Snakedance

You must find the still point.

Snakedance is the sequel to Kinda and there is usually a sharp debate among fans as to which is better as the two stories follow different narrative lines. Kinda is heavily influenced by Eastern philosophy and mysticism while Snakedance follows a more traditional storyline. It is somewhat surprising that in John Nathan Turner's planned Season 20 of classic villains, he encouraged the return of the Mara. Perhaps he just had a thing about snakes.

Plot Summary

As the TARDIS approaches the planet Manussa, the Doctor senses something wrong as he did not set the coordinates for this planet. Interrogating Nyssa, the Doctor figures that Tegan set the coordinates different that what he had instructed her. He and Nyssa also learn from consulting a field guide that Manussa was the center of the Sumaran Empire. They are interrupted by Tegan screaming herself awake from a dream where she entered a cave through the mouth of a snake.

Concerned over her dreams, the Doctor sets Tegan into a hypnotic state, regressing her back until she is outside the cave of her dream. She walks through it but when she looks down, very reluctantly, a very different voice cries out for her not to look. The Doctor pulls her out of the hypnotic state and gives her a device that will suppress her dreams, though it blocks her ears, preventing her from hearing. They then land on the planet to look for this cave of her dreams.

On Manussa, the son of the Federation leader, Lon, is bored. Manussa is holding the annual festival celebrating the defeat of the Mara but Lon views it as silly mythology. His mother, Lady Tanha, encourages him to walk with her among the people. They are taken through the streets to the cave of the Mara by the director of antiquities, Ambril. They enter and Ambril begins to detail the history of the Mara, boring Lon further.

The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan make their way through the crowds and find the cave. Tegan refuses to go in, her fear becoming too strong. She waits outside with Nyssa while the Doctor goes inside. He finds the private tour and talks with Ambril about the legend of the Mara's return. Lon, finally interested in something, encourages the Doctor and wants to see Tegan whom they think they might be able to help.

Outside the cave, a seller of snake trinkets approaches Tegan and Nyssa. The image of the snake so frightens Tegan that she runs off into the crowd and passes out. The locals pull her into a fortune tellers tent to recover. Nyssa meets the Doctor as he returns to the entrance and tells him of Tegan's flight. The two run off to look for her, leaving a disappointed Lon to return to the lecture.

Tegan wakes in the tent of the fortune teller, who has removed the dream blocking device to allow her to talk to her. As Tegan wakes up, the Mara grows stronger and takes over Tegan's mind once again, manifesting a snake skull in the woman's crystal ball. It bursts from the ball and kills the fortune teller.

Nyssa and the Doctor try the TARDIS first but when Tegan isn't there, they split up. Tegan surprises Nyssa but resists coming with her to see the Doctor as her mind and the Mara fight for control. Tegan runs off and hides in a hall of mirrors, the Tegan part of her mind hoping to remove the Mara again. But with the mirrors only providing distortion and not in a circle, it manages to reassert itself over her mind. Nyssa meanwhile runs past but finds the discarded dream suppression device in the fortune teller's tent.

The Doctor heads to the palace to find Ambril who reluctantly tells the Doctor of the festival celebrating the banishment of the Mara and the Snakedancers who practice rituals to reinforce it's exile. The Doctor tries to convince him to call it off but Ambril dismisses him. His assistant, Chela, gives the Doctor a charm with a miniature crystal that the Snakedancers use in their ceremonies. Nyssa finds the Doctor, informing him that she found Tegan but lost her in the crowd.

The two head back to the cave to further examine a set of pictograms showing the Mara's defeat. They also notice that the large focusing crystal is missing. The Doctor determines that the crystal acts as a means of focusing mental energy and that was how the Mara was dispatched before. He heads back to the TARDIS to test his theory on the mini-crystal and successfully manages to focus his thoughts into energy manifested by the crystal. The Doctor attempts to crash a dinner party hosted by Ambril to discover where the primary crystal is but Ambril has him arrested, thinking it an elaborate hoax.

Tegan is found in the hall of mirrors by the man who runs it, Dugdale. Thinking her voice alterations and snake talk a trick, he offers her a chance to partner with him. Instead, she imposes her will on him and sends him to the palace to summon Lon. Lon is amused at the man's request and follows out of curiosity. When he meets Tegan, she extends her arm and the power of the Mara comes over him. The three walk to the caves where Tegan opens a hidden chamber, revealing ancient artifacts. Dugdale tries to collect the artifacts for sale but Tegan and Lon hypnotize him with the Mara's power.

Lon leaves and heads back to the palace where he shows Ambril an artifact taken from the cave. Impressed, Ambril follows Lon back to the cave and is overwhelmed by the other artifacts there. Tegan emerges and demands the original focusing crystal. Ambril initially refuses but gives in when Lon threatens to destroy all the artifacts. After they leave, Tegan begins to manifest the Mara in physical form, separating itself from the image on her arm.

Nyssa sneaks into the palace to discover the Doctor in a cell. Lacking the sonic screwdriver, she has no way of getting him out. She hides when Chela comes in to speak with the Doctor and show him the writings of the prior head of antiquities, Dojjen. Nyssa sneaks into Ambril's office to get the key but she is discovered by Tanha and placed in the cell with the Doctor.

As the Doctor reads over the journal, he and Nyssa determine that the Manussan people created the original crystal hundreds of years ago. The crystal focused powers within the mind but the dark elements also unleashed the Mara who took over and destroyed the technologically advanced Manussan civilization. The secret is still known to the Snakedancers and that was Dojjen's main discovery.

Lon and Ambril return and Ambril is sent to collect the crystal. Lon informs his mother that he will play the role of the Federation founder who defeats the Mara and that he will use the real crystal in the ceremony, breaking tradition. This news alarms Chela and he takes the key from Ambril's desk to let the Doctor out. However, he is observed by Lon who orders the guards after them. When the three are cornered, he orders the guards to kill them but Tanha intervenes and has them brought into chambers instead.

As Ambril brings the crystal to Lon, the Doctor realizes that Lon has been infected by the Mara as well. Lon accuses the Doctor and his friends of attempting to assassinate him and Tanha orders them locked up again. The Doctor, Nyssa and Chela make a break for it while the guards are distracted and escape the palace.

The group heads to the cave but does not go in. Instead they climb to the rocks above where the Doctor uses the mini-crystal to ask for the help of Dojjen, sending out a mental signal like a radio beacon. Dojjen arrives and infects the Doctor with a measure of snake venom. Under it's effects, he forces the Doctor to focus his thoughts, drive away fear and become a point of calmness that can defeat the Mara. Their ritual ended, the trio heads down to stop the ceremony with Dojjen staying behind.

In full costume, Lon acts the role of the hero in the ceremony in the cave. However, near the end, he varies, pulling the fake crystal out of the snake puppet's mouth and smashing it. He then pulls the real crystal from Ambril's box and places it within the rock crevice as Tegan emerges. The crystal focuses the fear and hate of the populace within the cave and they collapse as though subjected to a terrible noise. The snake that Tegan had manifested from her arm begins to grow and become more corporeal.

The Doctor enters as Lon places the crystal in and both Nyssa and Chela are felled. The Doctor however pulls his mini-crystal and focuses his own mind, becoming a calm point in the chaos. The Mara, through Tegan is upset by this calm point and begins to lose control. Tegan breaks through briefly, begging the Doctor for help. The Mara reestablishes control and sends Dugdale and Lon to try and take the mini-crystal but when attempting to grab it, their hands burn and they collapse.

With the Mara in a critical state and it's two minions disabled, the Doctor grabs the crystal. Lon makes a lunge at him but the Doctor knocks him down. He pulls the crystal from the crevice and the loss of focusing energy causes the people to recover. With it's energy source depleted, the Mara thrashes and then falls over dead. Tegan and Lon come back to themselves and the Doctor comforts Tegan, assuring her that the Mara has indeed gone.

Analysis

I must admit that I was disappointed by Snakedance. I knew the story would be radically different in tone from Kinda and I was prepared for that. But I had enjoyed Kinda enough that I thought that Snakedance would work as long as I was prepared for the tone change. It has a lot of elements that help it and set it on a good path, but in the end it is just kind of there and doesn't grab the viewer like a better story should.

First the positive aspects. The acting was all quite good in this story. This was a nice broadening for Tegan. She didn't get much of a chance to play the villain in Kinda as she passed the Mara on fairly quickly after succumbing so it was nice to see her in full possession mode for most of the story. I actually would have liked to have seen more of her but perhaps that amplified my enjoyment of her performance.

This was one of the better stories for Nyssa. She was engaged, keeping busy and her concern for Tegan forced her to show more emotion than she ever typically registers in a story. She also made a nice contrast to the Doctor who was in more of a manic mode. The Doctor's excitement was tempered a bit by Nyssa's natural calmness while his excitement pulled her into emotional ranges not usually seen by that character. Even when the Doctor calmed down a bit, they worked nicely together as when both are locked in the cell in Episode Three and the Doctor goes on his exposition speech. Nyssa interjects here and there and the two of them bounce nicely off each other in a way that you would expect two scientific minds to feed off of each other. It wasn't quite as good as the Third Doctor and Liz Shaw, but it gave that similar feel.

The Doctor was also good in this one. He was all energy in this story, reminding me very much of the Eleventh Doctor. It made the few quiet moments he had all the more impactful because we could see how on edge he is for most of the story. It did get a bit manic at a couple of points and it would have been nice to see the Doctor in a calm point figuring out what was going on a little more than we got, but it was still a good performance.

The guest cast was all pretty good. Chela was a good pseudo-companion, providing the local information needed to develop the story while not taking away from Nyssa's natural role. Lon's portrayal was done well perhaps even too well as I found myself getting annoyed with everyone's indulgence of his indolence. I understand he is the heir apparent but it would have been nice if someone would have put him in his place now and again. I guess that's a knock against his mother, who was still well acted. She was just a bit annoying as a character as I would have liked to have seen her drag Lon about by the ear at a couple of points just to show him some manners.

