LBs Time Team

[Slagathor]

Love the your recaps. Keep 'em coming.

[Fitz Kreiner]

The Wheel In Space:

Episode 1:
And we start off on audio, alas with no linking narration for this one.
There’s quite a touching start as Jamie and the Doctor lament about Victoria’s departure. But we’re quickly into the story as the TARDIS lands and shows temptations on the scanner to warn the Doctor and Jamie to move on. It brings back memories of Edge of Destruction.
The Doctor offers Jamie a Lemon Sherbet to quench his thirst. I can’t say I’ve ever noticed that they do that. But I do know that I want a Lemon Sherbet now!
We’ve got some great incidental music and sound effects here by Brian Hodgson. Very reminiscent of early Who.
The Doctor and Jamie seem to be stopping for lunch, Jamie after Roast Beef with “all the trimmings”, which transpires to him as potatoes and cabbage! I’d have chosen a few more trimmings than that! Where are the Yorkshire Puds?!
The sound of the Servo Robot moving about is rather well realised, and it sets the rocket in motion, causing the Doctor to fall out of bed and hit his head. It’s all rather hectic in the Rocket as the Doctor and Jamie are avoiding the servo robot.
We’re shown aboard a space station, which have the rocket on their screens. It’s called the Silver Carrier and is several million miles off course. And something odd is going on, something is heading towards the station and there are slight drops in air pressure. Jarvis, the station controller, has decided to turn the X-Ray laser onto the rocket and destroy it.
Episode 2:
I like the interaction with the crew of the station. It feels as though they’ve been working together for a while.
Jamie has managed to use the Time Vector Generator to signal to the station. Quite clever of him, it’s stopped Jarvis from destroying it, and instead sends over a couple of men to see if there is anyone aboard the rocket.
The crew of the station is rather international. It’s rather reminiscent of Snowcap and the Moonbase, with people of many nationalities working together in space or space travel.
Tanya seems to think that the troubles the station is experiencing are to do with the rocket, mocked my Leo who suggests there are “Little green men” aboard. It’s rather an ominous foreshadowing. One of those poetic ironies.
Gemma is examining the Doctor and Jamie, the former of whom is unconscious. Jamie is apparently in full health, with a great second name I may add, and gives the Doctor the name of John Smith, spotting it on a piece of medical equipment. He also gives an explanation of why he and the doctor were on the rocket; he had a fever and woke up a couple of days later.
Zoe doesn’t seem to recognise a kilt, laughing at Jamie and his “female garment”. Jamie also sounds a rather kinky sort, threatening to put Zoe over his knee and “larrup” her.
Gemma talks to Jarvis and tells him that she believes Jamie to be lying about certain things, his blood pressure indicating he’s not been in space long. Jarvis believes he’s out for sabotage to cause disruption to the space program.
Jamie slips off from Bill and Zoe after it’s revealed to him that Jarvis plans to go ahead with the destruction of the rocket. Jarvis is rather concerned about it and tells Bill and Zoe to follow him after a couple of minutes but say nothing to the rest of the crew.
Aboard the rocket, two spherical pods begin to glow with an inner light revealing terrifyingly familiar shapes; Cybermen!
Episode 3:
And we go to the Lost in Time DVD for this episode! Hurray for at last having some visuals!
The rocket and wheel both look rather impressive model shots and the pods containing the Cybermen are really impressive. The Cyberman’s hand punching through the shell is great. Jamie has found his way to the power room and uses a quick setting plastic to spray into the workings of the X-Ray laser. Jarvis and Bill burst in and grab him.
The Cybermen really look powerful here, not having the baggy suit. And they have a “tear drop” indentation to the side of their eyes.
Ooh, that sent a chill down my spine. Left alone in the power room, Bill spots a Cybermat, thinking it’s some kind of “Space bug” christening it “Billy bug”. I think it’s due to his not knowing what exactly he’s found adds to the chill factor.
The Doctor is awake now, but can’t remember what happened on the rocket. But he knows there is some kind of menace.
There’s a wonderful fade shot after this as the picture fades from the Doctor’s face to that of a Cyberman.
I must say, I quite like the style of the Wheel; the uniforms, the international nature of the crew. It’s a bit like Deep Space Nine, twenty years before. Bill seems to be the Chief O’Brian character! There’re no swishing doors; but it does seem rather grounded with a sense of reality.
Zoe believes that the Silver Carrier was refuelled in space, when she talks to the Doctor. She believes it to have been driven to the wheel. Cue the Cybermen!
Bill reveals to Gemma that the Bernalium rods are now useless, due to the strange creature he found. You kind of feel sorry for Bill, as he reveals the crew thinks he’s “a nut anyway for messing about with space Flora”.
The Cybermats flock round a technician and somehow kill the poor fellow, causing Jarvis to reprimand Bill, saying he’ll be sent back to earth on the next ship that comes by.
Using an X-Ray to look through the plastic coated Cybermat, the Doctor and Jamie instantly recognise it and realise the Cybermen are nearby, the only place they can be is aboard the rocket.
Where, two crewmen of the wheel have gone in search of Bernalium, only to be caught by the Cybermen and placed under their control.
Episode 4:
Back onto audio again.
Jarvis seems to be rather incredulous to the idea of Cybermen. Despite their previous encounters with Earth, they seem to be forgotten. And Jarvis thinks the Doctors story is rubbish.
Aboard the rocket, the Cybermen are concealing themselves in crates of Bernalium to be taken over to the wheel.
Jarvis seems to be sounding rather unhinged. He seems to think that nothing can get into the wheel.
The Doctor and Jamie realise that the Cybermats were out to destroyed the Wheels supply of Bernalium, but aren’t too sure exactly why.
The Doctor seems to think that Jarvis is a strange man to be in the position he is. Gemma admits that he has trouble accepting things outside the laws of physics and that he can’t always seem to face the truth, blocking up his mind. It’s great to have someone giving a psychological analysis in Who. Really appeals to my Psychological nature. I like Gemma, a character I can relate to! Jarvis certainly seems to have a detached sense of reality, but there’s no time to get into a full analysis of the man.
Now that’s something I wish I could see as a techie goes to get some Bernalium that’s been brought from the wheel, only to have a Cyberman burst from the crate.
In the control room, Tanya reveals someone has used the incinerator in the loading bay, where Chang has just gone and met the Cyberman. It’s actually quite a chilling thought that the Cyberman has dumped his body in there.
This story is rather gripping and quite chilling, despite its audio only status. Maybe it’s my own personal feelings towards the Cybermen creeping me out, but it’s great stuff.
The Doctor realises that the Cybermen have been brought over in the crates containing the Bernalium, much to the bemusement of Gemma. She gives us a good description of how crewmen in space are protected from hypnotism and mind control. But the Doctor spots the flaw and they realise that Bill has been taken over. It’s quite a shocking moment, pardoning the pun, as the character that has seemed rather sympathetic is killed by a massive electrical shock as he tries to sabotage the Wheel systems.
Jamie and the Doctor are off “hunting”, and Jamie wonders who’s going to be hunted. Quite a nice little moment as the Doctor responds with “We’ll see”, and the two are soon cornered by a Cyberman.
Episode 5:
Avoiding the Cyberman, the Doctor realises that the Cybermen don’t plan to destroy the wheel, but they’re planning something with the air supply of the station. He contacts the control room and warns Leo and Gemma, telling them to lock down the airlocks.
The two travellers are also cornered by the Cybermats, but with power supplied by the control room, the Doctor manages to disable them.
Leo realises that there is something wrong with the communications on the wheel as he can’t raise anyone. Meanwhile Zoe and Gemma show Jarvis the Cybermat, but he completely blanks it, saying it’s not true. The man really has some serious psychological problems. Gemma suggests ECT, but that seems a little backward these days.
Zoe seems to be having a little crisis of faith, realising that all the training and preparation she’s received in her life hasn’t given her any training for the situation she’s found herself in.
There’s a bit of a barney in the power room as Flannigan takes on the two crewmen who have come under cyber control. However, despite one of the crewmen getting killed by an electrical discharge, Flannigan is soon beaten and a Cyberman arrives and puts him under hypnotic influence.
The Doctor suggests the Cybermen have an overriding urge to invade the Earth and plunder its mineral wealth. He asks Jamie for the Time Vector Generator, and the two realise it got dropped on the rocket. The Doctor gets Jamie to go back to the rocket to collect it.
The Cybermen are planning to turn the oxygen in the wheel into pure ozone, Gemma overhears and gets in touch with the Doctor, but isn’t quick enough, a Cyberman spots her and kills her. It’s quite a chilling scene as the Doctor urges her to run, seeing the Cyberman approach her.
Episode 6:
Back to that wonderful shiny disc now!
Jamie and Zoe are making their way to the Silver Carrier, only the meteorites are heading straight for them. I must say, the space suits look quite good. Much better than the suits from Moonbase.
I really do like the set for the wheel. It’s fantastic.
The Doctor reveals to Leo that the Cybermen are planning to poison the air and that she died warning them. Distracted by another meteor swarm no one seems to notice Jarvis break from his trance-like state and walk from the room in a daze.
There’s a great scene where the conrol room spot him on a monitor and the controller comes face to face with a Cyberman. These Cybermen really are incredibly powerful and they look it. They’re absolutely huge!
There’s a really good scene where the Cybermen go through the crew list of the wheel trying to determine who has foreseen their plans, using their controlled crewman to form an image of the crewmembers in his eyes. The reports are negative until the Doctors image flashes up.
A new object shows up on radar in the control room, the Doctor suspects it to be a Cyberman Space Ship. The Doctor seems to suspect that Flannigan is under Cyber control and tells Leo to grab him when he enters the control room, despite his protestations that Flannigan is to meet the Doctor in corridor 6.
The Cybermen find the Doctor in the Power room, “You know our ways, you must be destroyed.” The Doctor has managed to rig up a force field that manages to destroy one Cyberman, but the other reveals others are coming.
It all gets quite exciting as a force of Cybermen spacewalk towards the wheel and the Cyber ship closes in. With the laser powered by the Time Vector Generator, Leo manages to destroy the ship, and Flannegan uses the neutron force field to repel the Cybermen.
There’s a nice touch as we leave the wheel and there’s a hint of romance between Leo and Tanya. But Zoe seems rather interested in the TARDIS, enough to stow away, saying she wants to join the Doctor and Jamie. And we get a nice flashback to Evil of the Daleks as the Doctor shows a glimpse of what life in the TARDIS is like.
Quite a good little story, after a bit of a slow start. The Cybermen are rather menacing and incredibly powerful looking here. It’s by no means the best Cyberman story, but it’s a good one and rather enjoyable, and I found myself getting swept away by the story in several places.

Next Time – The Dominators.

[Fitz Kreiner]

The Dominators:

Episode 1:
And we’re back onto my old video copy. It’s been a while since I’ve used this.
We’re off to an interesting start with a formation of saucer shaped space ships flying through space, one of them breaking off from the group and landing on a planet.
The two pilots are rather interesting characters, one of them looking a little like Richard Bacon!
The model shots here are fantastic, for example the travel pod moving through the mist towards the island.
The costumes for the Dulcians are rather interesting, to put them into a word. The capsule crashes onto the Island of Death, so named after atomic testing, the whole of the outside is allegedly deadly, however, the travel pod seems to suggest otherwise.
That’s a fantastic scene, horrific but fantastic; where Dominator Toba orders the Quark robots to destroy the approaching Dulcians, with a disintegration effect. Only Cully, who stayed back, survives.
The Doctor seems rather glad to have landed on Dulkis, saying it’s a peaceful place and they could all do with a holiday.
There’s a fantastic shot of the Quarks destroying Cullys travel capsule, the explosion of the vehicle is wonderful.
It seems to be all go, as the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe are taken in by a student team, who seem puzzled by the lack of radioactive contamination. The Island has been kept as a museum and warning against atomic weapons, to keep the peaceful Dulcian way of life.
The Dominators are planning drilling sites. But drilling for what exactly? They’re certainly rather suspicious characters.
The Dulcians certainly seem rather accepting that the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe come from another planet.
The shots of the Dominators craft from the distance is really impressive. Certainly gives the good impression that it’s sat in a valley in the island.
Now the Quarks are rather interesting robots, small and square but a really wonderful design.
Episode 2:
The chirping voice of the Quarks is certainly interesting. Not quite like anything we’ve had in Doctor Who before. And the interior of the Dominator ship is just fantastic! A wonderful set, absolutely stunning.
The Doctor and Jamie are taken into the Dominator space ship, and subjected to medical analysis. Well, Jamie is, the Doctor is overlook as being “identical” to Jamie in terms of physical attributes.
Cully gives an interesting argument for Zoe not being a Dulcian; she has an enquiring mind.
I have to say again, the model shots for this story are fantastic. Although the clothes the Dulcians are wearing show that although they’re a peaceful people, they’re in dire need of a tailor!
The Doctor and Jamie are subjected to intelligence tests, rather simple ones, which bothers the Doctor. “An unintelligent enemy is far less dangerous than an intelligent one.” The Doctor says, resulting in the two men acting foolishly, in a rather amusing and yet so in character manner.
The Dulcians in the learning chamber (or whatever it is) seem to now believe that the effects of an atomic blast last for 172 years. However, due to comments made by the Dominators when they arrived seems to indicate they had something to do with it.
Toba seems rather intent on destroying. Quite the little megalomaniac in the making there. Rago seems to have to keep him in check a lot, like an owner with a Rottweiler.
Zoe makes the rather obvious comment that the Dulcian clothes are rather impractical. They really are rather silly!
He’s at it againl Toba has the typical shoot first, ask questions later attitude, asking if he should destroy the Dulcian students. We’re now given an insight as to Dulcian physiognomy; greater brain power (than Jamie) and two hearts.
And again! Toba orders the Quarks to destroy the Dulcian survey unit, where Zoe and Cully have just returned to. It’s another impressive model shot, and yet another time Toba says the word “Destroy”. I can see a drinking game in the making here!
Episode 3:
Zoe and Cully manage to escape the collapsing unit and run straight into a Quark. Rago orders a Quark to be stationed there in case more Dulcians arrive, and those on the island are to be put to work on the drilling sites. Again he has to stop Toba before he even mentions destruction, saying if any of the captives attempt to escape, he is to report the fact, not kill them.
Jamie is getting rather frustrated with the Dulcians, and from their attitude, you can almost see yourself getting infuriated in that situation. They seem to sit about and discuss rather that take action. But then I guess that’s pacifism for you.
Zoe is adamant about fighting the Quarks and escaping. However, she seems to be met with some resistance within her fellow captors.
The Doctor is attempting to change the course of the travel pod, as to make sure that he and Jamie don’t arrive back at the survey unit and into the waiting Quarks “hands”.
The Dulcian council have reached three conclusions if the Dominators are aggressive; Fight, Submit or flee.
The Doctor and Jamie arrive above the work party as Zoe and Cully prepare to start their plan to escape, as Kando and Balan are already collapsing from exhaustion. The Quarks notice Cully’s absence from the group as they start to lead the prisoners back to the space ship.
Cully and Jamie, now inside the Museum are surrounded by Quarks as Toba orders the Quarks to do his favourite thing! Yep, destroy. But not before Jamie uses the laser in the museum to destroy one Quark, in quite an impressive explosion.
Episode 4:
Rago reprimands Toba for his destroying the Dulcian building, saying he’s far from satisfied with his conduct and doubts he has the discipline to become a Dominator. There’s an interesting standoff between the two as they vie for control over a Quark, Rago ultimately winning and Toba backing down.
Jamie and Cully have managed to seek refuge in a shelter under the museum; however, it seems that the ventilator shaft has been blocked.
Rago instructs the Doctor to show him a travel capsule so that he can go to the Dulcian capital, leaving Toba in charge. You have to wonder if that’s a smart move as he has to remind the other Dominator to not cause any destruction and he expects the same number of prisoners when he returns.
Jamie and Cully manage to force their way out of the underground shelter and start causing mischief, destroying a Quark with the good old Polystyrene boulder!
There’s rather a nice moment where the Doctor mocks Zoe in a friendly way when she reels off a lot of techno-babble about energy sources and he responds with “Yes, it must be pretty powerful too!”
Rago’s storming into the Dulcian council chamber is a wonderful scene. His outrage at the Dulcian debate and pacifist retorts is well played and there’s another rather horrific scene as the Quark kills one of the counsellors, with a smoke effect as opposed to the earlier disintegration effect.
Toba seems to have ignored Ragos orders and orders Balan to be killed unless the prisoners reveal Jamies location. When no one speaks up, the poor old man is killed and Toba tells the Doctor he will be next.
Episode 5:
Rago arrives seemingly just in time to reprimand Toba yet again. He’s not having a good time really!
The Doctor seems to be on the way to figuring out what the Dominators are planning, listening in on the conversation between Rago and Toba.
The Quarks have started drilling the “main bore” next to the underground shelter as Jamie and Cully spot them, bringing the prisoners back. Jamie engages on a very simple trap for the guard Quark, using a sheet from the shelter to tie its legs together causing it to topple over. Although it causes Toba to shout “Search and Destroy!” There’s definitely a drinking game here. And he repeats it, twice in one minute!
Jamie and the Doctor overhear the Dominators saying that the Dulcians are no use for slave labour and they will be destroyed with the planet. The Doctor suggests that the Dominators are going to drill through the crust of the planet and drop an explosive device down the centre bore and turn the planet into a giant ball of radioactive fuel.
You have to love Jamie for his simple yet stunningly effective idea of digging a tunnel from the shelter to the bore-site. As the Doctor says; “It’s so simple only you could have thought of it.” We see the Sonic Screwdriver return as the Doctor cuts through the wall of the shelter with it. It’s certainly a versatile tool. I could do with one of them!
Jamie and Cully certainly are quite adept at destroying Quarks and putting the Dominators off their work. Although there’s a trick there, Toba starts to say his favourite word, but stops. This is certainly drinking game territory!
Rago seems rather peeved and has gone on the Destroy rant now. Nearly catching Jamie and Cully the Quarks manage to hit Cully, paralysing his arm and leg. Quite how they manage to get back into the shelter without the Dominators seeing, I don’t know.
Rago tells Toba to prepare to leave the planet as he drops the explosive device down the bore hole, unaware the Doctor is prepared to catch it. Unable to open it, he decides to get it off the planet by placing it in the Dominators space ship.
And the Dominators are up and away, and we’re treated to another wonderful model shot of the space ship as it takes off and then erupts as the explosive device explodes.
There’s a great end scene as the Doctor seems to rest back confident that things have gone well, saying there will only be a volcanic eruption on the island, only to be reminded by Jamie that that is where they are.
What a nice little story. Certainly an interesting one, and as I’ve said Toba’s insistence with destruction could make for a drinking game. It probably could have done with being a four parter as opposed to five, but still, it was a rather enjoyable story, and the model shots were fantastic, and the set for the Dominators space ship was just stunning.

Next Time – The Mind Robber.

[Fitz Kreiner]

The Mind Robber:

Episode 1:
Ah, a nice shiny DVD quality story here.
And we’re starting off still on Dulkis with the lava fast encroaching on the TARDIS. And the Fluid links are vaporising again. We’ve had that twice before; The Daleks and Wheel. The Doctor certainly seems to be having troubles with the TARDIS recently! Seemingly ever since Salamander snuck aboard in Enemy of the World. Although there is a way out of it, but it seems to move the TARDIS out of reality. Interesting concept, especially as the Doctor seems very wary about it.
The TARDIS seems to be nowhere. It’s a concept that you can’t quite get your head around. Nowhere, nothing, zada, zip!
The Doctor admits that it’s the unknown that worries him, not their current location. But I think there’s more to it than that. He does seem worried about where they are. Especially with his warnings to Zoe.
Jamie see’s Scotland on the scanner. Most mysterious, especially with the Doctor’s predictions as to where they are. And now Zoe has seen “the City”, her home. It’s an interesting model shot.
There’s a wonderful suspense level through this episode, with the Doctors reactions to where they are and his sense of urgency. Pat is really giving a great performance as the Doctor here. His concern over his companions and the TARDIS warnings plays for a great dilemma for the character.
I love the white void! Really takes me back to my childhood when I first saw this episode. It’s sending chills down my spine. The robots do look fantastic and the noise that they make is just superb. And we now have a great way to get someone out of seeing things, slap them round the chops!
Things are certainly getting rather mysterious and spooky, with ghostly images of Jamie and Zoe beckoning their counterparts and the Doctor. And the Doctor seems to be engaged in a mental battle with someone as well.
It seems that the void was all mental images and pure imagination, according to the Doctor. Makes you really wonder what happened outside. Jamie seems to have a rather quick sleep, and dreams of a unicorn.
The “alien” vibration in the TARDIS is rather a good noise, something that’s always stuck with me and takes me back to being a kid. It’s quite an intense scene and gives for a fantastic moment where we see the TARDIS explode in a black void, Jamie and Zoe left clinging to the console and the Doctor spinning off alone. It’s a fantastic cliff hanger.
Episode 2:
I have to say, Zoe looks quite good in her spangley cat suit, especially when we’re given a close up of her bum!
There’s an interesting moment where Jamie spots a redcoat and going to attack him get’s shot and turns into a cardboard cut out. Things certainly aren’t what they seem here! Even more so when walls keep appearing around Zoe.
Someone is monitoring Jamie and Zoe and looking for the Doctor. Quite the sinister figure. Certainly rather interesting.
The Doctor has heard Jamie and Zoe’s voices, but there’s something odd about Jamie’s voice, it doesn’t sound right. There’s an interesting character who finds the Doctor, seemingly looking as though he’s from the 18th century. He certainly is talking in a most mysterious way. And now some strange children. There’s something very odd going on here. Are we still in the land of imagination?
“I wish... I wish I believed in wishing wells.” A nice little quote from the Doctor there. Working his way through the puzzles that seem to have been laid out, the Doctor now has to make Jamie’s face. It’s quite interesting, and he then goes and gets it wrong. Is this a new Jamie we’re going to be stuck with?
“When is a door not a door?” There seem to be riddles all over the place here. It’s certainly a strange place we’re in here. But as the Doctor says; “I think we may be in a place where nothing is impossible.” Certainly throws a new light onto their situation. Wherever they are.
Jamie scales a tree to try to see a way out of the forest, and reveals it’s a forest of letters, each tree a different one. It certainly makes an interesting lay out.
The strange man re-appears and talks of the Master again. Now I never thought that I’d hear this sentence outside of a game of scrabble; “Thank goodness, there’s a letter C.”
We finally get to see the strange soldiers who have been hunting the Doctor and co, they’re toy soldiers. It’s certainly an interesting twist. They heard the Doctor and Co to an area where they spot a Unicorn charging towards them, straight out of Jamie’s dream. Are we actually seeing his dream here?
Episode 3:
The Doctor urges Jamie and Zoe to say that Unicorns don’t exist, and as if my magic, the creature turns into a statue. Interesting stuff.
We have another shot of the Master, from behind again. He’s certainly an intriguing character, makes you wonder who he is, where he is and what his plans are.
Ah, we see the redcoat again and we have the same thing with Jamie’s face again. It proves for a little bit of comedy between the Doctor and Zoe as she reprimands him for getting Jamie’s face wrong last time. Although it may have made for more sense to work the faces out on the board before putting them on the cut out. Or is that just me?
Zoe realises that they’re expected wherever they go as they are given a ball of twine in a maze. Rather like Perseus and the Minotaur in the Labyrinth.
We can see the Master urging the Doctor and Zoe on in the maze, it seems that there’s something in the middle that he wants them to come across.
Now Zoe picks up on the Minotaur myth as well after hearing the bellow of an animal. Is this going to be another thing like the Unicron?
Jamie gets hunted by a soldier, realising that they can see through a light in their hat and throws his waistcoat over it allowing himself to escape. A good bit of deduction there by the young man.
Yep, the Minotaur was another unicorn style test. Leaving the centre of the maze, the Doctor and Zoe bump into the stranger again, and the Doctor deduces that he’s Gulliver, and can only speak the words Dean Swift gave him to say. He deduced that they’re in a world of fiction.
Jamie seems to have managed to shake off the clockwork soldier, by climbing a cliff. I’ve a friend who would like that idea; he’s a very big climber. It seems things are going Jamie’s way as someone throws down a rope to him. No, it’s not a rope, it’s Princess Rapunzel! She certainly seems a strange one, this Rapunzel. It’s rather a strange place, inside the citadel, lots of works of fiction about, including something typing out the plight of Zoe and the Doctor. It seems like Jamie is now narrating for them!
It’s actually conveying quite the sense of danger now as the Medusa advances on the Doctor and Zoe, the latter of whom finding it hard to state that the Gorgon isn’t real.
Episode 4:
The Doctor remembers the Perseus legend to get him and Zoe out of shtick, by realising there’s no danger in the reflection.
Jamie seems to set off an alarm in the citadel. He’s found by Gulliver but soon hears the sound of the white Robots. With those bars on their heads they very vaguely resemble Cybermen!
Hmm, we now have a German superhero called The Karkus. He certainly sounds rather amusing. And now we have a rather Avengers style, and slightly unconvincing, fight between the Karkus and Zoe, the latter of the two winning. Although it does give her and the Doctor a way to the Citadel.
The Doctor has realised that if he had done what the words on the ticker tape said they would have become fiction. An interesting prospect, it seems as though the Master is trying to get the Doctor and his companions to become fictional.
An interesting point, how does Jamie know Gulliver’s name? No one told him and he wasn’t around when the Doctor realised who Gulliver was.
Ah, now we see the Master, and he seems rather an amiable old chap. He seems to be controlled by another power, and was brought from England in 1926. It seems the Master wants the Doctor to take over his position.
Jamie and Zoe have managed to slip away and been surrounded by White Robots in a library, which was all part of the Master’s plan, and offers the Doctor the choice, his life in return for theirs as he shows the Doctor a video showing Jamie and Zoe being closed in the pages of a giant book.
Episode 5:
The Doctor makes a break for it, climbing to the roof of the citadel where he finds Jamie and Zoe, but they’re acting rather oddly. They now seem to be tools of the Master.
The Doctor almost falls into the Masters trap of turning himself into fiction after finding the master tape. It certainly seems like there’s going to be a tricky end for the Doctor unless he thinks hard. It doesn’t seem like he’s going to get much of a chance as he’s getting bombarded by the fictional characters.
Jamie and Zoe don’t make for good villains it seems as the Master uses them to trap the Doctor and hook him into the Master brain. It doesn’t seem to go as the Master Brain wants, as the Doctor uses his own brain powers to turn the tables on the Master.
We get to see a battle of wits between the Doctor and the Master now as they pluck various fictional characters out to duel, and outdo each other.
Jamie and Zoe sneak back to the control room and start to overload the Master brain as the White Robots start to destroy and the Travellers manage to escape with the Master, now disconnected from the computer. He seems a much more likeable and grandfatherly figure now. The TARDIS seems to reform as the robots destroy the computer.
A rather interesting story and one that could be open to many different interpretations. Did it actually happen or was it just a dream? Jamie certainly seems to be asleep after the void, so it could be possible that it was his dream that we saw. It may have also been the Doctors dream as we end up where we left off towards the end of episode one and there is no mention of the Master.
It’s quite an interesting story and quite enjoyable. It certainly gives you something to think about as well.

Next Time – The Invasion.

