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Doctor Who Classic Series Review The Macra Terror

25 Monday Mar 2019

Posted by Paul Bowler in All, Dr Who (Classic Series)

≈ 6 Comments

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2nd Doctor, Anneke Wills, Ben Jackson, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Season Four, Frazer Hines, Ian Stuart Black, Jamie McCrimmon, John Davies, Macra, Michael Craze, Patrick Troughton, Polly, Shawcraft, The Macra Terror, The Macra Terror animated, The Macra Terror Blu-Ray, The Macra Terror DVD, The Macra Terror Review

The Macra Terror

Review by Paul Bowler

The Macra Terror (5)

‘There is no such thing as Macra! Macra do not exist! There are no Macra!’ This is a statement which exists at the core of the 1967 Doctor Who story The Macra Terror in more ways than one – being a deception central to the narrative of The Macra Terror on one hand, while in reality it’s also one of the many missing or incomplete stories from the 2nd Doctor’s era. Now that a new animated version of The Macra Terror has been released on DVD and Blu-Ray there’s never been a better time to reflect on this lost Doctor Who story from the 1960’s.

Having seen the image of a giant claw on the TARDIS time scanner, the Doctor, Polly, Ben, and Jamie arrive on an unknown planet in the future where they visit a human colony. They encounter Medok a crazed colonist, who is quickly arrested by Ola, the Chief of Police. The colony seems to be a happy place and is run just like a giant holiday camp. However, the Doctor is uneasy, despite the assurances of the Colony Pilot and the message of greeting from the mysterious Colony Controller who appears on a screen to welcome them.

The colony has in fact been secretly taken over by grotesque crab-like creatures known as the Macra, who have brainwashed the citizens and forced them to mine a gas for them, one toxic to humans, but essential for the Macra’s survival. Ben also succumbs to Macra’s influence and turns against the Doctor and his friends. Fortunately he manages to recover in time and helps the Doctor destroy the gas pumping equipment to kill the Macra. The colonists want the Doctor to be their new Pilot. Appalled by such a prospect, the Doctor quickly guides his companions away, dancing past the celebrating colonists as they depart.

The Macra Terror (7)

The seventh story of Doctor Who’s fourth season, The Macra Terror (1967) is Patrick Troughton’s fifth story as the Doctor. While initially appearing to be just another straightforward adventure, with aliens taking control of a human colony, there is a wealth of underlying themes here. Written by Ian Stuart Black, The Macra Terror draws on a number of influences, particularly George Orwell’s classic Nineteen Eighty Four, while splicing its themes of subjugation to authority with the iconic imagery of many a 1950’s bug movie to great effect. While the more serious aspects of the story are undoubtedly overshadowed by the inclusion of the Macra creatures themselves, the good performances and dramatic scenes make this a very intriguing adventure.

Patrick Troughton is on fine form here as the Doctor. Indeed this second incarnation of the Time Lord, with his quiet manner and anti-authoritarian stance, seems perfectly at home here, rallying against the totalitarian regime the Macra have created. The Macra Terror is the absolute antithesis of everything Troughton’s Doctor stands for. The moment where the Doctor’s appearance is spruced up by a machine, and he promptly jumps into another machine to get all messes up again, while fun, illustrates how quickly the Doctor has grasped the situation, and is already rebelling against the regime that has been established to control the colony.

The Macra Terror (3)

This is another great story for the Doctor’s companions as well. Anneke Wills is right at the heart of the action as Polly, getting confronted by the Macra creatures on several occasions, she also has some great scenes with the Doctor, and I love the moment where he warns Polly about the brainwashing – advising her not to just be obedient and to always make up her own mind. Frazer Hines also get a lot more to do as Jamie in this story, he’s really becoming an integral part of the TARDIS crew now, and Jamie even finds time to do the Highland Fling at one point to evade his pursuers. However, it is Michael Craze as Ben Jackson that really impresses in this story. Of all the Doctor’s companions, Ben is perhaps the most down-to-earth, so when he succumbs to the Macra’s insidious influence, it makes it all the more shocking when he turns against his friends like he does, and Michael Craze’s performance is utterly convincing – especially when he is struggling to regain control again.

Created by Shawcraft, the company that built many of the most memorable monsters seen in Doctor Who during the 1960’s, the Macra are certainly one of the series most striking creations. These giant, crab-like creatures are actually quite effective. While they may not be the most well characterised monster ever seen in Doctor Who, the very concept of what the Macra are capable of doing is quite unsettling. They feature in some genuinely creepy scenes, especially in the early episodes, where director John Davies swathes them in shadows and mist to heighten the suspense. The moment were Ben and Polly are cornered by the Macra are particularly chilling, as they cower together in horror, the sheer terror that Annike Wills manages to convey in her performance is almost palpable and in turn this makes the imposing threat of the Macra entirely convincing.

The Macra Terror (2)

The supporting cast are also very good, with some great performances that really bring an added depth to the characters. Peter Jeffery’s is excellent as the colonies Pilot, while Graham Leman is great as the Controller. Terence Lodge also gives a good performance as Medok, who is singled out by the authorities because he claims to have seen the crab creatures, and he remains determined to fight the system that has brainwashed his fellow colonists. Unusually, the role of Chiki ended up being played by two different actresses, Sandra Bryant appeared in Episode One, and the role was subsequently recast with Karol Keys in Episode Four.

While sadly no episodes of The Macra Terror exist in the BBC Archives, we still have the audio soundtrack to enjoy. Originally released on audio cassette (1992) and then on CD (2000), with linking narration by Colin Baker, the soundtrack was later re-released again on CD in The Lost TV Episodes Collection (2012), this time featuring new narration by Anneke Wills. Telesnaps also exist to document these missing episodes (Reprinted in the brilliant Doctor Who Missing Episodes Special Edition: The Second Doctor Vol I) and the stories few surviving clips were released on The Lost in Time DVD set (2004).

The Macra Terror (4)

Although not the best story on audio, it’s still a good adventure to listen too, and together with the telesnaps and clips, it offers us some impression of the tone and atmosphere of the story. Ken Sharp’s sets look extremely good, the Macra seem very menacing, especially in the first two episodes, and the clips that exist offer further insight into what these episodes would have been like. Then we have the Target novelisation of The Macra Terror (1987), written by Ian Stuart Black, which is also a very good adaptation of the television story – as is BBC’s The Macra Terror audiobook (beautifully read by Anneke Wills) which also brings a whole new dimension to enjoying this classic Target novelisation.

The release of the new animated version of The Macra Terror on DVD and Blu-Ray, brought to us by Charles Norton and his skilled team of animators, has had just as much care and attention lavished upon it as previous animated released The Power of the Daleks and Shada. While this animated version of The Macra Terror is not an exact reconstruction of the original story (the omission of the Doctor‘s makeover in the “rough and tumble machine” might irk purists for example), it still offers us a fresh insight into what this story might have been like.

The hand drawn reconstructions look extremely impressive, the Doctor and his companions are convincingly rendered, everything has been carefully lip-synched with the original 1967 audio recording, the animation for the Macra is particularly effective, and furthermore the animation can be viewed in either colour or black and white. This release also boast a wealth of impressive extra features: including an extensive animation gallery, a behind the scenes film, surviving footage, an audio commentary, episode reconstructions, and much, much more besides to make this animated DVD / Blu-Ray release about as extensive a version of The Macra Terror as we are every probably ever going to have in our collections.