Ambril was quite good as the pompous academic, so conflated with his ideas about things that he dismissed other points of view. It was also an interesting take on the character that he was so obsessed with the archeological history of the Mara that he valued them over potentially greater hazards. Of course, his natural dismissal of the mystical made him a perfect pawn for that role and he played it well, although a bit of consequence at the end for him would have made for a nice payoff.

I thought the setting looked quite good. It never quite lost it's studio feel but it was much more expansive and you got a much more developed world sense than you did in other stories. It was also nice to see little cutaways in the festival where you could see how the battle between the Manussans and the Mara evolved into stories told through Punch and Judy shows or play ceremonies. It gave the culture more depth and made the society seem that more real.

As much as I liked the atmosphere of the story, that underscores one of the main problems of the story: it's pacing. There are several moments in this story where the story just comes to a dead stop. Those moments are filled with glimpses of the culture and world building or sometimes character development. I appreciate those but there should have been a way to incorporate them without killing the momentum of the overall story.

I also wouldn't have minded those stops as much if Episode Four didn't feel like such a rush job. Dojjen is the first person seen at the beginning of Episode One and his legend is built up throughout the story. However, instead of joining for the epic finale, he simply walks the Doctor through his own spiritual journey and then fades into the background again. Likewise, the battle with the Mara is over in three minutes with the Mara undone by such a simple thing as removing the crystal. Even after that, we are given no period of recovery. It's simply the Mara dies, everyone comes back to their senses and Tegan sits in shock next to the Doctor. I think even if Tegan had been shown a little while later coming back to her normal self with the Doctor reassuring her or someone else that the Mara had indeed gone, it would have given a better sense of balance to the ending.

The other significant problem with this story is one that it less control over and that is it's references back to Kinda. As a sequel, it doesn't have much choice in the matter, but the references back to the first story cause the viewer to remember that story and as a result, contrast the two. Because the style of the stories are radically different, it sets up the contrast between the two where if you like Kinda, Snakedance becomes diminished and vice versa. From my point of view, I really enjoyed Kinda and Snakedance just never seems to stand up to that. In a vacuum, I can handle that, but the story takes pains to remind me how much I liked Kinda and Snakedance suffers for it.

Even with the contrast and the pacing, I think this story could have been better if had developed itself a bit better and given a proper resolution. But it leaves a lot of things up in the air and unanswered. The Doctor actually states that he doesn't know why Dojjen didn't destroy the crystal, banishing the Mara forever and this is never answered. We are given no evidence at the end that the Doctor, Dojjen or anyone else took steps to destroy the crystal after the Mara was killed either.

Similarly, we are also never given resolution to what the purpose of the Snakedancers are apart from this one moment or why they are dismissed by the society. We are also never given proper resolution as to whether the Mara is a creature that existed and was unlocked by the Manussans or if was actually created by the hatred and fear of the Manussans and gained sentience. We are also never resolution as to whether the Kinda are related to the Manussans and if so, how did they get to Deva Loka since the Mara destroyed the technological achievements of the Manussans, yet the Kinda were aware of the Mara enough to lock it away in the darkness in their own way.

In the end, Snakedance was put in a very difficult position from the start. That being said, a few more rewrites and a proper ending would have gone a long way to elevating this story. I doubt it could have become as good as Kinda but it would have been much better in it's own right. It's a harmless little adventure story but it leaves so much in the air and ends on such a puzzling note that it is just hard to enjoy for it's own sake. Watch it again for the atmosphere and the acting but the nature of the story is such that I can't imagine myself being that interesting in digging it up for another viewing. I'd rather watch Kinda again and that is probably the most damning critique of any sequel.

Overall personal score: 2 out of 5

The Robots of Death

Please do not throw hands at me.

Doctor Who does Agatha Christie. In some ways it's a bit anticlimactic since obviously it is the robots who are doing the killing; the title gives that away. But you at least have the question of who is ordering the robots to kill the crew. This one of the few times where a writer got to go back-to-back as this is Chris Boucher's second story, immediately following his introduction of Leela in The Face of Evil.

Plot Summary

The Doctor and Leela land on a sand miner in the middle of a multi-year tour. The miner is manned by nine crew and a host of humanoid robots. As they land, one of the crew is murdered by a robot while the rest are busy extracting ore from a sand storm. The dead man is discovered by a crewman named Poul who reports it to the Captain Uvanov. Uvanov is forced to turn control of the miner over to the robots while the crew retires to the lounge to investigate.

The shutting down of the scoops helps the Doctor and Leela as the TARDIS was removed by the robots as an obstruction and the two were at risk of being enveloped by the high speed sand. They are removed from the scoop by a robot and taken to a cabin to wait.

Meanwhile the crew is already snipping at each other with paranoia beginning to set in. Another crewman is missing, adding to the tension. They are told that the body was decorated with a red disk usually used to mark deactivated robots, often called a corpse-marker by robot workers. One of the robots enters and informs the crew of the two stowaways. Tension eases a bit as the two are believed to be the murderers and Uvanov orders a search of the ship to ensure that it is only the two.

The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to open the cabin door to find the TARDIS with Leela following him. She breaks off and finds the body of the first dead crewman and watches as two robots come to take him away. The Doctor finds the TARDIS but doubles back when he notices Leela hadn't followed him. He passes by a process bin and discovers the body of the second crewman inside. As he checks on him, the door behind him seals and the room fills with ore. The Doctor pulls out a snorkel, allowing him to breathe while he is buried by the ore. The command robot, SV7, discovers the Doctor and pulls him out. The Doctor informs him of the second body and SV7 takes the Doctor to the lounge with the others.

Leela returns to the cabin they had originally come from and discovers the body of a third crewman who had gone to look for the second. The scene is investigated by a detective robot named D84, disguised as a silent worker robot. The two are discovered by Uvanov and to protect his cover, D84 grabs Leela as if capturing her. Uvanov tries to interrogate her but she batters him off. She is also taken to the lounge.

In the lounge the crew interrogate the Doctor and Leela, some believing they are the murderers while others are less sure, paranoia running higher now. Worried about losing profits from the recently discovered storm, Uvanov orders the Doctor and Leela locked in the robot repair bay while the rest of them return to their duty stations. The Doctor and Leela are bound in place with metal straps and forced to wait.

One of the crew, a woman named Zilda, leaves her duty station and breaks into Uvanov's quarters. She pulls his old logs and begins to break down crying. She screams over the intercom about how Uvanov is a murderer before she gives another scream. Uvanov runs to his cabin where he find her dead.

Meanwhile Poul visits the Doctor, intrigued by the Doctor's statements that a robot might have performed the murders. Poul releases the Doctor and Leela and the Doctor, using Poul and Leela's information about how the first body was discovered, demonstrates how it was likely a robot. Poul is signaled by second-in-command Toos about Zilda and he runs to Uvanov's cabin. He orders the Doctor and Leela to wait in a cabin and he finds Uvanov bent over Zilda's body. He accuses Uvanov and relieves him of command, knocking him out when he tries to escape. Poul informs SV7 of the change in command. SV7 also informs Poul that crewman Borg is also dead.

The miner suddenly lurches as it's drive motors have been sabotaged. Poul runs to the bridge, followed by Leela and the Doctor. Discovering what has happened, the Doctor orders the motivators shut down despite the fact that they'll sink into the sand. Dask tries to stop him at first but then does the shut down himself. As the miner begins to sink, Dask heads below to repair the engines.

Poul informs Toos of his theory regarding Uvanov. He also tells her that Uvanov was disciplined for leaving a crewman to die on a previous voyage and that crewman was Zilda's brother. Dask manages to get the engines going again, raising the miner out of the sand just before the hull begins to buckle. Safe, the miner holds position while the robots begin repairs.

Toos leaves to get some rest, having injured her arm in the accident. The Doctor instructs Leela to follow Poul while he speaks with D84. However, Poul slips away from Leela and locks her in the lounge. Poul heads to the robot repair facility where he finds the robot that killed Borg with blood on it's hands. Seeing the blood triggers a violent attack of robophobia in Poul and he collapses.

The murderer, an extremist named Taren Capel, overrides the commands of SV7 and orders him to act as agent. Kapel then overrides the command structures of several other robots in order to take over the miner.

The Doctor discovers D84 investigating Zilda's body and discovers that D84 and Poul are investigating agents sent by the mining company after receiving threats from Capel. The Doctor theorizes and convinces D84 that Capel is posing as one of the crew to instigate a robot revolution. The two of them head to a place where the Doctor believes Capel is conducting his modifications.

SV7 gives instructions to other robots to kill Toos, the Doctor and Leela while he kills the others. One robot attacks Leela but she manages to slip past him into the hallway. Leela hides in the robot repair bay and discovers Poul hiding. She tries to get him to come but he has mentally collapsed.

The Doctor signals Toos from Capel's lab and orders her to head to the command deck with all surviving crewmen. She tries but is trapped in her cabin by the robot sent to kill her. The Doctor sends D84 to help her. After he leaves, Uvanov discovers the Doctor in the lab and believes he is altering the robots. However, a robot enters and attacks the Doctor. Uvanov grabs a probe and plunges it into the robot skull, damaging it's control circuits. The two flee into the hallway, pursued by the damaged robot.

The robot outside Toos' cabin breaks in and attacks her but is called back by SV7 before he finishes the job to pursue the Doctor and Uvanov. Leela discovers D84 checking on Toos. D84 then heads to collect Poul and brings him to the command deck while Leela and Toos head back themselves. While going, Toos discovers that SV7 has been compromised as well when she tries to communicate with the Doctor.

The three groups assemble on the bridge with only Dask missing. The Doctor reveals Poul and D84's mission and Uvanov also reveals that Zilda's brother died as a result of the same robophobia that Poul is now suffering from. The Doctor, Leela and D84 leave the bridge and head to the robot repair room while Uvanov and Toos rig anti-robot bombs from magnetized blast charges stored on the bridge.

The robots begin to attack the bridge under the command of Dask, who is actually Taren Capel. Dask tries to trick his way in but the two refuse. They send a signal for rescue and warning from the bridge. Uvanov manages to destroy one robot who tries to get in from another door. After destroying it, Uvanov and Toos leave the bridge to act as a distraction.

