Revenge of the Cybermen

Harry Sullivan is an imbecile!

I had a hankering to watch a story with Harry Sullivan in it for some reason and was a bit disappointed to find that I've written my reactions on most of his stories already. I'm saving The Sontaran Experiment for when I want a quick one so that left Terror of the Zygons and this one. I wasn't quite feeling Zygons so I opted to go for this one, which I think is a little better than it usually gets credit for. If you've seen the documentary short about it, it's probably definitely better than Philip Hinchcliff thinks it is.

Plot Summary

The Doctor, Harry and Sarah arrive back on Nerva Beacon thousands of years after they left, when it was being used as an actual satellite beacon for passing spacecraft. They arrive before the TARDIS has materialized in their time and head out to explore the beacon while they wait. As they open the doors to the transmat room, a dead body falls through the open door. Harry estimates that he has been dead for over a week although putrification has not set in. The find the corridor littered with bodies in a similar fashion.

Elsewhere on the beacon the communications man, Warner, warns off several approaching ship with a notice of plague quarantine. Base Commander Stevenson has orders from Earth to warn off all other ships until aid arrives from Earth. Aside from him and Warner, the only two others on the beacon are the second-in-command Lester, and a civilian professor named Kellman. Stevenson and Lester detect a warning signal as the Doctor and his companions break through the quarantine door and they head out to investigate.
Kellman walks into the control room and they discuss an asteroid that has recently passed into the system and has seemingly been caught in the orbit of Jupiter. Warner is pretty sure he has just received an aborted transmission from the asteroid, but Kellman tells him to ignore it as he has taken a study of the asteroid and found nothing of interest. Shortly afterward, Warner is attacked by a metallic snake-like object while Kellman watches. After Warner is down, Kellman steals the tape recording of the transmission.

On the asteroid, which is actually the planetoid Voga, were the inhabitants live in caves below the surface, a transmission was made but the caller was killed before anything else came through. The authorization to kill came from Vorus, a young military minded man. He is in league with an elder named Magrik and together are hatching a plan to be able to return to the surface and have formed a league with the Cybermen and have a human agent on the beacon.

Steven and Lester confront the Doctor and his companions. Before they can explain, Kellman comes up and claims that Warner is a victim of the plague. The Doctor then poses themselves as a medical team from Earth and go to examine him. Harry, Sarah and Lester take Warner back to the crew quarters while Stevenson and the Doctor stay in the communications room. The Doctor notes the metallic scratches on the wall and the stolen tape. He points these out to Stevenson who is dumbstruck.

The Doctor then asks about Kellman and Stevenson informs him that he is studying the planetoid he named Voga which was captured by Jupiter about fifty years ago. The Doctor recognizes the name and immediately suspects the Cybermen as they were involved in a war with Voga years ago. He then dashes out to examine Warner. Warner has just died with Harry unable to help him. The Doctor examines his neck and finds small puncture wounds and tells Harry he has been poisoned.

All this is observed by Kellman via a special camera system hidden in his quarters. He then pulls a device out and sends a coded signal to a Cyber scout ship holding in space. He leaves the room and the Doctor breaks in to examine it. He finds the communicator and the monitoring equipment. Kellman comes back and the Doctor hides under the bed. Seeing the disturbed room, Kellman electrifies the floor, leaves and locks the door. The Doctor steps out and the shock causes him to jump on to the bed and also starts a fire. He crawls over to the counter using the closet door and unlocks the door using his sonic screwdriver to escape.

Left alone in the crew quarters, Sarah watches a news feed from Earth, unaware that a snake-like Cybermat is approaching. She turns off the feed just as the Cybermat leaps at her. She grabs it and tries to hold it off as it tries to sting her. It does sting her just as the Doctor arrives and shuts it down with his sonic. He carries her into the transmat room as Harry, Stevenson and Lester arrive, drawn by Sarah's screams.

The Doctor gives Sarah to Harry and prepares to transmat them down to Voga as the transport will distillate the poison from Sarah's system. He finds the control mechanism sabotaged with one piece missing. He informs Stevenson and Lester that Kellman is in league with the Cybermen and has done it. He manages to hotwire the controls to send Harry and Sarah down but without the device, cannot bring them back.

In the caves of Voga, Sarah comes back to full health but they are arrested by a Vogan patrol. They are taken to Vorus but he is interrupted in his interrogation by Tyrum, the head of the ruling council, who summons him back to the city. Harry and Sarah are then chained up for further interrogation.

Stevenson and Lester manage to get the drop on Kellman and arrest him. They threaten him with execution Kellman continues to deny everything. The Doctor however manages to get one of the Cybermat control devices and threatens to attack him with it. Kellman panics and gives up the missing component, allowing the Doctor to repair the transmat.

Tyrum informs Vorus that has become aware of his flouting of the law of secrecy and is dispatching militia to take over for Vorus' forces. They will fight if Vorus resists. Vorus becomes angry at the threat to his plans and heads back. He orders Magrik to send a patrol to kill the humans so as to avoid evidence of his plans falling into Tyrum's hands.

Harry, having noticed the chains are made of gold, manages to get him and Sarah free of them just before Magrik's squad arrives. They run through the tunnels but are eventually cornered by the squad. But the squad itself is surrounded by Tyrum's militia and they surrender, taking Harry and Sarah to see Tyrum. Harry and Sarah tell Tryum all the know while Vorus and his men have retreated to a hall and entrenched themselves. Tryum elects to wait and allow Vorus to remain where he is.

On the station, the Doctor fixes the transmat but notices that Harry and Sarah have gone out of range. His investigations are interrupted by an approaching ship that ignores their warnings to stay away. The Doctor realizes that it's the Cybermen. He tries to manually jam the door but they force it open. Stevenson and Lester fire on the Cybermen but are shot down by them. The Doctor also tries to run but he is shot by the Cybermen as well. Kellman emerges and asks the Cybermen not to kill them as they may be useful. The Cyberleader agrees.

The Cybermen bring aboard bombs that they will strap on to the Doctor, Stevenson and Lester. They will then walk to the center of Voga where the bombs will detonate, destroying the planet. Kellman requests to go on ahead and scout and the Cyberleader agrees. The Doctor breaks free for a moment but is quickly recaptured.

Kellman transmats down and is captured by Tyrum's militia while trying to see Vorus. He informs Tyrum, Sarah and Harry about Vorus' plan to lure the Cybermen aboard Nerva Beacon and then destroy it with a missile. Tyrum heads up to the mines with the three humans to interrogate Vorus about the missile. On the way, Sarah manages to sneak away, intending to warn the Doctor about the missile.

The Doctor, Stevenson and Lester are equipped with bombs with the buckles booby trapped to ensure they cannot remove them. Two Cybermen are sent with them to monitor their progress and fulfill the mission if they fail. After transmating down, the Cybermen are pulled into battle with Tyrum's militia while the Doctor, Stevenson and Lester make their way down towards the center of the planet on their own, the Doctor attempting to think of a way out of their situation.

Tyrum and Vorus make a truce and their forces combine to fight the Cybermen, attempting to buy time for the missile launch, which is being equipped with the warhead. Tyrum recalls a service tunnel that would allow them to get ahead of the Doctor's party and stop them.

Sarah manages to get behind the Cybermen, who are engaged with the Vogan in battle and transmats herself back to the station, unaware that the Doctor is already on Voga. She sneaks away and listens as the Cyberleader monitors the battle and the Doctor's party's progress to the center of Voga.

Harry and Kellman find the service shaft and crawl down but find their way partially blocked by a cave in. They start to shift the rock, unaware that the Doctor is on the other side, also trying to clear the rock while Stevenson and Lester rest. Their combined efforts cause the loose rock to collapse. Harry is thrown backwards but Kellman is crushed to death. The Doctor is also knocked out. Harry sees him and after checking his vitals, tries to remove the bomb but Lester stops him.

The Doctor wakes and tells Stevenson to head to the center while he, Harry and Lester take out the two Cybermen on Voga with gold dust. The three of them crawl on to a ledge and when the Cybermen walk beneath them they leap down, attempting to push the gold dust into their chest vent units. The Cybermen however knock them backwards and they drop the dust. They run away and then Lester jumps down next to the Cybermen and undoes his harness, activating the booby trap. The explosion kills him and the two Cybermen but does not destroy the bomb control. The Doctor takes the control and deactivates the control for the bombs and the booby trap, allowing him to take off the harness.

On the beacon, the Cyberleader sees the deactivation of the radar scope. He attempts to manually activate the bombs. Sarah rushes out to stop him but is restrained by other Cybermen. The Cyberleader activates the bombs but the Doctor has already deactivated them. The Cyberleader then interrogates Sarah, learning about the planned rocket launch. The Cyberleader surmises that as the rocket has not yet fired, it must be malfunctioning and plans to load Nerva Beacon with explosives and then crash it at a high rate of speed into a fissure on Voga. The explosion should rip the planet apart per his calculations.

The Doctor learns of the rocket as it is now ready for launch and Sarah's attempt to rescue him on the beacon. He tells Vorus to give him fifteen minutes to try and rescue Sarah and then to fire the rocket. Vorus reluctantly agrees and the Doctor transmats back up the beacon. He arrives to find Sarah alone in the control room as the Cybermen are retrieving explosives from their ship. He unties her and then finds one of the deactivated Cybermats. He swaps out the toxin for gold dust and sics it on a Cyberman, who collapses. He tries to do it again in the control room and does manage to kill another Cyberman but they are captured by other Cybermen. They are tied up in the control room while the Cyberleader activates the controls propelling the beacon toward Voga. The Cybermen then leave for their ship.

Impatient, Vorus paces angrily. As the timer nears zero, they observe the station moving towards them. Vorus orders Magrik to fire the rocket but Tyrus shoots him before he can activate it. Vorus then steps in. Stevenson tries to stop him but Vorus knocks him down. Tyrus shoots him as well, but Vorus is able to fire the rocket before he dies.

Seeing the rocket launch, the Doctor and Sarah manage to slip out of their bonds. However the Doctor finds the controls are jammed. He calls over the radio and walks Stevenson through the controls of the rocket. Stevenson manages to redirect the rocket away from the beacon just before impact. The swerve takes it in line with the Cyberman ship and destroys it.

With the immediate danger past, the Doctor finds the manual control and uses it to override the lock on the guidance system. He manages to pull the beacon out of it's descent just before crashing on Voga and stabilizes it's orbit once again.

As the beacon rises, the TARDIS materializes in the control room. The Doctor immediately enters and checks the systems. Harry transmats back to the beacon to congratulate the Doctor and Sarah. The Doctor emerges and informs them that he's been called back by the Brigadier and is leaving. Stunned by the suddenness of it, Sarah and Harry run into the TARDIS just as the Doctor is activating the controls.

Analysis

There are some flaws in this story with regard to production and acting, but for the most part, it actually hangs together for the first three episodes. It's when Episode Four comes up that most of the stuff in this story goes to pot and I think most of that blame goes to too many people giving input and then realizing they've written themselves into a corner. As such, characters suddenly start acting differently and making choices you wouldn't expect after the first three episodes.

