#21 (6.35 - 6.44): The War Games.

The Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe find themselves
on a World War I battlefield - or so it appears...

10 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 241 minutes. Written by: Terrance Dicks, Malcolm Hulke. Directed by: David Maloney. Produced by: Derrick Sherwin.


THE PLOT:

The Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe materialize in the middle of No Man's Land in 1917 - right on the front lines of the First World War! They are rescued by Lt. Carstairs (David Savile), a British army officer, and Lady Jennifer (Jane Sherwin), a nurse, who escort them back to friendly territory. And that's when strange things start happening...

Two of the three officers they meet seem willing enough to believe that they are harmless. Until their superior, Gen. Smythe (Noel Coleman) puts on his glasses and declares that the Doctor and his friends are spies - at which point the other men agree not in a subservient way, but rather as if the matter had been fully proven. Zoe finds futuristic communications equipment hidden in the general's office. Finally, when they do manage to escape, they pass through a mist... and find themselves confronted by soldiers of the Roman Empire!

They soon realize that they aren't on Earth at all. They are on another world, where the ruling aliens have abducted soldiers from throughout Earth's history for a particularly vicious experiment. The Doctor immediately sets to work, organizing a resistance movement to foil the aliens' plans. But given the scope of the threat, this may be one time he can't fix everything on his own...


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: Patrick Troughton's final story is a showcase for his Doctor. At several points, he uses flattery to ingratiate himself to his enemies, gaining their trust long enough to learn how they are brainwashing ("processing") the human soldiers and gaining control of the tools that will allow him to undo it. He firmly rejects escaping in the TARDIS, because he refuses to leave all these human soldiers stranded on an alien world. It's this last that leads to the Second Doctor's end. By the end of Episode Nine, he's thwarted the villains' plans; but getting the survivors back to their proper times and places is beyond his abilities, leaving him no choice but to call on his people, the Time Lords.

Jamie: He's come a long way since The Highlanders. In that story, he was quick to suspect the Doctor of betrayal; even as late as Evil of the Daleks, he was mistrustful of the Doctor's motives. By this point, he has unshakeable faith in his friend, and he is the one who stands up for him when others doubt him. He is also briefly placed in charge of the resistance group, to which he reacts first with shock and then pride. All of this growth is wonderful to see - though the story's ending lends a certain poignancy to it.

Zoe: When she and the Doctor infiltrate the enemy base, Zoe ends up being captured and interrogated... and in the process is told the names and locations of all the resistance leaders. Her photographic memory results in that information being put to good use. She also shows leadership abilities of her own, first when she leads a group of resistance fighters to rescue the Doctor and Jamie, and later when she guides Jamie in negotiations with misogynistic resistance leader Arturo Villar (Michael Napier Brown).

Lt. Carstairs: The trio's primary ally for this story. Carstairs is the only guest character to appear in all episodes of the serial (though his appearance in Episode Ten is limited to a reprise of the previous installment). Initially skeptical of the Doctor, he ends up helping him after he is shown the communications technology in Gen. Smythe's office. Early episodes see him forming a bond with Lady Jennifer, and early hints about the larger situation are fed to us in a conversation between the two in which they try to remember how they found themselves in their current situation.

Lady Jennifer: She is the first to meet the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe, and also the first to believe them. She pushes Carstairs to help them. While the Doctor convinces Carstairs that something unusual is happening, Lady Jennifer distracts Gen. Smythe's aide, Ransom (Hubert Rees). Her role diminishes as the story progresses, however, and she is unceremoniously written out midway through. Jane Sherwin, wife of producer Derrick Sherwin, is likeable and appealing enough that I was a bit unhappy to see the character dropped, though at least she gets namechecked near the end.

War Lord: The War Lord is frequently mentioned, but he doesn't actually appear until Episode Seven. His entrance is memorable, as he interrupts the squabbling War Chief and Security Chief. He makes his displeasure known not through explosive ranting, but through a far more unnerving quiet calm. When the Security Chief claims that problems are temporary, the War Lord grins and says he assumes that means they have now been resolved; the grin and tone of voice are perfectly calm, and unmistakably threatening. Philip Madoc is pure icy malevolence, and his War Lord stands as easily the best villain of Season Six... and probably one of the greatest one-shot villains the series ever saw.