In the repair bay, the Doctor rigs an anti-robot pulse weapon from a damaged robot and one of the communicator. As he does so he orders D84 to bring a canister of Helium to him. D84 returns as the Doctor finishes the weapon and the group returns to Capel's lab. He hides Leela in a storage area, ordering her to release the gas when Capel enters.

Dask breaks in and damages D84 with a probe. Another robot restrains the Doctor and Dask prepares to torture him to death. As he begins, D84 activates the Doctor's weapon, destroying the robot guard and himself in the process. Dask tries to finish the Doctor off but he manages to throw him back. SV7 enters, the bomb having reduced it to it's core command of killing humans. Dask tries to order it off but the helium has affected his voice so that SV7 does not recognize his command and kills him. SV7 turns on Uvanov and Toos as they enter but the Doctor plunges the probe into it's head and disables it.

With Capel dead and the robots deactivated, the Doctor and Leela return to the TARDIS as a rescue ship approaches and take off.

Analysis

I greatly enjoyed this story. I think I even liked it better the second time around than the first. It is easy to imagine that the story is going to have a more traditional Agatha Christie development with a lot more twists and blind alleys among the various crew but they are removed rather quickly so that the traditional Agatha Christie portion of the story is more or less over by the beginning of Episode Three. That can throw you the first time you watch it. A second time around with that level of awareness allows you to get into the story better and how it flows from one genre into the next.

The writing in this story is excellent with a lot of witty banter being thrown about. It is also nice to have Leela's creator behind this story as she is well defined in her warrior ways but also has compassion, intelligence and good instincts. She holds her own with the Doctor, being instructed by him but also not putting up with too much garbage from him. He has one instance where he is sharp with her and she takes it in stride but it plays fairly well for laughs and doesn't diminish Leela's character in the story.

The Doctor himself is quite enjoyable. He gets off a number of one-liners and does a pretty good job of working through the situation without appearing either too omnipotent in knowledge or ignorant to the point of unbelief. His alienness sticks out fairly well but not to the point of being a major distraction or to be off-putting.

The rest of the crew is pretty good. Dask and Uvonov especially are good in the way they both garner and deflect suspicion until the truth is revealed. Toos is also pretty good, although she does get a little stereotypical wibbly when the robots advance on her. I'd have liked to see her with a slightly harder edge at that point, although I suppose it would be understandable given the stress of the situation. Most of the other crew don't get enough screen time to form much of an opinion of them except that they seem to be portrayed well enough.

The one exception to this would be Zilda. For most of her scenes she isn't bad, although slightly flat. However it goes very wrong when she steals the log in Uvanov's quarters. Her attempts to cry and show anguish are downright painful to watch. It is absolutely terrible acting. It is somewhat unfortunate that this is also the last impression she makes as she gets killed moments afterward and whatever decent performance she had earlier is shoved out of my mind by her final moments.

The design of the robots and the set were quite nice. There are a couple of moments of obvious CSO but for a studio-bound story, this is done very well. The art deco design of both the environment and the robots is very nice and it gives the ship a very arty feel that becomes more timeless than if they had tried to something futuristic from a 70's point of view. The robots especially had an element of grace but also creepiness. There is a touch of the uncanny valley effect going on but it probably would have been worse if they had attempted to have more realistic faces rather than the stylized features they had.

If I had to come up with any negative points, it involves the mystery. Even though I knew it was coming, I still feel like the reduction of the crew and the leaving of the "whodunit" element of the story happened too quickly. I would have liked it a little more if we'd gotten a bit more with the non-core members of the crew and kept the paranoia level going for longer rather than it shifting to more of a thriller story in Episode Three.

My second criticism is when SV7 is reprogramed. Teran Capel's face is visible on the screen and even slightly scrambled and tinged, it was very obvious that it was Dask due to the lack of facial hair. He is shown with a mask in his next scene and if he had to appear on a screen, appearing in a mask would have kept up the illusion that Capel was either Dask or Uvanov. It would have added more tension to the cliffhanger in Episode Three when the robot attacks the Doctor and you might still be suspicious of Uvanov as the dialogue suggests you should be. I think that was a directorial mistake and one that spoils the surprise although not in a terrible way.

Overall, this is a very good story. Your enjoyment of it probably depends on how much you enjoy the murder myster/thriller genre and as someone who enjoys these, it puts this right in my wheelhouse. I also happen to be fan of art deco and enjoy the set and robot design that much more. It is not perfect, there are acting and a couple of production flaws. But it is good enough that I enjoyed it more on my second time through and even watched a couple of scenes a third time and enjoyed those as well. This would be an easy one to pull off the shelf and get lost in for an evening.

Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5

The Three Doctors

I can see you've been doing the TARDIS up a bit. I don't like it.

The Three Doctors was the first of the multi-Doctor anniversary specials. Of course, it lead off Season 10 rather than closing it, putting it a number of months away from the actual anniversary date of November 23, but that's a minor quibble. The big thing was that the show managed to get William Hartnell back which was rather significant given that he was in quite poor health at the time. The writers only found this out after he had accepted their offer and they were forced to do some very hasty rewriting and keep the First Doctor on a closed set while most of the story became the double act between the Second and Third Doctor. Still, given that Hartnell died only two years after the story aired, it was good to give him one last hurrah.

Plot Summary

A local gamekeeper stumbles across a cosmic ray detection device that has parachuted to Earth. The local scientific establishment is summoned to pick it up but before they arrive, the gamekeeper is teleported away. Suspicious of the disappearance, the scientist Doctor Tyler takes it to UNIT HQ and informs the Brigadier and the Doctor what happened.

Dr. Tyler shows the Doctor various readings which show a compressed light stream aimed towards Earth that is actually travelling faster than light. The Doctor and Jo head off to the sight of the landing while Dr. Tyler develops the latest plate. The Brigadier, put out at his lack of usefulness, leaves Tyler alone. Tyler develops the plate and sees the gamekeeper Ollis' face. He goes to check the collector but is teleported away as Ollis was, only this time a strange plasma emerges from the collector.

The Brigadier notices Tyler missing and sends Sergeant Benton to look for him. As the Doctor and Jo return from taking readings, the plasma emerges from the drain. They run off and the plasma covers Bessie, vanishing it before retreating back into the drain. Benton returns unable to find Tyler.

The Doctor informs the Brigadier of what happened to Bessie and order Benton to set a watch on the drains. The Doctor theorizes that the compressed light beam got the plasma creature to the collector and it is on a mission to take the Doctor. They hunker down to wait for the next attempt.

Shortly afterwards, creatures called Gelguards appear and advance on UNIT HQ. Benton leads the defense but conventional weapons have no effect on them. As the Brigadier organizes a retreat, the plasma creature emerges from the vents. The Doctor, Jo and Benton retreat into the TARDIS. The Doctor is unable to take off and sends an SOS to Gallifrey.

The Time Lords track the energy drain to a black hole and coming from a universe of anti-matter. With the drain affecting Gallifrey, the Time Lords are unable to send help to the Doctor. However, they decide to give the Doctor help from his earlier iterations.

The Second Doctor materializes in the TARDIS and explains the situation on Gallifrey. Benton recognizes the Second Doctor and welcomes him warmly. He also helps explain to Jo about the Doctor's earlier form. The Doctors observe the plasma creature attempting to get in but also fighting off the Brigadier. The two Doctors join telepathically to bring the Second up to speed. However, they being squabbling as their personalities clash.

Aware of the issue, the Time Lords pull in the First Doctor but lack sufficient energy to pull him in all the way. He instead appears from a limbo location on the monitor. He informs them that the plasma creature is a time bridge and orders them to get to work stopping it. The Third Doctor heads out to confront it and Jo runs after him. He tries to stop her but the plasma creature teleports both of them.

With the Third Doctor and Jo gone, the plasma reverts to a docile state, allowing the Second Doctor, the Brigadier and Benton to come out and examine it. The Second Doctor opts to feed it a steady stream of useless information to keep it occupied. The Second Doctor is called away by the Brigadier to talk to Geneva and he leaves Benton in charge of keeping the plasma at bay. It begins to react and overcome the Doctor's defenses. Benton calls the Doctor back with the Brigadier and the three of them retreat back into the TARDIS.

The Third Doctor and Jo wake to find themselves in a wasteland within a universe made of antimatter. They take a look around and find elements that had been teleported by the plasma earlier, including Bessie. They hop in and begin driving around. They find footprints and discover Dr. Tyler in the wasteland. They are also observed by Ollis.

The Third Doctor, Jo and Tyler are captured by the Gelguards and escorted to the palace of Omega, one of the founders of Time Lord society. While inside, Tyler runs away but is forced back to the group by the Gelguards. They are then taken towards Omega's throne room.

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor manages to get the communicator working to allow the Brigadier to contact his men. He orders them to stand guard but not engage the Gelguards. As he does so, the First Doctor contacts them from his time eddy. He orders the Second Doctor to deactivate the force field around the TARDIS. The Second Doctor complies and the plasma causes the TARDIS, the Gelguards and the whole UNIT HQ building to disappear and be pulled into the antimatter universe within the black hole.

Omega meets the Third Doctor, Jo and Tyler. He has Jo and Tyler taken to a cell while he discusses taking vengeance on the Time Lords. Omega speaks of how he was abandoned when he created the black hole as a power source for the Time Lords. The Third Doctor counters speaking of how Omega is regarded as a great hero. Omega rebuffs this, believing he was sacrificed. Omega offers the Third Doctor a chance to help him and threatens Tyler and Jo if he does not.

The Second Doctor, the Brigadier and Benton arrive in the antimatter universe. The Brigadier refuses to believe that they have been transported to another universe and goes out to investigate. Benton and the Second Doctor go to follow him but are captured by the Gelguards. The Brigadier is greeted by Ollis and the two of them observe the Second Doctor and Benton being taken to Omega's palace.

