The Highlanders (1967)

The Highlanders is the first story to feature Frazer Hines as Jamie. It is also the first story since I started my Marathon where I haven’t reviewed a story. This is only Patrick Troughton’s second story as the Doctor and it’s the first proper historical since the poor The Massacre. There is a reason why pure historical stories don’t work and its because its hard to find the right balance between being truthful to historical events and being a good piece of drama. What also works against it is that it doesn’t exist on video and the story has to work harder to make it more enjoyable. This story has been written by two people including the co-creator of the Cybermen which is just hard to believe but then again. The creator of the Daleks wrote The Keys of Marinus so it just proves that because someone has created something wonderful doesn’t mean its going to be a guranteed success. The historical events are not what I got from this story, its some of the characters. I found Donald Bisset (The Laird) to be a good character whilst Hannah Gordon was the stand out supporting character as Kirsty. She gets to spend some time with Anneke Wills and the two seem to get on really well. This means that Ben and Jamie get to also share some scenes.

Its odd that the Doctor doesn’t really drive this story and its down to Polly and Ben to drive the narrative. The story does allow Troughton to fine tune his comedy skills as he gets to pretend to be a Doctor and also dress up in women’s clothing. Its hard to believe William Hartnell would do this. I do think that Troughton is better that he was in Power of the Daleks but its still not quite what it would be like in future. I think also that Frazer Hines doesn’t quite has the best introduction into Doctor Who. It seemed that the decision to keep him beyond this story was made at the very last minute but as we all know it would work out in the end.

The Highlanders is a story that doesn’t really do anyone any favours. It seems like it was designed to protect Troughton who was in only his second story and was probably still trying to get a feel for the character. This transitional time for Doctor Who still feels unstable and as a result the story will remain exactly as I have always thought of it. Not very good.

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.

Revenge of the Cybermen (1975)

Revenge of the Cybermen was the final story of Tom Baker’s first season as the Doctor. Following on the heals of Genesis of the Daleks which is arguably the best of Tom’s stories. It was the first time since 1968 that they had appeared in Doctor Who and would eight years before they would appear again. The most interesting fact is that Revenge of the Cybermen was the first story to be released on VHS (remember them?). It wasn’t until it was rereleased in 1999 that I first got to see it and watched it constantly. The first thing that should be pointed out is the title. Considering that Cybermen don’t have emotions, how can they have revenge?

The problem with this story is that had it featured an alien menace that wasn’t the Cybermen then it would be good four part adventure. However as it was the Cybermen’s first appearance in such a long time it’s a shame that nothing more is made of them. The story itself is slow and dull and the scenes in the caves whilst looking visually stunning at first become repetitive and ultimately stops me from becoming involved in the story. The Vogans whilst have some interesting characteristics are let down by how stupid their masks are. The Cybermen are also disappointing in appearance. They don’t sound right and also the fact they have guns at the top of their heads was something that was a bit silly. Also they walk a bit odd.

All the action on the Beacon was quite interesting. The plague is quite a good plot pushing device because once the regulars become infected (or one in this case) it adds to the drama. In fact all of the scenes on the Ark (sorry Beacon) are well directed and do move the story on a bit, it’s just a shame that the stuff on Voga was so dull. The different heights meant that there some scenes where the Cybermen would have to duck and that slightly ruins the menace of the Cybermen. I am reminded of the helmet that Colin Baker wore in Arc of Infinity and always carried it in his arm because it was thought he would look stupid if he bad to keep ducking every time he walked in or out of a room. It’s the same with the Cybermen. Credit to Michael Briant who did a good job trying to hide this fact.

Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen and Ian Marter put in a usual performance. It seems like their relationship has pretty much gelled and for fans that have only seen later Tom performances it seems quite a held back outing. As it was when Baker was still trying to find his feet its not surprising that it’s quite subdue. This story has many instances where you could see that the Doctor doesn’t like Harry particularly. The “Harry Sullivan is an imbecile!” remains one of my favourite lines. It’s also a rare thing that the companion is appropriately dressed for the drama (Sarah). This story also saw Kevin Stoney return for this third and final outing. After playing the sinister Mavic Chen in the Daleks Master Plan (1965-66) and as the brilliant Tobias Vaughn in The Invasion (1968). He is hidden behind the mask but puts in a good performance although it’s not quite up their with his other two.

Something that didn’t strike me for sometime afterwards was how silly the plan of the Cybermen’s was. By crashing the Nova Beacon into Voga would contradict the events of The Ark in Space which is set sometime after the events of Revenge. Ultimately the critiscm that this story has received is one of those rare occasions where I agree with it. There is no tension and really you don’t fear the Cybermen. Its not surprising that it was ranked 130th in the Mighty 200 DWM poll of 2009 but it is surprising that Silver Nemesis is ranked lower (176th). Hopefully this release on DVD will help people see that Silver Nemesis will rank higher than Revenge.

CHEQUES, LIES & VIDEOTAPE
Cheques, Lies and Videotape is probably the highlight of the Revenge of the Cybermen/Silver Nemesis boxset.

Before the easy access of DVD’s and the internet and the notion of regular repeats it was very difficult for Doctor Who fans to watch old episodes of Doctor Who. It got to such levels that fans were paying what would be extortionate amounts of money to watch a story. The makers of this documentary thankfully highlighted this by showing how much it would amount to in today’s money. The one eye-watering fact was when it was revealed that one fan and his friends paid £250 for Doctor Who and the Silurians but in today’s money it amounted to nearly £1000. The lengths that people would go to included begging fans in Australia to send over copies. In many ways it’s a anti-piracy commercial. Showing that just because you’ve got something before anyone else it doesn’t mean that the quality is going to be good. The example was showing how ‘generation’ copies gets worse and worse. By the 11th generation it becomes unwatchable and the narrator says that they could do a worse version because the signal couldn’t be picked up.

The feature runs for about 30 minutes and every single second was enjoyable. It’s an interesting and often unknown part of Doctor Who fandom that shows what it really took to be a true die-hard Doctor Who fan. If this isn’t the best feature of the year then I will buy a hat and eat it.

COMMENTARY
The commentary is the usual interesting affair. It’s not as funny as the Davison commentaries with Philip Hinchcliffe (producer) and Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith). Hinchcliffe’s comments are always informative and never viscious or sugar coated with the passing of some 30 years. David Collings (Vorus) also contributes some interesting stuff along the four episodes.

THE TIN MAN AND THE WITCH CAST
The making of documentary is unfortunately over shadowed by the Cheques, Lies and Videotape feature. There is a lot of stuff about filming in the caves and a lot of time is spent going on about the Witch and how after someone had played around with it by putting a hat and broomstick on it there were mysterious accidents that occurred. All well and good but as this story isnt a particularly memorable story its left to Michael Briant (director) to justify stuff like why the Cybermen shoot things out of their heads.