Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start... 

Day 198: The Enemy of the World, Episode Six

Dear diary,

It's nice to see that there are themes in this episode which tie together nicely with things from way back at the beginning of the story. I've praised on a couple of occasions that the Doctor doesn't simply side against Salamander because he doesn't have all the facts needed to make a decision as to who is good and who is evil - and this comes back to haunt us now with the revelation that Kent was part of the plan to take these scientists and shut them all underground in the first place.

The Doctor claims to have known all along that what kent really wanted wasn't justice, but power (and perhaps that's why he's been so keen to talk of the differences between the two sides) but I have to admit that I didn't see it coming. Maybe it's because I've grown used to the way the series works at this point (the humans are the good guys, while we're supposed to fear/oppose the Daleks/Cyberemn/Yeti), that I didn't think they'd go in for something as intricate as we've seen in this story?

It's lovely, though, because it adds a whole other layer to the tale. I have to admit that I've not enjoyed it quite as much as my friend Graham did (though I can see why he likes it so much), but it's certainly on my list to listen to again once I've finished The 50 Year Diary. Knowing what's coming in the latter half of the tale may bring out elements of the beginning that were lost on me first time around - it's a very clever story, and certainly my favourite non-Power of the Daleks story from Whitaker.

I'm so very glad to see that Salamander's destruction is dealt with in such an interesting way - yesterday I commented that it wouldn't be right for the story to see him simply being assassinated, and we get something very different to the norm here. I twigged what was happening the second that the narration described 'the Doctor, stepping out onto the beach, looking worse for wear', and loved Salamander's comment that the Doctor had done such a good job impersonating him, that he wanted to repay the favour.

There's a single tele snap which shows Troughton on screen twice - in both roles - and it looks fantastic. So well done, and it's bizarre how much the two characters can look at once so identical and so different. It's a real shame that the third episode is the only one which we can still watch from this story, as it doesn't give the best first impression of Barry Letts' in the series - whereas tele snaps of the other areas in this tale really make his work look fantastic. I know we get some more from him during his time as producer in the 1970s, so this is a nice introduction in many ways.

We also get Innes Lloyd going out from the producer role on a high. The Enemy of the World isn't his best story by any account, but it's very much an example of him turning in something pretty darn brilliant. My highest rated story of this marathon so far (The Tomb of the Cybermen) is typically the only one not to be produced by Lloyd since The Celestial Toymaker (though he did commission it), and my lowest rated story (The Highlanders) also came from his tenure, but on the whole, my average score for his era has been higher than that of his two predecessors in the role.

People always talk about Verity Lambert as being the 1960s Doctor Who producer - she was the one who oversaw the beginnings of the programme, after all, casting Hartnell (along with all those early companions) and getting things off to a pretty darn brilliant start, but for me it's Innes Lloyd who strikes a bigger chord. He's responsible for bringing in the changeover from one actor to another in the part of the Doctor (John Wiles had planned something different for The Celestial Toymaker, before passing it over to Lloyd, but his version would have been very difficult to do again and again over the following fifty years), the casting of Patrick Troughton, and the development of the Doctor into the character that we all know and love, all this time later. Many of the actors who've played the part since (including Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, and most recently Matt Smith) have pointed to the Patrick Troughton mould of the Doctor as what they had in mind when finding their own feet in the series - and Lloyd has to be allowed to take some credit for that.

Verity Lambert may have been the producer who introduced the Daleks into the series, but it's Innes Lloyd who oversees them leaving the programme (at least temporarily), and filling that void with a succession of other creatures. All this time later, the Cybermen are still thought of as one of the programme's biggest monsters, and the Ice Warriors don't fall all that far behind, either. The Yeti, considering that they only act as a big monster for two stories in Season Five, are also very fondly remembered.

There's a real danger that I'm simply going to end up writing something of a love letter to the Lloyd era of the programme, here, but it's not often that I've seen people really praise the man. Sure, plenty of his stories get flagged up as being fan favourites, but I don't think I've ever really seen anyone discussing him, so I'd like to raise a big glass to him at the programme's 50th anniversary and say 'thank you'. Thank you for steering the show so brilliantly over the course of two hugely important years. Thank you for ensuring its long-term survival. Thank you for Patrick Troughton - the time I've spent with the Second Doctor so far has proven to me that he's more than a valid choice of 'favourite Doctor'. But most of all? Thank you for all the adventures.