War Chief: Edward Brayshaw's War Chief is another good villain in a story that has several of them. A member of the Doctor's race gone rogue, he has brought the War Lord the secrets of time travel, making the war game experiment possible. He and the Doctor immediately recognize each other, as well, with the War Chief hoping to persuade the Doctor to join him. As a character, he's all but indistinguishable from The Master, and it's hardly surprising that fan theories have cropped up that he's a pre-Delgado incarnation of that character (though the novel Divided Loyalties says otherwise).

The War Lord (Philip Madoc) confers with the
War Chief (Edward Brayshaw) - a Time Lord!

"YOUR TRAVELS ARE OVER":

The War Games was not just the final story for the Second Doctor, but also the finale for 1960s Who. Prior to this story, the Doctor was a traveler, his background a complete enigma. By the end of these ten episodes, we know that he is a Time Lord, we see his home planet, and we know that his travels began with the theft of the TARDIS. In short, the majority of the character's backstory for the remainder of the series is established here.

Many "event episodes" of television series claim that "nothing will ever be the same." This is one time that such a claim is actually true.


"THE WAR GAMES ON THIS PLANET ARE SIMPLY THE MEANS TO AN END..."

The War Games was not originally intended to span ten episodes. Season Six proved to be a particularly chaotic one behind the scenes. Multiple stories fell through, and in the end script editor/co-writer Terrance Dicks was forced to add episodes to this serial.

I can't pretend this doesn't show in the end result. The story is infamous for how much of it is made up of the capture/escape/recapture formula, to the point that even Jamie cries out "Oh, not again!" at one point.

Still, the story holds its extreme length remarkably well. There may be padding, but no full episode is left to just run in place. Each new part brings with it some revelation and advances some thread. Sure, the characters get captured and rescued in some way in practically every episode... but the pace feels surprisingly fast, the story always finding a way to push forward.

I will say that The War Games is better suited to modern viewing, watching clusters of episodes over a few days, than it was to its original 1969 airing. I viewed it over four days, in groups of 2 - 3 episodes, and was consistently engaged. Had I been left to view one episode per week over roughly two months, however, I suspect I would have tired of it.


"I WILL TAKE CHARGE... THIS IS WHAT I PLAN TO DO."

I've noted in past reviews that Douglas Camfield was Doctor Who's first great director. Well, I'd rank David Maloney, director of this story, as the series' second. One thing that stands out to me about this story is how frequently the camera moves. Shots pull back or move in on characters or pan to reveal and reframe them. Character staging is carefully done. In arguments between the War Chief and the Security Chief, for example, the two shift within the frame to take dominant positions depending on who is winning the argument at a given moment.

Maloney also recognizes the power of stillness. The War Lord is instantly more powerful than his feuding chiefs, by virtue of his quiet voice and icy demeanor. The all but emotionless Time Lords are more powerful still, their authority emphasized by their calm and lack of movement within frame. Maloney also emphasizes their power through separation. The War Lord is usually framed with significant space between him and his underlings. The Time Lords are mostly scene in fully different shots from the Doctor or the War Lord; when they are in the same shot, they are at a distance.

All of this seems simple enough when describing it... But The War Games feels instantly more dynamic and impactful than most Doctor Who stories, and these visual techniques have much to do with that.

The Time Lords put the Doctor on trial.

"YOU HAVE BROKEN OUR LAWS. YOU MUST FACE YOUR TRIAL."

The War Games is bookended by scenes in which the Doctor is put on trial. Episode One sees the Doctor undergoing a blatantly biased "court martial" by Gen. Smythe, culminating in a sentence of death. It goes without saying that the Doctor escapes from Smythe's firing squad... but his trials are far from over.

In the last episode just as the first, the Doctor is put on trial. This time it's by his own people, who unlike Smythe at least allow him to defend himself. Still, the result is much the same. He is sentenced to change his appearance - to regenerate, although that term would not be coined until the next change of Doctor. Effectively, it's a death sentence for this particular incarnation of the Doctor, and it is carried out with a brutal lack of emotion.

The final scene is of the Second Doctor's "execution." The scene actually starts out somewhat comical, with the Doctor protesting his treatment and then crying that the Time Lord are "making (him) giddy." Gradually, it becomes disturbing; multiple images of the Doctor's face swirl around a black void as the Doctor moans in pain. Our final sight of him sees him spinning away into the darkness, crying out against his fate.


