The Tenth Planet (1966)

This story is quite a famous story for those Doctor Who fans. It would have to be to be ranked 55th in the Mighty 200. This is a surprising fact considering that he only appears in three of the four episodes and one of those no longer exists on video. The first thing is that it marks the final regular appearance of William Hartnell. He would later make a brief appearance in The Three Doctors (1973). It also marks the first appearance of the Cybermen.

The story is set in a base in the Antarctic. The Doctor, Ben and Polly arrive just as a new planet suddenly appears which is set twenty years in the future and also is linked to the 1985 adventure Attack of the Cybermen. As soon as the main cast moves into the control centre they meet General Cutler who is instantly one of those people who won’t listen to anyone else because he is a control freak. The Doctor makes a remark that as Mondas is absorbing the Earth’s energy it will absorb too much and destroy itself but Cutler doesn’t want to wait. The story does try and give a justification for General Cutler’s pursuit of destroying Mondas with the Z Bomb. His son has been sent up to try and rescue the two astronauts that we saw at the beginning of Episode one but are killed due to something to do with Mondas. I really like the isolated base idea because you know that the action will just take place in this one base and it creates a claustrophobic atmosphere. Tomb of the Cybermen, The Moonbase, Horror of Fang Rock and the Wheel in Space are stories that have just the one location and the plot can be a flimsy as you like there is a fair chance I will like it purely because of the isolation setting.

Now as I mentioned, the Cybermen make their debut and for those newer fans it might seem odd the way they are talking. Essentially the actor just opens his mouth why Roy ‘voice of Zippy from Rainbow’ Skelton does an up and down electronic voice. It’s not as effective as the Daleks but to be honest that’s redundant because the look of them is just brilliant. They look more human than they ever do in future Doctor Who stories and despite their probably being only a few Cybermen they still have a formidable presence about them. They are only defeated by something that neither they nor anyone else can do anything about. The cliffhanger to Episode one is one of those great Doctor Who cliffhangers. The simple sight of a Cyberman just looking at the camera with essentially a cloth over the actors face is just creepy. The few moments set in the snow are brilliantly created and well directed. It would have been nice to have a few more scenes there because they were atmospheric.

This story is also a sad one because it is obviously William Hartnell’s last story. He was getting ill at this point and his decision to quit was obviously a good one. He is absent from Episode 3 and he does look quite frail at this point. Every time I saw him on screen I just felt sad because when I think of his earlier stories like Inside the Spaceship and Dalek Invasion of Earth, he was so full of life and even though he did bumble the odd line it was what made his stories have a bit of enjoyment about them. As a final story it’s not perhaps the one it should have been and that’s the main problem with it. It’s fair to say that had the producers known how important the final story would be then it probably would have been more dramatic. But I still think that The Tenth Planet is a cracking adventure with a very dramatic and atmospheric setting and very good characters.

Timelash (1985)

According to the DWM Mighty 200, there is only one story worse than Timelash. That’s probably a harsh way of describing it but to be honest, Timelash is not a good story. Even with people including myself re-evaluating Colin Baker’s time as the Doctor, Timelash is one story that doesn’t deserve to go up in anyone’s opinion. Written by Glen McCoy, this story is the weakest story of Colin Baker’s first full season as the Doctor. The stories in this season were 45 minutes in length which resulted in more time been given to the build up. That’s why it’s such a long time before the Doctor and Peri arrive on Karfel. Karfel is a planet that is been run by the Borad who is a dictator. People are trying to rise against him but are thrown into the Timelash. As well as this there is a war with the Bandrils.

The story is worth watching just to see Paul Darrow as Tekker. The Blake’s 7 actor hams it up throughout the two episodes but is very entertaining to watch. With a studio full of bland and dull characters, Darrow brings just enough to make this story watchable. Robert Ashby was very good as the Borad. I thought the prosthetics was well done in this and Ashby’s voice was perfect for the character. I did find Vena (Jeananne Crowley) to be an irritating character. I didn’t really care about her. That’s the problem with the rest of the supporting cast, they are either dull or irritating and in a drama that’s a huge problem.