Incidentally, The Macra Terror also featured the first episodes to use the new title sequence designed by Bernard Lodge and realised by Ben Palmer, one which incorporated the image of Patrick Troughton’s face in the titles. The foam machine, soon to become a staple element of many a Troughton story, was also used for the first time in this adventure.

The Macra Terror (6)

In many respects The Macra Terror is full of good ideas, some are more effective than others, but as a whole the story actually holds together pretty well, and it’s only really the ending where it falls a little flat. However, the Macra did indeed eventually return to Doctor Who in Gridlock (2007), and it was a nice surprise to see these classic monsters again, even if it was only fleetingly. The Macra Terror, while not exactly a classic, is still a fine addition to Season Four. Together with the strong performances from Troughton, Craze, Wills, and Hines, good design, and effective use of the Macra themselves; The Macra Terror is certainly a story that provides an intriguing insight into this period of Doctor Who during the 1960’s.

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Doctor Who The Power of the Daleks Animated Release Confirmed!

06 Tuesday Sep 2016

Posted by Paul Bowler in All, Doctor Who

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

2nd Doctor, animated power of the daleks, animated power of the daleks trailer, Anneke Wills, Daleks, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Power of the Daleks, Doctor Who Season Four, Michael Craze, Patrick Troughton, Power of the Daleks, Power of the Daleks animated, regeneration, The Power of the Daleks, Vulcan

The Power of the Daleks Animated Release Confirmed!

We will get our power! We will get out power!

power-1

BBC Worldwide has announced that a brand new animated version of the missing Doctor Who story The Power of the Daleks is to be released exclusively via the BBC Store, and then on DVD. This classic six-part adventure from Doctor Who’s Fourth Season, has often been one of the original series’ most celebrated, and was originally broadcast in 1966.

The Power of the Daleks was Patrick Troughton’s first story as the Doctor following the departure of William Hartnell from the lead role during the final episode of The Tenth Planet (1966) – with the first ever regeneration of the Time Lord! Power of the Daleks saw Patrick Troughton’s newly regenerated 2nd incarnation of the Doctor, along with his companions Ben (Michael Craze) and Polly (Anneke Wills), arrive on the planet Vulcan for an adventure set in a fraught Earth colony where they would confront the Doctor’s ach enemies – the Daleks!

power-2

Although sadly The Power of the Daleks, along with many other classic Doctor Who episodes, ended up being junked by the BBC, now this renowned story has now been lovingly reconstructed, produced by the same team behind the successful animation of the lost Dad’s Army Episode: A Stripe For Frazer (released on the BBC Store in February this year), as a brand new six-part black and white animated version, together with an original audio recording, to allow this classic story to be released 50 years to the day after the stories original broadcast.

The producer and director of The Power of the Daleks animated version is Charles Norton, with character designs from acclaimed comic book artists Martin Geraghty and Adrian Salmon. Charles Norton said, “The Power of the Daleks animation is the most ambitious Doctor Who archive restoration ever attempted and we’re all very honoured to be a part of such a an exciting project. Intelligent, suspenseful and magnificently staged, Power of the Daleks is one of the great lost classics of 1960s television and a superb example of the black and white era at its finest.” Paul Hembury, Executive Producer, BBC Worldwide says, “Charles and his team are remarkably talented and passionate about Doctor Who and we are thrilled that fans will soon be able to enjoy this rather sinister but wonderful, classic story.”

power-3

Now at long last we will be able to enjoy Power of the Daleks in a format that will be about as close to experiencing the original episodes as possible. It will be great for fans old and new to experience Patrick Troughton’s first story as the Doctor in animated form, it’s a fantastic story, and to see it come to life with animation like this will be amazing!

Check out the trailer for the new Animated version of Power of the Daleks!

Doctor Who: The Power Of The Daleks will be released on BBC Store

on Saturday 5th November 2016 followed by the DVD on Monday 21st November.

  • Register your interest in the BBC Store download
  • Pre-Order the DVD From Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Power-Daleks-DVD/dp/B01LOC83Y2/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1473256207&sr=8-5&keywords=the+power+of+the+daleks+dvd

On Saturday 5th November there will be a special screening of episodes 1-3 of Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks at BFI Southbank, London which will also include a Q&A with Anneke Wills, Charles Norton and Frazer Hines. More information will be available from bfi.org.uk from Monday 19th September.

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Doctor Who The Web of Fear DVD Review

17 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by Paul Bowler in All, Doctor Who, Dr Who (Classic Series)

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2nd Doctor, Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart, Deborah Watling, Doctor Who, Frazer Hines, Great Intelligence, Jamie McCrimmon, London Undergound, Nicholas Courtney, Patrick Troughton, Professor Travers, Season Five, The Web of Fear, Victoria Waterfield, Yeti

The Web of Fear

Review by Paul Bowler

The Web of Fear (12)

Following Salamander’s demise and narrowly escaping from a giant web in space, the TARDIS materialises in the London Underground, where the tunnels have become infested with pulsating webs and the Great Intelligence’s fearsome robotic Yeti. The Doctor (Patrick Troughton), Jamie, (Frazer Hines), and Victoria (Deborah Watling) are reunited with Professor Travers (Jack Watling), who they met forty years ago in the Himalayas. They discover Travers’ experiments with a control sphere must have accidentally reactivated the Yeti he brought back from Tibet in 1935, providing the Great Intelligence with another chance to invade Earth.

As the web-fungus begins to fill the underground tunnels the Doctor joins forces with the Army, led by Captain Knight (Ralph Watson), and then later Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney), to fight the Yeti – unaware that someone in their midst has been possessed by the Intelligence. The Doctor and his friends are captured by the Yeti and taken to the Great Intelligence’s lair, where the Intelligence plans to drain all of the Doctor’s knowledge from his mind.

The Doctor manages to sabotage the device so it will enable him to drain Intelligence’s mind instead, but before he can implement his plan, the Doctor’s companion’s rescue him and the Great Intelligence is sent screaming back into the dark void from whence it came. After saying their farewells, the Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria are heading back to the Covent Garden station, when the Doctor suddenly remembers the trains could start running again soon, so they all quickly hurry off down the tunnel to reach the TARDIS…

The Web of Fear (6)

The Web of Fear (1968) is the fifth story from Season Five, written by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln, this adventure features Patrick Troughton at the height of his tenure as the Doctor.  The announcement in October 2013 that four of the five missing episodes from The Web of Fear – together with The Enemy of the World – had been discovered by Philip Morris in Nigeria, with their subsequent return to the BBC and immediate release on iTunes, made the 50th Anniversary celebrations of Doctor Who even more special. This new DVD release from BBC Worldwide is one that few of us could ever have dreamed of owning back when the range was launched fifteen years ago, so it is perhaps fitting then that such a revered classic from Season Five as The Web of Fear should become the final regular release from the Doctor Who DVD range – before the range itself concludes on October 26th 2015 with the long-awaited release of The Underwater Menace.

Needless to say, Patrick Troughton is magnificent in The Web of Fear. In a performance that shifts effortlessly between the lighter, more comic moments, and brooding intensity as the Doctor contemplates the Intelligence’s plans, Troughton’s presence seems to permeate nearly every aspect of the story – even when he is absent during second episode, only featuring momentarily in the reprise for the previous episode, his Doctor presides over this web of intrigue; causing subtle ripples that spread outwards to influence everything around him.