OVERALL:

Though Season Six is one of the more uneven seasons of Doctor Who's black-and-white era, The War Games proves to be a superb finale: for the season, for Patrick Troughton's Doctor, and for 1960s Who in general. Sure, it's a few episodes longer than it needed to be, but the script takes care to keep the story moving forward, while David Maloney's direction is outstanding.

It all adds up to a story that's a must-see not only for its importance to the franchise, but for its quality as an excellent example of top-tier Classic Who.


Overall Rating: 10/10.

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#18 (6.19 - 6.22): The Krotons.

Jamie is menaced by a Quark! ...er, a Kroton.

4 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 90 minutes. Written by: Robert Holmes. Directed by: David Maloney. Produced by: Peter Bryant.


THE PLOT:

The humanoid Gonds live their lives under the law of the Krotons. That's the way of things, ever since the Krotons arrived on their planet many generations ago. The brightest male and female students of each generation's class are sent to the Krotons: in this case, the male is Abu (Terence Brown) and the female is Vana (Madeleine Mills).

The Doctor and his companions have no reason to expect trouble. Not until they find a mysterious machine just in time to see Abu ejected and executed. When Vana is similarly ejected, the Doctor acts quickly to rescue her, though she remains in a catatonic state.

The time travelers soon learn that the Gonds' entire society is built around the Krotons. In effect, the invaders have created "a form of self-perpetuating slavery." When the Doctor reveals the killings of the selected students, a faction of Gonds prepare to rebel. Led by the ambitious Eelek (Philip Madoc), this group ignores warnings that force will not work against such a technologically superior foe.

For the most part, the Doctor ignores Eelek's group. Force won't work - but if he can get into the machine, he may find a way to turn the tables on these oppressors...


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: Tasked with carrying an unimpressive story, Patrick Troughton responds with a flurry of comedy business, enlivening small moments to keep the serial engaging. The first episode sees the Doctor hiding behind his umbrella, then later pulling an exaggeratedly crestfallen face when the umbrella falls prey to "dispersal." He fumbles with machines, gets flustered while trying to match Zoe's score on the Kroton "learning machines," and deliberately puts a headset on wrong while playing for time. Given that for a long time in the 1980s, this was the only Troughton story broadcast, I can't help but think that it's at least partially responsible for his exaggerated reputation as a "comedy Doctor" (something that, bits of business aside, he most of the time definitely wasn't).

Zoe: Promises Jamie that she'll keep the Doctor out of mischief. But she's the one who can't resist starting up one of the Kroton learning machines, which sets off the crisis that occupies the rest of the story. The Doctor tells her not to blame herself - But given that this makes three stories in a row in which her impulsiveness has made matters worse, it's only actress Wendy Padbury's engaging screen presence which keeps this character likeable at this point.

Jamie: His loyalty to the Doctor and Zoe shows after they are taken into the Kroton machine. Jamie pries at the door tirelessly until it finally opens, then doesn't hesitate in going straight in. Classic padding in a sense, because by this time the Doctor and Zoe have already escaped - but it's also perfectly in character. Less in character is his moment of doubt that the Doctor and Zoe might leave without him; by now, he should be completely confident that the Doctor would not abandon him (or, indeed, flee from the Krotons of all things after all the far more formidable enemies they've faced).


THOUGHTS:

A Doctor Who serial written by Robert Holmes and directed by David Maloney, and featuring Philip Madoc's first series guest appearance! The definition of Who bliss, right?

Unfortunately, this was Robert Holmes' first Doctor Who script, and it would take a few tries for him to really hit his stride. Still, I don't think The Krotons is as bad as it's frequently made out to be. Even here, Holmes understands both structure and pacing. The story moves along at a fair clip by 1960s Who standards, and it actually does a reasonable job of using the first three episodes to set up the manner of the Krotons' defeat in the final part.

David Maloney was always a highly visual director. Given that this serial features location filming in the same quarry used by The Dominators, it's interesting to compare the two. In The Dominators, Morris Barry was content to give us a very good view of the quarry; in this serial, David Maloney keeps the camera tight on the regulars, doing as much as he can to avoid spoiling the illusion of being on another world.

Both stories also feature rather silly-looking robots. We almost always saw the Quarks in The Dominators in full, all the better to giggle at them. In this story, the Krotons are regularly shot from below to try to make them appear more threatening; and in many shots, particularly in Episodes Two and Three, we only see bits of them, with the focus more on the human actors, helping to somewhat obscure them. Episode Three even offers a (rather overly) sustained tracking shot from a Kroton's point-of-view. Both are mediocre stories, but there's a legitimate effort being made to at least present The Krotons with a measure of style.

