Transport yourself back in time and space with Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series on Steelbook Blu-Ray, available to pre-order on Amazon now. The Steelbook will feature new and exclusive artwork and is being released on Monday 10th February.

Series Five welcomed the arrival of Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Karen Gillan as his new friend, Amy Pond.  

After his explosive regeneration, the Doctor awakes to discover his TARDIS is about to crash. Pulling himself out of the wreckage, he comes face-to-face with Amy Pond and promises to take her on a journey to the stars. Boarding the TARDIS, Amy and the Doctor embark on a series of adventures that will change her life forever.

Executive Produced by Steven Moffat, the series features Arthur Darvill as Amy’s fiancé Rory Williams and guest stars including Olivia Coleman, James Cordan, Bill Nighy, Ian McNeice, Annette Crosbie, Helen McCrory, Lucian Msamati, Alex Price, Sophie Okonedo, Nia Roberts, Meera Syal and Nina Wadia. 

Bonus features include two ‘Meanwhile in the Tardis’ additional scenes, four ‘The Monster Files’, a three-part video diary, thirteen ‘Doctor Who Confidential’ cut-downs, six in-vision commentaries, out-takes and over twenty teasers and trailers.

The 13 episodes are:

· The Eleventh Hour

· The Beast Below

· Victory of the Daleks

· The Time of Angels

· Flesh and Stone

· The Vampires of Venice

· Amy’s Choice

· The Hungry Earth

· Cold Blood

· Vincent and the Doctor

· The Lodger

· The Pandorica Opens

· The Big Bang

+  This title is released on Monday 10th February 2020, priced £35.73.
+  PREORDER this title from Amazon.co.uk for just £29.99! 

[Source: BBC Studios]

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

Day 216: The Wheel in Space, Episode Six

Dear diary,

This is the part of the story where I should be complaining that, after all that, we get a total invasion of about eight Cybermen. And six of those don't even make it into the Wheel. You know what, though? I don't care! I've really enjoyed the ride for this story, and even the lack of Cyberman turning up as a really big invasion fleet isn't enough to dampen my spirits.

Being able to watch this Episode means that we get a chance to watch plenty of special effects. Indeed, I think this is the most obviously 'effects laden' episode we've seen since about as far back as The Ark. Oh sure things like The Web of Fear has it's web effect in the surviving episode, and The Underwater Menace has fish people bobbing about, but today we've got meteorites hurtling towards the Wheel! Jamie and Zoe making their way across space to the Silver Carrier! The crew of the Wheel blowing up the meteorites while our heroes dodge them… and that's all in the opening few minutes!

As the episode progresses we've got the Cybermen effects (the hypnotising thing we've already seen in Episode Three) and the Doctor electrocuting one of his foes, causing it to crumple up on the floor in a heap. You've then got the Cybermen's back up heading across to the Wheel, marching through space like a cold, unstoppable force!

Hm? Sorry? Oh, all right, then. Fine. Yes, the Cybermen heading over to the Wheel isn't the greatest of effects that the show has ever done, and I'll admit that it did let the ending down a little for me. Quite apart from the fact that they'd almost become transparent by the time they'd approached the Wheel, the Cyberman at the front insisted on walking along flapping his arms like a bird. It doesn't make for the most threatening thing we've ever seen them do. It's a shame, really, because a few seconds later he's trying to force open the doors to the loading bay, and that does work! It looks really effective! You can't have it all, I suppose.

The other effects in the episode - on the whole - are pretty good. The opening few scenes with Jamie and Zoe outside in space did put me in mind of a 1950's B-movie, but they did the job, and they didn't leave me disappointed - always a plus. We're now heading back to a period with a great many more surviving episodes (thanks to the animated release of The Invasion, I've only got five more episodes that I can't sit and watch from the rest of the decade), so I'm looking forward to keeping a tab on the effects in the series. Part of the fun in the early days was seeing how the team's confidence would build up, until they tried to do something that was just beyond their abilities.

I'm also pretty impressed with the design of the Wheel itself. I've been able to see it via the tele snaps right the way through the story, but today we get an especially good look at sections of it. The actual station itself, spinning in space, is as good as any ship ever designed for the programme, and it's nice to see some blueprints (of a sort) for it. As for the inside, the thing that really caught my attention was the bank of lava lamps! I shouldn't find them all that fascinating - I've got one in my flat, even! - by they do look fab in black and white, don't they? It doesn't hurt that they're much larger than your standard lava lamp, so they move in a slightly different way, too. I'm not at all sorry to admit that every scene they decorated the background of had me focussing largely on them as opposed to the Cybermen in front!

With the closing moments of the story, Zoe has slipped aboard the TARDIS and we're off into the third phase of the Second Doctor's era. I wasn't keen on her as a character when this story began, but I've warmed to her as the episodes have gone by (I think that's the intention, too. She's become more likeable and human as the story has progressed). I'm sure all her character will be stripped away over the next fortnight, but I'm looking forward to her joining the crew all the same.

