The Aztecs

You can't change history, not one line!

The Aztecs is one of those stories that I set aside for special purpose. It was the second full story I ever saw after The Masque of Mandragora and it was quite jarring as I had only been exposed to pre-Romana Fourth Doctor stories at that point. You can imagine that going from those to the slow paced, full historical story where the Doctor takes a backseat to both Barbara and Ian was a real shock to the system. It didn't sit that well and I had a rather negative opinion of the story ever since. However, having gotten used to the style of the First Doctor stories, I wanted to give this one another chance and thought it fitting that I should close out the First Doctor with the first story of his that I ever saw.

Plot Summary

The TARDIS arrives in the tomb of an Aztec priest named Yetaxa. Susan examines the mummified body, takes a bracelet off and puts it on. Susan walks back to see the Doctor and Ian while Barbara passes through a hidden door. She is discovered by the priest Autloc who sees her bracelet and believes she is the manifestation of the goddess Yetaxa.

The Doctor, Susan and Ian find Barbara missing and go look for her. They pass through the same hidden door and find that it is a one way door, leaving them trapped outside the tomb and away from the TARDIS. They are also discovered by Autloc who takes them to Barbara. Autloc believes that Barbara has come to alleviate a drought that has plagued them and attends to her. His colleague, Tlotoxl, is more suspicious of them.

Barbara keeps Susan near her as a handmaiden while Ian the Doctor are free to go about the city. The Doctor is taken to the gardens where the older citizens relax and offer wisdom when asked. There the Doctor meets Cameca who knows the son of the man who built the tomb in which Yetaxa is buried. The Doctor asks to meet this man in hopes of finding an entrance back in.

Ian is taken and dressed as a warrior chief as he is the favored of Yetaxa. He is also introduced to Ixta, who will be his rival to decide who is to command the whole army. Tlotoxl informs both of them that they will hold down the man who is to be sacrificed to appease the rain god later that day. Ian then goes to the garden where he warns the Doctor of what is going to happen.

Concerned, the Doctor warns Ian to not interfere and then heads up to see Barbara and warn her to do the same. Horrified, Barbara decides to interfere in hopes that she can destroy this side of the Aztecs and keep their good qualities, potentially preserving them from destruction by the Spanish. She steps out and orders the sacrifice stopped before Tlotoxl can kill the man. Believing he has been dishonored, the sacrifice appeals to Tlotoxl who orders him to throw himself off the pyramid. As he does so, the rain begins to fall.

Angered at Susan's cry during the ceremony, Tlotoxl orders her punished. Barbara overrules him and orders Susan sent to be educated in the customs of the Aztecs. Tlotoxl then accuses Barbara of being a false goddess and vows to destroy her. The Doctor reproaches Barbara for her foolishness and then warns her to play Tlotoxl and Autloc off each other, which she does to buy time.

In the city below, Ian demonstrates cunning and superior knowledge by knocking out Ixta using only a pressure grip technique. Angered by this humiliation, Ixta and Tlotoxl plot revenge by having Ixta kill Ian in single combat. They arrange for the next man to be sacrificed to the gods to request the battle and his request cannot be refused by law. Ian agrees, thinking it will be a non-lethal fight.

Ixta, as the son of the man who built the tomb, is summoned by Cameca to speak with the Doctor. Having been warned by Tlotoxl, Ixta agrees to provide the Doctor with plans of the tomb after his fight. He warns the Doctor that if he loses, he will be shamed and not allowed to speak to anyone for days. The Doctor, unaware that the fight is against Ian, takes a cactus needle and punctures the stem of a plant with it. The sap coats the needle and the Doctor tells Ixta to simply poke his opponent with the needle in the wrist and he will become woozy, allowing Ixta to win easily.

The Doctor heads back to see Barbara, unaware that Tlotoxl had invoked solitude for Barbara during her godhood testing. Barbara warns the Doctor to leave but not before telling him that Ixta's fight is against Ian. The Doctor rushes to warn Ian but is arrested by Tlotoxl's men. Barbara appeals to Autloc who agrees to release him if he was ignorant.

Ian and Ixta begin their fight at sunset. Ian drops Ixta several times but he gets up to reengage. The Doctor is brought in by the guards and he shouts to Ian to warn him. Distracted, Ian lets his guard down, allowing Ixta to stab him with the tainted needle. Ixta gets the drop on a drugged Ian and prepares to kill him. Barbara enters and demands that the contest stop. Tlotoxl refuses and orders Ixta to kill Ian until Barbara takes a knife and holds it to Tlotoxl's throat. Barbara states that if Ian dies, so will Tlotoxl and he orders Ixta to relent.

Autloc orders the Doctor released and he and Barbara retire to the temple. Ixta crows over Ian as he wakes up and Ian reluctantly admits that Ixta's plan was cunning. Ixta claims Ian's friendship but also vows to ultimately kill him to claim mastery of the army. Ixta also informs Tlotoxl of his arrangement with the Doctor, which was a lie as his father left no plans of the temple. As Ixta and Ian walk away, Ian overhears Tlotoxl plotting with the master of herbs Tonila to test Barbara via poison as poison would not hurt a god. Ian gets away from Ixta and warns Barbara in the temple.

Ian hides as he is not supposed to be there when Tlotoxl and Tonila enter with a cup offering atonement and friendship. Ian signals silently for her not to drink it and she offers it to Tlotoxl first as a test of his loyalty to her. When he refuses, she tosses it aside and rebukes them. Tonila runs away but Tlotoxl cowers. Barbara then confesses to him that she is not Yetaxa but will continue to play so to protect herself and her friends. Tlotoxl flees and vows to get proof of her lack of divinity.

In the garden, the Doctor sees Cameca with some cocoa beans and offers to make them drinking chocolate. Cameca, pleased, agrees to his proposal. The Doctor returns with two cups of chocolate which they share. Cameca then thanks him for his proposal and the Doctor realizes that the act was that of a marriage proposal. Flustered by what he has accidentally done, the Doctor still manages to learn from Cameca that Ixta's father disappeared a number of years ago after finishing the temple. He later informs Ian that he believes that there is a secret passage from the garden to the tomb and has a guess as to where it is located. Ian agrees to come that night to investigate.

Knowing that Barbara is too cunning, Tlotoxl decides to use her friends against her. He takes the man who is to be sacrificed during the solar eclipse a couple of days from now and takes him to see Susan, who is being educated in the customs of the Aztecs. The sacrifice is impressed with her knowledge and beauty and agrees to take her as his wife for the next few days of his life. Susan balks and refuses. Offended, the sacrifice storms out and Susan is deemed guilty of breaking religious law and sentenced to be punished.

Tlotoxl and Tonila go to see Barbara where Barbara forgives Tonila of his attempt to poison her. They pose the question of punishment to her regarding one of Autloc's acolytes, not revealing that it is Susan. Horrified at the nature of the punishment, Barbara objects and orders the person brought to her during the sacrifice of the eclipse along with her three servants. Tlotoxl readily agrees. Afterwards, Barbara learns from Autloc that Susan is the guilty party and that her punishment is to be carried out before the sacrifice, thwarting her plan of showing that the sun will return after the eclipse without the sacrifice.

Ian slips out of the warrior's quarters at night to meet the Doctor. He is unaware that Ixta has also awoken and is following him. The Doctor shows Ian the panel and Ian manages to lift the stone, revealing a passage. Ian climbs in, taking the Doctor's penlight to explore the passage. Ixta surprises the Doctor and offers to help him replace the stone, which the Doctor claims to have discovered while out for a walk. Ixta informs him that the passage is a means to divert water and tunnel floods on occasion. As he replaces the stone, Ian notices the water rising in the tunnel.

Ian dislodges a stone with graffiti on it and climbs out of the rising water. He follows a passage and emerges from the bier in the tomb where the TARDIS has landed. He takes a thin decorative rope from the mummified body and ties it to the fulcrum of the trick door, allowing the door to be opened from the outside. He takes the other end of the rope and exits the tomb to meet Barbara and the Doctor, who is greatly relieved to see Ian alive.

Ian then sneaks down to the military quarters where Ixta is guarding Susan and boasting about killing Ian. Ian knocks him out and takes Susan back to Barbara. However, although Ian tied the rope well, it takes more strength than they have to lift it. The Doctor realizes they need a pulley but suggests that Ian just go back and reopen the tomb from the other side. He takes Susan as a lookout.

Ian and Susan reach the gardens but before they can move the stone, they find an unconscious Autloc having been attacked from behind with Ian's club. Ian and Susan are immediately arrested by Tlotoxl and Ixta, though Ixta actually attacked Autloc on Tlotoxl's orders, and Autloc proclaims Barbara a false goddess, giving Tlotoxl permission to have them punished before the eclipse ceremony.

Barbara appeals to Autloc once he has recovered, but his faith has been destroyed. He offers to try and save Susan but cannot do anything for Ian. He then goes to see Cameca, who has learned that the Doctor is planning to leave, though regretfully. She offers her help and Autloc gives her his badge of office and title to his possessions to help bribe the guard to free Susan. Autloc then leaves the city to wander in the wilderness to find his faith again.

On the day of the eclipse sacrifice Ian and Susan are taken to a waiting room. Cameca enters and offers the guard the badge to dismiss the guards which he does. She then informs him that she is to take Susan but Ian knocks the guard out while distracted. Susan and Cameca head up to the temple while Ian steals the guard's headdress and joins the sacrifice escort.

Cameca meets the Doctor in the temple where he is finishing a pulley he carved to open the door. He and Cameca say their goodbyes with the Doctor remaining stoic when Cameca asks if she could come with him. He and Susan hide when the guards come to escort Barbara for the sacrifice. Tlotoxl moves to kill Barbara but Ian comes from behind and pins Tlotoxl and his knife.

