#11 (5.17 - 5.22): The Enemy of the World.

The Doctor meets his exact double - who plans to take over the world!

6 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 140 minutes. Written by: David Whitaker. Directed by: Barry Letts. Produced by: Innes Lloyd.


THE PLOT:

The TARDIS materializes in Australia in the near future, only for the Doctor to immediately be targeted by assassins. He and his companions are rescued by a mysterious woman named Astrid (Mary Peach), who introduces them to her associate, Giles Kent (Bill Kerr). Kent reveals that the Doctor is an exact double of Salamander (Patrick Troughton), whose renown as a world savior has brought him power - and who Kent insists now seeks to become dictator of the entire planet!

Kent wants the Doctor to impersonate Salamander, to infiltrate his research station to find evidence to discredit him. The Doctor, however, insists that he will not act without evidence. "You and this Salamander are obviously on opposite sides... But which side is good? Which side is bad? And why should I interfere?" To find the answers, he agrees to allow Jamie and Victoria to infiltrate a European conference - but in so doing, he risks leaving his friends in the grasp of a maniac!


THE DOCTOR:

Much has been said of Troughton's performance as Salamander, but this story is also a terrific showcase for his Doctor. Stumbling into a tense situation, he listens to Giles Kent and Astrid, but he isn't ready to take action without proof. He is wary of Kent's willingness to resort to violence, but remains sympathetic to him for the most part. A particular highlight is the scene in Episode Three in which the sadistic Benik (Milton Johns) has his guards destroy Kent's possessions. When the Doctor emerges and sees the damage, he sadly observes that "people spend all their time making nice things, and other people come along and break them."

Inevitably, the Doctor does end up impersonating Salamander - though in a clever bit of scripting, his impersonations never end up being quite the way Kent had planned. When he finally dons the disguise, it is primarily to free Victoria and Jamie, and then to expose the truth. He and Salamander only share the screen once in the story, at the very end. Here, we see shades of the imperious side so prominent in Hartnell's run. Troughton lets all the gleefulness and sympathy drop from his performance as he effectively passes sentence on his doppelganger: "We're going to put you outside... No friends, no safety, nothing." In this moment, this most unimposing of Doctors becomes a figure of startling power and presence.


OTHER CHARACTERS:

Jamie/Victoria: The story's early episodes give them quite a bit to do. Jamie shows an ability to think quickly as he ingratiates himself with Salamander, while Victoria secures a job in the kitchen under the eye of the grumpiest chef in television history (a very funny Reg Lye). Their roles are much reduced in the back half of the serial, though Jamie's protectiveness of Victoria is demonstrated when Benik threatens them with the prospect of a particularly unpleasant interrogation. Somewhat amusingly, Victoria's skirt is a dead match for Jamie's kilt!

Giles Kent: Bill Kerr, best known as a comedian, seems to relish the chance to play a serious role. In a story that carries echoes of the James Bond film series, Kent is effectively "M." He delivers the background on the situation and on Salamander and provides the basic plan and opportunity for the infiltration. Kent is decidedly ruthless, actively encouraging his enemy's assassination. Then again, Salamander genuinely is the monster Kent portrays him to be, and his actions have almost certainly killed thousands, making Kent's cold-bloodedness understandable.

Astrid: Mary Peach's Astrid seems to have been modeled after The Avengers' Emma Peel: a quick thinker who is more than a match for any opponent in hand-to-hand combat. She seems less ruthless than Kent; when it's clear that a guard has developed a crush on her, she actually apologizes when knocking him unconscious.

Bruce: Colin Douglas is Donald Bruce, Salamander's head of security. He is a rigid man, clearly comfortable in exercising his own power. When he and his men enter Kent's home in Episode One, he shoots down Kent's outrage by reminding him that he has the right to enter any time he chooses. When the Doctor's Salamander impersonation has him leaving with his tail between his legs, Bruce feels compelled to save face by issuing a warning to Jamie, who has been silent the entire time - essentially trying to regain his lost authority through bluster. For all that, he never comes across an idiot, and is the first to figure out that there is an imposter working with Kent.