The Second Doctor attempts to disguise himself as a human but Omega sees through the ruse. He is at first amused that the Time Lords have brought in an earlier iteration of the Doctor but he becomes angry with their subterfuge and has both of them and the Third Doctor locked in with Jo and Tyler.

After explaining how things work to them, Jo suggests the two Doctors work together and impose their own will on the universe. They create a door in the cell and the whole party spills out in to the palace. The two Doctors work their way to Omega's throne room, the source of the black hole's singularity while the three humans evade Gelguards in the corridors.

Benton, Jo and Tyler make their way towards the main doors. They manage to pry them open with the help of the Brigadier and Ollis trying to get in. The five humans flee the palace and the pursuing Gelguards. Meanwhile the Time Lords use their remaining energy resources to send the First Doctor into the black hole to assist the other two.

Omega confronts the two Doctors in the singularity chamber and engages his mind against the Third Doctor. The two enter a mental wrestling match with Omega seeming to prevail against him. The Second Doctor intervenes and Omega releases him. The Second Doctor needles Omega, exposing the limits of his control when angered.

The Second Doctor apologizes, bring Omega back into control. He reveals that he needs them to take over control of his world to allow him to escape as he cannot control the world and leave it at the same time. He orders them to remove his mask to allow him to step into the light stream. However, when they do so, they find that his body has already corroded away and that his shape is only held together by the force of his own will.

The realization of his unexistence unhinges Omega and he rants away, allowing the Doctors to escape. They are pursued by Gelguards and they meet up with the Brigadier and the others at UNIT HQ, taking shelter in the TARDIS. Inside, they are contacted by the First Doctor, still trapped in a time eddy. The three of them come up with a risky plan involving the TARDIS' force field generator and the First Doctor fades back to report to the Time Lords.

The Second and Third Doctor prepare to pull out the force field generator but discover that the Second Doctor's recorder has fallen in and as such, remains unconverted to antimatter. The two Doctors create a new plan and contact Omega, allowing them to transport the TARDIS to his palace. He agrees and they land in the throne room.

Omega, having reconciled himself to his state, declares that the Two Doctors will stay to keep him company in exile. They agree but only if he allows them to send their friends back. He agrees and the five people pass through the singularity into the light stream, Jo somewhat reluctantly. The two Doctors then offer Omega the force field generator with the recorder suspended in it. He becomes angry when he thinks they are trying to force him to take it and knocks it away. As it falls, the recorder falls out and it's matter interacts with the antimatter. The two Doctors flee into the TARDIS as Omega and his world is consumed by the resulting explosion.

Everything taken by Omega reverts back to the point it was taken from. The five humans reappear in their locations (Ollis outside his home) along with UNIT HQ and Bessie. The TARDIS appears a moment later and the two Doctors emerge to reveal what happened. From within the TARDIS, the First Doctor offers his goodbye as he is sent back to his own timestream. The Second Doctor likewise is sent back as well. The various people depart leaving Jo and the Doctor alone in the TARDIS. As they prepare to leave, the Time Lords send the Doctor a new dematerialization circuit and restore his knowledge of it's work, effectively ending his exile. He then prepares to install it as well as build a new force field generator before taking Jo off on a trip through the universe.

Analysis

As far as an anniversary special involving multiple Doctors, The Three Doctors isn't bad. However, judged as an independent story, it's fairly weak. It has good points and some good performances, but many of these are undercut by larger flaws.

First and foremost, I like the Doctors and their interaction. I would imagine that anyone who had watched the Second Doctor earlier would have been quite happy to see him again. I enjoyed him, although there were a couple of points where he played up the silliness a tad much. There was the nice reveal in Episode Four about how he was using his silliness to test Omega's control but it would have been nice to get a little more of the conniving Second Doctor.

The Third Doctor was his usual quality self and it was rather funny to see the fussy and formal Third Doctor let his earlier self get under his skin. Despite that, he was still competent, the clear leader of the team and enjoyable to follow around.

The First Doctor was both enjoyable and sad. He was given some nice cutting lines and the clear deference paid to him by the Second and Third Doctors seemed as representative of their feelings towards William Hartnell as that of the First Doctor. However, it is also very obvious as to how poorly William Hartnell is doing at that point. He is clearly reading his lines, though trying to put emotion into them. The timing of his interactions with the other two Doctors is off and it is clearly a recorded image they are just trying to time their responses to based off planned dialogue breaks. Its a nice thought but it is impossible to disguise the truth of what is actually happening. Had the technology been a little more advanced or time and budget been a bit more in their favor, the director might have been able to rework the scene so that it played a bit better but it at least gets what needed to be done.

Jo was nice in this story, although again not given that much to do. Her big moment is kicking the two fighting Doctors in the butt to get them to work together. Aside from that, she doesn't do much but tag along with the Third Doctor and ask the questions that allow one of the Doctors to explain to her (and the audience) what is going on. Still, she is fun and it is always nice to see her show the compassion she has for the Third Doctor as well as his compassion for her and that did come across in their interactions.

It is also almost impossible to not like Omega. For a villain, he is well spoken and articulate. It is also very easy to sympathize with his plight if not his methods. He looms large over the story that it is easy to forget in hindsight that he doesn't make an actual appearance until Episode Three, though he does get a line and a hint at towards the end of Episode Two. When he realizes what he has become, you feel real sympathy for him in his anguished scream as well as understanding at his denial of the reality of what has happened. In many ways, you can imagine that in the depths of his mind, he knew the truth but refused to confront it. Even when forced, he still forces that truth back into a box of denial. His secondary plan is even more tragic as when forced to confront the truth that he cannot escape, he simply wants a friend to talk to for the rest of his imprisonment. He is genuinely a tragic figure and someone more to be pitied, rather than hated or feared.

There is an odd mismatch in the writing with the Brigadier and Benton. In this story, Benton comes across as the rational, trusting stoic and the Brigadier comes across as a disbelieving oaf who only understands bureaucracy and blowing stuff up. It's a nice improvement for Benton but a terrible step down for the Brigadier. He actually comes across as a fairly unlikeable character with whom the audience has little patience. There are lines that Benton has that clearly should have been the Brigadier's, although I wouldn't wish to take away from Benton's improved standing. It is a nasty knock down for the character and it is only the likeability of Nicholas Courtney coming through that keeps the Brigadier from becoming a total object of derision.

The overall story itself does not work particularly well. It is very thin, even for a four-part story. I can imagine that a more complex plot was probably initially thought of that would involve the First Doctor but was scrapped due to William Hartnell's poor health. The story maintains a certain level of charm through the first three episodes but once it becomes clear that the First Doctor will not be heavily involved, the story seems to take a lazy backdoor route. The recorder retaining it's matter form is a lucky break rather than any properly contrived plan. The whole thing comes across as this random jumble of events that don't seem to properly connect. Even after two viewings, I'm hard pressed to imagine what the original plan was as it seems that everything sort of magically resolved itself.

There are also two moments where it is painfully obvious that the run time of the story is being padded. In fact, nearly every episode has at least one moment where things are obviously extended simply because there wasn't enough story to go around. This seems very strange to me as you would think that more care would be taken with an anniversary story. Instead it feels like once the plan for the First Doctor fell through, the rest of the story was hastily written on the back of an envelope. It probably could have gone through a few more rewrites and I wonder if the fall through was much more last minute than one might expect for a story that leads off a season.

The production values of the story are not great. The filmed stuff is always nice, even if it is in a quarry, but the effects desired are far beyond the capabilities of the time. The antimatter plasma is bad even for CSO effects of the time. The Gelguards are not well designed and come across as cheap "men in suits" props. Omega is pretty good and Stephen Thorne works well to make him imposing, although there are a couple of slip ups where you can see the outline of his jaw under the mask as he talks and that's at odds with his revealed form. The singularity point as a column of smoke is also rather underwhelming. Many aspects of this story come across as cheap and not up to the grand scale that you might have expected from an anniversary story.

Overall, I'd have to chalk this one up to a potentially fun idea but one that falls short. Many aspects can be swept aside as long as the story maintains it's line and keeps the fun aspect but even that falls apart in Episode Four when you get the very slapped together ending. The interactions are fun, especially between the Doctors and Omega is a very enjoyable character but aside from that, there's not a lot going for this story. It's not bad in a painful to watch way, but it doesn't draw you very well, nor does it retain your attention if it ever manages to get a hold of it. It's mildly fun to watch but it's definitely not a story to pull off and enjoy on anything resembling a regular basis.

Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5

The Mutants

Doctor: Marshal, you are quite mad.
Marshal: Only if I lose.

I've heard mixed things about The Mutants. It is generally considered an anti-colonialist story and fairly well written and acted. However, it also has a reputation for somewhat shoddy effects. Unless they are blatantly bad, I generally like to give stories a bit of a pass there so we'll just have to see how this holds up story-wise. Not being British, colonial stories don't register with me they way they did with their intended audiences so I'll be curious to see how much that impacts my enjoyment of the story.

Plot Summary

After receiving a mysterious package to deliver from the Time Lords, the Doctor and Jo land on Skybase 1, a platform orbiting the planet Solos. Earth had been exploiting Solos as a resource colony but is now preparing to pull out. This decision is to be announced by the planetary administrator to a group of Solonian leaders. Disagreeing with this is the Marshal, whose men have been fighting native uprisings and a strange mutation among the natives.

The Marshal makes a deal with Varan, one of the Solonian leaders, to promote him as leader of all tribes during the conference in exchange for carrying out the Marshal's plan. Varan is dismayed to learn that Ky, a fellow chieftain and strong voice of the uprising, is also in attendance.

The Doctor and Jo pose as representatives from Earth and try to deliver the package to both the Administrator and the Marshal but it opens for neither. Suspicious of the Doctor, the Marshal has them detained during the conference. The Doctor however knocks the guard out and heads towards the meeting.

The Administrator opens the meeting but Ky heckles almost from the start. Despite the Administrator's acknowledgement that they are preparing for independence, Ky builds some of the natives into a frenzy, demanding independence now. He rushes the Administrator as the Administrator is shot, causing the Marshal to order Ky's immediate death. Ky runs out where he runs into the Doctor. The package begins to open, causing the Doctor to realize it's for Ky. Ky however grabs Jo as a hostage and runs into the transmat station, the Marshal's men firing their guns after them.