7/10  

Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start... 

Day 197: The Enemy of the World, Episode Five

Dear diary,

'Don't challenge me, Harriet Jones!', the Tenth Doctor spits at the Prime Minister in The Christmas Invasion, following her destruction of the fleeing Syxorax ship. 'I could bring down your government with a single word!' As it happens, it took his six words to ensure Harriet Jones' downfall, but its one of those stunning moments, those huge times when the Doctor proves why he doesn't need to carry weapons - the Doctor's skill is in using words to save the day.

Later in the Tenth Doctor's tenure, he is mocked by Davros for the way that he takes people and turns them into his weapons, and I think that The Enemy of the World is possibly the first time that we've actually seen this version of the Doctor in action. Our hero hasn't really done anything much in this story - he frolicked about in the ocean a bit in Episode One, before impersonating Slamander to get them out of a tight spot. Since then, he's mostly been swept along with the tide of the story, being forced into continuing his impersonation for the greater good.

I've praised the way that the Doctor in this story has stood up and questioned the way that he should just be expected to turn up and identify the differing sides of 'good' and 'evil' with no evidence, and now that he's gotten some he's started to operate in that way that - these days - we'd consider so very 'Doctor'. This entire episode is about people starting to question Salamander. We're seeing it out on the surface, with Bruce slowly coming round to the rebel way of thinking - the Doctor is pleased to find enough doubt in the man's mind to keep questioning his leader. There's also dissent in the ranks below ground, with Swan actively forcing Salamander to take him to the surface after he's discovered evidence of his own against this man he's trusted.

It's lovely to see these little parallels between two Doctors travelling 40 years apart, and it doesn't stop at the Doctor simply using words and questions to try and save the day: there's a lovely moment in Episode Four, when the Doctor is being pressured to pose as his double, and get close enough to kill the man. The Doctor announces that he'll expose Salamander, ruin him and have him arrested - but he refuses to be his executioner. A real line is drawn under this point today, when the Doctor takes a gun and hands it back to their captor. The Doctor doesn't need a weapon like this, and he thinks so little of him that he has no quibble about giving one away to a supposed enemy.

Today has given me an answer to one of my questions from yesterday's episode - yes, Salamander is the 'power behind the throne' for two of the zones, and simply looking to expand. I'm still somewhat in the dark, though, as to his exact reasons for keeping a group of people locked away underground. During his argument with Swan, he announces that he wants these people to inherit the Earth, but it's difficult to tell if this is just bluster and excuses to try and get out of the tricky situation he's found himself in.

What we do get confirmed is that these people under the ground are the source of Salamander's control over the volcano from Episode Two (and we also get told that there have been earthquakes caused at his command, too). I'm still not sure on the exact process, but I'm pleased to see that there's at least another chance that this technology might yet be adapted into that seen in The Moonbase - it's all tying together!

With only one episode to go, I'm not sure what I want to happen with Salamander. I'm determined that I don't want him simply assassinated - while that may be a fitting end to a story revolving around a dictator, it feels like it goes against the grain of the message here about weapons not being as black-and-white as you might think. I'm hoping we'll get a few more loose ends tied up as well, as I really want to love this story!

a 

Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start... 

Day 196: The Enemy of the World, Episode Four

Dear diary,

One of the things that I really enjoy about listening to these soundtracks, as opposed to watching reckons or anything like that, is that all the stories are directed in whichever way my brain chooses. The first episode of The Enemy of the World was all fast cutting and action packed, like a modern summer blockbuster. Today's has swung in a completely different direction - it's all gone very film noir in my head, with hints of German expressionism.

I don't think I've ever been as visually connected to one of those soundtracks as I was during the first half of this episode, with the security forges closing in on the Doctor, Kent, and the others. It was like my head was mapping out exactly how I'd direct the scene if it were to be re-made, complete with angled cameras, and shots of our heroes on the run, silhouetted against the alleyway as the guards closed in. It really helped to draw me right in, in a way that only scenes in The Macra Terror came close to doing. Listening to the soundtrack as I walked across a sunny park could have helped to dissipate the tension somewhat, but all of that seemed to just melt away, and I was caught up in Salamander's world.

