Story #45 - The Mind Robber

The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe are trapped in the world of fiction, and are playing a deadly game with a foe known as the Master.

Written by Peter Ling
Directed by David Maloney

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
Jamie - Frazer Hines and guest starring Hamish Wilson
Zoe - Wendy Padbury

Main Guest Cast-
The Master - Emrys Jones
Gulliver - Bernard Horsfall
Karkus - Christopher Robbie
Rapunzel - Christine Pirie

Synopsis-
The Tardis is still on Dulkis at the beginning of this story, and is about to be swallowed up by the lava from the volcanic eruption that happened at the end of the Dominators.  The Doctor uses and emergency device to escape the lava, but where they have ended up is unknown.  As the Doctor succinctly puts it, they are nowhere.

Despite this, it does seems like the place is inhabited.  The time travelers run into various fictional characters like Gulliver from Gulliver's Travels and Rapunzel from the fairy tale.  They also run into a superhero named Karkus.

It turns out that they have entered a land where fictional characters come to life.  It is run by the Master, who turns out to be an author from Earth.  He's connected to a master computer that allows him to create the fictional world.  What the Master writes is what will happen.  However, the Master is getting older and it has been decided by the master computer that The Doctor shall replace the Master as the controller of the world of fiction.

The Doctor refuses to submit, and a battle of wits ensues between the Master and The Doctor, which is eventually won when Jamie and Zoe are able to overload the computer.  This allows the Master to be freed from the computer's control and restores The Doctor, his companions and the Tardis back to reality.

Review-
The Mind Robber reminded me a great deal of the First Doctor adventure The Celestial Toymaker.  The only difference is I found the Mind Robber to be far superior to the previous adventure.

The Master (not to be confused with the Time Lord known as the Master) is very similar to the Toymaker.  The Doctor has been lured to his realm and the Master intends on keeping The Doctor forever.  Unlike the Toymaker, who challenged the Doctor and his companions with various toys and games, the Doctor and the Master eventually engage in a war of words.  The only difference is in this war of words, what they write (or tell) is what happens in this world of fiction.  It's a clever idea, and makes this a very enjoyable story.

The writers were also quite clever in dealing with Frazer Hines absence during part of this story.  It's well known in Doctor Who fandom that during this story, Frazer came down with the chickenpox.  The bit of The Doctor reassembling Jamie's face (and getting it wrong) made me chuckle and allowed Hamish Wilson to cover for Frazer's absence.  Hamish, I think, holds his own as Jamie and I think this was a better solution than simply having his character disappear for the better part of two episodes.

The final ending after the destruction of the master computer does feels a bit rushed, however.  We see the Tardis come back together after having seen it torn apart earlier, but we never learn how The Doctor and his companions get back to the Tardis.   Perhaps the plan was to show this as part of the next story but it feels like it should have been included as part of this story.

The Mind Robber isn't perfect, but I find it to be quite clever and it is certainly one of my favorite Second Doctor stories.

Story #44 - The Dominators

The Doctor faces off with the Dominators and their robots servants, the Quarks, in a battle for the planet Dulkis.

Written by Norman Ashby (pseudonym for Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln)
Directed by Morris Barry

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
Jamie - Frazer Hines
Zoe - Wendy Padbury

Main Guest Cast-
Rago - Ronald Allen
Toba - Kenneth Ives
Cully - Arthur Cox
Balan - Johnson Bayly
Teel - Giles Block
Kando - Felicity Gibson
Director Senex - Walter Fitzgerald
Tensa - Brian Cant

Synopsis -
The story begins with four Dulcians traveling to the forbidden island of Death, so called due to the island being contaminated with radiation caused by nuclear tests.  The four are led by Cully, who is the director Senex's son.

At the same time, two Dominators arrive in their spacecraft on the island.  The Dominator ship sucks the radiation from the island, as the Dominators use the radiation as fuel for their ships.  The two Dominators on board, Rago and Toba, send out the Quarks to mark and set up several drilling sites on the island.

The four youths run into Toba and a group of Quarks.  Toba callously orders the Quarks to kill the youths and destroy their craft.  Only Cully is able to escape, and he begins to make his way to a survey team that he knows is on the island.

Rago, the senior Dominator, reprimands Toba for his callousness and reminds Toba that they need to conserve the Quarks energy.  

The Tardis has also arrived on the island.  After hearing the explosion that destroyed the youth's craft, they take shelter in what appears to be a war museum.  There, they are found by members of the survey team, the educator Balan and students Kando and Teel.  The Doctor and his companions are taken to their base.  Cully also arrives at the base, where he tells everyone of the Dominators and the Quarks.  The Doctor and Jamie go out to investigate Cully's claims, while Cully and Zoe are sent to the Dulcian capital to meet with Cully's father, director Senex.

The Doctor and Jamie are caught by the Dominators and given a series of tests to see if they are fit for manual labor.  The Doctor and Jamie are considered to be worthless as slave labor and are released after being warned to stay away.  Meanwhile, Cully tries to convince Senex of the presence of the Dominators, but his reputation as a troublemaker makes this difficult.

Zoe and Cully return to the island to get proof of their story, and are caputured along with the rest of the survey team by the Dominators.  The Dominators use the survey team to clear one of the drilling sites of rock debris.  This is also being uses as a test to see if the inhabitants of Dulkis are fit for slave labor.

The Doctor and Jamie venture to the capital city, where they try to convince Senex of the threat.  Getting nowhere and incredulous that Cully and Zoe have been allowed to return to the island, The Doctor and Jamie make their way back to the island to rescue Zoe and Cully.

The Doctor is quickly captured again by the Dominators.  Jamie, however, avoids being captured and is soon joined by Cully who has made good his escape from the Dominators.

Rago forces The Doctor to repair the travel pod that he and Jamie used to return to the island.  Rago then uses this travel pod to make his way to the capital city, where debate on the Dominator menace has continued.  Tensa, who has experience in dealing with natural disasters, has told Senex and the Dulcian council that they have three options: fight, flee or submit.  The arrival of Rago and his killing of Tensa means that the council will have to make a decision.

On the island, Jamie and Cully are able to destroy one of the Quarks, which incenses Toba.  Toba takes the work force to the Dominator ship and has Balan killed in anger for the destruction of the Quark.  Rago returns and is angered by Toba wasting Quark energy, and orders that drilling must recommence.

The work party is returned to the drilling site.  Jamie and Cully are able to destroy yet another Quark, which allows the work party to escape.  The group hides in an abandoned bomb shelter.  The Doctor has figured out the Dominators plans: they plan on drilling through the crust of the planet and planting a seed device that will cause a radioactive chain reaction, which will cause the destruction of Dulkis and proved the Dominator fleet with much-needed radioactive fuel.

Rago orders that drilling be made top priority, as Rago has received a message that the Dulcians are considered unsuitable as slaves.  Once the drilling is complete, the seed device will be planted and later activated from the Dominator ship.

The Doctor and his companions start digging a tunnel to intersect with the drill hole.  Jaime and Cully attempt to destroy more Quarks as a diversionary tactic.  The Doctor's plan proves successful, as he's able to catch the seed device during its deployment.  The Doctor then is able to sneak the device aboard the Dominator ship, which destroys the Dominator ship.  While the radioactive chain reaction has failed, the consequence of the drilling has caused a volcanic eruption on the island.  The Dulcians use the travel pod to escape, while The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe return to the Tardis in order to make their escape.

Review-
An interesting fact about this story.  Arthur Cox, who plays Cully in this particular episode also appears as Mr. Henderson in the Eleventh Hour, the first Eleventh Doctor episode making him one the few, but growing, amount of actors who have appeared in both Classic as well as New Series Doctor Who.

Normally I don't watch the making-of specials that are on the DVDs, but for some reason I decided to do so with the Dominators.  By doing so, I learned quite a few things about this particular episode and it confirmed some of my suspicions about the story.

A lot of screen time is spent on the Dominators evaluating the inhabitants of Dulkis to see if they are fit for slave labor.  After all that, the idea of using the Dulcians is quickly dismissed in the fifth episode.  Watching the making-of special, I learned that the writers initially intended the story to be six episodes, and it was quickly rewritten (and not by the the original authors Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln, hence the use of the pseudonym as they refused to put their names to the finished product).

The other story thread that's left hanging is what the Dulcian council decides to do after the death of Tensa and Rago's ultimatum.  Did the Dulcian council decide to fight the Dominators, despite their pacifist ways?   Or did they decide to flee or submit?  Considering that the Dulcians were pacifists, one does have to wonder what their decision would have been as we never find out.

Sadly, this story makes pacifists and those who object to aggression look like weaklings.  The Dulcian council simply looks on as Tensa is killed and does nothing.  Granted, the Dulcians are pacifists, but one would think that at the very least they would at least try to defend themselves when threatened with their very lives? 

Also, who came up with idea for the costumes for this story?  They are absolutely atrocious, particularly the Dulcian costumes, which make the characters look like they're wearing curtains or sheets.  The Dominators costumes are only slightly better, with shoulder pads that would make any 1980's outfit (when shoulder pads were all the rage) jealous. 

