Prison in Space (2010)

Prison in Space is a ‘lost’ Second Doctor story that featured saw the Doctor travelling with Zoe and Jamie. After getting use to the style of the First Doctor stories I was more prepared for how this story was going to work. Written by the wonderfully named Dick Sharples, this story is set on Earth in a time when Women rule and men are seen as inferior beings. The Doctor and Jamie are sent to a prison…in space and its not long before the Doctor and Jamie work on a way of bringing down President Babs. The producers of Doctor Who at the time were unhappy with the story and asked Sharples to rewrite it which he refused and apparently got replaced with The Krotons. It’s been adapted for audio by Simon Guerrier who has a good track record with Big Finish stories.

Quite like the First Doctor stories, this story reeks of the Second Doctor era. I could easily believe that this story would have suited the style of the Doctor. It’s also very much a 1960’s story with feminism being the theme. However instead of it saying that women are superior and men inferior it soon turns out to be just one individual who has gone mad with power and treated brainwashed the other women into treating men in the way that they do. With the character of Babs we have someone who like Salamander in The End of the World who leads with an iron fist except the difference between the two is that Salamander didn’t fancy the Doctor. I thought that was quite funny that Babs at one point gets dolled up whilst looking at a photo of the Doctor.

Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury do a good job in this. The story seemed to flow better than in Farewell Great Macedon. I still love the impersonation of Patrick Troughton by Frazer Hines. It’s always great to hear and never gets boring. Susan Brown has almost become a regular having appeared in half a dozen Big Finish adventures in the last couple of years. I think that her performance as Babs was the highlight of this adventure. I think that she has a wonderful voice and it was put to great use in this.

Prison in Space is a good piece of drama but its not great. I do wonder what other second Doctor material that Big Finish could have used. If there was then I wonder what Big Finish saw in this that made it stand out. However at the end of the day Prison in Space is an enjoyable adventure. I think that the subject matter was different for Doctor Who but it wasn’t stupid and had just enough humour in it to be fun. Guerrier has done a good job turning a 1960’s TV script into a 2010/2011 audio release. Now onto the Dalek Pilot.

Planet of Giants (1964)

EPISODE 1 – PLANET OF GIANTS 

The second season of Doctor Who starts with a three part story. It was intended to be a four part but was reduced to three to make it more tighter. If you buy the DVD then you will the truly awful reconstructed episode. This opening episode doesn't have to do a reprise so there its not clear just how much time has passed since the last episode. At the start of the episode the doors opening during flight and was quites interesting is that presumably outside is the vortex and yet its basically a white cyclorama. There must have been a worry for the viewers at the time this was transmitted that it was going to be like Inside the Spaceship which of course it isn’t.  

 

There’s a lovely moment when the Doctor apologies to Barbara for being snappy with her. He admits that he loses his manners at stressful moments. This episode sees the return of the fault locator, its days are numbered but it was quite fun to see it. It’s clear that something has happened and when the regulars leave the TARDIS they notice that something isn’t quite right and the natural assumption for the viewer is the that the Giants refer to something else and the regulars are normal height.  

 

It takes just before the half way mark before they figure out that they have been reduced in size. They spot an ant and also the tail end of an earthworm. At this point the story moves to introducing the supporting cast. Well we just get two of them. Mr Forrester is instantly a horrible character. He is behind a new insectide and is more worried about the money he would lose than its affects. I think that Forrester is a wonderful character and Alan Tilvern plays it brilliantly. Forrester kills the government man because he doesn’t give him the result that he wanted. It was a brief but important scene.  

 

Ian is caught in a briefcase and he gets to do some fantastic acting in the briefcase. Not quite sure where you learn that sort of acting but it’s a unintentially funny moment. After Ian gets ‘caught’ Susan becomes a bit too hysterical and its seems like its back to square one. It’s another reason why you can understand what made Carole Ann Ford want to leave the show.  

 

It’s not something that you notice at first but it’s a very small cast. There are only 6 speaking parts including the regulars. It’s a very tight number of characters in this story and that’s always good because it means that people will get more action. 

 

This is an notable episode because it is the first to be worked on by Dudley Simpson who would go on to work on Doctor Who through out the 1960’s and 1970’s.  

 

The cliffhanger is an absolutely barmy one. After being reunited, Susan screams and they all look at an extreme close up of a cat. It’s the only time in the shows history (until Survival 25 years later) where a cat becomes menacing. It’s a good opening episode. It’s clear that the production team felt comfortable to try and do something different because they feel that the audience could suspend their believe and go with the flow. I have always liked this story and it’s a good opening episode. 