Her first test as companion? Settle in and watch a repeat of The Evil of the Daleks. I've always found it odd that they wrote the repeat of a serial into the series itself, but even more odd, it's the story that introduces the previous companion! That must have been a bit jarring back in the day. I've always thought it might be better if they'd shown The Power of the Daleks instead - remind viewers of how the Second Doctor began. Actually, though, having watched through the series in this manner, I can see the logic behind choosing this one. It's got Jamie in, for a start, and Victoria is still fresh enough in the minds of the audience to make sense. Ben and Polly are our companions in Power, and they left the series a whole year ago - they're old news!

I had debated doing the serial again, to see if my opinion might have changed, but to be honest, I'm not thrilled by the prospect. I even considered spending tomorrow reading the Target novel of The Evil of the Daleks so I could at least claim that I'd tried. In the end, though, I'm keen to press forward with the series, so I'll be moving straight on to the next story, and trying something a little bit different…

(And no, I'm not going to bring up the Doctor's 'sexual air supply'…)

a 

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

Day 215: The Wheel in Space, Episode Five

Dear diary,

Aha, now we’re starting to see Zoe coming in as the new companion, and she gets to share a cliffhanger with Jamie, moving through space towards the Silver Carrier. It’s an odd sort of cliffhanger to lead into the final episode – the Cybermen aren’t the focus of the threat but it’s much more about the impending shower of meteorites. That’s sort of true of The Wheel in Space as a whole, though: the Cybermen are there just to be the token monsters. Even the Cybermats are only there to help further the plot.

I’m quite fond of the way that everything we’ve seen so far – Jamie sabotaging the Wheel’s laser (which would have been the first point-of-call for the Cybermats anyway), the destruction of the bernalium supplies, the two crew members heading over to the Rocket… it’s all simply been happening as a way to get the Cybermen onto the Wheel itself. The crew are now of little importance and can be disposed of, but up to now, everything has been calculated.

The only problem? I’m not entirely sure that I buy the Cybermen’s motives. The Doctor claims that they desire the ‘mineral wealth of Earth’… but is that true? What use would the Cybermen have with Earth’s minerals? I guess he could simply be speaking poetically, and what he really means is that they simply want the Earth itself (that’s their goal in The Moonbase, after all, which is set sometime not too far from now), but I’m still not sure. It’s a shame, because everything else is really working for me, but my favourite baddies are just a bit redundant here.

What’s lovely though is that by relegating the monsters to more background roles, we’re given plenty of chance for the rest of the characters to shine. Jamie and Zoe get to share a lovely scene here, in which he reassures her that they’ll come up with some way out of all this mess and she confesses that she’s not too sure. It’s very reminiscent of a similar scene with Victoria from the last story, but on this occasion it’s being held with someone who doesn’t know the Doctor’s way of doing things.

It’s lovely when Zoe wonders what’s left for her after all this trouble has passed. The Doctor has broadened her horizons somewhat, and taught her that a blind reliance on logic isn’t always the right thing to have. It feels like a theme that commonly runs through the modern version of the series – the Doctor takes people and makes them better. I know that Zoe is likely to just slump into generic companion mode before too long, but it’s nice to think that there could be a real journey for her character, and that travelling in the company of Jamie and the Doctor really could be beneficial to her.

The big thing to mention with today’s episode surely has to be that it’s the last time I’ll be using the work of John Cura during this marathon. He continued telesnapping up to somewhere around The Mind Robber, but we’re about to enter a period of surviving episodes the likes of which we’ve not seen in months. I don’t think there’s any debate that fans of archive British television owe an awful lot to John Cura – without him, we’d have an awful lot less to look at from these early stories of Doctor Who, for a start!

Regular readers of The 50 Year Diary will be well aware that I’m not a fan of reconstructions, but I do tend to flick through Cura’s telesnaps either as I listen to the soundtracks, or afterwards before I write up my entry. Since the first load of snaps I used for Marco Polo, I’ve been through a fair few of them. It's a really novel idea for a business - capturing images directly from the TV and selling them to the people involved in a time before any kind of domestic video recording was thinkable at a reasonable price.

Without the work of Cura, moving through all these missing episodes would have been a lot more of a chore - it's lovely to picture the stories in my head and then get home and find out how close I was to the actual truth. After 216 days of the diary, I've become pretty well attuned to the look of 1960s Doctor Who, and it's lovely to have a series of photographs to refer to.

Cura's work has also been used on reckons for The Avengers, and is a way to see missing parts of many other archive programmes of which I'd consider myself a fan, so now is the perfect time to say thank you to John - for the foresight he displayed and the joy that he's managed to bring to millions by preserving these lost classics.

a 

a  a

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

Day 214: The Wheel in Space, Episode Four

Dear diary,

This is quickly becoming another one of those stories where I really wish that I didn’t know what’s coming up. I know that Zoe becomes our new companion, because I’ve seen bits of Season Six. It’s not obvious, though, while watching this story. There’s plenty of candidates here that could go on to be the ‘new girl in the TARDIS’ – Gemma, for instance – and Zoe isn’t the most obvious of those they could choose from.

There’s a point towards the end of the episode, when things have started kicking off, where Zoe asks if she can be of any help. ‘No,’ is the rather abrupt response. She tries to protest, deciding that there must be something that she can do. Still no. It serves as another chance to show that Zoe isn’t really all that liked by her colleagues on the Wheel, but it also makes her look a little useless as a potential companion. At least she’s trying.