Tlotoxl calls for Ixta and he flees when Ian faces the new threat. Barbara retreats into the temple and the three of them use the pulley to start opening the door. Ian and Ixta fight with Ian eventually knocking Ixta off the temple, killing him. He then retreats through the door which the Doctor pulls shut, taking the pulley with them.

Tlotoxl moves to try and chase them but the eclipse reaches it's peak and he calls it off to perform the sacrifice, which he believes honors his victory over the false goddess. In the tomb, the Doctor comforts Barbara that the Aztec civilization must die as history says it did but that she did save Autloc from sharing that fate. They enter the TARDIS with the Doctor initially leaving the broach Cameca gave him but then changing his mind and taking it with him.

Analysis

The Aztecs was definitely much better a second time around, but it is still not without some issues. Some of those elements are just products of being a first season story (such as the city-scape backdrop), but there are a number of other things that are conscious choices by the actors or director and some of them just don't quite work.

One of the most basic things to discuss about this story is that it is one of the few stories where the bad guy wins. Tlotolx does not succeed in killing Barbara or Ian, but he does drive them away and Autloc retreats to the wilderness, leaving him free to replace Autloc with someone loyal to him. I think the villain of just about any story would be thrilled with that outcome. Of course, you also have to factor in that even though Tlotoxl is villainous in his actions, he is also right. He is right that Barbara is a false goddess and that she is wrong to try and change their culture via fiat. Distasteful as the Aztec practice of sacrifice may be to Barbara's modern sensibilities, it is still a vital component of their culture and to try and change it while leaving the other aspects alone will not work. If one changes, other changes will radiate outward. This might have been a touch more satisfying if Tlotoxl wasn't quite so sinister in his ways. If he merely moved to expose Barbara and preserve their culture, he would have been more understandable. But Tlotoxl does go out of his way to be as black a character as he can be.

Some of that comes from the take on Tlotoxl. I doubt he was fully written this way so there must have been some discussion between the director and the actor to turn him into Richard III. Tlotoxl even has a hump when none is ever called for so this was a clear choice made outside of the script. I'm of a mixed mind on it because while I enjoyed the performance for the most part, it did feed into one of my principle complaints about the overall story and that was it's treatment as a televised play.

Nearly every aspect of this story put this into more of a play dynamic rather than a regular television story. Tlotoxl has a breaking the fourth wall moment at the end of Episode One, he hams it up the way you would expect in a performance of Richard III and even the staging reminded me strongly of scene i to scene ii transition. Again, the backdrop didn't help much either, but I expected that level of limitation. Of course, they were still finding their feet, but a television story that does little things to remind you that this is staged takes me out of the action far more than it draws me in.

Like most early stories, Ian is front and center in this one. He is "man of action" the whole way and much of the plots and plans require his central involvement. Of course, he also draws a lot of the drama to himself as well. Ixta is an asshole but Ian also goes out of his way to constantly bait him. I'm actually not even sure why Ian constantly does draw attention since he should be trying to deflect attention from himself and Barbara as much as possible. Yet he shows off the ability to disable a man using pressure point techniques (which I doubt the British Army taught to it's National Service members) and also spends far too much time toying with Ixta rather than dispatching him immediately. In the fight at the end of Episode Two, Ian manages to drop Ixta several times, always letting him up to try again until he manages to sting Ian with the cactus needle. Ian, for showing off that technique, should have held Ixta down the first time he flipped him and knocked him out, ending the fight in thirty seconds. Yet it goes on so we can get the cliffhanger. I like Ian and he is important but this is probably the most arrogant and silly we've seen him so far and that is a bit out of character.

Barbara is also somewhat out of character, though she is clearly meant to be shown as empathetic. Still, Barbara is smart enough to know that one can't just cancel out one aspect of a culture and expect the "good side" flourish in the absence of the "bad side." What's more, even if she had succeeded, did she still expect that a flourishing culture would have resisted Cortez's invasion? This is drama to create drama and I don't believe that Barbara would have made such foolish decisions in a vacuum. Nevertheless, her performance is quite good and it allows the further development of the respectful relationship she has with the Doctor. Ian and Susan might have been highly berated by him, but although he does lecture, he does show more empathy towards her and talks softly in how they may work to fix the problem. I do also enjoy the performance she gives when she is in complete control of the situation and not held to any standards that might have affected her earlier situations.

The Doctor is actually rather pleasant in this one. Susan is taken away for two episodes and even when she is around, she is in either Ian or Barbara's company, leaving the Doctor to do as he likes. Despite his ulterior motives in trying to get access to the tomb and back to the TARDIS, his affection for Cameca seems genuine. His comedic reactions when finding out he has actually proposed marriage are quite funny and add some much needed levity to the story as everyone else is very serious. But it is still one of his most pleasant performances and although his involvement is less than future Doctors (as what caught me off guard the first time I saw it) he is still very much involved in the whole plot.

Susan was again the weakest of the group. Carole Ann Ford was on holiday for Episodes Two and Three so her two short scenes were filmed inserts. While she showed herself as independent, expressing the modern idea of choosing a partner for herself, she still went to pieces when confronted with a minor bit of resistance. It makes her whiney and she does effectively nothing in the plan to get back into the tomb. She actually is a liability since it is her punishment for expressing the modern ideas that draw Barbara further into Tlotoxl's plans to destroy her. Once again, the story would have been better without her.

The direction was pretty decent although the lack of space in the studio becomes apparent in the fight scenes, especially the one at the end of Episode Two. But aside from the problem with the fight scene, the pace and manner of the direction was pretty good. Again, there were those play moments, such as the fourth wall break at the end of Episode One, but even with that in mind, there was nothing that I caught as being a problem.

Overall, I'd say this was pretty decent but with some small flaws. It is a bit slow to get started but once the plan to get back into the tomb is set in motion towards the end of Episode Two, the story rolls along and draws you in. Unlike other stories, the end doesn't feel rushed and that is appreciated. So it's only real limitations is the play-like aspect and the somewhat unsatisfying feeling of Tlotoxl winning. Even though it's necessary, Tlotoxl getting some level of comeuppance would have been satisfying. Yes Ixta's death felt satisfying, but a setback for Tlotoxl would have felt better. Perhaps if it were clearer that Cortez would be landing in a short span of time and that Tlotoxl would be destroyed through him, that would have sat better, but it's unfortunately vague on how soon it will be before the Spanish invade. So I think I can say that it's a decent story, but not fully satisfying at times.

Overall personal score: 3 out of 5

The Daleks

Make no attempt to capture the prisoners. They are to be exterminated!

This is the story that really kicked things off. Whatever one thinks of An Unearthly Child now, it didn't really grab the public in ways that the BBC wanted. It was the following story that grabbed the public attention and kicked off Dalekmania. Of course, this story is also known for being heavily padded and of the First Doctor still being in his crotchety mode. But can the story as a whole rise up and still be entertaining to a modern audience?

Plot Summary

The Doctor and crew arrive on an alien planet, unaware that the radiation meter has crept up into the danger zone. They exit the TARDIS and find themselves in a petrified jungle where the trees have been turned into brittle stone. The explore a bit more and discover a city over the ridge which also seems devoid of life. The Doctor wants to explore it but cannot due to the approach of dark. The group heads back to the TARDIS. On the way, Susan is touched on the shoulder by an alien hand. She panics and lurches back to the group but both the Doctor and Ian believe that she imagined it.

Inside the TARDIS, Susan mopes a bit though Barbara telling her that she believes her comforts her some. The Doctor treats Ian and Barbara to some food but their meal is interrupted by a knocking sound outside. They turn on the scanner but find nothing there. Unnerved, the other three insist on leaving. Annoyed, the Doctor starts to take off but he loosens the fluid link below the console. The TARDIS fails to take off and he claims to just discover the fault. He also claims that they will have to refill the fluid link with mercury and the only place to find it will be the city.

In the morning they prepare to head down to the city and find a box containing glass vials filled with fluid. Susan puts them in the TARDIS and they set out. They reach the city some time later, all of them starting to suffer from radiation sickness. They split up to explore and Barbara becomes separated by a series of closing doors. She is trapped in an elevator and when it opens, she is captured by an unseen creature.

When Barbara fails to return to the rendezvous point, the other three go to look for her. In the city, they find scientific equipment monitoring the radiation levels and realize that they're suffering from radiation sickness. The Doctor also admits that the fluid link works fine but the Doctor made up the story about needing mercury because he wanted to visit the city. They leave the room but find themselves surrounded by Daleks. The Daleks order them to move but Ian tries to make a break for it. The Daleks shoot him, temporarily paralyzing him from the waist down. The Daleks make the Doctor and Susan drag Ian into a cell where Barbara had already been taken.

Believing the Doctor and his party to be Thals, their planetary enemy, the Daleks pull the Doctor out and interrogate him. The Doctor learns about the neutron war between the Daleks and the Thals while the Daleks realize that the Doctor is not actually a Thal. They also learn that he might have anti-radiation chemicals which the Daleks believe they will need if they are ever to leave the city. They tell the Doctor that one of their party may go to the TARDIS to get the chemicals while the rest stay as hostages.

Ian wants to go but the feeling in his legs has not fully come back and both the Doctor and Barbara are starting to suffer from the advanced stages of the radiation sickness. Ultimately, Susan goes and despite some frights, makes it back to the TARDIS and collects the vials. Upon leaving the TARDIS, she meets a Thal called Alydon. He tells her that he left the chemicals for them and gives her a second box upon learning that they are currently being held by the Daleks.

As Susan returns, the Daleks change their minds about letting the humans die as they might have some value. They seize one of the boxes but allow Susan to keep the second and she distributes the chemical to everyone, allowing them to return to full health. She tells the other three that the Thals have been forced to leave their settlement due to drought and are currently looking for food. They hope to sign a peace treaty with the Daleks in exchange for food. The Daleks overhear this and decide to set a trap to destroy the Thals.