 

EPISODE 2 – DANGEROUS JOURNEY 

The episode starts with the regulars trying to not get killed by a cat. It’s actually quite good moment as they are waiting for the cat to get bored. Once it does then the story moves on and we are introduced to Smithers who seems to be working with Forester and is just as calm about the death of Farrow. He tries to be someone who wants the same as Forrester but is more interested in the scientific fame than the money. 

 

There is a fair amount of credit that should go to Raymond Cusick. He has managed to create the sets for the regulars to walk around and do it too the right scale. The sets look brilliant and even when they are looking at a giant photo of something its still impressive. Also the fly that Barbara sees is well realised. The four regulars wander from one place to the other and its back to the amusing briefcase for Ian and the first time for Barbara and one of them get a tap from a paperclip which just adds to the madness of this tale. 

 

There is an extra threat introduced in this story after Barbara picks up some wheat which at the time has this chemical on and its clear that its could kill her. Not quite sure why Barbara doesn’t persist in telling Ian that she has touched the insecticide.  Even when she gets the chance towards the episode and she lets the opportunity slide. This might be to prolong some sort of exciting in the final episode. 

 

There’s a shot where the Doctor is climbing up the pipe and he looks exhausted which is either acting or not (cant tell).  William Hartnell and Carole Ann Ford get to do some good acting together and it’s the first time in a long time since its just been them two. It’s a nice opportunity to see what they were like before Barbara and Ian joined them. It’s a good performance from Ford and even though she’s talked down to by Ian its her interaction with her grandfather that is nice in this episode. 

 

The B-Plot of this story is the DN6 insecticide. Forester has killed Farrow and the thing about Smither is that he is just a slightly less horrible person that Forrester and he’s quite a slow person because he spends most of the episode trying to clean up Farrow’s blood. He also never really wants to get involved in what Forester is doing even though he will benefit from it. It is Forester that is the fun part of this bit of the story and it’s Alan Tilvern that make it fun to watch. Sadly though not much tends to happen in this bit and its good how it tends to have a play like feel with just the two of them. 

 

The cliffhanger is just as barmy as the previous one. The danger in this cliffhanger comes from a sink, as I write this it just seems to get stranger than I ever thought it was. As AN episode it seemed to move along at a good pace and the idea of a tiny Doctor and a tiny Barbara is quite an amusing one. It’s clear why they reduced it to three episodes because there isn’t much of a story in four episodes. 

 

EPISODE 3 – CRISIS  

The final part of this three part story resumes where the Doctor and Susan are about to drown after Smithers pulls the tap. There’s some good acting when Susan and the Doctor are in the overflow pipe watching the water go past them. 

 

We are introduced to the final two supporting cast members. Bert and Hilda who appear to be a couple and Hilda is the one answer the phone and is the one that starts to put things together. It all starts when Forrester decides to impersonate Farrow by putting a handkerchief over the bottom of the phone. It was never going to work and its all Forrester’s fault by thinking that this was going to work. 

 

The regulars have to do a nice selection of weird and wonderful things. They first try and prop up the phone to raise the alarm but being so small it’s a difficult task and also it doesn’t work because their voices are too low to understand. It does achieve something as it further puzzles Hilda. I love the cut away that they use when the phone is being propped up. It’s such a funny sight and its obvious how they are doing it. Not quite sure how they could have done it without looking daft so it may have been a bit harsh of me to make fun of it. When that doesn’t work they try something far more ambitious. The plan is to set a fire in the lab to try and alert the authorities to the lab. They try and use a match stick against the gas tap. There’s some clever editing done to try and make it look bigger than a studio. The explosion is well done and it’s at this point that the policeman walks in and as their story ends it seems that they are being apprehended. 

 

Barbara’s getting worse and by the halfway point she’s fainted. When she recovers we learn that once they get back to the TARDIS they will return to normal size and she will be better so it’s a matter of trying to get the police to the house whilst getting back to the TARDIS in time. They do and the Doctor manages to bring a massive nut that when it goes inside the TARDIS it shrinks to its normal size. It’s a good bit of special effect. 

The central performances are all good and no one really puts a foot wrong. Even Susan is given a good time in this story and its one of those rare stories where everyone is given a good crack of the whip. The supporting cast at times almost steals the show with Forrester being one of my favourite baddies so far in the show. Hilda and Bert were good late additions to the story and even though it was late in the story it was just right and they because quite important to the story. 

 

The cliffhanger is leading us into the second Dalek story and the final story for Carole Ann Ford. As it is we don’t see anything because the scanner is faulty. As a three part story this is better than the second one as its more action packed and fun than the middle episode. There is a nice bit of drama with Barbara and trying to stop Forrester and Smithers. I have always liked this story and watching it like this shows why it wouldn’t have worked as a four parter. When the DVD was released they wasted their time in trying to reconstruct in some feeble attempt to make us wonder and feel like we were robbed but to be honest there was a lot of padding in that reconstructed episode and it works much better like we have it. 