About the only character who is consistent through the story is the Doctor. This is the Fourth Doctor very much in The Ark and Space vein where he is very alien and odd, but without the anger that crops up in Season 13 stories. The Doctor cares for those around him but at the same time has a casual indifference about him as well. About the only dire action you ever seem him take is to try and keep the Cybermen from boarding Nerva Beacon at the end of Episode Two and then his direct attack on the Cybermen early in Episode Four. Still, he has a nice balance. He has a serious to convey the threat but still cracks jokes here and there. But there is also enough restraint so that the jokes don't go too over the top and are, in fact, a way of getting under the enemy's skin a bit.

Speaking of getting under skin, one of the primary criticisms of this story is that in their previous stories, the Cybermen had been very emotionless yet the Cyberleader is very emotional. Almost every word he says is dripping with anger or relish. At no point does he ever sound like the emotionless drones he has around him. Instead he seems to take sadistic enjoyment from how his plan is progressing. He also seems to express frustration when something doesn't go according to plan.

I generally don't mind this as one of the limitations of the Cybermen was the lack of a leader figure that could banter with the Doctor the way Davros came to for the Daleks. That the leader would retain emotions also doesn't bother me as I could see that as a functional adaptation for leadership. Where it does bother me is when it becomes a plot convenience in Episode Four. After Sarah has been captured and she has told them about the rocket, there is no reason to keep her alive and the Cybermen should have dispensed with her. Instead, the Cyberleader goes into Bond villain mode, going so far as to crack a joke about Sarah getting a good view of Voga when the station crashes. He does this again when he leaves the Doctor and Sarah tied up after the bombs have been planted. This was the line that was too far for me because it went against even what a Cyberleader should have seen as the logic course of action. This was taking pleasure in torture for the sake of the pleasure.

Also on the subject of things taking a left turn in Episode Four we have Sarah and Harry. Both Harry and Sarah do fairly well for themselves, although with not that much to do in the first couple of episodes. Sarah gets bit at the end of Episode One so she and Harry go down to Voga where they are made prisoners. But there you have Harry showing initiative in getting out of the gold chains, getting a bit of fun little banter between him and Sarah as well. Similarly you have Sarah taking the reins and heading back to Nerva Beacon to try and save the Doctor in Episode Three. It's not much to do but you see the people we've come to know over the course of Season 12.

Then you have Episode Four. Sarah goes from being a strong willed, if slightly overmatched, go getter to being this emotional wuss. She runs out screaming no when the Cyberleader is about to detonate the bombs, knowing that it will only result in her death or capture and do nothing to stop him. She then sits and is sad as a bound damsel in distress until the Doctor shows up to rescue her. In both instances she does absolutely nothing to try and think her way out of the situation. Even if the situation hadn't worked and rescue by the Doctor was her only hope, she should have at least been shown trying to think of a way out or shown actively trying to escape. Instead she becomes generic damsel companion and that just stinks.

Similarly, Harry goes from being a helpful man of action to being a dumb form of comic relief in Episode Four. The cave in, the killing of Kellman and near explosion of the Doctor are played as though he's a moron who should have been aware of all the potential repercussions despite being that making no sense. He then sounds like a total moron when filling the Doctor in on everything that has happened, going so far as pass over Kellman's death as though mentioning that it rained yesterday. Later he plays captain obvious with Sarah about the beacon crashing into Voga in what I think is supposed to be a funny moment. No where to be found is the reliable and hard working person found in earlier stories. Instead we are given an inept clown that is completely unaware and uncaring about the surroundings. They went so overboard in an attempt for comic relief that it just made him into a shell of his former character.

Kellman wasn't too bad as a fake-out villain for the first two episodes. He had a bad moment when threatened by the Cybermat as his acting took a major swing downward. I don't know who gave him lessons in fear acting, but his style was not good. But aside from that, he worked fairly well. His motivations were always a bit unclear though. I guess he was offered a large payment of gold by the Vogan or he either had strong feelings about destroying the Cybermen. Neither is explained very well. In fact a better explanation is given of his story that is fed to the Cybermen. I would have liked a bit more backstory with Kellman rather than his random killing off in Episode Three. In fact, that seems cheap and unearned. He should have had some role in the final confrontation and to be left out after being crushed in a rockslide is a bit unsatisfying.

I didn't have a problem with the Vogans for the most part. Yes their masks were a bit cheap looking and the acting got a little Shakespearean over-the-top but they worked for the most part. What got me was that they spent nearly an episode and a half getting slaughtered by two Cybermen and not changing their tactics. You would think they might have had some sort of explosives, grenades or the like, to use against the Cybermen. Lester proved a simple explosion could take them out so there is no reason to believe the Vogans shouldn't have been able to toss a grenade barrage and take them out. Or if they didn't have high explosives, why didn't they have any of the "glitter guns" leftover from the previous Cyberman war? Are we to believe they supplied volumes of gold to humans in their war against the Cybermen and didn't take any anti-Cyberman weapons for themselves? It just doesn't make any sense. The Cybermen should have cut through the Vogan's initial defensive line but someone should have run back for advanced weapons and taken the Cybermen out in a secondary attack. It's a logical flaw that just bugged me, despite how impressive the battle scenes looked.

The action direction was fairly decent as it did a fairly good job of disguising the fact that the same actors and locations were being used over and over again. It still made it look as though the Cybermen were driving further into Voga and killing many Vogans while doing it. The non-action scenes were a bit flatter and some of the effects were just downright bad. I think my biggest dislike was actually the Cybermats with the long snake-like bodies. I think the Cybermats were more effective and creepy when they were the small, mouse-like objects seen in The Tomb of the Cybermen. Making them bigger actually made them seem less likely to move unobtrusively through Nerva Beacon. I also made their leap ups on to the neck and chests of their victims look that much more fake.

Overall, I don't think this is terrible as many others put it, but it's not especially good either. It starts off well enough and I think for about two and half to three episodes, I can hang with it but Episode Four is just a real let down given what it does. It's also a bit of a crash as far as the season goes, coming down from the highs of The Ark in Space and Genesis of the Daleks but that's a larger scope view which I try to avoid. I think if you showed this story to anyone under the age of twelve, they would really like it as it is right up the alley of that age group, but for anyone else, the flaws will stick out and just be a bit of a come down. Watchable in a pinch, but probably last on the list of choices for it's season.

Overall personal score: 2 out of 5

The Pilot

I can’t just call you Doctor. Doctor what?

We are now officially back. Its only been four months since The Return of Doctor Mysterio but with the year prior to that, it's been exceptionally slow going with regard to the new series in general. But now we have the final year of the Twelfth Doctor and of Steven Moffat. We continue with Nardole and are introduced to Bill Potts, who may or may not last through the transition to the Chibnall era. But let's introduce her first and get her first adventure going before we dabble in the realm of speculation.

Plot Summary

Bill Potts, a worker in the St. Luke’s University student cafeteria, is called into the office of the Doctor, who is working as a lecturer. He is intrigued by her as she has been sneaking into his lectures, though she is not a student, and has shown an interest in his subjects beyond the regular students. Further intrigued by her answers to his questions, he sets up private tutoring sessions with her.

As their sessions progress, Bill becomes more and more suspicious that the Doctor is not what he seems. He sneaks a shoebox of pictures of her mother into her apartment as a Christmas present after learning she didn’t have any. She discovers it was him by noticing his reflection taking the picture in a mirror.

In Spring Bill notices the Doctor and Nardole heading down a stair and follows them. She observes them checking on an electronic vault but is forced to run back up the stairs after knocking a loose pipe. Outside, she sees Heather, a girl she has had a crush on, moping on a bench. She makes conversation and Heather invites her to see something odd.

The two women walk to an alleyway outside campus where Heather shows her a puddle of water, though it hadn’t rained in a week. She has Bill look into the puddle and try and figure what is wrong with her reflection. Bill feels something is wrong but can’t place what. Heather smirks and walks away.

Several weeks later, Bill walks by the puddle and sees Heather staring at it. Heather asks her if she has figured it out yet. Bill offers to come over and look again if Heather promises not to run off again. She does so, but when Bill comes around the fence, she finds Heather has disappeared. Frustrated, Bill walks off, not noticing Heather disappearing below the surface of the puddle.

Bill heads to the Doctor’s office and vents her frustration with Heather at him. The Doctor however, keys in on a couple of details and runs off. She follows him to the puddle where he notices scorch marks in the pavement around the puddle. He takes a sample of the water and then shoos Bill away, attempting to get her to forget it.

Bill heads back to her apartment and gets a call from her roommate about being out. This unnerves Bill as the shower is running. She walks in to find both the shower and bathtub wet. She looks in to the drain and sees a star-corneaed eye looking back at her, just like Heather’s. She runs out and towards the Doctor’s office where she sees him walking. Before entering though, Heather rises from a puddle of water under a tree and begins to repeat Bill’s words to her. Bill, thinking Heather dead, runs up and barricades herself in the Doctor’s office, much to his surprise. The water seeps under the door and begins to take Heather’s shape again. The Doctor ushers Bill into the TARDIS where he then transports it outside the vault. The water follows and the Doctor then jumps to Sydney, Australia. The water follows again and the Doctor jumps once again to a planet on the far side of the universe and twenty million years in the future.

Bill steadily tries to take it in with both the Doctor and Nardole trying to fill her in. Bill walks away to a puddle nearby where Heather then reaches out and grabs Bill. The Doctor and Nardole pull her back and into the TARDIS once more.

The Doctor decides to pull the alien into a hot zone to try and push it off that way. He lands in the middle of a battle between the Daleks and the Movellans. Nardole, with an old sonic screwdriver of the Doctor’s, runs through and isolates the Daleks from the area of the base they are in. One Daleks pursues them but is distracted by Heather forming out of the water nearby.

The water takes over the Dalek’s form and follows Bill and the Doctor, having just met back up with Nardole. The Doctor recognizes that it is not a Dalek and it returns to the Heather form. He bids it be off but then realizes that it is pursuing Bill. Bill clues in that the water selected Heather as its pilot as she had given a strong desire to leave. Bill also realizes that Heather’s last thought before being taken over was her promise not to leave Bill.

Heather steps forward and touches Bill’s hand, showing her worlds and stars far away, inviting her to come with her. Bill however, encouraged by the Doctor, breaks away and releases Heather from her promise. The water dissipates and disappears, leaving a tear on Bill’s cheek.

Back in the Doctor’s office, fearing what he has done, tries to wipe Bill’s memory. She initially refuses but then accepts, although appealing to him to imagine what it must be like. Recalling Clara’s mindwipe of him, allows her to keep the memories. He watches her leave and tries to resist the pull, remembering a promise he has made. He abandons that though and materializes the TARDIS in front of Bill as she is walking across the grounds, inviting her to travel with him.

Analysis

This story reminds me a lot of Rose where the main thrust of the plot is told from the companion’s point of view and not a lot of detail given about the Doctor. Of course, we are a lot more familiar at this point with the Twelfth Doctor as opposed to the Ninth Doctor. There is also a lot of bling and recall back to earlier stories, both new and classic, which help disguise the fact that there is not a lot of actual story here.