There’s more examples in this episode of that background detail that I’ve been enjoying all along, and it’s fleshing Zoe out nicely. We get something of an explanation for her being the way she is when she complains that her brain has been ‘pumped full of figures’ and we hear the kind of training that she’s received being described as ‘brainwashing’. It seems in some ways as though Whittaker is trying to draw a direct comparison between Zoe and the Cybermen – she keeps being referred to as ‘emotionless’ and all this talk of brainwashing comes at around the same time they start to notice the Cybermen hypnotising other members of the crew.

And then you’ve got that cliffhanger, in which the Doctor and Jamie go down into the loading bay and discover the crates used to bring the Cybermen across from the Silver Carrier. Surely this would be a great opportunity for Zoe to join them in their explorations? Really highlight her as being the one best suited to be a part of this team? On the plus side, the cliffhanger is the one that I’ve been expecting, in some form, since Episode One – the Doctor and Jamie turn around to see a Cyberman! Dun, dun, dunnn…!

Actually, though, it’s done very well. It helps that we’ve had to wait for this one, meaning that the Doctor isn’t confronting the Cybermen directly until the last third of the story. It’s been a bit of a slow burner so far (which might go some way to explaining why several people have been commenting on how boring they find this story to be), but that’s really working for me: we’ve been dropped into this world, and we’ve watched on as the Cybermen have mounted their (slow) invasion.

I think my only real complaint with the Cybermen on this occasion is that there’s only two of them. Part of the reason The Tomb of the Cybermen looked so impressive is because when they thaw out, there’s loads of the silver giants stood around. They tower over the archaeologists and form a very credible threat. Here, there’s only the two of them and they’re doing all the legwork. From time to time, they check in with the Cyberplanner, but then it’s all up to them. Where are the rest of them? I’m hoping that this pair is just the advance party, and that the creatures will be turning up en masse before the story is over, but coming at the end of the season, I can’t say that my hopes are high…

One thing I did want to draw attention to is a quick exchange of dialogue between the Doctor and Gemma. It’s only brief, but when I heard it I was holding the door for someone on my way out of a building, looking like a loon because I was smiling my head off. It’s a lovely exchange because it perfectly highlights the background texture that I keep banging on about in this story. The Doctor tries to attract Gemma’s attention by calling her ‘Miss Corwin’ and she replies that it’s actually ‘Mrs’. When the Doctor apologises, she explains that her husband died three years ago in the asteroid belt. It’s only a little exchange, and I’m sure that it’s not going to have any massive significance later on in the story (were this the modern series, I’d possibly expect one of the Cybermen to be revealed as her husband post-conversion), but it gives her character a bit of depth and background that you don’t always get when the crews of these bases are simply sketched in before being bumped off by the monster of the week.

The same is true of our commander today. We’ve had plenty of stubborn base leaders turning up in the series since The Tenth Planet, so it initially struck me as odd that the Doctor would be so confused by the presence of such a person in command on the Wheel. Actually, though, we’re watching him go through some kind of a breakdown as the story progresses. It’s another reason that a slower-paced story can be beneficial – we’ve seen him at the helm of this space station when he’s in his right mind, making decisions and giving orders, so it makes a real impact when things start to go off the rails for him. There’s a sharp change between his reaction to Bill Duggan being found with a dead body and talking of metal rodents, to later releasing the Doctor and Jamie from their guard – it’s not something he’d have been doing twenty minutes earlier.

We’re at the point of the story now where we can start to see some real pay off. Having gone through all this build up, everything is in place for an explosive finale to the season. We’ve got the Cybermen on the Wheel, Cybermats in tow, and the focus should now be shifting to the climax. It’s been a promising start, and it’s looking increasingly as though Season Five could be going out with a real bang!

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

Day 213: The Wheel in Space, Episode Three

Dear diary,

Stupidly, I'd forgotten that the start of today's episode would give us a chance to actually watch the cliffhanger for Episode Two - there I was pouring over the telesnaps! Yesterday, I praised the fact that we'd not had a full Cyberman reveal yet, but having actually watched the cliffhanger now, it's pretty clear just what is inside the eggs before it bursts out. To be honest, though, I think it works even better! It's still not quite a full reveal, but it's still very unusual - both for the series and for the Cybermen, and I think that the sheer oddity of the whole sequence would have kept talk in the playground rife all week long.

Now that the Cybermen have properly hatched (what? it's as good-a term as any!), we get to see plenty of them in today's episode: and don't they look fab? It's not a massive change in design to the one that we've been used to since The Moonbase, but it looks really effective here. We get a couple of shots with a pair of Cybermen sat facing their computer banks, and every time we cut back to it, I seem to find myself smiling. It just looks so good. Admittedly, it's not quite as effective once the shot starts to move in on one of the creatures, but it's not long before we're back to the better angle.

Director Tristan de Vere Cole didn't helm any other Doctor Who stories, so there's nothing else that we can compare him against, but based on his work here, I get the feeling that The Wheel in Space might have looked pretty good throughout. The standout moment in today's episode has to be the Doctor idly musing that while his memory has been lost, there's still something floating around at the back of his mind. 'Some warning,' he mumbles, 'some menace…'. The close up of his face then fades into that of a Cyberman accepting orders at the computer terminal - it's simple but very effective, and not something that we often get in the series.