The camaraderie between this TARDIS crew is a joy to behold. Jamie is as resourceful as ever, helping close the TARDIS doors to save the Doctor and Victoria from suffering the same fate as Salamander, and being sucked into the time vortex. Following this exciting opening there is a wonderful scene were Jamie and Victoria tease the Doctor about his ability to control the TARDIS. Once they escape the web in space and materialise in Covent Garden tube station we are treated to a typical exchange between the Doctor and Victoria, where she asks if it’s safe to venture outside, to which the Doctor assures her wryly that he shouldn’t think so for a moment.

The Web of Fear (7)

Frazer Hines has some great scenes in this story, Jamie’s previous encounter with the Great Intelligence proves extremely useful, he knows about Intelligence’s pyramid devices, helps the soldiers when they confront the Yeti in the tunnels, and looks after Victoria when the Doctor goes missing following the explosion at Charing Cross. Deborah Watling has plenty to do as well, in this, her penultimate adventure as Victoria Waterfield; her character has become a little more accustomed to her adventures in time and space by this story, with Victoria bravely wandering into the tunnels alone at one point in search of the Doctor and Jamie.

The Web of Fear is a near perfect fusion of storytelling and direction. With its dark and foreboding tunnels, eerie, web shrouded atmosphere, and the sure knowledge that something terrible is lurking in the darkness, ready to strike at any moment, certainly makes The Web of Fear one of the most suspenseful stories of this era. With this sequel to The Abominable Snowmen (1967), writers Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln ensure the Yeti make triumphant return in The Web of Fear, cleverly moving the Yeti from the bleak wilderness of the Himalayas and placing them in the more familiar setting of the London Underground, Haisman and Lincoln instantly made the creatures seem even more menacing than ever before.

The Yeti have also been given an upgrade of sorts for their second appearance, slimmer, and with the addition of two bright glowing eyes, they now wield guns that fire lethal streams of webbing, and each attack is accompanied by a distinctive roar that is both terrifying and primal in its intensity. The effectiveness of these lumbering monsters is enhanced even further by the incredible sets, designed by David Myersough-Jones, whose stunning replicas of the stations and tunnels were so good that London Underground apparently complained to the BBC – mistakenly thinking they had filmed there without permission.

The Web of Fear (4)

Deborah Watling’s father, Jack Watling, also returns as Professor Travers, heavily made up to look much older, his portrayal of the short tempered Professor is brilliant. It’s great to see Travers’ reaction when he is reunited with Jamie and Victoria, some forty years after their last adventure in the Himalayas and their observations about how he has aged is priceless. On his arrival at the armies Goodge Street underground HQ, the elderly Professor is confronted by the smarmy reporter Harold Chorley (Jon Rollason), and he promptly gives Chorley a suitably blunt and no-nonsense assessment of the crisis that has engulfed London when the journalist attempts to interview him. Tina Packer plays Travers’ daughter, Anne Travers, who arrives to help after the Yeti control sphere goes missing. Anne is an accomplished scientist in her own right, she doesn’t suffer fools lightly either, deftly subverting Captain Knight’s preconceptions of her by explaining her reasons for becoming a scientist with a cool sarcasm, and she is also swift to put Chorley in his place as well; making it clear in no uncertain terms that she has no time whatsoever for his “style” of reporting.

The Web of Fear is also something of a precursor to more contemporary Earth-based stories, with the Doctor working alongside the army as a scientific advisor, leading to the introduction of UNIT in The Invasion (1968), before the concept was fully embraced by the production team when the Doctor began his exile on Earth at the start of Season Seven – a format that would form the cornerstone of the 3rd Doctor’s era.

The soldiers we meet in The Web of Fear are initially led by Captain Knight, played by Ralph Watson, then we have Staff Sgt. Arnold (Jack Wollgar), along with Corporal Lane (Rod Beacham), Corporal Blake (Richardson Morgan), Craftsman Weams (Stephen Whittaker), and Derek Pollitt as faint-hearted Driver Evans. This story also features John Levene’s second appearance in the series, this time as one of the Yeti. John Levene would of course eventually go on to play the role of Benton during the UNIT stories.

The Web of Fear (8)

The Web of Fear also marks Nicholas Courtney’s first appearance as the Doctor’s long time friend Lethbridge-Stewart. Nicholas Courtney had previously appeared as Space Security Service Agent Bret Vyon in The Dalek Master Plan (1965) with William Hartnell. Its great to see Nicholas Courtney working with Patrick Troughton in this story, here as Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart, Courtney’s character appears midway through the story, in episode three, although his boots are actually seen in episode two (played by the unaccredited Maurice Brooks), and he quickly assumes command at Goodge Street HQ. The Colonel would soon be promoted to Brigadier for his next story, The Invasion, but here we get to see the genesis of his friendship with the Doctor. While Captain Knight is openly sceptical about the Doctor’s claims and his ability to travel in time and space, it’s fascinating to see how readily the Colonel accepts the Doctor’s explanation about the TARDIS, as well as the Time Lords hypothesis about the true nature of the Great Intelligence itself.

This atmospheric direction by Douglas Camfield is nothing short of superb; every exciting moment of suspense from the scripts is accentuated further by the impressive sets and the cast’s excellent performances. There are some brilliant Hammeresque touches as well, especially in the first episode, when the Yeti returns to life in Julius Silverstein’s (Frederick Schrecker) museum, where Camfield’s use of stock music composed by Bela Bartock elevates this scene into a sublime moment of gothic horror. The Web of Fear is one of those Doctor Who stories where everything seems to magically gel together, creating a seamless blend of sci-fi and horror. The effects of the web-fungus and the Yeti web guns are also chilling to behold, as soldiers fall screaming to the ground, their faces smothered by the deadly webbing, tunnels fill up with the bubbling web, and the fungus even creeps across the closing credits (except for episode six) in a writhing, pulsating mass of tendrils just like in the episodes themselves.

The Yeti attack at Covent Garden in episode four is another great highlight Douglas Camfield’s direction in The Web of Fear, were the Yeti strike (accompanied by the same incidental stock music used for the Cybemen) as Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart leads his men in a mission to acquire the TARDIS. As they fight back against the impossible odds above ground, unaware Staff Sgt. Arnold and Corporal Lane have already succumbed to the web while trying to push the baggage trolley through the tunnel, they find themselves locked in a bitter fight for survival as Yeti advance and mercilessly kill everyone on sight. Camfield makes the Yeti seem just as frightening in these daylight scenes as they are in the darkness of the underground tunnels, bullets, grenades, not even a bazooka seems to slow them down. Colonel Lethrbridge-Stewart is the only survivor from the massacre; he makes it back to Goodge Street HQ where he is horrified to learn that one of the missing Yeti models used to summon the creatures had secretly been planted in his pocket all along.

The Web of Fear (11)

The chilling scenes with Professor Travers possessed by the Great Intelligence, flanked by Yeti guards, as it uses the Professors voice to confront the Doctor and the survivors, reveals the full extent of the Intelligence’s plans. After their previous encounter in Tibet, the Intelligence has observed the Doctor’s travels and set this trap so it can use a machine to drain the Doctor’s mind of all his knowledge. The fifth episode is extremely tense, with almost everyone now under suspicion as the Great Intelligence’s duplicitous servant, Victoria is taken hostage by the Yeti, then Staff Sgt. Arnold returns unexpectedly, and the fungus continues to close in on Goodge Street HQ as the Doctor and Anne race against time to complete the control box to use against the Yeti.