I think it will be very easy to like Bill. She is peppy, upbeat, intelligent, and with her being gay, will keep the “no hanky-panky in the TARDIS” rule. I personally think the lesbian aspect of Bill’s character was a bit overplayed. Some of this, I think, comes from Steven Moffat’s romantic nature and deciding he can write a gay romance just as well as a straight one. I perhaps might not have thought it so painfully obvious if it hadn’t been for the fact that Bill’s sexuality and her being the first openly gay companion was made such a big deal in the British and fan media. I personally don’t care outside of the fact that an unfulfillable romantic crush is a little weak sauce for a central plot and I think the fact that it was between two women was used to try and paper over the cracks. That aside, I’m looking forward to what Bill might bring to the table.

The Doctor and Nardole will good as usual. I have a feeling that Nardole will eventually get a proper story to feature him as he again is kept largely in the background. He does get a few good one-liners and I enjoy the comic timing between him and the Doctor. I’m just frustrated that I can’t see more of it.

Similarly, the Doctor stays in the shadows a lot in this story. I suspect the vault introduced in this story will be a running theme and will eventually be revealed toward the end. But as for this episode, the Doctor is shadowy and mysterious with strong traces of humor built in. My own favorite moment is when he dismisses Bill and then tells the pictures of Susan and River to shut up, feeling the sting of his own conscious. It, and the others, are enjoyable moments, but again, this is Bill’s story and the Doctor just isn’t given that much to do, lest he outshine her as he probably would.

The Easter eggs were nice touches. Including the Movellans as those warring against the Daleks was an amusing touch. I also wouldn’t have minded seeing the Daleks fighting the Draconians, but this way only the Terry Nation estate had to be paid rather than having to pay the Nation and the Hulke estates for the use of the Draconians. I also liked seeing the coffee cup of old sonic screwdrivers. It was either the Third or the Fourth Doctor’s screwdriver he tossed to Nardole when they landed in the middle of the war. I’m also appreciative of any callback to the Beethoven introduction of Before the Flood and liked that. I actually wish Bill hadn’t interrupted so soon into the rift so he could have gone further.

All that appreciation aside, it cannot disguise what was mentioned earlier and that this is actually a bit of a weak story plot-wise. The crush between Bill and Heather is not particularly well developed before Heather becomes the pilot so it feels like rather a weak out that all they have to do is have Bill break off the promise to get the water to leave her alone. I also didn’t care for the fact that the water can move across time and space with ease. It made the entity a bit too powerful as well as turning the second half of the storyline into a slightly tenser version of The Chase. There is just a lot of build-up and then the payoff feels less than what you were expecting. To be fair, this is a problem I’ve had with Moffat scripts in the past so this is not overly surprising and was somewhat built in for me.

I thought the overall direction and effects were pretty good, although nothing spectacular. No major shots stood out to me as being great, but I also didn’t recoil at any either. For the most part, the Heather and water effects were pretty good, although there was one shot where the CGI was a little too obvious. It wasn’t strong enough to ruin the shot or the mood so it’s easily passed over.

Overall, I’d say this was a good first start, but like Rose, it will never be anyone’s go-to story for something to watch. It serves a purpose which is to introduce Bill and lay out things for Series Ten. Enjoyment beyond that is up to the viewer. I would watch it again and enjoy it, but again in the same way as Rose. It's a good middle of the road story and not much more than that.

Overall personal score: 3 out of 5

The Mind Robber

Oh no, I got it all wrong!

The Mind Robber was the first Second Doctor story I ever saw and I'm not sure I could have picked an odder story to expose myself to Second Doctor. It's completely unlike any of the standard "base under siege" or monster-type stories that litter the era. In fact, the story is more reminiscent of something from either The Twilight Zone or a significant drug trip. I actually would not discount the idea that Peter Ling might have been tripping when he wrote this one, although the most out there stuff (Episode One) was actually written by script editor Derrick Sherwin. Of course, he could have been spaced out then as well.

Plot Summary

With the Dominator's bomb having just set off the volcano, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe rush back to the TARDIS to escape the lava flow. They attempt to take off but the fluid link malfunctions and the Doctor is forced to shut down to ensure the TARDIS isn't flooded with mercury vapor. Worried about the lava destroying the TARDIS, Jamie and Zoe urge the Doctor to activate the emergency relay which will displace the TARDIS out of all time and space. Reluctantly, the Doctor agrees.

The TARDIS dematerializes and then reemerges in a void of nothingness. The Doctor sets about repairing the TARDIS but Jamie and Zoe are mesmerized by images of their respective homes on the scanner. Curiosity gets the better of Zoe and she opens the doors, despite the Doctor's warnings not to and wanders into the mist. Concerned for her, Jamie runs out after her. The Doctor calls out for them to stop but is forced to focus himself on resisting a powerful mind coming against him.

In the mist, Jamie and Zoe are reunited. They wander about looking for the TARDIS but are again distracted by images of their homes. They each manage to snap the other one out of their trances and continue their search. As they do so, they are surrounded by robots who use hypnotic beams against them, forcing them to see themselves disappearing into the mist.

The Doctor manages to fight off the force and leaves the TARDIS just enough to summon Jamie and Zoe through the mist. Though they are partially under the alien force's control, the Doctor wills them along and back into the TARDIS where they snap back to their normal selves.

The Doctor tries to take off again but the alien force attacks again, forcing the Doctor to focus his mind once again. Power is drained from the TARDIS and it appears to burst apart. Jamie and Zoe cling to the console while the Doctor remains in his chair and both drift away into the misty void.
Jamie stumbles out of the mist where he runs into a redcoat. He attacks the soldier who fires at him,turning him into a paper figure. Zoe also wanders through the mist, getting hemmed in by thorn bushes. She walks through a door and falls forward into a pit.

The Doctor wakes to the sound of Jamie and Zoe's cries for help. He walks through a forest and finds Lemuel Gulliver. Gulliver briefly threatens the Doctor but walks away upon finding him of a sharp mind. The Doctor is then met with a group of children who pepper him with riddles. When he successfully solves them, they run off, leaving him with a dictionary.

The Doctor turns a corner to find the paper Jamie and several objects. The Doctor solves the message and finds Jamie's face missing. He replaces Jamie's face but gets the details wrong. Jamie returns but with a different face. He is still Jamie though and together they find Zoe trapped in a jar disguised as a door in a wall. The quickly free her and set off into the forest to find their way out.

Getting tired, they stop to rest. Jamie climbs to the top of the tree to find a way out of the forest and discovers that the tress are in fact letters. They make up common proverbs. He does spot what he thinks is the way out and climbs down. They continue their walk but run into Gulliver again. He is confused by their description of robots attacking them and cannot see a squad of tin soldiers who come and herd the trio into a cave. In the cave they see a unicorn about to charge them, much like in a dream Jamie had while they were back in the TARDIS. The Doctor urges Jamie and Zoe to declare that it doesn't exist and when they do, the unicorn freezes into a paper cutout.

They exit the cave and come across a cottage with the redcoat Jamie had met earlier. Jamie again charges him and again is turned into a paper cutout. This time, with Zoe's help, the Doctor reconstructs his face properly and Jamie is returned to normal.

They pass through the door and find themselves in another cave with a ball of twine nearby. The Doctor recognizes it as a maze and order Jamie to tie one end to the door so they can find their way out again. They continue along until the string runs out. Leaving Jamie with the string, the Doctor and Zoe walk forward into the center of the maze. In the center, the Doctor and Zoe find the Minotaur where they again stop it by denying its existence.

A tin soldier tries to capture the waiting Jamie but he escapes. He exits the maze, chased by the soldiers. He climbs partway up and reaches a ledge where a coil of hair extends down. He climbs up to meet Rapunzel on the other end. Although he is not a prince, she reluctantly agrees to let him into the palace where she promptly disappears. Jamie discovers the palace is instead a futuristic building. He discovers a ticker-tape machine printing out words describing the Doctor and Zoe's adventure.

Finding Jamie gone, the Doctor and Zoe turn back into the main part of the cave where a stone statue of Medusa appears. The statue begins to come to life and advances on them. The Doctor again tries to get Zoe to deny it's existence but she cannot. A sword appears at the Doctor's feet but rather than fighting Medusa, he pulls out a mirror. Zoe looks at Medusa in the mirror and Medusa reverts to her statue form.

They walk out and into the same valley Jamie was in earlier. There, they are confronted by the Karkus, a character from comic strips of Zoe's youth. He engages them but Zoe is able to fight him off. Beaten, the Karkus submits to their will and Zoe orders him to take them to the citadel on the hill. There, they dismiss the Karkus and the Doctor disguises his voice as the Karkus to gain entry into the castle.

Inside, they find Jamie, who had been forced to hide due to accidentally setting off an internal alarm. The Doctor notes that they will have to see the ruler of this land of fiction, whom Gulliver had referred to as the Master, in order to reclaim the TARDIS. Zoe sets off the alarm and the Doctor surrenders to the robots who take the group to see the Master.

In the control room, they find a man who had been a writer of boy's adventure stories hooked up to a central computer. The human side of the writer is friendly and jovial, inviting the Doctor to take his place as he is getting old, having been taken by the alien power in 1926. Every once in a while, the computer interposes its will and the writer becomes dark and threatening. The Doctor distracts him, though constantly refusing his offer while Jamie and Zoe try to find an escape. The writer however is aware of their escape attempt and sends several robots who encase Jamie and Zoe in a book, rendering them into works of fiction.

Unable to help Jamie and Zoe at the moment, the Doctor dashes up bookcase and up on to the roof as the robots return for him. On the roof, he spots a typewriter through a skylight, controlling the master tape. He summons the Karkus who, with the help of Rapunzel, lowers him down into the room. The Doctor starts to write a different ending but stops, realizing that it's a trap as writing anything about himself will turn him into a work of fiction. He returns to the roof where he is met by Gulliver and the children from earlier.

The writer gives Jamie and Zoe new feelings toward the Doctor and they set a trap for him. He makes what appears to be the TARDIS reappear and Jamie and Zoe step out. Happy at it's return, the Doctor steps inside, only to discover himself trapped in a glass box. The box disappears and the Doctor finds himself back in the control room, this time fully integrated with the computer.

Due to his full integration, the Doctor realizes he can now make fiction reality as well and he summons forth Jamie and Zoe, urging them to escape their book. Jamie and Zoe then manage to extricate themselves from the book and cease to be works of fiction. The writer attempts to stop the Doctor by summoning the toy soldiers to seize Jamie and Zoe as they cross the roof. The Doctor counters by summoning the Karkus to shoot them down the soldiers. The writer attempts to step in and have the Karkus shoot them but the Doctor depletes his gun, rendering him useless. The writer calls forth Cyrano de Bergerac to attack them with a sword but the Doctor counters with D'Artagnan and the two characters fight on the roof, allowing Jamie and Zoe to run past. The writer changes Cyrano to Blackbeard and the Doctor changes D'Artagnan to Lancelot, each countering the other.