If I'm not saying too much about the story itself, it's because there isn't much to say. The first two episodes do a fair job of building intrigue around the mysterious Kroton "machine." Once the Krotons are revealed in all their generic robotic glory, however, most of the initial interest vanishes. The rest of the story follows two tracks, neither very interesting: the "A" plot sees the Krotons trying to recapture the Doctor and Zoe; the "B" plot pads the runtime with a generic power grab by Philip Madoc's Eelek - a subplot so perfunctory that it isn't even particularly resolved at the end.

Even so, these four episodes are briskly paced, and manage to use all three regulars to good effect. As bread-and-butter Who goes, it's reasonably entertaining nonsense. Patrick Troughton and script editor Terrance Dicks might have derided this as among the worst of their respective tenures, but I'd rather re-watch this than at least two other stories from this very season...


Overall Rating: 5/10.

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#13 (5.29 - 5.34): Fury from the Deep.

Maggie Harris (June Murphy) is menaced by
Mr. Oak and Mr. Quill (John Gill and Bill Burridge).

6 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 141 minutes. Written by: Victor Pemberton. Directed by: Hugh David. Produced by: Peter Bryant.


THE PLOT:

The TARDIS materializes near a Euro Sea Gas refinery, where the Doctor and his friends are quickly put under guard as potential saboteurs. All is not well at the refinery, which is steadily losing contact with its drilling rigs, even as the central line feeding gas from the rigs experiences an unexplained drop in output. Robson (Victor Maddern), the man in charge of the station, refuses to shut down the line to check for blockages, and ignores his experts when they advise him to do so.

The Doctor manages to gain the confidence of Robson's second-in-command, scientist Frank Harris (Roy Spencer). Investigating, he and his friends soon discover the cause of the gas drop. There is something in the line: Seaweed. Not normal seaweed, but a sentient life form, with the ability to take over the minds of those it comes in contact with. There are already workers at the refinery under its control - and as they lose communication with the other sea rigs, the Doctor comes to suspect that this malevolent force is preparing for a full-scale invasion!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: The seriousness of the situation is conveyed by the Doctor's own reaction to it. Starting in Episode Three, the Second Doctor's sillier side drops away almost completely, with him intently focused on the problem. At one point, he admits that he does not know how to proceed. Only in Episode Six, after he has figured out the solution, does his accustomed flippancy return.

The Second Doctor may be the most purely kind incarnation.  He observes Victoria's growing fear and her exhaustion at being afraid, and he realizes that she wants - maybe even needs - to stop traveling. When she seems reluctant to say so, he gently asks her if she wants to leave them. He also stops Jamie from pressuring her, telling him that Victoria must make that decision for herself. In every respect, he shows an understanding and maturity not always seen in the other incarnations.

Jamie: Remains absolutely protective of Victoria... which doesn't put him above teasing her. Before the story proper starts, Episode One features a wonderful family moment as the three play in the snow-like foam. As Victoria laughs at the Doctor's and Jamie's antics, the two exchange a glance, then pick her up and deposit her bodily into the substance. In Episode Three, as Jamie carefully bags a sample of seaweed for the Doctor, he pauses to tease Victoria with it, shaking the bag to create the illusion of movement. When Victoria begins to give voice to her fear and doubts, Jamie doesn't seem to truly comprehend - likely in part because he doesn't want to. Still, when she decides to leave, he is respectful of her decision, only showing his true level of upset once he is alone with the Doctor.

Victoria: Gets the best companion exit since Susan's. Victoria loves the Doctor and Jamie - they're her family, and potentially something more than that in Jamie's case. But being constantly under threat by monsters (who have a knack of regularly kidnapping her) has worn her down. The first two episodes see her behaving more or less as she normally does. But as the tension increases, she displays increasing unhappiness. "Every time we go anywhere, something awful happens!" she cries. "Why can't we go anywhere pleasant?" Deborah Watling's performance is her best of the series, and her entire farewell arc is startlingly well-scripted.