Although most of the story was originally wiped by the BBC, with only the first episode remaining in the BBC Archive, it would be many years before fans would get the chance to see this only surviving episode. While the novelisation of The Web of Fear by Terrance Dicks, published in 1976, vividly brought the story to life, it was only this, and the subsequent broadcast of episode one as part of  BSB’s Dr Who Weekend (1990) followed by the telesnaps  printed in Doctor Who Magazine, that served to provide any real impression of this classic story. The audio soundtrack (narrated by Frazer Hines) on the BBC Audio CD (2000) also gave more insight to this story. Episode one of The Web of Fear was finally released as part of The Reign of Terror Box Set on VHS (2003), and the episode debuted later on DVD as part of the Lost in Time Set (2005) along with a selection of clips from the missing episodes cut by the New Zealand Broadcasting Cooperation, yielding a tantalizing glimpse of the battle from episode four and the moment Anne Travers was surprised by a Yeti.

The Web of Fear (1)

Just as with The Enemy of the World DVD, there are no extra features on The Web of Fear DVD, however the sheer quality of the restoration and the joy of seeing these classic episodes again more than make up for any lack of bonus features. The same collection of images and telesnaps used to reconstruct episode three for its iTunes release has also been employed to complete the story. Although I would have liked to have seen the missing third episode reconstructed with animation like the other incomplete stories previously released on DVD, the telesnaps and audio are more than adequate. Its just a shame Nicholas Courtney’s first onscreen appearance as Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart is in this missing episode, while the telesnaps and audio document this scene well enough, it would have been a magical moment to actually witness the debut of this much-loved character and his historic first encounter with Patrick Troughton’s Doctor.

The final episode of The Web of Fear rattles along at a cracking pace. Travers, now released from the Intelligence’s control, is rounded up along with all the others by the Yeti and taken to the Piccadilly Circus station, where the true host of the alien Intelligence is finally revealed as Staff Sgt. Arnold. Unaware the Doctor has secretly reprogrammed one of the Yetis, the Intelligence believes it has won, but before the pyramid device can drain the Doctor’s mind Jamie orders the controlled Yeti to attack and pulls him free. The Doctor is livid, having sabotaged the helmet to drain the Intelligence into his own mind, he is robbed of a decisive victory and the action packed final moments culminate with the Great Intelligence being sent back into space. It is only during this last episode that The Web of Fear comes unstuck a little. The Intelligence’s control over Staff Sgt. Arnold’s lacks the sinister menace of Padmasambhava’s possession in The Abominable Snowmen, where the Intelligence spoke in a chilling whisper, and though the conclusion is exciting it does feels a little rushed – however these are only minor quibbles in what is otherwise a near flawless production.

The legacy of The Web of Fear has now encompassed the 11th Doctor’s (Matt Smith) era as well, with the Great Intelligence featuring in the 2012 Christmas Special: The Snowmen, voiced by Sir Ian McKellen, with Richard E Grant as the evil Dr Simeon, and Grant later returned as the intelligence in The Bells of St John (2013) and The Name of the Doctor (2013). Although the Yeti did not appear in these stories, the discovery of The Web of Fear showed how good they were, and it would be fantastic to see these classic monsters return again in the new series.l

The Web of Fear DVD is a fantastic example of Patrick Troughton’s era, and I’m sure this classic story will take pride of place in many collections. Season Five is often held in the highest regard as one of the very best, if not finest, seasons of Doctor Who ever made. The Web of Fear exemplifies the best qualities of the base under siege format that became so synonymous of this era of monsters, with exciting scripts, and excellent direction; it also featured some of the highest levels of quality and design ever seen in Doctor Who during the sixties. Season Five also heralded significant changes in the production team (With the departure of Innes Lloyd, Peter Bryant would become the new Producer on Doctor Who, and Derrick Sherwin joined as Story Editor) and it is perhaps testament to this smooth transition behind the scenes, together with Troughton, Hines, and Watling’s endearing performances, that all contributed towards The Web of Fear, and Season Five as a whole, achieving such a high standard in both terms of quality and production that it would become one of the programmes most distinctive and memorable seasons of all time.

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Doctor Who The Moonbase DVD Review

27 Monday Jan 2014

Posted by Paul Bowler in All, Doctor Who, Dr Who (Classic Series)

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

2nd Doctor, Anneke Wills, Cybermen, Doctor Who, Frazer Hines, Kitt Pedler, Michael Craze, Morris Barry, Patrick Troughton, Season Four, The Moonbase

Doctor Who The Moonbase

Review by Paul Bowler

 The Moonbase (1)

The TARDIS is thrown off course and makes a bumpy landing on the Moon in 2070 where the Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and companions Jamie (Frazer Hines), Ben (Michael Craze) and Polly (Anneke Wills) discover a weather control station where a mysterious plague has broken out. Jamie has been injured exploring the lunar surface, while he recovers the Doctor offers to help Hobson (Patrick Barr) deal with the epidemic. The Doctor discovers the illness was caused by an alien poison the Cybermen have used to contaminate the food stores after secretly entering the base.

After taking over the Moonbase and seizing control of the Gravaton with crewmembers they’ve converted into slaves, the Cybermen prepare to use the weather controlling gravity beam to destroy all life on Earth. Polly and her friends manage to destroy the Cybermen in the base using a cocktail of chemicals sprayed from the fire extinguishers, which dissolves their plastic chest units. As more Cybermen begin advancing across the lunar surface, the Doctor gets Hobson to use the Gravaton against them, blasting them and their ships into space with the gravity beam. The Doctor and his companions return to the TARDIS where the Doctor activates the Time Scanner – a device that can show a glimpse of the future – and the image of a giant claw suddenly fills the screen…

The Moonbae (5)

The Moonbase (1967) is the sixth story from Season Four, written by Kitt Pedler; it was the fourth story to feature Patrick Troughton as the Doctor. This latest DVD release from BBC Worldwide features the second  appearance of the Cybermen in the series, having made their debut in William Hartnell’s final story The Tenth Planet (1966), they return with a completely new look. Patrick Troughton is also settling into the role of the Doctor, with the eccentricities seen in The Highlanders (1966/67) and The Underwater Menace (1966) giving way to a somewhat darker and more refined performance that would make Troughton’s second incarnation of the Time Lord so endearing for generations to come.

Whilst there are indeed some striking similarities with The Tenth Planet, the Antarctic setting is transferred to the Moon, General Cutler and the Moonbase’s commander Hobson both run facilities with a diverse multi-national crew, and each story has subplots (The former involving a space capsule in peril and the latter a strange plague debilitating the crew) that are instrumental in facilitating the arrival of the Cybermen. However, it is the subtle changes which The Moonbase heralds that are so compelling, and the brilliantly redesigned Cybermen would go on to become one of  the programmes most popular recurring monsters.

The Moonbase (2)

Seeing how Jamie spends the majority of the story in the medical unit, Ben, and especially Polly, really impress in this story. Having encountered the Cybermen before, Polly recognises them instantly, Ben also recalls the events of the Tenth Planet and how Mondas was destroyed, but Hobson is not as easily convinced that the Cybermen have returned. Polly has some great scenes in this story: confident and resourceful, she helps tend the patients in the medical unit, later asking the Doctor about his medical qualifications as he investigates the cause of the plague, which she inadvertently helps solve with an impromptu coffee break, and she also devises a way to defeat the Cybermen using a special cocktail of chemicals to melt their chest units.