Fearing that the central brain will be overloaded, the writer ceases his attacks and instead summons the robots. The Doctor realizes he can't counter about himself as it would again turn him into a work of fiction. The robots pull the Doctor out of the machine and prepare to kill him. Jamie and Zoe rush in and activate every switch on the control board. The surge of power and information begins to overwhelm the computer and the robots are momentarily distracted. The Doctor rushes to the writer and pulls his harness off, freeing him of the control of the computer. With no new input, the robots obey their final instruction and begin to destroy everything in the control room, including the central brain of the computer.

The group flees just outside the castle where the TARDIS then reforms around the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe. The writer also disappears back into his own time.
Analysis

I really like this story, but I can also easily see how others would not. If The Macra Terror was a toe dip and lifting of ideas from The Prisoner, this story is a full on plunge into the world of surrealism. Of course, for all its surrealism, it still maintains a grounding in the form of a recognizable plotline and well written dialogue.

Granted you don't have a lot of choices with the Second Doctor, but I think this story could be one of the best ones to demonstrate what the Second Doctor is like. He is his usual blustery, slightly over-the-top self who is a bit back on his heels most of the time. But he is also the thinking and conniving Doctor. He understands a bit more that he ever lets on, especially after he really starts to guess the rules of the game in Episode Two. At no point when you are with the Doctor do you feel like nothing interesting is going on. He's just fun to be with on multiple levels in this story.

Jamie and Zoe are also good in this story, although I feel like Jamie stands out a bit more. This story is rather famous for having a replacement Jamie for Episode Two due to Frazer Hines contracting chicken pox from his nephews. But Hamish Wilson does a fine job as a stand-in Jamie and what's more, the mechanics of how the replacement Jamie came about is very creative and adds to the surrealistic atmosphere of the story. Jamie goes one further by getting a portion of the story to himself, climbing up Rapunzel's hair and having a few moments with Gulliver in avoiding the robots. It develops Jamie nicely in the story.

Zoe does well but does not get a stand out moment in this story like she does in say The Krotons. This sort of makes sense as Zoe is highly conditioned with logic and logic is probably the absolute last thing that is going to help in a story like this. So she ends up being more of either a comic foil or the Doctor's sounding board to explain the particulars of the plot. She also gets to scream a lot at the various traps she falls in to. She does at least get to defeat the Karkus with some nice judo moves which played nicely on screen, despite Wendy Padbury being unhappy with that take.

Of course, she also gets the take away point of the whole story as the other thing besides the replacement Jamie that people remember from this story is Zoe laying on the TARDIS console in a sparkling cat-suit with her derriere framed nicely for viewing. Apparently the zipper had busted on the front of her suit as well so she's leaning forward to make sure she didn't expose herself in the front and ruin the take.

All the various secondary characters did well but I think special attention to be played to the writer (or Master as he is credited). I personally try to avoid using "the Master" as it has a very different connotation now. Anyway, this part was played and written very well. You could see the glee and enthusiasm for writing that the writer had and how he was fundamentally a good person. But you could also see the dark, sinister side when the computer mind took over and the contrast portrayed between the two was quite impressive. I also loved the fact that the villain never got up but acted through surrogates to the point that it became a literal battle of the minds. It was a villain that emphasized that the Doctor had to think his way out of the problem rather than rely on some aspect of force to solve the problem.

Before going into the set and direction of the rest of the story, I think special attention must be paid to Episode One. This came about because the powers that be decided to cut down The Dominators from six to five episodes (with good reason). However, The Mind Robber as written did not lend itself to the kind of padding normally used (which is partially why the flow of the narrative is so good in my opinion). So they lifted the barest bit of the introduction and set about to expand that, while having no additional budget for sets. That forced the action to be confined to the TARDIS and a white soundstage with robots they had intended to use later in the story. It is very weird but it works in its offputting way. In many ways, it reminds me a bit of Episode One of The Edge of Destruction where you have stuff happening that makes no sense whatsoever but has a bit of an edge that is both creepy and enjoyable. It does stick out a bit because there is such a contrast of style between Episode One and the rest but at the same time, it also works within the context. It really is an excellent bit of improvisation.

If there is a complaint to be made about this story other than the "out there"-ness of the storyline, it is the limitations to the set and costumes. If you're used to that sixties, trying but still looks fake effect, this story won't bother you. But it would be remiss not to mention it. The forest of letters does look like a sound stage, Medusa is clearly a stop-motion effect and the Karkus is clearing wearing a rubber muscle suit. The robots and tin soldiers are also of the large, clunky costumed men-in-suits that are hallmarks of the Second Doctor era. Still, for me, I don't see anything that I'm not used to and some of the effects are actually pretty good with what was available at the time. I also find that for whatever reason, I have a higher tolerance and more forgiveness for these type of practical effects attempts than I do for things in the Eighties. I think that has to do with the quality of the cameras which make things too obvious in their fakery whereas the Sixties cameras hid the limitations better.

I am not an overwhelming literary personality, but I do love the intricacy of puzzles and "what is reality" stories. This storyline, whether fueled by "additional substances" or not, hits all the right spots for my enjoyment. It is weird but not so weird as to be unintelligible. It is well acted and fairly well directed. The sets and costumes, while limited, do their job well enough not to detract from the overall story. I can understand that some people wouldn't like this story and it might go over the head of younger viewers, but this is just a grand bit of entertainment for me and I'd happily pull this off the shelf to watch a third or fourth time if given the chance.

Overall personal score: 5 out of 5

The Creature From The Pit

Adrasta: We call it "The Pit"
Doctor: Ah, you have such a way with words.

I've heard very little about this story other than the creature is supposed to be one of the casualties of the lowering of the budget. I've also heard that one of the by-products of this shortfall is that one of the results of this is that a certain portion of the creature ends up looking a bit "naughty" and that the mind can get rather dirty with this one. I know it's not generally regarded well but at the same time, it's not openly derided the way some others are, so I'm curious to see how this one falls.

Plot Summary

Romana is cleaning out some of the storage areas of the TARDIS and comes across a distress beacon receiver. The Doctor had removed it as it was used by the Time Lords to summon him back too often for his taste. Romana reinstalls it and the TARDIS lurches forward and lands in the middle of a jungle.

They step out to explore and come across a living, metallic structure. The Doctor determines that it is the source of the distress signal and that it is likely the shell of an egg. While examining it, the Doctor is attacked by rolling plants called wolfweeds. They are called off but the Doctor and Romana are taken captive by the caravan escorting Karela, minister to Lady Adrasta, the ruler of the land.

While in route to Adrasta's palace, they are ambushed by bandits who steal several metal objects and take Romana captive. Karela orders the caravan onward while the huntsman sends the wolfweeds out to track the bandits. The bandits take Romana back to their lair where they have a vote on whether to kill her or not. Romana however imposes her will on the bandits, making them untie her and summoning K-9 with a dog whistle. K-9 arrives stuns the head bandit, Torvin. Romana then leaves with K-9 while the others watch her go.

The Doctor and the caravan arrive at the palace where Adrasta welcomes the Doctor. She hears his theories about the structure and then introduces him to two of her own scientists, Tollund and Doran. Interrogating the Doctor about his thoughts, she then turns on Doran for not reaching conclusions like the Doctor. She orders him arrested and then the whole group heads into the jungle.

They arrive at a pit and Doran is thrown in where he is attacked by a glowing creature. Adrasta threatens to throw the Doctor in if he does not tell her everything he knows. Before he can answer, Romana and K-9 appear. Adrasta orders a guard to seize her but K-9 stuns him, causing him to fall into the pit. The wolfweeds attack K-9. He destroys a couple of them but they swarm him, rendering him inert. Another guard seizes Romana and she becomes Adrasta's new bargaining chip. Caught in the situation, the Doctor grabs the bucket rope and leaps down into the pit.

The Doctor grabs a ledge just below the surface, intending to climb out once Adrasta has left. Adrasta seizes Romana and orders her and K-9 to be taken back to the palace. She then kicks dirt into the pit which gets in the Doctor's eyes. He loses his balance and falls into the pit. At the bottom, he finds Doran and the guard who was stunned by K-9 dead. The Doctor then explores the tunnels, seeing a glowing green tendril extend down one passage.

The Doctor is grabbed and hushed by a man named Organon who leads him back to his cave. Organon reveals that he was an astrologer who made a prediction that Adrasta didn't like. He managed to avoid the creature and has hidden himself away. The conversation between the two attracts the attention of the creature and it sticks a tendril in the cave. Organon and the Doctor press themselves against a wall and Organon holds a candle under the tendril and the creature retreats from the flame. Curious, the Doctor follows.

Back at the palace, Adrasta interrogates Romana about both the egg shell and the TARDIS. Upon learning about the TARDIS, she plans to take it and make herself more powerful. Romana convinces Adrasta that K-9 is the only one who can operate the TARDIS and she is the only one who can control K-9, making themselves useful to her. Romana cleans K-9 and tries to use him to escape, managing to stun several guards. However, another guard seizes Romana and threatens to kill her unless K-9 stops.

With the potential power of the TARDIS in her grasp, Adrasta decides to destroy the creature in the pit as it will no longer be needed. Adrasta has had a heavily secured door put into the palace that connects it to the mine where the creature lives. Romana, under guard, goes first along with K-9, while she and Karela bring up the rear.

In the cave, the Doctor and Organon find the creature and the Doctor goes up to try and communicate with it. The creature extends a tendril, nearly smothering the Doctor. Two of Adrasta's guards rush in, startling the creature and it knocks the guards back, along with Organon, through the tunnel opening and seals it with a strange material.

The Doctor gets up and follows the creature, finding it hiding in a further recess. He attempts to communicate with it and show that he is friendly. The creature seems to accept the Doctor and also tries to communicate by drawing a picture of a piece of metal with a symbol similar to one hanging in Adrasta's throne room. He also sees the symbol on bits of metal left behind by the creature. He promises to try and get the object from Adrasta's throne room and slips back up the tunnel.

The thieves become convinced that with Romana's depature, Adrasta will be sending out her guard to find them. Torvin suggests they raid Adrasta's palace for metal since most of the guards are out. They do find most guards gone, but they are down in the mines, not looking for the bandits. They kill two guards and raid the throne room of metal, including the object the creature wanted, which has now started to glow. An alarm is sounded and more guards come, causing the bandits to retreat into the mines.

Adrasta comes upon Organon and her two guards trying to open the passage. She orders K-9 to shoot through the barrier. He fires on the blockage but is unable to cut through as the material regenerates itself when damaged. They ponder how to break through when the Doctor knocks the barrier down with an easy push, owing to the creature letting him go. Adrasta immediately seizes him and orders guards down the passage to find the creature.

In the tunnels, the bandits examine their haul. Torvin is especially drawn to the large object which is starting to glow once more. It glows stronger and he and another bandit named Edu become entranced. They pick the disk up and carry it through the mines towards the creature.

