Written by Malcolm Hulke
Directed by Paul Bernard
Main Cast-
The Doctor - Jon Pertwee
Jo - Katy Manning
The Master - Roger Delgado
Main Guest Cast-
Earth President - Vera Fusek
General Williams - Michael Hawkins
Draconian Emperor - John Woodnutt
Draconian Prince - Peter Birrel
Synopsis-
The Doctor and Jo nearly collide with an Earth cargo ship. Landing inside the ship, The Doctor and Jo witness an attack on the ship by the Ogrons. However, thanks to a hynoptic device, the cargo ship's crew believes that they were attacked by their rivals the Draconians.
The Ogrons are attacking both Earth and Draconian ships, hoping to start a galactic war. The Master is helping the Ogrons with their deceptions. But who exactly is The Master working for?
The Doctor tries to explain the situation to the Earth President, and later to the Draconian Emperor, mostly to no avail. Eventually, the real leaders of the Ogrons show up and it's none other than the Daleks!
Review-
The less said about Frontier in Space, the better I'll like it. Frontier in Space eventually devolves into a prison escape story, except the problem is the prisoners escape only to be recaptured and thrown into prison once again.
Sadly, Frontier in Space would be Roger Delgado's last performance as the Master, and it's by far the worst story to feature Delgado's version of the Master. I believe a final story was planned to send off Delgado's character, but his tragic death in a car accident prevented this final story from being filmed.
Having the Daleks show up at the end of this story added nothing to the tale, and the rather clumsy ending (if one can call it that) doesn't help. The ending is supposed to lead into the next story, the Planet of the Daleks, with the idea of making the two stories seems like one larger epic (something that the BBC is encouraging, since they've packaged the two stories together in a DVD set entitled Dalek War).
However, the following story never resolves the Earth-Draconian conflict. Do the Earthmen and Draconians work together to fight off the Ogrons and the Daleks? We never find out, we just have to assume that they do.
However, by that time I was almost beyond caring. By far one of the worst Doctor Who serials, one I won't be revisiting anytime soon.