[Fitz Kreiner]

The Invasion:

Episode 1:
And we’re onto another DVD, with some spanking new animation for the missing episodes. I really hope that this happens again for other stories that are missing episodes as it’s just great.
The TARDIS has pulled itself together out of the land of fiction, and it seems as though things are back to where they were at the end of part one of the Mind Robber. Was it all a dream?
The TARDIS is being shot at by a missile from the dark side of the moon. And there’s a tantalisingly fascinating shot of a space ship moving across the screen.
The TARDIS lands in England and the Doctor decided to get some help in repairing the TARDIS circuits from Prof. Travers. Hmm, the circuits the Doctor has removed have rendered the TARDIS invisible. Certainly rather interesting so far. They certainly seem to have no trouble in getting a lift from a lorry driver. He seems rather distracted by something, possibly the two motor cycles following him. The incidental music is fantastic. Rather creepy. There’s some fascinating talk of a Company called International Electromatics, the world’s biggest electronic manufacturers.
The lorry driver mentions his people, in a rather enigmatic comment. Having said his farewell to the Doctor, he is confronted by two armed guards. That’s quite a nasty moment, as the two IE guards shoot him dead in cold blood.
The Doctor and Co arrive at Travers house to find that someone called Professor Watkins lives there with his niece Isobel now, Travers having moved a month ago. It seems that Prof. Watkins is working for IE now and has gone missing. Jamie seems to think he’s been kidnapped.
Heh, I have to chuckle when the Doctor shouts down the phone to the machine to be quiet, he sounds just like my grandfather!
IE seems to have a completely robotic system, having a computer as a receptionist. We see Tobias Vaughn ordering his henchman Packer to “deal” with the Doctor and Jamie. He sounds a rather smooth and suave individual. He also stops Packer from engaging in some physical violence towards the two men. This Packer seems a rather brutal figure.
The Doctor and Jamie have been observed by two men in a car, talking to “headquarters”, who recognise the two travellers and want them brought in. Things certainly seem really mysterious and interesting.
The Doctor noticed that there was something wrong with Vaughn, the normal human blinking rate is 15 or so a minute, and Vaughn blinked a lot less than that.
Meanwhile the man in question watches the Doctor and Jamie from his office before flicking a switch to reveal an alien machine hidden in the wall.
Episode 2:
The Doctor and Jamie are being followed by the two mysterious men in the car. They seem to be like some kind of secret agent.
Zoe is thinking the Doctor and Jamie have found themselves trouble. She seems to be right as the pair is confronted by another car of mysterious men who surround the two travellers.
It seems that the HQ these men belong to is an airplane, Hercules Transport Plane to be precise. Jamie seems confused when Benton calls him sir. And we see why; his CO is Lethbridge-Stewart, now a Brigadier! Wahey! We’ve only seen him on audio so far, but it’s good to see him back, seems there is becoming some strong links for the Doctor on Earth now. The Brig is now in charge of an Intelligence group called UNIT, set up after the “Yeti do”. And it seems people have been disappearing in the IE building.
In Vaughns office, the alien machine informs him that the Doctor and Jamie have been recognised from “Planet 14” and are hostile! Interesting, the questions are certainly mounting up.
I have to learn me some of this “Algol” language you talk to computers in. Could threaten my computer with it next time it plays up on me! Especially as Zoe feeds it an insoluble equation causing the machine to blow up.
The Brig is giving the Doctor the lowdown on those who went into IE and have changed since they came out. It seems IE conquered the world electronics with a breakthrough in micro-monolithic circuits.
Another question is raised when the Doctor opens Jamie’s pocket radio that Vaughn gave him and is confused by the inclusion of a micro-monolithic circuit that’s not part of the radios function.
Vaughn seems to be showing a rather sadistic side, telling Zoe and Isobel that they’re going to be used to help persuade Prof. Watkins to continue his work.
There’s a nice little touch where the Doctor comments on the UNIT radio being a sophisticated piece of work warranting Jamie’s smug reply of “It doesn’t play tunes like mine.”
Kevin Stoney is playing a great character as Vaughn. I think I prefer his Vaughn to his Mavek Chen from Daleks Masterplan. He certainly seems able to command a certain respect from his alien allies through the machine in his office. It seems that the two of them need the other somehow.
It seems that the men Vaughn employs seem to have some form of super human strength as the two friends observe them carrying large full crates in the warehouse as if they were empty.
Episode 3:
Packer certainly is rather a violent sort. He’s about to go for Jamie to pistol-whip him, only stopped by Vaughn’s intervention. Vaughn seems to be full of charm again, but in such a sinister way, he’s actually a joy to watch.
There’s a nice scene where Jamie gets into the back of Vaughn’s private car and out the other side, jumping into shotgun and smiling smugly at Packer. It’s quite the amusing scene, and wonderfully in character for Jamie.
UNIT seem rather efficient. They seem to be all over IE, and even have helicopters able to follow cars from there within minutes.
Vaughn’s office in the country is exactly the same as his office in London, uniformity, as Vaughn says; the secret of his little empire. Jamie notes that Vaughn seems very hard to annoy, being “Nice as pie” whereas the Doctor seems concerned into Vaughn’s interest in the TARDIS circuits.
Now we get the reason why Vaughn allowed the Doctor and Jamie to speak to Prof. Watkins, he’s got a hidden surveillance camera in Watkins workshop, in the hope of overhearing the conversation.
We hear a little more about Vaughn and Packer’s “allies” but it’s only that they know the Doctor and Jamie, but it’s enough to make us want to know more. Vaughn says that their allies fear them.
The Doctor feigns a fear of lifts in a bit of a trick to escape Packer, who’s rather Gullible, as Vaughn points out. He does seem to be a rather ineffectual security chief. I do love Vaughn’s little put downs of Packer; “It seems our clever Doctor has outwitted you, but then, that wouldn’t be too difficult would it?”
Jamie and the Doctor make their escape up the liftshaft. There’s a nice little moment where Jamie asks what happens if the lift is fixed when they’re still in the shaft and the Doctor replies; “It’s simple, we get squashed!”
You have to wonder, if Vaughn is the powerful head of his corporation, why he keeps using Packer as he seems to spend most his time shouting at the man!
Jamie hides in one of the crates on the train to get away from the searching guards, but it seems there’s something in there with him, the contents of the crate seem to be moving. It’s quite a spooky cliff hanger.
Episode 4:
We’re back to another animated episode again. I do like the animation. It’s good to have the missing episodes reconstructed like this.
The Doctor seems to think that the darkness has been playing tricks on Jamie’s mind when the young Scot tells him about the movement in the crate.
Oh, that’s not wise, Packer answers back to Vaughn. Strangely Vaughn seems to let this go. There’s some more interesting talk of their allies, saying emotion could be used against them. It’s sounding rather fascinating, and there’s talk of “Converted”. It’s sounding like it could be you know who. And Vaughn seems to be planning to use them and discard them. The talk is certainly keeping the suspense up, and it’s rather compelling viewing.
The helicopter is still about, and Jamie wants the Doctor to call in UNIT to help, but the Doctor wants to rescue Zoe and Isobel first.
I love how the animation of the buildings is fantastically sixties; the windows look very much like the windows in my old secondary school, which was a 50s/60s building. It’s fantastic how they’ve captured the style so well.
We’ve got quite the action sequence going on here as the UNIT helicopter drops a rope ladder and the Doctor and Jamie climb onto it in an attempt to rescue Zoe and Isobel. Very James Bond! I don’t think we’ve had anything quite this much of action film style before! Especially now that Packer and the IE guards are shooting at them. It’s really quite intense, and the chopper starts to take off with Jamie still clinging to the rope ladder.
Vaughn is really peeved with Packer, and plans to bring the invasion forwards; 24 hours! Call in Jack Bauer! And now he’s calling up Major-General Rutlidge about UNIT, telling them they must be stopped. Sounds as though the man in charge of the UNIT group, above the Brig, is under Vaughn’s control.
The Brigadier is planning to “Raise hell”. Sounds as though he’s up for a rumble, and like the sort of chap you want on your side. And there have been UFO sightings around the IE complex.
Ooh, I’m looking forward to Packer getting his just deserts. He’s not the most pleasant character.
Well, the Doctor has been deducing, it seems that the UFOs are dropping things off at IEs country complex and they are being transported to London in crates by train, like the one Jamie saw.
That’s a novel transport; the Doctor and Jamie are canoeing into the London IE complex. And we’ve got that fantastic incidental music again. It really does help set a great mood, and you can tell things are building to something here as the two men infiltrate the complex. There are two technicians working at something in a crate and the Doctor says he was right. It’s a fantastic cliff hanger as the thing in the cocoon writhes before it splits open and a Cyberman emerges!
Episode 5:
It almost feels a disappointment that there are no more animated episodes to watch as they were so enjoyable.
We see the Cyberman emerge again, and it’s fantastic. They’re a different design again, but that doesn’t stop them sending a chill down the spine!
There have apparently been hundreds of UFO sightings, they must have quite an army hidden somewhere on Earth!
It’s revealed that the Brig answers to Rutlidge, who seems like he’s under Cyber control. That can’t be good news for UNIT , if they’re getting orders that are handed down by the Cybermen. The Brig is a man of action, it seems. It’s good to see a positive up and at them attitude here.
You’ve got to love Rutlidge’s moustache. Typically old school top brass army style! It’s great!
Vaughn doesn’t seem to concerned about UNIT, he thinks there is plenty of time before the UNIT forces can do anything to sort the invasion. This is shaping up with quite a bit of potential, a Cyberman invasion of “modern” day Earth. Vaughn is planning to bring the Invasion forwards and the Cybermen agree.
We get the wonderful shots of more Cybermen being brought out of their cocoons again, and there are still 50 to go! I wonder how many are already there. Well, the new Cyber costumes are good, but the voices leave something to be desired.
The Doctor realises that the Cybermen must be massing in the sewers under London as there’s a main storm drain under the IE building.
Vaughn orders a Cyberman to be part revived and Prof. Watkins machine attached. He floods the Cyberman with emotion; fear, and it seems to go mad. Quite an interesting demonstration.
Oh you have to love the Brig. After hearing Isobel’s idea to photograph the Cybermen in the sewers he says; “Is that all gibberish, or do you really know what you’re on about?”
The Doctor has discovered another circuit in the UNIT equipment that isn’t part of the works. It seems that IE have been including circuits for some part of the invasion maybe? If so, this invasion has been planned for years.
Oh, this is something; Vaughn has been given a Cybernetic body, but he still retains his human mind. It makes the talk of conversion he had with Packer make sense now.
Zoe, Isobel and Jamie have gone with Benton to London to try to get some pictures of the Cybermen in the sewers. It seems as though Zoe is using some emotional blackmail, and egging the Scot on with talks about whether women are as good as men.
The sewer sets are rather impressive. Not quite as good as the Underground set, but still impressive. And it adds a claustrophobic element with Jamie, Zoe and Isobel being trapped by Cybermen.
Episode 6:
Interestingly, the crazed Cybermen ignores the three youngsters, who now have a group of UNIT troops down the tunnels looking for them. It’s quite impressive seeing the Cybermen moving through the dark of the tunnels, seeing just the light of their chest units and the tops of their helmets, adding to the light reflecting off the side of them from the open manhole. They really do look menacing.
It’s great seeing the Cybermen in a more prominent role finally in the story, even more so seeing one emerge from the sewer after Jamie, only just beaten back by the UNIT troops.
Isobel shows the Brig her pictures, but he says that they look a little like fakes, which seems to rather hurt the girl. Jamie protests that it should be enough, but the Brig admits the people he has to convince are incredibly sceptical.
There’s another great scene where Vaughn tests Watkins adapted machine on the poor Professor; it now has a directional range and doesn’t have to be connected to the subject. It could now be quite a
weapon against the Cybermen. He really is planning to take them over. This can’t end well. Aggravating the Professor, Vaughn gives the man a gun when Watkins says he’d kill Vaughn if he got the chance. It’s a wonderful scene as the bullets leave smoking holes in Vaughn’s shirt as he stands over Watkins laughing.
The Brig authorises a group to rescue Watkins from Vaughn’s security patrol who are moving the professor. He really does use some cracking words; “It’s your shindig, Jimmy,” and “I think Vaughn’s lot are going to have quite a scrap on their hands!”
Watkins seems to be rescued off screen, as we cut to Vaughn’s office and hear what happened from the scientist Gregory, who is swiftly dispatched by the Cybermen in the sewer.
It seems the Doctor is beginning to realise the reason for the miscellaneous circuits in IEs equipment. They’re going to boost the Cyber control signal and halt any opposition.
There are some fantastic shots of spacecraft in space. It’s not too clear whether it’s just one large ship or several smaller ones, but still, it looks fantastic.
There’s some wonderful juxta-positioning of peaceful dawn shots of London after hearing the Cyber planner count down an hour to the invasion. Then we get some great shots of people on the streets collapsing and coming under the power of the Cyber control signal.
Now this is just what we want; Cybermen bursting out of manholes and swarming the streets of London. What a fantastic cliff hanger. Yet another great one from this story, and such an iconic image of the Cybermen walking down the steps in front of St Pauls cathedral. It brings back images of the Daleks on Westminster Bridge.
Episode 7:
Hmm, it looks as though Vaughn may be losing control a little bit in his conversation with the Cyber Planner, saying that he is still needed as they do not know Earth and its organisation, which is deemed irrelevant. He does seem to bring it back though.
Vaughn’s men, not just Packer, seem rather ineffective as they raid Watkins house to collect the professor and shooting down a straight corridor at near point blank range can’t hit anyone seriously enough to stop them!
Things don’t seem quite so hopeless for UNIT even after the Doctor reveals there must be thousands of Cybermen in space, as the Russians were planning a space mission and have a rocket ready, it just needs a warhead placed onto it to deal with the Cybermen in orbit.
We’ve a nice bit of action as the UNIT HQ lands allowing Captain Turner and the Doctor out to start their various plans to deal with the Cybermen.
What a wonderfully British and Brigadier-ish thing for the Brig to turn to Zoe and say; “Don’t look so worried, fancy a cup of tea?” What a wonderfully British thing to say. If all else fails, get a cuppa!
The Doctor confronts Vaughn, who seems to think he’s the mastermind behind the invasion, thinking he can control the Cybermen and they owe him for the invasion.
It seems the Brig and Zoe have a hard task ahead of them; convincing a missile base that they’re being invaded. Still they seem to manage it, as the bases defence missiles are armed and readied.
We now get to see the invasion force, albeit on a radar screen, and there are a lot of them! It’s certainly keeping a great deal of suspense here. And Zoe seems to think that the base can get most of the transport ships with the base missiles, compiling a launch pattern for them. I guess that’s 21st century super-education for you!
Now I know it might be stock footage, but the shots of missiles being launched and radar dishes really add to the story and give it a great feel.
The Cyber Planner reveals that the first wave of ships is being attacked and destroyed and informs Vaughn that the blame rests with him. It’s a great turnaround as Vaughn begins to realise that he’s not as in control as he thought he was, and a Cyber megatron bomb is to be delivered to destroy all life on Earth.
Episode 8:
Thanks to the Doctors radio, Benton in UNIT HQ passes the news to the Brig that the Cybermen are planning their bomb attack.
Now Vaughn seems to be losing it, grabbing Watkins Cerebetron Mentor machine to destroy the Cyber Planner, shouting that he will destroy them all. The Cybermen on Earth seem to be rebelling against Vaughn, bursting into his office after Packer and killing the man. It’s interesting to see the Doctor wielding a weapon as he turns the machine on the Cyberman.
Vaughn seems to have retreated into himself and self moping, wondering what the Earth would do with him if he helped. Still wanting power though, he does seem to be becoming increasingly more unhinged, saying he will help destroy the Cybermen because he hates them; “They destroyed [his] dream”.
And we’ve heard from Jimmy in Russian, a super cooled Hydrogen device has been fitted to the Russian rocket to destroy the Cyberman spaceship. A bit more stock footage, this time of a V2 rocket being launched, but it still fits in with the story and is a great bit of footage.
The Doctor and Vaughn are making their way through the IE compound to the radio transmitter control, and boy are there a lot of Cybermen in the way! I must say though, I like the way the Chest Units are attached to these Cybermen, much better than the last ones, where the bottom end of it was hanging some way out.
Here we go, some great action shots of UNIT receiving their baptism of fire against the Cybermen. Some stunningly fantastic fight scenes.
And Vaughn is no more. Finally getting his comeuppance outside the transmitter control at the hands of the Cybermen. Fortunately UNIT are on hand to save the Doctor and stop the transmitter.
The episode is all go and totally gripping as the Doctor and Co race against time to stop the Cybermen delivering the bomb. There’s a great suspenseful scene where the scenes in Britain wait for news of the Russian missile and whether it can be moved into range within 12 minutes. There’s a feeling of anxious helplessness as no one can do anything for the next 12 minutes while the Russian missile is repositioned. Time enough for the Cybermen to release the bomb, and they do.
I’m really finding myself on the edge of my seat as we wait for news from Hendo Downs about the news of their missile to stop the bomb. It’s a proper moment when you can breathe out again when they report that the bomb has been stopped and the Russian missile hits the Cyber ship.
Although it does beg the question, what about the Cybermen still on Earth? Were they stopped by UNIT or did they all collapse when the Mother ship was destroyed? Just a slight niggle, one you have to ignore I guess.
There’s a nice end scene where Captain Turner and Isobel drive the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe back to the field where the TARDIS landed and watch the three travellers as they try to find the invisible time machine.
A wonderful story. It does seem to be a bit lengthy, but still totally enjoyable. The first four episodes are pure suspense, as we know something big is happening and Vaughn is involved. The talk of his “Allies” is certainly mysterious and Vaughn himself is a fantastic character and a great villain. Kevin Stoney plays him fantastically and his suave and debonair front soon fades away towards the end of the seventh episode when the Cybermen turn on him. There are some great action scenes as well, and although there is some action that takes place off screen, the suspense and excitement is held in the reactions of the cast who react to the news of what’s happening, this is played wonderfully in the suspenseful scene where the cast have to sit around helplessly awaiting news from Russia as the whether the Cyber ship will be destroyed. A fantastic story and totally gripping, and the revival of the two missing episodes as animation are just fantastic. Here’s hoping that future DVD releases of stories that have a missing episode or two will get the same treatment.