Susan is pulled from her cell and told to write a letter to the Thals including promises of food and mutual cooperation. Susan realizes that the Daleks have been monitoring their conversations in the cell but believes they are sincere in their talk of a truce. However the Doctor is not so convinced and decides they must take action to escape.

The Doctor and Ian stage a fight where Susan leaps on Ian's back and while elevated, destroys the camera watching them. The Daleks suspect it was deliberate but opt to leave them alone. Free to talk, the Doctor figures out that the Daleks are drawing power via static electricity in the floor. They figure that if they can get a Dalek on to the plastic cloak Alydon gave Susan, it will kill the power to the Dalek.

When a Dalek enters to bring them food, Ian jams the door. The Dalek reenters and Barbara blinds it with mud made from dirt that adhered to Susan's shoe. Ian and the Doctor then drag the Dalek onto the cloak where it goes inert. They pull out the mutant inside and Ian climbs in the casing. He then escorts them down the hall and into the elevator as though taking them to the council.

After the main door closes, the trio tries to get Ian out but he find the latch stuck. Meanwhile a passing Dalek informed the council of the prisoners approach and learns that this was actually an escape attempt. The alarm is sounded and other Daleks come and begin to cut through the door. The trio is sent up the elevator while Ian tries to get out. Upon reaching the surface, the Doctor sends the elevator back for Ian, who just manages to get out and in the elevator before the Daleks break through and destroy his casing.

The Daleks pursue them up the elevator but Barbara and Susan send a large rock down the shaft and destroy the elevator and the pursing Dalek. They also spy a group of Thals coming to meet with the Daleks. Unable to get their attention, Ian goes to warn the Thals while the Doctor and the women make their way back to the TARDIS.

The Thal leader, Temmosus, enters the room and offers the Daleks peace. As he begins to invite the other Thals in, Ian leaps out and yells that it's a trap. The Daleks emerge from their hiding places and kill Temmosus. They shoot at Ian and the retreating Thals but only succeed in wounding a couple of them.

Back at the TARDIS, the group prepares to leave but they discover that the fluid link is still in the city as the Daleks had taken it from Ian. Knowing that they will have to fight the Daleks, they try to convince the Thals to fight with them. Alydon, who has become the new leader, refuses until Ian spurs him to anger by suggesting he could get what he needs by trading a woman Alydon fancies, Dyoni, to the Daleks. Alydon knows it's a trick but he attacks Ian anyway and realizes that fighting and dying would be better than living in meager cowardice.

Back in the Dalek city, the Daleks begin to distribute their replication of the Thal's anti-radiation drugs. However, the drug begins to kill the Daleks and they cease implementation. They counteract the drugs with more radiation exposure and most of the Daleks recover. They decide that since radiation levels on the planet are steadily dropping, they must introduce more radiation to the planet and prepare to set off a new neutron bomb.

Alydon, the Doctor, Ian, and another Thal named Ganatus devise a two part attack plan. Ganatus and a group of the Thals with Ian and Barbara will travel through the swamps at the rear of the city and sneak in through the mountains to catch the Daleks by surprise. The Doctor, Susan, Alydon and the rest of the Thals will distract and disrupt the Daleks with feinting tactics at the front of the city. After three days, they will attack the front and meet in the middle.

Gantus leads his group through the swamps where they discover pipes leading from the lake to the city. Figuring the Daleks are pumping their water from the lake, the decide to follow the pipes. However, one of the Thals is attacked and sucked under the lake while filling the water bags.

The remaining group enters the mountain caves a treks through. Ganatus' brother, Antodus, becomes increasingly fearful and wants to turn back. Ganatus tries to restrain him but a sudden cave-in causes both men to fall back. The cave-in blocks their escape and the group presses forward knowing it's their only way out.

Distracting the Dalek cameras with mirrors, the Doctor, Susan and Alydon sneak into the city, destroying antennae and cameras. They find a control box for the power and the Doctor works to short-circuit the system. He sends Alydon back to move the mirrors to a new location and then destroys the box. Pleased with himself, he fails to move quickly and he and Susan are captured by a Dalek patrol sent to investigate.

In the caves, Ganatus and Barbara find an opening that leads to an underground river. The river cuts off their path but they can see another tunnel on the far side. Ian and Ganatus leap across the chasm to investigate and find that it leads back towards the city. They then have all the others leap across with them. However, Antodus mistimes his jump and slips down the cliff face, his safety rope threatening to drag Ian down with him. Antodus then cuts the rope and falls to his death while Ganatus pull Ian back up the cliff.

The Doctor and Susan are taken into the city and held in a room just off the control room. The Daleks are diverting the radiation from their nuclear reactors into a storage device and will release that into the atmosphere rather than setting off a new neutron bomb. The Doctor offers to show the Daleks the TARDIS and how it works in exchange for not releasing the radiation and setting them free. The Daleks however decide that they will simply examine his ship without his help if necessary.

Alydon gathers up the Thals and attacks the city, using the Doctor's knock out of the detection equipment as cover. He meets up with Ganatus' group, who has just emerged from the tunnels in the water pumping area, and the separate groups all converge on the Dalek control room. The Daleks are counting down the release of the radiation but are distracted by the Thal attack. One Dalek is pushed into the power relay which both electrocutes the Dalek and also cuts the power to the rest of the Daleks throughout the city. Without the power, the Daleks simply cease to function, leaving the mutants trapped in cases that cannot support them.

The groups return to the forest with the fluid link and the equipment the Daleks used to grow food. They each say their goodbyes, with Ganatus lingering a bit with Barbara, and then leave in the TARDIS. As the TARDIS takes off, it suddenly lurches violently, throwing everyone inside to the ground.

Analysis

Because Terry Nation had a tendency to recycle various parts of his story elements, it has become a bit fashionable among fans to dismiss all of his work as just the same thing. However, there is something rather unique in the original Dalek story and when you go back and watch it with an open mind, it is actually quite good. Yes, there are elements that come up in later stories and yes it is rather padded, but it almost surprising as how well it holds up as a story and you can see how Dalekmania blossomed in it's wake.

One of the things that I think is very important to enjoying this story is understanding it's context. Unlike most of the other First Doctor stories, this one has Ian and Barbara still pretty pissed at the Doctor for abducting him as well as the Doctor being closer to his nastier self as seen in the caveman adventure (which did not get notes from Sidney Newman). Therefore, there is a natural tension that arises and Ian's attitude of either not trusting or being openly angry towards the Doctor is completely understandable.

The Doctor is better in this story than in the previous one. Yes he sabotages the ship, but not in any meaningful way and there is an inherent curiosity that is appealing in him. He also is clearly the idea man for though Ian and Susan actually carry things out, it is the Doctor that comes up with the various concepts, showing that they must think their way out of the situation rather than just use brute force.

All the companions are pretty good in this one, even Susan. I noted Ian's attitude towards the Doctor but you can see the good man and natural leader pretty much throughout the story. It is also interesting to see that Barbara, who doesn't get as much to do in this story, is already starting to become the Doctor's favorite. She is the one who sides with the Doctor against Ian in provoking the Thals, even though Ian is right. In The Edge of Destruction, it is Barbara who the Doctor specifically makes up with after the events in the TARDIS. Her little dabble with Ganatus is nice but even from this point you know she is Ian's woman. Still it provides a nice reminder that Barbara is a fairly young woman and not defaulting completely into the mom role.

Susan is more of a mixed bag in this story but it certainly is better than her previous one. I think what gets to me most about her is that Carol Ann Ford is clearly in her early twenties and should be playing a character in her mid-to-late teens. However, her dialogue and dialogue about her is more geared towards a character that is closer to ten. I could easily imagine my own daughter (who is eleven) saying these lines and acting like Susan does. She is responsible in a group but so easily hysterical when forced to do something on her own. If Susan was as stroppy a teenager as we might expect, she should have been more independent and less fearful, even with the night run to the TARDIS. I can understand why her character was reduced to a young girl in the movie version. Again her overall performance isn't bad, but the contrast in written age and actual age is just strikes a sour note here and there.

One of the things that really surprised me when I was rewatching this is how different the Daleks were compared to their usual state. I think we have gotten used to Daleks that are rant-y and near insane with hate. Here you have cold and calculating Daleks. They kill with impunity but they have a cold logic that also keeps them from killing indiscriminately. The Daleks as originally written actually are far closer to the scheming David Whitaker Daleks of Power of the Daleks and Evil of the Daleks than they are of even Terry Nation's other Dalek scripts.

My suspicion is that in this original treatment, the Daleks are just written as another alien race and given a cold, logical style. In the next appearance of the Daleks (The Dalek Invasion of Earth) Nation turned them into a Nazi parallel and I think he never went away from that, which caused the Daleks to lose some of that conniving quality that only reappeared when someone else wrote them.

I find it fascinating that the Daleks are not actually taken in by nearly any of the deceptions tried against them. They know the cameras are knocked out deliberately by the prisoners, they are aware of the infiltrations into the city and even the escape attempt they cotton on to fairly quickly. It is only their limitations to the city and their underestimating of the potential damage these things can do that really harms them.

The Thals are a little generic and a touch boring but not in an overly objectional way. Fortunately, there are very few scenes with them by themselves as those scenes just don't grab you. I should even put a caveat there as the worst offender is Dyoni. The actress seems a bit unsure of how to play the character and ends up being a bit more aloof that I think is needed. Temmosus is actually somewhat interesting given how few scenes he gets as he is the pure optimist, choosing to try peace rather than war. Alydon is more of a blend but I think that style of character was done better as Taron in Planet of the Daleks.