It's not just a pair of silver giants turning up for the action today, though. They've brought the Cybermats back with them, and I'm still finding myself utterly entranced by them. As I said during The Tomb of the Cybermen, I've always somewhat written off the Cybermats as being a bit rubbish, but they're actually a pretty effective 'monster'. There's a shot late in this episode where four of the creatures surround a man, all advancing on him as their tails wag… and it looks really good! I'd not go so far as to say that it was scary, but it's certainly a great moment in the story, and does help to up the creatures in my estimations.

We've also got the first appearance in the series of the Cyberplanner, although it's not described as such. It looks pretty effective when it appears full-screen against a black background, issuing orders to the more conventional Cybermen. Also - it has a voice I can understand. I don't know if it's just me being out of practice with the Cybermen (it's been a little while since they last turned up - certainly it's the longest stretch we've had without them since they first appeared), but when they started giving out instructions to the two crew members during the episode's cliffhanger, I didn't have a clue what was going on.

The Cybermen aren't the only cold, emotionless, logical creatures to play a big part in this story - we've still got Zoe hanging around on the Wheel. I have to admit that I am warming to her today, but much of that seems to be the rather sweet way that she doesn't realise the Doctor and Jamie gently teasing her. Maybe it's simply that she's got a pretty thick skin: some of the comments made about her earlier in the episode (directly to her face) would certainly be constituted as workplace bullying. Just some of the ways she's described today are 'all brain and no heart', 'just like a robot', and 'a proper little brainchild'. Compared to this, Jamie's tease that she's 'a right wee space detective' seems quite innocent (although it has led to the theme song from Captain Zep, Space Detective playing round in my head on a loop ever since).

While the Doctor seems initially hostile towards Zoe, he soon warms to her. I think he's sizing her up as a possible replacement for Victoria - letting her work out the answers for herself wherever possible and leading her in the right direction by suggesting that there may be more to the solution than simply analysing the facts. This episode is home to another of Troughton's famous lines - his 'logic' speech to Zoe. I think Jamie is starting to come around to the idea of her, too, as he seems to be thawing out a little as the episode goes on.

It's nice to see that - even with the Doctor now awake - Jamie is given plenty to do in this story. He's mistaken as being a saboteur when he vandalises the Wheel's laser (admittedly, it doesn't look great when someone walks in on you purposely putting your only form of defence out of order!), and he's quick to help the Doctor along with his investigations, which are all conducted from his hospital bed. I think we're starting to see the early stages of the team most people declare to be the 'best' of the Troughton line-ups, and it's nice to think that we're headed in the right direction…

a 

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

Day 212: The Wheel in Space, Episode Two

Dear diary,

Something that I’ve seen complained about quite a lot in relation to The Wheel in Space is the idea that the Cybermen in the story are ‘hatched from eggs’. Admittedly, it’s a pretty fair description of what happens in the closing moments of this episode, but what the complaints fail to mention is just how effective it is as a cliffhanger.

Over the last two episodes, we’ve seen several of these eggs (the narration calls them ‘spheres’, but ‘egg’ just sounds better) float across the void of space and attach themselves to the side of the Wheel. We’ve watched the crew try to piece together all the various odd things that are happening to their systems, while we know that it’s being caused by the presence of these eggs. Now we find out that they’re not just some odd space phenomena – they’ve got Cybermen inside them!

Even more effective is that the cliffhanger still isn’t your run-of-the-mill ‘Cyberman bursts through a doorway!’, or ‘The Doctor and his companions turn around to see… a Cyberman!’. It’s left to you to recognise the fist of a Cyberman sticking out from the recently powered-up egg (there’s a sentence you don’t write every day), and then we’ll get the full reveal – I’d imagine – in the next episode. It’s nice, because it’s allowing the threat to build, and I’m less concerned about them spending the entire story stood around looking menacing, which is what I’d been expecting.

I think it’s always a good testament to the quality of a particular episode if you can remove the Doctor from the action (Patrick Troughton doesn’t appear at all in today’s instalment, and the unconscious Doctor is played by a stand-in) and still remain just as interested n the events unfolding on screen. Jamie is left to carry much of the action, heading out to explore the Wheel in the company of our new companion, Zoe. It’s interesting how much of a contrast they’re going for with Zoe, swapping out Victorian companion for a girl from the near-future, with an intellect that could square up to that of the Doctor.

What’s odd is that I don’t especially like Zoe, yet, and I’m not all that sure that you’re supposed to. She’s presented as treating things in a cool, logical manner and not really showing a great deal of personality. When asked to covertly keep an eye on Jamie as she gives him the grand tour, she declares that it could be ‘interesting’ as a project, and when another crew-member expresses fascination at the fact that some of the plant on the Wheel have travelled all the way from Venus, she chimes in to give the exact distance in several different measurements. I think Jamie sums it up best when he dryly responds: ‘Oh. I was dying to know that…’

The entire location of the Wheel feels very fleshed out – certainly more so than that of some other bases we’ve seen throughout this season. Yesterday i complained that none of the crew really stood out of the crowd for me, but today you get the impression of a history to these characters and a string of previous interactions in both their professional and private lives. This feels like a very real world, and I think that’s what’s drawing me in and keeping me interested. There’s discussion of people back on Earth who feel that the space programme should be suspended (although no further context is given) and they spot something is amiss with Jamie because he leaves his water – something that’s in short supply out in space. It all helps to make it feel like the TARDIS has landed our heroes into a place that’s been going for some time, and you get the impression that it’ll keep on going, long after they’ve left (assuming the Cybermen don’t totally wipe them out, that is).