Benik: Salamander's deputy, Benik is the sort of man who finds his way to power specifically in order to abuse it. He openly admits that he was "a nasty little boy," but adds that he "had a very enjoyable childhood." Though obviously subtextual in a family show, there is a hint of sexual sadism in his treatment of both Victoria and Salamander's food-taster, Fariah (Carmen Munroe). Milton Johns' performance is anything but restrained, as he grins evilly while acerbically drawing out each syllable he utters; but if he's arch and a bit camp, he is also thoroughly entertaining - and even a bit frightening because, unlike the show's usual monsters, creatures like Benik are all too common in the real world.

Salamander: The biggest compliment I can give to Patrick Troughton is that his performance as the villain is so very different from his Doctor that I often forgot that I was watching the same actor. I'm very glad this story was recovered intact in 2013, because the visual elements of the performance are even more impressive than the vocal ones. Troughton doesn't just put on swarthy make-up and alter his voice - He changes his entire body language. The Doctor is soft-spoken and compassionate. Salamander is harsh. Even when he speaks softly, it's in a wheedling way, as he tries to shift every situation to his own advantage. More impressive still is that when the Doctor imitates Salamander, Troughton doesn't completely replicate the Salamander performance - There's something slightly softer, separating the scenes of Doctor-as-Salamander from the scenes with Salamander himself. It is a masterful performance, one that I doubt many of his successors could have matched.


THOUGHTS:

The Enemy of the World was the last complete story recovered, found in 2013 alongside all but one episode of The Web of Fear. When the recovery was announced, fans were enthusiastic... about The Web of Fear. After its release, however, Enemy received one of the most significant reappraisals of any story in the show's history.

I actually always liked this serial. Even in audio form, I found it an engaging departure from the surrounding monster tales. Even so, seeing the actual episodes makes clear how strong it really is. The subtleties of Troughton's performance (or performances) are revealed, as we see his body language shift depending on which character he is playing. The action scenes obviously benefit, particularly the extended chase in Episode One. Benik's sadism is made more manifest by seeing the nonverbal elements of Milton Johns' performance. And the whole thing is revealed to be a lot tighter and better-paced than appeared to be the case on audio. No wonder that it went from being considered "the so-so one" of Season Five to being regarded as possibly its strongest tale!

The "Characters" section demonstrates what a rich cast inhabits this tale.  The only monsters here are of the human variety, with Salamander and Benik coming across as equally vile in different ways. The story is also brimming with characters who appear briefly but make strong impressions. Denesh and his deputy may only be in two episodes, but both characters make a strong impression, as does Fariah (not only a rare role for a woman of color in '60s Who - but a strong and well-characterized one). Other characters are introduced seeming like typical two-dimensional figures, only to be revealed as having more depth by the story's end. David Whitaker, Doctor Who's original script editor, offers an excellent set of scripts, and the regulars and guest cast respond with top-notch performances.

Flaws are relatively minor and typical for '60s Who. Some of the fight choreography is decidedly clunky, and there are a few bad edits - particularly one at the very end of Episdoe Three, that plays for all the world like some transitional shots went missing. The near-future setting helps the story feel a bit more "real"... but then the guards all wear typical silly costumes and carry firearms that look like sci-fi rayguns. If any of these are significant problems for you, though, then I'd advise avoiding all eras of Classic Who.

Overall Rating: 9/10. (Though when it was still missing, and I had only audios and reconstructions to go on, I would likely have awarded it a "7")

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#10 (5.11 - 5.16): The Ice Warriors.

The Doctor's attempt to negotiate doesn't go well...

6 episodes Approx. 147 minutes. Written by: Brian Hayles. Directed by: Derek Martinus. Produced by: Innes Lloyd.


THE PLOT

The TARDIS materializes in a future in which advancing glaciers threaten to create a new Ice Age. Humanity is keeping the ice at bay through a network of stations using Ionisers to melt the ice and halt its advance. But at Brittanicus Base, all is not well. The chief scientist, Penley (Peter Sallis), has left the project over disputes with its leader, Clent (Peter Barkworth), and Clent lacks the expertise to keep the machine working properly. If the base fails, the entire worldwide effort will be doomed.