As the Doctor notes, there are dark corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things, things that must be fought, and it is here, in this single moment of dialogue, together with the grave sincerity of Troughton’s performance, that virtually redefines the series in a heartbeat and effectively paves the way for one of the finest seasons in the programmes history – season five.

For their return the Cybermen received a brand new look, the cloth faces, bizarre voices, and cumbersome costume of their first appearance is superseded by an altogether sleeker and more imposing form than their predecessors. These mark II Cybermen are now encased in a gleaming one-piece silver outfit, their chest unit is far more compact, a smooth metal helmet gives them a chillingly emotionless countenance, the Cybermen’s hands now just have three silver digits, and they can also fire bolts of electricity from their wrists. The new voices for the Cybermen, created by Peter Hawkins, are also very different, replacing the sing-song tones used in the Tenth Planet with some distinctly cold and highly effective electronic tones, which make the Cybermen seem even more emotionless and threatening than their predecessors.

The Moonbase (3)

Though the Cybermen do not feature much in the first two episodes of the Moonbase, they certainly make their presence felt, creeping into the food stores to infect the sugar supplies with a neurotropic virus, there is a frightening scene were a Cybermen appears from the shadows and attacks Ralph (Mark Heath). Believing he is near death, Jamie wakes to find a Cyberman towering over him, and deliriously thinks he has seen the Phantom Piper as the Cybermen carries another sick crewmember away to its hidden spaceship. There is also a particularly eerie scene in episode two, where the Cybermen stalk and attack two crewmembers on the lunar surface. Together with some excellent lighting and stock music, director Morris Barry gradually heightens the tension, leaving the way clear for the Cybermen to dominate the last two suspense filled episodes, culminating in some impressive scenes where they march across the lunar surface to attack the Moonbase.

This story was especially topical at the time, it was the height of the space race, and producer Innes Lloyd wanted a story set on the moon. The Moonbase is also notable for featuring Victor Pemberton – Story Editor on The Tomb of the Cybermen (1967) and scriptwriter of Fury From The Deep (1968) as one of the crewmembers, and John Levene, who would go on to play the role of Benton, also appears as a Cyberman extra in this story. Incidentally, the novelisation of this story (Doctor Who and the Cybermen) was penned by the unaccredited co-writer of The Moonbase, Gerry Davis.

The Moonbase (4A)

Unfortunately only episodes 2 & 4 of The Moonbase currently resided in the BBC archive, so for this special DVD release Planet 55 studios in Australia have used the same animation techniques employed on their restoration of The Reign of Terror and 10th Planet DVD’s, together with the surviving soundtrack, to recreate episodes 1 & 3 of The Moonbase so this four part story can be finally enjoyed again. The animation of these episodes is nothing short of phenomenal, the care and attention to detail makes this story come alive in a way that the audio soundtrack alone never could. The first episodes includes some great scenes of the TARDIS crew jumping around on the lunar surface in their spacesuits, and we also see the Cyberman attacking Ralph, but it is the third episode that is really special. We get to see the Doctor confronting the Cybermen, as well as Polly and the others devising their plan to fight back, the scene where the second Doctor seems to debate with himself about the Cybermen is brilliant, and the build up to the big reveal of the Cyber-Army is dramatically recreated.

This feature packed release contains some excellent special features, including a commentary for episodes 2 & 4 by actors Anneke Wills (Polly), Frazer Hines (Jamie),  Edward Philips (Scientist), and Brian Hodgson (Special Sounds Creator), with episodes 1 & 3 accompanied by interviews with Kitt Peddler’s daughters, Lucy Pedller and Carol Topolski, Lovett Bickford (Assistant Floor Manager), Cybermen actors Barry Nobel, Derek Chaffer, and Reg Whitehead, and the archive interview with producer Innes Lloyd. The commentaries are moderated and linked by Toby Hadoke. The standout extra on this disk though is Lunar Landings, a fantastic look back at the making of The Moonbase, featuring interviews with Anneke Wills, Frazer Hines, Reg Whitehead, and production assistant Desmond McCarthy. I really enjoyed hearing their memories about this story, Anneke Wills account of filming at Ealing for the weightless sequences on the Moon were fun to hear, as well as the story about Patrick Troughton’s lucky escape when part of the Gravaton set collapsed, and of course the DVD also includes a photo gallery, the superb production information subtitles, Radio Times PDF, and a coming soon trailer.

While not exactly perfect, The Moonbase stands up fairly well, despite some padding in places and that ludicrous scene with the tea tray. Patrick Troughton is excellent as the Doctor, the regular cast have plenty to do, and the redesigned Cybermen are really impressive. The way they initially strike from the shadows is highly effective, stalking the base and kidnapping some of the crew, who are then subjected to a conversion process that reanimates them as Zombie-like slaves. Only the ending is a little disappointing when the Cybermen and their spaceships are rather unceremoniously dispatched. The Moonbase effectively sets the stage for the base under siege format that became so synonymous with the Troughton era, a template that would ultimately be honed to perfection the following year, in Season Five. However, there is still plenty to enjoy here, especially with Patrick Troughton’s great performance and Planet 55’s exemplarily work on the animated episodes, which makes The Moonbase DVD a welcome return to the early years of Doctor Who.

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Dr Who: The Era of Monsters

12 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by Paul Bowler in All, Dr Who (Classic Series)

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

2nd Doctor, Anneke Wills, Ben, Cybermen, Daleks, Deborah Whatling, Doctor Who, Evil of the Daleks, Frazer Hines, Fury From The Deep, Ice Warriors, Jamie, Michael Craze, Patrick Troughton, Polly, Power of the Dalek, The Abominable Snowmen, The Dominators, The Enemy of the World, The Faceless Ones, The Highlanders, The Ice Warriors, The Invasion, The Krotons, The Macra Terror, The Mind Robber, The Moonbase, The Seeds of Death, The Space Pirates, The Underwater Menace, The War Games, The Web of Fear, The Wheel In Space, Tomb of the Cybermen, Victoria, Yeti, Zoe

Dr Who: The Era of Monsters

By Paul Bowler

 2nd Doctor Polly Ben (Moonbase)

When William Hartnell transformed into Patrick Troughton during the final episode of The Tenth Planet (1966), a nation held its breath as a new Doctor emerged from a gleaming halo of light to whisk his companions Ben (Michael Craze) and Polly (Anneke Wills) away to the planet Vulcan, and their first encounter with the Doctor’s ach enemies – the Daleks! If any had doubted that the popular character actor, who was a master at utilising costumes and make up to great effect (gaining him many staring roles during the 50’s & 60’s), would be able to make the transition of Doctor Who’s leading actor a success; their doubts must have been quickly dispelled as they became enthralled by the new Doctor who emerged from the TARDIS in Power of the Daleks.

As Doctor Who’s fourth season continued apace, Patrick Troughton’s impish “cosmic hobo” would become imprinted on the minds of children and adults for generations to come, battling evil and tyranny from every dark corner of the universe. This “renewed” Doctor was strikingly different to Hartnell’s grandfatherly wanderer of the fourth dimension; Troughton was more like a chaotic Charlie Chaplin. He may have acted like a bumbling fool who happily played his recorder, with his crumpled frock coat, baggy trousers, and a penchant for outrageous hats, but the fearsome intellect within was never far from the surface and nearly always one step ahead of his enemies.

