Horror of Fang Rock (1977)

Horror of Fang Rock is the first story of Season 15 and it’s a corker. Written by former Script Editor Terrance Dicks, what we have in this story is the only Doctor Who story where everyone but the regular characters die. Despite Graham Williams being the producer after Philip Hinchcliffe had been removed by BBC chiefs, this still feels like a Hinchcliffe product. Robert Holmes is still the script editor at this time so there is still a dark element to the story.

The story is set in a Lighthouse on the island of Fang Rock which isn’t working properly due to fog. It also coincides with the arrival of the Rutan who sneaks on the crew of the lighthouse and kills of the crew one by one. Then there is the arrival of a posh passengers of a luxury yacht. One of the crew is a sneaky Lord Palmerdale who caused the yacht to crash. That’s the B-Plot that is introduced mid-way through the story. The Rutan is discovered and is trying to summon the mother ship. It takes Diamonds and the last surviving crew member (Vincent) to finish off the Rutan.

One thing I love about this story is that it has the isolated base effect. Like The Moonbase, The Tenth Planet & the Tomb of the Cybermen, this story has that claustrophobic feel which is helped by the cramp lighthouse condition. The crew of the lighthouse were nice characters but it was when the passengers of the yacht came on board that we had the Upstairs Downstairs feeling to it. I quite like both set of characters with Vincent (John Abbott) being the best one whereas with the posh side I thought Colonel Skinsale (Alan Rowe) was the best of that group. I was chuffed when Leela slapped Adelaide (Annette Woollett) because I just found the character an annoyance and it could have been toned down a bit.

The character of Rutan was a nice creation by Dicks but was slightly disappointing in design. It gives me no pleasure in saying this that the Rutan looks like a bit of snot. The voice was good though as it did sound alien and was effective. The scene where the Doctor and the Rutan talk on the stairs was one of the many highlights. With the presence of the Rutan we got to learn of the war that the Sontarans were having. It’s a shame that the Rutans never got to appear on TV because a Sontaran/Rutan battle would have been a cracking story. The Rutan’s would have to wait until 2009 before returning in the Big Finish adventure ‘Castle of Fear’.

Tom Baker and Louise Jameson were very good in this. The Doctor shows a fallible side when he locks the Rutan in the lighthouse instead of out and Leela thrives in the battle against the Rutan. Her best moment was obviously when she slaps Adelaide and her clothing is better in this as she wears the lighthouse crew’s clothing to replace what she was wearing at the beginning. Their relationship is settling down now and as it shows. It’s a long way from Face of Evil the previous year.

The Horror of Fang Rock ranks as one of my favourite stories because it has everything that I would want from a Doctor Who story. It’s not surprising for me to say that it is a good solid script because it comes from Terrance Dicks who oversaw some really strong stories as Script Editor. Paddy Russell did a good job of making the same five sets interesting still after four episodes. Russell keeps the action cranked up to 11 and shows why she was a top director.

The Sensorites (1964)

EPISODE 1- STRANGERS IN SPACE


Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 20 June 1964

The Sensorites is one of those stories that when I first saw it was bowled over by. It’s another long story but written by Peter R Newman and my advise to anyone reading this would be to buy the DVD and watch the documentary about him as its one of the saddest and most impressive documentaries that I remember seeing on a Doctor Who DVD. There is a mystery about whether they have landed or not. There is a nice moment when they talk about how they have all changed since that very first episode. Amazingly its been eight months since the series started and its almost like they are reminiscing with the audience about how far they have all come since that very first episode .The moment where they walk from the TARDIS into the spaceship control room was a nice bit of continuity.

It seems like the two people they encounter are dead and its quite a sombre opening. After accepting the fact that they are dead there is a surprising moment when the chap starts to move. It turns out that they were in a deep sleep.

The woman is called Carol and the man is called Maitland and their story is that the ship is by a planet called the Sense-sphere. They don’t kill them but actually go to the trouble feeding them. They don’t sound like your typical alien. It’s at this moment that we learn that Susan has telepathic abilities. It starts when she senses something. This isn’t really given much time to settle in our minds but its enough to encourage the regulars to leave and go back to the TARDIS. The taking of the lock seems like another excuse to prevent the regulars from leaving. It’s similar to what was used in ‘The Keys of Marinus’. When Barbara smells something burning I don’t get why they don’t think to check the TARDIS or how they could miss the Sense-sphere taking the lock of the TARDIS. It’s not that great a distance to the TARDIS.

The first shot of the Sense-sphere isn’t a good one as its clearly a glove. It’s good that we don’t get a good full look of them. All we get is a glove and their head. By not showing us the full creature its making the viewer want to seem them all that much more.

There is regular mention of a third member of the crew called John. He seemed to be the worst affected by what the Sensorites have been doing and seems to be lurking around parts of the ship that Maitland and Carol don’t go to. In fact they don’t seem to have any urge to look for him until they realise that Susan and Barbara are missing. This is when the story starts to get going because it becomes very tense and atmospheric. It is Barbara and Susan that get separated and are the first to encounter John. He doesn’t exactly come out of it very well. Both Carole Ann Ford and Jacqueline Hill do very well in this story.

There’s a fun moment when they are trying to get through a door to get to Susan and Barbara with the smallest device ever. It wouldn’t get you into a can of beans let alone a door.

The cliffhanger was brilliant and it was the first time since An Unearthly Child: Episode 1 that I was genuinely stunned by what I saw. It was a Sensorite popping up into the window and its must have been great to think what was going to happen in the next episode. Despite not much happening in this episode I still enjoyed it. I thought the introduction of Carol and Maitland were good additions and helped interact with the regulars. A good opening episode.

EPISODE 2 – THE UNWILLING WARRIORS

Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 27 Junr 1964

After the great cliffhanger in ‘Strangers in Space’ we get our first proper glimpse of the Sensorites. It’s just as well that this story was made in black and white because I think in colour they don’t quite have the same impact that they do in monochrome. Something I never commented on in the cliffhanger was how I liked that out of the Doctor, Ian, Maitland and Carol. It was only Ian that walked around like he was the most mentally strongest of the four.

There is a moment when John is talking to thin air but he is looking just to the side of the camera. It’s a nice moment. Stephen Dartnell gives a superb performance and it helps add to the tension. It’s good who they have turned the one person who has been affected the most by the Sensorites and as a result is more strange, is the one that they turn to for help. They are still using that stupid little laser blaster to get through the door. Still cant believe they are using something so ridiculously small.

Barbara and Susan continue to be a good double act in the early part of this episode. Working together to calm John down. Susan is the one that comes up with the idea of telepathy and talks about a previous adventure that they have. She talks about the planet Esto. Susan’s involvement in this story is becoming stronger and its nice to see Susan to become better written for after the inconsistent recent episodes.

There is a nice theory about why the Sensorites are doing what they are doing and why John’s hair has turned white. Ian surmises that John has discovered something and they are trying to stop him or the team from going down to the sense-sphere. It’s all down to fear and that they don’t want the humans to go back to earth and bring other to ravage their world. When its explained you sort of understand why they have felt the need to act the way they have and it explains why they don’t actually harm them even though they are effectively kept prisoner.

Ian’s first encounter with the Sensorites is a good one as he is prepared to get violent if he needs to. It’s perhaps the downside of being the action hero of the group that he instantly resorts to this instead of trying to talk and reason with them. William Russell is good in this episode and has some good scenes. As does William Hartnell who’s best moment comes when he is standing up to the Sensorites. It was quite interesting to note that in the previous episode he was having a go a Maitland for the laser being so slow on the door yet in this episode he is a lot more calmer because he understand that anger leaves them open to attack.

Mervyn Pinfield’s direction is very good as he keeps it very tense for large parts of the story. At times it feels claustrophobic and Raymond Cusick does a good job in creating some good sets. The lighting was another thing that helped to create a wonderful spaceship and that credit goes to Peter Murray who keeps it light in the main control room but when it came to the corridor and the sleeping quarters it is a different matter and the lighting makes it look menacing.

We get the first proper encounter between the humans and the Sensorites. The Sensorites want them to stay on the sense-sphere where they will live there until they die but the humans don’t want that and there is a nice moment when the Doctor uses his anger to hurt the Sensorites.

