they add another layer, acting as Evil Overlords commanding the more visible villains of the story. On broadcast, the story suffered from Dalek voices that sounded alternately sluggish and tinny. The special edition replaces the original voices with Nicholas Briggs, who has voiced the Daleks on television since 2005 as well as in the Big Finish audio range, and that alone gives a considerable lift to their presence.


THOUGHTS:

"There are many different kinds of ghosts, Jo. Ghosts from the past and ghosts from the future."
-the Doctor muses about the "ghosts" that are attempting to kill Sir Reginald Styles.

The first scene featuring the Doctor and Jo signals that this story is going to play with the idea of time travel, rather than just using it as a way to get them into the story. The Doctor is first seen attempting to repair his TARDIS. Something goes wrong, and future versions of himself and Jo appear. The Doctor has an irritable exchange with himself before the console overloads, putting an end to the interaction.

This winks at the type of story writer Louis Marks has created, with forces from the future fighting in the present - one side trying to undo that future, the other trying to preserve it. There are a few twists along the way, which I won't spoil for anyone who hasn't yet watched it. The script is genuinely clever, and comics writer John Byrne would acknowledge drawing inspiration from it for elements of his classic X-Men story, Days of Future Past.

This serial is well-paced, its story comfortably filling the four episodes. There's a lot of action which is well staged, even in the original broadcast version. The story also pulls off the balance of taking itself just seriously enough to convince of the stakes, but not so seriously that it become unenjoyable at any point.


THE SPECIAL EDITION:

The 2011 Special Edition makes some noticeable improvements. Action scenes feature laser effects, whereas the original mostly just conveyed weapons fire through prop guns and sound effects. Establishing shots are used during shifts to the Dalek-controlled future, giving us a glimpse of the dystopia. The climactic battle features a heavier Dalek presence than the broadcast version, which was hampered by having access to only three Dalek props.

The one effect I preferred in the original was for time travel. The broadcast version's optical effect worked nicely, whereas I find the Special Edition's CGI to be a bit cartoonish and even distracting. But outside of that one element, the Special Edition's changes are noticeably for the better. The Dalek voices alone make it the superior version.


OVERALL:

Day of the Daleks is fun, clever, and nicely paced, and it makes good use of the full regular/recurring cast. Though I know some disagree, I also think the story makes good use of the Daleks. They may have been added late in the day, but their presence as Evil Overlords works better for me than many stories that reduce them to mindless minions that shout, "Exterminate!"

I find this to be a very good story, and a promising start to Pertwee's third season.


Overall Rating: 9/10.

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#9 (8.21 - 8.25): The Daemons.

The Master takes control of a Satanic cult.

5 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 122 minutes. Written by: Guy Leopold (pseudonym for Barry Letts and Robert Sloman). Directed by: Christopher Barry. Produced by: Barry Letts.


THE PLOT:

Professor Horner (Robin Wentworth) is conducting an archaeological dig of the "Devil's Hump," an ancient burial mound located by the village of Devil's End. The Doctor watches the coverage on the BBC. After the superstitious Miss Hawthorne (Damaris Hayman) is shown berating the professor that his dig will bring disaster on them all, the Doctor declares that she's right and insists that he and Jo drive up to Devil's End immediately!

He's too late to stop the dig, arriving just as the professor breaks through. The icy gust that emerges from kills the professor, but the Doctor is saved by his ever-useful Time Lord metabolism. Capt. Yates and Sgt. Benton join the two of them in the village; but before the Brigadier can arrive, an invisible dome of heat cuts Devil's End off from the rest of the world!

Though Miss Hawthorne insists that this is the work of the devil, the Doctor is certain there is a more scientific explanation. He becomes even more convinced when he learns of the new vicar in town: the Reverend Magister... the Master!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: He's particularly irritable in this story. This is likely because he already knows what the threat is and how serious it is, and so every delay or setback aggravates him that much more. It is worth noting that when Jo mimics his condescending attitude toward the Brigadier, he immediately upbraids her for it. He does have basic respect for Lethbridge-Stewart; he may butt heads with and even insult him, but he won't stand by while anyone else does the same.