The Gunfighters (1966)

The Gunfighters is a terrible story. Sorry to be so blunt but its true. Whether it’s the woeful story or that irritating ‘Last Chance Saloon’ tune that plays constantly throughout the entire thing. It’s a shame really as the idea of Doctor Who landing in the Wild West is quite an interesting one but sadly its all thrown away for a stupid tune and a dull story.

The story sees the Doctor, Steven and Dodo arrive in the Wild West where the Doctor needs to find a dentist after breaking a tooth on a sweet in the previous story. Soon the Doctor is mistakened for Doc Holliday. Steven and Dodo seem to be having fun which is more that what I was having when I was watching this. They both get to dress up as cowboys and do yankee accents. As a result of many other things destracting me I didn’t find Dodo to be half as irritating as she normally is. That has to be a first (and last) that I felt like that. Peter Purves does well as part of this double act and whilst its not his best outing he does ok with what he’s expected to do.

I’ve heard a few people say that one of the reasons the story is not great is because of trying to realise a Wild West setting on a miniscule BBC budget. That’s nonscene. The sets are the only good thing that I think that there is in the entire production. I think that given the restrictions of the budget and fitting the entire thing in a studio the producers should be praised.

The Gunfighters is defintley one of my least favourite stories and it would be a fight between this, Underworld and The Twin Dilemma to fight out for the worst. That said I think that it has to be watched to be believed and if you can get through all four episodes in one sitting then a) congratulations and b) try Underworld.

The Reign of Terror (1964)

EPISODE 1 – A LAND OF FEAR

The Reign of Terror is the final story of the first series and its another pure historical adventure. It’s the most recent historical story that the TARDIS has visited so far. It’s also the one where there is a greater sense that the regulars are in peril. In the previous episode, the Doctor was throwing a hissy fit after Ian cracked a joke. The opening scene sees Susan get over emotional about the impending departure and whilst its obviously sad that they would be apart it seems that Susan forgot that Ian and Barbara didn’t plan on being a part of the TARDIS crew and all the adventures that they have been on was never going to change that.

I like how confident the Doctor is about getting the TARDIS back to earth considering that its taken 37 episodes to get even this close to 1963. Even Ian isn’t getting his hopes up. It’s nice that once Ian realises that they aren’t where the Doctor thought they were, he isn’t disappointed. Though thatt’s short lived when he realises that they are in the middle of the French Revolution or The Reign of Terror as Barbara calls it. The Reign of Terorr is the Doctor’s favourite period in Earth’s history. Not quite sure why but everyone has their quirks.

To me the best performances came from William Russell and Jacqueline Hill. Individually they are strong but when they are working together then they are even better. I like how they work together to manipulate the Doctor to come out with them instead of just leaving them and going off into time and space. Then they are simply great throughout the episode. Carole Ann Ford has a ropey start but once they are at the house then she improves greatly whilst William Hartnell doesn’t really do much in this episode and his best contribution comes when he gets knocked out.

The boy that Ian grabs sees some unusual reactions from Barbara and Susan. Barbara reckons Ian is hurting the boy by just grabbing him by his shirt and Susan has a go at the Doctor for scaring him. I don’t think that Ian was particularly hard with him and the Doctor was just been himself yet that didn’t seem to make any difference to the ladies.

The sets are a mixed lot. The woodland scenes at the beginning are somewhat disappointing yet the abandoned house they come across is very impressive. Obviously they decided to spend the money where it would be of most use. The house looks exactly as it is meant to and yet it still looks quite spacious in what was probably a tiny studio. Credit to Roderick Laing for what he has done here.

It’s not long before they are captured and they are separated with the Doctor being knocked out whilst the others are taken away. The cliffhanger is a good one as it sees the Doctor in the strange position of being burned to death. It’s made even more effective with the camera focusing in on the flames of the house before panning upwards with the highest flames appearing on screen just to remind us of the Doctor’s peril. It’s directed rather well by Henric Hirsch. There are some interesting shots and the story moves along at a snappy pace considering that the story takes place in just the one location but its still very enjoyable and it sets up the rest of the serial very well.

EPISODE 2 – GUESTS OF MADAME GUILLOTINE

We get a map and a caption to indicate we are in Paris and a brief cliff of the guillotine and another picture to show us some more. Sometimes the small budget is evident and in this brief moment it shows. This is the first of two episodes where William Russell doesn’t appear except in pre-filmed scenes as he was on holiday during this time. His scene in this episode was very good and he and Jeffrey Wickham (Webster) should be applauded for this all too short moment. This is where all the regulars are split up and this is where they have to go on their various plot strands.