Since I have introduced the concept of the Thals being a bit dull, let's talk about the limitation of this story and that is its padding. Granted, your appreciation of this story is going to be far different if you actually space it out over seven weeks rather than watch it in one or two sittings as most modern fans do. That emphasizes the padding and makes it so much more noticeable. I ended watching this in two sittings and got through Episode Five before I had to stop and the only part that bothered me was Episode Two where they were in the cell. Going back the next day, even the famously drawn out crevasse jump scene in Episode Six didn't feel that bad and I'm sure would have been very tense for the kids watching.

These two instances led me to think that the padding that Terry Nation puts in is only that heavily noticeable when there is no movement. I don't think he does people sitting and talking very well the way Malcolm Hulke or Robert Holmes does. Nation is a writer that is entertaining when things are moving. So even the crevasse scene is not that bad because there is movement and you know that someone is going to fall. It gains tension even if it is too much time paid to. But having the four sit around dying of radiation poisoning while Ian tries to get his legs to work and also convince Susan that she has to go to the TARDIS just gets dull. Contrast that scene to a similar one in Episode Three where they are all working together to escape and even though it is again them confined in a room and talking, there is action in the form of a plan taking shape and stuff being done to implement that plan.

There are two other points that really bother me from a story standpoint. The first is that Alydon joins Ian's team after they emerge from the mountains. If Alydon was able to do that, it effectively means that the entire journey through the swamp and the mountains (with two deaths to beat) was totally pointless. Ian's team gained no advantage if a Thal group that came through a frontal assault was able to join and work with them. It might be argued that the Daleks became aware of Ian's team in the city and that caused them to redirect their defenses which allowed Alydon's team to get in, but that is not made clear. I think it would have worked better if we had seen Alydon's team attack the control room, grabbing the Dalek's attention and then having Ian's team attack and getting the drop on the Daleks as the plan was more originally constructed.

My other objection is the oddity of the Daleks not being aware of their need for radiation. You would think that after several hundred years, the Daleks would have come up with their own anti-radiation treatments and figured out that their physiology had adapted to the radiation long before this. It is this lack of drugs or understanding of their physiology that both drives the plot in Episode Two and then provides the added danger of the countdown (which is rather unnecessary) in Episodes Six and Seven. It's just something added that makes no real sense and don't really add anything to the overall plot of the story.

Going back to the positive side, I think the end of Episode One where an unseen Dalek except for the plunger approaching Barbara is one of the best cliffhangers in the scene. It is played very well by Jacqueline Hill and when done on top of the already disorienting cinematography of her being cut off and herded deeper in, it must have scared the kids watching immeasurably. You can also tell that it was a second go around because there is a different reaction in the recap at the start of Episode Two and it just doesn't work as well in ratcheting up the tension. But the one in Episode One is excellent.

On that note, the design and direction are quite good in this story. Even though a lot of sets are reused, they do it in such a way that it really disguises the reuse. The action flows well and you get very good performances out of nearly all the actors. I think you could show this story to a more modern audience and they would have a measure of respect for the way it looks and their objections would be restricted to story and pacing which is just so different in today's television.

Overall I would say that this is a good story, better than what is generally expected. Because there is so much repetition with Nation, I think fans feel they have the measure of this story and prejudge it based on their knowledge of other stories. They also object to the obvious padding and while that does drag the story at a few points, it is moves pretty well. I wouldn't have a problem sitting down with this one again in the near future but I also think that if you were going to expose a new fan to this, it would be better done in smaller chunks, only one or two episodes at a time to allow them to digest it. It might make the padded nature of it seem like less of a slog if they are not used to that format.

Overall personal score: 4 out of 5

Marco Polo

If I win, perhaps I can have my caravan back again?

Marco Polo is considered by many to be the holy grail of missing stories. It is the longest and the first in that stretch. It was also done in an era when the show was still focused very heavily on teaching so a great deal of effort was put in to it's visual style. As a story it's not too bad, but watching the recons forces one's attention away from the supposedly impressive set design, costumes and directions and instead towards the story and that is where problems start to crop up.

Plot Summary

The TARDIS arrives on the top of a mountain where the crew discovers large footprints in the snow. The Doctor emerges in a foul mood as one of the power circuits has failed rending them without the ability to heat the TARDIS. The Doctor and Susan examine the damage while Ian and Barbara go to look for fuel to make a fire.

While searching, Barbara sees a man skulking among the rocks. She and Ian head back to tell the Doctor, who is increasingly worried as it will take him several days to fix the circuit. Upon hearing of men, they decide to head down the mountain to find these people and shelter. Reaching the same spot, they are set upon by a group of Mongols. The leader, believing they are evil spirits decides to kill them but his hand is stayed by a European who orders them brought back to camp in the name of Kublai Khan.

In camp, the European is revealed to be Marco Polo and he is on a mission to return to Shangdu with the ambassador warlord Tegana and the lady Ping Cho where she is to be married to a lord of the court. Polo offers the TARDIS crew shelter but Tegana remains wary of them.

Polo orders the TARDIS brought down from the mountain top and into camp. He informs the TARDIS crew that they will be coming with them as they head towards the supply town of Lop. Because of the fears that they are spirits among the Mongols, Polo orders that no one enters the TARDIS while they journey and the Doctor agrees.

The caravan travels along the Silk Road until they reach Lop on the edge of the Gobi Desert. The Doctor attempts to enter the TARDIS but is restricted by the Mongols. Polo then reveals to them that he is homesick but has not been permitted to leave by Kublai Khan. Polo intends to give the TARDIS to Kublai Khan in exchange for his release from service. He offers to take the Doctor and his party back to Venice where they can make another TARDIS. They argue with him but Polo has made up his mind. The Doctor is so aghast that he begins to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation.

Tegana meanwhile hatches a plan to poison the water supply of Polo's caravan and seize the TARDIS for his own use to overthrow Kublai Khan. The caravan sets out across the Gobi desert with Tegana planning to poison the water after three days travel into the desert.

The Doctor continues to pout and his actions upset Susan. Barbara consoles Susan while Ian builds friendship with Polo. Susan heads to her tent but she and Ping Cho leave to go look at the desert stars. While out there, they spy Tegana and follow him. But they soon fall behind and go to turn back but are caught in a sandstorm.

Hunkering down, Ian, Barbara, and Marco discover that Tegana, Ping Cho, and Susan are gone. They call out into storm but cannot find them. However, their yells attract Tegana who finds the girls and brings them back into the camp.

They set off again and that evening Tegana brings attention to the water that he poisoned the previous night. Marco suspects bandits and will not head back to Lop, fearing they will be set upon. Ian suggests heading north to an oasis and Marco agrees, though he doesn't favor their chances. Tegana tries to refuse to go and head back to Lop but Marco orders him to stay. They head north but their weakened condition forces them into a slower and slower pace each day. Tegana rides ahead, promising to bring back water. He reaches the oasis but after refreshing himself remains there to wait for the caravan's death.

The Doctor collapses from the heat and lack of water and the others convince Marco to let him enter the TARDIS to rest. He relents and Susan is allowed to go with him. The rest of the caravan continue on through the night and rest in the morning. In the TARDIS, the Doctor and Susan wake to find condensation has formed on the walls of the TARDIS and they move quickly to collect it. Marco Polo doesn't believe them at first and accuses the Doctor of hording water but he becomes convinced when the Doctor and Susan drink it without harm.

Renewed, they press on to the oasis where they find Tegana. Tegana claims he was forced to wait due to bandits and when he had collected water for them, he saw them coming over the hills and waited there. They opt to stay one day with Barbara and Ian becoming suspicious of Tegana. As a safety precaution, Marco insists the Doctor turn over the TARDIS key to him.

The continue and arrive at the next city, a tourist destination with the Temple of a Thousand Buddhas and the Cave of 500 Eyes. The Doctor prepares to work in repairing the circuit, revealing to Ian that he gave Marco a fake key while he kept the original. They are all distracted at that moment as Ping Cho settles in to tell a story of the Hashashin, inspired by the tale of the Cave of 500 Eyes.

Tegana slips away and meets messengers from his lord in the Cave of 500 Eyes. He learns that his lord has assembled an army and is awaiting a time to attack. Tegana informs the messenger of the TARDIS and believes it can be used as a weapon. Tegana suggests that they attack the caravan on the road posing as bandits to take the TARDIS and kill the rest. They are interrupted when one detects Barbara in the outer cave, having followed Tegana out. She is captured and Tegana returns to the inn.

The group discovers Barbara missing and Marco organizes search parties to look for her. Susan and Ping Cho inform the Doctor that they think Barbara may have gone to the Cave of 500 Eyes. The three set off to the cave using information supplied by the innkeeper. The innkeeper then goes and tells Tegana that the Doctor, Susan and Ping Cho have gone to the cave. Angry, Tegana sets off after them. The innkeeper also tells Ian and Marco who also set out after them.

In the cave, they find Barbara's scarf and begin calling out for her. Tegana find them and suggests they leave to avoid the evil spirits. The Doctor laughs him off and shows him Barbara's scarf as proof she was here. Ian and Marco arrive shortly after and they to are shown the scarf. Susan points out a point in the cave where she saw the eyes move and Ian and Marco discover a hidden room in the cave.

They find Barbara being held by a man with a knife to her throat but they kill him before he can strike her down. They return to the inn where Tegana suggests they rid themselves of the TARDIS crew as they are diving the loyalties of the caravan. Tegana also suggests that the Doctor is lying to Marco about not having access to the TARDIS. Barbara enters and tells Marco that she followed Tegana to the cave though he denies it. Fearful of Tegana's warning, Marco refuses to believe Barbara and separates Susan and Ping Cho form rooming together.

They continue on, following the river. The Doctor makes progress in the circuit repairs but is fearful that Ping Cho will inform on them. Ping Cho herself is also sad as she does not want to lose Susan as a friend. At the next stop, Ping Cho recalls Tegana's words about never having visited the Cave of 500 Eyes before, despite his knowledge of the passage. She tells Marco but he reacts angrily and dismisses her.