During the next story, The Highlanders (1966/67), Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines) joined the TARDIS crew after the battle of Culloden, and together with the Doctor, Ben, and Polly the young Scott would soon visit Atlantis in The Underwater Menace (1967), face the Cybermen in The Moonbase (1967), and battle giant crabs in The Macra Terror (1967) before returning to Earth to confront the shape-shifting menace of the Chameleons in The Faceless Ones (1967).

Evil of the Daleks

After Polly and Ben decide to remain on Earth the Doctor and Jamie discover that the TARDIS has been stolen. They trace the TARDIS to Edward Satterfield’s (John Bailey) old antique shop, where they are transported back to 1867 where the Daleks are holding Waterfield’s daughter, Victoria (Deborah Watling), hostage to ensure his compliance as they manipulate Theodore Maxtible‘s (Marius Goring) experiments for their own ends. The Daleks force the Doctor to implant the human factor into three Dalek test subjects, but he ultimately turns the Daleks master plan against them by unleashing a Dalek Civil War on Skaro that destroys the Daleks and their Emperor.

Season Four had seen Doctor Who reborn with the glorious concept of regeneration. As Evil of the Daleks (1967) left the Daleks utterly defeated, the masterstroke of recasting Patrick Troughton as the Doctor had proved to be an unqualified success. Behind the scenes though big changes were afoot, as producer Innes Lloyd paved the way for his successor, Peter Bryant, while story editor Victor Pemberton (a position also held by Bryant for part of Season Five) left to be replaced by freelance writer Derrick Sherwin – who also brought his assistant, the young freelancer Terrance Dicks. The Doctor and Jamie also had a new travelling companion on board the TARDIS, Victoria Waterfield, who had decided to join them on their adventures after her father was killed in Evil of the Daleks. Victoria is brilliantly played by Deborah Whatling, who together with Frazer Hinez and Patrick Troughton’s Doctor, go on to make one of the most iconic TARDIS crews of all time as they prepare to face The  Era of Monsters…

Patrick Troughton (2nd Doctor)

Doctor Who’s fifth season is often cited as one of the best in the shows long running history.  The term classic is often bandied around with great aplomb when it comes to Doctor Who. It is perhaps a fitting moniker for Season Five then, as it not only oversees some of the biggest changes in the programs production team, it also features some of the highest levels of quality and design ever seen in Doctor Who during the sixties. It is this, along with the endearing trinity of Troughton, Hines, and Watling that made Season Five so memorable.

With the new Doctor and his companions now firmly established, Season Five began in fine style with Tomb of the Cybermen (1967). The TARDIS materialises on the planet Telos, where an archaeological expedition from Earth led by Professor Parry (Aubrey Richards) is trying to find the legendary tombs of the Cybermen. As the Doctor surreptitiously helps the Professor gain access to the tombs, Parry’s business partner Kaftan (Shirley Cooklin) and the treacherous Klieg (George Pastell) have their own agenda. But Klieg’s plan to form an alliance between the Cybermen and his Brotherhood of Logicians turns into horrible nightmare when, upon reactivating the tombs, the revived Cybermen turn on him. To his horror Klieg realizes that the tombs are in fact an elaborate trap, one designed to lure suitable subjects below ground for Cyber-Conversion.

Tomb Of Cybermen

Tomb of the Cybermen is a fantastic story by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis. The early scenes as the Doctor helps the archaeologist’s beak into the tombs and begin exploring are well staged by director Morris Barry, perfectly building the tension, until the team descends into the frozen tombs. Martin Johnson’s set designs are excellent for this story, the chillingly basic Cyber-Symbols are almost like high-tech hieroglyphics, depicting cold logic and function, giving you real a sense of just how inhuman and alien these monsters really are. The tombs themselves are outstanding, they really convey the relentless power and strength of the Cybermen as they emerge from their tombs, still retaining the impressive redesign they had for The Moonbase, but this time they are also joined by their leader – the gargantuan Cyber Controller (Michael Kilgarriff).

There are also some wonderful moments in this story between the Doctor and Victoria, where the Doctor helps her deal with the death of her father by telling her about his own family, and how he can always remember them in his mind. Later the party have to face a deadly swarm of Cybermats, before the Doctor finds a way to defeat the Cybermen and refreeze their tombs, but not before the Kaftan’s partially Cyber-Converted body guard, Toberman (Roy Stewart), sacrifices himself to stop the Cyber Controller from escaping the tombs. It’s fascinating to see such an explicit portrayal of body horror in this adventure. The whole idea of Cyber-Conversion is horrifying enough, but Tomberman’s fate and the graphic death of a Cyberman after having its chest plate smashed – oozing foam and writing on the ground in its death throes – are all clear signs that Doctor Who was wholeheartedly embracing a much darker tone. Even the Doctor seemed to manipulate events in a way that ensured the outcome, with a glint in his eye and a mischievous grin that belied the formidable intellect within.

With the Cybermen confined to their icy tombs the TARDIS whisks the Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria to 1935 to visit a  Detsen monastery in Tibet. The Doctor sets out to return a sacred bell to his old friend The High Lama Padmasambhava (Wolfe Morris). He encounters Travers (Jack Watling), an Englishman who is trying to discover the truth behind the mysterious sightings of the Abominable Snowmen – who are later revealed to be the robotic Yeti; servants of the disembodied entity known only as the Great Intelligence.

The Abomniable Snowmen

The Doctor is shocked to find that Padmasambhava has been possessed by the Great Intelligence, prolonging the High Lama’s life and using him to control the Yeti through model replicas placed on a chessboard. With the assistance of the Monks, Jamie and Victoria help fend off the Yeti to give the Doctor time to confront the great intelligence, preventing it from attaining a corporeal form, and banishing it back into the great beyond so Padmasambhva can die peacefully.

The Abominable Snowmen (1967) is a highly atmospheric story by newcomers Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln. It is an extremely clever move to have the Doctor visit the scene of an untelevised adventure, the Yeti and their bleeping control spheres would quickly become one of this seasons most iconic monster’s, lurching into life at any given moment as they stalk the mountainsides and dark halls of the monastery. But it is the all pervading sense of isolation director Gerald Blake manages to covey that really makes this story something special. As the wind howls outside the evil within is even more terrifying as Padmasambhva draws the pieces on the chessboard to their doom, his quiet rasping voice sending genuine shivers down the spine.

As well as featuring some excellent location filming, The Abominable Snowmen has some impressive production values, a great supporting cast, and Deborah Watling’s father, Jack, also played Travers. Even by today’s standards, The Abominable Snowmen stands as a great piece of television drama, and marks the debut of one of seasons fives most memorable monsters.

Ice Warriros (Victoria)

If the TARDIS crew thought it was cold in Tibet then their next adventure would see the temperature plunging even further below zero. The Ice Warriors (1967) sees the time travellers arrive at the dawn of a new ice age, where Leader Clent (Peter Barkworth) and his team are operating an ioniser device from their base to hold back the threat of an advancing glacier. With the world in the grip of a new Ice Age and completely reliant on the computerized ionisers to keep the glaciers at bay, the delicate balance is threatened when a giant creature is found by a group of scientists frozen in the ice. When they thaw it out, the Ice Warrior (Bernard Bresslaw) breaks free and kidnaps Victoria, taking her back to its spaceship in the glacier where he revives the rest of his crew.