Despite all this, I enjoyed The Dominators more than I probably should have.  In hindsight, it isn't great Doctor Who but simply a decent adventure story with more than a few plot holes and some really bad fashion choices.  But after getting burned out on the "base under siege/monster of the week" stories from the previous series/season, the Dominators proved to be a refreshing change of pace. 

Fifth series/season wrap up

Doctor Who series/season Five
Airdates - 2nd of September 1967 to the 1st of June 1968
Produced by Peter Bryant (Tomb of the Cybermen, The Web of Fear, Fury From the Deep and the Wheel in Space)
Produced by Innes Lloyd (The Abominable Snowmen, The Ice Warriors, Enemy of the World)
Script Editor - Victor Pemberton (Tomb of the Cybermen)
Script Editor - Peter Bryant (The Abominable Snowmen, The Ice Warriors, Enemy of the World)
Script Editor - Derrick Sherwin (The Web of Fear, Fury From the Deep and the Wheel in Space)

Watching the stories from series/season five was an interesting experience.  While most of the stories from this season are each individually of a high quality, there's a certain "sameness" to the proceedings, with the odd man out being Enemy of the World.

Most Doctor Who fans tend not to notice how similar the stories in this series/season are to each other.  There are two main reasons why this is so:  many of the episodes are missing, and many if not most Doctor Who fans do not choose to explore the missing episodes via the audio soundtracks or reconstructions.  The second reason is that many Doctor Who fans tend to jump around or cherry pick their way through Classic Doctor Who.  Indeed, this is my normal method for watching Doctor Who.  Since this is the first time I've watched this particular series/season stories in order, it was a revelation to me just how similar the stories from this series/season were to each other.

The problem in the fifth series/season is that the historicals are gone, which provided a needed break between the science fiction stories.  Without the historicals, it means that Doctor Who must rely on the science fiction stories to carry the show.  There's nothing inherently wrong with that idea, but the problem as I see it was that the science fiction stories simply followed a set pattern that one can instantly recognize, as it's the basic plotline to the Tenth Planet: the Tardis arrives at (insert remote location here) which is being threatened or about to be threatened by invasion or destruction by (insert alien threat here).

In the case of the Tenth Planet, the remote base was located at the South Pole and the threat was the Cybermen.  In the Abominable Snowmen, the location is a remote Tibetan monastery and the threat is the Great Intelligence and the Yeti.  The Wheel in Space is simply the Tenth Planet told for the third time with the Cybermen, though the Wheel in Space does tell the same story quite a bit better than the original Tenth Planet.  The only exception to this pattern, as I already mentioned, is the excellent Enemy of the World.

Despite this obvious pattern, the individual stories are quite excellent.  Many of these stories take the basic plot line of the Tenth Planet and they improve upon it.  The various adversaries like the Great Intelligence, the Yeti and the Ice Warriors are also quite excellent.  Even Fury From the Deep has some good points, if one can get past the rather poor special effects and the constant screaming done by Victoria.

Jamie really shines as a companion this series/season and the chemistry between Frazer Hines and Patrick Troughton comes through.  Sadly, Victoria quickly degenerates into the companion-in-distress that screams at just about every threat.  The Ice Warriors and Fury From the Deep suffered the worst from this, and by the end of Fury From the Deep, I was more than ready for a change in the female companion.

Here are my rankings for this series/seasons stories-
1. The Web of Fear
2. Tomb of the Cybermen
3. Enemy of the World
4. The Wheel in Space
5. The Abominable Snowmen
6. The Ice Warriors
7. Fury From the Deep

Of course, ask me on another day and I might put Tomb of the Cybermen on top as it's that close between Tomb and the Web of Fear.  Indeed, I actually enjoyed all these stories quite a bit, the exception being Fury From the Deep.  Thus, despite the clear formula being used, I would argue that at least so far, the fifth series/season is by far the strongest yet for the show.

As for recommendations on what to watch or experience, this once again depends on how willing one is delve into the audio soundtracks and reconstructions of the missing episodes.

For those who don't want to delve into the audio soundtracks/reconstructions, the recommendation list is rather short.  The only story that still exists intact is Tomb of the Cybermen.  Four of the six episodes of the Ice Warriors also exist, and a DVD release is planned for later this year with the missing two episodes animated for the release.  Outside of those two stories, one will need to use the audio soundtrack/reconstruction method to experience the stories.

If you're going beyond those two stories, I don't think you can go too far wrong with any of these stories, Fury From the Deep excepted.  Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear are standouts, Enemy because it breaks this particular series/season's mold and Web of Fear because it simply oozes atmosphere and is the better of the two Yeti/Great Intelligence stories.   Web of Fear also features the debut of Colonel (later Brigadier) Lethbridge Stewart.

Up next, the sixth series/season begins with the Dominators.

Story #43 - The Wheel in Space

The Doctor and Jamie arrive at a remote space station that's about to be invaded by the Cybermen.

Written by David Whitaker based on a story by Kit Pedler
Directed by Tristan DeVere Cole

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
Jamie - Frazer Hines
Zoe Heriot - Wendy Padbury

Main Guest Cast-
Controller Jarvis Bennett - Michael Turner
Dr. Gemma Corwyn - Anne Ridler
Tanya Lernov - Clare Jenkins
Leo Ryan - Eric Flynn
Bill Duggan - Kenneth Watson

Synopsis-
The Tardis lands on what appears to be an abandoned supply rocket manned only by a servo-robot.  The Tardis somehow senses danger, and tries to warn The Doctor and Jamie to leave.  However, a mercury leak requires The Doctor and Jamie to abandon the Tardis to escape the mercury fumes.

Temporarily marooned until a new source of mercury is found, The Doctor and Jamie explore the rocket.  The Doctor suffers a head injury when the rocket quickly changes course and begins to head towards a space station known as the Wheel.  The servo-robot fires two pods at the Wheel, which attach themselves to the space station.  Meanwhile, The Doctor and Jamie are taken on board the Wheel, where Dr. Corwyn attends to The Doctor's head injury.

Jamie, meanwhile, is shown about the station by Zoe Heriot, a young astrophysicist and genius.  After being shown around, Jamie sabotages the Wheel's laser cannon.  Jamie disables the laser as the Controller Jarvis Bennett was planning on destroying the rocket with the laser, and with it the Tardis that's still on board the rocket.

The destruction of the laser proves to be disastrous, as a nearby sun has gone nova and a swarm of meteors are now headed for the Wheel.  Without the laser cannon, the station is now defenseless.

One of the crew members on board, Bill Duggan, begins repairs on the laser.  While doing so, he discovers what he considers to be a small rodent.  The rodent, however, is actually a Cybermat which has destroyed the stocks of bernalium needed to repair the laser.  The Cybermats arrived via the two pods that had attached themselves to the Wheel earlier.

The Controller is becoming increasingly panicked, and doesn't believe Duggan's story about space rodents destroying the bernalium.  Desperate, the Controller orders two crewmembers to explore the rocket.  Once there, they find a stock of bernalium, but they are also hypnotized by the Cybermen and the two crew members smuggle the Cybermen aboard the Wheel.

The Doctor x-rays one of the Cybermats that had been encased in plastic during Duggan's battle.  The Doctor and Jamie both recognize the Cybermat immediately and are now aware of the Cybemen's presence on the Wheel. 

Dr. Corwyn is forced to take command as the Controller suffer a complete nervous breakdown and is unfit for command. 

The Cybermen repair the laser cannon in order to save the Wheel, but also begin to systematically take over the station.  Most of the crew lock themselves onto the bridge.  Meanwhile, The Doctor orders Jamie to return to the rocket to retrieve the time vector generator which he had removed from the Tardis back at the beginning of the story, and is accompanied on his spacewalk by Zoe.  This proves to be a very dangerous spacewalk, as the meteors arrive while they are taking their spacewalk.

Dr. Corwyn discovers that the Cybermen intend on poisoning the air supply, and while she is able to warn the crew, she is killed by the Cybermen.  Leo Ryan and Tanya Lernov are now forced to assume command of the Wheel.

The meteors are destroyed by the repaired laser gun, and Zoe and Jamie return with the time vector generator.  The Doctor attaches the generator to the laser gun to boost its power, which The Doctor then uses to destroy the approaching Cybermen ship.

The Doctor and Jamie return to the rocket with the needed mercury to repair the Tardis.  As they prepare to leave, they discover that Zoe has stowed away aboard the Tardis.

Review-
Series/season five started with the excellent Tomb of the Cybermen.  Series/season five closes with yet another Cybermen story, The Wheel in Space.

I did appreciate the fact that the Cybermen didn't actually appear right at the beginning, as it adds a bit of mystery to the story.  However, once the Cybermats show up, the viewer knows exactly what's going on and who is behind the problems at the Wheel.

The biggest problems with the Wheel in Space is that it's simply The Tenth Planet and the Moonbase re-told yet again.  The Cybermen hope to take over some base in a remote location (the South Pole, the Moon, a space station) as a precursor to invading and taking over the Earth.  Since the three stories are so similar, it's hard not to have the feeling of deja vu.  The Moonbase is superior to the Wheel in Space, but I'll give the nod to Wheel over the Tenth Planet.