Robson/Harris: Somewhat reminiscent of The Ice Warriors, in that the two of them together would make for an ideal leader. Robson is mule-headed in his refusal to listen to anyone who contradicts him, but he does know his job - and the script wisely allows him to show it at one point, when he succeeds in preventing a gas explosion that others are certain will occur. Harris doesn't ignore inconvenient facts the way Robson does; but when he's actually put in charge in the later episodes, he lacks the ability to act decisively, with the Doctor and official Megan Jones (Margaret John) having to repeatedly talk him out of simply evacuating and leaving the refinery to the seaweed.

Oak and Quill: Seaweed can't convey the personality, or malice, of a human villain. That's where the seaweed-controlled Oak and Quill come in. Bill Burridge and John Gill make an intensely creepy pair; the old Tom Baker-narrated audio compared them to "Laurel and Hardy," but their presence is far too malevolent for that. The clip of the pair subduing Harris's wife, Maggie (June Murphy), still exists - ironically saved from oblivion by virtue of being cut by Australian censors. It's easy to see why the scene was snipped. The imagery evokes a sexual assault, from the way the two grin at their victim through to the close-ups of their opening mouths and the cutaways to Maggie's reactions as she struggles and collapses. I'd rank it as easily the most disturbing scene of Classic Who - and it would give much of the New Series a run for its money, too!

Victoria is attacked by seaweed in the animated version!

THOUGHTS:

"Doctor Who Versus the Killer Seeweed!" By all rights, this story should be either laughable, or tedious, or both. It's yet another base-under-siege story from a season that's arguably delivered a couple too many of them. It replicates the formula of the pig-headed base commander who refuses to listen to his advisors. The monster is seaweed. The way it's defeated... Well, I won't spoil it, but if I were to write it here it would sound silly on the face of it.

Fury from the Deep doesn't overcome these issues; rather, it transforms them into integral parts of the whole. Victor Pemberton's scripts weave each of these potentially silly components into a slow starting but steadily building thriller. The atmosphere is strong throughout, and comes through (and in places, is likely enhanced) in the animation as well. The entire serial is carefully structured, with elements that play major roles in the final two episodes carefully planted in the first two parts. Even the cliffhangers add to the atmosphere, with Episode Three's quietly eerie ending, as a possessed character walks out to sea, leaving viewers on a disquieting note.

Sadly, this is another missing story. Even in audio-only form, I found it to be one of Troughton's best, and it has long ranked near the top of my "Most Wished For" returns list. Well, it hasn't been found... But it has been animated, and quite well too. I'm happy that this story was held back until the animation team had time to hone their craft, because this is by far the best missing story animation to date. The Macra Terror and The Faceless Ones were effectively brought to life, but both stories had occasional moments that looked stiff or awkward. Those moments are all but nonexistent here. The animation team clearly realized that this story's effectiveness came from its atmosphere, making choices at every turn to build and enhance the sense of eeriness. Skewed camera angles, careful intercutting between events and pulsating bits of seaweed, and (in the color version) use of green hues all make this Earthbound tale feel decidedly otherworldly.

The battle with the seaweed ends with almost ten minutes left in the story. This allows multiple scenes to focus on Victoria's exit. Classic Doctor Who rarely focused on emotional exits; really, only Susan's, Victoria's, and Jo's spring to mind as receiving this level of focus. By reserving more than a third of the final episode to the departure, as well as building it throughout the preceding episodes, Fury from the Deep manages a strong, emotional finale, with the Doctor's and Jamie's final exchange closing it out perfectly.


Overall Rating: 10/10. I've changed my mind. The Power of the Daleks remains exceptional... But I would rank this as Troughton's finest story.

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#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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#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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#3-b: The Underwater Menace Missing Episode Notes

Episodes Two and Three of The Underwater Menace survive, making them the earliest Troughton episodes known to exist. I'm sure we'd all rather have two episodes of The Power of the Daleks instead. Even two of the parts of The Highlanders would be preferable.  Still, existing episodes are inherently better than missing ones, and there is something oddly fitting about this serial having both it best (Episode Two) and worst (Episode Three) parts intact.

The recovery of Episode Two in 2011 paved the way for a home video release of this story.  However, unlike other missing stories that are 50% or more complete, the BBC opted not to animate the missing parts of this one - almost certainly a response to its poor reputation.  Instead, the missing episodes are represented via still reconstruction.  It's perfectly acceptable as a way to experience the story - But in an age where the audience has come to expect animations of missing episodes, it feels like what it is: a cheap copout.  The saddest thing about it?  Given the overall tone of the piece, this is a story that would probably work better in animation than in live action.