In town, Tegana meets with the messengers again. He sets up an ambush in the approaching bamboo forest with promises to kill the Doctor and to deliver the TARDIS.

The Doctor sneaks into the TARDIS to continue his work but is observed by Tegana. Barbara sees this and tells Ian and Susan. Ian moves to distract Marco and appeals to him against Tegana. Tegana approaches and tells Marco that the Doctor has reentered the TARDIS with a second key. The trio head out in front of the TARDIS and catch the Doctor locking the door as he leaves, having finished the repairs. Tegana wrestles the key away and gives it to Marco. The Doctor refuses to tell Marco how to enter the TARDIS, even with the key and the TARDIS crew is placed under guard.

The TARDIS crew plans an escape. Breaking a plate, Ian uses the shard to cut a hole in the tent allowing him to slip out. Ian moves to knock out the guard but finds him already dead. Ian runs out to Marco's test to tell him that bandits are preparing to attack. They deploy the remaining guards and the Doctor urges them to escape in the TARDIS. Tegana, already thwarted in his ambush attack, urges Marco not to go into the TARDIS. Marco agrees and refuses the Doctor. Ian suggests they pile bamboo on the fire to create a noise to scare the bandits off.

Tegana's allies grow impatient and decide to attack at moonrise whether Tegana signals them or not. Tegana continues to scoff as Ian and Marco make preparations. Ian also confesses to Marco that they intended to escape. Despite Tegana's protests, the soldiers attack and Tegana kills the leader to cover his involvement. The exploding bamboo and the leader's death drive off the other soldiers.

Marco repeals the restrictions on the TARDIS crew in gratitude but keeps control of the TARDIS keys. Tegana is increasingly hostile towards the TARDIS crew and their suspicions of him are confirmed with the Doctor sure that he is after the TARDIS.

A courier arrives from Shangdu summoning Marco Polo to the summer palace. The group heads to the next city and the baggage, including the TARDIS are separated to travel with a trade caravan. Polo and the rest of the group will travel via horseback at a faster pace starting the following morning.

Tegana arranges with a local bandit to steal the TARDIS that night. Ping Cho meanwhile heads to Marco's room to inform him of dinner and steals one of the TARDIS keys. She gives it to Susan but is observed by Tegana heading to meet the bandit captain.

The TARDIS crew sets out from the inn with Ian first distracting then knocking out the guard. Susan doubles back, looking to say goodbye to Ping Cho. The other three make it into the TARDIS and realize that Susan is gone. Susan meanwhile is trapped trying to avoid Tegana but he grabs her as she tries to make a dash for the TARDIS. Ian comes out to help her but Tegana holds a knife to her and orders the Doctor and Barbara to come out as well. Marco arrives to see the situation and Tegana notes their escape attempt. Marco has the Doctor hand over the key in exchange for Susan. When pressed about where they got the key, Ian covers for Ping Cho by claiming he stole it.

In the morning, the group departs for Shangdu. While stopping at a rest area, Ian attempts to persuade Marco to give them back the TARDIS by telling him the truth about it. Marco doesn't believe him but does figure out that Ian lied about stealing the key and that Ping Cho was responsible.

Ping Cho, fearing the discovery and desperate to avoid her arranged marriage, sneaks away in the night to head back to Samarkand. Discovering her disappearance, Ian offers to go back for her and Marco agrees as he must push on for Shangdu. Ian discovers Ping Cho at the previous inn, having just lost her money to the same thief that Tegana hired to steal the TARDIS. Ian discovers that the TARDIS has been stolen when the real caravan driver shows up.

Tegana quarrels with Marco, desiring to go and look for the TARDIS and Ping Cho himself. Marco refuses until he learns that Barbara and Susan oppose Ping Cho's marriage. Learning that all of them oppose it, Marco authorizes Tegana to go after her, fearing that Ian has abandoned the search for Ping Cho and only gone after the TARDIS.

Ian and Ping Cho suspect that the bandits have taken the TARDIS to Karakorum. They set out after it along that road. On the road, they discover both the TARDIS and the bandit leader. Ian gets the drop on the bandit leader who confesses that he stole the TARDIS on orders from Tegana. At that moment, Tegana arrives, prepared to kill all three of them and take the TARDIS for himself.

Marco and the rest of the Doctor's party arrive in Shangdu and are allowed audience with Kublai Khan. The Doctor objects to bowing before Kublai Khan and is unable to fully bow before Khan due to his ailing back. Khan becomes sympathetic to the Doctor due to sympathetic pains. Marco also learns from Khan that Tegana's master Nogai has assembled his army at Karakorum and that they are to leave for Peking in the morning.

As Tegana moves to kill Ian, Kublai Khan's soldiers arrive. Tegana kills the bandit leader as he tries to flee to avoid exposure. Ian and Tegana accuse each other of attempting to steal the TARDIS but the guard captain, who is the same man as brought Khan's summons to Marco, orders that all three and the TARDIS be brought to Peking for Kublai Khan to judge.

In Peking, the Doctor plays backgammon with Kublai Khan and the Doctor keeps winning. They are interrupted by the arrival of the empress, who henpecks her husband over his losses. The Doctor offers to play one more game where he would give all that he has won back in exchange for the TARDIS. Khan reluctantly agrees and informs Marco of this as he informs Khan that Tegana has arrived. Unfortunately, the Doctor loses.

Marco is informed that Ian and Ping Cho are being held under suspicion of theft, accused by Tegana. Marco goes to Ian to hear for himself. Ping Cho validates Ian's story but the captain cannot. Ian is informed that he will have to stand with his word against Tegana as Ping Cho's fiancé has promised to take her away after the marriage ceremony tomorrow.

Tegana attempts to undermine Marco by noting that the Doctor attempted to steal the TARDIS back several times which Marco did not mention. Khan calls Marco out and Marco confesses his hope to bribe the Khan for his freedom. Khan laughs him off and orders the key brought to him, informing Marco that he won the TARDIS in a game of chance with the Doctor.

Ping Cho is informed that during the celebratory banquet, her fiancé died during the feast. Ping Cho is offered the chance to stay at court or to return to Samarkand. Ping Cho accepts the chance to stay. As she leaves, Khan orders Marco to give him the key and bring the Doctor after he meets with Tegana.

The Doctor and his friends realize that the Tegana is planning to kill Khan and allow Nogai to march his army into Peking and take over the empire. To warn Khan, they subdue the guard and rush to the hallway where they are rearrested by Marco. They warn him just as another guard informs him of Nogai's army approaching Peking. They are returned to their room while Marco runs to the throne room.

In the throne room, Tegana attempts to kill Khan but Marco interrupts. The two men fight in the chamber. Khan comes to and summons the guards who try to arrest him. Rather than be caught, Tegana falls on his sword.

Marco slips Ian the key in the confusion and the Doctor and his friends head quickly into the TARDIS and disappear. Marco apologizes to Khan but the Khan waves it off believing that the Doctor would have won it back eventually. Marco, finally believing Ian, idly wonders where they have gone.

Analysis

I've heard this story described as a road trip story and that does apply. It's a series of adventures that happen as the crew travels across China with not a lot of connective tissue in between each installment. Your enjoyment of that is going to be directly tied to whether you are in for an one episode at a time bit or if you are going to try and absorb the story as a whole. I tend to prefer taking the story in larger chunks and in doing so it goes over fairly well but it is not without issues.

Before delving into anything else, I would be very curious to know if this story existed, would it get the same treatment as The Talons of Weng Chiang from a race angle. Despite being set in China, there are almost no Asian actors in the entire story. The only Asian actor in any significant role is Ping Cho. All other actors are European. However, unlike The Talons of Weng Chiang, there is no real attempt to "yellow" any of the actors apart from the facial hair style. There also seems to be less effort to make an attempt at any stereotypical Asian accents either. Kublai Khan does a little vocal trick, but the actor is Eastern European and some of the accent may be native to him. The innkeeper does an accent as well, but it's more of the sycophantic fop rather than anything attempting Chinese. But Tegana, the guards and nearly all the other secondary characters merely speak in their proper theatrical voices.

So does that make the story more or less racist? There were probably east-Asian actors that could have been found but would they have performed as well as the ones they got? Given that you have European actors playing Asian roles, is it better to leave them European looking or would be better to go the Li H'sen Chang route and "yellow" them to make it appear more authentic? I don't know. I think the performances were fine and stressing too much over these type of things diminishes the overall take of the story. If it is something that others do have problems with, then note it as such and pass over the story.

On to the actual story. I think things worked out fairly well but even with the road trip aspect, I think the story goes on too long. The big hang up I have is Marco's continued trust of Tegana, juxtaposed with his on and off trust of Ian. I think it is quite clear that he never really trusts the Doctor and only Ian gains his actual friendship. The story does a fairly good job of showing why Marco trusts Tegana initially and Tegana's constant failures to kill the party or capture the TARDIS are given fairly believable reasons both in why they fail and why he suffers no significant suspicion from Marco.

However, the constant level of coincidence does build and the real breaking point comes after the incident with the Cave of Five Hundred Eyes in Episode Four where Susan and Ping Cho accuse Tegana. Marco may have no good reason to trust Susan, but he should trust Ping Cho and himself. Ping Cho and Susan point out a fallacy in Tegana's own story. I can buy that Marco would not have immediately moved against Tegana as this is only a small bit of evidence. But there is no reason not to believe them and he certainly shouldn't have lashed out at them as if they were accusing his best friend of treachery. Marco should have taken their statement with quiet contemplation and it would have added to the slow deterioration of relations between Marco and Tegana as well as fueling Tegana's own mild hysteria against the TARDIS crew. But instead, things keep reverting back to where they were at the start of the story with Marco fully trusting Tegana and not trusting the Doctor and his companions. It is wheel spinning at it's worst and it just doesn't make sense. A slow build of trust between Marco and the TARDIS crew coinciding with a distrust of Tegana would have paid off better and made complete sense as to why Marco finally gives Ian the TARDIS key in the end. As is, Marco is suddenly repaying Ian for being right all along and that somehow overrules his desires and the Khan's right of ownership? It does not feel earned in that way.