The new female companion, Zoe Heriot, is a breath of fresh air after Victoria.  As I noted, I found all the screaming and complaining done by Victoria in Fury From the Deep to be grating on the nerves.  Fortunately, Zoe is a very capable young woman and it's a delight to watch her debut.  The rest of the cast is also quite strong.  Michael Turner as the Controller who goes insane under the strain of command is a standout along with Anne Ridler as Dr. Corwyn, who is forced by events to take command of the situation.

Despite it obvious similarites to earlier Cybermen stories, the Wheel in Space is still a strong story that's well worth seeking out.  Only episodes three and six still exist in the archives, but the audio soundtracks and reconstructions should fill out the story quite nicely.

Next up, I'll be doing my series/season five wrap-up, followed by the sixth series/season opener, the Dominators.

Story #42 - Fury From The Deep

The operations of a North Sea gas mine are threatened by the arrival of a sea-based lifeform intent on taking over the Earth.

Written by Victor Pemberton
Directed by Hugh David

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
Jamie - Frazer Hines
Victoria - Deborah Watling

Main Guest Cast-
Robson - Victor Maddem
Frank Harris - Roy Spencer
Maggie Harris - June Murphy
Megan Jones - Margaret John

Synopsis-
The time travelers arrive on the North Sea coast in what one assumes is present-day 1960's England.  After frolicking a bit in the waves, The Doctor investigates a pipeline coming out of the ocean.  The pipeline is part of a large gas mine complex.  The Doctor uses a sonic screwdriver to open up part of the pipeline and hears an unusual noise emanating from the pipeline.

The Doctor and his companions are caught by some of the gas mine's personnel and taken to the head of the gas mine, Robson.  Robson believes that The Doctor has attempted to sabotage the pipeline and thus cut production.  Frank Harris, Robson's assistant, listens to The Doctor's story and is more willing to investigate The Doctor's claims.

Maggie Harris, Frank's wife, is sent by Frank to retrieve a needed report about the pressure drops that have been experienced recently.  While fetching the report from their living quarters, she is stung by seaweed and begins to fall ill.  The seaweed eventually takes control of Maggie.

Robson is also taken over by the seaweed, which The Doctor eventually figures out is a new life form, and a new life form bent on taking over the Earth.

Meanwhile, Megan Jones has arrived to investigate the drops in production at the gas mine.  With Robson more or less out of action, she takes over and order an investigation of The Doctor's claims.

The seaweed has relentlessly taken over most of the complex.  Pure oxygen could be used as a weapon against the seaweed creatures, but the oxygen room at the mine was damaged by humans under the influence of the seaweed.

The Doctor eventually discovers, thanks to Victoria screaming at one of the creatures in fear, that sound waves can be used to defeat the seaweed creatures.  The Doctor travels out to the Control Rig, which is the nerve center of the seaweed creatures.  Using a recording of Victoria's screams, the seaweed creatures are destroyed.  Maggie Harris and Robson are among the survivors of the seaweed creatures attack.

Gas production resumes, and Victoria decided to remain behind with the Harris' rather than continue with her adventures with The Doctor and Jamie.  The Doctor does wait a day for Victoria to change her mind, but eventually The Doctor and Jamie leave without her.

Review-
I really want to like Fury from the Deep, but I found it difficult to get past two things.  First is the really bad special effects.  Now, I certainly don't expect CGI effects in a 1960's production most likely done on the cheap.  There's nothing wrong with inexpensive special effects, after all I did praise the web-like effects from the previous story the Web of Fear.   But the seaweed creatures are hidden behind seafoam that for the life of me looks a great deal like someone put too much detergent into the washing machine and it's overflowed!  It's a bit hard to get too scared by runaway soap, and the whole effect simply took me out of the story.

Even more than the special effects, though, is the constant complaining and, worse, screaming done by Victoria in this particular episode.  This was, of course, made worse by the fact that Fury From the Deep is completely missing from the archives, so there's a premium put on the soundtrack.  With very few or no visual cues to go by, all one really gets is a lot of screaming.

The soap-like effects and Victoria's screaming mars what could have been a really great story, as the idea of creature from the sea attempting to take over the Earth is a clever one. 

It's probably just as well that Victoria was leaving the show, as the writers had basically turned her into a "screamer" that seemed relatively helpless and in need of being rescued.  Contrast that with the Victoria from Tomb of the Cybermen, where she proved a marvelous foil for the villanous Kaftan.  It's such a shame that Victoria degenerated so quickly, but Victoria does get a nice farewell scene, something that I felt was missing from the departures of previous companions Ben, Polly and Dodo Chaplet.  Indeed, it's the best companion departure since Steven Taylor departed the show.  So, kudos to Fury From the Deep for that.

Story #41 - The Web of Fear

The Great Intelligence and the Yeti make their second, and final, appearance in Classic Doctor Who in The Web of Fear.

Written by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln
Directed by Douglas Camfield

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
Jamie - Frazer Hines
Victoria - Deborah Watling

Main Guest Cast-
Colonel Lethbridge Stewart - Nicholas Courtney
Professor Travers - Jack Watling
Anne Travers - Tina Packer
Staff Sgt. Arnold - Jack Woolgar
Capt. Knight - Ralph Watson

Synopsis-
The Tardis lands in the Covent Garden tube station in contemporary 1960's London.  The station is completely deserted, which is very unusual.  The Doctor and his companions see three soldiers laying cable inside the tube lines and split up to see what's going on.  Jamie and Victoria follow the soldiers, while The Doctor follows the already laid cable.

The soldiers soon take Jamie and Victoria into custody and take them to their headquarters at Goodge Street tube station.  The soldiers question Jamie and Victoria, asking if they were alone.  Jamie and Victoria do not mention The Doctor, and the soldiers set off a bomb that was connected to the cable that they laid.

The Doctor survives the blast, thanks to the bomb being covered by a web-like substance sprayed on by the Yeti.  The time travelers also meet up again with Professor Travers, and learn it is now thirty five years after their encounter with the Great Intelligence in Tibet.  Travers is now assisted by his daughter Anne. 

The Doctor and Travers team-up in an attempt to find a way to stop the Great Intelligence and the Yeti.  The web-like substance is growing and soon surrounds them when it completely fill the Circle Line that surrounds Central London. 

Captain Arnold is soon relieved of his command by the just arrived Colonel Lethbridge Stewart.  Despite the arrival of the Colonel, the soldiers are losing their battle with the Yeti.  The Yeti and the Great Intelligence seem to be aware of their actions.  This is due to, as The Doctor surmises, that the Intelligence is controlling someone as the military headquarters.  It's later revealed that Captain Arnold is the person who's been under the control of the Intelligence, but for quite a while everyone is being looked at with suspicion.

It's eventually revealed that the whole scheme is an elaborate trap by the Great Intelligence.  The Great Intelligence hopes to drain The Doctor of his knowledge and use this knowledge to allow the Intelligence to take over the Earth.  The Doctor and Anne are able to re-program one of the robot Yeti, which Jamie uses to destroy the machine that would be used to drain The Doctor of his intellect.  The Doctor's protests this action, as he had been able to change the nature of the machine and it would have drained the Intelligence if Jamie and the Yeti had not intervened.  The Intelligence is sent back out into space,  and the web-like substance disappears from the Underground tube lines.

Review-
The Web of Fear sees the return of the Yeti and the Great Intelligence.  In my opinion, the Intelligence makes a much better adversary here than it did in the Abominable Snowmen.  The Yeti also seem much more threatening here than they did in the Abominable Snowmen.

Having Professor Travers return was a nice nod to continuity, and much appreciated.  His daughter Anne proves quite useful as well.  The cowardly Staff Sgt. Arnold provides some needed comic relief to ease the tension a bit.

I haven't talked much about the special effects on the show in my reviews, but I do think the web-like substance works rather well in this instance.  Much better than the special effects in the next story, Fury from the Deep. 

Of course, we can't talk about the Web of Fear without mentioning the first appearance of Lethbridge Stewart.  In this story, he's just a colonel as he hasn't yet been promoted to Brigadier General.  But already his character is well in place, the business-like and unflappable demeanor despite the unusual circumstances that would become a hallmark of his character in future stories.   The Web of Fear, thanks to the appearance of Lethbridge Stewart, foreshadows all the future UNIT stories as it all started here.

The Web of Fear does see a return to the "monster of the week" format that dominates series/season five.  Despite the formula, though, this is one hell of a good story and a great way to start off the eventual UNIT era.  Only episode one still exists intact, which simply teases one's imagination.  The Web of Fear is one of those stories that's well worth seeking out via the reconstruction/audio sountrack method and I highly recommend seeking it out. 

Story #40 - The Enemy of the World

The Doctor and his companions arrive in the Australia sometime in the future, where they discover that the Earth is being run by The Doctor's not so benevolent look-alike Salamander.

Written by David Whitaker
Directed by Barry Letts

Main Cast-
The Doctor and Salamander - Patrick Troughton
Jamie - Frazer Hines
Victoria - Deborah Watling

Main Guest Cast-
Astrid - Mary Peach
Giles Kent - Bill Kerr
Security Chief Bruce - Colin Douglas
Benik - Milton Johns
Swann - Christopher Burgess
Colin - Adam Verney
Mary - Margaret Hickey
Griffin the Chef - Reg Lye
Fariah - Carmen Munroe

Synopsis-
The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria are enjoying some recreation time on a beach in Australia.  They are observed by three men who mistake The Doctor for a major world leader, Salamander.  They attempt to assassinate The Doctor, but The Doctor and his companions are rescued by Astrid via helecopter.