For those who prefer to experience non-animated missing episodes through audio, there was a release of the full surviving soundtrack, cleaned up with some linking narration by Anneke Wills. As with most early Who serials, the story is very dialogue-driven. Part One even sees Polly telling the audience that she's tied up, then telling us that they are going down in the elevator. The same dialogue in a Big Finish audio would earn complaints about "overly descriptive dialogue."

Whichever method is chosen, however, the weak story and hammy performances are tough to get past. Unless you want something campy to laugh at, I'd tend to label The Underwater Menace as one for completists only.


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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.

The Underwater Menace Missing Episode Notes

Previous Story: The Highlanders
Next Story: The Moonbase

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#1 (4.9 - 4.14): The Power of the Daleks

"Daleks, conquer and destroy!"

6 episodes. Written by: David Whitaker. Directed by: Christopher Barry. Produced by: Innes Lloyd.


THE PLOT

The Doctor has changed. As the TARDIS leaves Antarctica, Ben and Polly discover that the white-haired old eccentric has gone, leaving a dark-haired stranger (Patrick Troughton) in his place. Polly is convinced that he is still the Doctor, with a changed appearance.  Ben is not so sure... and this Doctor's enigmatic behavior does little to ease his worries.

Not that there's much time for worry. The TARDIS lands on the colony world of Vulcan, a site devoted to the mining of mercury. The Doctor encounters an Earth Examiner - who is immediately murdered in front of him. Thinking fast, the Doctor assumes the identity of the Examiner and ascertains that all is not well with this colony. Hensell (Peter Bathurst), the governor, is too eager to make all seem well, to the point that he refuses to acknowledge any issues. Quinn (Nicholas Hawtry), the lieutenant governor, has concerns about rebels, but finds resistance from the security chief, Bragen (Bernard Archard) - a man with an agenda all his own.

Tensions within the colony have created a powder-keg. And the chief scientist, Lesterson (Robert James), has just made a discovery that will set it alight: A 200-year-old capsule, found in a pool of mercury, made of a metal that has not corroded in all that time. Three metal casings are within. Lesterson has discovered the Daleks - and with the colony's power supply, he is about to bring them to life!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: David Whitaker's script shrewdly plays on an audience's inherent mistrust of a recast lead, making the companions react along with the audience. The Doctor initially doesn't even refer to himself as such. In Episode One, he refers to the old Doctor as "the Doctor," and in Episode Two refers to Hartnell's Doctor as "the proper Doctor." It is only after the second episode - when a Dalek reacts to the Doctor with recognition - that the story stops questioning his identity.

From that point on, the focus is on the Doctor's efforts to stop the Daleks, with the colony's various factions standing in his way.  By the end, Patrick Troughton's character has gone from stranger to trusted heroic figure, with the Second Doctor firmly cemented as the series' new lead. Quite a feat, and the series was fortunate that a writer as capable as Whitaker was available for this critical transition.

Ben: He spends the first two episodes distrusting the new Doctor. "He doesn't even act like him!" he protests, as the Second Doctor behaves in a mercurial fashion in the early TARDIS scenes. Ben grills him as to why he looks different, why his cloak and ring will no longer fit. He grumbles, as the Doctor pretends to be the Examiner, that it's "hard to accept" that he's the Doctor. Only when the Dalek recognizes him does he finally accept his identity, and even then he seems less inclined to trust his judgment than he has in the past.

Ben and Polly have always been among my favorite "overlooked" companions, and this serial is a fine example as to what I enjoy about them. They are anything but reluctant adventurers, throwing themselves in with enthusiasm. Ben, as played by Michael Craze, has a refreshing skepticism - not only of the Doctor, but of the various figures they meet. He instantly dislikes the officious Bragen, suspects Quinn because of the evidence against him, and tends to believe the worst of people. As they try to determine which person in the Colony summoned the Examiner in the first place, it is Ben who dismisses the governor as a possibility. "Governors are all alike," he says, noting that if the governor called for help, it would be like admitting he wasn't up to the job.