A second issue noted about this story is the number of little threats teased at here and there that just don't pay off. Ping Cho's arranged marriage does nothing except provide a reason for her and Ian to be back at the inn to see the TARDIS stolen. The Doctor losing the TARDIS at backgammon does nothing except keep them in Peking for another day to stop Tegana from assassinating the Khan. Even Tegana's own machinations seem overly complicated. His job is to delay Marco to give Nogai time to move his army. He alters these plans in order to steal the TARDIS, but if he is open to killing the party as is implied in the first couple of episodes, why does he continue to create elaborate schemes to hide his own complicity? Tegana should have just gathered his men, laid an ambush and killed everyone there. He comes closest to this in the bamboo forest in Episodes Four and Five, but even there, he is trying to hide his own involvement and possibly keep Marco alive so that he can continue with his mission to kill Kublai Khan. They work as little adventures to be thwarted by the TARDIS crew but make no sense in the long run.

On the plus side, I can say that this story is clearly well acted with everyone giving their all in various roles. This is also the story where you can see the Doctor shift from being a grump to being a bit more open and friendly. This makes his character much more pleasant to be around although he still doesn't get a whole lot of focus in the story apart from the TARDIS repairs. But all the other characters get nice moments throughout, with the focus of the story mostly on Marco and Tegana, both of whom play their roles well.

I can't speak to the direction of the story as their are only still pictures, but the costuming and set design seem quite well realized. The sets seem fairly elaborate, even when out in the desert and especially at the Khan's palace. Likewise the costuming is elaborate and well tailored. Perhaps it was because this is still the first season, but the show seems to have a lot more money than we are used to seeing them work with. It might also be that they were able to poach some things from other productions to cut costs. But it does make for some nice visuals, what little you are able to see in the recons.

One last gripe about this story is something that is unfortunately common: the rushed ending. With seven episodes to play with you would think that some set up could be made towards the ending as noted earlier with the potential build between Marco and Ian. But instead, we get a first half of the Doctor losing the TARDIS playing backgammon and Tegana ingratiating himself in court. It is only when we get the offstage death of Ping Cho's fiancé that the ending begins. There is the dawning realization between the TARDIS team that Tegana is about to assassinate the Khan (something they should have realized before then) and then the rush to tell Marco, the fight and the departure. All of this is compressed into a span of less than ten minutes and it feels just as rushed as described.

This rush off not only feels like a bit of a cheat at the end, but it leaves a hollow feeling. Tegana dies quickly after a fight and after he has actually made an attempt to kill Kublai Khan. Likewise, Marco slips Ian the key without any real reason given except that it is the right thing to do. This completely undercuts the whole premise that we have gone through the last six episodes four. It gives the viewer the impression of being cheated. Why go through so much if it ultimately didn't matter because of how slipshod things finished?

I think the proper summary of this story is actually best shown in the Wife in Space blog entry for Marco Polo. Neil shows Sue a 30 minute reconstruction of the whole story. She gets it and enjoys it. If you compress the whole thing, there is a lot more to enjoy with this story, but as is, it is long and it drags at times. If you put some space in between each episode, the enjoyment factor will probably go up, but trying to take it in only one or two sittings is a bit much as the wheel spinning becomes very apparent. If this were found I would not hesitate to watch it again to see what is missing by not having moving pictures, but in recon form, it's just too much padding to take in and properly enjoy on any kind of regular basis. It just feels like something to be gotten through.

Overall personal score: 2 out of 5

The Sensorites

I do not make threats. But I do keep promises.

The Sensorites is story where I can see why it is generally looked down upon by the fans, but I myself greatly enjoyed. It is not an action story, nor is it a tense cloak and dagger one. It is instead, a paranoid Cold War drama. In fact, if you replaced the Sensorites with the Chinese and made the appropriate setting changes, you'd never know this was a science fiction story. Others may find that boring, but I find it quite entertaining and rather dramatic in it's own 1960's way. I can't imagine that it was a big hit with kids though. Not enough stuff blowing up.

Plot Summary

The TARDIS crew materialize on a space ship but the scanner is jammed, preventing them from seeing. They leave the TARDIS and find two crew members who appear dead. They are in fact in a deep sleep and begin to rouse. The team helps them come around and Captain Maitland and Carol relate how they have been held by an alien race called the Sensorites. They control their minds and put them into deep sleeps, preventing them from leaving the orbit of the planet known as the Sense-sphere.

A Sensorite sneaks aboard and steals the lock on the TARDIS door, trapping the crew on the ship. The Sensorites then try to scare the crew into submission by guiding the ship towards the planet. The Doctor helps them steer away and ease their minds. As they recover, Barbara and Susan venture into other parts of the ship looking for water. They end up locked out and trapped with the third member of the crew, John, who was quickly controlled by the Sensorites and has been reduced to a more fearful animalistic state. He has also locked them out of the bridge.

Ian and Maitland try to cut through the door to get to Susan and Barbara but the Sensorites arrive and paralyze Maitland and Carol. They try to manipulate John into subduing Susan and Barbara but their kindness towards him allows him to resist in his mind as he reduces things to good and evil. Ian and the Doctor bring the other two around and they are able to get to Barbara and Susan. John is sedated to ease the strain on his mind.

Ian and Barbara venture into the rear of the ship looking for the Sensorite boarding party. They find each other with each side fearful. Ian holds them off with a threat of violence while also resisting their attempts to subdue him with mind manipulation. At an impasse, the Sensorites tap into Susan's mind as she is more attuned to their mind communication. The two side agree to talk, the Sensorites insisting that the Earth team come down to the planet to be held in exile and the Doctor demanding the return of the TARDIS lock.

The Sensorites attempt to hold Susan as a hostage for further negotiations but the Doctor discerns that the Sensorites are very sensitive to darkness and orders Ian to cut the lights. Paralyzed by fear, the Sensorites are disarmed but the Doctor then orders the lights back up and continues to negotiate in good faith. To continue, the group is invited down to the planet. The Sensorites will help cure John as a measure of good faith while the Earth party behaves and helps them.

The Doctor agrees when he learns that the Sensorites were visited by a party from Earth ten years ago. They were hospitable but the Earth men quarreled with each other and when half the party attempted to leave, their ship blew up in the sky. Shortly after, the Sensorites began to die from a plague infecting their central city. The Doctor agrees to help find a cure for the plague. Barbara stays behind on the ship along with Captain Maitland and one Sensorite to monitor things from above.

The group is invited to the palace of the First Elder. His adviser, the Second Elder is skeptical but agrees to try and talk with the humans. The City Administrator however, is openly hostile and order a disintegration ray be prepared to kill the visitors. The Second Elder orders his assistant to stand down and takes away the arming key to ensure no harm comes to the party.

John and Carol are taken to the sick room to be attended to. John is the mineralogist and had discovered the Sense-sphere was rich in minerals. This opened his mind in a similar way to the Earth party ten years ago that the Sensorites saw danger in his thoughts and used their own powers to neutralize him. They will now close his mind to bring him back to his normal self.

The First Elder offers the others refreshment. He notices that they are offered water from the municipal source and orders that they be upgraded to the higher quality spring water reserved for the Elders. Ian, thirsty from the journey, drinks his municipal water before it is taken away. He quickly begins to fall ill, showing the same signs as Sensorite plague victims. The Doctor believes he is actually suffering from poisoning and demands access to a lab to try and find a cure.

Working with the Sensorites, the Doctor learns that while the municipal water comes from a single source, it is distributed in ten different locations. He has the Sensorites bring samples from each distribution point and in one he finds evidence of Atropine. He further learns that the Sensorites had tested the water before and never found it, leading the Doctor to realize that the poison was shifting around to different distribution points. He creates an antidote, first for Ian, and then to be distributed to the city as a whole.

Meanwhile, the City Administrator is growing increasingly paranoid that the humans are trying to take over. Acting on a chance remark by Carol, he kidnaps the Second Elder and poses as him, using the badge of office to cover his deception. He believes that Ian is faking and that the Doctor means to poison the city. He destroys the dose meant for Ian to see if he does in fact die or is jut faking.

The Doctor receives permission to head down to the aqueduct distribution. He is left alone as his Sensorite escort is terrified of the dark and of the creatures said to live in the tunnels. Other teams had been down and many had not returned, fueling the legends. The Doctor discovers Belladonna near one of the pipes, however he is attacked shortly afterward.

Susan, discovering that Ian's medication had not been delivered, goes and gets a new dose for him. Ian begins to recover and they soon learn that the Doctor has not yet returned from the aqueduct. The two go after him and drive off his attacker. The Doctor is mostly unharmed, although his coat is badly torn, leading the Doctor to suspect that the creatures and poison are connected.

Returning to the courtyard the group sees the City Administrator, still posing as the Second Elder receive the disintegration gun arming key from the Captain of the Guards. The Doctor tries to talk to him but he runs off. In the control room, the City Administrator tries to rearm the gun but the real Second Elder fights off his guard and destroys the key. He is then struck down and killed. The City Administrator orders the guard to accuse the Doctor of the crime and use the Captain to validate his story.

The First Elder, pleased at the Doctor's discoveries, offers the Doctor a long cloak to replace his damaged jacket. The guard then enters with the Captain and the City Administrator to accuse the Doctor. The First Elder is concerned but Ian finds a flaw in the story as the Doctor was not wearing either a jacket nor the cloak at the time of the attack and the guard is led away under suspicion of being the murderer (which he is). The City Administrator absolves himself and, with a suggestion from the Doctor and Ian, is promoted by the First Elder to the rank of Second Elder.