Ky and Jo manage to transmat down. Ky urges Jo to stay behind as the fog that covers the ground is toxic to people from Earth but she says she must stay with him since the package was meant for him. They flee into the mist where Jo eventually does collapse due to the mist. Ky manages to get the drop on one of the pursing guards and steals his mask. Placing it on Jo, he carries her into a cave where he and other rebels hide.

The Marshal agrees to continue the search for Jo if the Doctor reveals what is in the package The Doctor reluctantly agrees though he needs the use of the lab of Professor Jaeger, the principle scientist. Jaeger is astonished to see the Doctor put together a particle accelerator, though it burns out before the package can be opened. Jaeger goes to the Marshal and convinces the Marshal to have the Doctor use this same technology to terraform Solon to make it inhabitable for humans.

At the same time, the Marshal summons the son of Varan who actually killed the Administrator under the Marshal's orders. The Marshal kills him but is observed by Varan. The Marshal tries to kill Varan but he flees into the Herbarium to hide.

The Marshal summons the Doctor and lies to him about having found Jo, pretending that she is recuperating in a hospital on Solos. He then suggests the Doctor assist Jaeger in working the terraform project. Shortly after this, a soldier named Cotton gets the Doctor alone and informs him that the Marshal has not found Jo and that he escape with Varan to the surface where he can deliver his package. The Doctor hatches a plan to allow him to do so by overloading the main power grid of the base. Cotton's fellow soldier Stubbs informs Varan that he can get to the transmat when he hears the alarm about the power failure.

The Doctor manages to blow the power grid during one of his experiments, the explosion briefly knocking out Jaeger in the process. He heads to the transmat where he is attacked by Varan, thinking him a guard. They transmat down to Solos where the Doctor disarms Varan and forces him to take him to Ky's lair.

An atmospheric firestorm erupts driving several Mutts (the Solonian mutants) into the cave. Jo and Ky retreat further in to the cave where the normally docile Mutts start attacking them. Ky places Jo in a cleft while he fends off the Mutts with a torch. One gets behind him and tries to attack Jo who flees into a radioactive cavern. She collapses but is rescued by a mysterious figure in a silver suit.

Ky is overrun by the Mutts but the Doctor and Varan arrive with fresh torches and drive the Mutts back. The Doctor gives Ky the package which opens to reveal four stone tablets. Ky cannot read the writing as the actions of the Marshal have destroyed Solonian culture and their ability to read their ancient writing. Annoyed that no weapons were included, Varan leaves. He gets past the pursuing guards and heads for his own village.

With the Doctor gone, the Marshal orders Jaeger to continue with his plan to fire missiles and alter the atmosphere. He then takes guards down to pursue the Doctor. He learns they and a large number of Mutts have gone into the caves. The Marshal places guards at the various entrances and puts explosives on several key entrances. He then orders toxic gas to be fired into the caves to either flush them out or kill them. Stubbs and Cotton request permission to enter the caves to find the Doctor and the Marshal agrees although he suspects their role in the Doctor's escape.

Ky and the Doctor go to look for Jo and find her outside the radioactive cavern where she describes her rescuer. As she recovers, the group is found by Stubbs and Cotton who prepare to pull them out. Overhearing contact on the radio, the Marshal orders the gas fired in the caves and sets the charges at the entrance. Stubbs sees the gas coming in and the group flees deeper in the caves. They catch sight of the same silver suited figure that rescued Jo and he beckons them to follow him.

As the entrances blow up, they enter a radiation proof chamber where the figure reveals himself as Professor Sondergaard, a sympathetic scientist who has been researching Solonian culture. He also was driven to hiding by the Marshal's displeasure with him. The Doctor shows Sondergaard the tablets and the two of them begin work on translating them.

An earthquake dislodges bits of rock into the shelter and Stubbs notes that the explosions have destabilized the caverns. The Doctor orders Stubbs, Cotton, Jo and Ky to head out of the caves via a route that Sondergaard knows. They will exit near Varan's village. The Doctor and Sondergaard stay behind to work on the tablets.

The Doctor and Sondergaard manage to piece together that the tablets speak of a cycle and that the Mutts are a natural mutation that occurs as Solos enters it's summer season, seasons lasting 500 years on Solos. They also key in on the radioactive cave that Sondergaard rescued Jo from and the Mutts seem to be defending. The Doctor and Sondergaard head into that cave where the Doctor recovers a small crystal from a larger glowing structure. They head back to the lab but Sondergaard's equipment is insufficient to study it. They decide to head back to Skybase 1 to study it in Jaeger's lab.

Stubbs, Cotton, Jo and Ky emerge outside Varan's village where they are captured by Varan and his remaining warriors. All of them, including Varan, have begun to mutate and are preparing for a suicidal attack on Skybase 1. Using Stubbs and Cotton's weapons and Ky and Jo as shields, they penetrate the transmat station and subsequently Skybase 1.

The Marshal, having returned to base, receives word that an inspector is coming from Earth following the death of the Administrator. The Marshal, worried about loss of position, orders Jaeger to launch the missiles. At the same time, the alarm sounds as Varan's force is detected. The Marshal and his men attack the war party but the exchange of fire blows a hole in the base and Varan is sucked out into space.

Stubbs, Cotton, Jo and Ky manages to pull themselves out of the room and seal the door to the breach where they are arrested by the Marshal. He takes them to his office and prepares to have them shot but Jaeger stops him. Jaeger's missiles impacted rather than detonating in the atmosphere and Solos is now infected with ionizing radiation. He needs the Doctor to fix the problem. The Marshal orders his hostages held and leads a squad down to collect the Doctor.

The Doctor and Sondergaard observe the missile hits and the Doctor immediately figures out the danger. He observes Varan's abandoned village and assumes they went to Skybase 1. Weakened by the radiation exposure, Sondergaard urges the Doctor to go alone. He will rest and then return to the caves and meet him there. The Doctor agrees. He gets past the Marshal's men and transmats back up to the base, the guards in pursuit.

The Doctor eludes the guards and begins to loose Jo when the Marshal and his men catch him. The Marshal orders the Doctor to assist Jaeger in correcting the missile mistake or he will kill the hostages. The Doctor agrees and begins to help Jaeger. In doing so, he pulls needed equipment from the transmat device, rendering it inoperable and isolating Skybase 1 from the planet.

Her bonds nearly undone by the Doctor, Jo manages to free herself and gets the drop on the guard, stealing his weapon. She frees the others and they make an emergency transmission to the inspector's ship, informing him of what the Marshal has been doing. The transmission attracts the Marshal and a firefight erupts. The group flees the room but Stubbs is killed in the crossfire. The three remaining flee to the transmat station but are trapped due to the Doctor taking it offline. They are rearrested with Cotton and Ky being sent to the radiation collection room.

Back on Solos, Sondergaard makes it back to the caves where he is approached by the surviving Mutts. He manages to communicate to them that their mutation is part of a natural process but somewhat affected by the Marshal's experiments on them. He rallies them to help him get to the Doctor who he believes will help them.

The Doctor and Jaeger manage to remove the ionizing radiation and restore Solos to it's prior state with their device. The Marshal threatens to kill Jo unless the Doctor uses the device to continue the process and make it habitable for Earth colonization. The Doctor refuses but before the Marshal can carry out his threat, the inspector's ship arrives. Jo is locked in the radiation collection room with the others while the Doctor accompanies the Marshal to meet the Inspector.

The radiation collection room begins to fill with thaesium radiation as the Inspector's ship begins to refuel. Cotton leads the other two along the refueling tube to escape radiation poisoning, although Ky is showing effects from the radiation exposure. They burst in to the makeshift inquiry, allowing the Doctor to tell his side of the story about the Marshal's actions, refuting the Marshal's spin on events.

On Solos, Sondergaard transmats himself up to Skybase 1. He encourages the Mutts to follow him but only one does and that after he has already gone. Sondergaard enters the proceedings and accuses both the Marshal and Jaeger of prematurely initiating the mutation process. The Marshal refutes Sondergaard's claims that the Mutts are not dangerous. When the one Mutt who followed Sondergaard enters, the Marshal seizes a weapon and attacks it, killing it as it tries to flee back down the corridor. The Inspector, disturbed by the creature, gives control of his men over the Marshal.

Seeing things go against them, the Doctor, Sondergaard and Jo flee to Jaeger's lab where the Doctor analyzes the crystal taken from the radiation cave. He determines that the crystal is a catalytic agent for the mutation. He gives it to Sondergaard as the Marshal's forces burst in. Jo and Sondergaard are taken to the radiation collection room along with Ky and Cotton who were captured earlier while the Marshal forces the Doctor to work on the machine to transform the Solonian atmosphere.

In the radiation chamber, Sondergaard gives Ky the crystal as he is already being mutated by the thaesium radiation. He completes his transformation into a Mutt quickly with the help of the crystal. He continues to hold the crystal and absorb more radiation from the room. He transforms again into an ethereal being. He opens the door and disappears down the corridor.

In the lab, the Inspector is brought in outraged that the Marshal is keeping him and his men against their will. The Marshal informs him that they will be taken down to Solos once the Doctor has changed the atmosphere to become the first colonists for him to rule over. The Doctor takes advantage of the argument and sabotages the machine. He proclaims himself finished and the Marshal orders Jaeger to operate it. The Doctor's sabotage causes the machine to malfunction and explode, killing Jaeger. Enraged at his actions, the Marshal prepares to kill the Doctor but Ky enters the room and vaporizes the Marshal before he can fire. Ky then disappears back to Solos.

Afterwards, the Inspector appoints Cotton as the new Skybase 1 administrator and Solon volunteers to stay on Solos long enough to help guide the remaining Mutts to the radiation caves to complete their transformations. He and the Doctor theorize that they hadn't been able to do that on their own because Jaeger's experiments caused them to mutate before they were ready and they were confused like butterflies emerging on a frosty Spring day. The Inspector asks the Doctor to accompany him back to Earth but the Doctor makes excuses using Jo as a cover and the two of them slip back to the TARDIS and home.