Which makes the timing less than ideal when would-be archaeologist Arden (George Waring) discovers a warrior encased in ice. He believes he has found a preserved Viking corpse - but when he returns it to the base and begins thawing it, the scientists discover that it is actually an alien, an Ice Warrior from the planet Mars. The warrior, named Varga (Bernard Bresslaw) has been trapped in the ice for centuries, but he is alive - As is his crew!

Varga takes Victoria hostage and retreats back to his ship, along with equipment to wake up the others.  Soon, the Warriors and the scientists find themselves in a stalemate. Varga cannot escape Earth without mercury within the base, and the scientists don't dare use the Ioniser for fear that it might ignite the ship's engines and cause a nuclear catastrophe. The Doctor hopes to solve this through negotiation. Varga has another solution: Total annihilation!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Though his disdainful reaction to "the great computer" ties in with the technophobic themes of much of the story, he isn't idiotically opposed to technology. He acknowledges the computer as a useful tool, even urging Clent to use it to verify his own expertise in the first episode. But he hates having his judgment made subservient to the machine's. When he leaves the base to confront the Ice Warriors, he expresses hope of being able to reason with them, despite the violence they've already inflicted. Even so, his optimism doesn't stop him from preparing a surprise for his own self-defense. He's hopeful that the aliens will be reasonable, but he's ready for them to be monsters.

Jamie: His attraction to Victoria is made explicit late in Episode One. He responds appreciatively to the revealing outfits of the women in the base, and idly asks Victoria if she would ever consider dressing like that - almost certainly baiting the proper young woman to get the exact reaction he does. When she is kidnapped by Varga, he insists that he has to go after her, not even pretending to listen to Clent's insistence that she is a lesser priority to their main task.

Victoria: Her reputation as a mindless screamer continues to be largely undeserved. Not that she doesn't scream - But as in Tomb of the Cybermen, she does so as a tactic as often as not, as when she screams during an escape attempt through an ice cave in order to bring the ice crashing down on a pursuer. She is certainly frightened, but she responds to a terrifying situation with courage.

Penley: This is a story that has aged less well than some of its counterparts.  In a decade where individualism was clearly seen as the greatest virtue, it is clear that we are meant to see Penley as the most admirable guest character... However, Clent is quite right when he accuses him of being a moral coward. On an assignment whose failure would spell the deaths of millions, Penley abandons his post - To all appearances, for no reason other than a bruised ego! When this is directly pointed out to him, he effectively says that it's not his problem.  Our guest hero, ladies and gentlemen!

Clent: That said, Brian Hayles' script refreshingly avoids turning Clent into a one-dimensional cartoon character.  He is an overbearing ass, but he's given several moments that show that he's not only that. In Episode Four, he tries to be conciliatory toward Arden, who is blaming himself for having brought the Ice Warrior back to the base. His manner is awkward and halting, showing his unease at giving compliments or lending comfort. But he makes the effort, and that and similar moments make him a far fuller character than might have been the case.

Ice Warriors: The costume may have been notoriously uncomfortable (and it looks it!), but it's visually striking and the slow movements of the warriors make them feel genuinely alien. As in The Power of the Daleks, the story gains mileage from putting the antagonists in a position of weakness. If Clent and his scientists succeed in melting the ice, then the warriors have no hope of escaping Earth, which puts them in a desperate situation from the moment they wake. It doesn't make them less malevolent, and it's made clear early on that they kill ruthlessly when there is no actual need to do so... But their desperation makes their motives plausible, and creates a parallel with the similar desperation of the humans.


THOUGHTS

The Ice Warriors is unmistakably Sixties, from the outfits worn by the scientists in the base to the ridiculously technophobic themes running through the narrative. It so unapologetically a sixties artifact that it's actually rather charming.

It's a decent story, but not as good as the ones preceding it. The first four episodes do a solid job of establishing the different threads.  The advancing glaciers, the Ice Warriors themselves, and Penley's retreat from his duties complement each other even as these strands converge. It takes a little too much time to do it, though.  A subplot with Penley's scavenger friend, the almost fanatically anti-scientist Storr (Angus Lennie), doesn't particularly advance the story, and largely just repeats themes that were better established elsewhere.  There are far too many scenes of Clent deferring to the computer (we got the point in the first episode, thanks).  All of this results in the feel of a good four parter than has been stretched to fill six parts.