Astrid takes them to meet Giles Kent, who wants The Doctor to impersonate Salamander, who looks exactly like The Doctor.  Giles tells The Doctor that Salamander is corrupt and wants to take over the world.  The Doctor is as yet unsure, since he only has Kent's word that Salamander is evil.  Nevertheless, he sends Jamie and Victoria to Salamander's headquarters in the Eastern European zone to infiltrate Salamander's operations. 

Jamie and Victoria are successful due to a staged assassination attempt that Jamie supposedly foils.  Jamie joins Salamander's staff while Victoria joins the kitchen staff, headed by Griffin the Cook and chief food taster Fariah.

It is eventually learned that Salamander has a hidden base underground, where thanks to the unwitting help of the inhabitants he can make natural disasters happen on cue.  The inhabitants of the underground base, led by Swann, have been deceived by Salamander to believe that the surface world was destroyed in a nuclear war and that the radiation has turned people into mutants.

Salamander is forced to take Swann with him on his next foray to the surface, where an attempt to murder him is made by Salamander.  Astrid discovers Swann, who helps him back to the underground base.  Once there, the inhabitants learn the truth. Astrid and Swann, along Colin and Mary who also live in the underground base, proceed to Salamander's headquarters above ground.

Meanwhile, Security Chief Bruce has been investigating the reports on Salamander's corruption with the help of The Doctor.   The Doctor and Bruce are in Salamander's office when the arrival of Astrid, Swann, Colin and Mary exposes Salamander's schemes.

Salamander attempts to make a getaway, but is caught by Giles Kent.  It's revealed that Giles started the whole scheme with Salamander, but that Salamander cut him out.  The two struggle, and Salamander kills Kent.   Kent takes revenge by blowing up the cave system, though Astrid is able to help rescue the other inhabitants of the underground base.

Salamander makes his way to the Tardis, which Jamie and Victoria have returned to on orders from The Doctor.  Salamander is helped inside by Jamie, who is bewildered by the time machine.  The Doctor arrives shortly thereafter and a struggle ensues.  The Tardis takes off with the door still open.  The Doctor and his companions hold on for dear life while Salamander is sucked out through the doors of the Tardis into the vortex.

Review-
The Enemy of the World is one of my favorite stories from this particular series/season.  Much like the Massacre from series/season three with William Hartnell, the Enemy of the World features the idea of The Doctor having a doppleganger.  And much like The Massacre, this makes for a quite interesting story.   Salamander, as played by Patrick Troughton, is quite ruthless and so different from his fun-loving and cheerful persona as The Doctor.  Salamander shows no qualms about blackmailing and deceiving people to get what he wants and this makes the character a great adversary.

The Doctor, wisely, takes things slowly as he's not sure that Kent is being totally truthful with him.  The Doctor, however, realizes that Security Chief Bruce, despite his gruff demeanor, is someone that can be trusted.  Security Chief Bruce has his doubts about Salamander's sincerity, but without proof will do nothing.  However, once Salamder's plots have been exposed he proves a strong ally for The Doctor.

The supporting characters are also quite strong.  Benik, Salamander's deputy, is rather unpleasant as such a character should be.  Salamander's chef, Griffin, offers some much needed comic relief with his constant complaining.  The younger couple, Colin and Mary, who live in the underground base work well as they contrast two opposing points of view: whether to believe or question what Salamander is telling them about the world above.

What really makes this particular story stand out, though, is the fact that for the only time during series/season five, the "monster of the week and/or base under siege" format is given a much needed rest.  While those stories have been quite excellent, it's nice to see a change of pace.

Enemy of the World also marks Barry Letts first work on Doctor Who, as he directed this particular story.  Given how strong this story is, it's no wonder that he would later be tapped to produce the series a few years later during the Third Doctor era.

Like most series/season five episodes, The Enemy of the World is mostly missing (except for episode three) but I think this is that's well worth seeking out via the audio sountracks or reconstructions.     

Story #39 - The Ice Warriors

While trying to prevent a second ice age on Earth, a group of scientists uncover the remains of a Martian spaceship and her crew frozen in the ice for centuries.

Written by Brian Hayles
Directed by Derek Martinus

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
Jamie - Frazer Hines
Victoria - Deborah Watling

Main Guest Cast-
Clent - Peter Barkworth
Penley - Peter Sallis
Garrett - Wendy Gifford
Arden - George Waring
Storr - Angus Lennie

Synopsis-
The Tardis lands outside a base in Britain in the far-off future.  The base is one of several stationed around the Earth with the job of using ionization machines to prevent glaciers from spreading, thus preventing a second ice age.

The base is facing a near catastrophe, which The Doctor is able to avert.  Clent, the base's commander, is grateful and adds The Doctor to his staff, along with Jamie and Victoria.

Meanwhile, one of the scientists from the base, Arden, has found a humanoid warrior figure frozen in the ice.  Arden returns to the base with the frozen warrior, where he plans to thaw the figure from the ice.   During this time, they are watched by two so-called scavengers by the names of Storr and Penley.  

After the figure is thawed, it's revealed to be an Ice Warrior, which are native to the planet Mars.  The Ice Warrior  returns to life after being thawed.  The Warrior takes Victoria hostage and returns to his ship, still frozen in the ice.  Once there, he begins to thaw his fellow Ice Warriors.  Jamie and Arden go off in search of Victoria, and run into the Ice Warriors.  The Ice Warriors kill Arden and wound Jamie.

Penley rescues Jamie and takes him back to the hideout where he lives with Storr.  Storr decided to attempt to help the Ice Warriors, as he doesn't trust the scientists at the base.  Storr is treated with contempt by the Ice Warriors and is killed for his trouble.

The Ice Warriors believe that the ionizer is a weapon that will be used against them.  Therefore, their main objective is to prevent the humans from using the ionizer.  The Doctor offers himself up as a hostage, in hopes of convincing the Warriors not to attack the base.

The Ice Warriors attack the base anyway with their sonic cannon.  The base survives, and the two sides agree to meet to reach a diplomatic solution.  The Ice Warriors, however, prove untrustworthy and intend on dismantling the ionizer and taking the parts that it needs to fix their spaceship.  Without the ionizer, the glaciers being expanding again.

Penley uses the temperature control to turn up the heat, which makes it uncomfortable for the Ice Warriors and a battle ensues between the humans and the Ice Warriors.  The Doctor, who was left on the Ice Warriors ship with Victoria, is able to defeat the Ice Warrior left to guard them and uses the Ice Warriors's sonic cannon to force the Ice Warriors to retreat from the base.

The Doctor and Victoria return to the base.  Penley uses the ionizer on the Ice Warrior's ship, against the advice of the base's computer which Clent relys on to make all his decisions.  The ionizer destroys the Ice Warrior's ship and at the same time prevents the spread of the glaciers.

Review-
Just a bit of a warning, there are a few spoilers in this review for the New Series episode "Cold War". If you haven't seen the episode "Cold War", please skip the next paragraph.

It was interesting watching this particular episode considering that the Ice Warriors were just used in the New Series episode "Cold War".    The two characterizations don't mesh up particularly well.  In Cold War, the Ice Warrior has a code that he lives by.  The Ice Warrior in Cold War will only attack after being attacked, but once attacked will not rest until the defeat of his enemy even if that means his own death.  The Ice Warriors in this particular episode are simply more concerned with their survival than the defeat of their enemies.  Yes, they do fight the humans at the base, but it's more out of survival than about any sort of warrior code.  I find it hard to imagine the Ice Warriors from this episode even being related to the Ice Warrior that appeared in Cold War.

Clent and his assistant Garrett rely heavily on their computer to make their decision for them.  The computer is stumped by the uncovering of the Ice Warriors' ship.  The Ice Warriors' ship also uses ionization engines to power it, and the main worry is that by using the the ionizer at the base will cause an explosion that will not only destroy the Ice Warriors' ship but also the base as well.

The computer can't figure out a way out of this dilemma, and it's only when Penley returns to the base and decides to take a chance that this dilemma is worked out.  As Penley points out, sometimes you've got to make a choice, take a chance and hope for the best. 

The Doctor's attempts to broker a peace between the humans and Ice Warriors simply prove futile, as the Ice Warriors simply refuse to listen.  In the end, the Ice Warriors that appear in this episode only understand one thing, force and the threat of force. 

Victoria, sadly, has degenerated in this story.  Victoria spends most of this episode cowering in terror or trying to run away from the Ice Warriors.  In other words, Victoria has become the "typical screamer" that seems to plague much of Classic Doctor Who.  It's a shame, really, as her character did start off rather strong in this series/season opener the Tomb of the Cybermen.

It's easy to see why the Ice Warriors proved to be popular, and why they would later return both in Classic Who and now the New Series.  Outside of Victoria's screaming, this is a rather good story and one well worth watching.  Fortunately, most of the story still exists and there are plans to release the story later this year on DVD with the missing episodes two and three being animated for the DVD release.  I highly recommend checking this out once this is released later this year.

Story #38 - The Abominable Snowmen

The Doctor has his first encounter with the Great Intelligence in the Abominable Snowmen.