The Doctor and Ian propose to return to the aqueduct to find the source of the poisoning. They also request that Barbara be allowed to come down from the ship to help Susan, whom they do not want to know that they are returning to danger. The First Elder agrees and supplies them with weapons to help them. They do not know that the weapons are sabotaged by the new Second Elder and the guard, whom he has released from his cell.

As the Doctor and Ian go down, Carol goes looking for them to tell them that John is now fully recovered. She is kidnapped by the guard and forced to write a note indicating that she has returned from the ship. However, Susan knows this is a ruse as Barbara has just arrived from the ship. They show this to the First Elder who is concerned. They learn from him that the only unused location in the palace is the old disintegrator gun control room. John heads down there and rescues Carol, subduing the guard in the process who is taken back to prison. John also remembers that it was the City Administrator whom he sensed evil from while he was still undergoing treatment.

Susan and Barbara are concerned when they learn that the Doctor and Ian have gone back to the tunnels. Barbara and John head down and Barbara uses a Sensorite mental communicator to contact Susan who has a master plan of the aqueduct in front of her to help guide them.

In the tunnels, the Doctor and Ian discover three members of the human crew. They have been infecting the aqueduct with Belladonna, believing they are war with the Sensorites. They are also responsible for the deliberate sabotage of their own ship to kill the crew members who tried to escape when they realized the Captain and two others had gone mad. Barbara and John discover the group and trick the crew into thinking the war is over and they are a rescue party. Upon emerging, they are subdued by the Sensorite guards and taken to the Earth ship under arrest.

With the evidence presented by the Doctor, the new Second Elder is exiled from the city. The First Elder thanks the Doctor and returns the lock to the TARDIS. The Earth ship leaves orbit and the Doctor and his party also depart. Ian makes an off-hand remark that offends the Doctor and in a fit of pique, states that he will order them off the ship as soon as they return to Earth.

Analysis

As noted above, this is quite a good dramatic story. It has it's faults and those will be discussed, but this is not a story that should be dismissed out of hand as "one of the bad ones."

Again, this is really a Cold War story. Travelers in a foreign land that is fearful due to the previous actions of a similar race. A villain acting on paranoia for the purpose of defending his own race. Honestly, if you colorized this story and shifted things to include a car chase, this could be a Third Doctor story and people would probably love it. As I was watching the machinations of the City Administrator, I could help but be reminded of General Carrington from The Ambassadors of Death. The actions of the City Administrator where not much different from Carrington's. In fact, Carrington allowed the death of several people in his pursuits. The City Administrator's only victim was the Second Elder and that was not intentional.

I have to praise the acting of the Sensorites. I noticed a couple instances of line flubs but aside from that, I thought they did an excellent job, especially as they had to convey all expression using only their voice and body movements due to the limitations of the masks. In fact, I thought the acting of the Sensorites was superior to the Earth folks. John was pretty good, but Maitland and Carol had moments that were rather over-the-top and hammy. I know they were supposed to be agitated by fear but there was no subtly. John at least had some subtly, even if he was supposed to be more deranged than his compatriots.

Another thing I enjoyed about this story that actually surprised me was the lack of it feeling bloated. Often when watching stories that are over four episodes long (and sometimes even then) I can feel moments where there is obvious padding. Characters go back and forth to the same location or the exposition fairy sits down to have a cup of tea and instead of getting a quick info dump, the process takes half an episode. Here, there is a move to each plot element with relatively little extra information. What's more, each plot element introduced feels like it has a purpose in the overall narrative. The kidnapping at the end of Episode Five is a bit forced and slightly out of place, but even it has an ultimate purpose that does contribute.

If anything, I think this story could have stretched to seven episodes without a significant loss of cohesion. I thought the various story points in Episode Six were a bit rushed. The humans are introduced a third of the way through and then wrapped up after only about ten minutes. Likewise, the fate of the City Administrator is dealt with in a couple of lines of dialogue at the end. For a character who was the primary villain for four episodes, it seemed like he should have gotten a meatier send off rather than just a casual dismissal. But I've made the complaint about rushed endings before. Still, it is nice to note that without throwing in the additional complaint about how it could have been pulled forward and dismissing some of the running through corridors.

One of the areas that is interesting from a hindsight point of view is the somewhat casual racism of the story. A certain level of racism makes sense in the story. It is a common trope in sci-fi for one race to dismiss the other as looking all alike. I would have expected that. What I didn't care for was how the City Administrator easily embraced that idea. There is a somewhat valid point to his idea. President Calvin Coolidge made a point of walking around Washington D.C. without secret service and he was unaccosted as people were unaware of who he was, despite having his picture in the paper somewhat often. So the idea that the Sensorite plebs would not know the City Administrator from the Second Elder is not unbelievable.

However, we are not dealing with regular plebs in this story. The story is contained within the First Elder's palace. One can imagine that all the folks living and working there would be fairly familiar with the appearance of the Second Elder. This is where the casual racism seeps in. The writer makes the assumption that because we (from a Western perspective) think the Sensorites all look similar to us, they too would see themselves as looking the same. This is rather dismissive as the Sensorites should actually have been more sensitive to subtle differences that would have been overlooked by the Earth folk. To me, it speaks of the attitude of the writer and to the assumptions of the audience of the time.

While on the subject of the Sensorite's sameness, that is one of the areas where I can see a downside of this story. Doctor Who has a bit of a reputation for the use of rubber suited monsters which sometimes look pretty fake. The Sensorites is actually only the third story to feature an alien race (The Daleks and The Keys of Marinus being the other two) and it is probably the first one where the fake alien really rears it's head. It is very obvious from the get go that the Sensorites are men in rubber masks, some of which don't fit that well. The City Administrator at one point turns to the camera and you can clearly see the hole of his mouth moving independently of the flap of the mask around his mouth. The Sensorite beards do a little to hide things like this, but the contortion of the cheeks whenever one speaks just makes it so obvious that it is a mask. It didn't really bother me, but I have been known to be rather forgiving of 1960's effects, both in Doctor Who and other shows. I can see how it might have bothered others.

Another point that I should note is how much the character of Susan improved in this story. In many of the stories where she appears, Susan is shriek-y and timid. She still has these qualities in the first episode, but she begins to assert herself by the end of Episode Two and she is a fully functional member of the team with a real role and abilities through the rest of the story. It does help that Barbara is absent from the second half of Episode Three to the beginning of Episode Six. This promotes Susan into the role that might normally have been occupied by Barbara with Susan's normal outsider role being taken up by Carol. Still, it is a nice change for Susan and one that I had wished they been able to stick with rather than reverting her back to her mostly helpless self in The Reign of Terror.

One final thing that surprised me was how important this story is to the overall canon of Doctor Who given it's general dismissal by the fans. Susan's throw away line in Episode Six about the Gallifreian sky became lore that has been in every story set on Gallifrey. Likewise, the Doctor has several lines that have become iconic in the course of the series including the opening statement about how they are now embarking on a great spirit of adventure and his admonishment to the Sensorites that he keeps promises rather than making threats. The Tenth Doctor even makes a reference to the story in Planet of the Ood when he mentions that the Ood-sphere is in the same region as the Sense-sphere, creating a link between the Sensorites and the similarly designed Ood.

Looking over the story as a whole, I think this story is somewhat unjustly maligned. I will openly admit that it is not a story that everyone will enjoy and I can imagine that it was not popular with the kids when broadcast. However, I enjoyed it and anyone who enjoys a more political drama will enjoy it as well. I would easily be comfortable watching it a second time around if anyone else was interested.

Overall personal score: 4 out of 5

Dimensions In Time

I've seen them thrown out of the Vic, but never dragged in.

So how bad is Dimensions in Time? Pretty bad. It's actually even worse if, like me, you know nothing about East Enders and wouldn't know any of the characters if they walked up and introduced themselves. Despite everything that had gone on in the past, you do have to give JNT credit for trying to put together something fun for the thirtieth anniversary, but this is pretty bad.

Plot Summary

The special opens with the Third Doctor visiting the set of Noel's House Party and showing everyone the new special (including 3-D effects). They then cut to the Rani who has exiled the First and Second Doctor to a loop in time, leaving their projected heads swirling around her TARDIS.

The Fourth Doctor sends out a distress signal as the Rani prepares to trap the remaining Doctors in the time loop. She targets the TARDIS and the Seventh Doctor and Ace materialize in 1973 London instead of China as intended. Blips in time begin to show as the Seventh Doctor gives way to the Sixth Doctor.

Time continues to slip mixing Doctors with companions at various points in time. The Third Doctor with Mel, the Sixth Doctor with Susan, the Third Doctor with Sarah Jane; all the while, the Doctor and companions interact with characters from East Enders. The Doctors realize that a time loop is oscillating things in twenty year spans, 1973, 1993, and 2013.

Fearing that the Doctor is on to her plan, the Rani releases specimens from her collection to deal with the Doctor. A Cyberman and an Ogron attack the Fifth Doctor, Peri and Nyssa. Other monsters materialize to chase them and the Rani herself materializes as the program breaks.

The audience in invited to vote for a helper for the Doctor: either Mandy or Big Ron. The show resumes the next day with Mandy as the winner of the audience poll.

The Fifth Doctor summons his other selves upon seeing the Rani. The Third Doctor appears with Liz Shaw. Liz charges the Rani to attack but is thrown off by a passer-by (Mandy). Captain Yates rolls up in Bessie to take the Third Doctor to the TARDIS as the Rani flees. The Brigadier lands in a helicopter, meeting the Sixth Doctor.