There's also at least one genuinely great scene. On learning that the Ionizer can, at full power, melt rock, the Ice Warriors exult about its power as a weapon. The scientists protest that it is no weapon, but a tool. "I see it differently," the warlike alien replies. And at the end, Penley proves the Warriors correct precisely by using the machine as a weapon, exultantly declaring that the Ionizer "can destroy rock" as he turns it against the enemy.  Is it a tool?  Is it a weapon?  Depending on its application, it is clear that it can be both.

Victoria is captured by an Ice Warrior!

THE MISSING EPISODES

Episodes Two and Three of The Ice Warriors were among the earlier missing episode animations. They are not as effective as many of the later efforts, with limited animation and often blocky movements.  Still, it's good enough to allow the visual element for the missing episodes, complete with some enjoyable bits of physical business from the Doctor. That it looks primitive next to more recent efforts does not change how grateful I am that the BBC chose to start down the road of animation.  Without this and The Reign of Terror, we would never have gotten to far more accomplished presentations such as The Macra Terror.

Overall, The Ice Warriors is very much an artifact of its time. Time hasn't touched the basic storytelling of The Tomb of the Cybermen and The Abominable Snowmen, both of which still compel; but this story has to be viewed in part through the lens of the late 1960s. With that in mind, it remains a good "B" science fiction piece, even if it doesn't rise to the heights of its immediate predecessors.


Overall Rating: 6/10.

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#5-b: The Macra Terror Missing Episode Notes

Jamie comes face to face with The Macra...

After a couple serials that benefited from existing episodes, The Macra Terror returns to "fully missing" stories. Save for a few censor clips (including the particularly memorable Episode 2 cliffhanger) and some brief 8 mm clips, no substantial footage survives.

After the success of the animated release of The Power of the Daleks, The Macra Terrorwas selected as a follow-up.  It was a good choice. It's an excellent story that, to all appearances, suffered from lackluster production and a particularly poor monster.  This new format allows the animators to fix those problems - and they do.

The Macra themselves are the biggest beneficiaries.  Censor clips reveal the originals to be ludicrously fake, even by standards of the time, and all but immobile.  The animated Macra look good.  They are creepy and genuinely alien, blending the script cues of being like both insects and germs.  They move, sometimes quite quickly, and to good effect in scenes that see the creatures menacing Polly and Jamie.  All told, this may be the one time a Doctor Who story is actively improved by virtue of being missing!

My readers may recall that I had issues with the initial animation of Power of the Daleks.  This is from the same animation team... but they appear to have worked out the bugs (along with actually being given enough time to do the job properly).  While there is still the occasional moment that looks off, such as the Doctor and Polly straining to close a door that security guards are trying to force open, these moments are few in number. Movement is smoother, faces are more expressive, and the result is a product that is not merely "better than a still reconstruction," but one that's actually engrossing in its own right.

My review mentions a couple of minor trims.  I regret the elimination of the scene in which the Doctor is cleaned up, only to immediately rumple himself again, as it basically parallels the story as a whole.  Still, the omissions are understandable; they were not plot-critical and were difficult to animate.  If the price of quality is the loss of a brief aside here and there, it is one I can accept.

It wasn't long ago that the prospect of fully-animated releases of missing stories was dismissed as a commercially unviable pipe dream.  To see that dream achieved as well as has been done here, and in service of such a good overall story, is a pleasure.


Previous Releases:

For those who do not enjoy animation, the story's soundtrack was previously given a quality BBC Audio release.  Unlike most stories, narrated by companion actors, this story was narrated by Colin Baker (originally recorded for an audio cassette release in the 1990s).  There are a few uninentional sniggers within the narration, some double-entendres slipping through. Still, the typical clarity of the BBC audio combines with the ability of the listener to summon up an atmospheric setting and a scary monster to make this a viable way to enjoy this story.