Next Time – The Krotons

[Fitz Kreiner]

The Krotons:

Episode 1:
Here we are with my wonderful UKGold recording, a good ten years old, and a little bit looped! This could make it interesting.
We’re straight off into the action as two students are picked out of a large group to become “companions of the Krotons”.
Interesting we see the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe already knowing things that happen. Hmm, did UKGold make a booboo when broadcasting this? It feels like something is missing. But anyway, Jamie is already challenged to a fight with one of the Gonds. Still, by the fact that the Travellers seem rather concerned about Vana which indicates that they’ve seen something before. Maybe they did miss something. Yes, something is missing as the Doctor and co have seen Abu Gond killed the other side of the Dynatrope. I’m now shaking my fist at the broadcasters of UKGold. Especially as we have an advert break mid episode, and very quickly it seems!
The Doctor has managed to rescue Vana from the other side of the Dynatrope, but at a cost, his favourite umbrella. It’s quite a nice Troughton moment.
We get an interesting history lecture from Selris about how the Krotons arrived. It’s a nice little background, and I’m not sure whether the mention of “Silver Men” is meant to make us think it could be Cybermen again. But I doubt it. The Doctor considers the Gonds knowledge, as supplied by the machines, a self perpetuating slavery. The Krotons are feeding the Konds what they want them to know it seems.
I love Jamies argument that the poisonous atmosphere has worn off in the Wasteland; “We’ve been through it twice today and we’re alright!”
Oooh, I like the sound of the Kroton’s voice telling the Gond students to leave the Learning Hall, after smashing the machines. It sounds rather similar to the Emperor Dalek (Evil of the Daleks) which is never a bad thing!
Now something interesting is happening, a snake-like tube is coming from the Dynatrope and homing on the Doctor, of which there is a picture of him on a monitor in the Dynatrope.
I’ve come to the conclusion that UKGold did edit out a selection of the first episode here, as some things seem not to gel, and I’m sure I’ve seen a fuller version at some point!
Oh, here we go, an idea of how old this video is, the advert after the first episode is for the film “Still Crazy” (Great film, by the way), which was released October 1998!
Episode 2:
The Doctor has realised that the probe has been sent to find him, and him alone, but this means that the Krotons have an image of him and there must be a scanner somewhere. The probe kills a Gond who tries to attack it and withdraws, causing the Doctor to start theorising again.
I do love the Kroton voice. It’s great.
Zoe and the Doctor realise that the gaps in the Gonds knowledge is a result of the intervention of the Krotons. They seem to be guiding the Gonds down a certain route, and away from some learnings.
In the learning hall, the Doctor and Selris explore under the structure, while Zoe starts using a learning machine. This can only end badly! The Doctor has spotted something interesting under the Dynatrope, but what, we don’t know yet.
Vana wakes up and seems rather delirious, screaming about stuff from the Dynatrope “Flashing ball burning my mind!” Jamie sedates her with the pills the Doctor left him.
Ah, now we know, the foundations are like a “root structure” and the Dynatrope is an organic crystalline structure. “Great jumping Gobstoppers!” Great reaction from the Doctor. I might have to use that myself sometime! Haha.
Zoe has been called into the Dynatrope, I knew this would end badly. But it leads to a lovely little scene where the Doctor tries to accompany her by taking the test himself with a lovely little comic moment.
The Doctor makes an interesting observation that the noise the Dynatrope makes when announcing a student to enter is like a dinner gong. Typical Doctor Who timing, Jamie arrives, just as the Doctor and Zoe enter.
The inside of the Dynatrope is quite interesting. It’s a space ship and there’s certainly something interesting going on in there. A strange force comes over the Doctor and Zoe transferring mental power to energy, and opening a section in a wall with a bubbling tank of chemicals, and something is forming within. It’s a rather spooky and well realised scene.
There’s now something coming out of the “slurry” and it looks rather imposing. And the music accompanying it is very well fitting.
The Doctor manages to activate the exit circuit, but he and Zoe are now faced with the dispersal jets. And the Krotons watch them leave, and realise they’re not Gonds and they need them. The Krotons do look imposing, looking out of the dark. I don’t care what anyone else says, they do look imposing looking out of the dark.
Jamie has been lead into the Dynatrope and the Krotons examine his mind, discovering he’s not a “high brain” and announce the machine will kill him.
Episode 3:
The Doctor and Zoe are making their way to the TARDIS it seems.
Jamie is being interrogated by the Krotons and sees the Doctor and Zoe enter the TARDIS on a screen and wonders whether they are leaving without him.
Phillip Madoc always seems to play a great part, whether it’s a large role or not. He certainly has a great presence on screen.
The Krotons are now interrogating Jamie about the workings of the TARDIS. Two words spring to mind; “Good luck”!
We now seem to be having some background politics between Selris and Eelek, as to who should lead the Gonds and how to attack the Krotons.
The Krotons. They can’t move all that well, I will concede that, but when they loom, boy do they loom.
I’ve only just noticed, a lot of the Gonds have whopping great sideburns! Eelek doesn’t though, but then it’s Phillip Madoc, and he really does give a good show of his character being in the grey area as to whether you don’t know if he’s on the side of good or bad. I like that.
The Doctor has deduced that the Dynatrope is made of Tellurium as he and Zoe examine some rocks outside the TARDIS, only to be cornered by a Kroton. Meanwhile, in the Dynatrope, Jamie attacks the other Kroton, causing confusion for the one cornering the Doctor and Zoe and allowing their escape.
It seems that the Krotons can’t see in the light, whereas in the machine, it could due to it being dark. Turning its dispersal unit on the TARDIS, the Kroton fires and the TARDIS seemingly dissolves. Or not, as it reappears several feet away, much to the Doctors disdain “What a stupid place to land”. It seems the TARDIS has something called HADS; Hostile Action Displacement System.
Vana is now up and about it seems, as the city is being evacuated in preparation for the attack on the Krotons.
The above attack consisting of attacking the foundations of the Dynatrope, causing some cracking in the roof of the caverns. Not really a good plan; and the Doctor arrives to tell them so. And in comes the roof, right on top of the Doctor!
Episode 4:
The Doctor has survived the roof collapse, we always knew he would, didn’t we? And now he’s helping rescue trapped Gonds.
Jamie meanwhile is exploring the Dynatrope trying to find a way out. And the Krotons heads are spinning, it’s rather amusing!
Zoe wants to borrow the Doctors braces to make a splint! Troughtons reaction is just fantastic! Now the two realise that Jamie is missing, haven forgotten about him during the “excitement” of the attack.
Jamie shows that he’s improved as a character during his time with the Doctor as he finds the Doctor’s piece of Mica and uses it to escape the Dynatrope. He’s learnt an awful lot and progressed so far from the Highlander who joined the TARDIS crew.
We get another bit of Gond politics and then the reveal of a full Kroton, coming out of the Dynatrope. It does look fairly impressive, just when it moves it reduces that bit of credibility. However, their design is wonderful at showing the fact they are crystalline life forms.
We get another wonderful part from Philip Madoc, offering the Krotons the Doctor and Zoe in order for them to leave. He seems to have the interests of him people in heart, but seems to operate along the lines of the ends justify the means. As Selris says “He pretends to act for the good of the people, but his only interest are for his own skin.”
Oh, that’s not good. Selris followed the Doctor and Zoe into the Dynatrope to deliver the bottle of acid the Doctor needed, only to be dispersed by the Krotons. It was quite a horrific little moment. But the Doctor now has the bottle of acid (Which is strangely kept in plastic) and is questioning the Krotons. They were part of a battle fleet and two of their craft were “killed” and they crashed on the planet of the Gonds.
Jamie and Beta (the one with the awesome sidies!) have arrived in the learning hall with the large vat of acid that they were preparing.
The Doctor tells the Krotons that he and Zoe can’t live without oxygen just as the Krotons couldn’t live if someone poisoned the “slurry”, subtly indicating to Zoe to pour the acid into the solution. It seems to work as the Krotons collapse and dissolve back into a pool of liquid crystal.
We’re given shots of the Dynatrope melting, which really are wonderful, and we find out why, Beta and Jamie pouring the acid into the root structure.
And another lovely Doctor moment as he explains to Zoe about how the Dynatrope dissolved before adding “Lets go, I don’t like goodbyes.”
Another wonderful Troughton story, pure enjoyment with some great moments from the man himself that remind us why he’s such a wonderful Doctor. Some of the Gonds are wet blankets, but it’s better than them all being gung ho and gives a nice alien (albeit human looking) community. I can’t help but wonder what the Krotons would look like in this day and age. Would they be CGI and semi transparent? It’d certainly be interesting to see them again, and somewhat more mobile that this story (a la the EDA Alien Bodies).

Next time – The Seeds of Death.

[t]

Another great review LB, well done

[John Darnacan]

Great Story. Great Review.

