#6 (4.31 - 4.36): The Faceless Ones.

The Doctor and his companions at Gatwick Airport.

6 episodes. Approx. 143 minutes. Written by: David Ellis & Malcolm Hulke. Directed by: Gerry Mill. Produced by: Innes Lloyd.


THE PLOT

When the TARDIS materializes in the middle of a runway at Gatwick Airport, the Doctor, Jamie, Ben, and Polly are forced to scatter to evade security. Polly takes refuge in the hangar of Chameleon Tours - and promptly witnesses the murder of a police detective by one of the Chameleon workers!

She finds the Doctor, who immediately sees that the man was killed not by a bullet, but by electrocution. The gun was "a ray gun," as Jamie calls it, something that should not exist on Earth. But by the time he is able to find the airport commandant (Colin Gordon) and persuade the man to investigate, the body has vanished - along with Polly!

With Ben disappearing soon after and the airport police hunting for them, the Doctor and Jamie find themselves with no allies save for one young girl (Pauline Collins) as they try to discover what has happened to their friends, and uncover the secret of Chameleon Tours!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: When trying to find someone in authority to report the murder to, he runs afoul of an immigration officer who refuses to listen to a word he or Jamie say until they can produce passports. After a minute or so of this, an exasperated Doctor snaps: "We neither of us have a passport," before attempting (unsuccessfully) to move around the man. He does develop a friendlier working relationship with the Commandant, a good man whose mindset simply won't allow him to accept the increasingly outlandish things the Doctor tells him, and the Doctor/Commandant relationship seems almost like a prototype for the Doctor/Brigadier relationship of later seasons.

Jamie: Previous stories had largely been submitted before Jamie became a companion, and either moved him to the sidelines or gave him some of Ben's and Polly's lines in order to deal with his addition. This story moves Ben and Polly out of the main action, leaving Jamie as the Doctor's primary companion. This allows their interplay to develop beyond what had been seen before. Jamie is very protective of the Doctor, insisting that it's his job to look out for him. He is, however, quite ready to deflate the Doctor's more egotistical pronouncements. When the Doctor asks if Jamie's ever known him to be wrong, the Scotsman doesn't hesitate a second before responding with a an amusingly vehement, "Aye."

Samantha: Sam (Pauline Collins) is the sister of one of Chameleon Tours' missing customers, and she becomes a companion in all but name for this story. She would have become a full-time companion, had Pauline Collins not turned down the offer. A good thing, in my opinion. Collins is a fine actress, of course, but Sam is a character who would have quickly worn out her welcome. Her headstrong nature and her insistence on referring to Jamie as "kid" leave me picturing a Liverpool-accented Peppermint Patty. As a one-shot guest character, she's acceptable, but I'm just as happy that her journey ends here. 

Ben/Polly: Though I quite like the story, its treatment of Ben and Polly is dreadful. Both are out of the story by Episode Two, only to return for a tacked-on scene at the end. Polly at least gets to affect the plot by witnessing the killing of the detective. Ben doesn't even get that much, spending his brief part of the story so sidelined that it feels as if he's been removed even before he actually is. As companion exits go, this would have to rank among series' worst, vying with the likes of Dodo's offscreen exit and Leela's marriage to a man she had barely spoken to. 


THOUGHTS

Prior to its 2020 animated release, The Faceless Ones was more or less a "forgotten" story among the missing episodes. It's not generally considered one of Troughton's best, nor is it ranked as a misfire. Its reputation has historically tended to be somewhere in the middle, leaving it among the least-discussed stories of Troughton's run.

I actually quite like the story. The Gatwick airport setting is well-used, and the location footage and well-created studio sets in the existing episodes show a strong sense of recognizable reality. This realism, both in the sets and depiction of the airport hierarchy, makes the otherworldly elements far more effective than might have been the case. The Episode Three cliffhanger is particularly eerie. 

Also helping the story to succeed is the first-class guest cast. In addition to Pauline Collins, we get Bernard Kay and Wanda Ventham, both making solid impressions in supporting roles. The wonderful Colin Gordon lends credibility and humor in his role as the airport Commandant. His scenes opposite Troughton are a joy, the Commandant's increasingly weary interactions with the Doctor managing to be funny without ever undercutting the character's basic competence. 

Finally, Donald Pickering is excellent as Blade, Chameleon Tours' chief pilot. Of Pickering's several Who appearances, I think this one is my favorite. Even in Episode One, before we know anything about the story's direction, we can recognize something "off" about him. He is always calm, unfailingly polite, and absolutely chilling... and maybe a bit arch, but in a way that works for the story.

Unfortunately, as is the case with many 6-part stories, the narrative ends up feeling a bit stretched. Episodes Three and Four are particularly guilty of padding the running time, featuring multiple attempts by the Chameleons to kill the Doctor. All of these come from the "Dr. Evil" school of assassination. My personal favorite has the Doctor, Jamie, and Sam all immobilized while a laser light inches toward them. Naturally, the Chameleons leave them unobserved to allow them to escape this very gradual trap. Given that their involvement in the story begins with Polly witnessing a Chameleon gunning someone down, surely it would be easier to simply shoot them? 

Things pick up for the final two episodes, as the pieces of the Chameleon plan are put together and the Doctor faces them down on their "home turf." The climax is genuinely tense, cutting between the Doctor's confrontation with the Chameleons, the Commandant's attempts to play for time, and a search that is the key to stopping the aliens. It's well done, and the resolution is rather well-handled too.

With a strong start and a strong end, it's easy to forgive the sag in the middle. That padded center and the poor treatment of Ben and Polly keep me from rating this higher - but with good use of locations, very good acting, and some extremely memorable individual moments, I still tend to consider this to be rather good.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

The Faceless Ones Missing Episode Notes

Previous Story: The Macra Terror
Next Story: The Evil of the Daleks 


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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.

The Moonbase Missing Episode Notes

Previous Story: The Underwater Menace
Next Story: The Macra Terror


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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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#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

Previous Story: The Power of the Daleks
Next Story: The Underwater Menace


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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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