The story was also reconstructed by Loose Cannon.  Their original version was their first-ever reconstruction, and the image quality was blurry. It was later redone with better audio and crystal-clear images... Though the very clarity of the images reinforced the weakness of the visual elements. As noted, the animation in this case is almost certainly better than the original television serial.


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#4 (4.23 - 4.26): The Moonbase.

"There are some corners of the universe which have bred
the most terrible things... They must be fought!" 

4 episodes. Approx. 97 minutes. Written by: Kit Pedlar, Gerry Davis (uncredited). Directed by: Morris Barry. Produced by: Innes Lloyd.


THE PLOT

The Doctor's attempt to control the TARDIS goes awry, landing the time travelers on the moon in the late 21st century. Jamie is injured while exploring the lunar surface, but is rescued by workers at an international moonbase. The base, which uses a device called the Gravitron to control Earth's weather, is suffering from a mysterious plague. The disease first hit the base's doctor, then started spreading among the scientists, with seemingly no reason behind it.

Though the Doctor's too-timely arrival draws some suspicion from Hobson (Patrick Barr), the base commander, he is still allowed to investigate. What he discovers are contaminated food stores, spreading an artificial disease designed to leave the base vulnerable to infiltration. The Cybermen have returned, and they are determined to eliminate all threats to their survival - which includes all life on Earth!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: The Moonbase is the story that finally figures out exactly who the Second Doctor is. Gone are the disguises and funny accents of the previous two serials. The humor is still there (as well it should be), but it's used as part of his characterization, rather than being a replacement for characterization. Once he sees the effects of the space plague, we see a seriousness of purpose. He essentially lays out the mission statement of the rest of the Troughton era, as he proclaims: "There are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things, things which act against everything which we believe in. They must be fought!"  Troughton keeps his voice nicely quiet as he delivers it, underplaying against the aggressive nature of the lines.

Ben/Polly: One of the things making Ben and Polly such a good pairing is the way their personalities balance each other out. Ben is cynical, impatient, and aggressive. This can put him into a  leadership role when the Doctor's unable to take that role himself, as when he takes Polly's idea about acetone and turns it into a practical weapon against the Cybermen. But on his own, Ben's impatience would have led him to walk out as soon as Hobson voiced suspicions about the time travelers. Polly balances this out - though on her own, as we saw when she let Zaroff escape, her compassion can override common sense. Between the two of them, they make one fairly impressive human being - which combines with the chemistry between Michael Craze and Anneke Wills to channel a genuine "couples" vibe that hasn't been present in any TARDIS team since Ian and Barbara.

Jamie: While Ben and Polly are reasonably well-treated and the Second Doctor gets his first really good characterization since The Power of the Daleks, Jamie is even worse-used here than in the last story. The scripts having been written before his addition as a regular, script editor Gerry Davis opts to fit him in by knocking him out almost immediately and having him spend the first half of the story unconscious, occasionally waking up to blather about "the phantom piper." Episode Three attempts to create a vague rivalry with Ben for Polly's affections, but this doesn't go anywhere and so isn't particularly interesting on any kind of character level.

Cybermen: The Cybermen's second appearance, after their very well-received debut in The Tenth Planet, and they've been significantly redesigned in the interim. I'm not sure I like all the changes. The sing-song voices of the Tenth Planet Cybermen were more eerie, as were the recognizably human bandaged faces. Here, they are recreated as strictly robots. However, they come across as more formidable here than in their first story, and there's a sense that they truly cannot be reasoned with. In any case, the Moonbase Cybermen work well within this story, but I can see why the design was further altered later.


THOUGHTS

The Moonbase would be an easy story to criticize. After all, just four serials after The Tenth Planet, here's a story that is in many ways a remake. But while the earlier story introduced both the Cybermen and the "base-under-siege" template, The Moonbase refines both. I might personally prefer the original Cybermen, but there's no question but that these are a more polished final product. As is the story, which offers stronger atmosphere and a more effective sense of both menace and claustrophobia.

The script, written by Kit Pedlar and given an extensive rewrite by story editor Gerry Davis, builds tension masterfully. The first two episodes see the Cybermen introduced gradually. The shadow of a Cyberman's head on a wall; a Cyberman's hand, within the Cyber-ship. Even when they are finally seen in Episode Two, Hobson refuses to believe it, insisting that they are all long dead... Right up until the cliffhanger reveal at the end of Episode Two. It's all quite well done, building the menace of the Cybermen in the background while letting the disease plot occupy center stage to keep the pace moving.