Susan’s telepathy comes into proper use towards the end when the Sensorites contact her directly. Apparently the Sensorites and Susan work out a plan that leads to her going with the Sensorites and the humans surviving. It comes out of the blue and that is what makes it a good cliffhanger. The episode as a whole was good because it continued the atmospheric tension that we saw in the first episode and didn’t just put it to one side now that the introduction episode is out of the way but instead built on it. This story is just as good as I remember thinking the first time I saw it.

EPISODE 3 – HIDDEN DANGER

Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 11 July 1964

The start of the episode sees the regulars trying to prevent Susan from going with the Sensorites. There is a nice moment of the Doctor, Susan and Barbara are teaming against Susan. We get the first bit of proper friction between the Doctor and Susan. It’s the first time that Susan has defied her grandfather and it causes the Doctor to be angry in a way that we haven’t really seen before. Ian thinks that Susan has been hypnotised by the Sensorites but Barbara tells him that she’s just growing up. Considering that she’s an alien and they haven’t really talked about alien things how would Barbara know she’s growing up.

The Doctor has another reason why he doesn’t like the Sensorites and that’s because he feels they are turning his granddaughter against him. It doesn’t really last long but it seems to be the reason why everybody goes to the sense-sphere. There is a plot contrivance to explain Jacqueline Hill’s holiday and that is she is staying up with Maitland whilst everyone else goes to the sense-sphere.

We get to learn about why the Sensorites aren’t quite trusting of humans. Due to a previous human encounter the Sensorites on their planet are dying. It makes the reason why the Sensorites do what they do more understanding and you can sympathise with them. We finally get to see something other than the spaceship and we get to encounter more Sensorites. A downside the characters show themselves in this story as we get to see their feet. They look like ducks feet.

The sets for the Sensorites is quite good. It’s a lot brighter than the spaceship and so it is a nice warming place to visit. The sets are done so that it feels like a big place and not just a couple of sets put next to each other. There is a sense of scale and its good to get out of the confines of the spaceship.

They all look the same as the only difference is the black sash that some of them wear. Otherwise there is no way of telling them apart which is going to be difficult but there is a minor difference because some are a bit portly and some are slimmer.

It’s good that the Sensorites are just as distrusting to people that they don’t know just like humans can be. This fear is something that runs through the episode quite blatantly and it’s not something that’s been explored like this before. John has the ability to tell who is evil and who isn’t and despite not really being in the episode that much his involvement is quite good and he’s been the most consistent thing in the story.

No sooner have the humans arrived than someone is trying to kill them. The city administrator is going all the way to try and kill the humans. Just when it looks like that the regulars are going to kill them they are stopped by the First Elder. However it’s just seems to delay the inevitable as Ian becomes ill. After moments of coughing he just stands up and collapses to the floor and we are told he is dying.

It’s a really good cliffhanger as it puts Ian in genuine danger. Unlike in the Aztecs when he was in the tunnel filled with water I think if I were watching this for the first time then I would wonder whether Ian was going to make it. I thought that the episode was a transitional one as we move from the spaceship to the Sensorites home world and its good that there seems like a purpose to it but also a genuine menace. Best episode of the story.

EPISODE 4 – THE DAY OF DARKNESS

Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 13 June 1964

This is the first time that Jacqueline Hill hasn’t featured at any point in an episode. Barbara is still on the spaceship and with Ian sick for most of the episode. He’s up on his feet by the end of the episode but he’s not 100%. The race against death that the title suggests is more of a sprint as its dealt with relatively quickly and Ian is up and about by the 2/3 mark. The Doctor is quick to figure out what might be causing Ian’s encounter with the floor.

The First Elder is quite trusting of the humans yet the Second Elder isn’t so keen. There is a nice split with some wanting to work with the humans and let them have what they need whilst some think that they shouldn’t be allowed this courtesy. It’s an interesting bit of conflict and it plays out well in the episode. The City Administrator jokes about not being able to tell the humans apart and that they don’t carry any signs of position. This is a theme of the episode and it is Carol that gives the city administrator a way of tricking the humans. The City Administrator works quick to come up with a plan.

William Hartnell seems to be in his prime in this episode as he goes from being angry at the First and Second Elders but then progresses to being the scientist. It’s good when the Doctor isn’t just satisfied with finding a cure but finding out the source of the problem and goes on an expedition. As William Russell is playing the patient for most of the episode it falls to Carole Ann Ford to be one of the people driving the story and she does it well and the partnership between Hartnell and Ford is one of the best things about this episode.

There is a nice montage where they are trying to find out where the poisoned water is coming from. It’s not something that we have seen before but it helps pass the time.

The City Administrator stages a coup d'etat when he steals the sash of the First Elder after he goes on a rant about the Doctor pretending to look for a cure and Ian pretending to be ill. He also manages to intercept the antidote. Now this could have led to another episode of trying to find the cure but its quickly resolved and it doesn’t hold up the story. It’s strange that with so little really happening the episode moves along at a good pace.

The last part of the story sees the Doctor venture into the caverns where he starts to suspect that this isn’t just a case of water poisoning. There is a myth about there being monsters in the caverns. The Doctor is rather blasé about these so called monsters and so goes straight into the darkness without so much as a care in the world.

The cliffhanger is a cracker. The Doctor is in a very dimly lit tunnel and comes across a possible conclusion to his mission and the light focuses on his face as he is ‘looking’ at a roar. Who knows what is making that noise. This story is impressing me just as much as it did when I have watched it in one go in the past.

 

EPISODE 5 – KIDNAP

Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 25 July 1964

The reprise is noticeably different from what we saw at the end of the previous episode. The question still remains as to what is causing that noise. I’m surprised at how dimly lit the tunnel scenes are. What makes it more striking is when the camera is focused on Ian and Susan we hear the Doctor scream out in terror which is something that I never thought I would witness. The early stages of the episode are quite exiciting and it’s down to the lighting and also the performances from the regulars. This is the second episode that Jacqueline Hill doesn’t appear though they do at least mention Barbara. At least they have remembered there is someone else in the group though they don’t actually mention Maitland which is a shame because the character was a good one and what he went through a lot with Carol yet isn’t regarded very highly as we don’t hear from him again.

John is still undergoing treatment in what looks like the weirdest hairdryer in existence. This means that John isn’t really allowed to do very much which is a shame really after he was so strong in the early episodes. Carol also suffers from not having a great deal to do as she has to play nurse to John. When John recovers you can tell this has happened because his hair is normal and now he is better his involvement is more important. He can reveal the City Administrator/Second Elder as the traitor.

The City Administrator really takes a leap in the utterly nasty stakes. His fear of the humans is getting to be quite silly (but in a good way). When the real Second Elder is killed by the City Administrator it looks like his plan has gone up the spout but the City Administrator comes up with a new plan on the spot. It led to the Doctor suggesting that the City Administrator becomes Second Elder. It’s not long before the regulars realise that they made a mistake by suggesting the City Administrator be promoted but by then its too late. It’s not long before the Doctor and Ian go back to the acquaduct but thanks to the new Second Elder the weapons they have don’t work all we see from them for this episode. The cliffhanger actually features Carol who is walking around the city and a hand (clearly a sensorite) covers up her mouth and pulls out of shot. This is a good cliffhanger and quite a shocking one considering it’s a family show. It’s another solid episode as it feels like things are starting to move to a climax with John getting better and the City Administrator/Second Elder’s plans taking strength, the final episode has a lot to live up to and my enjoyment in this episode was quite high.

EPISODE 6 – KIDNAP

Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 1 August 1964

The final episode has to finish the story in a satisfactory way. Carol is forced to write a note saying that she is going up to the ship but it doesn’t fool Barbara, Susan and John. Barbara finally returns and she seems to stroll right back into the action. It is clear that Jacqueline Hill has been somewhere sunny as she looks a lot more tanned than she did the last time we saw her. The spaceship must have quite the tanning booth. I like the moment when the First Elder tries to reassure Susan that no danger will come to Ian and the Doctor and then it cuts to them realising that the guns they have are useless as is the map that they were given.