There is a weird scene where someone of authority is talking directly to the camera as if Barbara and Susan are in front of him. It’s another quite good piece of directing from Henric Hirsch. It then leads to them being put into prison where Ian has been put in a cell just moments earlier. The Doctor was last seen in the house burning and somehow he was rescued by the young boy that he was a bit rude to in the previous episode. He goes on his journey to Paris and gets caught up in a little bit of drama where he is force to work mending the road. Thankfully it just takes place in this episode and doesn’t spill into the next one. The way that the Doctor bashes the Road Works overseer (as he’s credited) is quite a surprising moment and one that I wouldn’t have expected from the Doctor. It must have been someone in the production office to make sure that the guy was just sleeping as it was quite a violent moment.

This episode is sees another first as its the first time that there has been some outside location. It is of the Doctor walking through a field and along a path going to Paris. It isn’t William Hartnell of course (its Brian Proudfoot) but its still a nice moment in the shows history as it. It’s complimented by some music that sounds like its from the period.

Barbara and Susan are locked together whilst Ian gets a cell to himself. They really get the lions share of the stuff to do in this 25 minutes. They notice how they have always managed to get out and Susan rather pessimistically notes that they always had Ian and/or the Doctor with them. Susan talks about things catching up with you and it hindsight it seems like it’s another indication of Susan’s impending departure and even though I know this isn’t the case it’s still fun to think of RTD or Steven Moffat style story arc in action here. Susan is all doom and gloom in this episode though despite this they are a very good double act and Jacqueline Hill puts in another great performance.

The jailer is a comedy character as despite how rough he looks he is still quite an amusing sight in this episode. Even when he’s sending Barbara and Susan to the guillotine it doesn’t quite carry the menace that it could and maybe should have done. We get more of him and its Dennis Spooner’s comedic writing that has meant we get a slightly comedic figure in what is a very dark and grim story.

The cliffhanger is simply Ian reacting to seeing Barbara and Susan at the gallows. It’s a bit understated and I think it could be been handled better. It’s not William Russell’s fault as he did the best that he could but its wasn’t the most exciting ending to an episode that there has ever been.

EPISODE 3 – A CHANGE OF IDENTITY

I commented on the poor cliffhanger from ‘Guests of Madame Guillotine’ where Ian looks slightly shocked to see Barbara and Suasn on their way to the guillotine. The directors have a choice of either replaying the cliffhanger or do it again live but give it a slightly different emphasis to it and it would have been nice if Henric Hirsch had done this but no we don’t get that we get to see the lacklustre ending. The Doctor finally reaches Paris which is a good studio set. Whilst Ian is in a cell and Barbara and Susan are being taken from pillar to post, the Doctor spends a lot of time in this episode to walking around and getting dressed. He walks into a clothes shop and despite having no money, he arranges for a clothes swap. Hartnell really goes for 11 on the comedy front when he goes into the conciergerie as a regency officer. It’s the first time that Hartnell has had a change of costumes in 39 episodes. It’s a fantastic costume and Hartnell plays the role well

This is the second week that William Russell is on holiday and his presence - is maintained by some more pre-filmed stuff. He uses his chance to breakout by removing the key from the big set that the jailer left when it got stuck and his attention was diverted. All his scenes don’t actually have any dialogue which I think is a bit strange but Russell does well with them and manages to make them fit in what the rest of the story. There’s a nice shoot-out that takes place and despite it being brief it was rather well done and it leads to Barbara and Susan being freed/captured again.

Danielle is the first female supporting character that we have encountered in this story which is strange considering we are into episode 3 of this story. She is the person who seems to be more of friend to Susan and Barbara. Susan becomes ill in this episode and it at first looks like fatigue but by the end of the episode it looks like it’s something a bit more serious. Carole Ann Ford has been allowed to settle down after her hysterics from ‘A Land of Fear’ and Ford puts in a good performance in this episode. Jacqueline Hill doesn’t really do very much in the story as she is playing mother to Susan and it’s a shame really because Hill deserves better.

Jules (played by Donald Morely) is a very likeable person and vows to Barbara to get Ian out of the Conciergerie. It shows the despite the possibility of being killed, he is willing to get people out even when he doesn’t know them and must know that they aren’t French. Jean (Roy Herrick) is also a likeable person but is outshone by Jules. It’s good to have characters in this story that are nice and are there to be supportive to the regulars as it makes the story less bleak than it could have been.