However, I'm starting to feel a bit lost with it all. The first couple of episodes seemed to imply that this world was made up of several different zones, all with their own leader, and that Salamander was simply an individual, looking to seize control of the world. Now, though, it's all very much being played as Salamander already being in control of the entire planet, pulling the strings from behind the scenes.

He has leaders killed and swapped for others at his own whim, everyone fears his wrath and they all seem to approach him for advice. Am I to assume that he only controls the Central European Zone, and the Australasia Zone? These are the only two that we've seen so far - is he simply looking to expand his empire to cover all the other zones? (Actually, while I'm at it, how many 'zones' do we think there are? I'd imagine there must be a 'Western European Zone' and a 'North American Zone'… Is there a 'Soviet Zone'?)

It was while I was busy musing about all this, and trying to pin-point exactly who Salamander is supposed to be that we get another shock reveal - he's hailed as the saviour of another group of people, who are all trapped deep underground, living in fear of a devastating nuclear war, which Salamander tells them is still raging up on the surface of the planet! Talk about a sudden twist! Am I to assume that there was a war (or at least a strong possibility of a war, like the Cold War at its height)? Salamander is clearly keeping these people locked away for some reason (and he refuses to take them to the surface, where they would discover the truth), so this spins the story off in an interesting new direction for the last third.

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Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start... 

Day 195: The Enemy of the World, Episode Three

Dear diary,

Excitingly, not only does today’s episode survive in the archives, but it’s also the first time that Doctor Who has been broadcast in High Definition!

Oh, all right then. It’s not technically HD. This is, however, the first time that the series was made and broadcast as a 625-line picture (or 576i by today’s standard - feel that definition!). It sounds like quite a small thing, but it is a big increase on the 405-line image that has been the standard of the series (and, indeed, all BBC transmissions to this point). The switchover comes as part of a move towards something far bigger, though – bringing colour to BBC1. We’re still a little way off from that change, but it’s nice to see the journey beginning.

And what a story to feature an upgrade in picture quality! Episode One features a hovercraft and a helicopter on the beach! The second episode ends with the eruption of a volcano! This third episode is full of… well, corridors, decorated with varying types of garish wallpaper. Oh dear. Couldn’t we have had Episode One saved, instead?

I’m not being entirely fair, here. The episode does feature the images of volcanoes erupting again, but the majority of this episode is far more low-key and scaled back than the last two have been. It’s a pity in many ways, because I’ve been looking forward to seeing some of this story – the telesnaps for the last couple of days have made things look very unique, and I was keen to see Barry Letts’ directorial style in action.

It’s not a complete disaster, though, because having an episode that’s far more intimate than the last few means that we get another chance to really appreciate the performances of both our regulars and the guest cast. Perhaps the greatest guest performance has to be Patrick Troughton’s turn as Salamander. I know he’s not really a ‘guest’ as such, but he is giving a very different performance here, and as with Hartnell in The Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve, it’s pretty easy to forget that you’re watching the same chap that you’ve known over the last however-many stories.

There’s a lovely moment at the start of Episode Two, after The Doctor has pretended to be Salamander, and he reverts back to the man we love. He gives a little cough after Bruce has left the room, and although it’s a small thing, it really does feel so much like the Doctor, it instantly reminds you who we’re really watching. His turn as Salamander really is a brilliant one, and the character’s nasty side just keeps oozing out. Today we get the lovely moment when he kills one of his top men for failing in his mission. Having reassured the man that there will be other ways to complete the task, he watches as he falls dead to the ground, and dryly issues a final sentence to him; ‘One chance, my friend. I said one chance…’

It’s a good episode for him in character as the Doctor, too, and we get another of those lines that’s very well known among fans – ‘Sad, really, isn't it? People spend all their time making nice things and then other people come along and break them.’ It’s a lovely line, and it works nicely in context. It also serves to nicely highlight the differences between his two performances, so it’s nice to see him in action as both for one episode, at least.