With The Ice Warriors, writer Brian Hayles plays on the themes global warming and mankind’s over reliance on automated technology, with Leader Clent’s rigid adherence to protocol and logic being flung into chaos by the arrival of the Doctor. Much like Tomb of the Cybermen, the Doctor seems to manipulate events from the sidelines, gradually steering the disgruntled scientist Penley (Peter Sallis) towards patching up his differences with Leader Clent, and ultimately overriding the computers control to turn the ioniser on the Martians spaceship.

Director Bernard Martinus casting of tall actors to play the Ice Warriors was a brilliant idea, as they tower over everyone. Their impressive costumes are like armoured shells, with only their lizard like mouths showing, these reptilian aliens with their hissing voices were as ruthless as they were calculating. The Martian leader Varga is played by Bernard Bresslaw (already well know for his role in the Carry On films), and the actor makes the role his own, exuding menace as he plans to take over the base – ordering his troops to execute anyone that stands in their way with their lethal sonic weapons.  The Ice Warriors is full of memorable moments: Victoria’s plight after she escapes the Martian ship and is chased through the glacier by an Ice Warrior is nail bitingly good, Jamie has his fair share of the action as well, while Toughton’s Doctor mischievously uses a complex machine to make himself a glass of water and manages to outwit the Ice Warriors by using a stink bomb! The Ice Warriors is a fantastic story, overflowing with B-Movie thrills, and spills, while also serving as a perfect vehicle for the introduction of the Martian warriors from the Red Planet.

Enemy of the World

The Enemy of the World (1967/68) offers Patrick Troughton the opportunity to really flex his acting muscles with his dual role as the Doctor and his tyrannous doppelganger Salamander. After arriving in Australia in the future, the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria find that the world is on the verge of being taken over by Salamander – a scientist who has discovered a form of storing and using solar energy to aid the world while advancing his ambition to become its absolute ruler. Discovering that he is Salamander’s double, the Doctor decides to impersonate the dictator in waiting and ruin his plans so he can save Jamie and Victoria, but even in defeat, Salamander isn’t prepared to give up that easily.

In its attempt at creating an ambitious action adventure along the same lines as a Bond film, David Whitaker’s script is only partially successfully. Sadly not even director Barry Letts could work his magic on this story, and while the central premise is sound, it does stand out as one of the weakest stories during this otherwise impeccable season. However, its saving grace has to be Troughton’s dual performance, and the actor no doubt relished the chance to play the villainous Salamander. Deborah Watling and Frazer Hinez also have little to do; spending much of their time separated from the Doctor, but the final scenes where Salamander tries to commandeer the TARDIS and gets sucked out through the doors into the time vortex at least provides a fitting end for this slightly disappointing story.

The Web Of Fear

After Salamander’s demise the TARIDS manages to avoid becoming trapped in a giant web in deep space. The Web of Fear (1968) begins in earnest when the TARDIS finally materialises in the London Underground, which has also been overrun by huge pulsating webs controlled by the Great Intelligence and its robotic Yeti. The Doctor and his companions meet up with Professor Travers (Jack Watling), who they first met forty years ago in the Himalayas. They learn that Travers brought one of the Yeti back with him, and after accidentally reactivating it, he gave the Great Intelligence the opportunity it needed to try and invade Earth again. As the webs begin to fill the underground tunnels the Doctor joins forces with the Army, led by Captain Knight (Ralph Watson), and then later Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney), to fight the Yeti. The Great Intelligence draws the Doctor to its lair, determined to take possession of his body, but the Doctor is saved by his companions and the Intelligences is sent screaming back into the void from whence it came.

The Yeti make a triumphant return in Mervyn Haisman’s and Henry Lincoln’s direct sequel to The Abominable Snowmen. Directed by  Douglas Camfireld, The Web of Fear is blessed with incredibly realistic sets designed by David Myerscough-Jones. Although the plot may be little more than a whodunit, with almost everyone under suspicion as the Great Intelligence’s duplicitous servant, this is one of the most exciting stories of Season Five – memorable also for Nicholas Courtney’s first appearance as the Doctor’s long time friend Lethbridge-Stewart. Nicholas Courtney had previously appeared as Space Security Service Agent Bret Vyon in The Dalek Master Plan (1965) with William Hartnell.

Fury From the Deep

Season Fives penultimate story is Fury from the Deep (1968) by Victor Pemberton. Based on the writers own BBC radio serial The Slide, and places the Doctor and his companions in mortal danger from a parasitic seaweed that is threatening to overrun a gas refinery and its offshore drilling rigs. The man in charge of the operation, Robson (Victor Maddern), is struggling to contain the situation as the seaweed and poisonous foam begins to affect his staff, possessing their minds, until he himself becomes a vessel for the weed creature dwelling within the pipeline.

Fury from the Deep is one of the most terrifying adventures of Season Five. Director Hugh David wrings every ounce of psychological tension from Pemberton’s fantastic story, preying on deep seated fears as this isolated community comes under attack. There are scenes of pure horror throughout: the pulsating heart beat of the weed creature in the pipe line is deeply unnerving, bubbling foam boils and writhes from the darkness to consume anyone in its path, and perhaps most horrific of all is when Maggie Harris (June Murphy) is attacked by the grotesque Oak and Quill who subdue her by spewing noxious fumes from their rasping black mouths. Later she appears to commit suicide as she walks into the sea, vanishing beneath the waves in what must surly be one of Doctor Who’s most chilling cliff-hangers.

When Robson becomes possessed by the weed creature he captures Victoria and takes her to the control rig, the source of the seething infestation. The Doctor and Jamie manage to rescue her and escape to the refinery, but having fully established itself the weed begins to advance through the pipeline, and its only Victoria’s high pitched screams – amplified by a device the Doctor builds – that ultimately destroys it and frees everyone from its control. Sadly this is Deborah Watling’s final story, meaning that Fury from the Deep is also tinged with a hint of sadness as this popular TARDIS crew say their goodbyes. Victoria decides to stay behind and live with Harris (Roy Spencer) and his wife Maggie at the end of the story, having grown tired of her adventures in time and space. So with a heavy heart the Doctor and Jamie bid her farewell in a poignant final scene, one that ends with them watching Victoria slowly fading from the scanner screen as the TARDIS continues on its way.

The Wheel In Space

After leaving Victoria on Earth the TARDIS develops a fault with the fluid link as it arrives on a spaceship called the Silver Carrier. As they set out to find some more mercury for the fluid link the Doctor and Jamie are attacked by a Servo Robot, Jamie manages to radio a nearby space station called the Wheel and they are soon rescued, but the Cybermats hidden on the Silver Wheel have also made their way over to the space station. The Doctor and Jamie team up with a young woman called Zoe Heriot, and together they discover the Cybermen want to use the Wheel as a beacon for their Cyber-Fleet to lock onto before they can invade Earth. The Doctor manages to break the Cybermen’s hypnotic control over the space stations crew, before connecting the TARDIS vector generator rod to the stations X-Ray laser so he can use it to destroy the Cyber-Fleet.

The Wheel in Space (1968) features the return of the Cybermen and the Cybermats, but David Whitaker’s story (based on an idea by Kit Pedler) doesn’t quite mange to live up to the promise of its early episodes, and as such ends up being an extremely routine invasion story. With its claustrophobic setting in deep space, director Tristan de Vere Cole successfully builds up the tension, and you never know when a Cyberman will suddenly appear from the shadows. Overall the Wheel in Space makes a good introduction story for Zoe, and Wendy Padbury is brilliant as the super genius. The Cybermen also get a makeover for this story, there are some chilling scenes when they begin attacking the crew of the Wheel, and the Cybermats are also as deadly as ever.