The person that people think of the Borad is a fake. The real Borad is actually a sinister figure that sits in a chair and the identity is held back until the half way point of Episode 2. It’s revealed that the Borad is actually Megelen. The Doctor reported Megelen for his experiments presumably during his visit as the third Doctor. Megelen started of looking human but during a scientist experiment there was an accident and Megelen became deformed. The Timelash is rubbish. Its meant to be this fearful thing that people are banished to but in reality its just a big box with a bit of tinsel at the background. When they go inside the Timelash it looks ok. It’s not brilliant and clearly the budget went into other stories.

The one big confusion is the revelation that the Doctor has been to Karfel in his third incarnation. This was a convolution and unnecessary plot point. It didn’t really offer much to the story and would have worked just as well without it. Another problem was the introduction of H.G.Wells. Not only does he look nothing like the real H.G.Wells but he is incredibly annoying. It made the Doctor’s sarcasm aimed at Herbert a big highlight.

Timelash deserves its poor appreciation. Compared to other stories from Season 22, this story suffers from poor characters, a very sterile set and some dodgy special effects show that this story wasn’t as good as perhaps it should have been. Pennant Roberts was a very good director but this isn’t one of his finest.

Genesis of the Daleks (1975)

Genesis of the Daleks is the story that effectively rebooted the Daleks. In the 12 years since their creation, the Daleks have been pretty much done it all. There were even some complaints that they were rehashing old stories. With a new Doctor in the form of Tom Baker it seemed like the production team (still at this time led by Barry Letts) wanted a new direction for the Daleks. Little did Letts or anyone else know just what an impact this story would have on the future of all Dalek stories. It’s quite easy to see why it was made the third most popular story in the DWM Mighty 200 behind Blink (2007) and Caves of Androzani (1984).

The Doctor is set with the task of wiping out the Daleks or changing their destructive ways. The opening moments show Skaro to be an even grimmer place than what we were shown in ‘The Daleks’ (1963/64). The Skaro we have in this story is a ravaged place with soldiers fighting with primitive weapons despite the modern clothing. The story really steps up a gear when they meet Davros, the creator. Listeners of the Big Finish series I,Davros (2006) will know how he got into that chair and into the position of power.

There are two iconic moments for me in this story. The first being when the Doctor comes out of the incubation chamber with the creatures around his neck, very cheap to create but very effective. The second was when the Doctor arrives at the moment of blowing up the chamber but wonders whether he has the right. As he points out, despite the horror they hand out to millions of people there are those who form alliances with other worlds because of their fear and hatred of the Daleks. I think it would have been a huge mistake for the Doctor to destroy the chamber because it would have been totally against what the Doctor is.

As was always going to happen (because we know the Daleks), they turn on Davros and the end sees just Davors’ hand fade into white. It would be nearly five years before we would know that he wasn’t dead but merley put into sleep. Michael Wisher is brilliant as Davros. He gives the role a more composed yet heavily deluded slant than what other actors would give. He is brilliant against Tom Baker who even in only his third story is showing what has made him such a popular Doctor. Elisabeth Sladen and Ian Marter put in sterling performances as they battle with the Doctor. Peter Miles also deserves a mention as the loyal Nyder. When he pretends to be against Davros is a master class in bluffing.

I think that it was the perfect time to do this story. Few years later and we might have had a more comical performance from Tom Baker which would have ruined what this story was to achieve. Genesis of the Daleks deserves it place as one of the greatest Doctor Who stories of all time. It has great characters and at no point during the six episodes does it drag.

The Doctor Dances (2005)

Whenever someone sticks the word Doctor into the title, you have to be careful what follows that word. When I read that the word was 'Dances'. I didnt quite know what to expect. Was it going to continue to dark and grim feel of the first episode or was it going to go off into some weird musical. Thankfully it was the former as the action continued and increased. The resolution of the cliffhanger was the something that I would never have thought of. As they all have the mindset of a child, a simple "Go to your room" is quite effective. The chasing round the hospital was very enjoyable it was the perfect oppertunity to induce some humour. The Doctor's shyness about revealing that whilst Jack has a fancy weapon to fend off the army of gasmask wearing zombie, all the Doctor has is a sonic screwdriver that is 'sonicy'. The banter between Christopher Eccleston and John Barrowman is one of many good things about this particular episode. There is another great line (which these two episodes have many) when the Doctor says to Rose "I'm trying to resinate concrete"

As the title suggests, there is a little bit of dancing. Not too much but enough to lighten up the tension. In fact what this story does quite well is lightening up the drama with a bit of comedy. Its a Moffat master trick. I was quite surprised (though I shouldnt have been) that the capsule that the Doctor and Rose was chasing and that Jack had set as a trap was infact what caused everything. The fact that everything has been caused by Jack's actions help deflate the arrogant ego that Jack has been thrusting onto the screen. The revelation that the capsule contained Nano-genes which repaired the boy but didnt know when to stop. As a result, anyone who came into contact with him would receive teh same treatment and as the nano-genes didnt know what was right and wrong they just copied the treatment.