The one thing that I did have to wonder about was the Doctor’s slight disbelief that Salamander could have found a way to harness the ‘natural forces’ of the Earth and cause the volcano to erupt on cue. He describes it as ‘a little difficult to believe, but not impossible’. Wouldn’t it essentially be the same technology used in the Gravitron machine from last season? Maybe the Doctor’s just a little skeptical that Salamander could have developed a way of doing this in the era we’re currently visiting? The About Time books place The Enemy of the World as being somewhere around 2030, which would work nicely with The Moonbase coming about forty years later. I don’t know where this is all going (I’m not even entirely sure that Salamander is able to control things like the volcanoes, but the implication certainly seems to be so, and I don’t think I’d put anything past him. Brujo), but I’m hoping the end of the story leaves it open as a possibility that the Moonbase technology can be developed from here – it ties things together nicely.

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Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start... 

Day 194: The Enemy of the World, Episode Two

Dear diary,

There's a lovely line early on in this episode which, to some extent, sums up why I think I'm enjoying it. Asked to help in the fight against Salamander, the Doctor muses that there are two very clear sides, but goes on to wonder which one is the force for good, and which is the force for evil. He then further questions wether it's his place to get involved in events.

I think I'm loving the fact that things aren't quite so black-and-white in this tale as they have been lately. This is the first time we've had a story without a real, definable 'monster' since The Underwater Menace, and even that had fish people bobbing about. Much as I'm loving the series at this stage, and enjoying the parade of Yeti (Jetty? No, Yeti.), Cybermen, Ice Warriors, and Daleks, it is nice to have a story a bit like this, and it can't help but put me in mind somewhat of the Hartnell era of the programme - where enemies could be just as human as you or I.

There's obvious parallels to be made with The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve, what with our lead actor inhabiting two roles for this story, and once again it works surprisingly well. There came a point toward the end of today's episode where I thought about the fact we'd not had that much Troughton in this one, except that we had, just not in his usual form. Quite a lot of scorn can be poured onto the accent being used here (Indeed, while Graham loves this story above all others, he admitted that he enjoyed it a lot more once he'd gotten past the voice), but I really enjoy it! I've spent today quoting 'Allo Bruce! What are you doing here, eh?' at Ellie every time she enters the room. It hasn't gone down well.

It's nice to see that the voice being somewhat comical doesn't take away from the character though. During The Massacre I praised the way that such a cruel character being played by the man we usually associate with safety in the programme really helped to make him stand out as a bad guy, and the same is true here. As is typical of late, it's the brilliant dialogue that is key, really helping to sell the threat that Salamander poses - we get plenty of brief references to the way that he has control over people (there's a lovely moment when he's referred to as a sorcerer, but it's done via the Mexican word. It's not until some scenes later that we find out the true meaning of it, and from the man himself), and the fact that he always gets what he wants. I also have to praise the line that tells us Salamander talks to many people. But some, only once. It's beautifully crafted, and really helps to amp up the fact that we should fear this double of our usually comical Doctor.

It makes his actions at the end of the tale, in which he plots to replace one of his people with another and explains that there will be a 'suspicious death' all the more powerful. There's even suggestions that Salamander himself is responsible for the volcanic eruption here (which would tie in nicely with the description of 'sorcerer', though I'm sure there's a non-magic explanation on the way). He's an arch-manipulator, and by the time the closing credits kick in, we're not left in any doubt as to which is the side of good, and which is the side the Doctor and his friends need to be fighting against.

Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start... 

Day 193: The Enemy of the World, Episode One

Dear diary,

Shortly before Christmas of last year, my friend Graham embarked on a similar quest to the one that I’m now on – watching all of Doctor Who in order. Whereas I’m doing it at a real snail’s pace of one episode a day, Graham went for the opposite way of doing things, and watched them all as quickly as he possibly could. There was a point where he went through the entirety of Leela’s stay in the TARDIS and the Key to Time in the space of about three days. That’ll take me months to go through. Months!