Though most of the base crew are one-dimensional, Patrick Barr's Hobson is one of the best-scripted "base commanders" of the Troughton era. In contrast to most of the series' authority figures, he is no imbecile. We see that he's under enormous stress, but he never comes across as unstable, and he clearly has the respect of his men. He maintains his dignity and authority even when his base is held hostage by the Cybermen, and he works well with his second in command, Benoit (Andre Maranne), and with the Doctor in fighting them. If this were rewritten to remove the Doctor Who elements, Hobson would make a pretty good lead for the story without any substantial change to his portrayal.

A comparison of this serial with The Underwater Menace is revealing. Both stories involve a threat to the planet Earth, as witnessed from two-and-a-half sets on a soundstage. Both stories have rather ridiculous elements. The Gravitron seems an outright liability to Earth, given that a few hours of issues with the machine apparently sends the entire Earth into chaos. But The Moonbase establishes an atmosphere of credibility, with the early episodes taking time to show the crew's regular routine. 

This presents a stark contrast to The Underwater Menace, with its generic high priests sacrificing the companions to generic gods, while generic cruel overseers force them to work in generic mines (mining what, exactly?), while a madman plots to destroy the Earth simply because he can. The Moonbase provides little details and tiny moments to make its setting feel somewhat authentic; The Underwater Menace... doesn't.

Lest my praise be too lavish, I should say that the serial's ending is deeply unsatisfying. The Cybermen are defeated at the end in a way that makes sense within the confines of the story, but which just feels like a complete anticlimax. All the tension built up over 3 1/2 episodes evaporates as a gizmo conveniently nullifies the threat. Still, a weak ending doesn't wipe away 3 1/2 episodes that are generally very good to excellent (nor is it the weakest ending to a Troughton Cyberman story). The Moonbase is a simple serial, but it is also an extremely well-executed one.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

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#3 (4.19 - 4.22): The Underwater Menace.

A fish person, on strike.

4 episodes. Approx. 97 minutes. Written by: Geoffrey Orme. Directed by: Julia Smith. Produced by: Innes Lloyd.


THE PLOT

The TARDIS lands on a deserted volcanic island. The Doctor and his companions explore, and promptly get themselves kidnapped. They are whisked down a vast elevator, blacking out from the pressure of their rapid descent. When they wake up, they find themselves in the fabled city of Atlantis!

Though they are intended for a sacrifice to the Atlantean gods, the Doctor is able to sneak a peek at the script and determines that the long-lost Professor Zaroff (Joseph Furst) is in the city. He rescues his friends and himself by arranging an audience with Zaroff, who appreciates the chance to speak with a fellow scientist. But it is soon apparent that Zaroff has gone mad. His promise to raise Atlantis from the sea has proved too much for him, and his mind has cracked into an obsessive focus on a more workable Plan B: Drill through the Earth's crust and drain the surrounding water directly into the Earth's molten core... with the minor side effect of destroying the planet in the process!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: More disguises, as the Doctor dresses up as a priest in Episode Two and hides in a crowd by dressing as a beatnik in Episode Three. Still, the wackiness is already toned down, and there are some pretty good 2nd Doctor bits in here. I liked Troughton's delivery of the Doctor's interrogation of Zaroff in Episode Two, gently asking, "Why do you want to blow up the world," in a tone that suggests a very nice teacher having a patient discussion with a recalcitrant child. His explanation to the priest Ramo (Tom Watson) of the destructiveness of Zaroff's plan is another good moment. Troughton's Doctor may still be slightly unformed, but he's getting there.

Ben/Polly/Jamie: The companions are reduced to the level of character sketches. Polly, clever and plucky in earlier stories, spends a ridiculous amount of this story blubbering and crying - the very thing in the previous story that she criticized Kirsty for! Jamie gets a few decent moments, particularly at the end when he expresses his appreciation for the TARDIS as a place of safety. Ben gets to play the primary support for the Doctor, helping him to bluff his way past Zaroff's (typically idiotic) guards.