The moment when its revealed that the boy is infact Nancy's son was something that actually surprised me. It might seem perfectly normal in this day and age for a youngster to be pregnant and have a son but in 1941 it doesnt seem normal. Their reunion was very heartfelt and that is partly due to Florence Hoath as Nancy. Combined with everyone being returned to normal it was a lovely scene and a feel good one as well. This story I think is one of the rare occasions where no one dies (well no one on screen). As the Doctor says in a joyful voice was "Everybody lives, just this once everybody lives". With that resolved it was just the deal of Captain Jack to contend with. Last seen he has to wait for the bomb to go off, except that the Doctor lends a helping hand and saves Jack before the bomb and his ship blow up. Thus leading to Captain Jack being a member of the TARDIS crew.

This two part has been a success and is the best of the Christopher Eccleston era. The setting helped as did the fact that the entire story happened at night where the darkness along with the creepyness of a child with a gasmask walking around asking if your his mommy created a wonderful atmosphere. Moffat wrote a wonderful script and it adds to a long line of Moffat episodes that get the thumb up.

Power of the Daleks (1966)

Power of the Daleks is the first post-regeneration story in Doctor Who. The format for a post-regeneration story is pretty much set with the new Doctor being a bit out of it and an alien threat almost being successful. That is what makes this story very unique. David Whittaker is the writer of this story and as well as having to write a good Dalek story he has to introduce a new Doctor which cant have been an easy job. In the Mighty 200 DWM survey of 2009, this story was put in 21st place which is the highest first story for a Doctor as well as the second highest second Doctor story only being beaten by ‘The Evil of the Daleks’ (1967).

Moments after William Hartnell regenerated into Patrick Troughton (though its not called Regeneration its called Renewel). Ben and Polly are cautious about the person who is infront of them but it does lead to silly point number one. If someone changes infront of you and its clear there is no way that they could have done the swap, why act like you don’t believe it’s the same person. The story sees a group of (presumably) earth colonists on a planet called Vulcan (which predates Star Trek) and the Doctor pretends to be an examiner from Earth and soon finds himself trying to stop Lesterson from resurrecting the Daleks. Silly point number two – I don’t believe for a second that no one knows of the Daleks. Even if it’s just a myth, why even someone who is clearly a smart man like Lesterson would want to bring back the Daleks is beyond me.

The Daleks in this are wonderful. They have a level of deceit that had never been seen before in this way before. They hold back their real intentions for an unbelievably long time and it’s amazing that David Whittaker kept his nerve and didn’t blow it before the two-third mark. There are some lovely moments such as the moment when the Dalek asks “Why do humans beings kill human beings?” The Daleks that we are getting in this story were what inspired Mark Gatiss in his 2010 story Victory of the Daleks. Every time they said “I am your servant!” I always find it very un-nerving.

Patrick Troughton’s opening story is a largely enjoyable adventure. It must have been tough to take over from William Hartnell and try and make his Doctor seem different. To his credit he does a great job, his Doctor does things that you could never have seen Hartnell do. There is no way that Hartnell would have pretended to be a dead person. Anneke Wills & Michael Craze are both very good supporting a new Doctor. Admittedly to begin with it’s just odd as Ben doesn’t believe that the Doctor is the Doctor. Anneke Wills was absent in Episode Four and Michael Craze was absent from Episode Five because they were on holiday for those episodes. I think the disadvantage for filming for most of the year during this time was that they would be absent and when they are involved in it their absence becomes noticeable.

Power of the Daleks is a very good story with perhaps the best use of the Daleks before Genesis. David Whittaker is a nice six parter and it boded well for the rest of the second Doctor even though most of it doesn’t exist of videotape. Christopher Barry directs another very good story and shows why he would become one of the most prolific Doctor Who directors. Power of the Daleks is well worth a listen on either CD or downloading via iTunes. Anneke Wills reads this story very well and makes the gaps seamless.