After the rather atmospheric lighting that was used for some of the earlier tunnel scenes, it’s sad to notice that they lighting has been bought up a bit. Not enough to ruin it but noticeably enough. It would have helped the scene work if the lights were turned down as the sets did look quite ordinary. The Doctor and Ian encounter someone from the crashed ship. I was personally expecting just one or two people but what we get here are several of them. They are the ones that have been poisoning the Sensorites. They have been living in the caves so that the Sensorites don’t read their minds. They look like an erratic bunch.

We get our first ever reference to the Doctor and Susan’s home world. It’s a lovely description and the look on Susan’s face shows how she really wants to be back there. Then in the final scene in the TARDIS sees Susan wanting to belong somewhere seems to start the path of her departure.

There’s a nice bit of teamwork between Ian and the Doctor. Everytime there is a moment like this I am reminded of their first encounters which were anything but friendly. The partnership of John and Barbara was good as well. I thought that this was another good episode for Susan as she was quite important in the story and normally her being side-lined would have been perfectly fine because she would be annoying but here its different because she’s being used in a good way and actually contributing something. Quite why it could have been the other way around isn’t quite clear but it wouldn’t have changed how well they all worked.

When Ian and the Doctor encounter the leader of the group there is an attempt to convince them that they have won their war against the Sensorites. They had gone made and this is what led them to try and poison the Sensorites and they believed that they were at war. The humans were stunned and they disappeared onto the ship. That was basically how it ended.

There are several instances of people fluffing their lines. No one seems to be immune to a bit of fluffing. I’m not sure for the reason and normally its not really an issue but here there seems to be so much that it almost becomes amusing. The ending of the episode sees the Doctor throwing a hissy fit after the Doctor makes a joke about the Doctor not knowing where they are going and this just moments after he admits that the TARDIS has a mind of its own.

I must admit that I was slightly disappointed with this episode as I don’t think that the story gave the ending that it should have done. It seemed like they should have spent more time with the humans in the tunnel because it seems like so much time waiting to get to this moment that when they turned up it seemed rushed. The performances were good and its was nice to have Jacqueline Hill back in the story. As a six part adventure I still like it for the reasons I did when I first saw it. It’s got some good characters and some atmospheric moments. Well worth the time and effort.

The Keys of Marinus (1964)

EPISODE 1 – THE SEA OF DEATH
Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 11 April 1964

After spending seven episodes, it’s time to go and do something different. After a pure historical the show needed to go into space and it seems that they decided to go to Terry Nation to write this six part story due to his success of the Daleks story. The story opens up with a nice model shot of the island. The interaction between the regulars is very calming which is in contrast to the beginning of the series. There’s a nice line from Barbara about colour television which was funny as the story was filmed and broadcast in monochrome. This scene is also the start of several ‘Hartnellisms’ that became part of his time on the show.  When they leave the TARDIS they discover

Susan sees the sea and instantly want to go for a swim. Despite being told not to by the Doctor, she decides that she is going to go for a paddle in a small bit of water but she was stopped before she could put a toe in. Her reaction to the shoe dissolving in the acid water was a slight over reaction. After a good run of episodes where she was well written for and put in some good performances it seems like she taken a step back. However just when I started to despair, she redeems herself and her performances for the rest of the episode are better.

The mysterious figure shows an interest in the TARDIS which his hand gliding over the lock. The mystery is made easier somewhat when we actually get to see ‘him’.  It turns out that they are called the Voord and are intruders to the island. One of them has already perished by a tear in their suit and a leak of acid into the tube that they travel in. It’s not the greatest enemy in the history of television because they seem to be killed fairly easily.

We are introduced to the conscience of Marinus, it’s a powerful thing and has the potential to cause problems. The Voords are interested. There’s a nice bit of exposition from Arbitan. We then learn what the course of the next five episodes would be about. The conscience is controlled by 5 keys and Arbitan wants the regulars to go and find the keys for him but they decline. Instead of just letting them leave, Arbitan puts a force field around the TARDIS. There’s a nice bit of acting from the regulars which requires all the regulars being exact in how wide the force field is.

When they realise that they don’t have any other choice but to help Arbitan on his way, the regulars find that they don’t have to go in those tube. There’s a neat trick of getting the regulars from one set to another and that’s by a wrist watch and they all stand in front of a black cloth so that a bit of special effects can be done. It is quite good and must have seemed like cutting edge in 1964. After all disappearing Arbitan is killed by one of the Voords which is a bit of an odd thing because its okay if you watch this story in one go or as I am doing watching over six days because I will remember this but back in 1964 would people remember this six weeks after it had happened? I doubt it.

There are problems with this episode. There is a shot when Ian says look and we get to see the city is a little bit of dodgy editing because it doesn’t gel together very well.  Then some of the set designs aren’t as good as they could have been. In ‘The Daleks’ it was clear that some of the backgrounds were cloths but it was hidden quite well. Here it’s quite obvious that the actors couldn’t walk any futher on or they would walk through the cloth. There is also a moment where the Voord falls into the acid but it’s not very convincing as it looks like a cardboard cut-out.  Then there is the small matter of the cliffhanger scene. The Doctor, Susan and Ian arrive but they are standing in front of a bit of garden furniture. The cliffhanger is quite good because there is a wrist watch that belonged to Barbara but not Barbara and the comment from Ian that it has blood on it is meant to strike some concern and in 1964 it must have done but here in 2013 it doesn’t have the same effect.

The opening episode of this story is enjoyable. Yes there are problems with this story and some plot holes that you could drive a bus through but I still think there is a lot to like in this episode and it’s nice to know what the point of the story is so early on. So you can sit back and enjoy the rest of the story.

EPISODE 2 – THE VELVET WEB
Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 18 April 1964

The reprise is slightly different with Ian’s reaction to the blood having being slightly less than it was at the cliffhanger and the Doctor’s reaction being non-existent. The background which looked like garden furniture was there purely to disguise what was behind it which was a posh looking lounge. When they do reunite with Barbara, she is living quite the lifestyle with servants and she gets to live like a queen. Everything seems to be going well but it’s the old adage of life in that if it’s too good to be true then it usually is and Ian is naturally mistrusting of all the hospitality. Everyone else is quite willing to ask for their biggest wish. Even when Susan wants an expensive dress it’s no problem and The Doctor wants a brand new laboratory and new instruments. Everything seems to be going well until they sleep when some strange rock is put on their foreheads. Except the one placed on Barbara’s head falls off and she is the only one that hears the incredible sound that follows.

When she does wake up there is the extraordinary moment when Barbara sees that the room they are in isn’t as nice as when we saw it but its all decaying with the nice gown made for Susan is just a rag. We are now in the situation where its Barbara versus the rest of the regulars and when she is hiding from Altos she breaks down and cries. There is a strange thing when Altos is looking around for Barbara but doesn’t see her when she couldn’t be more obvious if she were waving her arms in the air. That said it doesn’t really diminish her performance and it’s the first time in several episodes where I feel like she’s been given something solid to do.

Altos is the first most significant supporting cast member of the episode. There is something quite creepy about him from the very first moment that we meet him. Robin Phillips is quite good as Altos and when the alien influence has gone he is a character that is good to have around and his involvement the rest of the story is a good thing. We get to meet Sabetha who is Arbitan’s daughter. She is the one that puts the rocks on the regulars heads but were not meant to feel anything bad towards her as she is under the influence of the brain creatures. It’s a good performance from Katherine Schofield.

We get to see the alien menace that has cause the Doctor, Ian and Barbara to be brainwashed. They are small things and it’s quite hard to believe how they could ever accomplish whatever it was that they wanted to do. Jacqueline Hill has to hit the tubes with the aliens but only hits one yet the rest of the aliens die.

Ian having his hands round Barbara’s throat isn’t a sight I thought I would have seen. It does show just how much the power that these alien threats have over the regulars. William Russell gets to do a bit of emotionless acting as he lures Barbara to the weird creatures. It’s great to see William Russell and William Hartnell are pretending to see a wonderful laboratory but are in fact are seeing an empty room and the Doctor picks up a manky mug having to pretend that it’s a wonderful piece of scientific equipment.