The Rani, having retreated to her TARDIS, prepares to materialize in the loop. Romana (II) appears to help but is pulled into the pub to keep her out of the way. The Third Doctor is back outside the TARDIS with Victoria. The Doctor takes the TARDIS to the Greenwich Meridian. The Rani's TARDIS appears nearby as the Seventh Doctor emerges from the TARIDS. Leela emerges from the Rani's TARDIS, having escaped but saying that she was cloned. The Doctor realizes that she is planning to open the time tunnel along the Meridian giving her control of the development of the universe.

Knowing that the Rani has a copy of Romana's brain print to work with, the Seventh Doctor sets up a feedback loop to pull the Rani's TARDIS in the time loop she has created with K-9 assisting. The Doctor's plan works, releasing the First and Second Doctor and pulling her TARDIS in. The Seventh Doctor and Ace prepare to leave with the time stream returned to normal.

Analysis

If you were to create a list of the things that I dislike in television stories, Dimensions in Time would probably hit all of them. Poor writing: check. Poor acting: check. Poor pacing: check. Poor visual effects: check. I'm sure their heart was in the right place, but this story is appallingly bad.

John Nathan-Turner was not a writer for the show and the fact that he gets co-writing credit on this shows why he didn't write. The story is overly confusing with a desperate attempt to cram as many cameos by past companions and East Enders characters in as possible. That actually is the primary motivation of the story and the Rani's plan, nor the Doctor's solution is ever really explained as to what they are doing.

Then the acting. Tom Baker is the worst as he isn't even half-assing it. Most of the other Doctor's do fairly well, although it's pretty obvious that Jon Pertwee can barely move due to the condition of his back. The companions fair less well with most of them failing to add any depth or energy to the wooden lines. Ace does well as her dialogue actually makes sense and Sarah Jane falls back into her role with ease. The Brig also comes across decent, although that is due more to his gravitas rather than anything special in the acting or writing. The East Enders folks are even worse with cornball lines thrown in an attempted jokey fashion that just sound stupid.

The camera work isn't bad as there is a lot of circling around in a way that would have made Aaron Sorkin proud, but the overall pacing is not particularly good. It is jump cut after jump cut after jump cut. I think they were trying to get a frenetic feeling but instead it gave it an overly rushed feeling. Characters are given one line to hurrily insert or a Doctor gets thirty seconds to cram as much exposition in as possible. Then at random moments, it slows down to give the wooden dialogue even more time to set it. It's just painful to watch.

The visual effects scream no money as well. They also scream early '90s and I'm willing to cut a little slack for that, much like I give Noel Edmonds a bit of a break for the shirts he is wearing. But they are still pretty darn bad. The dummy heads of the First and Second Doctors floating around set a bad tone. What's probably the actual worst is when the various enemies make cameo appearances. These are obviously recycled costumes and puppets from earlier episodes but the lighting and camera angles used make them look even more fake than when they were originally on. Going back to pacing, it's obvious that there is this desperate push to get as many villain cameos in as quick as possible in the 45 seconds allotted to the Fifth Doctor, Peri and Nyssa running through the square and it exposes the poor quality, much of which probably looks worse just because of natural deterioration.

I can see what JNT was going for as he obviously wanted something fun and fan service-y for the thirtieth anniversary but this is of the level of a student film. While I'm sure he had almost no budget to make this, they did have professional cameras and experience that should have put them over a student level production. Certainly having another writer take a second or third stab at the script also would have helped some.

But what still makes no sense is why an anniversary special for Doctor Who was paired for a crossover with East Enders. That would be like having an anniversary special of Star Trek where Kirk and his crew interacted with folks on Dallas. The two settings are at cross purposes and I can't see how either fan base would be interested in the overall story.

I will say that for more casual fans at the time, it probably felt good to see the old characters again. Hardcore fans were probably appalled at the lack of quality and it would have seemed like a horrible way to watch the show you loved disappear into the darkness. For someone watching from the future, it just seems silly and poorly done. I would say that anyone who enjoys Doctor Who should watch it at least once, just for the experience and to get an added perspective on not only how good the new series is, but even on how bad things really could have been during the low points of the mid/late-'80's. But once you've seen it once, that's more than enough unless you intend to go full MST3K.

Overall personal score: 0 out of 5

The Dalek Invasion of Earth

One day I shall come back, yes I shall come back...

Because of the Doctor Who mythology that surrounds, especially the last ten minutes, of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, it tends to be hailed as a classic regardless of the story quality. Having watched the story in total, it's not an unreasonable claim.

Plot Summary

The Doctor and his companions land in mid-twenty-second century London to find Earth in the control of the Daleks and their converted human puppets called Robomen. Barbara and Susan fall in with a group of rebels while the Doctor and Ian are captured by the Daleks. The humans launch an attack on one of the Dalek ships but their weapons are ineffectual. The Doctor is rescued and is reunited with Susan and a rebel named David. Ian stays aboard the ship but hides himself from the Daleks in the chaos. Barbara retreats with the survivors back to the main rebel base.

Learning that the Daleks have concentrated their work towards mining operations in central Britain, the Doctor, Susan and David begin to make their way towards the mining facilities, falling in with another fighter named Tyler. Ian is also taken there as the ship he is on is dropping off captured prisoners there. Barbara and a small group first make their way across London looking for other bands of fighters but then also makes towards the mine with a fighter named Jenny.

Ian and another fighter named Larry fall in with the mine resistance and make their way into the mines. Barbara and Jenny are captured and taken to the mines, although Barbara later tricks the Daleks into taking her and Jenny into the Dalek control room in an attempt to disrupt their operations. The Doctor and his party launch an attack against the Dalek power grid that temporarily neutralizes the Daleks. In the disruption, Ian dislodges a bomb intended to expose the Earth's core and Barbara orders the Robomen to turn on the Daleks, leading to a wide scale revolt at the mine. The humans flee the mine and the bomb explodes. The Dalek control ships are caught in the explosion, having been assembled to harvest the Earth's core, and destroyed. United, the team prepares to leave but Susan admits that she loves David and is heartbroken about leaving when David proposes to her but feels obligated to care for the Doctor. Seeing this, the Doctor locks her out of the TARDIS, telling her that she must go and build a new life with David and that he will eventually return to her. The TARDIS then leaves and a shocked Susan leaves with David.

Analysis

There are moments in this story that are absolutely wonderful. There are also moments that are pretty bad as well. It's just a question of which side carries more weight in how much you enjoy the story.

First, the good. The overall tone of the story is excellent. The acting is well done and there is an excellent sense of menace from the Daleks. All of the human characters are very relateable (both the resistance fighters and the civilians they meet). There is a very strong emoting both in acting and dialogue of WWII and to see Daleks parading around London monuments like Nazis only twenty years after the fact must have evoked a strong reaction, especially from the parents who watched the episodes with their children.

My personal favorite scene was early in episode three where Barbara, Jenny, and the resistance scientist Dortmun are running across London, avoiding the Daleks who are positioned around various famous landmarks. There is no dialogue in this scene. There is just the sound of rising and falling drums as the Daleks move around and the resistance party runs from location to location. There is an intensity here that is not felt anywhere else in the episode as to how much in control the Daleks are and how pitiful the resistance is. It is just very well done.

The Doctor's final speech to Susan is also very good, but it is lessened in its impact by two things. The first is the fact that it is probably the most recognizable moment in the entire First Doctor era. Anyone who has familiarity with the classic series has heard this speech and its impact is lessened with overexposure. The second is the drawn out nature of the scene. Susan lingers with David and gets so weepy that it becomes very obvious that she is going to stay behind. The Doctor is even starting to broadcast that before he enters the TARDIS. Susan's dazed reaction after the TARDIS disappears also goes on too long. Her reaction of dropping the key and David coming to support her should have happened much quicker. I think a questioning "Grandfather?" might also have been appropriate from Susan rather than just her stunned silence. To me, it offset the impact of the Doctor's speech in its awkwardness.

Now the not so good. It is difficult in a story of this scope to not notice the limitations brought by technology and budget. There are a number of occasions where the studio backdrop is obvious or the props don't look right or some explosion is happening but the camera focuses on the actor (or where the actor was) while a light and noise happen off camera. There is also a scene where Susan is being threatened by an alligator and it is very obvious that the alligator filmed is a baby one made to look bigger. Things like this can be overlooked as they were obviously doing the best they could, but when viewed in large numbers, they begin to take a toll in reminding you of the production limits and distracting from the overall story.

My second nit is that the story, as is, is an episode too long. William Hartnell takes an episode off in episode four and the story jogs in place while he is absent. There is a small detour done with Ian showing the deals that had to be made with spivs and Barbara and Jenny's travels are given a bit more detail, but most of that could have either been cut or compressed in other areas without the loss of anything integral to the story.

A counter-balance to keeping it a six-part story would be to address the third complaint I have and that is the abruptness of the ending. This is not a new problem for me and Doctor Who as I often feel the conflict resolution is rushed, but this one stands out a little more. No explanation is given as to why the Daleks wish to remove the Earth's core and replace it with an engine. Giving them a planet to fly around the universe doesn't seem to be a particularly useful tool and seems like a waste of invasion resources. The Daleks also seem to be rather easily overthrown through the loss of power that it seems odd that no one else ever did that. It also seems very odd that the people in the mining area (including the Doctor) could get clear in the amount of time given and still have the explosion large enough to mimic a volcanic eruption that destroys the entire Dalek fleet. It just felt like a bit of hand waving to make everything turn out nicely in time for the story to finish in the allotted time.

Again, it's a question of how much the good outweighs the bad. I think I could watch this one again without too many problems, especially if I opted to skip episode four. I think the first half of The Dalek's Master Plan was the best contribution by Terry Nation in the First Doctor era, but this is better than his other efforts with The Chase being the only story of the First Doctor era of his that I have not seen yet.

Overall personal score: 3 out of 5