Written by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln
Directed by Gerald Blake

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
Jamie - Frazer Hines
Victoria - Deborah Watling

Main Guest Cast-
Professor Travers - Jack Watling
Padmasambhava - Wolfe Morris
Songsten - Charles Morgan
Thomni - David Spenser
Khrisong - Norman Jones

Synopsis-

The Tardis has landed in Tibet a short ways from the Detsen Monastery.  The Doctor is delighted and intends to visit the monastery to return the Ghanta bell, a holy relic that The Doctor has had in is possession for safe-keeping.

Leaving Jamie and Victoria in the Tardis, The Doctor encounters Professor Travers camp during his journey to the monastery, and discovers that Travers' companion has been killed.  Upon arriving at the monastery, Travers convinces the monks and the lead warrior monk, Khrisong, that The Doctor is responsible for the death of his companion.

Travers is fully aware that The Doctor is not responsible for the death of his companion, as he was attacked by a beast which Travers believes was a Yeti, which he has been searching for years.  Travers' motive for having The Doctor locked up is that Travers believes that The Doctor is a reporter on the lookout for a story at Travers' expense.

Jamie and Victoria eventually leave the Tardis to explore.  They discover a cave, where Jamie finds several silver spherical objects.  They are attacked by a Yeti, but are able to escape and make their way to the monastery.   The arrival of Jamie and Victoria, along with the Yeti following them, proves The Doctor's innocence.

The Doctor is able to capture one of the Yeti, and discovers that they aren't real, but robots.  The robot Yeti are being controlled by the Great Intelligence, which also has the abbot Songsten and the three hundred year old Padmasambhava under his control.   The silver, spherical objects are the control mechanisms that allow the Great Intelligence to control the Yeti.

Travers, who has ventured outside of the monastery and has discovered that the Great Intelligence is attempting to manifest a physical form.   Victoria, meanwhile, has visited the Inner Sanctum despite being warned not to do so by the young monk Thomni that has befriended her.  Once inside, Victoria encounters and is hynoptized by Padmasambhava.  

Victoria leaves the Inner Sanctum and warns the monks to evacuate the monastery.  The warrior monk Khrisong enters the Inner Sanctum, only to be killed by Songsten.  Songsten has now been revealed as the link between the Yeti and the monastery and is taken prisoner.  The Doctor confronts Padmasambhava with the help of Jamie, Victoria and Thomni.  Together, they destroy the equipment that allows the Great Intelligence through Padmasambhava to control the Yeti.  The control spheres are destroyed which frees Padmasambhava from the Great Intelligence's control, and Padmasambhava dies peacefully in The Doctor's arms.

Travers accompanies The Doctor and his companions as they leave the now ruined monastery.  Travers spots a real Yeti and runs off to investigate as The Doctor and his companions leave.

Review-
I can certainly understand the Great Intelligence's motivations, but watching this story one has to wonder why the Great Intelligence needs robot Yeti.  The Great Intelligence also control several monks, including their leaders Songsten and Padmasambhava, so there's no need for the Yeti to terrorize the monastery.  Indeed, the Yeti only appear at the monastery once Travers and the Doctor arrive.

In the end, The Abominable Snowmen is simply best enjoyed as a gripping adventure tale.  The Great Intelligence does make a great adversary for The Doctor.  Indeed, one of the main reasons to watch this particular story is because of the recent return of the Great Intelligence in the New Series.  If you have an interest in the Great Intelligence's history, the Abominable Snowmen a must view, along with its sequel story The Web of Fear.

Story #37 - Tomb of the Cybermen

The time travelers meet an archaeological expedition visiting the planet Telos, which is intent on uncovering the lost tomb of the Cybermen.

Written by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis
Directed by Morris Barry

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
Jamie - Frazer Hines
Victoria - Deborah Watling

Main Guest Cast-
Professor Parry - Aubrey Richards
Kaftan - Shirley Cooklin
Klieg - George Pastell
Toberman - Roy Stewart
Captain Hopper - George Roubicek

Synopsis-
The Tardis arrives on the planet Telos.  An archaeological expedition led by Professor Parry has just found a hidden entrance into an underground complex.  The expedition is hoping to find the remains of the Cybermen, who supposedly perished several centuries prior.  The expedition is funded by Klieg and Kaftan, who have also brought their manservant Toberman along as well.

The Doctor tries to convince Parry and the others to leave well enough alone, and eventually convinces Parry that they should leave after the deaths of two members of their party, one of whom was killed at a testing range inside the complex.  Klieg orders Toberman to sabotage their rocket ship, which now needs to be repaired before the expedition can leave the planet. 

The expedition opens a hatch leading to the lower levels.  The Doctor, Professor Parry, Jamie, Klieg proceed down into the lower levels while Kaftan and Victoria remain up on top.  Kaftan drugs Victoria and seals the hatch shut.  Klieg revives the Cybermen, hoping to use them to dominate humankind.  The Cybermen, having been revived, have their own plans.  The party has a timely rescue by Captain Hopper and the hatch is sealed, leaving the Cybermen trapped in the lower levels.

The Cybermen use Cybermats to attack the party, hoping to reopen the hatch.  The Doctor is able to outwit the Cybermats.  However, Klieg and Kaftan, who have been locked up in the testing range, obtain a Cybergun which they use the threaten the party.  The Cyberman Controller, whose energy levels are low, agrees to Klieg's conditions in order that he may be "revitalized".

After being revitalized, the Cybermen Controller knocks out Klieg and takes his Cybergun.  The Cybermen Controller kills Kaftan, but the Controller is then defeated by Toberman.  The Doctor and Toberman venture down to the lower levels to seal the Cybermen back into their tomb.  Klieg, having recovered from the Controller's attack, takes the Cyber gun and follows The Doctor and Toberman.  Klieg now hopes to control the Cybermen now that their Controller is dead, but a Cybermen kills him.

The Doctor seals the Cybermen back in their tomb, and destroys the control panel.  The Doctor and Toberman make their way back upstairs, only to find that the Controller has revived.  The Doctor and what's left of the expedition leave the complex, and the doors are sealed by The Doctor and Toberman, though the effort to close the doors kills Toberman in the process.  The Controller is now trapped inside the complex for eternity.

Review-
Klieg reminded me a great deal of Maxtible from Evil of the Daleks.  In Evil, Maxtible was hoping to use the Daleks for his own ends.  In Tomb, Klieg and his associate Kaftan were hoping to use the Cybermen for their own ends.  In both cases, their characters are killed by the very creatures that they hoped to use.

Tomb does clear up some of the history of the Cybermen, who ventured to and conquered the planet Telos after the destruction of their first homeworld Mondas in The Tenth Planet and their subsequent defeat in The Moonbase. 

Tomb moves along at a good clip and the wonderfully moody atmosphere helps get one in the mood.   The three way battle between Parry, Klieg and The Doctor really pushes the story along and once the Cybermen arrive, it adds yet another dimension to the conflict.

Victoria holds her own as a companion, and proves a good foil against the other female in the story, Klieg's associate Kaftan. 

To put it simply, Tomb of the Cybermen is simply one of the very best Doctor Who stories.   Happily, unlike every other fifth series/season story, it survives intact.  If you're a Doctor Who fan and have never seen this before, what exactly are you waiting for? 

Fourth Series/Season wrap-up

Doctor Who - Series/season four
Airdates - 10th of September, 1966 to 1st of July, 1967
Produced by Innes Lloyd (The Smugglers to Macra Terror, The Evil of the Daleks)
Produced by Innes Lloyd and Peter Bryant (The Faceless Ones)
Script Editor - Gerry Davis (The Smugglers to The Faceless Ones)
Script Editors - Gerry Davis and Peter Bryant (The Evil of the Daleks)

I've changed the format slightly of the wrap-up posting, as I've decided to start including the producer and script editor credits along with the airdates as part of the wrap-up posts, just as I've included the cast, writer and director credits in the individual episode reviews.

Series/season four saw Doctor Who in transition.  This series/season saw the first regeneration from the First to the Second Doctor, along with a complete changeover in the companion department as well. 

Ben and Polly tend to be among the forgotten companions, since most of the stories featuring them don't exist in their entirety.  They also tend to be overshadowed by Jamie, who is the quintessential Second Doctor companion.  I do think they worked better as companions of the First Doctor, their work in the War Machines (from series/season three) and the Smugglers was quite good.  I also enjoyed their work in Power of the Daleks, the only Second Doctor story that doesn't feature Jamie as a companion as well.

Jamie doesn't really come into his own until the Faceless Ones and Evil of the Daleks.  It was difficult for his character to shine while sharing screen time with Ben and Polly.  Once Ben and Polly were no longer around, the chemistry between Patrick Troughton's Doctor and Frazer Hines' Jamie really came through.  While she didn't have much to do in Evil of the Daleks, the addition of Victoria gives Jamie someone vulnerable that he can protect in the upcoming fifth series/season, which fits his character very well.  We already saw a bit of Jamie's chivalrous attitute in the Faceless Ones, where he tries to protect Samantha from the Chameleons.