The cliffhanger was a little bit weak because it didn’t have the same sort of drama to what we had at the end of the previous episode. Susan being scared is hardly a big incentive to tune into the next episode. As an episode it felt like a mini episode that was distracting us from the main story and trying to pass the time until we get to the central plot. It’s not that this episode is mediocre but all this episode seems to achieve is to introduce Sabetha and Altos and also explaining why we won’t be seeing much of the Doctor in the next episode.

EPISODE 3 – THE SCREAMING JUNGLE
Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 25 April 1964

The Screaming Jungle is a very historic episode in Doctor Who. It’s the first time that William Hartnell doesn’t appear at all. He was on holiday so it means that it’s the three regulars with Altos and Sabetha who are moving the story forward.  When we get back to Susan, the ‘screaming’ has stopped yet Susan looks like she is having a nervous breakdown. It falls to Barbara to do her teacher role and calm Susan down. Ian is still wearing his outfit from Marco Polo, I know that this isn’t a fashion review but it would be nice if Ian could have got a change of clothes somehow.

Barbara shows signs of rebelling or at least her desire to rebel with the Dresden china line. I thought this was a nice moment as it’s the first time since The Expedition way back in The Daleks that Barbara entertains the thought of defying Ian. It’s a shame that it never goes beyond this. Susan is really annoying in this episode. It’s worst when part of the foliage just touches Susan’s leg and she cries like its about to kill her. A total over reaction in my opinion. Thankfully she’s not in the episode very much as she gets to jump ahead. It takes them less than six minutes to find the micro-key or what we think is the key. It seems like the idea to include the fake key was something to keep the story going until the end of the episode.

By the ten minute mark, Atos, Sabetha and Susan have all jumped on ahead whilst Ian tries to find the real key and Barbara. It doesn’t take long to find Barbara as she saves Ian from almost being decapitated. With it being just Ian and Barbara, it means that they get most of the action and there’s a nice bit where Barbara is about to be killed whilst Ian is trapped. Then we meet a figure who has set the traps and has hidden the real micro-key. He gives them a code which they must try and figure out what it means and how it will lead them to the micro-key. After searching for ages and with the forest starting to attack them they finally find it.

When Barbara is climbing to grab the key there are two human hands and it’s like a big arrow is drawing the viewers’ attention to the hands. Not sure whether it was intentional but it seems like a bit of an odd thing.

Performance wise, everyone does quite well. Susan seems to have gone backwards in recent episodes and it feels like an awfully long time ago since ‘Inside the Spaceship’. It’s a shame for Carole Ann Ford and its easy to understand why she became frustrated with the role and didn’t last long in the show. It seems like her character is somewhat poorly written for and yet Barbara and Ian are given the stronger things to do. I think the fact that William Hartnell isn’t in this episode means that William Russell and Jacqueline Hill get to take centre stage and thrive under it.

the cliffhanger was marginally better except that it replaced screaming with snow. It must be really cold as it doesn’t take Barbara or Ian to feel the effects of the snow.  It was an ok episode which picked up once it was just Ian and Barbara. The thing about this episode is that there isn’t a lot of moment geographically speaking. Credit to Terry Nation for managing to make 25 minutes fly with not a lot happening.

EPISODE 4 – THE SNOWS OF TERROR
Originally Broadcast on BBC 1 – Saturday 2 May 1964

With a lack of snow but just the sound effects, Barbara and Ian react brilliantly to the cold. They are rescued by a large bearded man who at first seems like a nice person. Vasor is a man who asks Barbara if she fears him and when she says no he then says that he killed a bear with his hands. The way that Vasor tells Barbara about the warming of their hands is an odd thing because you would expect Ian and Barbara to have known that. We discover that Atos has been there before him but when Ian finds him he discovers that Atos’ hands have been tied together. It’s at this moment that we all know Vasor’s true colours and how sneaky is really is.

Barbara is left with him and she does a good job of standing up to him though that only last for so long. Jacqueline Hill is good in this episode though once she fends off Vasor she doesn’t really do anything. William Russell gets to be the big hero and leads the group to find Sabetha and Susan and then to get back to the hut after finding the micro-key. It’s always fun when William Russell gets to do the sort of things he does here because he seems to thrive in it. This is the second episode where there is no Doctor. To be honest I think that due to the introduction of Sabetha and Atos, the gap that has been left by William Hartnell has been filled well by Katherine Schofield and Robin Phillips.

It’s 10 minutes before we are reunited with Sabetha and Susan. I must admit I was missing Susan despite how backward the character has been in recent weeks. There is a nice sense of a sisterly relationship between Sabetha and Susan. It’s a bit like Ping-Cho and Susan in ‘Marco Polo’. Quite amusingly, Susan is the first one that goes over the newly constructed ‘bridge’.  I thought that this was her strongest episode for a while and Carole Ann Ford is very good as a result.

The sets in the Ice Caves are quite good. I’ve been a bit disappointed with the sets in recent episdoes and this is the first time in a while that I have been impressed with what I have seen on screen. It seems like a vast area and not just a couple of sets knocked up together.

When they do find the key it turn out that it’s in a block of ice and it becomes a group task to try and melt the ice. It’s just a matter of waiting for the ice to melt and then they can try and get over. There is a ‘threat’ which are the four figures guarding the ice and they aren’t particularly noticed by the characters. The ‘guards’ that are standing by the block of ice try their best to stay absolutely still but don’t quite manage it. I cant quite believe that they are very dangerous even when they are breaking their way into Vasor’s hut I don’t think that there is anything to them. Vassor gets the cumupance that he deserves when he seems to die of fear.  It’s a good way to tie up the loose ends. He was well played by Francis De Wolff who plays it just right between sinister and slightly clichéd.

The cliffhanger is the best one of the story so far. They all jump but we only see Ian who after discovering a body on the floor gets knocked out before the micro-key is taken out of an alarmed cabinet. There is a certain mystery about who the person was on the floor and who is the person that has knocked Ian out and took the micro-key. It’s a good episode with plenty of interesting things going to and I didn’t find myself bored at any point during the episode, largely due to Vasor who I found to be an entertaining character (much in the same way as Tegana did in Marco Polo). I think that the cliffhanger shows that the final two episodes are going to be interesting and the return of the Doctor is imminent.

EPISODE 5 – SENTENCE OF DEATH
Originally Broadcast on BBC 1 – Saturday 9 May 1964

In this era of the show, it wasn’t clear to the viewer when a story started and when it finished. So for the 1964 viewer, this was effectively the first in a two part episode. At the end of the previous episode, Ian has been knocked out and is by a dead body. Tarron’s introduction into the story is quite odd as he is casually sitting in a chair waiting for Ian to wake up. He is the one that has to investigate the murder and quizzes Ian. I love the serious moment of music when Ian is told he will be charged with murder. It quickly comes and goes and just seems like a comedy moment. The legal system is that Ian is guilty until proven innocent. This means that there is a greater sense to prove that Ian didn’t murder anyone. There is still no sign of Susan, Barbara, Sabetha and Atos. When they do finally make an appearance there is no explanation as to why they weren’t with Ian when he discovered the body.

The Doctor makes his first appearance since The Velvet Web and it’s like a massive sense of relief. When he comes back, William Hartnell instantly throws himself into the story and instantly decides that he is going to defend Ian. We learn that before we saw him he had arranged with Eprim who was going to give him the micro-key and it was his body that we saw at the beginning of the episode. He was also a friend of Atos. Hartnell loves the opportunity of being the lawyer. His body language is very amusing. It’s good to have him back. Carole Ann Ford and Jacqueline Hill get to do their Cagney and Lacey impression (several years before the duo were on TV) when they start asking questions.  Being the accused means that William Russell doesn’t get to do very much but at least Ian is in the focus of the story and so he is always on screen. It’s good to have the regulars back together. I do love the scene where they are re-enacting the scene of the crime. It seems weird that they stop the story to basically go through what we already know

Eyesen is a dodgy character. He is the one that just has to continuing with the assumption that Ian is guilty. Even though he doesn’t do anything sneaky, its clear just by the way that Donald Pickering is performing that there is something about him which wont help the regulars. The fact that Ayden is the one involved is revealed relatively quickly. Ayden makes a bid for freedom and he is easily caught by Barbara and Susan and just as he is about to name who helped him he is killed but it’s not clear how.