Today’s entry can’t go by without mentioning two new naming additions to the series. Firstly, Jamie is given a middle name – Robert – when he identifies himself to Gemma. Secondly, and probably more importantly from the point of view of the series as whole, we get the first instance of the Doctor being given the alias ‘John Smith’. It’s a name Jamie takes from the side of some medical equipment, and it’s not fooling anyone from the start, but it’s a name that’s going to stick, and is still in use right up to the current series.

I’m almost sorry that we’re likely to move into a regular ‘base-under-siege’ tale from now on, in which the Cybermen attack the Wheel, as I’m enjoying all the build up. I’m hoping that the rich background that’s being painted here is going to hold firm throughout the rest of the story, as it would be lovely to see Season Five (and the format of Season Five) going out on a high. It’s certainly a good strong start…

a 

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

Day 211: The Wheel in Space, Episode One

Dear diary,

I’ve always thought that had I been both a fan of Doctor Who and working in a high position on the programme during the original run, I’d have spent half my time renting out viewing rooms in TV Centre and watching all the old episodes on a loop. Well, until they destroy them all, anyway. It seems I’m not the only one to have such a mindset, though, because David Whittaker has obviously written today’s episode fresh from a viewing of The Dead Planet, Episode One of The Daleks.

The whole episode is filled with elements that make up the first 25 minutes of that Dalek tale – there’s something wrong with the TARDIS’ fluid link (though, this time, there really is something wrong – the Doctor’s not just making it up), and the ship is unable to leave this strange, seemingly dead location until they can find some more mercury to get things working again. When the ship first starts to go wrong, the Doctor instructs Jamie to check the ‘fault indicator’, which is clearly a component of the earlier fault locator, if not the same device entirely. He describes it as being ‘over there on the left’, which you could interpret as Jamie being sent off to the same room that featured in several of the early Hartnell adventures.

We’ve even got a scene in which Jamie is bamboozled by a ‘futuristic’ food machine, which splits out his desired meal in the form of a small cube. The scene plays almost identically to the one in The Dead Planet, and I’d not be surprised to hear Ian make the same ‘I’ve heard of a square meal’ joke as Jamie does here (though he didn’t at the time).

Perhaps the biggest thing that makes this feel like the earlier adventure, though, is just how long we spend in the company of just the Doctor and Jamie. Oh, sure, there’s a Servo Robot waddling around in the background, but really our only focus for at least the first fifteen minutes of the story is our two regulars. We get a recap of Victoria’s departure, and on this occasion they mention the TARDIS’ unusual take off at the end of the previous story – it was omitted from the end of the Fury From the Deep narration (possibly to let the story go out with the emotion of Victoria’s departure) – and then we’re into that old classic of the Doctor and his companion exploring their new surroundings without encountering any of the guest cast.

It’s almost becoming a tradition now that the Doctor and Jamie get an episode to themselves before they encounter their next companion, but it’s another one of those great opportunities to see the pair shine together on screen. It gives the pair a chance to breathe, and makes Victoria’s departure from the programme all the more poignant. It’s not simply a case of one out, one in, but rather a bit of a break before they meet someone else that they’d enjoy spending their time with. The only problem this gives me is that I’d love a full story of just the Doctor and Jamie from start to finish, and you’d think that this would be the time to have one – fresh from their loss but not quite ready yet to make a new friend.

When the guest cast does finally arrive on the scene, the narration gives us a full run down of every member we see, and I have to confess that I rather lost track of them all by the end. I’m sure they’ll each develop their own distinct personalities before the end of the story, but for now I’m just labelling them ‘generic base crew’. It’s a slow start to the new story, but I’m cautiously optimistic. If nothing else, it’s nice to see that the Cybermen haven’t been introduced as the end-of-episode cliffhanger, but we’re left guessing for that little bit longer. In contrast to Fury From the Deep, this feels fresh and different, and that can only be a good thing.

a 

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

Day 210: Fury From the Deep, Episode Six

Dear diary,

'I was fond of her too,' the Doctor snaps at Jamie in the closing moments of this story, as the pair watch Victoria's departure from the TARDIS. Sadly, I'm not entirely sure that it's a sentiment that I can echo. For me, Victoria has really been the first of the companions that's not made any real impact on me. It's a shame, really, because Deborah Watling has turned in some nice performances, and Victoria has been part of some lovely scenes (and some really fab stories), but whereas with Steven, or Polly, I didn’t want to say goodbye... I'm not going to miss Victoria - I just don't really think I'll notice that she's gone.