The Mind Robber

As season five draws to a close Zoe joins the Doctor and Jamie on their adventures in time and space. The dynamic between this TARDIS crew does seem to shift somewhat as the series moves into its sixth season, with Zoe’s keen intellect proving to be almost  a match for the Doctor’s, while Jamie is often left a bit bemused and bewildered by how strong and independent she is. With Peter Bryant and Derrick Sherwin becoming involved in other projects, the production of Season Six was beset with difficulties: The Dominators and The Mind Robber were both subjected to rewrites, and The Krotons, The Space Pirates, and The War Games were all hastily commissioned after a successive number of stories had to be abandoned.

The Krotons (TARDIS)

The sixth season of Doctor Who was the last to be entirely filmed in monochrome, and would also feature the departure of Patrick Troughton, along with Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury who had also decided to move on. In many ways Season Six is the end of an era, and although The Dominators (1968) and their deadly Quarks proved to be something of an understated start to the season, things rapidly improved when the TARDIS was apparently destroyed in the white void of The Mind Robber (1968) – transporting the Doctor and his companions into a land of fiction. The Cybermen would make another attempt to invade the Earth, this time with the help of entrepreneur Tobias Vaughan (Kevin Stoney). The Invasion (1968) would see the Cybermen emerging en mass from the sewers of London, a scene that would go on to become one of Doctor Who’s most iconic moments.

The Invasion (Cybermen)

Robert Holmes first story, The Krotons (1968/69) is a far from auspicious start for the writer who would go on to write a plethora of classic Doctor Who episodes in the years to come, while The Seeds of Death (1969) would see Brian Hayles script the Ice Warriors return, before The Space Pirates (1969) also proved to be something mixed offering from Robert Holmes. The ten part epic, The War Games (1969), saw the Doctor and his friends racing across a number of different time zones in their bid to stop The War Chief from taking people from various conflicts throughout Earth’s past and making them fight for the amusement of his alien masters. At the end of the story the Doctor  is forced to call on his own people, The Time Lords, for help. The Time Lords intervene, using their immense powers to return the combatants to their own time zones, but the price is high for the Doctor. He is captured and placed on trail by his own people, charged with breaking the Time Lords code of non interference with the affairs of other worlds, and ultimately sentenced to exile on Earth. Allowed only to say goodbye to Jamie and Zoe before they are sent back to their own times, every memory of their adventures with the Doctor wiped from their minds, before he must then endure the ignominy  of having his appearance is forcibly changed by the Time Lords as he begins his sentence on Earth.

doctor-who-the-dominators-quarks

With so many of these fantastic episodes junked by the BBC much of Patrick Trougnton’s era sadly no longer exists. There is always hope that some of these episodes might turn up one day, having been sold overseas, it is entirely possible that the miraculous moment when Tomb of the Cybermen was found in Hong Kong back in 1991, and quickly released on video in 1992, might happen again one day. Indeed, in 2011 two more classic episodes turned up: Episode 3 of the William Hartnell story Galaxy 4, and Episode 2 of The Underwater Menace from Patrick Troughton’s first season. In October  2013 fans were delighted by the news that 9 episodes had been found by Philip Morris in Nigeria, The Enemy of the World (episodes 1, 2, 4, 5 & 6) and The Web of Fear (episodes 2, 4, 5, & 6), and both stories were made available to download on iTunes right away (While Episode 3 of The Web of Fear remains missing, a reconstruction was made from stills and the soundtrack to recreate it).  The Invasion was released on DVD back in 2006 with its missing episodes recreated by animation, and the results proved highly popular with fans. Two more incomplete Troughton stories were later released on DVD, The Ice Warriors and The Moonbase, using similar animation techniques to replace their missing episodes. The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear are now also available on DVD. However, the planned release for The Underwater Menace (Which would have included the long lost episode 2, and possibly animation for the missing episodes 1 & 4) was unfortunately cancelled following the insolvency at the animation company Qurios. But, following support from fans and an online petition, gaining over 2750 signatures, it now seems The Underwater Menace will finally be released on DVD on October 26th 2015 (tbc) at last! They may be missing from the BBC’s archives, but all the soundtracks of the 2nd Doctor’s missing adventures are now available on CD, with superb linking narration, and are a still a perfect way to enjoy Doctor Who’s lost episodes. It is a credit to Troughton’s immense talent that these stories work so well on audio, they are as spellbinding now as they ever were, and effortlessly captivate our imagination of a classic era of Doctor Who that is now sadly consigned to history.

The War Games 1

Patrick Troughton’s three years as the Doctor were some of the finest from the programmes monochrome era. Troughton’s performance is simply superb in every way, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that the programme could survive the change of its lead actor. Anneke Wills and Michael Craze were instrumental in bridging these two eras of the show, while Troughton’s comic timing with Frazer Hines is a joy to behold, and together with Deborah Watling, then later Wendy Padbury, the Second Doctor’s companions would become an endearing part of this halcyon age of Doctor Who.

Season Five is certainly a contender for one of the best, if not finest, seasons of Doctor Who ever made. As Doctor Who begins to celebrate its 50th anniversary, the programmes past is likely to come under even greater scrutiny than ever before. Season Five was ahead of its time. It takes the simple base under siege format and turns it into something uniquely special. Blessed with impeccable design and production values, Season Five introduced a wealth of classic monsters, paved the way for UNIT to be phased into the Doctor’s life, and together with a  fantastic regular cast, The Era of Monsters remains a timeless gem that will endure forever.

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Paul Bowler

Paul Bowler

Writer / Blogger / Sci Fi geek, fan of Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, Movies, Comic Books, and all things Playstation 4.

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  • Sci-Fi Jubilee
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  • Sci-Fi Jubilee Facebook
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Blogroll

  • @paulbowler@mastodon.world
  • Flodo's Page
  • Learn WordPress.com
  • Sci-Fi Jubilee
  • TARDIS Tweets
  • The Consulting Detective
  • The Gotham Rogue
  • The Knights Blog
  • Theme Showcase
  • WordPress Planet
  • WordPress.com News

Sci-Fi Jubilee

13th Doctor All New X-Men Andrez Bergen Avengers Batman Batmobile Brian Michael Bendis Bruce Wayne Charlie Adlard Chris Chibnall Clara Oswald comics Cybermen Cyclops Daleks Danny Miki DC Comics Doctor Strange Doctor Who Dr Who Dr Who Season 7 Earth 2 FCO Plascencia Frank Martin Gotham Gotham City Greg Capullo Hawkgirl Horror IDW Publishing IF? Commix Image Comics Iron Man James Tynion IV Jean Grey Jenna-Louise Coleman Jenna Coleman Jim Gordon Jodie Whittaker Marvel Marvel Comics Matt Lucas Matt Smith Michonne Mike Deodato Nardole NCBD Negan Nicola Scott Paul Bowler YouTube Peter Capaldi Peter Parker PS4 Rick Grimes Robert Kirkman Sci-Fi Jubilee Scott Snyder Spider-Man Star Wars Steven Moffat Stuart Immonen Superman TARDIS The Doctor The Flash The Joker The New 52 The Saviors The Walking Dead Tony Stark Trevor Scott Walkers Wolverine X-Men Zombies

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