[Fitz Kreiner]

The Seeds of Death:

Episode 1:
And we’re on a lovely shiney DVD and a trip down memory lane to one of the earliest Doctor Who’s I ever got on video.
We’ve some lovely opening credits, with the story name, episode number and writer shown over wonderful model shots of the Earth and Moon.
The Workings of T-Mat control are quite interesting, and it seems like a real workplace, complete with interpersonal relationships, office humour and stress. Although the T-Mat seems to be like the transporter in Star Trek, albeit in little booths.
The incidental music is wonderfully atmospheric too, and there’s a very sci-fi shot of the moonbase.
I love the chilling moment when the moon base alarm rings indicating there’s someone at the outer door airlocks when there shouldn’t be. Then some chilling screams and we get a POV shot of whatever it is walking down the corridor and the terrified faces of the T-Mat operaters.
I do like the technicians looking into the camera as talking to one of the alien invaders. The hissing breathing and voice are just fantastically creepy.
Commander Radnor seems rather infuriated with the delay from the moon base, who’s communications have been severed with Earth. It’s really rather intriguing.
And the TARDIS materialises, seemingly in space, with a 21st century rocket and a man wearing a 1960s style space suit. The Doctor deduces that they’re in a space museum (no, not the Hartnell one) and we’re given a good bit of background on T-Mat by in information film Zoe finds. Jamie seems to think it sounds like a flying carpet.
Seems to be quite a bit of trouble worldwide with the moon based failure of T-Mat, and Miss Kelly’s jokey comment about a rocket seems to be the only way. Clearly T-Mat has superseded the use of other forms of transportation, and I can see that happening. Mankind is getting lazier and would gladly welcome a booth that almost instantaneously transported them from place to place.
The Doctor and co. have been caught by Professor Eldred, who thinks they’re thieves and there to mock him. He seems quite a nice and sympathetic man.
The moon technicians are planning something; the Moon to Earth video link isn’t as badly damaged as T-mat, and they plan to send a warning.
Radnor and Kelly arrive at Eldred’s museum, making him think the Doctor and Co are Radnor’s spies. There’s certainly a lot of history there between the two men. And the rocket quarrel is ended by Locke getting a message through before the screen dies.
Slaar is back, and he’s not amused and orders the guard to kill Locke; an Ice Warrior!
Episode 2:
I really have rediscovered my love for these chaps since starting this mission and seeing The Ice Warriors and now this. What fantastic monsters. They sure as hell spooked me when I first saw this.
Anyway, I digress. Locke is dead and Phipps manages to escape, Fewsham left with Slaar, trying to stay alive by obeying the martian. And I love Slaar, what a fantastic looking alien, not your typical Ice Warrior, he’s slimmer, has a different helmet and there’s some wonderfully scaly skin of his jaw and mouth which sends a shiver down the spine.
Eldred doesn’t seem able to help Radnor with his rocket, saying it’s a dream of an old man, but the Doctor and co discuss among themselves about helping. Radnor agrees to their help and the travellers seem to have integrated themselves now.
On the moon, the warriors are searching for Phipps, who’s hiding in a store room. It’s quite a good and tense scene, as you can see the fear on Phipps face, as it would be on anyone who’s being hunted to be killed.
Well, it seems the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe are all heading up to the moon in Eldred’s rocket. We seem to have skipped forwards a bit in time to some more exciting bits.
Oh, that’s something I’ve not spotted before; a knowing clearing of the throat by Jamie when the Doctor tells the professor not to worry “Your rocket will be in safe hands.”
I love the ominous way Slaar tells Fewsham that they don’t need an army as Earth will be theirs very soon.
And the Rocket is ready to go. Blimey, we seem to be motoring through this. I forgot how much I love this story. But worse, I nearly forgot my cup of tea!
There seems to be more wrong with the rocket than the TARDIS as the video circuits and then radio circuits blow out, as Jamie points out; “Och no, this is worse than the TARDIS!”
The Ice Warrior plan is an interesting one, Slaar ordered the T-mat to work on receive only and then Fewsham is left alone, waiting.
It’s rather chilling, even now, as Miss Kelly and a repair crew arrive and they’re watched by Slaar and a warrior as Fewsham spins a story about what happened.
Phipps meanwhile is rigging up a defence system for the part of the base he’s in, which interferes with the homing beam for the rocket, leaving the Doctor and co with the possibility of drifting endlessly through space.
Episode 3:
Trying to re-establish contact with the Moon, the Doctor manages to get through to Phipps, who’s trying to call Earth. He tells them that they’ve been invaded and aliens have taken over.
Miss Kelly’s team has fixed T-mat, only for the Ice Warriors to emerge and kill all but Miss Kelly. Oh, and Fewsham, but he’s helping them!
The Doctor and Jamie have recognised Phipps’ description of the aliens as Ice Warriors, at least they know what they’re up against.
We’ve a wonderfully tense moment as the homing signal Phipps rigs up for the Doctor blinks out and the rocket begins a blind descent, before the beam is repaired.
The Ice Warriors now have access to every major city on Earth, including Tokyo, London and Canberra.
The Doctor has found Phipps and together they’re planning to put T-mat out of action, much to Zoe’s horror when she finds out, as the rocket motors are ruined and T-mat is the only way back to Earth. And Zoe does seem to love her PVC clothing, kinky girl!
We’ve a wonderfully Troughton chase scene after he and Phipps bump into an Ice Warrior escorting Miss Kelly. Running away from the warrior, the Doctor manages to bump into another and we’ve a wonderful shot of him running across the screen before turning and running back, chased by two Ice Warriors. It leads to a fantastic Doctor Moment as he gets cornered by the Ice Warriors and squaring up to them announces; “Your leader will be angry if you kill me; I’m a genius!”
I do like Jamies little sigh of “Women” when Zoe tries to lead him to the Solar Energy room, getting them lost and almost caught by an Ice Warrior in the process.
Slaar tells Fewsham to prepare to dispatch a “cargo” to Earth, as the Doctor is brought in by two Ice Warriors. Slaar is convinced the Doctor has been concealed on the base the whole time, disbelieving his story about a rocket.
Here we go with a cliché, ventilation ducts! They’re going to be used to get to the control centre to rescue the Doctor.
Speak of the Devil, he’s persuading Fewsham to help him investigate the Ice Warriors “cargo”. They’re strange looking seed pods that expand and explode in a choking white cloud, causing the Doctor to collapse.
Another Ice Warrior has made it’s way to the Solar power room and falls fowl of Phipps booby trap. I do like the drumming incidental music that accompanies the Ice Warriors. Suits them perfectly.
The seed pods don’t expand when the Ice Warriors touch them it seems.
There’s a rather interesting cut to London control where Radnor says that without T-mat, millions will die, only for Slaar to give the order to transport the seed pod. It swells up as soon as Brent opens the cubicle door and touches it.
Episode 4:
The pod explodes releasing the choking smoke, until the air con is switched to expel. Was that a good move? Eldred seems concerned about the smoke being dispelled into the air of London. Probably rightly so, knowing the Ice Warrirors.
Speaking of which, they’re unleashing pod after pod onto Earth.
Seems some circuits of the booby trap have burnt out, and Miss Kelly is working at repairing them.
According to Eldred, the pods have arrived and killed other people in other T-mat stations. And the Autopsy report on Brent says he died of Oxygen starvation, which Eldred associates with the smoke which has been unleashed into the outside air.
There’s quite a chilling scene of a fungus growing and another pod swelling and exploding in vegetation outside.
Slaar orders Fewsham to place the Doctor’s body in a T-mat cubicle and suspend him in space, in between the Moon and Earth. It seems like Fewsham is having a crisis of conscience, saying he’s unable to kill the Doctor in cold blood, despite Slaar saying he’s killed his whole race. Although it seems he’s able to do it none the less.
It seems it’s a race against time as Jamie and Phipps are desperately trying to get to the back of the cubicle to remove the Doctor. But who’s made it first?
And it seems it was Jamie and Phipps, the former taking the Doctor back and the latter going for the heating controls to disable the Ice Warriors.
I do like the incidental music, it really adds tension and atmosphere.
Fungi have been growing and spreading spores about London and other T-mat centres where the pods arrived, and all people killed by them died of Oxygen starvation. Radnor and Eldred listen to the computer report as an Ice Warrior materialises in the T-mat cubicle and smashes its way out. It’s a wonderful little moment. And Ice Warriors are impervious to bullets it seems, after Randor calls in some guards to deal with it.
Phips and Jamie have returned with a comatose Doctor, and Phipps reports the ventilation grille was too small. Zoe however thinks she can fit through, and despite Jamie’s protestations, goes with Phipps to try again.
Eldred seems to know the score. Wondering what the Ice Warriors purpose was and realising that the Seed Pods and the Warrior are all part of the same plan.
There’s a fantastic shot of some guards spraying something onto the foam and the Ice Warrior stood watching before killing one and marching through the foam.
Phipps seems to suffer an anxiety attack in the vents, starting to shout and scream that he’s being hunted by monsters.
Eldred really is piecing peices together, realising all the places the pods have arrived in cities currently experiencing winter. He asks a rather valid question; “Why haven’t any pods arrived in any warm countries?” And realises that the Warrior is the first, Earth is going to be invaded. Smart man. We don’t see many of them.
Thanks to Zoe, her and Phipps have reached the control room. However, it’s not clear sailing for Jamie and Miss Kelly as an Ice Warriors discovers the Solar Energy room, and the booby trap doesn’t seem to be working.
Seemingly with Fewsham’s help of distracting his guard, Zoe slips into the control room and makes it to the heating controls, turning them to maximum. Although why they look like a miniature ships wheel is beyond me. Drama as the Warrior turns and kills Phipps after he shouts a warning and then advances on Zoe, who screams to a petrified Fewsham for help.
Episode 5:
Fewsham finally summons the whatnots to tackle the warrior. Granted it clobbers him, but it allows time for the heat to overcome it. Zoe tells him that everyone things he’s gone over to the Martian side, but he’s adamant that he only did it otherwise they’d have killed him.
And the heating is working as it disables the warrior in the solar energy room, which was alerted by the groans of the recovering Doctor.
Sir James Gregson, Radnors “boss”, has arrived, and thinks the whole affair quite ridiculous. Seems he’s the equivalent of the Government busy body come to take charge of everything.
The Ice Warrior has made it’s way to the weather control station. It seems that there’s a thing about controlling the weather that goes with Pat’s Doctor, what with the Gravitron from the Moonbase. But I digress, the Warrior has set the controls to dry and then blasted them. Why?
I like Radnors attack of questioning as soon as the Doctor and Co arrive back via T-mat. But after the explanation, it leaves the question of why Fewsham didn’t follow them down with the time switch, which is still registering out of action.
Slaar returns and turns down the heating, and Fewsham says the others escaped and beat him up to do so. You have to wonder what his motives really are. He says that on Earth he’d have been executed as a traitor.
On Earth, the Doctor is starting to piece together the pieces of the puzzle, saying they’re all part of the same plan. Despite Sir James saying they’re all unrelated.
There are lots of plans afoot now, Miss Kelly and Radnor preparing a satellite to carry a T-Mat signal to start using it again and the Doctor and Prof. Eldred taking a sample of the foam for analysis.
The latter seems to absorb oxygen and a blanket of it would turn Earth’s atmosphere into one uninhabitable for humanity, and like that of Mars. It’s a terraforming foam! Interestingly the Doctor manages to calm the swelling pod with some water.
It seems rain is the key, as the Doctor calls up Jamie and Zoe at T-mat control. That explains what the warrior was doing at the weather control station. With Radnor in a conference, the two go to weather control themselves.
Two Warriors have brought a communications unit from their ship, with a built in homing device, which Slaar instructs Fewsham to attach to the equipment.
Whoops, Jamie and Zoe have got themselves trapped in the weather station with an Ice Warrior.
Oooh, another Ice Warrior like Slaar! And he’s a shiny, sparkly helmet. And is giving away what could be important stuff. Not only that, but another question about Fewsham as he activates the video link.
Now we know, the Doctor tells Radnor to record the video as Fewsham tests the homing signal and drops information. He’s aroused Slaar’s suspiciouns, and the Martian orders his death. The Doctor realises that Fewsham did this to allow them to mislead the Ice Warriors. It’s a great scene, both in realisation and tragedy, topped off by Radnor telling the Doctor that the Ice Warrior was last seen at the weather control station, which is where the Doctor believes they are.
Dashing there, he finds a locked door and a large pod expanding behind him, trapping him.
Episode 6:
Despite being trapped with an Ice Warrior in the building, Jamie leads it off allowing Zoe the chance to get to the main door and let the Doctor in. Although I have to admit, Jamies Jazz-hands and “Nyeeer” weren’t exactly necessary when he jumped out literally two feet from it. It’d have to be blind to miss him! haha.
The three manage to meet up again and take cover in a Solar Energy store room, which the Doctor thinks is just what they need, and with Zoe, realises that they can rig something up, like Phipps did on the moon, to deal with the warrior.
A squad of guards have arrived to deal with the Warrior, but they haven’t learnt since last time, bullets don’t work! Although I do like the last ditched attempt by one guard as the warriors head flicks back where the bullet catches him. Quite a nice little touch.
It seems the Doctor’s gizmo has worked as he gets rid of the warrior.
Eldred and Miss Kelly have managed to get a duplicate homing signal sorted to go in the satellite to mislead the Ice Warrior invasion fleet, and they’re getting it to the launch pad with a “petrol car from a motor museum”. There’s a nice bit where Eldred asks the make and Miss Kelly simply replies; “I’ve no idea, but it’s got four wheels and it goes!”
More Ice Warrior action. They’re great! Oooh, there’s that creepy skin, and a closeup. And Slaar has pointed teeth, I’ve not noticed that before. What a fantastic touch.
Hmm, Zoe knows Slaar’s name, no one else has ever mentioned it. The Doctor decides to take his portable solar zapper whatsit to the moon, and be the test subject for the Earth control of T-mat.
Well, he’s dealt with the guard, now for the homing beacon. Y’know, he’s lucky there was just the one Warrior there. But he seems to be caught by Slaar and another warrior, who destroy the whatsit.
I do like the little conflab between the Doctor and Slaar; “I ordered you to be destroyed.” “Well, you weren’t very successful were you?” Infact, there are some great moments with Troughton in this scene. It’s wonderful and beautiful to watch.
And it’s worked! The Martian fleet has followed the satellite signal. But Jamie isn’t sure. He wants to go up after the Doctor and asks Zoe to send him.
Slaar does pissed off very well. His hissing voice is fantastic! The Doctor manages to deflect the Warriors shot from Jamie, who’s appeared, to Slaar, and together the Doctor and Jamie deal with the last Warrior. It seems they’ve done it. It’s a good little scene between the two.
And to top it all, it’s raining, and the fungus is dissipating. And we’re back to the T-mat/rocket argument between Radnor and Kelly and Prof. Eldred.
And a lovely end scene with the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe (And oddly the Astral map in Eldreds museum) with Jamie moaning about the amount of rain and then saying the Doctor has no more idea of where they’re going “than the man in the moon”.
A lovely little end to a great story. And for a six parter it didn’t drag. The Ice Warriors were wonderfully realised, and Alan Bennion’s Slaar was one of the best alien villains I’ve seen in, well, in I don’t know when. A fantastic story, and the Ice Warriors in here really spooked me when I was a nipper, and has always been a high ranking story for me. I find I can’t help but wonder what Slaar and the Grand Marshal look like under their helmets, and what the Ice Warriors themselves look like under their shells/armour, if it is that.
I’m not too sure whether this or The Invasion are the best stories in this season, and I know I’ve something epic coming up. It’s still a fantastic story and works wonderfully, is well paced, well acted and very atmospheric. Just great stuff.