Echoes of Grey (2010)

Zoe Herriot returns to the Companion Chronicle series after her appearance in Legend of the Cybermen. Wendy Padbury appeared in the second ever Companion Chronicle back in 2007 in which was a weak offering. Now on the 34th release, its time for another Zoe story. This one starts off with a woman call Ali walking up to Zoe. Apparently it’s an older Zoe from the one Ali knew. She tries to get Zoe to remember an adventure that they had together. Ali produces a box that pulls the bits of memory that the Timelords have hidden from her. This story is written by John Dorney who wrote Solitaire which I thought was one of the top 3 Companion Chronicles of 2010.

This main part of the story is set at the Whitaker Institute in Central Australia. The Doctor, Jamie & Zoe discover that the scientists have created a creature called the Achromatics which basically suck all the disease and old age out of people. However it goes wrong and it starts to take more than the unwanted stuff and the people are dead. The story does have an isolated base kind of feel to the story as it seems that the Institute is in the middle of nowhere and there are just a handful of characters. Except this time there is no alien invasion but just some sinister creations.

The main problem with this story is that takes too long for the payoff to come. The first episode is unbearably slow. I was listening to this episode and I was wondering what exactly was going on. Then it picked up in the second half. All of it got explained. The Achromatics were explained and the terrible secret of the Institute was revealed. To be honest despite the fact that it was portrayed as a terrible thing I just ended up thinking to myself ‘Why don’t I care about them killing humans?’ To me the Achromatics aren’t the menace that they should be. The cliffhanger wasn’t scary enough, there was no threat from them. We got to hear someone be consumed by them but it didn’t work for me. The thing I was more interested in why Ali was going through all the trouble of getting Zoe to remember. Then the revelation that she worked for the institute and she was trying to get the story out of Zoe was clever.

Echoes of Grey isn’t quite the story it should be. Wendy Padbury is good as Zoe and its always interesting to hear her play the role and Emily Pithon was also good as Ali. She played the mysterious side to the story well and the both of them should be pleased with what they did. However it doesn’t change the fact that it takes way too long to get the story going and by that point I had all but lost interest in what was going on. My advice for people who are going to listen to this is to skip to the second part.

Frontier in Space (1973)

Frontier in Space is a story that is one half of a mammoth twelve parter. Not only do we have the surprise return of the Daleks towards the end of Episode Six but it marks the final appearance of Roger Delgado as the Master. A war is breaking out between the humans and the Draconians. The very same that feature in Paper Cuts (2009).

The story looks like it’s a simple case of two races at war and the Doctor is going to try and stop it but then it soon becomes obvious that someone or something is trying to get these two forces to battle it out. The Ogrons (who last appeared the year before in Day of the Daleks) are being used and soon the humans are seeing them as Draconians and vice versa. Just when things look simple then the Master is thrown into the mix. He hadn’t been seen since The Time Monster (1972) and the end of the ninth season. It’s always good to have the Master but used a bit more sparingly than during the 1971 series. The story moves along at a very steady pace. It’s a habit and more of a rule that six parters start to sag between episodes three and four but surprisingly this doesn’t apply to Frontier.

The Draconians are a good creation. Their nobility mixed with their stubboness was well done. Along with the look of them it’s surprising that it took someone 37 years to bring them back. They had lots of potential and it’s a shocking waste that this was their only appearance. I remember watching a thing where Jon Pertwee say’s that the Draconians were his favourite monster because you could see their mouths move and their eyes.

Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning are on their usual good form. Their relationship has really become solid and it’s a shame that in a few stories time it would be broken up. Jo’s fashion is always a source of discussion and there was more to discuss with her Japanese inspired outfit. The same cant be said for Pertwee’s pyjama costume when he on the moon prison. Roger Delgado is brilliant in this, his appearance was a surprise and even though his involvement was pretty standard compared to his other stories it’s a testimant to the actor of how little I really care about the unoriginality of his involemtn and so glad to see him occupy the screen. It’s a shame that Roger Delgado didn’t get the send off he deserved. Admittadley no one knew he was going to die but even so it’s one of those things that as a fan you would wish that they could have done something. Apart from that I am quite a fan of Frontier, it has a nice tie into Planet of the Daleks. The surprise of appearance of the Daleks was well handled and tied up this half of the story well.