Analysis

For the life of me, I can't figure out why this story has a middling to negative reputation. There are flaws and it does drag in a couple of points, but overall it is quite good. Most of the acting is good, the pacing is pretty well done, there is some nice location shooting, the atmosphere works and the special effects are no where near as bad as general consensus makes them out to be.

One of the best things about this story is the Marshal. He is megalomaniacal but not over-the-top about it. He is very direct about what he wants but at the same times, gives the impression of some subtlety and a reasonable amount of thought regarding his actions. He is also a competent villain. If carried out properly, his plans would have succeeded. He is only thwarted by things he could not predict, such as the arrival of the Doctor, the existence of Sondergaard and betrayal by his own men. Even after all these things, he continues to push on, never giving in to a hysterical fit as we might expect an overarching villain to do. Instead, it is cold and steady throughout except for a few points at the end where the Doctor's goading trick him into letting the mask slip on occasion. It was quite a good performance in my opinion.

Both the Doctor and Jo are also quite good in this. The Doctor gets a good bead on the situation but still operates just enough in the dark to force him to push forward. He is captured and persuaded all the time because he works for the benefit of Jo and the others. He is also a bit nicer to Jo in this story than he sometimes is when they work closer together. You see the friendship they have with the trace hints of the fatherly affection he has towards her.

Jo is also pretty good here. Yes, she plays the damsel quite a bit, but she only gives in to hysteria once and that is at the first appearance of the Mutts. At all other times she is actively trying to help either Ky or the Doctor. She finally gets a chance to be fully proactive in Episode Five where she disarms the guard and signals the Inspector. At no point does she ever become just an object to be rescued, even if that is all she is at various points. It is still a strong portrayal and enjoyable to watch.

The rest of the cast was fairly decent, although none stood overly out. The lone exception is Cotton. His acting was dreadful; very stiff and wooden. I was genuinely sad when Stubbs was killed, not for any affection for him, but because it meant that Cotton would be expressing grief and get a lot more dialogue. His attempt at describing the danger their party was in at the end of Episode Five to create the cliffhanger was just terrible. I'm not sure he could have acted worse if he had actually been reading off cue cards just off screen. But, one flawed portrayal does not ruin the whole.

Another thing I don't get is why there is a badmouthing of the effects in this story. The couple of points where CSO is heavily used (the radiation caves) do look pretty bad with significant fringing along the Doctor's outline. However, I'm not sure I've seen anything from the early 70's that didn't have the same flaws. These were also flaws that cropped up through the 80's so I can't say that this scene bothered me to any great detail.

I actually liked the design of the Mutts and thought those costumes fairly well done. Up until Episode Six, they were mostly shot only in the caves and that darkened atmosphere helped maintain their illusion. However, even when they were exposed to full light in Episode Six, I still thought it shot well enough to hide whatever flaws there were there.

The set of Skybase 1 looked very nice and even the reuse of corridor sets was nicely masked. Shooting on location for the planet was nicely done with the film shots in caves working well. I especially liked the exterior scenes using the foggy marshes to give an extra sense of creep to the various pursuit scenes that happened there.

If I had to pick out one significant thing I didn't like (other than Cotton's acting) it would be the near literal Deus Ex Machina ending. This ending was somewhat heavily broadcast throughout the story but even so, it felt a bit cheap at the end. I would have preferred that that final mutation for Ky would have been something a bit less god-like, forcing the Doctor to think of a way out or arrange some other method of dealing with the Marshal. I am glad that the Doctor did make the decision to sacrifice himself rather than let the Marshal destroy the atmosphere of Solos but Ky's quick fix rescue of him and his friends just seemed like the easy way out.

I can't say much about the colonialism aspect of the story. Being an American, I have a somewhat natural disdain for colonialism despite our own history in that regard. So there was never any question in my mind that I would sympathize with the Solonians. Of course, as a family show, things are portrayed in fairly stark black and white.

I think I would have enjoyed a bit more grey on the human's part regarding their actions. Apart from Stubbs and Cotton, there is no real indication of the humans having any inclination that what the Marshal is doing is wrong. Jaeger only objects to the timing with his experiments and his later objects are against killing humans, not Solonians. Stubbs suggests that there are others in the guards that object to the Marshal's actions but we never see them nor is there any indication that other guards are willing to oppose him other than Stubbs and Cotton. Even the Marshal himself is subject to this limited treatment. No one in authority objects to his actions for the most part. It is only because he has gone mad with power that there is any movement against him. It doesn't hurt the story in any significant way but some subtlety or nuance would have elevated the story a bit beyond itself and might have helped its reputation as a whole.

Overall, I liked this story. I think it's a bit too long and the characters lack depth but these are things that prevent it from being elevated to very good or great status rather than pulling it down into the mire. I think just about anyone could enjoy this story if it were pulled off the shelf but I would also say that I don't think it would be anyone's first choice. It is good but there is just not enough to make it stand out above some of the other classics of the Third Doctor era.

Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5

The Tenth Planet

This old body is wearing a bit thin, I suppose.

The final First Doctor story and the introduction of the Cybermen. You would think that this story would be more memorable given all that it has going for it. But, it is almost completely unknown outside of those two points and that probably tells you all that you really need to know about the plot of this story.

Plot Summary

The TARDIS lands just outside an international underground base in Antarctica in December 1986 used to track and communicate with various space missions. The TARDIS crew is arrested by base personnel and brought inside. However, they are shunted to the side when the base begins having issues with one of their recent rocket launches. The space craft is off course and suffering a power drain.

Observing quietly, the Doctor formulates a theory and offers it to the CO, General Cutler, on a slip of paper. Cutler ignores him but his senior scientific advisor, Barclay, takes the note and stuffs it in his pocket. As they try and aid the spacecraft, it drifts further off course and loses more power. The spacecraft also reports seeing a new planet approaching Earth and send back images of the planet.

The Doctor points out on the images that the land masses are very similar to Earth except that they are inverted. He then directs Barclay to read his note and Barclay is astonished to read that same statement. General Cutler, suspicious of their origins, orders a team topside to break into the TARDIS. As they head out, a spacecraft lands nearby and a group of Cybermen approach in the snow. They catch the team by surprise and kill them. They put on the team's cloaks and slip into the base.

The team in the base continues to work to try and get the spacecraft down. However the Cybermen appear in the base and seize control. They knock out General Cutler and lock Ben in the A/V room when he tries to resist. They force the base to send a signal back to control in Geneva that everything is fine.

The Cybermen do not impede the team in attempting to get the spacecraft down. However, they warn that the attempt is futile. The spacecraft attempts to slow down to reenter but it's fuel reserves are exhausted and it enters the atmosphere at too high a velocity. It burns up as it enters.

In the A/V room, Ben turns on the projector and then calls the guard. As the Cybermen enters, it is blinded by the projector and Ben seizes his weapon. He guns him down and sneaks out. Ben slips the weapon to General Cutler as he regains consciousness. Cutler then guns down the Cybermen. Cutler signals Geneva about what happened and warns them of further attacks. Cutler is informed that a second spacecraft was launched to attempt to aid the first one before it was destroyed and it is being piloted by Cutler's son.

Before being killed, the Cybermen informed the base that they intended to drain the energy of the Earth and transport the inhabitants back to Mondas to be converted to Cybermen. They begin to read power drains across the globe. They also spy a fleet of spacecraft approaching Earth. Cutler orders his men topside to set up a defense using the captured Cybermen weapons.

The Doctor suddenly collapses and is taken away to the barracks to recuperate. Cutler, becoming increasingly unhinged in fear for his son's life decides to launch a Z-bomb rocket at Mondas to destroy it. Barclay is horrified and warns against the potential fallout. Cutler ignores him. Cutler phones Geneva to get permission but is denied the outright use of the bomb. He is however granted rights to use methods he deems necessary to fight the Cybermen. Cutler uses this as a fig leaf to prepare the bomb.

Ben protests, stating that the Doctor assured them that Mondas would be unable to control the energy draw and would burn up if given the time, meaning they only had to hold out against the Cybermen. Cutler, refusing to be inactive, orders him taken to the barracks with the Doctor. Polly is allowed to stay behind and she works on Barclay to help them stop the missile launch while Cutler and others make the missile operational.

Barclay goes with Polly to the room with Ben and the Doctor, who is still unconscious. Barclay gives Ben instructions on how to sabotage the rocket so that it will not launch but be undetectable for several weeks. Ben sneaks through the air ducts and lowers himself into the launch bay as the workers leave. Barclay heads outside the room, distracting the scientists with mathematical checks.

One Cyberman spacecraft lands but the squad of Cybermen that emerge are cut down by their own weapons hidden in the snow. Military men seize the weapons of the fallen to add to their arsenal.

Cutler prepares to launch the rocket so that it's blast will occur while his son's spacecraft is on the far side of Earth. He notices that Barclay is missing and goes looking for him. Alarmed at the lack of people inside the silo, Cutler storms in and finds Ben in a compartment. He pulls him out and throws him off the gantry. Suffering a concussion, Ben is taken back to the control room to be looked at by Polly while Cutler orders the launch of the missile.

The missile fails to launch due to Ben's sabotage and Cutler reacts angrily. The Doctor reenters the room and Cutler turns on him as the source of the failure. He is momentarily distracted by a call from his son who has the power of his ship flickering on and off. He ignores warnings from the communications officer about an approaching Cyberman ship. When communication is lost, Cutler flies into a blind rage and prepares to shoot the Doctor as the source of the problem.

Cybermen enter the base at that moment and General Cutler is killed when he shoots at them. The Cybermen order the retraction of the missile and the removal of the nuclear device. Ben, Barclay, Dyson and a couple of other base personnel are sent in to do the job while Polly is taken to the Cyberman ship as a hostage. The Doctor is initially left in the control room to communicate with Geneva but he is also eventually taken to the Cyberman ship.

