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!
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