That said, her departure is handled better in the last half of this episode than it has been for the rest of the story. Having gone through a few episodes with Victoria complaining about the state of their lives, things get somewhat toned down now, and we get a chance for her to actually stop and think about her decision, without having to make it in the middle of an adventure. The Doctor asks her if she really wants to leave, then offers to stay one more night, just to give her a chance to sleep on it. We then get that beautiful scene with Jamie and Victoria out on the balcony - it's possibly the best performance that we've had from either companion as they sadly discuss what's to come.

I think it helps that following this, much of the departure is then handled wordlessly. The narration on the soundtrack describes them as saying their goodbyes, before the Doctor and Jamie paddle back over to the TARDIS (it's back out in the middle of the ocean, now, as in Episode One, but during Episode Three it's described as having been 'conveniently washed up on the shore'. Has the ship just been going in and out with the tide while we've been off fighting sentient seaweed?) and have their discussion in the console room. It's lovely to be left not knowing what their final words to each other were: it feels far more romantic than actually watching in on them.

It's probably fitting that in the story introducing the Sonic Screwdriver to the series, the creature is defeated by noise, or as the Doctor more accurately puts it, 'sonic vibrations'. It's clear that his Sonic will play a vital role in the denouement… except it doesn't. A tape recording of Victoria's screams saves the day. In a way, I guess it's quite nice that she gets to be a vital part of the Doctor's life one last time, but it does feel odd. I'm going to go out on a limb and chalk this up as another one of those instances that makes the Doctor think more work is required to make the device all the more functional.

Overall, I've been really disappointed by Fury From the Deep. I don't think it helps that it's another one of those stories which has a reputation for being one of those big, Doctor Who 'classics'. There's an awful lot to love in here, and if you wanted to sum up the Troughton era in a single story, this would probably be the one to do it. As I've said before, though, it's just too close to everything around it to really stand out of the tide. The more that the story has gone on, the more I've been picking out similarities to other stories and trying to decide which version is better. Admittedly, Fury From the Deep wins out in a few cases, but not always. There's so many bits of the story that put me in mind of The Macra Terror (today's addition to the list is the Doctor and his friends staying behind after the adventure to enjoy a celebration with the guest characters), a story which I rated very highly - it's just made me want to listen to that one again!

Still, we now enter the third and final phase of the Second Doctor's era, with the introduction of Zoe. And to top it off? It's the return of my favourite monsters - the Cybermen. Unlike this story, I'm not really sure how fans rate The Wheel in Space, so maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised?

a 

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

Day 209: Fury From the Deep, Episode Five

Dear diary,

Quite a few times since Troughton took over the role, I've commented that certain scenes (or, in some cases, certain episodes) feel less like Doctor Who and more like anything else that was on television at around the same time. We've had one or two stories that wouldn't feel out of place in the more surreal parts of The Avengers, or Adam Adamant Lives!, for example.

What's really happening is that the programme is evolving. People always talk about the shift to colour and the grounding of the Third Doctor to contemporary Earth as though it's some huge sea change that occurs once the 1970s hit. Actually, ever since The War Machines at the tail-end of Season Three, we've been spending more and more time on modern-day (or close enough) Earth. Jamie and Victoria comment on it at the start of this very story: since the start of the programme's Fourth Season, there's been no end of tales set within 100 years either side of the broadcast date - ranging from The Tenth Planet twenty years ahead in the 1980s, to The Faceless Ones and The Web of Fear taking place during the year they're made (or thereabouts…). Even stories like The Enemy of the World can't be all that far into the future.

We just didn't really get things like this during the First Doctor's time at the TARDIS controls. Our history was usually further flung than the 1920s and we spent much more time out on distant worlds than we do now. It's this that causes the series to feel more like everything else that's being shown - because it's changing to fit the same format as many of these other programmes. I've made no secret of the fact that I'm not especially looking forward to reaching the Third Doctor's era, but I'm surprised that it's all being fed in this early, and I'm wondering just how much of a change it's going to feel when the time does roll around for the Doctor's exile to Earth…

One of the benefits of the programme starting to feel more and more like all these other shows is that - from time to time - you can use the others to give context to an episode of Doctor Who. Today's episode sees first Robson (with Victoria as his captive), and then the Doctor and Jamie taking a helicopter out to the drilling platforms where they can confront the Weed. All the shots of the platforms were filmed at the Red Sands Fort in the Thames Estuary, a sea defense built to fire on enemy aircrafts fairly late into World War Two.

By the 1960s, with the various sea forts abandoned, many were adopted as homes for pirate radio stations, and Red Sands became home to Radio 390. This setting formed the backdrop for one of the very last episodes of Danger Man in 1965, and I've watched it this evening to get a feel for the location, since it looks like it'll be playing a key part in the resolution of our current story! It's an odd change of pace to be watching something like Danger Man - shot on film, and containing an entire story in an hour-long episode, it's got a very different feel to Doctor Who: to sum it up, it's slicker.