The sets are really good in this episode and again Roderick Laing has done a good job. I thought that the home of Jules and Jean was lit in a good way as it wasn’t overdone and the candles help create the right atmosphere. It’s a very small set and almost has a theatre feel to it. After the

The cliffhanger is very interesting. The shopkeeper shows the Doctors ring and says that its evidence against the traitor. It’s much better than the one we got in the Guests of Madame Guillotine. The whole episode felt better than the previous two. If you watch the documentary about this story you will know that this is the episode that there was a bit of a problem with the director Henric Hirsch who became ill during the recording and none of that shows in the story and the story continues to tick along nicely.

EPISODE 4 – THE TYRANT OF FRANCE

The fourth episode of this story is the first animated one of the release. Up until this was released on DVD, all we had was the audio version and a narrated version on VHS. So this was the first time that we would get to see what this episode was like when it was first transmitted in August 1964. The cliffhanger from the previous episode saw the shopkeeper say that he’s got evidence of the traitor and shows the Doctor’s ring. The Doctor tries a nice bit if diplomatic diplomacy with Robespierre (Keith Anderson). It’s good how Hartnell seems to be having fun in this episode and its good how despite Robespierre being quite an important part of the story, the Doctor doesn’t really have much respect for him.

William Russell has come off holiday so he is back to being in the thick of the action. His return is rather dramatic after being bought in by Jules. After being out of it pretty much for a fortnight, it’s a shame that he doesn’t really do much except talk and sit down or the course of this episode.

Susan is getting worse and its deducted that Susan caught something whilst in prison. This means that Carole Ann Ford’s involvement is somewhat limited. The partnership between Carole Ann Ford and Jacqueline Hill is again quite good in this episode. Carole Ann Ford has been given a nice run of episodes where she hasn’t been a whiney schoolkid. Ok so she’s playing been unwell but its better than acting like a four year old. When the Psychian is treating Susan its clear that he’s making a quick exit so that he can report them to the Jailer. At least Susan and Barbara saw it coming straight away and were hampered by a locked door. However they are soon caught and end up back in prison. It seems like it’s a way of extending the story a bit because the whole thing about this episode is that it’s a lot of nothing happening. There’s a nice moment when Barbara and the Doctor are reunited. It’s a lovely little moment and a rare one of happiness. I always think about the early episodes of this series when the relationship as a lot more frosty than it is now and how they have all mellowed and become friends over the course of the series.

The shopkeeper who has news about the traitor is in one cell whilst the Doctor manages to dodge him (unknowingly). It creates a bit of tension about whether the keeper will be able to point out the Doctor as the traitor. Just as it looks like he is about to leave he is stopped by the jailer. It would be rude not to mention something about the animation. It’s the second story so far that has had lost episodes animated and this one was several years after the last lot and the style of the drawing matches the mood of the story and was very good to watch.

The cliffhanger was rather good as Ian was being set up and ended up being captured by Leon and his guards. With Barbara and the Doctor being reunited and Susan bound to get better its just typical that someone is prevented from making it a proper reunion. It’s not been the most exciting episode as it was a lot of sitting down and talking and not much else happening. The only thing that makes this episode worth watching is seeing the very good animation.

EPISODE 5 – A BARGAIN OF NECESSITY

This is the second episode to be animated. I’m still impressed with how good the animation looks and how it feels part of the episode. It’s great to see how this episode would have looked up. Obviously there are some things that they have probably had to make up but its still animation wise a good episode.

Ian spends the first few minutes of the story tied up after being fooled by Leon there is quite an exciting moment when Ian is saved and it’s a problem with this episode is that its not a particularly memorable episode. After the initial couple of episodes, it’s a shame that this latter part of the story has essentially been about standing in rooms and trying to win this battle. It’s the problem that comes with historical stories because there is only so much that can be done and when it’s a historical story with aliens then its different but with a pure historical there is a pretty strict course of events and you cant really do much.

Another problem with this story is that there is a lot of nothing happening. The best that we get is Leon’s death leading to a moral debate between Ian and Barbara and their difference of opinion about how to feel about Leon. It’s different from what they were like in the early part of this story. Carole Ann Ford may as well have not bothered turning up because she wasn’t given very much to do as all we do see of her is her face through the bars of the cell door and then she tries to escape the jail and gets stopped. In fact this episode sees the lion share of the action given to the supporting cast which isn’t something that has happened before but the performances were all quite good.

The title refers to the deal that the Doctor does with Lemaitre. He has to as he says otherwise Susan wont be released and that would be the only reason that the Doctor would help him. Hartnell seems to be still having fun in his current role. It’s a shame that he will have to go back to his old garb because it’s a brilliant site and seems more eccentric than his old one and more in line with the other outfits.