Kala is instantly a character that oozes badness. She doesn’t show it in this episode but its clear that she will do something. We are thrown off the scent by her being there when Ayden is killed and she sobs.Susan is captured and to be honest I hadn’t noticed that she was gone. I was so involved with the court action I didn’t notice she had left. When her voice sounds its quite a surprise and it leads to the cliffhanger which is another good one because there is the mystery of who has got Susan and what will they do with her.

This is another good episode where despite the action taking place in the same area it moves along at a really good pace and there are characters that are well written and it sets up the final episode nicely because it’s a question of having to get Ian cleared of the charges and get the keys back to Arbitan. I think that having the regulars back together seems to have bought a bit of familiarity back to the story. An enjoyable 25 minutes.

EPISODE 6 – THE KEYS OF MARINUS
Originally Broadcast on BBC 1 – Saturday 16 May 1964

The final part of this story has to do two things and do it in only 25 minutes. At the end of the previous episode, Susan have been kidnapped by someone. With Susan out of the picture at the beginning and Ian in custody, it falls to Barbara, Sabetha and Altos play the Scooby gang with Barbara as the leader. Carla drops herself in it when she says about them being worried after speaking to Susan but its several moments before Barbara twigs. When she does manage to make it back to Carla’s apartment it’s just in time to stop Carla killing Susan. It’s a great moment when they all try and overpower her. Despite admitting being involved, Carla pretends that Ian was the one she was working with. This seemed like it was delaying moving the story onwards for just a couple of moments.

The key was in the mace and the Doctor knew all along. When I first saw this episode I didn’t see it coming and now I come to think of it, I wonder whether Terry Nation had that in mind when he wrote the episode because there is never any indication that it was so close. Half this story is taken up with tying up the loose ends of getting Ian off the execution.  With Ian about to be executed, the Doctor is very solemn when we first see him. It’s the first time that we have seen the Doctor like this and it shows how much they have all changed since that very first episode. Minutes later when he sees that there is a way out to help Ian, his mood changes greatly.

When the action returns to the Voords we find that Altos and Sabetha have been captured. One thing we learn is that the lead Voord is in fact called Yartek. Yartek is pretending to be Arbitan. The fact that he doesn’t show his face to Ian and Susan should have raised alarm bells but Ian doesn’t show that’s anything wrong but he gives Yartek the wrong micro-key and this will cause the area to blow up. The Voord haven’t been the greatest creation because apart from the first episode and this one they didn’t really serve the part as a threat. Had things been thought of differently then it would have been better to move the Voord’s into the other episodes.

The central performances have all been good in this episode. However it was William Hartnell that I was most impressed with largely due to his scene where he’s very sad about the thought of Ian’s impending death. Though I was also impressed with Jacqueline Hill who started off really well in this episode. Hopefully I will never see Ian in that outfit that has worn for at least 10 episodes. If he wears it any longer then we can class it as a companion. The goodbye scene is a sad one really. After six episodes with these supporting characters it was sad to say goodbye and that shows how good they have been because normally they would be annoying. There’s a nice moment when Barbara says she will miss them and Ian says ‘come on’ in a way that implies he is telling her to pull herself together.

Oddly there’s no cliffhanger. It just fades to black and tells us the name of the next episode. It’s odd after 25 cliffhangers that we suddenly don’t get one. As an episode it was two in one really. The change happened at just the right time and the second half happened at just the right time. The story ended in a good way though I would have been annoyed that after all that time spent looking for the micro-key and then for it just to be destroyed must seem like a waste of time.

As a six part story it’s been good overall. At times it’s felt a bit stagnant but overall its moved along at a good pace with some good characters and some good writing. The sets have been of a good standing and the directing has also been solid. I have always liked this episode but I have appreciated this six part adventure in a whole new way. Something about it worked quite well and it never dragged.

The Aztecs (1964)

EPISODE 1- THE TEMPLE OF EVIL


Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 23 May 1964

The Aztecs: The Temple of Evil is another historical story and its another written by John Lucarotti. I remember the first time that I ever saw this story and was extremely impressed with it and continue to be so. The TARDIS has gone from the futuristic Marinus to 15th Century Earth. The first shot is of a skeleton which suggests the tone of the next four episodes. The TARDIS has landed in the tomb of Yetaxa. There is a nice scene with Barbara and Susan where Barbara shows that she has an interest in the Aztecs. During the examination of the tomb, Barbara puts on a bracelet which doesn’t seem to be of any importance and its only when Barbara leaves the tomb that its importance becomes evident. Barbara is discovered by Autloc and we learn that only Yetaxa can wear the bracelet and so Autloc assumes that Barbara is the reincarnation of Yetaxa. Autloc is the high priest and is low on intelligence. When he first appears he doesn’t come across as a particular impressive and he doesn’t ooze warmth.

Another character that we are introduced to is Tlotoxl. He is introduced brilliantly with him swinging his head towards the camera. Ian wonderfully describes him as ‘the local butcher’. Tlotoxl is brilliantly played by John Ringham who is clearly going to be this stories version of Tegana. He is clearly the stories strong (and amusing villain).

The Doctor is very amusing when he’s trying to pretend that Barbara is Yetaxa. The Doctor has a relatively light episode as he is farmed out to the garden. The Doctor has to spend time in a retirement garden where we are introduced to Cameca who is the love interest for the Doctor. She isn’t just there to make up the numbers and she’s well played by Margot Van der Burgh.

There’s an odd moment where the Doctor wanders to far into the scene where he is blocked by Barbara’s gigantic headgear. Apart from that this opening episode is well directed by John Crockett who returns after directing episode 4 of John Lucarotti’s ‘Marco Polo’ (The Wall of Lies).

Ian is draughted into to being a fighter which is suitable to his action man image. Ixta is the main fighter and his involvement will grow in future episodes but even here he is someone that shouldn’t be trusted. The fight scenes are quite good even though there isn’t much too much that they would be allowed to do. Ian has to hold down the person who is about to be sacrificed. Here there is a nice bit of anguish for Ian who clearly doesn’t want to do it but has to.

Barbara wants to stop sacrifices. Barbara thinks that the people who are sacrificed do not want to but when she stops the sacrifice, the man is miffed that she has denied him honour and he kills himself. Moments later there is rain and the conflict between Yetaxa and Tlotoxl begins. He sees Barbara as a false goddess and when she stops the sacrifice this only intensifies this doubt.

This story sees one of the greatest lines in the shows history. “You cant rewrite history, not one line!” It forms the basic theme of the story and the Doctor spends most of the story trying to tell her of this fact yet she wont listen.

We never see the crowd but just here them. The fact we only hear them cheer is a slight disappointment as it would have been nice to have heard rumblings.

The cliffhanger was a good one as Tlotoxl looks towards the camera and says he will destroy her. Ok so its not the most exciting cliffhanger in the history of the show its still a good way to end the show. This is a good opening episode where we have a wonderful idea of what the story will be and we also have several strong characters.

EPISODE 2 – THE WARRIORS OF DEATH

Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 30 May 1964

The episode starts off with the wonderful reprise of Tlotoxl looking directly at the screen. The reprise leads directly into a wonderful scene between the Doctor and Barbara where the Doctor berates Barbara for interfering in the sacrifice. The Doctor keeps chipping away at Barbara and its not long before Barbara breaks down and its at that point that the Doctor relents. They soon seem to make up quite quickly and by the end they are back to being friends again however the feud between Tlotoxl and Barbara continues. John Ringham is superb as Tlotoxl and every time he’s on screen I love the story that bit more.