The guards return, having been unable to find the creature. She prepares to send them back and is intent on having K-9 kill the creature. To conserve power, Romana has picked up K-9, allowing him to recharge. The Doctor slips out a shiny pieces of metal he took from the creature's cave and orders K-9 to shoot. K-9's laser reflects off the metal, knocking out a guard. He shoots down two others, leaving Adrasta alone. The creature then comes down the passage, seeming to be in a fury. She grabs a knife and holds it to the Doctor's neck, ordering Romana to have K-9 shoot it.

Before Romana can react, Torvin and Edu arrive, carrying the glowing disk, which they give to the creature. Distracted, the Doctor disarms Adrasta and then approaches the creature. By touching the disk, the creature can communicate using the holder's voice. It reveals that it's name is Erato and it came to Cloros fifteen years ago as an ambassador for the Typhonians, offering to trade metal for chlorophyll, which the Typhonians feed upon. Adrasta trapped Erato into the pit to keep her monopoly on metal.

Adrasta denies the story but her guards don't believe her. They force her hand on the plate and Erato confirms the story using Adrasta's voice. Angered, the head of the guard sics the wolfweeds on Adrasta. Erato then lurches forward and eats the wolfweeds, it's first real meal in fifteen years, but also crushes Adrasta in the process. The Doctor orders the head of the guard to get the engineers and hoist Erato out of the pit.

Back at the palace, the Doctor reveals to Romana that he suspects Erato of concealing something and has stolen the drive system of his ship to ensure his cooperation. Erato comes to the palace and confirms that because of his distress call, his people have assumed that Cloros has declared war. In response, they have launched a neutron star at the sun of Cloros that will destroy the it and the planet. The Doctor discovers that Erato can weave aluminum with it's body, as that is how it intends to rebuild his ship and the Doctor convinces Erato to help move the neutron star on a different path.

The Doctor goes to recover the photon drive, which he left with Organon, but finds Organon knocked out and the drive stolen. The drive was stolen by Torvin and his men to ensure their wealth. However, Torvin is killed by Karela and she moves to take over the band, having hidden the drive. The Doctor arrives and has K-9 destroy the collected metal. With the wealth gone, Karela give the drive back.

With Erato's ship rebuilt, the Doctor, Romana and K-9 follow it out to the neutron star in the TARDIS. The Doctor extends a gravity field around the star while Erato weaves an aluminum shell around it. The shell allows the Doctor's gravity field to get proper conductance on the star to move it, but the console fuses and the gravity beam pulls the star directly at the TARDIS. The Doctor dematerializes, disengaging the beam and the neutron star heads away from the Clorosian sun.

Erato continues back to Typhon and the Doctor returns to Cloros with a full trade treaty. He gives it to the head guardsman who has become the new administrator with Organon as his advisor. The Doctor and Romana then disappear in the TARDIS.

Analysis

I think disappointing is the best way to describe this story. Episode One kicks off with a high joke density, some nice repartee between the Doctor, Romana and other characters, and also some nice camera work. Unfortunately, it goes downhill from there. The budget limitations start to show and the script loses it's comedic edge. The acting also starts to decline, especially from Adrasta, who goes from having a villainous edge to just beyond over-the-top. This does not even factor in the complete and totally random filler that is Episode Four.

Both the Doctor and Romana aren't too bad in this, although the heavy hand of Douglas Adams is very evident, especially in Episode One where there are a lot of puny jokes being tossed back and forth between them. But those jokes go away pretty much after the Doctor hops into the pit. Instead you get the Doctor being a bit silly with Organon, although they do have a nice play between them and then a few jokes between him and Romana in Episode Four when they are reunited. But nothing really stands out in between that. This story is clearly meant to be a comedy, but the comedy seems to go away after Episode One and what is left doesn't elicit much laughter.

Organon is an unfortunate waste of a character. I looked up the actor and found out that he had actually been offered the role of the Doctor at one point and I think he would have made a decent one. Organon keeps up a bit of the comedy and he has a nice relationship with the Doctor. In fact, I think you could easily have made a buddy story involving the two of them and it probably would have been more entertaining than this story. It's such a shame that after about halfway through Episode Two, Organon is sidelined and is nothing more than a random interjection here and there.

Adrasta is also such a terrible waste of a villain. She starts off well and while she is just a hair shy of mustache twirling, she is still enjoyable as a villain up until Episode Three. After that, she loses her wit and starts becoming just bossy and angry. It all really falls apart at the Episode Three cliffhanger where she goes wayyyyyy over the top in her hysterical screaming about Erato going to kill her, for which is actually right. But why is the fate of the villain given to the cliffhanger? That makes no sense as we would actually want the villain to be in peril and eventually defeated.

But for all the problems of the first three episodes, they do make a somewhat passible story. I get can get by some of the bad acting and shoddy effects (including those that have slight sexual overtones) because there are good moments and it runs fairly smoothly in terms of pacing and character development. Where the poop really hits the fan is in Episode Four which is nothing but nearly twenty minutes of nonsensical filler.

As poor a turn as she took at the end of Episode Three, Adrasta was clearly an engaging villain. However, she is killed off in the first five minutes of Episode Four leaving nearly a full episode where a random peril has to be raised. Thus we are given the new problem of Erato's people deciding to destroy the planet and a runaround to repair Erato's ship so the problem can be dealt with. This is the sort of extra conflict that would have popped up in the First Doctor era, but there it would have placed in a six-part story where extra conflict would have been needed. Here, it's blatantly bad padding.

What makes this padding even worse is how little sense it makes. Erato's ship has been sending a distress signal for fifteen years. So rather than investigate it, his people automatically assume that war has been declared? What's more, how does Erato know this? He either senses it or has been in contact with his people and found they have launched an unstoppable attack. That's rather stupid given that one of their own people is still on the planet. They are needless condemning one of their own to death over a distress signal.

Even worse is the nature of attack. Erato states that they are running out of food on Typhon. So why are they launching an attack that will completely destroy the planet which has more food than they could want? If they believe that Cloros has declared war, why not send an invasion fleet. They know that without metal the Clorosians have no advanced technology and could be beaten easily in a fight. They could have conquered and colonized the planet without much of a second thought, getting revenge and assuring themselves of abundant food. Instead, they are going to burn the lot? Even within the story this makes no sense.

Even the Doctor and Romana's attempts at banter in Episode Four fall flat. While they came off as playful and easy in Episode One, they seem forced and out of place in Episode Four. It's like they are trying to return the story to a proper comedy but know it's a hopeless cause. In a way, their banter makes things worse because playing it straight would have at least added to the dramatic tension (miniscule as it was).

In so many ways, this story was such a let down. I think I could have actually forgiven it some if it had been bad from the start. But you are given some real potential in Episode One and even into Episode Two with fairly interesting characters, decent atmosphere and some proper wit between the Doctor, Romana and the rest of the cast. But it goes downhill so fast and then to have the turd that is Episode Four to round it out just leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Episode One would be interesting to watch it isolation as it makes for an interesting set up and is worth a look at. But I would not recommend the rest of the story to anyone. It's just not good and such a follow on disappointment.

Overall personal score: 1 out of 5

Carnival of Monsters

Jo: Do you ever admit that you are wrong?
Doctor: No, that would be impossible too.

If you were to stack the six stories Robert Holmes wrote prior to his becoming script editor, Carnival of Monsters would be neck and neck with Spearhead from Space as the fan favorite. When I first ran through a bunch of classic episodes that were available on Netflix, I think this was the first one that really grabbed my attention in that fun sciency-action sort of way. Going back a second time gives a better insight into the wit of the story that can easily be missed the first time around.

Plot Summary

On the planet Inter Minor, a spacecraft lands and is unloaded by the local workers, called functionaries. Their work is overseen by officials, Orem and Kalik, who also oversee the approval of visitation visas. Getting off the ship are two entertainers, Vorg and his assistant Shirna and a piece of equipment called a miniscope. As they set up, preparing to entertain the workers, a fault light lights up on the miniscope.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Jo, attempting to head to Metebelis 3, land in the hold of a cargo ship. Jo is convinced the Doctor has made a goof and they've gone into the past. The Doctor, believing himself to be better than that, is convinced that something else is going on. They sneak around the ship and eventually spot two passengers, Major Daly and his daughter Claire. Claire is taken for a walk around the deck by the second officer, Lt. Andrews, while the Major attempts to read a book, but dozes off instead.

Jo swipes the Major's newspaper to find that it is 1926 but the Doctor still suspects something odd. They are about to leave the room when a plesiosaur surfaces, causing Andrews and Claire to retreat into the cabin and the crew to arm themselves. Andrews runs out to help while the Major comforts Claire. The Doctor and Jo try to sneak out but are spotted. They try to pass themselves as passengers but Andrews returns and notes them as stowaways.

Andrews takes the Doctor and Jo below deck to lock them in Major Daly's cabin while he consults with the captain. In the hall just outside Daly's cabin, the Doctor spots a metal plate that is out of place. He asks Andrews about it but Andrews insists there is nothing there. He locks them in the cabin where the Doctor notes the name of the ship, the SS Bernice, and the date on a calendar Daly has been marking off.

Back on Inter Minor, the two officials are joined by a third, Pletrac, bringing word of new laws being considered by President Zarb. He observes Vorg and Shirna setting up and is taken aback by them revealing themselves as entertainers. Entertainment is forbidden on Inter Minor as a waste of resources but has received word that Zarb is considering overturning that law. The three officials vote but decide 2-1 to deny visas. Vorg appeals, claiming to have license from Zarb, although a completely different Zarb. Pletrac takes the credentials to consider the matter.

The Doctor reveals to Jo that the Bernice went missing on that particular day marked on Daly's calendar. Jo also notes that the clocks have jumped backwards so that something strange is definitely happening. Jo produces a set of skeleton keys and they escape the cabin. The Doctor examines the plate which is made of an alien metal and secured with high technology. He needs equipment from the TARDIS to open it.

The Doctor and Jo sneak back to the lounge where Major Daly, Claire and Andrews are repeating the events from earlier. They wait for the plesiosaur to surface and Andrews to lead the men after it, then slip away when Claire and the Major are not looking. They get back to the TARDIS where the Doctor heads in to gather the equipment. Jo cries out and the Doctor exits to see what is the matter. As he does so, a giant hand reaches in and pulls the TARDIS out of the cabin. The Doctor and Jo head back above deck to try and get to the access plate.

Vorg pulls the miniaturized TARDIS out and sets it in a storage cubby within the machine. His actions peak the curiosity of Orem and Kalik and Vorg gives them a demonstration. He flashes through the different areas of the machine showing humans (whom he calls Tellurians), Ogrons and Drashigs. He comes back to the boat just as the plesiosaur attacks. The Doctor and Jo duck back into the lounge and are spotted by Major Daly. The Doctor tests him and finds that Major Daly has no memory of their earlier encounter, even when the Doctor uses the same excuses.

Vorg gives an extra demonstration by turning up the aggression levels. This causes Lt. Andrews to fight the Doctor though the Doctor is able to knock him down. He and Jo run off and Andrews fires his rifle at them. As the Doctor and Jo run back below, Andrews gathers the crew and chases after them. He catches them as the Doctor has nearly unsealed the plate. Vorg then turns the aggression down and Andrews and his men withdraw. The Doctor and Jo finish undoing the plate and drop down into the circuits of the miniscope.