It did, however, lead to a fun situation where every time I saw Graham, I’d get to ask which story he was up to, and then quiz him for his thoughts (though a fan of the series, there were large chunks he’d not seen before the marathon). One day in particular we got together and before I could even ask what story he was watching, he announced that he’d got a new favourite tale. I knew he’d been on something mid-Season-Four when we’d last spoke, so I went for the obvious one: The Tomb of the Cybermen. Nope, that was good, but it wasn’t it. Fair enough. Evil of the Daleks? Another no. Web of Fear? Blank looks every time. No, Graham explained, his new favourite story was The Enemy of the World.

My disbelief wasn’t because I’d heard bad things about this story, it was mostly just from the fact that, well, I* hadn’t really heard anything about it. It’s that one story from the Fifth Season where they don’t do ‘Base Under Siege’, and Troughton plays a Mexican bad guy. That’s pretty much all I could tell you. The sad fact is that The Enemy of the World is one of those stories that people just forget about. Even now, it’s sat at about number 188 in our poll – not bad (and just out of the bottom 50), but not really all that great, either.

Incidentally, I checked with Graham again this week – he’s finished the marathon now, including Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures - and The Enemy of the World is still his favourite story. He puts part of the success down to the fact that it’s very different to what came around it, and part down to the fact that they get Jamie into a tight black outfit.

So I didn’t really know what to make of this one. Graham’s absolute love for it seemed to be a good sign, while fandom’s complete apathy towards it didn’t bode all that well. Thankfully, I’ve found myself agreeing far more with Graham than with fandom (he’ll be glad to hear that – I think he’s been on tenterhooks waiting to see what I thought), I absolutely loved today’s episode.

It probably doesn’t hurt that we’ve arrived in some slightly sunnier climes: there’s a moment when the Doctor jokes that he and his companions have been away for a while suggesting that they’ve been ‘on ice’. Terribly apt, considering our last sixteen episodes have all taken place in or around very cold places! The soundtrack opens with us being told of the TARDIS’ arrival on a beach, amongst ‘golden, sun-kissed sand dunes’. How nice! Listening to it as I walked to the shops on a nice sunny afternoon probably helped a little, too.

We get a nice few minutes of the Doctor and his friends playing about on the beach (it’s in his suggestion that Jamie should go look for some buckets and spades that you can really see where Matt Smith has taken his inspiration from this incarnation – there’s a real child-like glee to being here), but then it’s right down to business. By the time we hit the eight minute mark, our TARDIS team has been chased down the beach by hovercraft-driving gunmen, and spirited off over the ocean in a helicopter! By the time that they’d reached Astrid’s house and were again set upon by gunmen, I was fairly sure that we’d be somewhere around the end of the episode… but there’s still another ten minutes to go! You certainly can’t accuse this episode of padding things out, and I’m not sure I can remember the last time that we had such an action packed twenty-five minutes in the series.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this episode also marks the first involvement that Barry Letts has with Doctor Who, coming in as director for the story. It’s quite fitting that his first instalment to the series involves an action-packed chase with hovercrafts and helicopters (both of which will become staples in the series under Letts’ producership, but which make their first appearances here). I spent a while listening to these scenes thankful that this episode didn’t exist in the archives, because it all sounded pretty good and there was no way that the visuals would live up to the same standard… but then the telesnaps make the scene look just as epic as I’d hoped. My only complaint, I think, is that the beach doesn’t look quite as lovely and sunny as described.

You’ll probably have picked up by now on the fact that I’m babbling a bit. It tends to happen when I’ve really enjoyed a story and my notes become full of nice things to say. I’ve not even touched on the story (I’m sure there’ll be plenty of time to do that in the next few days) or the guest characters, but I run the risk of just babbling on for the rest of the entry in praise of things.

It’s led to something of a deliberation over what I’d be rating this episode. My first thought, immediately after the episode ended was a solid ‘9/10’, but then I started thinking: there was nothing I could fault with the episode, and I had really loved it. Surely that deserved top marks? The problem I had was that it took so long for me to give a perfect score, and this would be the third in the space of a month. You know what, though? I’ve enjoyed Innes Lloyd’s era so much, that it’s the perfect way to start of his final story as producer, and since I really can’t fault this one…

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