Much like Ben and Polly, Patrick Troughton's Second Doctor tends to be the forgotten Doctor due to so many of his stories missing episodes or completely gone.  However, I don't think it's a coincidence that both producers of the New Doctor Who series, Russell T. Davies and Steven Moffat, have borrowed many of the aliens and monsters from the Second Doctor era and included them in the New Series.  From this series/season, both the Macra and the Cybermen have shown up in the new series.  The fifth series/season will also introduce several aliens/monsters that have reappeared, or are due to reappear in the New Series as well.  I think that says something about the quality of the Second Doctor era.

Here are my rankings for this series/season's stories:

1. Power of the Daleks
2. The Macra Terror
3. The Smugglers
4. The Moonbase
5. The Faceless Ones
6. The Underwater Menace
7. The Evil of the Daleks
8. The Highlanders
9. The Tenth Planet

As for my recommendations on what to watch, once again that depends on how much one is willing to listen to the audio soundtracks and/or watch the reconstructions.  If your tolerance for these is low, then I recommend watching The Tenth Planet (especially the new DVD release that's coming later this year, with the fourth episode animated) and the Moonbase (two out of four episodes still exist, and the audio sountracks also appear on the DVD).

However, if you are willing to give a try to the audio soundtracks/reconstructions, then I'd start with the Smugglers, follow that up with Power of the Daleks, the Moonbase, the Macra Terror and the final two episodes of Evil of the Daleks, thus skipping the slow moving middle part of that particular story.   The Underwater Menace and The Faceless Ones are good additions if you'd like to supplement this list.

Up next, we jump into series/season five with the only series/season five story to exist in its entirety: the Tomb of the Cybermen!

Story #36 - The Evil of the Daleks

The Doctor and Jamie are lured into an elaborate trap and are forced to help the Daleks in their plans to conquer the universe.

Written by David Whitaker
Directed by Derek Martinus

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
Jamie - Frazer Hines
Victoria Waterfield - Deborah Watling (first appearance as regular)

Main Guest Cast -
Edward Waterfield - John Bailey
Theodore Maxtible - Marius Goring
Arthur Terrall - Gary Watson
Mollie Dawson - Jo Rowbottom
Ruth Maxtible - Brigit Forsyth
Kemel - Sonny Caldinez

Synopsis-
As we saw at the end of the Faceless Ones, the Tardis was being taken away in a lorry (truck) from Gatwick Airport, with The Doctor and Jamie giving chase.  The Doctor and Jamie eventually track the Tardis down to an antique shop run by Edward Waterfield.  Waterfield gets the drop on The Doctor and Jamie, and all three are transported through time to the year 1866.

Once there, we learn that Waterfield and his partner Theodore Maxtible are working with the Daleks.  The Daleks wish The Doctor to isolate the "human factor", so that they may discover why human beings keep defeating them.  Maxtible hopes to garner the secret of changing metal into gold from the Daleks as a reward.  Waterfield is simply hoping to gain the return of his daughter Victoria, who is being help captive by the Daleks.

In order to isolate the "human factor", Jamie is given the task of rescuing Victoria from the Daleks, while The Doctor and the Daleks watch.   One of the tasks that Jamie faces is overcoming a powerful Turk by the name of Kemel.  After rescuing Kemel from falling off the roof of Maxtible's house, Kemel and Jamie team-up to reach Victoria's room.

Kemel and Jamie barricade the door to Victoria's room, as the Daleks are trying to get through.  However, Victoria is kidnapped yet again, this time by Arthur Terrall, a young man forced to work for the Daleks via mind control.

Victoria escapes and Terrall's mind control is broken.  The Doctor tell Maxtible's daughter Ruth to take Terrall away from Maxtible's house, warning that he might otherwise fall prey to the Daleks' again.

After the experiment, The Doctor implants the "human factor" into three waiting Daleks.  The Daleks start to act more human and also begin to question their orders, which is something unheard of in a Dalek.

Victoria is taken to Skaro by the Daleks.  Maxtible, Waterfield, Kemel, Jamie and The Doctor all follow in succession.  While on Skaro, The Doctor learns that by isolating the "human factor", it has shown the Daleks what constitutes the "Dalek factor".  The Daleks plan to implant this "Dalek factor" into the human race.  Maxtible is the first victim of this experiment, forced to walk through an archway that implants the "Dalek factor" as one walks through.  The success of Maxtible's conversion causes the Daleks to choose The Doctor as their second victim.

The Doctor is unaffected, as he's not human.  Meanwhile, the Daleks that have been implanted with the "human factor" have been questioning their orders.  The Doctor tricks the Dalek Emperor, ordering that all Daleks should pass through the archway, thus being implanted with the "Dalek factor".  Unknown to the Dalek Emperor, the archway has been reprogrammed by The Doctor to implant the "human factor" instead.

This causes a civil war amongst the Daleks.  Maxtible and Kemal are killed during the battle, and Waterfield sacrifices himself to save The Doctor.

The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria watch as the Dalek city is destroyed and then leave Skaro via the Tardis, which had been brought to Skaro by the Daleks.

Review-
The Evil of the Daleks starts off with a great concept, the theft of the Tardis and the need for The Doctor to retrieve it.  However, I found the Evil of the Daleks to be a major chore to get through.  The whole bit where Jamie and Kemal have to rescue Victoria seems to take forever, and one wonders why there's a need for a test anyway.  After all, most of the qualities that make up the "human factor", like courage, resourcefulness and compassion, are well known without resorting to a need for a test.

Maxtible, of course, represents another part of human nature, greed.  Maxtible wants the secret of turning metal into gold, and hopes to garner this secret from the Daleks.  The Daleks, of course, reward Maxtible by turning him into a Dalek slave by implanting the "Dalek factor" into him.

Victoria isn't given much to do in this particular story.  For a major portion, her character's purpose is to cower in fear from the Daleks and to act as the "princess" that the hero Jamie has to rescue in the test to discover the "human factor".

While I'm not an overall fan of the middle part of this story, the ending is simply spectacular.  Having the Daleks fight a civil war against each other was a brilliant idea.  It's just such a shame that the only surviving episode is episode two.  If only one episode was going to survive, I wish it had been episode seven with the battle between the Daleks.  Fortunately, there is some footage from the battle that was saved via 8mm film that is available to view.

Had they shortened the middle part of this story, I might have rated Evil of the Daleks much higher.  As it is, the less interesting middle part drops this slightly below other series/season four stories like the Macra Terror and Power of the Daleks.

Evil of the Daleks would be the last of the Dalek stories for quite a while, as we wouldn't see the Daleks again until the Third Doctor era.   

My usual series/season four wrap-up will be next, to be followed by the first story from the fifth series/season, the Tomb of the Cybermen.

Story #35 - The Faceless Ones

The Tardis lands in the middle of Gatwick airport where the time travelers expose a plot to kidnap young adults by a race known as the Chameleons.

Written by Malcolm Hulke and David Ellis
Directed by Gerry Mill

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
Polly - Anneke Wills (last appearance as regular)
Ben - Michael Craze (last appearance as regular)
Jamie - Frazer Hines

Main Guest Cast-
Blade - Donald Pickering
Commandant - Colin Gordon
Meadows - George Selway
Samantha Briggs - Pauline Collins
Inspector Crossland - Bernard Kay
Spencer - Victor Winding
Nurse Pinto - Madalena Nicol

Synopsis-
The time travelers return to 1966, where the Tardis lands in the middle of Gatwick Airport.  The four time travelers scatter to avoid being caught by the airport police.  Polly ducks into a hangar owned by Chameleon Tours.  While inside, she watches as a man is killed by Spencer, an employee of Chameleon Tours.  Polly shows The Doctor and Jamie the body, and they agree to inform the authorities.  On their way to report the murder, Polly is kidnapped by Spencer and his boss, Blade and held prisoner.

The Doctor and Jamie discover the disappearance of Polly and are taken to see the Commandant when they are unable to produce passports.  The Commandant doesn't believe their story, but humors the pair as they return to the Chameleon hangar.  Once there, the body has disappeared.  The Doctor and Jamie eventually make a break for it, and continue the investigation of Chameleon on their own.

Ben, who agrees to investigate the hangar, is also taken prisoner by the Chameleon personnel.  Jamie watches the Chameleon booth at the airport and meets up with Samantha Briggs (played by a very young Pauline Collins of Upstairs, Downstairs fame).  Samantha is looking for her brother, who went on a Chameleon tour and never returned home.  The Doctor, meanwhile, returns to the Commandant, hoping to convince him to investigate Chameleon.  While still skeptical, the Commandant allows The Doctor twelve hours to do his own investigation after talking things over with just arrived Inspector Crossland, who is also investigating Chameleon.

The tours are simply a cover-up for a larger scheme to kidnap young people, so that they can be replaced by Chameleons.  As we learn later in the story, the Chameleons' homeworld was damaged in an explosion and the plan is to use the kidnapped humans as replacement bodies for the Chameleons.

Inspector Crossland boards the next Chameleon flight and is kidnapped by Blade.  The Doctor, meanwhile, exposes air traffic controller Meadows as a Chameleon and he reveals the entire plot.  The Doctor is able to free the first aid station nurse Pinto and destroy her Chameleon.  The Doctor and Nurse Pinto pretend to be Chameleons and board the last Chameleon flight of the season.