In the missile silo, Ben and the others work but eventually realize that the Cybermen have become aware of the potential of Mondas absorbing too much energy and are planning to use the Z-bomb warhead to destroy Earth as a means of stopping the flow. Ben also realizes that the Cybermen are vulnerable to radiation as they refuse to enter the room. Ben has the crew all lie down while he pounds on the door as though they are all dying of radiation poisoning. The Cyberguard enters and immediately buckles from radiation exposure. Ben seizes his weapon. They also then cut the communications out of the room.

Ben and Barclay pull the radioactive rods out of the nuclear reactor. They give them to the crew who hide down the hallway. As the Cybermen approach due to the time limit of warhead removal being up, Ben lures them towards the door, felling one with the captured weapon. The crewmen approach with the radioactive rods, weakening the Cybermen to allow Ben to cut them down with the weapon.

The group returns to the control room where they use a Cyberman communications device to lure the rest out of the ship and attack them. As the Cybermen enter, they notice Mondas beginning to burn up due to energy absorption. As the planet begins to crack and disintegrate, the Cybermen collapse and wither. Barclay signals Geneva and finds similar instances around the globe. They also reacquire communication with the orbiting spacecraft flown by Cutler's son to find him ok and his fuel levels stabilized.

Ben leaves the base and pulls Polly and the Doctor from their bonds in the Cyberman spaceship. Polly is fine but the Doctor is exhausted and barely conscious. The three manage to get back to the TARDIS where the Doctor briefly locks them out. He thinks better of it and takes off after letting them in. As they enter, he collapses and regenerates into the Second Doctor.

Analysis

Despite having the introduction of the Cybermen and the First Doctor regenerating, The Tenth Planet is ultimately not a particularly good story. I think a good portion of this is due to how much William Hartnell was sidelined due to poor health but there are several faults that lead to it's overall problem.

The story starts off fairly well with the space capsule, the arrival and detention of the Doctor and his companions and the appearance of Mondas. It even ends well with the Cybermen arriving and killing the team trying to get into the TARDIS. It does fairly well as a start up. But Episode Two is where things start to go downhill. The Cybermen seize the base and then we are treated to a heavy dose of exposition where the Cybermen talk at length about their plans. While I'm sure things are interesting from a technical point of view, it doesn't make for very compelling drama.

The story picks up again when the initial Cyberman invasion is driven back but this also starts the two central mistakes of the story. First is the removal of the Doctor. This obviously couldn't be helped as William Hartnell fell ill. It works to reinforce the idea that the First Doctor is dying and needs to regenerate, but much of the Doctor's lines are split between Ben and Barclay and it just doesn't ring quite as true to see the companions going about with some other guy when it should be the Doctor.

The second mistake is the shift in villain focus. Through the first two episodes, General Cutler is a by-the-book military man who is a bit of a jerk but ultimately trying to do the right thing. The potential loss of his son unhinges him and the Cybermen take a backseat as the villain to Cutler. This is a problem as Cutler has done nothing to deserve villain status and his shift to crazy should cause an uprising among his own men. It's also an unnecessary stalling detour as the Cybermen should always be the main focus enemy. Episode Two ends with a fleet of Cyberwarships approaching and they just seem to go on stall mode for an episode while the General goes Dr. Strangelove. It takes what should be a ramp up of the excitement and turns it into a moment of treading water.

A third problem I have with this story is that ultimately nothing happens. One of my biggest pet peeves is where the hero fights but eventually the villain seems to achieve his goal only to find out that achieving this goal results in their own destruction (Planet of the Spiders is a good example of this). In this story, the Doctor and the people of Earth need to do almost nothing. Mondas has already made the critical mistake of trying to absorb too much energy and will destroy itself. The only thing the Doctor and the others need to do is stall the Cybermen to not allow them to stop the process by destroying Earth. It seems overly shortsighted of the Cybermen not to be prepared for that and it also seems to happen far too quickly. There is no epic struggle where a hard choice has to be made nor is there a grand adventure to make the destruction happen. Instead it just happens while nearly everyone waits around.

This is a good story for Ben, I will admit. With the Doctor sidelined for nearly two full episodes, he gets a lot to do and is the real man of action the way Ian and Steven were in earlier days. Polly gets a bit sidelined with her conversion of Barclay in Episode Three being her only real action the entire story.

It's an unfortunate end for the Doctor. He more or less stands around for the first two episodes and the third where he was supposed to start getting involved is where William Harntell got sick. He has a momentary bit of shine at the beginning of Episode Four, especially with his acknowledgement that he is wearing a bit thin, but the second half has him absent or unconscious. It's not a noble end as you would expect for the First Doctor, but it does reveal a bit of sad truth about what truly growing old would be like. The First and Eleventh Doctors remain the only ones to regenerate due to old age but unlike the Eleventh Doctor who regenerated in triumph, the First Doctor simply wears out and wears out as you would expect an old man to. It is authentic, but it is also quite sad.

For the most part, I like the original Cybermen. They were a bit too bulky with their accoutrements but with more skin exposed and a cloth covering rather than metal, they seemed to reflect their humanoid roots more. The metal style which replaced them in The Moonbase is more iconic but it also led them further down the path of robots rather than cybernized humanoids. But I can also get around that with some head cannon. Since the true Mondasian Cybermen died when Mondas failed to provide them energy, the Cybermen left in other parts of the galaxy had to be of a more robust (metal) design and thus became more robotized. I also like imagining that the fleet that arrives in The Moonbase went looking for them after Mondas failed to reappear and assumed that Earth had destroyed Mondas in an attack rather than an energy mishap, leading to their planned destruction of life on Earth.

There is not much to say about the side characters except Barclay. He did a decent job stepping in for the Doctor in Episode Three but it would have worked better if he had had more than a couple lines in the first two episodes. I did like the astronauts in the first capsule and they did a good job of making you like them and feel sympathetic for them when they were killed in Episode Two. It is also a nice bit of history that the pilot was of African decent and it was not an issue. It was just a job filled by a guy and it's nice to see that in any show set in the 1960s.

Overall, I can't get to excited about this one. There is just not enough to engage you full time. The Doctor does nothing notable for his send off and the Cybermen become so radically different that you might as well consider The Moonbase as their introduction. General Cutler annoyed me and his becoming the villain was an unnecessary distraction from the Cybermen. It's good to watch for the regeneration and for some context behind later Cyberman stories, but it is generally a bore to just watch on it's own.

Overall personal score: 1.5 out of 5

The Moonbase

Then we'll hit 'em with some of this Polly cocktail

The Moonbase marked the return of the Cybermen, their makeover into the more familiar metallic casing and the point where the Second Doctor seemed to come into his own. The Moonbase also laid out what would become the familiar format of Second Doctor stories in the form of a base under siege with the Doctor figuring out the critical weakness of the enemy to exploit. It also is half missing, but fortunately has some very nice animation to fill in with Episodes One and Three.

Plot Summary
After a bumpy ride, the Doctor manages to land the TARDIS, not on Mars as intended, but on the surface of the moon in 2070. Ben and Polly convince him to explore outside. They go out wearing spacesuits and the companions have fun bouncing around in the low gravity. Jamie over-jumps and crashes outside the moonbase, concussing himself. He is taken inside by two men working at the base and the Doctor, Ben and Polly follow.

In the base's command center, a technician falls ill, black lines developing on his skin. The base commander, Dr. Hobson, orders him taken to the infirmary although little can be done as the base doctor was the first one taken ill. The Doctor, Ben and Polly are taken to him where the Doctor is mistaken for a replacement doctor sent by Earth. Polly heads to the infirmary to check on Jamie while the Doctor and Ben learn about the Gravitron, a gravity beam used to control tides and other weather phenomena on Earth.

A fourth crew member is taken ill and the Doctor and Ben head back with him to the infirmary to study this virus. Jamie moans in a delirious state about a phantom piper who stalks the McCrimmon clan. The Doctor studies the base doctor's symptoms and then sends Ben back to the command room to help and observe.

Hobson radios Earth to request help and a new full staff doctor. Earth responds that they will accommodate him on the next supply run in a month. Hobson is unhappy about this but can do nothing. One of the technicians note that he picked up feedback during the transmission suggesting they are being monitored.

Hobson's second in command, Benoit, forces him to take a break and sends Ben down to the store room to help Ralph with preparing a resupply list. Ralph sends Ben to catalogue one end of the store room food supply while he works the other. A Cyberman appears from the shadows and kills Ralph, dragging his body away. Ben heads back to the command center to report on Ralph's disappearance, leaving both Benoit and Hobson confused and concerned.

The Doctor enters and tells Hobson that the doctor has died. They head back to the infirmary where Polly tells them she thought she saw something enter the room and then duck back out. The group pulls the sheet back to examine the dead doctor but find the doctor's body has gone. Hobson heads back to command while the Doctor and Ben follow to investigate some more, leaving Polly alone with Jamie. Jamie calls out for water and Polly leaves to get him some. As she does so, a Cyberman reenters the room with Jamie taking him for the phantom piper.

The Cyberman ignores Jamie and grabs a second patient, taking him from the room. Polly sees the back of him and screams, summoning the Doctor and Ben. Ben runs up to the command center to fetch Hobson who comes down. Polly relates her story but Hobson dismisses it saying the Cybermen disappeared after the destruction of Mondas nearly 100 years ago. Hobson is growing increasingly wary of the Doctor and his companions, desiring them to leave. The Doctor strikes a deal with him that they will leave if the Doctor hasn't figured out the cause of the illness within 24 hours. Hobson agrees.

In the command center, Hobson orders a series of tests as the Gravitron is not aligning properly and that is beginning to have serious consequences on Earth. As they are running test, the Doctor enters and collects hair, skin and soil samples from each of them. While he is away, a Cyberman enters the infirmary and takes another infected patient. It knocks out both Polly and Jamie with a bolt of energy, but the Doctor is able to revive them after it leaves.