Polly: She immediately accepts the new Doctor for who he is (amusingly insisting, "He is the Doctor, I know he is... I think"). In contrast to Ben, she inherently believes the best in people. She insists Quinn could not possibly be guilty, saying that she can just tell that Quinn is "all right." It's a shame the animation in the official release is so limited, as one of Anneke Wills' strengths is her wonderfully expressive face.  Ben and Polly have tended to be overlooked and/or dismissed as companions, due in part I suspect to how few of their stories survived the purge.  I believe that view is changing, likely in no small part because of the animations making their stories more widely available to the public.


THE DALEKS

The first Dalek serial to be written with no real Terry Nation input. David Whitaker shows what I've often believed, which is that the Daleks themselves had more potential than was demonstrated by Nation's often-routine potboilers. Whitaker makes the Daleks effective by putting them into a position of weakness for the first time since their first story. There are initially only three Daleks, and they are powerless.

The Daleks size up the colony as quickly as the Doctor does, and they play on the various agendas. To Lesterson, they are a discovery that will revolutionize the colony. To Hensell, they are a potential workforce that will increase production - and make his bosses back on Earth grateful. To Bragen and the rebels, they are a weapon, to be used to subdue an enemy. The Daleks play each role as it is demanded of them, all the while insisting that they are the humans' servants. It is only as they gain power - both literally and in terms of control over the colony - that they take on a more sinister bent, waiting for the right moment in Episode Six to teach these humans "the law of the Daleks."

This ability to manipulate human nature sets Whitaker's Daleks above Terry Nation's Daleks, and makes them far more sinsiter. A Dalek whose only response to a human is to either enslave or exterminate is, ultimately, a rather one-note creation. A Dalek who can play on human ambition, can probe a man's weak spots and turn those to its advantage: That's a formidable foe. "We understand the human mind," a Dalek proudly announces. The scary thing is, based on the evidence of this story... They do!

I quite enjoy Peter Hawkins' Dalek voices. He has a deeper pitch, both more calculating and more menacing than the later Dalek voices. It's also a pitch that's well-suited to some of the surprisingly thoughtful lines given to the Daleks here.  I love the genuine confusion in the Dalek's voice when it wonders, "Why do human beings kill human beings?" The Daleks don't utter their catch-phrase until late in Episode Five, when they finally have manipulated their way back into a position of strength.


THOUGHTS

What is there to say about The Power of the Daleks that hasn't been said over and over again on fan forums during the past few years? It's a splendidly-constructed story, with an initially gradual pace that tightens as it goes, until the tension can't help but explode. It sees the Daleks at their most formidable, while offering a near-perfect transition from Hartnell's Doctor to Troughton's, easing viewers into accepting a new Doctor at a time when the thought that there could be a new Doctor was rather revolutionary.

When I first watched the Loose Cannon recon of The Power of the Daleks, it was in the midst of getting back into Doctor Who after a very long time away.  Power was only the second recon I watched, and I was absolutely enthralled. The story was extremely suspenseful, and the Troughton Doctor was magical - a bit of a clown, but never too much of one; keenly observant yet vaguely absent-minded; and just a slight bit sinister. The story had a wealth of tiny clips bringing it to life in its first two episodes. And by the time the clips disappeared, I was too engrossed in the narrative to care. It was clearly a cut above the videos of The Brain of Morbius and Revenge of the Cybermen that I had watched prior to that point, and I declared Troughton my favorite Doctor on the spot (he's since slipped a couple of slots, but he's still well up there).

When I went online to look up this story - which was surely the very best the series had to offer - I was stunned to discover that, by and large, Power was barely mentioned. When it was mentioned, it seemed to be dismissed as an OK-at-best serial that was far outstripped by the 7-part Evil of the Daleks, which was when fandom decreed that David Whitaker had really gotten it right.

That's why it's been such a blessing to see this story's renaissance within fandom over the past few years. As the missing serials have become more and more available, mainly thanks to the excellent BBC audio range and now thanks to animation, "Received Fan Wisdom" has receded to an extent, and I entered into fandom in time to witness a lot of stories' reputations start shifting. While Evil remains well-regarded (as it should be), I have been pleased to see Power's reputation erupt, to the point where this masterpiece of story structure is finally getting the exact level of praise it merits.

Back to the story itself, I'll sum up my views by saying that it retains the title of "Best" in several areas. It remains, in my view, the best introductory story for any Doctor; the best Dalek story; and the best Troughton story. One of the series' greats, and I'm glad that it's finally being recognized as such.


Rating: 10/10.

Power of the Daleks Missing Episode Notes

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Next Story: The Highlanders

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