Pletrac returns informing Vorg that his papers are fraudulent. After hearing about the creatures in the miniscope, the officials decide to have the scope destroyed and bring in an eradicator ray. Despite Vorg's protests, they fire at the machine. The machine smokes and heats up, cooking the Doctor and Jo a bit, but remains undamaged. Vorg goes over to inspect the machine and nearly spears the Doctor when trying to repair the visualizer.

The officials panic over the failure of their weapons and fear that Vorg and Shirna may be spies with superior technology. They threaten Vorg and look over the machine, pulling out the TARDIS. Once free of the compression field, the TARDIS expands to it's normal size. Shirna correctly guesses that the TARDIS is the transport for the Doctor and Jo, the two humans she recognizes as new to the habitat.

A fault light comes on and when Vorg investigates, he finds the Doctor and Jo have gotten into the Drashig habitat. The Doctor and Jo explore, looking for a way out when a Drashig appears up out of the ground. It initially misses their scent, but it picks it up as they head back towards the cave. Jo gets stuck in the mire and the Doctor buys a short amount of time by igniting the marsh gas. The Drashig's get their scent and advance as he tries to pull her out. Watching, Kalik suggest Vorg intervene and he reluctantly sticks his hand, distracting the Drashigs long enough for Jo and the Doctor to get back through the cave and into the guts of the machine.

Unfortunately, the Drashigs keep on their scent and burst through the containment walls of their pen. They chase the Doctor and Jo through the guts of the miniscope but the Doctor buys time by cutting through passages too narrow for the Drashigs. They come upon a deep shaft that looks like the way out but they decide they need rope to get down. As they have come back near the Earth container, they sneak back in there to find rope.

Pletrac heads back to see President Zaab to get permission to send everything off planet rather than just Vorg and Shirna as regulation demands. Kalik informs Orem that he is hoping that the Drashigs escape and attack the city. The resulting damage will weaken support for Zaab's policies of bringing in entertainments to quell the functionary uprisings and he, as Zaab's brother, will move to replace him as president.

The Doctor and Jo find rope in the hold but are forced to hide when Andrews and Major Daly enter, having heard the Drashig's roar. Jo is spotted and taken up to the lounge. After they leave, a Drashig bursts through the wall and nearly eats the Doctor. But it only knocks him down to a place it can't get to. It pulls through and bursts up through the hull of the ship. Andrews and the crew grab rifles while Major Daly takes a tommy gun. The bullets drive it back down while Andrews goes back to the hold for dynamite.

The Doctor comes too as Andrews finds and ignites the dynamite. He hurls it through the hole and it explodes, killing the Drashig. It also damages the scope and power begins to fail throughout the device. Believing Jo safe, the Doctor hurries through the hole and rappels down the shaft he and Jo found earlier.

Back on the boat, Jo is astonished that not ten minutes after the Drashig attack, everyone has gone back to their normal routine. They don't even notice her sitting in the lounge until she speaks up. However, her prompting seems to jog vague memories in Claire.

Pletrac returns with permission to expel all things, including the TARDIS. However, as they approach the Doctor emerges from a panel at the base of the miniscope. Pletrac believes the Doctor should be eradicated but Kalik and Orem outvote him. The Doctor interrupts their discussions with questions about where he is and who owns the miniscope. Pletrac is flustered and blames Vorg. Vorg in turn downplays it, admitting that he won the machine while gambling.

Their arguing over responsibility is cut short by Shrina reminding them that the power is failing. The Doctor steps in and decides to hook the miniscope up to the TARDIS. That would provide sufficient power to keep the machine going a bit longer and, when a secondary circuit is activated, would send all the creatures within back to their points of origin.

While Pletrac is distracted, Kalik has Orem remove a vital part from the eradicator gun. Orem places it in Vorg's bag to ensure they will not be blamed if something goes wrong. Kalik notices that one of the panels is bulging as the Drashigs try to get through. He sends Orem to keep Pletrac distracted while he loosens the panel to let the Drashigs out.

On the ship, Jo is captured once again while trying to get down into the hold. Andrews takes her to the Major's cabin and locks her in for a second time. She then pulls out her keys and unlocks the door and resneaks back to the hold.

Fishing for some of the miniscope parts, Vorg finds the missing piece of the eradicator, very much like the gun he used while in the army. He pockets it as the Doctor give instructions. He activates the first circuit which transports the Doctor back into the miniscope to get Jo. After a few minutes Vorg is to activate the second circuit which will return everyone to their origins. The Doctor activates the circuit and disappears. Pletrac, not understanding what is happening, thinks something sinister is afoot and fires his stun gun, damaging the Doctor's machine. Shrina stops him and Vorg immediately tries to repair the damage.

Vorg makes some progress, but before he can finish, Kalik succeeds in loosing the panel and two Drashigs pop out. They grow to their normal size and immediately attack. Kalik, caught off guard by their size and ferocity is attacked and eaten while Orem runs away. Pletrac tries to fire the eradicator but finds it won't work and also runs. Vorg seizes the gun and installs the missing component. He shoots down one Drashig and then kills a second that had cornered Pletrac.

In the miniscope, the Doctor finds Jo climbing out of the hold through the hold the Drashigs made. They make their way back but collapse, as do all the creatures in their various circuits, as the life support systems in the miniscope begin to fail.

With the Drashigs killed, Vorg returns to the machine and activates the second circuit before the power fails completely. The machine activates and all the creatures disappear, with Jo and the Doctor appearing just outside the miniscope. This includes the S.S. Bernice returning to the Indian Ocean where Major Daly finishes his book and marking the day as complete, with his daughter having a vague feeling of much time passing.

With the miniscope destroyed, Vorg sets about recouping some money by challenging Pletrac to a shell game, which Pletrac easily falls for. Amused, the Doctor and Jo depart, determined to get to Metebelis 3.

Analysis

I think the only people that don't like this story are those folks who get hung up on the limitations of production due to lack of money or technology. Admittedly, there are some limitations in that regard. But overall, this is an excellent story and a fun one to go along with.

The Doctor is enjoyable as always in his pompous way, but what really stands out well in this story is his interaction with Jo. There is no real condescension their interaction and she gives just as good as he does. Both depend on each other and they each bring different perspectives to help solve the ultimate problem of where they are and how to resolve it. About the only instance where Jo falls into the "needing saving" role is when she gets stuck in the mire with the Drashigs. But that is counterbalanced by her supplying the keys that allow them to escape the ship, which she does both with the Doctor and without. Also, unlike the Doctor, she takes an active role in trying to awaken the ship's passengers to the nature of their plight. Even if it doesn't work, it displays more practical compassion than the Doctor does for all his lobbying to ban miniscopes.

As enjoyable as the Doctor and Jo are, the true strength of this story is in the secondary cast. The Doctor and Jo do effectively nothing in Episode Two other than wander around and get attacked by the Drashigs. So the driving interest in the plot is taken up by team of Vorg and Shrina and the three-way between Kalik, Orem and Pletrac. All are quite good though I think I find Pletrac the most amusing as he is the most stereotypical of all the bureaucrats. I can't help but be amused that Kalik, the plotting one, is played by the same actor who would go on to play the original Davros. It is rather fitting. But the interaction between him and Orem and their tag team efforts against Pletrac to try and gain power is also quite amusing.

Vorg himself is also quite amusing. Shrina is a little bland but a showman's assistant would be expected to be more about the visuals than the substance. Still, she is the most compassionate of all of them, taking the time to actually notice the appearance of the Doctor and Jo and petitioning Vorg in help them out when threatened by the Drashigs. Vorg is that loveable rogue where you know that he is a conman and a thief but you can't help but like him. It helps that despite his protestations of cowardice and self interest, he does go out of his way to help the Doctor as well as actively working to stop the Drashigs rather than just running in terror. You can easily tell how he is living in a bit of nostalgia about his army days when using the eradicator gun against the Drashigs and that just makes him more interesting and relatable.

Speaking of the Drashigs, you will get a bit of a mixed opinion of them amongst fans. Some deride them as obvious hand puppets while others laud them as some of the scariest monsters that have ever appeared on the show. I'm not sure if they are the scariest monsters I've ever seen but I would lean more towards scary than silly. For what they are, they do a good job of displaying menace and both the Doctor and Jo's reaction to them does a good job in expressing that. My only real caveat about them is that they seem somewhat selective about what they can and cannot break through. We are shown several times where they burst through metal walls without difficulty. However, the Doctor and Jo are able to get distance between themselves and them due to taking smaller passageways which the Drashigs opt not to burst through, despite their obvious ability to do so. Also, how did the Doctor make his way out of a panel in the base of the miniscope if the Drashigs couldn't burst their way through and needed the help of Kalik to get out?

The crew of the ship was pretty good as well, doing a decent job of people either in a time loop or in a goldfish bowl. Even though there is limited time and they are constantly repeating the same actions, you get a sense of who these people are and are interested in their welfare. Enough so that it is highly amusing to see Major Daly taking on a Drashig with a Tommy gun and also satisfying to see Daly and Claire finally advance out of that day once they are returned to Earth.

I thought the production of this story was pretty good as well. There are a few blatant CSO moments, especially with the Drashigs but those are in line with the times and not so bad as to distract from the action. The makeup on the bureaucrats is a little shoddy, but again, not so bad as to be distracting. I actually found Vorg and Shrina's costumes to be amusing and fitting with that crazy showman style that you might expect from a couple of hucksters. All of these are things that you sort of expect given the knowledge of the budget and the limits of 70's technology.

Overall, I think this is a very good story. It's well written, fairly well directed and well acted. More importantly, it zips along and even though the Doctor and Jo are not really in the story for lengthy stretches, you get invested enough in the secondary characters that you still enjoy the story. This is an easy story to go back to and watch multiple times and would also make for a pretty good story to introduce someone to the Third Doctor to, if not Doctor Who in general.

Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5

Closing Time

You've redecorated. I don't like it.

Closing Time is a follow up to The Lodger with Craig Owens serving as the Doctor's companion. Amy and Rory have a brief appearance but they don't even see the Doctor so you can't count them as companions for this story. It also serves as a wrap up for other loose ends as it takes place shortly before his appointment to be killed at Lake Silencio. However, how does the story stack up on it's own merit?

Plot Summary

The Doctor, traveling on his own, approaches his appointment where he is to die at Lake Silencio. He stops by to visit Craig, last seen in The Lodger. Craig and Sophie are now living together and have a child, Alfie. The Doctor arrives shortly after Sophie has left for a relaxing girls weekend to give Craig time to bond with Alfie, whom he is still very jittery around. The Doctor helps Craig settle Alfie down for the night, having accidentally woken him and prepares to leave. However, he cannot help but notice surges of power, causing the lights to flicker here and there. He tells himself to ignore it and stop helping others, but he can't help himself.