I liked the scene between Autloc, Ian and Ixta with Ian winning a quick battle against Ixta by using his thumb. Ixta is going to use the fact that the Doctor doesn’t know that Ian will have to fight Ixta and the Doctor unknowingly helps him to defeat Ian. This nice bit of deception is what I like about Ixta because it shows that he is a cunning character and that he is smart. The budding romance between the Doctor and Cameca is quite fun to witness. Cameca believes there is true love but the Doctor is naïve to it and is only interested in gaining access to the tomb. I do feel sorry for Cameca because she is lovingly played by Margot Van der Burgh that it makes the Doctor seem slightly cruel with what he’s doing. Barbara is showing signs of disliking her current promotion. She feels the weight of pressure from Tlotoxl and trying to keep Autloc on his side.

Susan only appears in a pre-filmed sequence as she becomes the second of the regulars to go on holiday during the story. In the brief scene she turns down the idea of an arranged marriage. Despite only being in this short scene it somehow helps add to the troubles of Barbara.

The latter half of the story is the build up to the fight between Ixta and Ian and it’s a good moment because we know what’s going to happen things are going well for Ian until the Doctor distracts him by telling him to not let Ixta scratch him which of course is what happens. The next few minutes are a well cheorographed fight when Ian is slowly getting weaker. William Russell is very good in this episode because he’s having to do something that he doesn’t really want to do but we all know he can do.

There is a lot of looking directly at the camera. Starting with Tlotoxl at the beginning there are a few moments where someone spends time looking if not directly then roughly in its direction. It’s a well directed episode with some good camera shots though there are moments where its clear that the background is a cloth.

The cliffhanger is a good one as it involves Tlotoxl. He is demanding that Barbara saves Ian and this leads to a wonderful thing about how Barbara will get round this. It was a good ending to a good episode. The whole build up to the fight was well done and everyone was on good form and this story is slowly taking shape. I’ve always liked this story and these past two episodes have done nothing to make me change my mind.

EPISODE 3 – THE BRIDE OF SACRIFICE

Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 6 June 1964

The penultimate episode sees things start to step up a gear. At the end of the previous episode we saw Tlotoxl gaud Barbara into trying to save Ian. The way that Barbara gets over Tlotoxl demand is quite clever. She puts a knife against his throat to stop Ixta. I thought that this was a great moment for Barbara and its quite a surprising moment where a regular is doing such as an aggressive act. There is a nice scene between Barbara and Autloc where she is trying to convince him that sacrifices aren’t needed. You can tell that Autloc is conflicted because he knows there is something not quite right but he cant quite face to go against Yetaxa.

The Doctor and Tlotoxl have a good scene where the Doctor basically tells Tlotoxl that if he wants proof that Barbara is a false goddess then they need to open up the tomb. It’s the first proper scene that the two have had together and it’s a good scene. John Ringham continues to put in a great performance as Tlotoxl and he takes the next step into madness when Tlotoxl plans to poison Barbara to prove she is a false goddess. Tlotoxl is like a dog with a bone as he is obsessed with proving the Barbara isn’t Yetaxa. Barbara admits that to Ytoxl that she isn’t the real Yetaxa. It was good that she finally admitted it. I think that this moment took place at the right time. The scene where Barbara is to drink the poison is good because had it not been for Ian then Barbara would have died and she subtlety manages to call Tlotoxl’s bluff by getting him to drink it and when he shows sign of reluctant then Barbara knows that its true.

The Doctor is very funny in this episode and it centres around his budding romance with Cameca. Unaware that cocoa has such meanings he offers to make her a drink. This leads to us learning that the Doctor has gotten engaged. The reaction when the Doctor is told by Cameca the look on his face is priceless. When Ian finds out it’s the first time that he has smiled since this story began. It’s a bit of humour in an otherwise sombre setting. The only time that the Doctor becomes serious is towards the end but its nice to see Hartnell showing his (dare I say it) human side and being quite normal.

There is another pre-filmed scene with Susan as Carole Ann Ford was still on holiday. She is still against the idea of being married to someone she doesn’t know. It’s a shame that Carole Ann Ford was on holiday as this is basically all she does in this story and it would have been nice had she had something more substantial. Though she did have a wonderful moment where she is looking to the side of the camera and is calling out for her grandfather. It’s well played by Ford.

They finally gain access to the tunnel that leads from the garden however it isn’t long before Ixta puts the stone back. There is a nice moment where Ixta is looking at the Doctor with a ‘we both know Ian is dead’. It’s a well directed scene as it means that they have to turn down the lights and that twinned with it being in black and white means that its very atmospheric. This leads to Ian being trapped as the waters are rising leading to the very real possibility of him drowning and it’s a great cliffhanger.

It was another very strong episode with some good performances from the regulars and the supporting actors. The action moves along at a nice pace and the story is interesting enough so that we forget about the slightly dodgy background cloths which really let the side down a bit. The final episode is going to compliment this story. Lucarotti has written a story which I think is stronger than ‘Marco Polo’.

EPISODE 4 – THE DAY OF DARKNESS

Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 13 June 1964

The final episode starts with us being reminded that Ian is facing almost certain death from drowning. There is a nice montage of Ian climbing through the tunnels and what I found funny was when he exited the tunnel it was right under the tomb of Yetaxa that we saw way back in the first episode. Tlotoxl does quite have the same fire about him than he did in previous episodes. He gets better as the episode progresses but in the early part he is a bit less menacing than he had been.

William Hartnell is very good in this episode as we get to see a side to him that we haven’t seen before and its not just once that this happens but several times. We get one final scene between the Doctor and Cameca. It’s lovingly played by Margot Van der Burgh and William Hartnell. Then there is the moment where Cameca talks about staying by the Doctor’s side and the Doctor knows it cant happen. Then there is a lovely moment when the Doctor runs in to tell Barbara that Ian is dead and he pops out and the relive in the Doctor’s voice is very moving.

The main thing about this episode is that they have to try and get back into the TARDIS and now they know how to get back there is just the small matter of trying to get everyone in the same place without getting caught by Tlotoxl or Tonila. I really like the moment when Ian pops up behind Ixta and deals him a humiliating blow. It’s good because you feel like Ixta was just Tlotoxl’s whipping boy and his demise was more satisfying. John Ringham and Ian Cullen have been a good double act. Ringham in particular has been the star of the story with the maddest face paint that I’ve ever seen.

It’s so good that Susan is back and the Carole Ann Ford has returned from holiday. It means that she gets involved in the story. It’s the most active that she has been and the bonus has been over the four episodes is that Susan has been more mature than she otherwise has been. Barbara seems to have lost some of the fight of recent episodes. Jacqueline Hill still gives a dignified performance and you could believe that she could be a goddess.

Autloc is willing to help Cameca break Ian and Susan out of ‘prison’. I have always like Autloc in these four episodes and Barbara’s sadness about how his fortunes have ended up is the one that the viewer should have. Keith Pyott has given a wonderful performance. Margot Van der Burgh was someone else that gave a loving performance and worked very well with William Hartnell.

There is a really good fight that takes place in this episode between Ian and Ixta. It feels like they are going at it and that they aren’t being restricted. It was a well cherographed scene and the ending was probably not the ending I was expecting with Ixta falling to his death. The moment when Ian takes off his helmet and looks out at presumably the dead Ixta there looked like there was a small chance that Ian was going to say something flippant but thankfully he doesn’t as it would have demeaned what had just happened and not something that Ian would have done.

There is a great scene between Barbara and the Doctor about what the point of going into history if they cant change anything. It’s the main problem with travelling in history on the show is that you cant really do anything to what happens and its addressed well in this story.

The Doctor puts something that Cameca gave him next to Yetaxa and then starts to walk away towards the TARDIS before changing his mind and picking it up almost annoyed with himself for being a sentimental fool. The end of the episode is a bit of a mystery because the TARDIS instruments say that the TARDIS has landed but other instruments say that it is still travelling. The tease for the viewer would be to find out exactly what was going on. It’s a good cliffhanger. What it lacked in drama it made up for mystery and I liked it. As an episode I think that it was the weakest of the four, it felt rather like they were going through the motions and just passing time until they could all go back into the TARDIS set. Had it not been for the Doctor/Cameca storyline being as sad as it was then I would have felt that this was a total let down. Over the four part adventure the story was as good as I remember the first time I ever saw it. I thought that the characters were all well written with Tlotoxl being the best character in the story. This was definitely Barbara’s story and Jacqueline Hill did well with it and it’s a pure historical story that I rank as one of the best.