Jo Grant: This is a particularly strong story for Jo. When she and the Doctor arrive in Devil's End, he pointlessly alienates some villagers at a local pub while trying to get directions to the dig. Jo steps in to mediate, which by this point she does pretty much on instinct. Predictably, she gets better results with a warm tone and a smile than the Doctor manages. When he's injured at the dig, she watches over him like a mother hen. She also plays a key role in the story's resolution.

The Master: In a story that borrows heavily from horror movie tropes, the Master assumes the guise of a devil worshipping priest. He gets a particularly plum scene in Episode Three. At a gathering of villagers, he calls out the townsfolk by name and recites their sins, from the petty (a grocer padding the bills of wealthy customers) to the severe (murder), all without judgment and even with a hint of approval. A silver tongue only goes so far, however; when one man protests too much, he calls on his Right-Hand-Gargoyle to do away with the troublemaker. Roger Delgado has been terrific all season, but I think this performance is his series best.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: Spends the bulk of the story locked out of the town, stuck on the opposite side of the heat barrier. When he finally arrives, he calmly takes in the devil worshippers and the unkillable living gargoyles and delivers his iconic order: "Chap with the wings there: Five rounds rapid." Me, I prefer his closing line. When all the other characters are joining a village dance, he expresses his preference for going to the pub for a pint.

Capt. Yates: He and Jo may not be dating, precisely, but it's clear there's a strong mutual attraction. At the start, the two of them have plans to watch the dig on television together - a date the Doctor crashes when the name "Devil's End" catches his attention. It's after Jo calls him from the village that he commandeers the Brigadier's helicopter; and when he states the need to check on the Doctor and Jo as the top priority, his specific phrasing is "Jo and the Doc" - with Jo at the top of his mind.

Sgt. Benton: He has his own priority when they arrive at the village: breakfast. Yes, Benton truly is the most relatable member of UNIT. He rescues Miss Hawthorne from the Master, and is pronounced her "knight" as a result. His keen marksmanship also allows the Doctor to put on an impromptu - and life saving - magic show near the story's end.


THOUGHTS:

The Daemons is a fan favorite, and it's easy to see why. While there are still a few of the classic series' trademark "very special" effects (such as almost anything to do with the "Daemon" of the title), the overall production values are pretty high. Much of the story was shot on location at the village of Aldbourne, which helps it to break free of the studio look of many serials.

I have complained in the past about finding director Christopher Barry's work for the series to be a bit stagy. Given this, I think it only fair to give him props for a largely terrific job here. He follows the cues in the script and captures the spirit of many British horror films of the period. The combination of the supernatural atmosphere with the script's themes of science vs. superstition proves effective - as would be true when producer Philip Hinchcliffe would regularly mine that vein a few years later.

There's a lot to praise in this story. It's well-paced. Its script is witty and often quotable. Its five episodes are consistently engaging. But the thing I most noticed was how well this serial uses Season Eight's full ensemble.

Every regular character gets something to do. The Master, who felt tacked onto The Colony in Space, is at his best here. With that beard and aristocratic bearing, it seems only natural for him to be conducting Satanic rituals, while spending many of his scenes dressed up as a priest. Nicholas Courtney gets some great lines as the Brigadier fumes impatiently on the wrong side of the barrier; and his sidelining for most of the story allows Benton and Yates to enjoy a greater share of the spotlight. Not to mention Jo, who arguably is even more the hero of this story than the Doctor!

Simply put: Everyone gets a page, and this is accomplished without bogging things down.


OVERALL:

The Daemons is a rare case of Classic Who delivering a "modern" season finale. Season Eight was "The Master Season," with the stories centered around him making mischief, mostly on Earth. This season brings that to an appropriate close, and it does so while giving Roger Delgado's Master his best role of the season.

Most importantly, though, this is a good, fun romp that easily justifies its reputation as a fan favorite.


Overall Rating: 9/10.

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