Professor Zaroff: Joseph Furst, a highly successful television actor with a long string of credits, was an actor well capable of subtlety. Cast here as a one-dimensional lunatic, he makes the only reasonable acting choice available: He goes for it. Furst zips through The Underwater Menace in a whirlwind, chomping scenery with hungry abandon. The surviving episodes let us see him add wild eyes and facial expressions to the high-pitched ranting, all of which combine to make his work the story's one consistently fun element.

Contrary to fan myth, he actually does stay on the right side of the line from self-parody, and his delivery of the infamous, "Nothing in the world can stop me now!" is far more reasonable than its reputation. Among other things, he clearly does NOT say "Nuzzink in ze vorld can shtop me now" - His actual delivery features all the words pronounced correctly, in his normal (and far from thick) accent. Far more risible is his transparent ruse to escape from Polly and Ramo the random priest. "Help me to stand at your side, so I may feel the aura of your goodness," he gasps while feigning a heart attack. Polly, having lost all her previous intelligence, instantly falls for it. It would have been more believable if he had escaped while his two captors fell all over themselves laughing at the line.


THOUGHTS

What is there to say about a story like The Underwater Menace? Certainly, it's cheap and silly. But so what? "Cheap and silly" describes a large percentage of Doctor Who, after all, even extending into the modern series. So what if Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines, and Michael Craze run about a very small soundstage doing bad silent comedy to entice Joseph Furst into fake-chasing them? So what if we see multiple scenes of the characters hiding behind a ledge from a bad recording of repetitive chanting? The villain's motivation begins and ends with "He's crazy," with no real ambition or focus beyond simple insanity. But again, so what? In Doctor Who, any of these are forgivable sins. Even, potentially, all of them.

Unfortunately, The Underwater Menace is guilty of something far worse: It's boring.

Part One would barely cut it as a 3-minute teaser to a modern episode. Part Two, the best episode (and now, thankfully, one of the two surviving ones) has good scenes with the Doctor indulging Zaroff's insanity, then proving himself to Ramo. But even this episode also features multiple scenes of Ben and Jamie wandering around generic mines with a pair of one note guest characters, padding out the running time without doing anything amusing or interesting.

Part Three, which prior to 2011 was the sole existing episode, is also the serial's worst. The entire 25 minutes sees Thous, the ruler of Atlantis, turn the Doctor and Ramo over to Zaroff. They escape, then capture Zaroff. Then Zaroff escapes, returns to Thous, and shoots him. It would be the work of about ten minutes (if that) to rewrite the serial to eliminate this episode entirely.  Part Four at least has a bit of action to it and an enjoyable (if silly) Doctor/Zaroff confrontation... But it remains a bit leaden.

Thank God for Patrick Troughton, who keeps the Doctor's intelligence keen and clear, even when the script demands he behave like a fool. He often underplays his scenes, keeping the Doctor calm, quiet, and observant even in the midst of this silliness. I can't really say that he and Joseph Furst play well opposite each other; their scene together at the start of Episode Three sees both actors missing cues and leaving dead space in between lines. But he's terrific overall, and his performance goes a long way toward keeping this mess halfway watchable.

It's still bad, though. Almost certainly Troughton's worst story, and a strong contender for the worst serial of Doctor Who's entire black-and-white era.


Rating: 2/10.

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#2 (4.15 - 4.18): The Highlanders.

The Doctor, making new friends.

4 episodes. Approx. 97 minutes. Written by: Elwyn Jones, Gerry Davis. Directed by: Hugh David. Produced by: Innes Lloyd.


THE PLOT

The Doctor, Ben, and Polly find themselves in Scotland during the bloody aftermath of the Battle of Culloden. The Doctor and Ben are soon captured by British redcoats, along with an injured Scottish laird and his piper, Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines). Though initially marked for execution, they instead end up at the mercy of the self-serving Solicitor Grey (David Garth).