Next Time: The Space Pirates

[Slagathor]

Great recaps. Can't wait for Space Pirates.

[Fitz Kreiner]

The Space Pirates:

Episode 1:
So here we are; Pat’s penultimate story; and we’re starting off in audio only. And as most of my audios seem to be lacking narration, as is this, it could be interesting...
Well, there are lots of interesting sound effects, but so far, what’s happening, I’ve no idea. Really need to get the soundtracks with narration!
Well, something has been happening, criminals have been operating in the space lanes, targeting ships carrying Argonite. Certainly an interesting start, as these criminals seem to have been attacking navigational beacons made of Argonite.
Well, there’s a lot of talk about ships and cargos, but without visuals, it’s not exactly gripping me at the moment. Plus it doesn’t help with there being no linking narration as to what is going on.
Right, so the beacons that are being attacked by the pirates are now being manned, in order to stop the plundering. I’ve established that much!
And finally, the TARDIS crew arrive. Seems like they’ve taken forever to arrive. Well, we’ve heard the TARDIS land, no sight of them yet. Oh, there they are! Not quite where the Doctor expected them to be!
And they walk straight into trouble, running into the pirates, who start shooting at them, and then pursue them with the order shoot to kill!
Well, the pursuers seem to have stopped pursuing, but it seems as though they’ve other plans for the beacon. And now we know why they’ve stopped chasing the Doctor and co, they’ve welded the lock of the room they’re in, keeping them prisoners. And they’ve also blown the beacon, causing it to split into sections.
Episode 2:
Right, we’re onto video, and the Model shots look rather impressive, I have to say. Rather sleek and streamlined.
Now we seem to be introduced to some kind of space beetnick, bit of the stereotypical old cowboy style character. Certainly a rather interesting character.
And he’s been spotted by the General. Milo Clancy the beetnicks name is. He’s certainly a comic relief character, or at least that’s how it seems.
Well, there’s an awful lot of talking and not a great deal of action so far. Clancy is having a good old banter with the General about the pirates, but it doesn’t seem to be getting too far.
The Doctor has discovered that the beacon has been broken into about 8 segments, that are being held together with rockets, pushing them all in the same direction.
Well, the General seems to think that Clancy is the man responsible for the pirates, and is the mastermind behind the gang, so has him followed in a small ship called a Minnow. The model shots are quite impressive.
I do like the Doctors response to Jamies question with “Well I’ve got a screwdriver!” The plan is to use magnetic to attract all the segments of the beacon together so that they can reach the TARDIS.
Well, we’re given a bit of background info on Clancy, saying that he has a history with Dom Issigri, the now deceased founder, of Issigri Mining Corporation; the company with which Clancy now is in competition with and the reason the General suspects him of being head of the Pirates.
There certainly seems to be some suspicion about Clancy, and Madaline Issigri’s motives as well leave something to be desired.
Clancy has cut his way into the segment of the beacon where the Doctor and co are trapped and now shot down Jamie. Quite an interesting cliff hanger.
Episode 3:
There’s a lot of talk of “home planet”. Not Earth, so it leaves the question as to whether these are Earth humans or not.
Jamie has just been stunned by Clancy, who wonders whether the Doctor and Co were pirates or not.
Well, the major in the minnow is now shooting at Clancy. They certainly seem to be under the impression that he’s a bad guy, but I’m fast getting annoyed with him. He seems even more corny than Peter Perves’ Morton Dill from The Chase!
Jamie now seems rather suspicious of Clancy as well. Not only that, but Zoe seems to have deduced the location of the Pirates base, using applied mathematics. Strange that the General didn’t account for that either. But it seems that the base is near where Clancy has landed, now making the Doctor and co think he’s in league with the Pirates.
It seems that the Doctor and co have gone out of the frying pan and into the fire, trying to follow Clancy, against his protestations they will get lost, and found a group of pirates, who heard them towards a large hole, forcing them over the precipice one by one.
Episode 4:
In the pit, the Doctor and Co discover the chap from the beacon, who was shooting at them, one of the Pirates it seems. But why he’s down in the cell with them, it remains to be seen.
Well it seems that the seven remaining segments of the beacon are heading towards Lobos, Mile Clancy’s home planet, and where the Pirates seem to have their base. And the General seems to be hot on their tail.
Clancy seems to have managed to find the Doctor and co in the cell, almost conveniently, saying he’s rescuing them. There certainly seems to be a mystery about him. But he doesn’t seem to be in time, as Pirates discover their escape. But it’s all rather confusing, I think Clancy and the Doctor and co have escaped, but the other chap in the cell/pit didn’t make it.
We’ve got another cliff hanger, but quite what it is I’m not too sure. I think the leader of the Pirates, but who he is, I’m not sure.
Episode 5:
Hmm, well Madeline is involved with the pirates and Caven, their leader who was something to do with Dom Issigri it seems.
And it seems that Caven has been keeping Dom Issigri a prisoner, and the poor man seems terrified out of his wits it seems. Seems adamant that they will never get out of their cell.
Madeline Issigri seems to now be horrified at what she’s gotten herself involved in with Caven. And trying to inform the General, she’s discovered by Caven, who tells her that he’ll have her father flogged! How 18th century! Madeline collapses in tears when Caven reveals that her father is actually alive and been his prisoner all these years.
The Doctor and co have managed to escape, taking Clancy and Dom with them. Making their way back to the LIZ, Caven launches it by remote, the Doctor being caught in the blast.
Episode 6:
Well, he wasn’t burnt up, as Jamie and Zoe find him. It’s not clear without visual or narration wether they made it onto the ship or not. Well, thats clearer, thanks to the Doctor. Clancy and Dom were aboard and are unable to do anything with the ship under remote control.
Clancy has managed to get through to the General and with Dom Issigri’s help, convince him that Caven is leader of the pirates, giving them details of how to attack and defeat them.
The Doctor and Co have holed up with Madeline, sealing themselves away from Caven, who is adamant at getting to and killing the four of them.
The General has launched his attack on the Pirates and their base.
Well, this seems to move on rather disjointedly, as the General launches his attack and then the pirates are all of a sudden vanquished and the Doctor and Co are off on the LIZ again to get back to the TARDIS with an awful joke and seemingly forced laughter.
Well, I have to say that that was quite a drag of a story. The model shots were wonderful, but you have to wonder whether the TARDIS crew were even needed in the story as they didn’t really do anything overly active, and spent the majority of the story under lock and key or trapped in a segment of the beacon, and didn’t even arrive till gone halfway through the first episode.
The story was rather dull, I have to say, and failed to engage me, although the characterisation was rather good, as is typical with Robert Holmes stories. I have to say that it was one of the least engaging stories that I’ve watched/listened to so far, in all fairness and in my opinion.

Next time – The War Games.

[Fitz Kreiner]

The War Games, part one:

Episode 1:
And we’re back onto the beloved olde time video for this epic story, which I’m splitting into two easily manageable parts, as I did with Daleks Masterplan.
Wow, I love the opening shot, the story title and writers overlaid stock footage of WWI gunfire. And then we have the TARDIS materialise in what looks like no mans land, middle of a battlezone. The Location is superb, barbed wire, mud, craters, even a helmet. Even a real WWI ambulance!
I’m only a couple of minutes in, and it’s cracking already.
“Hande Hock” instantly reminds me of Dad’s Army, as The Doctor and co are discovered by Lady Jennifer Buckingham and then a German patrol. But it’s not long before they’re rescued by a British patrol, lead by a Lieutenant Carstairs.
I’m loving the WWI setting. It’s really capturing the setting well, almost constant gunfire and shells and explosions. Not only that, but stresses seem to be showing amongst the soldiers and fatigue.
The soldiers certainly seems rather surprised at the presence of the “civilians”; the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe, and you can’t say that you blame them.
There’s a lovely little line where the Major asks Carstairs how long he’s been out at the front, and neither of them seem to remember, saying it feels like forever.
General Smythe looks rather like a chap I saw in the pub yesterday. Proper old style English Gent, with the facial hair to match. But Smythe is certainly an interesting chap, rather suspicious, as he pulls back a painting of the King to reveal a high-tech video communications unit, calling for reinforcements and using the word “Specimens”. Something isn’t right here.
The Doctor and co are taken to the chateau, to be questioned by General Smythe, but strangely, when Captain Ransom goes to the Generals room, there’s no sight of the man! Really strange goings on, and the bemusement of Ransom and the music are superbly portrayed.
Carstairs and Jennifer are having a good chat about memory and why they’re at the front. Carstairs wonders if he has “a touch of the old shell shock”.
Zoe and the Doctor agree that they looked suspicious, three civilians in the middle of a war.
The mystery surrounding Smythe deepens as he emerges from his room, and seemingly hypnotises Ransom into saying that he was asleep and didn’t wish to disturb him. Even more so when Barrington and Ransom can’t remember where they know each other from and Smythe does the glasses hypnosis again.
The Doctor and co are now being court martialled by Smythe, making out that they’re spies and twisting everything. It seems as though Smythe has everyone in the court martial under his spell, not allowing them to speak and seemingly having made up his mind before meeting the Doctor and co. The Doctor notices that there’s something wrong.
Ransom and Barrington suggest that they’re innocent, until Smythe pulls the glasses trick again, and they both turn round agreeing that the travellers are guilty. Understandably, they’re rather outraged at the verdict.
There’s a lovely touching moment as the Doctor is lead away to be locked up pending his execution and he say’s a lovely farewell to Zoe, giving her a kiss on the forehead. It really is a lovely little moment.
The Doctor asks the Sergeant-Major if he’s been at the front long, definitely sensing that something is amiss here.
Zoe has managed to give Jenifer the slip when the woman falls asleep and searches the Generals room for the keys. Again, there’s no sight of the man, but she discovers the telecommunication unit. She manages to get to the Doctor, but as the two are about to leave, they run into Ransom and some guards, who take the Doctor to be shot. It’s actually getting rather tense as he’s tied to a pole and the firing squad are lined up.
What a wonderful cliff hanger too, as a shot rings out and the Doctor grimaces. And it’s surprising how quick that episode seemed. Wonderful setting, with some wonderful mysteries thrown in.
Episode 2:
The shot was from someone in the farmhouse, shooting at the firing squad. Interestingly, he doesn’t look like he’s wearing a WWI uniform. But it allows Zoe to rescue the Doctor and the two make off.
More interesting stuff with Smythe, talking on the communicator and then a rather familiar sound and a large box appears in the corner of the room. Ransom bursts in with news of the escape, and Smythe pulls the glasses trick again when the man is confused by the box, telling him there is nothing there and he has been called to an important meeting. The sound of this box disappearing isn’t too dissimilar to the sound of the TARDIS. Most interesting.
The plot thickens as Jamie is given a cell mate; a redcoat! Who thinks it’s 1745! Something is very wrong here.
The Doctor manages to convince a driver that he was meant to pick him and Zoe up, saying that they’re to be taken to the military prison.
The head of the prison is wonderful “Civillians? Tell ‘em to wait, I’m having my tea!”. Brilliant! And the Pat is on top form here, bursting in pretending to be an examiner from the War Office. He’s really playing it well, it’s wonderful.
Jamie and his cellmate have managed to pull off an escape.
Jenifer starts to think that there was something amiss with the court martial, and tells Carstairs this, and that she is starting to remember some things. They both seem to mention a mist, which strangely the red coat mentioned as well. The mystery deepens.
Well, Jamies escape attempt didn’t work as his companion is shot and he is brought before the commandant and the Doctor. It’s interesting to see Jamie try to play along with the Doctor, who shouts down everything he tries to say at first. And the Commandant seems unconvinced and calls up the chatau, before Zoe hits him over the head with a plant pot. About to escape again, they run into Ransom, not having much luck here.
Jennifer and Carstairs have decided that there was something amiss with the court martial, realising that the trial wasn’t fair and Ransom doesn’t remember what happened.
Carstairs goes to talk to the Doctor and Co, and they persuade him to take them to the generals office to show him the video communicator, to convince him that they’re not lying. It seems that they’re starting to get an ally there, and Jenifer has the potential as well.
And they’re now showing Carstairs and Jennifer the screen, but they can only see wall. The Doctor urges them to concentrate, and it slowly fades into their vision. The incidental music is rather superb. Jenifer asks what’s on the other end and we’re given a glimpse; Smythe and a chap wearing a rather sinister visor.
Again, they run into Ransom, but now with Carstairs on their side, they seem to be able to step around him and the five escape in the ambulance. Smythe returns, telling Ransom that they’re all traitors and spies, planning to use artillery to destroy the Ambulance.
More mystery as the ambulance carries on away from the barrage and fades out of being. Jenifer and Carstairs mention gas and mist as the ambulance is now in a rather misty realm and they say they can’t go on. They reappear in a hilly environment with no sight of the war. And instead of WWI troops, we’ve now got Romans! Fantastic stuff, and really adds to the mystery of what’s going on. WWI to Romans? Is someone messing about with time?
Episode 3:
I love the slack jawed shock of the Romans as they chase the Ambulance and it disappears again.
The Doctor seems to think that they’ve passed through time. He thinks it’s something to do with the mist, and a barrier between time zones. Carstairs takes the Doctor and Jamie back to Smythes HQ, where they tie up Ransom and try to break into a safe to find a map that covers all the time zones. I do like Carstairs and Jamies horrified reactions to the Doctors fiddling about with a Mills Bomb before he grins up at them holding a small part of the grenade saying “I do have the detonator you know!”
The Doctors plan worked, but it’s drawn the attention of an officer who found Jenifer and Zoe in the ambulance. Still, the Doctor has the map; 1917, Roman, American civil war zone, it’s all rather interesting. And the Doctor thinks they have to get to the blank space in the middle.
Now the travellers have been captured by the Germans, and the Doctor is being questioned by a Germen Lieutenant. Again they think they’re spies. He asks the Doctor to tell the truth, and he does, surprisingly.
Oh, Wayne will like this, a good shot of Zoe’s legs.
The Doctor tells his companions to tell the German Lieutenant the truth, and there’s a great moment of disbelief on his face when he asks if the ambulance was bound for a lunatic asylum. And we get to see the Sonic Screwdriver again, as the Doctor removes and then returns a screw in the butt of the Lieutenants revolver much to his disbelief. Although he starts to believe them now it seems.
But now an officer has arrived, and he seems rather suspicious, like Smythe, and uses a monocle as Smythe did his glasses to hypnotise the Lieutenant. He also has a video comms unit behind a painting of the Kaiser and talks to the mysterious control.
The Doctor manages to re-persuade the Lieutenant with the sonic screwdriver, before stealing the gun and throwing it to Jamie, getting the Lieutenant to show them back to the ambulance.
And we finally get a shot of “control”, or what I assume to be control. It looks a highly advanced alien HQ, with a rather sinister looking chap with facial hair, the War Chief. Quite impressive facial hair as well. Smythe tells this newcomer about the strangers and that they said they were time travellers. He wants them captured alive. We also get a snippet of his thoughts; “Time travellers? I wonder...” What he wonders, we don’t know. But we’ve only just met him and Edward Brayshaw already seems to have dominated that scene.
The Doctor and co are now in the middle of the American Civil War! There’s some rather good fight scenes as civil war troops attack the ambulance by blocking the road with a tree. And there’s a wonderful scene where Jamie protects the Doctor and Zoe by fighting with a soldier and then going back to help with the tree only for the Doctor to turn around and say “Where have you been? We’ve done it without you!” Lovely moment.
Carstairs holds off the troops allowing the ambulance with Jennifer, the Doctor and co to escape. I hope we’ve not seen the last of him, he’s a really good character.
Another control scene with Smythe and the Von Weich discuss what they can do in a battle between British and German front line forces. The War Chief again; tells us Carstairs was captured helping the others escape and he’s being brought back for re-processing. Doesn’t sound pleasent.
Jamie has found a barn for them to take shelter in from the night. And there’s that TARDIS like sound and another green box materialises. Not only that but scores of (what I think are) confederate soldiers emerge. Zoe comments it must be larger on the inside like the TARDIS and it must be a space time machine. The Doctor goes in to explore, followed by Zoe when gun shots ring out and the box disappears with the two inside. Another good cliff hanger.
Episode 4:
And Jamie and Jenifer are now in trouble as they’re surrounded by soldiers bursting into the barn.
The Doctor seems worried, especially when Zoe asks him who would have space/time machines like the TARDIS. “There is an answer to that but I hope... I hope...” If it’s something that can worry the Doctor, then it’s bad news.
And this space/time machine is full of soldiers, German WWI infantry, Roman troops. It’s certainly some interesting and mysterious stuff.
The Doctor deduces that the machine will eventually go back to its base, which is where they want to go to.
Well, Jamie and Jenifer have been caught by troops from the North, in the American Civil War. And again, accused of spying! They really don’t seem to have much luck. But this could be their chance as the barn comes under attack by Confederate troops. The Yanks pull out leaving them behind and confederates pull in. The American accents here are a lot better than Space Pirates.
The Confederate sergeant talks to his captain who sounds familiar; It’s Von Weich! What’s he doing there?
The time machine has brought the Doctor and Zoe back to what looks like a landing bay, with a technician working at controls. Seems like all the technicians are wearing the strange visors. A rather “apt” disguise for the Doctor and Zoe.
Jenifer and Jamie are rescued by a stranger, who seems to be aware of what’s going on here. Not a Union or confederate man it seems, although he’s in the uniform of the Union. He seems immune to Von Weichs hypnosis, the latter revealing the stranger must be in the resistance. The same resistance that the War Chief talked about.
The Doctor and Zoe have arrived in a lecture where a scientist is giving us some backstory. This isn’t earth and they’re brainwashing humans to think they’re still fighting wars on Earth in the times they’re taken from. And the resistance have overcome the processing and are aware of their surroundings and that things aren’t what they appear.
He’s giving us an example of the processing machine by reprocessing Carstairs, who points out the Doctor and Zoe as spies.
Jamie and Jenifer have been recaptured and brought back to the barn where Jamie recognises Von Weich and the resistance storms the barn, capturing him and freeing the prisoners. Interesting to see the resistance arm men made up of many different uniforms from many different time periods.
The War Chief arrives at the lecture, after the Doctor has helped the scientist with the processing machine. Interestingly the War Chief seems to recognise the Doctor and vice versa. Or at least, that’s how it looks. Escaping, the Doctor and Zoe are separated, and Carstairs catches Zoe, drawing his revolver, saying she’s a spy and it’s his duty to shoot her. Another cracking cliff hanger as the hammer draws back on the revolver as his finger tightens on the trigger.
Episode 5:
Phew, the scientist arrives in time to stop Carstairs shooting Zoe. But the Lieutenant still seems adamant and fires. Fortunately for Zoe the gun is empty and she’s taken away.
The resistance don’t believe Jamie and Jenifer about the machine, thinking that there’s a tunnel there instead. This causes a bit of a scrap between two of the resistance members, one who wants to shoot the prisoners and the chap who rescued Jamie and Jenifer in the first place, Harper.
Russell arrives and stops the fight, but not before Von Weich attempts an escape, opening the video communication screen, but is stopped by Jamie, which helps back up his story a bit.
Zoe is thrown into a room and we’re introduced to the Security Chie, a rather sadistic looking man, who puts a device on his head and begins to interrogate her. This device seems to be some sort of mind probe, making Zoe tell the truth when she is questioned.
The Doctor has made his way back to the lecture room and manages to persuade the scientist that he isn’t a wanted man and integrates himself with the man, who is still tending Carstairs. De-processed, Carstairs recognises the Doctor causing the scientist to turn on him, but together the two overpower him and put him in his own machine.
Von Weich certainly seems to be a slippery fish, activating a distress call at the barn and seeming rather pleased about it.
Well, there certainly seems to be some tension between the War Chief and Security Chief, the latter of whom seems to be lying to the War Chief about Zoe, certainly seems to be keeping something from him. The two leave for control when they’re given news of the distress call, allowing the Doctor and Carstairs to reach Zoe. There’s another wonderful Troughton moment when he confronts the guard; “Don’t you point that thing at me! You ought to be ashamed of yourself, treating a poor young girl like that!” A wonderful sense of bluster and outrage.
The Doctor has the plan of organising the resistance together into a large army. Which is exactly what the War Chief was worried about earlier.
The Security chief sends a time machine with guards to the American Civil War zone to investigate the “emergency”. This could spell bad news.
Russell still doesn’t believe that the space/time machines exist, posting sentries round the barn, but the box arrives, with guards, who shoot down Harper before being over powered by the resistance.
The Security Chief is rather suspicious of the War Chief and how he was able to recognise the Doctor and Zoe, turning round his attack as to that the Security Chief wouldn’t have known they were there if it weren’t for him. He’s also an outsider to these aliens, who obviously aren’t humans. He says he’s brought the knowledge that made this venture possible. And there’s talk of the “War Lord”! Sounds rather an ominous title. Again, can’t be a good thing.
Jamie is determined to get back to the Aliens base, using the machine. Russell agrees to go with him, backing up Jamies refusal for Jenifer to go with them, she can tend his wounded men. Better than Jamies response that it was because she was a woman! It’s rather sad to see her left behind.
The Security Chief finds the scientist and removes him from the machine, rather peeved at him it seems. You can’t really blame him, but he denies the scientist from reporting the fact to the War Chief. They seem to talk saying that these are no ordinary resistance and that they have the secret of space time travel. Zoe was under the “truth machine” at the time. The Scientist thinks it’s impossible as the War Chief is the only one who understands space/time travel. “And his own people”, the Security chief says, he’s a traitor to them. Now we’re getting some dirt! The Security Chief isn’t sure whether the War Chief is a traitor to them as well.
Speak of the Devil, he’s preparing a reception committee for the space/time machine that is arriving from the American Civil War zone. The Doctor, Zoe and Carstairs are watching the landing bay as troops line it and Jamie and the resistance emerge only to be shot down! Yet another cracking cliff hanger! And Jamie seems to be getting shot at a lot it seems!

[Fitz Kreiner]

The War Games, part two:

Episode 6:
And we’re back! And Jamie, Russell and two other resistance members have been shot down by the rather kinky leather clad guards. The Doctor, Zoe and Carstairs escape.
The Security Chief is still talking to the scientist, saying that Zoe said the Doctor has a space/time machine and advanced knowledge. There’s more talk of the War Chief and his people, named the Time Lords! Sounds interesting and rather ominous. And the scientist is going to study the resistance who were captured, stunned not killed, and if anything out of the ordinary is found, he’s to report to the security chief.
The Doctor is using the trusty sonic screwdriver to manage to disrupt the power holding the wall panels together to allow them to get into the room where Jamie and the others are being kept. They watch the scientist discover that Jamie has never been processed.
And the War Chief again, andhe’s rather suspicious. There’s clearly no love lost between the security and war chiefs. He manages to get the scientist to tell him that Jamie doesn’t seem to have been processed before. Brayshaw really is a remarkable presence. Oozing a wonderful villainy.
There’s another wonderful moment as the DOcotr appears beside the scientist and gives him some advice about themachine.
Von Weich is still trying to get up to his old tricks and escape Moore, who’s guarding him. The young soldier seems rather anxious.
The Security Chief is questioning Jamie about the Doctor and trying to see if the Doctor was summoned by “one of us”. Methinks he thinks the War Chief brought the Doctor and co here. The War Chief interrupts the interrogation, and it’s clear there’s no love lost at all. The Security Chief effectively tells him he thinks he’s a traitor to them.
And Von Weich is at it again, trying the old hypnosis trick on the young soldier. And it seems to be working on the poor young soldier.
The Doctors escape has made the SC think that they used a space/time machine, but the War Chief finds the hole in the wall (Bring on the wall!), disproving the Sc’s suspicious theories.
The Doctor and Co have made it to the landing bay, and there’s a great effect with a force field. The Doctor sends Russell, Zoe and the others back to the American civil war zone, with himself, Jamie and Carstairs staying to steal the processing machine. But the guards after them are really ineffective, not noticing them hiding behind the equipment.
Russell arrives back at the barn and there’s a rather tense moment between him and Moore, now under Von Weich’s control and the two end up fighting before Von Weich pulls a gun on Russell, and pulls back the hammer. Another deceptive shot as Moore regains his composure and shoots Von Weich.
The War Lord is coming to the planet, the War Chief reveals. He seems to be rather smugly disproving all the Security Chiefs theories and ideas, saying logic isn’t his strong point.
The Doctor, Jamie and Carstairs gain access to a time machine using gas filled phials, but their escape is hampered by the remote controls in the landing bay.
The War Chief has a rather cunning plan to get the Doctor and co out by activating the dimensional control. It’s a great effect as the insides of the machine start to shrink to fit the outside. I can imagine this is what it would have been like in the TARDIS when the Doctor removed the time vector generator in Wheel in Space. A great cliff hanger again with the Doctor only having seconds to surrender.
Episode 7:
The Doctor relents and crawls out of the machine using a handkerchief as a white flag But with a clever use of a gas phial, he reactivates the dimensional control and steals the master circuits.
The War Chief thinks that the Doctor will be heading for the 1917 zone, but the Doctor predicts this, saying that the 1917 zone is where they will be expected.
Hmm, this machines are called SIDRAT’s, that’s TARDIS backwards, things are getting ever more interesting. And the War Lord has arrived on the planet. Can’t wait to meet him, he sounds rather formidable.
Well, he looks not quite what you expect, but he sounds just great. Probably Phillip Madocs best Doctor Who role, so much better than his role in the Krotons. His anger and sinister nature are wonderfully portrayed. And he uses his voice well in the role.
The Doctor, Jamie and Carstairs are making their way to the 1917 zone and being chased by Romans again!
The Security Chief says that he has come to some conclusions about the War Chief and the Doctor, the two really do bicker like children. And the War Lord is fed up with it already. Would not like to be on the wrong side of him!
The Doctor and co have arrived, but been spotted by British troops. We’re back to the First World War and General Smythe! And he’s up to his old tricks, after using a machine gun implacement on the Doctor, Carstairs and Jamie. The three are captured again, just before Zoe and the resistance can get to them.
Smythe communicates to control, telling them that the Doctor has been shot whilst trying to escape, just after revenge himself than anything else. He wants to have the Doctor shot. He seems rather miffed that the Doctor is the only one who knows where the machine is now he’s found out the War Lord is about. Just as we hear the firing squad a lot of fighting breaks out as the resistance swarm the Chateau.
Well, Smythe is dead. Shot by Russell whilst trying to deactivate area control, as ordered by the War Chief. The War Lord seems rather less that pleased. He dismisses both the War and Security chiefs ideas, ordering the conventional British and German troops to attack the Chateau in a pincer movement.
The Doctor is working at the time barrier controls to try to whip up some protection for the chateau. And it works, he’s erected a time zone barrier around the chateau so the processed troops can’t attack.
The War Lord is less than impressed with either Security or War chief, telling them they’ve both failed him and taking personal charge of everything.
It seems he’s sent a machine to the Chateau and the guards storm in with the Security chief and they capture the Doctor and the machine back, just after the Doctor had successfully deprocessed a French soldier. Kinda leaves the resistance a bit leaderless without the Doctor now. Possibly the plan was to sever the head and hope the snake would die.
Episode 8:
The Doctor has been brought back to the control and is lead away by the guards.
Jamie is determined to have the Doctor brought back, but it’s overlooked as possibly bringing more guards on them. Instead a machine gun post is set up in Smythes room, in case another machine is sent.
The Doctor is being questioned by the Security Chief who tries to get him to admit the War Chief sent for him as they are the same race and will betray them to the Time Lords. So now we know. The Doctor is a Time Lord! Sounds rather impressive.
And they try again with the guards, and the machine gun seems to work, that is until they fire out and then Carstairs lobs a grenade though the door. That’ll singe their whiskers!
The Doctor seems to be abe to resist the truth machine. And the War Chief admits that he know the Doctor and they are of the same race! Maybe we’re going to find something out about the Doctor now?! Some big revelation maybe? I mean, other than the name of the Doctors race.
The Doctor and the War Chief clearly know each other, but from when and where, we don’t know. The latter knows the Doctor, and before he changed as well! The Doctor stole the TARDIS and he and the War Chief both decided to leave the Time Lords. But why, we don’t know!
And now we know the reason of the aliens plan. They want to conquer the galaxy, using an army of humans. The War Chief says that he’s doing it to bring peace to the galaxy and is not the cold hearted villain the Doctor takes him for.
Some Mexican bandits have made their way into the Chateau. Are they friend or foe though? They’re looking for Russell. And the big poncho is called Arturo Villar, the leader of the largest resistance group. And he’s rather chauvanisting, telling Zoe; “For such a small woman your mouth is too big!”
Zoe manages to convince Villar that Jamie is another leader of the resistance, and the man seems rather delighted at this! And it’s quite a nice scene between Villar, Jamie and Zoe as the two time travellers convince the bandit that he should team up with them.
The Doctor is still disgusted at the War Chiefs plan of bringing an order to the galaxy. And enter the War Lord. He’s rather suspicious of the Doctor, and the War Chief now it seems, and tells them that if the plans fail, they will both die. And it seems that the Doctor is on the run from the Time Lords, due to the conversation that the three men have. It really makes the Time Lords sound rather formidable, and you wonder what sort of race they are if the Doctor is on the run from them.
The resistance are now planning their attack strategy. Gathering their troops at the barn in the American Civil War zone to launch their attack. And they’re keeping the aliens busy by smashing the comms units in the war zones. Sounds a good plan!
The security chief is getting rather infuriated rather quickly, sending increasing numbers of guards to each war zone with a technician.
There’s a great tension building up here, we know that this is something big and it seems like theres no end. It’s giving a very similar feel that Daleks Masterplan gave. We’re in something epic and tense.
The Security Chief now seems to be fighting for his reputation as the War Chief points out that he has weakened the base for a mass attack. The War Lord uses this as a chance for the Doctor to prove his loyalty and save his life. Now we’re going to wonder about the Doctor as he goes on the comm. screen and tells them he’s sending a machine to them. Is he really going to lead them into a trap?
Jamie, Zoe, Carstairs, Russell, Villar and some other resistance troops are now on their way to the headquarters, and it seems the Doctor has brought them into a trap, standing with the War Chief and Security chief as guards surround the resistance. It’s not too clear from the look on the doctors face what he’s planning, but what a cliff hanger, he’s lead his friends into a trap!
Episode 9:
The resistance ahve been taken off to the cells as the Doctor and the War Chief head off to join the War Lord. The Doctor is pressing the War Chief for details about the SIDRAT machines, it seems that by getting them remote controlled has shortened the life span of the machines! And the War Chief is after the TARDIS, planning to hold the only space travel machine after his machines die, so he can seize control.
Jamie and Zoe are adamant that the Doctor hasn’t betrayed them, and that he has an ulterior motive. Even Carstairs does. I’m rather starting to like this chap. He shows some considerable companion material.
The Doctor convices the War Lord that he will adapt the processing machines to re-condition the resistance. You can still tell that the War Lord doesn’t trust him. Phillip Madoc is playing the role with such relish it’s wonderful and joyous to see every scene he’s in. And he works well with Edward Brayshaws War Chief.
The Security Chief takes the Doctor to reprocess his friends and leaves him with no guards, possibly in the sadistic hope that the resistance will kill him, as Villar seems to want to.
The tension is almost boiling over between the War and Security chief, neither trusting the other, and it seems that the latter has made some recordings of something.
The Doctor is attpemting to explain that he acted to save the resistance, and despite the general anger towards him, Jamie, Zoe and even Carstairs are backing him, although the latter to a lesser extent, but still, he’s holding Villar back from throttling the Time Lord! (The Doctor is a Time Lord! ) The Doctor is fighting a losing battle to convince the resistance he’s on their side.
Now we know, the SC has recorded all conversations between the War Chief and the Doctor, and has found out that the War Chief plans to seize power from the War Lord and take over.
The Doctor has “re-processed” Jamie, telling the War Chief that Jamie will think he’s fighting the redcoats. Jamie seems to be processed, agreeing with what the Doctor says. But it’s a ruse, the conditioning isn’t doing anything.
The War Chief has been found out and the Security Chief places him under arrest. Sounds like things really are going tits up here!
And as usual, the bluff and blunder approach of Villar makes him not realise that the Doctor, Jamie and the others are pretending. The Doctor manages to finally convince the resistance, just as the War Chief is brought in. Now the Doctor and resistance are using him. He’s offering to help and stop the fighting, under the Doctors persuasion. Maybe things aren’t so messed up after all. Could this be the turning point?
The resistance storm the control room and the War Chief kills the Security Chief, a personal vendetta, he says. But it seems as though the Doctor is finally winning through. Well, almost, he seems unsure about how to send people back to their own times now that the War Chief reveals that the machines are almost dead. He has an idea, and the War Chief is horrified at it. Talk of “calling them in” and it shouldn’t be done as they’ll “show no mercy”. Who is this they?
The Doctor reveals it; the Time Lords, he’s having to call his own people in, but he seems as terrified as the War Chief. Now things really are starting to get rather tense and exciting. I love the little scene where the Doctor lays out six cards and they move to form a cube.
The War Chief has managed to slip away and is trying to escape before the Time Lords arrive. He is stopped from escaping by the War Lord, who seems rather sullen and moody. It’s probably Madocs most chilling scene in the whole story so far. His calm demeanour is more scary than if he was blustering with anger, only raising his voice when he orders the War Chiefs death.
In storm the resistance and swiftly over power the War Lords remaining guards before being capturing the War Lord. There’s a real sense of urgency and fear from the Doctor, saying that this is where he says goodbye to Jamie and Zoe, the Time Lords will return them home.
Eventually, he relents and lets Jamie and Zoe return with him, Carstairs asking to come as well in the hope to find Jenifer. I really can’t get across how this episode is making me feel, it’s just fantastic. We’ve got an all powerful force bearing down after the Doctor, and he’s on the run from it. Something that gets the Doctor scared and on the run, is worth being terrified of! Really edge of the seat, nail biting stuff.
Villar is not wanting the Doctor to go, thinking that he should stay if the Time Lords are his own people. Pat is really giving a great performance now, wonderful. A great sense of foreboding is starting to draw over the episode as some rather spooky music heralds their arrival and the simple chilling words from the War Lord; “They’re coming.”
The TARDIS crew are saying goodbye to Carstairs, and it’s rather moving, he was such a great character, and I don’t think I’ve cared so much about a supporting character for a long time.
Things are getting tense as the Doctor and co are struggling to escape the Time Lords, their actions being slowed down and a tense cliff hanger as the Doctor struggles with the TARDIS key.
Episode 10:
A force field seems to be pulling the TARDIS crew down, almost stopping their escape. It’s managed to penetrate the TARDIS as the Doctor manages to break through the field and the TARDIS dematerialises. It seems the Doctor has managed to escape.
He admits that he ran away from them because he was bored, the Time Lords can control their own environment and “live forever, barring accidents”. He wanted to explore and they object to his getting involved with events.
The TARDIS is starting to act rather oddly, the Doctor saying it’s impossible for them to be landing so soon. The Doctor suddenly realises that the Time Lords are breaking down the defence mechanisms.
Oh, a Time Lord voice, projecting into the TARDIS. The Doctor has broken their laws and has to face trial it seems. But he doesn’t seem too keen to do so.
The TARDIS has landed on the Doctors home planet! After six years we get to find some stuff out about him. His reaction is clearly one of horror and resignation, and we see a Time Lord, a rather regal looking person in long robes.
The Time Lords have got the War Lord and have him on trial, which the Doctor says is a very rare thing because they don’t interfere with the affairs of other planets. The War Lord is being rather silent in his role, playing for time, the Doctor says.
These Time Lords seem rather sinister, able to cause the War Lord pain in an attempt to get him to speak. The War Lord is trying to shift the blame it seems, saying if he is guilty then the Doctor is too.
Hmm, this can’t be good. A machine has arrived with guards, in an attempt to rescue the War Lord one can assume, especially as they storm the court. The Time Lords seem very calm about it, letting them go because they don’t want to “endanger innocent lives”.
The War Lord is coercing the Doctor to take him to the home planet, but the Doctor managed to get the TARDIS defences to allow them to escape, straight into the Time Lords, who have made judgement. And it’s damn sinister, placing a forcefield round the aliens planet and dematerialising them. “It will be as though you have never existed”. Coupled with Philip Madocs cries of No, and the incidental music, it’s a great and chilling scene.
The Doctor now seems to be on trial, admitting that he is proud of his actions and demanding a thought channel to plead his case. This is great, we’re getting some back shots into the Doctors past; Quarks, Yeti, Ice Warriors, Cybermen and the Daleks! (Has anyone else ever noticed that the Dalek has only one bulb on its dome, the other is missing!) The Doctor says he is guilty of interference as the Time Lords are guilty of not using their powers to help others.
A Time Lord tells Jamie and Zoe that they’re to be sent home, but they manage to convince him to say goodbye, and the Time Lord agrees to leave them alone for a little while.
The Doctor suspects the Time Lords are to give a long speech about “being a good boy”. There’s still that sense of hopelessness prevailant. You can’t help but get the feeling that things are going to change. Especially as their escape is forseen.
It’s a wonderful and really sad scene as the Doctor has to say goodbye to his two friends. You can hardly believe that it’s happening! Jamie and Zoe are leaving. It doesn’t seem right. The Time Lord says that Jamie and Zoe’s memories will be wiped of all but their first adventure. And we see the Wheel again, and the lovely Tanya again, albeit briefly. It’s rather sad to see the companions we’re so familiar with back in their home settings with no memory of what has happened.
The Time Lords are giving the Doctor his sentence now; he’s being sent back to Earth, in exile! He’s being sent to Earth in the 20th century and having the secret of the TARDIS taken from him. Not only that, but they’re going to change his appearance! It’s actually rather a shocker! The Time Lords offer the Doctor some choices of his next face, but he refuses and the decision is going to be taken for him.
Now we’ve had one of those moments where your blood runs cold. Something is happening to the Doctor, his appearance is being changed and he’s now being sent to Earth. It’s brought goosebumps to my skin as the Doctor spins off crying out that they can’t do this to him and “no.”
The Doctor has gone. What a wonderful ending! Just pure wonder and rather shocking, Jamie, zoe and the Doctor, all gone. Well, the Doctor is changing again, but still, Troughton is going.
What a fantastic story, and even at ten episodes this story doesn’t seem to drag. Yes, there is some corridor running, but it works within the confines of the story. It maintains an exciting and mysterious atmosphere all the way through, from the very start, with the mystery of Smyth, to the mystery of the Time Lords.
And the Time Lords. Wonderfully realised and damn scary with it.
This story just doesn’t feel like it flags. It feels epic, and towards the end, it does seem that the Doctor and Co are fighting a losing battle and I think this is one of Pats best performances as the Doctor. And there were some fantastic supporting characters, most notably, Philip Madoc, Edward Brayshaw and David Savile (the War Lord, War Chief and Carstairs respectively) who just acted their socks off in the roles and really made you dislike/care about the characters. The War Lord is just fantastic, and Madoc just is so sinister in the role. Brayshaw really has the gravitas and looks that dominate a scene (until he’s up against Madoc), and Savile’s Carstairs was showing some great companion potential.
I’m really going to miss Pat as the Doctor now. This quest has really reminded me that he is such a great Doctor and had some stunning stories, which makes the fact that his era is the most incomplete really sad. I did like the relationship he and Frazer Hines had together, their double act of the Doctor and Jamie seemed to dominate, and lasted effectively all Pats time. It was wonderful and they showed a great friendship that the Doctor doesn’t seem to have had with a companion, mainly because before with Hartnell, he was always more the grandfather figure. Troughton was like the fun uncle you always had a great adventure with. I’m really going to miss him, but I’m also looking forward to seeing what the 70s has to bring to Doctor Who.

Next Time – Spearhead from Space.

[McOod]

Great review. I miss Pat Troughton. I loved his return in The Three Doctors. I think he was also special in that he could play well with other Doctors.

[Fitz Kreiner]

Thanks McOod. Troughton was a great Doctor, and I think I've rediscovered a love for him that I'd forgotten in watching the stories as I am.