The cliffhanger was another good one and was probably the most exciting part of the episode. The Doctor arrives back at Jules Renan’s house accompanied with Lemaitre and Renan claims that the Doctor has betrayed them. It’s a fair assumption based on what they see and it will be interesting to see how the Doctor gets himself out of this. Hopefully the final episode will redeem this because the last couple of episodes have felt a bit stagnant and what this story deserves is a cracking finale because its not just the final episode of the story but it’s the final episode of the season.

EPISODE 6 – PRISONERS OF CONCIERGERIE
The final episode of Doctor Who’s first season. It wasn’t the final story to be filmed in this production block but it’s the first season finale in Doctor Who. There’s an awkward moment when they stand around waiting for the captions appear on screen. It could only happen in 1960’s TV. When they do eventually get started its not quite the getting out of the blocks that I would expect from the final part of the story. The first six minutes are made up of just standing around and talking about things that cropped up in the first episode. Once the story gets going the action moves to a pub where Barbara is dressed like a maid and Ian looks like….well I don’t know what like but it’s a funny look.

Napoleon Bonaparte is possibly the biggest historical figure that the show has encountered. It seems like a late addition to include him in as when he does get introduced then the shift of the story seems to change. It’s almost like Dennis Spooner has thrown this in at the last minute because they were worried that the story needed something to keep the story going for 20 minutes.

It’s 20 minutes before Susan appears and its another episode where Susan seems to be given a redundant role. She cant really do much in five minutes and it would have been nice if they had done something else or re-written the script to have Susan at least appear instead of just stagger into the story. Barbara and Ian get the most amount of the action and the Doctor seems to be getting more and more impatient as he waits for Susan to be freed. It’s another episode where the regulars seem to be passengers in the story and allowing the historical figures to do what they need to do.

There is a rather crude map of what I think is France but could have been designed by a five year old. It’s then mixed in with stock footage of a horse and carriage. It seems to be a theme of this story where the production values aren’t quite as good as they normally would be. Even when you consider that the budget wouldn’t have been there even at this stage of the production process, you think that professional integrity was sacrificed

The Destiny is in the stars speech was a lovely way to end the episode. It would be seven weeks before the show returns and I suppose there is no point in doing a cliffhanger because people would have forgotten after nearly two months. As an episode it was slightly better than the previous one because there seemed to be bit more of people moving around. It seems to have halted the decline that there was over the last couple of episodes. As a story it was quite a good one. The first half of the story is stronger because it seemed more active whereas the latter half was just people standing around talking about French politics which with the best will in the world isn’t something that really excities me.

The Smugglers (1966)

The Smugglers is the first story for Ben and Polly as the companions. The story arrives in Cornwall in the seventeenth century. It’s typical of the show to go from the modern day of 1966 to two hundred years in the past. The Smugglers is not really a big story as it is more or an introduction story to the new companions. The story starts off with Ben and Polly not believing that they have actually travelled in time. It’s amusing that Ben and Polly still seem to think that they are in 1966 despite the surroundings changing from when they entered the TARDIS to leaving it. It’s Ben that finds it hard to believe that they have travelled in time. It’s also amusing that Polly is mistaken for a man however it is stretching believability a bit.

The Smugglers isn’t a great story because the plot is a little bit bland. Normally in a historical adventure such as The Romans and The Gunfighters, there are entertaining characters in a setting that might have some terrible incident that happened then. It is interesting to see how the last couple of stories in the First Doctor era were and it’s a shame that this no longer exists in it proper form though on the BBC website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/photonovels/smugglers/) this allows you to at least imagine what everything would look like. This helps make it seem much more real than it otherwise would have been.

William Hartnell puts in one of those performances that shows he’s just having fun with the dialogue and the scenes. In his penultimate performance, it leads me to think of how far the character has come in just over two years. Back then he was a crockety old guy who would quite happily have caused harm to his companions, now he the exact opposite. He doesn’t treat Ben and Polly like grandchildren like he seemed to do with Vicki and probably even Steven but he does treat them well and that’s one of the positive traits about the first Doctor. For their first story as companions, Anneke Wills & Michael Craze push the story for me as they seem to be putting all the pieces together. It’s not hard to see why these two worked so well together. The brother/sister relationship was one of the best things about those two characters and it’s a shame that they didn’t last longer than they did.

The Smugglers is the calm before the storm in many ways as the next story would one of the most historic stories in Doctor Who history. Despite being written by Brian Hayles (The Celestial Toymaker and the Ice Warriors), this isnt his best script. It just didn’t have that sucker punch that you would expect. Shame really.