Grey has made arrangements with the evil Captain Trask (Dallas Cavell) to transport Scottish prisoners to the West Indies as slaves... which will ultimately mean a lingering death for the Scots. The Doctor uses his wits to escape and plot his next move. Meanwhile, Polly teams with Kirsty McLaren (Hannah Gordon), the Laird's daughter, to attempt a rescue - if her headstrong nature doesn't get them captured first!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Patrick Troughton's second story. After his phenomenal debut, you'd think that all the writers would need to do is maintain and fine-tune that characterization. Unfortunately, the script for The Highlanders doesn't seem to quite know what to do with him. There's an attempt to use Troughton's background as a character actor by having him don a series of comedy disguises. This results in one highly amusing scene in Episode Two, as he gets the better of Grey and his hapless clerk Perkins. But after that, the parade of outfits becomes increasingly tired.

Polly: Polly, however, gets probably her series-best showing, as she pushes Kirsty to action in rescuing the Doctor, Ben, and Jamie. After Kirsty begins to give up and sob early in Episode Two, Polly responds with disgust.  "Don't the girls of your time do anything but cry?" she demands. Her teasing relationship with Lt. Algernon Ffinch (Michael Elwyn) is a particular highlight, as she blackmails him into assisting her at several points throughout the story.

Ben: Plays the "action hero" role, using a Houdini-inspired trick to escape from Trask and then helping to lead the charge against Trask's men at the end. His role is the least interesting of the regulars, though he is proactive throughout and remains likable.

Jamie: Frazer Hines' Jamie wasn't really intended to become a regular when this story was scripted, and it shows. Though Hines is perfectly fine, Jamie isn't afforded much characterization beyond simple loyalty to his Laird. Hines does show some decent comic timing in some of Jamie's exchanges with the Doctor and Ben, though, and he plays well opposite Troughton and Craze, which is likely why his tenure was unexpectedly extended.


THOUGHTS

The Highlanders is a noteworthy story for the series for two reasons. It represents both a last and a first. It was the last historical story until Season 19's Black Orchid. With that one exception, every Dr. Who story after this one would feature some science fiction elements, occasionally to the stories' detriment.

The other item of note is the introduction of Frazer Hines as Jamie, the second doctor's definitive companion and (in terms of number of Doctor Who episodes) the longest-serving Who companion to date.

The story itself is largely unremarkable, and suffers from mining Robert Louis Stevenson territory so soon after The Smugglers (which was also, in my opinion, better). Still, there is plenty to like here. There's a real sense of danger as Polly and Kirsty first hide from the English soldiers, then push themselves to interact with them. No bones are made about the conduct of the English toward the Scottish rebels; despite a strong vein of humor running through the Doctor's disguises and Polly's scenes with Ffinch, the overall tone is effectively grim.

One thing this story does very well is to develop a steady theme of greed and corruption. Every representative of the British government seen in the story is corrupt to some extent. The British soldiers are combing the Scottish countryside, looking not just for wounded Jacobites to slaughter, but also for any plunder they can walk away with. Ffinch and his men are first seen complaining about how little the army has left for them to loot. When they capture the Doctor, Ben, and Jamie, their first expression is disgust at the slim pickings.

Even pettier are the soldiers working under Solicitor Grey, who eagerly extend their palms at virtually every interaction. Trask betrayed the Annabelle's true captain to seize the ship and use it for his own profit. But the ultimate face of corruption is that of Grey himself, who has sold out his office to cash in on the slave trade. Appropriately, it is the greed of Trask and Grey that the Doctor uses to create the opportunity for their undoing.

Guest performances are generally good, with Michael Elwyn's Ffinch and David Garth's Solictor Grey standing out. The script even gives some strong characterization to Willie Macay (Andrew Downey), a minor character who nevertheless gets an excellent scene in Episode Three as he talks to the other prisoners about the conditions in the West Indies plantations. Less good is Dallas Cavell, whose Trask is so overexaggerated that Capt. Jack Sparrow appears positively subdued by comparison.

The Highlanders is better than it probably should be. It's one pirate-themed story too many for Season Four, and the writers are visibly struggling with Patrick Troughton's Doctor. But if it's unremarkable, it at least deserves credit for being entertaining.


Rating: 6/10.

The Highlanders Missing Episode Notes

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