The episode - Not So Jolly Rodger - is set almost entirely out on the Red Sands Fort, which gives plenty of opportunity to see the place showcased. It's a crying shame that we don't get to see more of it in the surviving tele snaps for Fury From the Deep, because it looks like a stunning location to set a story. Silhouetted against the clear blue sky while the sea lashes at the thick trunks that hold the forts above the waves, it's incredibly remote, and as 'alien' as you could possibly want. The tele snap of one tower covered with foam and weed is sadly not the best quality image - it could have made a very striking impression if it's our first shot of the towers in the story. Sadly, I imagine that they don't get shown off quite as well in Doctor Who as they do in Danger Man - the way the two shows were produced would have seen to that. It's worth tracking the episode down, though, just to get an idea of how brilliant it may have looked.

(Fittingly, the design of the Red Sands Fort was adapted in 1955 to be used for the very first off-shore drilling platform in the North Sea - so the location is pretty accurate!)

I still can't shake the feeling that this story would be rating a lot better with me if I were seeing it divorced from everything else around it. Today, we can add the two helicopters to the list of things cropping up this season (I was very impressed with the appearance of one during Enemy of the World, but it feels like old hat now!), plus the usual bouts of foam, possession, and Victoria whinging. I'm spending more time tying up plot developments to other recent stories than I am actually enjoying this one.

It's a shame, because it's perhaps easier to see in this episode, more than the first four, just how dark this story is. I've already mentioned just how scary some of the surviving clips are, but today's cliffhanger, with Robson almost swallowed in the foam as he announces that 'we've been waiting' for the Doctor could go down as one of the most unnerving things we've had in the show for a long time. Again, sadly, the tele snap doesn't do it any favours, laving the impression that it's either terrifying or hilarious.

There's plenty of great dialogue on show, too, that really helps to heighten the situation. My favourite has to be the Doctor's grim warning to Jamie - 'we're already in the lion's den. What we've got to concentrate on is keeping our heads out of it's mouth.' Much is being made, too, of the Doctor's lack of certainty with the situation. He's usually got a plan tucked up his sleeve, but today he's completely stumped. He spends while staring off into space as he thinks through the situation, then grimly declares that he simply doesn't know what to do. It's unsettling, and I really wish I could enjoy the story more than I am. Fury From the Deep is almost certainly a tale that could benefit hugely from a re-watch (re-listen) once the marathon is over…

a 

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

Day 208: Fury From the Deep, Episode Four

Dear diary,

Crikey, once Victoria has decided that she's had enough, she's really not going to let it go, is she? Having decided yesterday that she's sick of constantly being in trouble, she really labours the point here today, bringing it up on more than one occasion with both the Doctor and Jamie. In some ways, it's almost like she's completely lost faith in what they're doing - when Jamie reassures her that the Doctor will come up with something to save the day (after all, that's what he does in every story!) Victoria whines that she's not so certain, and then panics when the Doctor admits that he hasn't quite worked out what's going on yet.

My biggest issue with all this, though, is more the way that Victoria has been treated in the long-term. I've mentioned a couple of times how her character seems to swing back and forth between loving life in time and space and being less than certain the this life is for her. Wouldn't this feel so much better if she'd always been so unsure of things. I'll readily admit that I'd be complaining endlessly in these diary entries if she simply whinged on like this every week, but it would make her complete giving up here work just that little bit better.

However, I did suddenly wonder today if there might be an outside influence to her sudden departure. I'll need to hear the next two episodes before I can make a definitive statement, but I wonder if it's possible to add another footnote to my Great Intelligence timeline that makes her actions here seem to be a little less… sudden. We know that there's a small piece of the Intelligence in her mind left over from their trip to Tibet earlier in the season, and we know that she'll later be drawn back to the country, plagued by visions of her late father (I know this means treating the fan-made spin off Downtime as canon, but I've been doing so all along, and I've seen that more times than I've seen some official Doctor Who stories!).

Is it possible that the Great Intelligence, having survived the end of The Web of Fear and retreated back into space is calling on Victoria here, trying to separate her from the Doctor and Jamie so that she can become a pawn in his larger game? Although no date is given on screen for this story, fandom tends to assume sometime in the mid-1970s (indeed, this world tallies with some of the technology seen in the UNIT stories), which would be fitting - the Intelligence could draw Victoria into leaving the relative safety of the TARDIS and staying behind on Earth, ready to carry out his bidding during the 1980s and 90s. It's a stretch, I'll admit, but I think it could just about work. As I say, I'll need to hear the last third of the story before I can officially adopt this sequence of events in my mind, but I like it for now, at least!

If there's anything good to come from Victoria's sudden lack of ease with the lifestyle she's been leading of late, it's that we get a chance to see Jamie reaffirmed as perfect for life with the Doctor. The way that the Doctor teases him into heading down into the stats with him is fantastic ('you wouldn't let me go down by myself, would you?', he asks, somewhat sadly. 'Well,' Jamie replies, having to think for a moment, before reluctantly giving in: 'no…'), and there's then something brilliant about the pair exploring in the darkness with gas masks on. Right back when Frazer Hines joined in The Highlanders, I mused that it was strange to have a companion be so interlinked with a Doctor (Tegan comes close, though), but when you see this pair in action, almost two years on from all that… it's perfectly clear why they stuck together.