Short Trips - Volume I

The Short Trips were a range of books that were produced by Big Finish between 2002 and 2009. Now I wasn’t a fan of them, largely because I’m not a massive fan of reading. Back in February 2010, it was announced that Big Finish would be producing audios of short stories. Now I wasn’t going to purchase them but after listening to a freebie, I decided to spend £25 and by the four volumes that would make this first series. Something that different about this release was apart from George Mann, none of the writers for this first volume have ever contributed to Big Finish (in a writing way). Much like Forty-Five, all the writers are new to Big Finish. Rise and Fall – Written by George Mann and Read by William Russell
The first story was a very smart story. It sees the Doctor and Ian journey out of the TARDIS and briefly encounter a mysterious race. Meanwhile the mysterious race turn out to be a race that get wiped out due to war. Their timeline moves quicker than the one that Ian and the Doctor are in. One minute the Doctor and Ian arrive in what is described as a nice normal place and after the war in the other timeline the surroundings of the Doctor and Ian are ruins.

William Russell reads the story with the usual style that I would expect. When he has read other audiobooks I always find that no matter what the story is or how long it is I always find it a pleasure. George Mann has done a great job with this story. His previous outing for Big Finish was The Pyralis Effect and that was one of the best stories of that Companion Chronicles series. He made the alien race sound like they had a history that you want to care about and feel sad when its gone.

Rise and Fall is a great opening story. I didn’t know what to expect with these short stories but if they are all like this then I think I will have made a wise purchase.

A Stain of Red in the Sand – Written by David A McEwan and read by David Troughton
The next story is quite a grim one (especially compared to the previous one). The story is centred around a couple called Roger and Indigo. Roger is an artist who makes sculptures. The tower block is called ‘The Slab’ which is presumably on an alien planet (two suns). There is a figure called the caretaker who sounds not particularly pleasant. When Indigo arrives, Roger is making a statue that looks like and is called Zoe. There’s a rather gruesome moment when it’s revealed the clay is in fact memory meat.

Roger seems to be on a task to make this statue as if only he can save the day. Whilst he was doing this Indigo was looking through a window and saw the Doctor who whilst making his way to the slab encountered a caretaker. Indigo talks to the Zoe statue and says that she should help the Doctor. When Indigo wakes up there is no Doctor, no Zoe and also the caretakers have disappeared and it meant the inhabitants of the slab were free to move about.

I’ve listened to this story three times and just don’t get it. I don’t get a) why Roger was making the statue b) who or what were the caretakers and what was their aim c)what happened whilst Indigo was a sleep and d) why didn’t the Doctor meet up with Roger and Indigo. I think it may have something to do with the running time. Rise and Fall was around 26 minutes whereas this was 12 minute shorter. How much more could David A McEwan have put into that time and made this a far stronger story. Such as it is, the story doesn’t make sense and confuses me despite the strong and grim setting of the slab.

A True Gentleman – Written by Jamie Hailstone and Read by Katy Manning
The third story is a return to form as it manages to make a story which have a lot going for it in a short time. Well its longer than the previous story so it gives Jamie Hailstone the change to get a bit more in. I’m not quite sure when this story is set. It might be between Inferno and Terror of the Autons as neither Jo Grant or Liz Shaw are mentioned.

The story centres around a young lad who’s bike develops a puncture and the Doctor helps by taking the lad and the bike back to the cottage that the Doctor rents every year. Whilst at the cottage, a lizard arrives and is given some lead by the Doctor. This turns out to be a regular thing. The planet where the lizard Ambassador comes from is on earth to pick up the lead because it is so rare and if he doesn’t come back each year with the lead then it might lead to war which is obviously not what anyone wants. It’s quite impressive that the Doctor manages to prevent a war just by staying at a cottage on Earth.

This story wasn’t the most dramatic but it was certainly enjoyable. It highlights what we already knew. That the Doctor is a gentleman. It was brilliantly read by Katy Manning who did a sterling job doing a Scottish accent for most of the story and doing the same Jon Pertwee impression that we hear in the Companion Chronicle stories that she has done. It’s a nice short story with a nice message and Jamie Hailstone has done a good job.

Death-Dealer – Written by Damian Sawyer and Read by Louise Jameson
The fourth story is the shortest at 10 minutes but it’s still a very good story. The Doctor and Leela are on this planet which is baron and everything has had to be imported. Whilst browsing, Leela comes across a trader and no sooner has money changed hands than this trader stabs Leela. This was quite a shock as I thought that this sort of thing wouldn’t happen in a Short Trips. But it was all a rouse as Leela came back to life. The service wasn’t as expected a murdering one but a sort of life affirming one. Between death and coming back to life, Leela will have seen what is important and that will change her life which for someone like Leela is a strange notion.

Arguably this is one of the strongest stories so far and its one of the most phylisophical stories that I have ever heard in Doctor Who. Or at least the most blatant one. Damian Sawyer has written a very nice and tight story that didn’t waste a single second of the 10 minutes with padding. I think that given the chance with a decent four part story then he might be able to produce something that everyone would like. Louise Jameson put in a performance that was on par with her companion chronicle readings.

The Deep – Written by Ally Kennen and Read by Peter Davison
Peter Davison reads the fifth story and it’s about one of the weaknesses that the TARDIS has always had. The Chameleon Circuit is something as we all know is a part of the TARDIS that makes it blend in with its surrounding. However it works and turns the TARDIS into a whale. Whilst stranded on a beach the main worry was that another whale would mate with the TARDIS and create a weird kind of whale that is bigger on the inside that on the outside. That would deserve it’s own spin-off series.

The main ‘drama’ was trying to get to the TARDIS/whale before it got jiggy with another whale. I never thought that would be uttered in a review but credit to Ally Kennan the writer I think he managed to make the story go at such a pace that it never really became an issue until the end.

This is a nice story that seems a bit of because it is. There is a strong chance that had this been made into a full four part adventure then it would go down as one of the worst but as a 15 minutes short story its fun enough. Peter Davison shows what we’re missing in the companion chronicles because a Davison reading would be a lot of fun.

The Wings of a Butterfly – Written and Read by Colin Baker
The Wings of a Butterfly is a short story written by the Sixth Doctor himself. It’s about how the Doctor is asked by a fellow Timelord to find out why a planet got destroyed. The Doctor finds out that it was because of someone’s trousers falling down. How Colin Baker must have chuckled when he wrote that. To be fair it is quite fun, knowing that a planet went kaboom because of dropping trousers. So despite banging on for the last 40 odd years about never re-writing history “Not one line”. The Doctor goes back and tries to prevent this from happening. However he finds out that in landing somewhere else on the planet that the TARDIS was spotted by someone else, in a Bra factory of all places. So the Doctor constructs a sort of barrier to hide his arrival and the arrival of his first version. By correcting this, the Doctor finds that the person who asked him in the first place cant remember asking and it’s like nothing ever happened.

The story is quite an odd one. On one hand I find it to be a very funny adventure. Due to the fact that the Doctor has found out he caused the problem he decides to sweep the dust under the rug and try to put things right. On the other hand it’s a story that doesn’t quite fit that Doctor. It’s difficult to argue this as it was the Doctor himself who wrote it and he knows better than anyone but it’s not a story that I think anyone else would write for him.

All in all, this is another good story.

Police and Shreeves - Written by Adam Smith and Read by Sophie Aldred
The penultimate story of this first volume sees Sophie Aldred read a story which features the Shreeves who are a race that basically like electricity. Ace works in a hospital with Sam. Sam is a Shreeve who as the Doctor and Ace work out is involved with Steven Harper who is involved in stealing information from secure places. Harper is Sam’s landlord who is blackmailing her into assisting him in his crimes of trying to pass himself off as a master criminal. The Doctor hypnotises Harper into become a charity worker and not a criminal. The Brigadier has asked the Doctor to investigate Harper. Its revealed at the end that Sal (a friend of Sam) was pretending to be the Brigadier and convince the Doctor to try and sort out Harper thus ridding Sam of her problem.

