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.