The Romans (1965)

The Romans marks a change in style for Doctor Who. This is the first story that features more comedy than drama. This is another pure historical story. After the reprise of the TARDIS going over the cliff, the story moves on a month with the crew resting. Well Ian is resting and the Doctor is watering the plants. Vicki an Barbara are going to the market. When Barbara and Vicki are in the market, Vicki is presumptuous as she thinks that Barbara will make a dress out of some material. She’s also a little ungrateful as she is bored and wants to leave. Though she seems to perk up when the Doctor goes to Rome.

The crew aren’t looking for trouble (though they never are) yet it seems to find them very quickly. There are lots of people interested in them and its quite good how people have just assumed that they are looking after the house for the owner who is in Gaul. It’s quite a convenient plot point that answers the question as to how they have ended up in this house/villa. There is a lovely scene where they are all sitting around enjoying the food that they are eating. There is a nice bit of enquiring on the Doctor’s part about what they’ve eaten and it shows how the series has developed in a relatively short time. Despite being together for only a short time, its amazing just how well they seemed to have gelled.

There’s a lovely scene with Ian and Barbara after the Doctor and Vicki have left where they seem to behave like a married couple. They spend a lot of time lounging around and joking going on between them and it’s a nice moment that we don’t often get to witness in Doctor Who. Sadly it doesn’t last long and just when you get use to the niceness of the pacing and the humour, it all changes. They are taken as slaves and so their story is more ‘grown-up’ than the one featuring the Doctor and Vicki. The Doctor gets taken to be someone else by a Roman guard after Maximus who was first seen in the square by Vicki. He was suppose to be killed by the mute on the order of Nero. When you first seem him in the market you think how much he looks like the Doctor. To be honest it’s a bit silly as it’s the cliché of drama that someone is taken for someone else.

The thing about this story is that the comedy takes some out of the sting out of the grim idea of being taken as slaves. This means that there isn’t much in the way of drama and it just feels like two plots are running side by side and you know that they will be reunited. The cliffhanger is a bit odd if I’m honest. What we have is the mute assassin walking up to the curtain which belongs to the room containing the Doctor and Vicki and then the screen fades to black.

The whole episode is a comedy episode with a faint hint of seriousness. It wrong foots us because we had become use to serious episodes and at times quite dark that when it tries to do comedy it doesn’t seem quite right. It’s hard to believe that they decided to do this story but it exists and as an episode is perfectly fine. There are some nice moments and its better than some of the stories coming up.

Episode2 starts off with the cliffhanger of the mute assassin about to kill the Doctor. What follows is a nice little fight sequence which is similar to the one in The Rescue. I thought that the cliffhanger was a bit odd and I still think its odd but the fight was quick and immediate that I forgot about it at first. The Doctor almost won before Vicki chases him out of the window, much to the Doctors annoyance.

More odd models to show that they are in Roma, at least it’s a step up from the drawings in ‘The Reign of Terror’. Barbara is on her own and she is about to become a slave. She is looking after a woman who is very ill a bit like Ian was back in ‘The Reign of Terror’. She gets an offer from Tavious but refuses it which is in keeping with her character but I think had Vicki or Susan been with her then there might have been a different outcome. Ian is also on his own but has ended up on a ship. Neither of their settings is particualry cheery which is at odds with the light hearted tone the story has taken on the Doctor and Vicki’s side of things. Things get worse for him when the ship hits the rocks. It’s all got really bad for him really quickly.

Tavious seems like a nice person even though he is involved in what is essentially human trafficking. Which I’m not sure how I feel about it. Being such a horrific thing it feels wrong to sympathise with him even if he shows kindness to one of our favourite characters. He gets his own way and buys her at the auction but Barbara is still not going to be 100% grateful. It’s good how the Doctor and Vicki miss seeing Barbara because the Doctor is in too much of a hurry to meet Nero. It’s a frustrating thing that happens here but if they did meet then the story would be over too quickly.

We get to meet Nero in this episode and he’s not quite historical figure that he should have been. He is very much played for laughs and I must admit that the scene with the Doctor and Nero was quite fun to watch with Vicki chipping in the odd line that makes the initial scene between these two quite good.

Despite starting off quite comedic, the story takes a more darker tone than in the previous episode. Ian and Barbara are in quite harsh situations. It’s good that the Doctor and Vicki’s story is more light-hearted as this story should have the right balance and Dennis Spooner has done well with this script in my opinion. This is a better episode and my opinion of the episode has changed greatly since watching the opening episode.

The penultimate episode of this story sees the four regulars have their own adventures. The Doctor is on course to play in front of Nero and befriends him. Unfortunately there is a lot of nothing happening in this story. Instead of trying to install some action into this, Dennis Spooner decides to base a large chunk of the episode Nero’s palace instead of having more of Ian which is something I was yearning for. Had there been more of William Russell then I would be more warm to the whole four episodes but sadly what we have is about 20 minutes of the Nero running around after Barbara and the Doctor enjoying a sauna.