Meanwhile, Samantha had intended to board a Chameleon flight in hopes of learning the whereabouts of her brother.  Jamie stole her ticket to protect her, and arrives at a space station in orbit around the Earth where he discovers that the kidnapped people are miniaturized and stored for the journey to the Chameleon's homeworld. 

The Doctor and Nurse Pinto arrive and tell Blade and the other Chameleon's that they have found the original bodies that they've copied.  The Doctor tell the Chameleons that if they don't let the kidnapped people go, he will have the Commandant revive the originals, destroying the Chameleons.  The Chameleons agree to return to their native form, and the kidnapped people are returned to Earth.  Ben and Polly decide to remain, and bid goodbye to The Doctor and Jamie.

The story ends with the Tardis being taken away in a lorry, with The Doctor and Jamie chasing behind it.

Review-
As I mentioned in my review of the Macra Terror, I was surprised how much that story reminded me of The Prisoner.  The Faceless Ones is, basically, a Doctor Who spin on Invasion of the Body Snatchers. 

Pauline Collins is quite appealing as Samantha.  I wouldn't have minded very much if they had decided to make her the next companion, but that wasn't to be.  Samantha's scenes with Jamie were some of my favorite moments from this particular story.

I didn't think the Body Snatchers-like theme worked as well for the Faceless Ones as the Prisoner-like theme worked for the Macra Terror.  Not everyone is affected by the Chameleons, only those who board their flights are affected.  This takes away a bit of the suspense, since one already knows that there's no way that the Commandant will be affected by the Chameleons' scheme.

My biggest complaint with the Faceless Ones is how Ben and Polly are basically missing through most of their last story.  It's a shame the writers couldn't have given Ben and Polly more to do given that this would be their last appearance on the program.  Still, I guess one should be grateful that they were given a proper farewell scene, since the previous companion Dodo Chaplet wasn't even given that courtesy.

Outside of that, I found the Faceless Ones to be fun and suspenseful story and it shows that we can expect good things ahead with The Doctor and Jamie, as they worked well together as a team in this particular story.

Story #34 - The Macra Terror

The Doctor and his fellow time travelers arrive at a seemingly idyllic Earth colony in the far future.  However, this colony harbors a dark secret...

Written by Ian Stuart Black
Directed by John Davies

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
Polly - Anneke Wills
Ben - Michael Craze
Jamie - Frazer Hines

Main Guest Cast-
Ola - Gertan Klauber
Medok - Terence Lodge
Pilot - Peter Jeffrey
Controller - Graham Leaman

Synopsis-
The Doctor uses a scanner that allows him to view future events.  What appears on screen is the image of a huge, menacing claw.  After viewing this, the Tardis materializes on an alien world in the far future which is home to an Earth colony.

The time travelers, while out exploring, run into one of the colonists, Medok, who is running away.  The guards and their leader, Ola, are grateful for the time travelers help in capturing the fugitive and are taken back to the colony.  There, The Doctor and his companions are greeted both in person by the Pilot and on a viewing screen by the Controller.

The Doctor is suspicious and decides to meet up again with Medok.  Medok tells The Doctor that the colony is infested with large, crab-like aliens called the Macra.  The Macra control the colony's population via hynopsis, and force the colonists to mine for gas that the Macra need to survive.

Ben, Polly and Jamie are subjected to the hynopsis while they are sleeping.  Ben is unable to resist, but it doesn't work on Jamie.  Polly is rescued in time by The Doctor, who was not present due to his meeting up with Medok.

The Doctor, Polly and Jamie are eventually forced to work in the gas mines along with Medok.  Jamie escapes only to become trapped by the Macra.  The Doctor is eventually able to reverse the gas flow that allows the Macra to survive, and the hynopsis that hold the colonists in thrall is broken.

Review-
The Second Doctor era has been characterized as having a "monster of the week" vibe to it.  There's some truth to that characterization.  It was interesting watching the Macra Terror because I was really surprised how quickly the "monster of the week" format took over the show once the changeover to the Second Doctor had taken place.

The Macra Terror is both quite suspensful and also quite silly.  The scenes with the drum majorettes and the singing are just plain silly but fortunately are rather short.  Outside of these scenes, the story is quite enjoyable.  The idea of an all-seeing controller and the hynopsis control and the fact that escapes are not tolerated reminded me a great deal of that other 1960's television show, The Prisoner.  The Macra Terror does pre-date The Prisoner by several month, so any similarities are purely coincidental. 

The Macra Terror is also the only one of the five stories to feature Ben, Polly and Jamie as companions where each of the three is actually given something to do.  Ben, of course, falls prey to the Macra hynopsis and attempts to thwart The Doctor in order to serve his Macra masters.  Jamie falls into the usual companion role of getting into trouble and needing to be rescued.  Still, that's better than his role in the Moonbase, where he spend the better part of the story in the Moonbase's sickbay.  Polly, meanwhile, is on hand to assist The Doctor and is instrumental in breaking Ben's hynopsis.

I'd hesitate to say that the Macra Terror is the best story from series/season four, I'd still have to give the nod to the Power of the Daleks.  The Macra Terror, however, is certainly one of the better stories for making use of all the various companions and the Macra and their hynopsis control are great adversaries for The Doctor to take on.  A forgotten gem by most Doctor Who fans, since the entire story is missing from the BBC archives.  

Story #33 - The Moonbase

The time travelers meet up for the second time with the Cybermen in the Moonbase.

Written by Kit Pedler
Directed by Morris Barry

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
Polly - Anneke Wills
Ben - Michael Craze
Jamie - Frazer Hines

Main Guest Cast-
Hobson - Patrick Barr
Benoit - Andre Maranne

Synopsis-
The Tardis arrives on the Moon in the year 2070.  The time travelers venture outside the Tardis in space suits and begin to fool around.  Jamie gets injured, and they all end up at the Moonbase.  The Moonbase houses the Gravitron, which is used to control the tides on Earth.  By controlling the tides with the Gravitron, the scientists at the Moonbase are thus able to control weather patterns on Earth.

Shortly before the arrival of The Doctor and his companions, several people have come down with a mysterious virus.  The Doctor begins to investigate the cause of this virus.  Meanwhile, the Gravitron has been suffering from malfunctions, and things have not been helped due to the loss of manpower due to the crewmembers coming down with the virus.

It turns out that the virus was planted by the Cybermen in sugar that was used to flavor the coffee drunk by the Moonbase's staff.  The Cybermen then take the affected men back to their ship and turn them into slaves doing the Cybermen's bidding.  The Cybermen intend on taking over the Moonbase and the Gravitron.  The Cybermen intend to use the Gravitron to destroy all life on Earth.

The Doctor and the station commander Hobson eventually come up with a plan to use the Gravitron on the Cybermen.  Together with Benoit, the station's second-in-command, they are able to point the Gravitron at the Cybermen and their spaceships, sending the off into space.

With the Moonbase and the Gravitron saved, The Doctor and his companions, including a fully recovered Jamie, return to the Tardis to resume their travels.

Review-
Despite the destruction of their homeworld of Mondas in The Tenth Planet,  the Cybermen return for the second time this season.

The Moonbase is quite an improvement over The Tenth Planet.   The Cybermen have been redesigned and look much better than they did in The Tenth Planet.  The virus that the Cybermen use to turn some of the Moonbase's staff into slaves is clever, but I do think it might have been more interesting if it had taken The Doctor a bit longer to find the cause of the virus and why only some of the Moonbase's staff seemed to be affected.

Jamie has little to do in this particular story, this is one of those stories that allows Polly to shine.  Polly discovers that by using various solvents that they are able to destroy the Cybermen.  During the intial invasion of the Moonbase by the Cybermen, Polly, Ben and Jamie are able to beat back and kill the three Cybermen invading the medical bay of the Moonbase.  I appreciated the writers giving something constructive for Polly to do, though the writers did show a bit of the sexist side when Jamie and Ben claim that fighting the Cybermen was men's work.  Kudos to Polly, however, for having none of it and joining Jamie and Ben as they fought back the Cybermen.  One of my favorite moments from this story, and one of the reasons that Polly has really grown on me as a companion.

The entire story is presented on the Lost in Time DVD.  The audio sountracks of episodes one and three, along with the intact episodes two and four.  Therefore, one can enjoy the entire story via the Lost in Time DVD. 

The only recommendation I would make is to substitute the audio soundtrack with linking narration by Frazer Hines available on CD or watch a reconstruction for the missing episodes one and three.  The audio soundtracks on the DVD are missing the linking narration, which can make things somewhat difficult to follow, particularly in the first episode, where there is a long stretch without any dialog. 

The Moonbase is one of my favorite Second Doctor stories, and one of my favorite Cybermen episodes.  It's well worth checking out, and with two of the four episodes still intact, it's also one of the few fourth series/season episodes that one can watch at least half the story as intended.

Story #32 - The Underwater Menace

The time travelers arrive at Atlantis, and have to deal with a madman intent on blowing up the world in The Underwater Menace.

Written by Geoffrey Orme
Directed by Julia Smith

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
Polly - Anneke Wills
Ben - Michael Craze
Jamie - Frazer Hines

Main Guest Cast-
Professor Zaroff - Joseph Furst
Ara - Catherine Howe
Ramo - Tom Watson
Damon - Colin Jeavons
Jacko - Paul Ani
Sean - P.G. Stephens

Synopsis-
The Doctor and his companions arrive on a volcanic island somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  They are eventually captured by the inhabitants and taken down into the cavern system present on the island.