The story is suited to the Seventh Doctor. In normal Big Finish adventures (especially pre-Hex), the Doctor and Ace would be investigating things and this seemed no different. It’s quite interesting that it’s the Doctor who has been made a fool of and he doesn’t even suspect a thing. Adam Smith has written a very interesting story that is only ruined by the horrible sound effects. There were several farting sounds which could have been changed slightly to have a more desired effect. Apart from that minor grumble, Smith wrote a good script and also Sophie Aldred put some enthusiasm into this piece which is similar to her Companion Chronicle that she did in 2009.

Another good story.

Running Out of Time – Written by Dorothy Koomson and Read by India Fisher
The final story of this first volume is read by India ‘voice of Masterchef’ Fisher. Like most Eighth Doctor stories, this one is quite difficult to get a grasp on.

Jeff Smith (32) cant remember his past and hasn’t been able to remember things for 5 years. He works in a café fearing someone is after him but the Doctor gets to him first. After an incident he joins the Doctor in the TARDIS and the truth is revealed and a rich dying man transfers his mind into a small child. Isabella performs the transfer. Malson couldn’t take over until he was 16. Malson has been put inside Jeff who has had him mind wiped to prevent Malson from trying take over Jeff’s mind. Molson is some sort of a gangster and has goons who want to pull Molson out. Every time this happens, Malson has to start again. Its quite sad that Jeff has to had to do this four times and that the woman Isabella is an younger version of Miss Havelstack. Jeff sacrifices himself to let Malson free so that he can be free and never have to run in fear.

It’s the sort of story that’s in keeping with the other short trips but with the high quality of stories this was doesn’t quite match up. It’s still a good story and India Fisher is enjoyable to listen to but I couldn’t quite shake off the Masterchef thing. When I hear her on Masterchef I think Big Finish but when I listened to this I thought of the cookery programme. Still a good story though.

I really didn’t know what to expect when I bought the download. However I was pleasantly surprised and apart from A Stain of Red in the Sand, all the stories were highly enjoyable and show that despite having between 10-20 minutes to tell a story, it is possible to tell a story in such a short space of time. Not something I would have said two or three years ago. Just cant believe that I will have to wait until February 2011 before volume two. The £25 I paid was justified with this release alone. Despite six of eight writers either been new to Big Finish or new to writing for Big Finish, not one of the writer wrote a dud story. Even the second one had something that kept me engaged throughout but none of the stories were boring or stupid. Well done to everyone involved. That includes the people reading the stories as well as the directors and the sound designers.

A Town Called Fortune (2010)

The latest Companion Chronicle sees Evelyn Smythe return to Doctor Who. The story is one that I have been looking forward to for quite some time. Anything with Maggie Stables is always something special. I always think that a companion chronicle that feature Doctors 5-8 are quite strange ones because the original point of a Companion Chronicle is to have stories for the first four Doctors because they are either dead or at the time refuse to do them. Never the less, we have a story here and I went ahead and listen to it.

The story is set in a town called Fortune (as the title suggests) where the Doctor is wanted for a murder. They meet a young woman called Rachel Ann who is trying to find out who murdered her father. Soon the Doctor finds out that he is wanted for a crime. The Doctor and Evelyn leave the train and stumble across a mine where the people working are being badly treated and the mine is owned by the mayor. We learn that the mayor has a hold on the Sheriff and it turns out that its because he killed William Donovan by accident. This means that he wont act on the fact that the Mayor has wormed his way into running the town. The Doctor and Evelyn manage to get the mayor deposed and then there is a lovely moment at the end when Sam (the sheriff) and Evelyn talk about the truth and who murdered Rachel Ann’s father. There is a nice moment when you think that the Sheriff would get a hero’s exit but when his truth is revealed he says that at least he was a hero for getting rid of the mayor and that was enough for him. I found that quite a nice moment because it was difficult to see how it would end.

Maggie Stables is just fantastic in this. She doesn’t do a Colin Baker impression but does a good job in distinguishing the Doctor’s character from hers. The way that she delivers the Doctor’s lines was also spot and you could believe that Colin would say those lines like that. Richard Cordery is very good as well as Sam. The character was always treated as a nice and trusted person but his revelation was surprising to me but I still found myself finding sympathy for the character and that has something to do with the way that Cordery performed. It probably would have been nice for someone else to be playing Rachel Ann because her character really drives the story and I think that she bonds well with Evelyn. I don’t know whether it would have made any difference but I do think that they missed a trick there.

There was one moment where I laughed when Sam went “Oh no, Rachel Ann’s just shot the Doctor”. It wasn’t so much the line but the way it was delivered. I instantly was reminded of the “Oh no, not the mind probe” from the Five Doctors. A Town called Fortune is a nice story. It doesn’t have quite the punch that I was expecting as it took way too long to really get going. Paul Sutton has written a story that wasn’t bad but was just ok. That is perhaps the worst thing I could say about this story.

The Keeper of Traken (1981)

The Keeper of Traken is a story that I didn’t know much about until I watched it. I remember that I saw it in my local HMV priced at £6.49 which I considered a bargain. It was when VHS’s were still on sale even though the DVD had superseded it as the watchable format. Quite like when I watched the Aztecs for the first time, I absolutely enjoyed this adventure. The story is the first to feature the Master since ‘The Deadly Assassin’ back in 1977. Again, the Master is deformed but in slightly more effective make up this time. It also sees the debut of Nyssa (played by Sarah Sutton). This was intended to be a one off appearance but Sutton impressed so much that she was offered a longer contract.

The story is set in the Traken Union which is an empire of peace and harmony. The Union is headed up by the Keeper, the Keeper has enormous power (he’s able to appear and disappear inside the TARDIS). Unfortunately that harmony is threatened by Melkur who is a creature that arrived on Traken but became calcified in the grove. The Keeper asks the Doctor to visit traken but is soon arrested. The story spends a long time with the council thinking that the Doctor is responsible for the terrible things happening on Traken but its Kassia that is pushing through this ludicrous idea. She has now being taken over by the Melkur who we soon discover is actually the Master’s TARDIS. Whilst the Doctor spends some time with Tremas, Adric spends a lot of time with Nyssa. Nyssa is a smart person who is the daughter of Tremas and the step-daughter of Kassia. It doesn’t take long for Nyssa to start behaving like Adric and they actually work quite well together with Sarah Sutton dragging Matthew Waterhouse through a lot of the scenes. In fact, take Waterhouse out of the story and my feelings about this story would be exactly the same.

Normally the Master’s plan could be accused of lacking in originality. Whilst this isnt the most original its far better than other plans. Due to the fact he has no proper body, he wants to become Keeper so he has ultimate power. That’s quite a plan that the Master has but alas it comes to nothing as the Doctor works it all out and comes up with a plan just in the nick of time. Just when you think that everything is safe now that the Master has been stopped however the shock twist at the end when Tremas (swap those letters around and it makes – Master!) is taken over by the Master and Anthony Ainley’s eight year association with the show begins. But this is not the last that we will see of the Master and he will go on to appear in the next two stories. Even though I knew (and suspect that a lot of people who had never seen this story before) that Ainley would go on to play the Master, I thought the way that it was done was very well thought off. The special effects used were also impressive, they manage to look credible even today.

Tom Baker’s final season is a sad one in many respects. Gone is the exciting and often mad Doctor that we saw in stories like Robot and even in the Key to Time series and it has been replaced by a grumpy and slow moving (and thinking) Doctor. I have often felt that he stayed in the role about two years too long. This is one of his better performances but its hard not to yearn for the heyday of his tenure. Sarah Sutton is wonderful in this story and shows why she is one of the best companions in Doctor Who with Matthew Waterhouse serving a purpose I suppose. Geoffrey Beevers is absolutely brilliant as the Master, his voice is what makes the character so impressive and when he returned in the 2003 Big Finish play ‘Master’ it shows what a great actor he is.

The Keeper of Traken is one of my favourite stories from this series. Even though it is entirely studio based it doesn’t suffer because of it. The story is one of the few stories to grab me on the first view. As I mentioned at the beginning, only the Aztecs has affected me in the same way. The story has well written characters and the direction and set designs were also perfect. Well worth a watch to even the newest of Doctor Who fans.