The scene where Nero is chasing after Barbara is a bit like a sketch from the Benny Hill show. It’s rather silly and whilst I know that its suppose to be a comedic episode its still a bit frustrating. Another thing that was frustrating was how the Doctor missed Barbara yet again. It’s quite a while before we finally get to the more serious side of the story and that of Ian’s situation. He’s about to be trained to be a gladiator.

 

Vicki gets to spend some time with Locusta. Locusta is a woman who poisons people. I quite like the character and thought that Anne Tirard played the role quite well and seemed to add some sanity to the plot.  Vicki ends up nearly poisoning Nero which would have been against history.

The Doctor is still due to play his musical instrument even though he can’t actually play a note. The scene where the Doctor does end up playing the instrument he decides that he is going to play it but so quietly that no one can hear it. It’s quite a bold plan of the Doctor and it fits in with the feel of the story. The moment where the Doctor stops Nero from drinking the poison is the Doctor’s attempt to prevent history from being changed and it brings the events of ‘The Aztecs’ to the viewers mind. Nero gets someone else to test his drink and it is filled with poison. The rather pithy comment that he makes when the person drops dead I think is rather out of step with the show.

The episode ends with Ian in another fight in front of Nero and Barbara. It’s quite a good fight and it leads to a nice cliffhanger where Nero does the dreaded thumbs down thing. What almost makes it seem tense is Barbara’s reaction. The episode is rather a let down because after the mix of comedy and drama in the previous episode, it was sad that it seemed to be more comedy in this one. My view of the story hasn’t really changed and it’s easy to anyone why this story isn’t as well loved as it is.

The final episode of this story which hasn’t been one of the greatest in Doctor Who. It starts with the sword fight with Ian. Sadly that’s where the excitement ends because the rest of the story continues to be a precession of scenes where we are suppose to find things funny but it doesn’t work. The next time that the story picks up a bit is when the Doctor is looking over a map of Rome and accidentally sets fire to the map which Nero is horrified by at first but soon cheers up when he realises that he could burn Rome to the ground so the senate would back his plans to rebuild Rome.

The problem with this episode is that I have lost patience with the story and just think that its neither funny nor dramatic. The performances are fine but its what they have to do that is poor. Even William Russell cant save this story and what started off as an interesting journey at the early start of the story now descends into nothingness. The moment the fire starts on the map it is when the story is getting wrapped up and the regulars start to make their way out of Rome and back to the villa. The shot of Rome up in flames might seem cheap and a bit of a let down but I think that whilst it might have been good to see something better but its rather effective and I liked it.

The last shot of Nero is of him playing his lyre whilst Rome burns which has spawned the phrase. Nero has been a massive disappointment because unlike Marco Polo, I thought that they could have done something different with the character and made him a threat in the story instead of the clown that he was portrayed.

I like it when the regulars are reunited after narrowly missing each other for the previous episodes. It might have been a far stretch to believe that they could all have missed each other whilst almost tripping over each other but that’s the least of the stories problems and it’s a massive relief that it was only four episodes long.  The final scene of the episode is in the TARDIS and the Doctor says the TARDIS is being dragged down by some force. It’s a nice way to ensure that people turned in for the next episode as it’s a nice mystery about what could be powerful enough to do this. I cant deny that I’m sad that this episode is over. It was fun a bit at the beginning but soon became tiresome and not really what I think Doctor Who should be doing. Historicals are hard enough to get right without adding comedy to it. Sadly The Romans fall well short of the mark.

2010 Tomstardis Awards

BEST DOCTOR - Paul McGann
BEST COMPANION - Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon)

BEST MAIN RANGE STORY - The Wreck of the Titan
BEST MAIN RANGE WRITER - Barnaby Edwards (The Wreck of the Titan)
BEST MAIN RANGE DIRECTOR - Barnaby Edwards (The Wreck of the Titan)
BEST MAIN RANGE COVER DESIGNER - Simon Holub (The Wreck of the Titan)
BEST MAIN RANGE MUSIC & SOUND DESIGNER - Howard Carter (The Wreck of the Titan)
BEST SERIES - Fifth (Cobwebs/The Whispering Forest/Cradle of the Snake)
BEST GUEST STAR - Alexander Siddig (The Captain – The Wreck of the Titan)

BEST EIGHTH DOCTOR ADVENTURE - The Book of Kells

BEST COMPANION CHRONICLES STORY - The Suffering

BEST LOST STORY - Paradise 5

BEST JAGO AND LITEFOOT STORY - The Spirit Trap

SPECIAL RECOGNITION - John Dorney