The island, as it turns out, is what remains of Atlantis.  The Doctor and his companions are due to be sacrificed to the Atlantian god Amdo.  However, a scientist by the name of Professor Zaroff intervenes during the sacrifice, saving their lives.  The Doctor is taken by Professor Zaroff to his lab, while Ben and Jamie are sent to work in the mines below the city.  Polly is sent to be converted into a fishperson, who work as slaves to feed Atlantis via the plankton that they harvest.

The Doctor is able to convince a young Atlantian girl by the name of Ara to rescue Polly.  Meanwhile, Ben and Jamie have gained a couple of reluctant allies in the mines, Jacko and Sean.  The four escape their captors, and eventually make their way through the caves to the temple room in the city, where they meet up with Polly.

The Doctor, meanwhile, has discovered that Professor Zaroff intends to raise Atlantis from the sea, by flooding the Earth's core with seawater.  This will cause a chain reaction that will destroy the Earth.   The Doctor intends to stop Professor Zaroff, so Zaroff decides to have The Doctor and Ramo, an Atlantian priest who has become The Doctor's ally, sacrificed to Ramo. 

The Doctor and Ramo escape, thanks to help from Polly and the others.  The Doctor hatches a plan to stop Zaroff.  Sean and Jacko meet up with the fishpeople and convince them to stop working, thus cutting off Atlantis' food supply.  The Doctor and the others are able to capture Zaroff, but Zaroff fakes a seizure and kills Ramo.  After escaping, Zaroff finds that the Atlantians have lost faith in Zaroff and his plan due to the strike by the fishpeople.  Zaroff kills the Atlantian leader, and begins the countdown.

The Doctor decides to flood Atlantis to stop Zaroff.  Polly, Jamie and the others go off to warn the population about the rising water.  The Doctor and Ben go off to confront Zaroff.  The three eventually face off in Zaroff's lab as the water level continues to rise.  Zaroff ends up trapped behind a metal grille, unable to reach the detonator switch.  Zaroff drowns in the rising waters, while The Doctor and Ben make their escape.  The Doctor and Ben then meet up with Polly and Jamie and they all return to the Tardis to resume their travels.

Review-
The Underwater Menace is a fun adventure, if you're willing to ignore the absolutely bad science behind the tale.  First, if Atlantis is an island, then there should be alternative food sources beyond the easily spoiled plankton food that the fishpeople provide.  Secondly, it's pretty ludicrous to believe that flooding the Earth's core with seawater would cause the Earth to be destroyed.

Still, Joseph Furst's performance as Professor Zaroff dominates this story and makes it most worthwhile.  The Doctor's companions and allies are given quite a bit to do to advance the plot, particularly in the early part of the story where The Doctor is being kept in Zaroff's laboratory as a "guest".

I should probably fault The Underwater Menace for its bad science, much like I faulted the previous story The Highlanders for its bad history.  However, I have to give the nod to the Underwater Menace for simply being the more entertaining of the two stories. 

The Underwater Menace is yet another story with missing episodes.  Currently, only episode three is available on the Lost in Time DVD.  Since the release of Lost in Time, episode two has been found and returned to the BBC.  The BBC haven't yet announced their release plans for episode two, but I suspect it will be something similar to what they did with the other episode found at the same time ("Air Lock" from Galaxy 4). 

Until the BBC releases episode two on DVD, one does have to content themselves with the one released episode and the audio soundtracks/reconstructions/novelizations that are currently available for The Underwater Menace.  I'll admit I'm looking forward to the release of the recently found episode and given the good job that they did with Air Lock from Galaxy 4, I'm sure it will be worth the wait.



  

Story #31 - The Highlanders

We bid adieu to the historical story, but are introduced to a new companion in the Highlanders.

Written by Gerry Davis and Elwyn Jones
Directed by Hugh David

Main Cast-
The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
Polly - Anneke Wills
Ben - Michael Craze
Jamie McCrimmon - Frazer Hines (first appearance as regular)

Main Guest Cast-
The Laird of Clan McLaren - Donald Bisset
Kirsty - Hannah Gordon
Grey - David Garth
Trask - Dallas Cavell
Lt. Ffinch - Michael Elwyn
Perkins - Sydney Arnold
MacKay - Andrew Downie

Synopsis-
The Tardis arrives on Culloden moor in 1746, just after the battle where the government forces of the Duke of Cumberland defeated the Jacobite forces of Charles Edward Stuart, also known to history as Bonnie Prince Charlie.

For those unfamiliar with the history behind the battle of Culloden, the Jacobites goal was to overthrow George II, the current king of the United Kingdom, and make Charles Edward Stuart king, thus restoring the Stuart dynasty.  The Jacobites rose in 1745, and many of Charles Edward Stuart's supporters were from the highland clans of Scotland.  The battle of Culloden was the culmination of the Jacobite rising of 1745.  The government forces of Cumberland soundly defeated the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart, thus ending the rebellion.

The Doctor, Ben and Polly leave the Tardis and run into a group of Jacobites.  The Jacobites are led by the Laird of Clan McLaren.  Also in the party are the Laird's daughter Kirsty, his son Alexander and his piper Jamie McCrimmon.

Alexander dies almost immediately in an attempt to hide the group's whereabouts from English soldiers.  Despite Alexander's sacrifice, the English soldiers, led by Lt. Ffinch, discover their hiding place.  Kirsty and Polly are able to evade capture, but everyone else is sentence to be hanged.

A solicitor by the name of Grey and his assistant Perkins arrive on the scene and take charge of the prisoners just prior to their hanging.  The prisoners are to be taken to Inverness, where they will board a ship for the West Indes.  Once there, the prisoners will become indentured servants on one of West Indes plantations.

Kirsty and Polly plan to spend the night in a cave.  Polly, worried about her friends, decides to venture to Inverness in the dark.  Polly falls into an animal pit, later to be followed by Kirsty who has come looking for her.  Lt. Ffinch, who is camped nearby, investigates and falls into the pit as well.  Kirsty and Polly blackmail Lt. Ffinch, since falling to a pit and being overpowered by two girls would look bad on his record.

The Doctor, meanwhile, has tricked Grey and Perkins and managed to escape prison.  The Doctor meets up with Kirsty and Polly.  Together they hatch a scheme to get the Scottish prisoners, who by now are on board the ship, firearms to resist their captors.

The crooked captain of the ship, Trask, who was in league with Grey and Perkins is killed by the real ship's captain Mackay.  Grey manages to escape the battle, while Perkins changes sides.  Mackay agrees to said the ship to safety in France, while Grey is arrested by Lt. Ffinch after Grey is unable to prove that the prisoners had signed the contract agreeing to being transported to the West Indes.

The Doctor, Ben and Polly return to the Tardis to resume their travels, along with Jamie McCrimmon who now joins the Tardis crew with a bit of encouragement from Polly.

Review-
If the only exposure one has had to the Jacobite rising of 1745-1746 and the battle of Culloden is this story, one can be forgiven if your perception of the battle is one of the Scots vs. English.   While it is true that the English fought almost exclusively for the government side, there were a large percentage of Scotsmen that also fought for the government side against the Jacobites.  One of the reasons why many Scotsmen fought on the government side involves religion, Charles Edward Stuart was a Catholic and there was a good deal of fear from the mostly Protestant population that if Charles was successful in overthrowing George II, that Charles would restore the Catholic religion.

The Highlanders mostly avoids the actual history behind the battle.  I suspect part of the reason for this is it was much easier to write a simple Scots vs. English story than to write a story that would take in the real events behind the battle.  This simplification of historical facts colored my enjoyment of the rest of the story.  Someone who isn't a history buff, or isn't necessarily as bothered by this simplification of the actual historical event, would probably enjoy The Highlanders. 

The story itself can be quite engaging and I especially enjoyed the scenes where Kirsty and Polly manipulate the English officer Ffinch into becoming their reluctant ally.  The Second Doctor is coming into his own in this story, at one point he disguises himself as a woman, much like what Bonnie Prince Charlie is rumored to have done.  Clearly, the humor that would eventually permeate the Second Doctor era and defuse the tension was beginning to show in this story.

The Highlanders also introduces us to the longest running male companion in the show's history, Jamie McCrimmon.  Jamie would become a fixture of the Second Doctor era, appearing in every subsequent Second Doctor story and appearance (the lone exception being the 10th anniversary special The Three Doctors).

In the end, I simply couldn't put aside the historical inaccuracies present in the story, and I think that colored my enjoyment of the story overall.  Given this, it's probably just as well that the show decided to stop using the historical format after this story, outside of the one-off Black Orchid during the Fifth Doctor era.

The Highlanders is completely missing from the BBC archives, in the case of the Highlanders I chose to listen to the audio soundtrack to experience the story.  I'd probably make an attempt to seek out this story, much for the same reason that one should seek out The Tenth Planet.   The Tenth Planet was a ground-breaking story for the show, with the introduction of the Cybermen and the first regeneration of The Doctor.  The Highlanders is significant for being the last regular historical story and for the introduction of Jamie McCrimmon.