The command crew eventually discover that one of the control arrays has parts either damaged or missing and that they began happening shortly after the Doctor and his companions arrived. Benoit also notes another in a series of momentary atmospheric pressure drops that had been happening since shortly before the virus emerged. Hobson dispatches two men to check the array while he and Benoit head down to the infirmary to confront the Doctor.

In the infirmary, the Doctor has failed to make any discoveries. When Hobson comes down to get them to leave, he fakes having made a discovery and ushers them out into the waiting room. He tells Polly to bring them some coffee as an added distraction.

Outside, the two men sent to check on the array are attacked by Cybermen. Inside, one of the crew who Polly has served falls ill with the virus. As he is carried to a bed, the Doctor realizes that the virus is in the sugar. He takes a sample and discovers a neurological virus. He informs Hobson that the Cybermen must be behind this but Hobson scoffs saying that they had searched the whole base and found nothing.

The Doctor pulls Hobson aside as whispers as to whether his men searched the infirmary. Hobson realizes that they never did as it was always occupied. As he does, a Cybermen rises from under a bed sheet and advances on them. The Cyberman orders them to surrender. One technician tries to get behind him to attack but is gunned down by a second Cyberman entering. The rest of the crew surrender.

The Cybermen take Hobson, the Doctor and the other crew back to the control room, leaving Ben and Polly in the infirmary with Jamie, having determined that the three of them are of no value but also no threat. In the control room, Hobson and the others are placed in one corner while the men infected with the neurovirus are brought in and made to work the Gravitron. The Cybermen intend to use the Gravitron to manipulate the Earth's weather to destroy all human life from the planet and eliminate any potential threat.

While the Cybermen are focused on working the Gravitron, the Doctor sneaks around, determining how to disrupt the signals to the controlled men and finding a weakness in the Cybermen. He hits on the idea that they are vulnerable to the extreme gravitational effects produced by the Gravitron.

Back in the infirmary, Jamie comes back around feeling better. Polly hits on an idea of using solvents to dissolve the plastic components of the life support systems in their chest. She and Ben blend several different solvents together from the chemical stores and pour them in spray bottles. Each companion gets one bottle and they sneak towards the control room.

The three companions burst in and spray the Cybermen with the solvent mixture. It causes the plastic components to melt and the Cybermen collapse, choking on melted plastic. Hobson immediately pulls the controlled men out of the Gravitron control area, having collapsed due to the sonic strain. They are taken to the infirmary to recover.

Benoit heads outside to see if he can find the two men who were sent out earlier. He finds their suits but not the men. He is attacked by one Cyberman but the gun fails to discharge. Benoit runs back towards the base with the Cyberman chasing him. Ben meets him at the door and tosses a small glass bottle of the "Polly cocktail" into the pursing Cyberman's chest, killing him.

Hobson orders a lockdown of the base while the Cybermen land two more ships and begin marching out to take the base by force. With the doors sealed, the Cybermen are unable to break in, their previous hole having also been sealed off. The Cybermen temporarily stop their advance when a ship from Earth is observed approaching. The Cybermen increase their control signal and reanimate Dr. Evans. Evans knocks out the orderly and sneaks into the Gravitron control room. He then uses the Gravitron to knock the Earth ship out of orbit and into the sun. Evans then uses the Gravitron to continue the Cybermen's plans to attack Earth.

With the outside threat gone, the Cybermen renew their attack on the base. They fire small lasers at the base and manage to breach the dome, causing atmosphere to leak out. Hobson and Benoit manage to seal it off using a heavy plastic tray Polly had brought in to serve coffee. The loss of atmosphere knocks Evans out and he is pulled out and taken back to the infirmary.

The Doctor orders Jamie and Ben to seal off the infirmary as he expects the other controlled men to attack which they do just as Jamie and Ben arrive there. The two men barricade the door with metal benches and chairs. They then retreat and do the same for the entrance to the control room.

With additional Cybermen filing across the moon's surface, they prepare to launch heavy weapons at the base. The Doctor notes that the Gravitron is still at full power and stands his ground, offering an easy target. The Cybermen blast their heavy gun at him but the gravity output from the Gravitron deflects the beam. His theory validated, the Doctor orders the Gravitron lowered as close to the surface as possible. Benoit lowers the angle of attack and Hobson disengages the safety system to allow it to go even lower.

The gravity wave pushes the Cybermen up off the moon and into space. Their ships also are thrown backwards and off into space. The crew celebrates the defeat of the Cybermen while the Doctor and his companions slip away quietly. They make their way back to the TARDIS and take off with the Doctor activating his time scanner to give them a glimpse of what is in store next. They recoil as they see a large crab claw on the screen.

Analysis
Overall I liked The Moonbase but it is a good example that has such good build up and then peters out to an almost disappointing conclusion. So much of the story depends on atmosphere and the use of a "phantom in the shadows" motif. Once that's gone, it turns into a hold off an attack story and one that is resolved very quickly and where the Doctor is not the central focus and that is a bit disappointing.

I do like the Doctor in this one. This is the first real and true appearance of the dark and plotting Second Doctor that became more the staple. Up until now he had been a bit theatrical and this is the one where he finally settles in to a serious mode, but not losing that sense of whimsy. His extraction of samples from the crew is one of those light-hearted moments of oddity that make the Second Doctor so enjoyable.

The companions, apart from Jamie, were quite good in this story. It is fairly well known that this story was written before Innes Lloyd came down and announced that Jamie would be coming on as a companion so a hasty rewrite was given to it. Jamie was essentially put on the shelf for two and a half episodes and then given a couple of Ben's lines and substituted in where a generic member of the base team would have been in. Ben does the standard action man but it does give him a lot of interface with various people. He actually interacts with them more than the Doctor does.

Polly comes off probably best of all, even if she does slip in and out of women's stereotypes. Polly stays in the infirmary to watch Jamie but she also is the Doctor's main assistant when trying to figure out the virus. She comes up with the solvent cocktail but doesn't know what the primary ingredients of solvents are. She forces Ben and Jamie to let her fight the Cybermen along side them but she twice is relegated to coffee detail, even if one of them is a distracting maneuver for the Doctor. I think even with these up and downs, Polly proves herself quite worthy in this story and both her and Ben are given fairly meaty roles that do their characters justice.

Two of the most enjoyable characters were actually part of the guest cast. The Doctor suffered a bit from the lack of attention but that was because Hobson and Benoit were so good at taking that attention. Hobson especially was a commanding presence and had a real take charge attitude. What's more, unlike base commanders in other "base under siege" stories, he is competent and never gives in to madness or despair. Because of this, the Doctor stays in a supporting role as more of an idea man rather than rearing himself into a major leadership role as you might see in The Ice Warriors for example.

Benoit was also a place that the Doctor could have slipped in to but again, you have such a good actor and a well defined role. Benoit is a solid second-in-command who respects his superior and is always looking out for what is best for the mission and the men under them. You see genuine respect that the characters have towards each other and it both plays well and is quite engaging, even if it means that the Doctor doesn't get to step in. Benoit also does a good job of not falling into easy French stereotypes. He has a heavy accent and descends to swearing in French but the actor is French so has an easy flow. He never goes over the top, giving in to expected cheap reference as to how French he is and it is nice to see that (in contrast to the Italian stereotype in The Tenth Planet).

The Cybermen did well in their redesign. It is interesting to note that most of the design changes were made simply because the original suits were just so hard to maintain and were so hard on the actors. From an aesthetic standpoint, I think the changes worked quite well. There were traces of the humans that became the Cybermen in The Tenth Planet which seemed to make them a bit more relatable and less scary to me. Robotizing them more drained that relatability and the coldness is what makes them so frightening. I personally think the Cybermen seen in The Moonbase and The Tomb of the Cybermen were the most frightening versions. The voice helped with that, although I'm glad I've been able to have the subtitles on when watching both these stories as while it makes the Cybermen scary, it's also a devil of a time to fully understand what they are saying.

So with so many good elements, why does the story end so poorly? I think it is the way the story shifted. The first three parts were almost like a haunted house story. The enemy was within the house, moving stealthily and picking off people one at a time. In Episode Three, you have the Cybermen strike and with only three take over the whole base. That ends the secrecy but you have a prisoner tale now and our heroes triumph over their captors. That then leaves Episode Four.

Episode Four's primary problems are actually due to padding I think. The Doctor effectively figures out that the Gravitron must be used against the Cybermen in Episode Three but spends nearly 2/3's of Episode four waiting around before saying anything. There is also the inconsistency of the Cybermen attacks. One squad of Cybermen was able to dig through and into the base but three ships full are held back by secured doors? That seems odd.

I can understand falling back to deal with the ship from Earth, but once that is done the attacks should be consistent and constant. They successfully breach the dome but then stop once Hobson and Benoit plug the hole. Why not make a new hole? Why not keep firing until all atmosphere in the base is boiled away? Instead they make one hole and then call off the attack to bring in a heavy cannon, which might actually damage the Gravitron, which they seem keen on avoiding. Also, why does the heavy cannon blast get deflected by the Gravity beam when the small firing did not? The Cybermen attacks just seem almost haphazard and indifferent.

It is also a bit underwhelming to have the Gravitron simply fling the Cybermen away. It is done so easily and so quickly that it feels like flinging away a bug that has landed on your arm and undercuts the power of the Cybermen even more than the intermittent attacks did. I think a far better solution would have been to use the Gravitron to push away the Cybermen ships and most of the men at the beginning of Episode Four but then the rest of the story being to fend off the remaining ten or fifteen who managed to breach the base. Have Ben and Polly use the last of the cocktail so that the Doctor has to step forward and think of a way to defeat the last group as they try to take final control. That would have made the threat far more personal and given the Doctor more of a central focus in trying to outthink the enemy.

Although it ended somewhat poorly, this is still a good story. The animation of Episodes One and Three is done very well and actually adds to the atmosphere. I actually thought the tension was higher and better done in the animated episodes than in Episode Two, although that was still done pretty well. The characters are good and there is a fairly nice balance in how everyone works together, apart from the limitation of how the Doctor is used. I'd easily watch it again, although I still wish there could have been an ending that suited the build up better.

Overall personal score: 3 out of 5