Craig takes Alfie for a walk at the store the next morning and finds the Doctor working in the toy department. He has detected three different people having gone missing in the last few days, all of whom were last seen around the shop. The Doctor attempts to shoo Craig off and accidentally discovers a Cyberman teleport hidden in an elevator. They are transported to the Cyberman ship but the Doctor manages to reverse it back to the shop and disable the teleport.

The Doctor again urges Craig to go away but he insists on helping as he views it will be safer to be closer to the Doctor than away from him. Craig and the Doctor split up to ask around for unusual activity. The Doctor finds from another worker named Val that a silver rat has been seen around. He also learns from another worker named Kelly that her supervisor Shona has also gone missing.

The Doctor, Craig and Alfie sneak into the store that night and capture a Cybermat wandering around. The Doctor disables it with his sonic screwdriver but overhears a scream from the security guard. The Doctor investigates and finds the guard's body. However, he is attacked and knocked out by a Cyberman. Craig finds him a few minutes later and wakes him. The Doctor was spared due to his different body chemistry and the fact that the Cybermen's arm was in disrepair or the blow might have killed him.

The Doctor and Craig take the Cybermat back to Craig's house. Craig runs out, needing to get milk and the Doctor heads up to Alfie's room to try and get him to go back to sleep. While upstairs, the Cybermat awakes and scours the house. The Doctor realizes it has become active and tries to disable it again, but it is shielded. Realizing it was only playing dead, he grabs Alfie and hurries out of the house.

Craig returns and misses the Doctor's warnings. The Cybermat attacks him but he is able to hold it away from him long enough for the Doctor to burst through the back door glass. The Doctor pulls it away and Craig restrains it under a cookie sheet. The Doctor changes setting and disables it. He later reprograms it as Craig and Alfie fall asleep on the couch.

Craig wakes in the morning to find the Doctor gone. He hitches Alfie up and goes after him. The Doctor meanwhile discovers a passage from one of the changing rooms to the Cyberman ship underground. He goes down and confronts them, learning that the ship crashed hundreds of years ago, destroying the crew. However when the council built the store, it laid electrical cables above the ship which activated the Cybermat. The Cybermat transmitted power to the ship and allowed it to rebuild Cybermen from captured humans. The Cybermen advance and capture the Doctor, preparing to use his brain for their own purposes.

Craig leaves Alfie with Val and runs after the Doctor. He tries to bluff the Cybermen into letting the Doctor go but is captured. Realizing Craig's potential due to his knowledge of the Doctor, they begin to convert him, intending to make him Cyberleader. The Doctor tries to activate the altered Cybermat but a Cyberman destroys it. As Craig is converted, the Cybermen drain his emotions with the Doctor pleading for Craig to fight it.

Over the security cameras, Alfie begins crying. Craig overhears Alfie and fights back against the Cyber-conversion. His resistance sets an emotional feedback loop in the Cyber-computer and the Cybermen begin to experience emotions. The feedback overloads them and they explode as does the entire mainframe of the ship. The hull however contains the explosion, leaving the shop intact.

The Doctor slips out ahead of Craig from the shop, allowing him to go back in time and clean up Craig's house. He takes four blue envelopes and a stetson hat from Craig as a thank you and slips out just as Sophie returns home. The Doctor then departs for Lake Silencio in the TARDIS.

Having just received her doctorate, River Song is studying the Doctor's trail prior to his death at the lake when she is confronted by the Silence and Madame Kovarian. River is drugged, placed in the astronaut suit and dropped into Lake Silencio as the Doctor, Rory, Amy and her future self approach for their picnic.

Analysis

For me, this story is a mixed bag. There are moments, especially when the Doctor is being reflective, that are very good. There are moments that are also very funny, especially with Alfie (or Stormy as he calls himself). But there are also some real clunky moments where the comedy falls flat. I also do not like the resolution to the Cyberman story. It is hokey claptrap that didn't work in the past and I don't understand why writers keep going back to it.

For the most part, the Eleventh Doctor is really good here. He is all over the map emotionally but he is always giving off the vibe of an older Doctor than previous and one who is trying desperately to put off something that has to be done. His moments with Stormy when Craig has gone out for milk are some of the most poignant and you really feel his pain as he knows that it's time to die and he just doesn't want to give up. It's quite touching yet his other moments lose none of this in their more humorous aspects.

That being said, the culmination moment with the Cybermen make him look very weak. He has no plan and can do essentially nothing as Craig is turned into the Cyberleader. He is knocked out in one instance and held down in another by only two Cybermen, both of whom are made from scavenged parts. The Doctor has had the Cybermen and other baddies get the drop on him before, but these are effectively bottom feeders and he is rendered ineffective by them which feels very wrong.

Craig is not bad as a companion stand in, but he is better in The Lodger than he is here. The father scared of his baby is a bit overdone and it gets tiring to listen to. It also brings Craig's whininess out more than it needs to. In The Lodger, his whining was understandable as he was just totally confused by the Doctor and caught up in an emotional turmoil. Here he just simpers about needing to protect Alfie but being afraid of him as well.

Let's also address the big point: I hate the love conquers all bit. This is not the first time it's been used but the idea that any one person is strong enough to resist the technological power of the Cybermen due to their love is just garbage. Of all the others who were converted, did they not have love in their life? Why was the love they had for their children, spouse, parents, etc. not have the effect of saving them? Why is Craig's love for Alfie so much more powerful than others that he is able to resist the power of Cyberman technology? I get that it was briefly set up that he is far stronger than he looks but it still feels like the lamest resolution that could be thought of.

The secondary characters aren't even worth mentioning as they are in it so little. The gay couple joke was mildly funny the first time, even if it was a bit awkwardly set up. But the second and third time around made it a bit stale and the characterization of Val as the kindly older lady suffers a bit as it reduces the dimension of her character.

The Cybermen aren't much as bad guys either. The Cybermat gets more screen time than the Cybermen proper and neither of them seem like they should be a threat. The Cybermat does create some chaos but the Doctor does disable it eventually. Still, he should have been more aware of the possibilities given his problems with them in the past. The Cybermen themselves are very lame, having no plan and only the weakest capture of the Doctor. They honestly feel like they should have been dealt with by the Doctor in less than five minutes while he is laughing at them. Of course, given that he didn't find their lair until the last quarter of the episode, he really does deal with them in five minutes, although Craig is the one who actually defeats them.

If it wasn't for the more poignant moments and the coda at the end, this would probably be considered a turd of a story. However, there are those nice moments and the comedic interplay between the Doctor and Craig, especially when the Doctor is translating for Alfie is pretty good. This is an episode that can be enjoyed but it does have that highly sour moment at the end. If a better end could have been devised, I think the story might have merited a 4. However, the central conflict is resolved with a "love saves the day" ending that gives the whole story a pall of stupidity that is difficult to overcome.

Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5

The Underwater Menace

A slave, like a worm, might be turned.

I know next to nothing about The Underwater Menace except that it's generally thought of as very weird. This is also the first story with Jamie as a companion so I'm expecting either him or Ben to be flapping in the breeze with little to no lines for portions of this story as I'm sure it was written prior to the decision to keep Jamie on as a companion. I also believe this is the first of what would end up being three invokings of Atlantis. So I'm going into this story with a note of caution, despite my enjoyment of the Second Doctor.

Plot Summary

The Doctor, Ben, Polly and Jamie leave Culloden Moor in the TARDIS. Jamie is a bit unsettled but adapts to the surroundings as they arrive on the shore of the sea. They discover that the land is that of a volcano and the companions begin to climb the mountain while the Doctor takes readings near the TARDIS. Polly becomes winded by the climb and stops on a plateau to rest while Jamie and Ben continue to climb.

Polly becomes distracted by a set of caves nearby and goes to examine them. She discovers a stone figure and when she goes to examine it, she is attacked from behind. Jamie and Ben hear her scream and descend to go help her, discovering the cave where she disappeared.

Down near the base of the volcano, the Doctor finishes up but discovers a few shards of pottery, recently made. He pockets it and decides to find the companions and begins to climb the mountain.

Ben and Jamie continue in the caves but are grabbed from behind and thrust into a metal cage suspended over a pit. They discover Polly in the same cage. A few moments later, the Doctor is also thrust into the cage, having been captured while climbing. The cage begins to descend down into the pit and all the people begin to feel sick. The nitrogen becomes concentrated as they pass below sea level and they pass out.

At the bottom, the guards pull them out of the cage and lay them out in a compression chamber to adapt to the atmosphere. They wake up and Polly produces a bracelet she discovered earlier that was given at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic games. From this they figure that wherever they are, they are on Earth and probably around 1970.

A guard enters and motions them outward. They are taken to a room where food is laid out before them. They eat for a bit until a priest named Ramo enters and welcomes them. The priest states that their coming was predicted by the sea goddess Amdo in time for the festival. The companions are taken away but the Doctor is able to speak privately with Ramo and mentions a Professor Zaroff. This catches Ramo off guard but the Doctor states that he recognized Zaroff's work through the food. The Doctor writes a message and though Ramo refuses to take it, he slips it to a serving girl named Ara.

The companions are brought into the worship center and bound and placed on the dais platform. The platform has an opening where sharks circle in a well below. The Doctor is brought in by Ramo and placed in the fourth spot. The high priest Lolem begins the ceremony which steadily removes weight, tilting the people slowly towards the well.

Ara, unable to get in to see Zaroff, goes to see Damon, the chief surgeon. He takes the message from her and reads it. Damon takes the note to Zaroff who reads it. Zaroff heads to the temple and demands the release of the Doctor. The Doctor is loosed but he demands his companions be released as well. Zaroff agrees and has the three taken to a labor detail.

The Doctor confesses that he has no vital news for Zaroff which annoys Zaroff but he is amused by the Doctor and he brings him to his office. Meanwhile, the companions are taken to Damon who sends Ben and Jamie to the mines. Polly is shown a group of people who have been surgically modified to breath underwater to work the undersea farms. Damon reveals to Polly that he plans on modifying her as well into the same state.

Talking with Zaroff, the Doctor discovers that they are in the ancient city of Atlantis. Zaroff has promised the Atlantians to use his science to raise the island to the surface again while he continues his food research. He is distracted by a message from a guard. While distracted, Ara comes to the Doctor and informs him about Polly's impending operation. He instructs Ara to try and pull Polly away if at all possible.

The Doctor manages to cut power to the operating room, causing Damon to go and complain to Zaroff. The other surgical staff leave to go and see if they can fix the problem, leaving Polly alone. Ara sneaks in and takes Polly away, telling her to hide in the now empty temple.

After Damon is dismissed, the Doctor picks Zaroff's brain about lifting Atlantis. Zaroff admits that he can't but instead will lower the level of the ocean to put Atlantis on the land. The Doctor points out that that volume of water interacting with the molten interior of the planet will create superheated steam and potentially crack the surface of the Earth, destroying Atlantis. Zaroff agrees but says he will do it anyway to prove that it can be done.

The Doctor manages to slip away while Zaroff is distracted. He manages to find a costume and while in it, he finds Ara, bringing food and clothing to Polly. He goes with her but stops when he sees Ramo talking with Damon. He notes Ramo's dislike for Zaroff and confronts him about Zaroff. He takes him to the temple, where Polly has hidden herself, and shows what Zaroff's plan may do to a clay pot. Ramo agrees to take the Doctor to see King Thous to tell him of Zaroff's plan.

In the mines, Ben and Jamie help out two other prisoners, Sean and Jacko. In gratitude, they agree to take them along in an escape attempt through a stray tunnel they discovered while mining. When the foreman is distracted by routing workers to another project, the four of them bolt down the tunnel. They follow the passages until they find an exit that opens into the temple, just behind the idol. Polly greets them and Ara shows up a few minutes later with food. After eating, they duck back into the passage to avoid people entering, including the Doctor for his demonstration to Ramo.

Ramo takes the Doctor to Thous where the Doctor presents his case. Thous thinks for a bit, but decides that he trusts Zaroff and summons him where he collects the Doctor and Ramo. Zaroff gives them over to the priests for execution.

The Doctor and Ramo are taken to the temple and prepared for execution. Suddenly the idol begins to speak and orders the priests to bow. As they do, the door opens and Ben summons the Doctor and Ramo in. Lolem believes a miracle has taken place and reports back to Thous and Zaroff. Thous is satisfied by Zaroff suspects a trick and orders his guards to search Atlantis.

In the passageways, the Doctor devises a plan to capture Zaroff and force the king to see reason. He sends Sean and Jacko to convince the fish people to stop harvesting food for Atlantis. As the food spoils within a few hours of harvest, it will force the Atlantians to deal. The others obtain disguises from Ara and head to the marketplace.

In the market, Ben and Jamie pose as Zaroff guards while the Doctor and Polly pose as locals. Zaroff enters and gathers Ben and Jamie to him. The Doctor exposes himself to Zaroff and runs, Zaroff, Jamie, Ben and Polly all following. The Doctor runs to the temple where Ramo is waiting. Zaroff orders Ben and Jamie to arrest Ramo while he confronts the Doctor. The Doctor temporarily blinds Zaroff with powder and Ben, Jamie and Ramo grab him and take him into the temple passageways.

Zaroff tries to bluff his way out by saying the process is already started. The Doctor doesn't believe him but decides he should check to be sure. Zaroff then feigns sickness so he asks Polly and Ramo to keep an eye on him. The Doctor, Jamie and Ben exit to the temple but are forced to hide as a ceremony is about to take place.

In the passageway, Zaroff attacks Ramo when he tries to help him. He knocks Polly away as she tries to help and stabs Ramo with a spear. He then drags Polly down the passageway. As the ceremony ends, the Doctor, Jamie and Ben begin to leave but Ramo emerges from the passageway and dies. Realizing what has happened, the Doctor sends Jamie after Zaroff and Polly while he and Ben try to beat Zaroff to his lab.

Jamie catches up to Polly and tries to untie her. Zaroff attacks Jamie but they are joined by Sean and Jacko, having successfully convinced the fish people to go on strike. Outnumbered, Zaroff flees. Knowing they would get lost in the tunnels, the group heads back to the temple to find Ara and have her show them the way.

Zaroff enters Thous' throne room as he has been informed by Damon of the work stoppage by the fish people. Thous is prepared to meet with them to discuss their demands. Zaroff however says that he will threaten them with his guards. Thous realizes that Zaroff is as mad as the Doctor suggested and prepares to move against him. Seeing this, Zaroff shoots Thous and orders his guards to shoot Thous' guards.

Ben and the Doctor discover Thous still alive. They drag him back under the temple and meet Ara, Sean and Jacko. Jamie and Polly had gone on to find Zaroff's lab after Ara had described the way to them. The Doctor decides that the only way to stop Zaroff is to flood the lower levels of the city, including the lab. He tasks Ara, Jacko and Sean with warning the residents to get to the upper levels while he and Ben head to the generator room.

Zaroff continues to push things forward but is frustrated as workers are deserting their posts, most to find food as the fish people strike is taking effect. Meanwhile, Ben and the Doctor pose as a guard and prisoner to get past other guards. In the generating room, they knock out the technician and sabotage the main power source. The Doctor decides to head to Zaroff's lab next.

In the tunnels, Jamie and Polly have gotten lost. They discover they are near the lab. They also discover that the Doctor's sabotage has caused a radiation leak. The leak and the mechanical vibration has caused a crack in the walls and sea water is leaking in. They decide to abandon the quest for Zaroff's lab and get to higher ground.

Ara, Jacko, and Sean carry Thous out on a stretcher as the temple and other lower levels flood. They are met by Damon who has also fled the flooding. The group continue up the tunnels to escape. They take a brief rest on an upper level and Damon briefs Thous on the rescue efforts of the rest of the inhabitants, including the likely death of Lolem as he was last seen heading to the temple.

Jamie and Polly reach a dead end but Jamie discovers a draft and climbs up the wall to see if he can find another passage. Jamie finds a small passage and he pulls Polly up. They continue to climb up and away from the water.

The Doctor and Ben enter Zaroff's lab. The Doctor informs Zaroff's technicians of Zaroff's plans. He also tells them that the sea has broken through and will flood the lab. Panicked, the technicians flee the lab. Zaroff steps back and drops a gate down, isolating him and the lab controls from the Doctor. Ben runs off, pretending to panic. The Doctor destroys the electrical power relay, plunging the lab into darkness. Zaroff smirks and activates the back up power. He raises the grill to tie up the Doctor but as he steps forward, Ben leaps out and pulls the grill back down again, cutting off Zaroff from the lab controls. Ben and the Doctor run out as Zaroff fires his gun blindly at them.

The Doctor tries to go back, not wanting Zaroff to drown but Ben pulls him forward. They discover the water is rising faster than anticipated and continue onward. At the same time, Jamie and Polly push their way forward and emerge in a cave at the shoreline of the volcano.

Zaroff continues to struggle, refusing to give up on the switch. The water level continues to go up and he drowns in his lab.

The Atlantians check themselves in the caves, counting anyone missing. They are sure the Doctor has not survived and vow to rebuild their city in the upper levels without giving in to superstition as a legacy to him.

Ben and the Doctor emerge in the caves on the volcano, safe from the water. They see Jamie and Polly sitting dejectedly, sure they had drowned. Happy, the group of four returns to the TARDIS. Sean and Jacko also emerge from the caves, just in time to see the group enter the police box and disappear.

The Doctor decides to take them to Mars but as he sets the controls, the TARDIS lurches out of control.

Analysis

It caught me a bit by surprise when it dawned on me while watching this story that this is the last recon for me. I've not done a write up for The Evil of the Daleks yet but I have actually seen that one, meaning that I've now seen all recon stories and that feels like an odd milestone to have passed.

As for this particular story, I'm of a mixed mind on it. I think it can safely be said that this is the first story where the Second Doctor acts like himself. He was a bit off in The Power of the Daleks and The Highlanders but here he acts with the conniving false bravado that you expect. Nice as that is, the rest of the story is generic and somewhat forgettable or just downright weird at points and not in a particularly good way.

Taking an honest approach, I think it would be safe to say that the Doctor is not only the best thing about this story, he may be the only good thing about it. For the first time, we get that manic energy that has been lacking in the first two stories. He is plotting, blustery and also acting on his heels quite a bit which feeds that energy. He is planning and desperate at the same time. You also see a level of compassion that does mark the Second Doctor. He knows that Zaroff is mad, yet he wants to go back and prevent him from drowning. He is only prevented from that by the threat of his and Ben's drowning. All around, there is much to enjoy with the Doctor finally coming in to his own.

The companions didn't fare quite as well in this story. Ben and Jamie did alright as they were kept as part of the action, but Polly was about as close to useless in this story as you could imagine. Also hurting were the fact that three pseudo-companions were introduced, all with similar tropes to the regular companions. Jacko was the hot-headed man of action (Ben), Sean was a get along with an accent (Jamie) and Ara was the female resource person. Polly would have had trouble fully filling this role but Polly could have taken some of the back and forth work from Ara, which would have made her a bit less conspicuous. It also would have solved the dual problems of giving Polly something to do and explaining why Ara is helping so much. The Doctor is nice to her in one moment and now she is actively working against the leaders of her society? That makes no sense whatsoever.

An example of Polly being useless is when she and Rama stay behind to watch over Zaroff feigning illness. Zaroff springs up and attacks Rama. While they fight hand-to-hand, Polly literally stands behind them with her hands clasped as though she is terrified to move. She tries to grab the spear from Zaroff only when he is about to stab Rama. There is no reason she should not have been either scouring around to find a rock to brain Zaroff with or even to just leap on Zaroff's back and let Rama get a few stomach blows to bring Zaroff down. Instead, she stands there and lets Rama get killed and herself taken prisoner, from which Jamie rescues her a few moments later. It is just a complete waste of a companion.

Zaroff himself is also rather weak. He is portrayed in the stereotypical mad scientist fashion, yet he is supposed to have hoodwinked the king and the priests that he should be given absolute power? He runs around like a dictator, half crazed, yet neither his guards nor his fellow scientists have figured out that what he will do will destroy all of them. It feels like a lazy portrayal and without any nuance in it whatsoever. This ultimately makes it boring. Watching a man drown because he is so obsessed with destroying the world should be horrific, yet it feels so nonchalant because we simply don't care about him. Zaroff is not something worth investing any emotion in.

It is nice to have Episodes Two and Three existing, especially as Episode Two was a recent find, but it would be nice to see Episode Four especially. The direction in Episodes Two and Three is fairly non-descript as it is functional but not jumping out at you. It would be nice to see if the directing of the water rising action added anything to the grand fleeing of the sea which takes up the entire second half of the episode.

I also didn't care for the very ham-fisted "dedication" that Damon made for the Doctor at the end of the story. Not only was declaring the Doctor dead rather premature of their part, but you can't have some random doctor declare to the king that they are abandoning all of their religion and ritual and become totally devoted to science. Even a hard-core science person like Christopher Bidmede would laugh at the idea that a society can change it's views on a dime. It is exceptionally lame in concept and it is delivered in a poorly acted way as well.

One of the things that often comes under scrutiny is the "fish ballet" in Episode Three. Frankly, the fish people are incredibly weird to begin with as I openly wonder how Atlantis was feeding itself before creating human-fish hybrids to gather food but they are visually interesting. But the ballet is one of those things that is put in clearly to kill time. There is no need to show anything beyond Jacko and Sean making appeals to the fish people. Yes, the ballet gives you a visual of the people passing the word along to go on strike, but it is filler. It looks about as pretty good an underwater sequence as you could expect in 1967 so I won't knock it for that, but it does make for an odd inclusion.

Overall, I can't think of much else good to say about this one. It's greatest crime is that it's boring. There is a lot that doesn't make sense but that can often be glossed over at least in an initial watching if it's entertaining. This is not that. The peril doesn't feel real and the people in it feel clichéd at best and poorly portrayed at worst. Again, that is a great shame as this is the first time that the Second Doctor holds forth as himself. If they end up finding Episodes One and Four, or even animating it, I might go back and watch it again but other than that, leave it be and don't worry about it.

Overall personal score: 1.5 out of 5