The other great thing about the pair exploring down in the system of the rigs - it survives! Well, sort of. Today, I popped in the Lost in Time DVD so that I could watch the surviving clips from this story - sometimes they work as a handy visual shorthand to keep in mind while listening. Among the assortment of clips was one of the Doctor and Jamie being scared by the seaweed creature, and it has to be said - it looks great. In some ways, I could simply write off the creature as playing to another stereotype of the Troughton era (the thing lives in the BBC's foam machine for goodness sake!) and add it to my list of things that feel tired in this story, but actually, it's bloody creepy.

There's another shot amongst the surviving clips of Van Lutyens being attacked and - for want of a better word - consumed by the weed creature, and it's actually terrifying. For what amounts to a lump of seaweed thrashing about in some foam, it's surprisingly effective. It also provides a chance to see Mr Oak and Mr Quill's attack of Maggie from the other day: another one of those scenes that's actually very un-nerving. It's so unusual, and the way the shot cuts back and forth from mouth to mouth, as the men stare wildly and stretch their jaws to breaking point…

I really do think that, watched in isolation, Fury From the Deep could absolutely deserve the high reputation that it's often given. I think had it survived for us to see then it would be far and away one of the greatest tales we'd had. Sadly, going by the soundtrack and the tele snaps (even with these few surviving bits and bobs) it still just isn't quite giving me enough…

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

Day 207: Fury From the Deep, Episode Three

Dear diary,

It would appear that Debbie Watling has handed in her four-weeks notice between the last episode and this one, as Victoria's tone has suddenly shifted from being one of hating the thought of living in a place like this, to hating the throughout of continuing her travels with the Doctor. 'Why are we always in trouble?' she asks, and when the Doctor suggests that it's all part of the fun, she huffs that she's tired of being scared out of her wits.

Also interesting to note is the way that, having been set on the path of departing the TARDIS, Victoria is suddenly being given more to do as a companion than she has been for a long time. Over the last 30-odd episodes, she's swung wildly from being a bit useless and feeble to being a vital member of the team. Now, she seems to have turned into Liz Shaw, assisting the Doctor in his experiments on the seaweed, and even explaining them to Jamie.

Later on, she's responsible for picking a lock with a hair-pin (I'll assume the Doctor doesn't use his newly-created Sonic because it's still in the early stages of development. We've only seen it used to actually take out screws, and it would take an age to remove the door in that way. Maybe it needs some refinement before he can actually use it against locks?), while her friends watch on. It's like - out of nowhere - she's becoming indispensable again.

Elsewhere, the story is doing its best to be as creepy as possible. There's a brilliant moment, having seen off the weed from one attack, when we're reminded that there are hundreds of vents it could attack from, and now that it's inside the shafts, it has direct access to every one. I complained yesterday that this story seems to be something of a 'Best of Season Five' collection, but at least this feels like a slightly different threat - we're used to having proper, obvious monsters attacking, as opposed to a mass of something infecting the system.

Perhaps the most effective moment of the episode, though (and, truth be told, the story so far) is the cliffhanger, in which Maggie stares out across the sea, telling Robson that he will obey, and then walking, slowly, until she vanishes under the waves. It's incredibly un-nerving, and not something that you could imagine the modern series showing, for fear of kids playing copy-cat on a family trip to the beach. It's one of those moments that I've often in the past described as not really being Doctor Who, but things like this are starting to become quite routine for the series - the sudden, striking image. Long after I've forgotten everything else in this episode (and let's be honest, at least half of it has already started to fade from memory, half an hour on), this cliffhanger is going to linger. The tele snaps make it look fab, and it's rocketing up my list of 'things I'd love to see. Rest assured, the score of today's episode is raised simply by these final few minutes.

There's not really a great deal else to say on Fury From the Deep for now. Those odd few moments aside, it's still just feeling a bit 'run of the mill', and that's a shame, as it's not that there's anything wrong with this story - it's just that it's come at the wrong time. Had we seen this story at the end of Season Four, I'm sure I'd be singing its praises now, but having to follow on from so many other stories in the same mould, it's struggling to leave any real impression on me.

6/10 

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

Day 206: Fury From the Deep, Episode Two

Dear diary,

There are times that I really wish I were coming to the 'classic' series as a complete novice, without all that 'fan baggage' which means I know, for instance, that Fury From the Deep is the last story to feature Victoria. Or that it's the only story of the 1960s that uses one title to cover all its episodes without beginning with 'the'. Or, and this is the big one for today's episode, that the enemy is a big, writing mass of seaweed.

Imagine coming to this story completely free of all that knowledge. Watching the series from the start and not having a clue what was to happen at any given time. No idea that this is Victoria's last appearance (and there's no indication at this stage in the narrative that it might be - indeed she makes a point in today's episode of letting everyone know how much she wouldn't like living in a place like this!) and crucially, not knowing what all this seaweed has to do with anything.

When Victoria is explaining the attack she suffered in yesterday's episode, she describes the creature as being 'all covered in seaweed', hinting that there could be something hidden away underneath. It's heavily implied that she's been imagining it (although we know she hasn't). The entire setting of the story is based around a place mining gas, and then there's that ominous heartbeat echoing through the pipes…

There was a moment today when even I wondered if the Macra might be behind all this. It wouldn't be completely out of the blue - the Yeti have just joined the Cybermen and the Daleks in the ranks of 'creatures the Doctor has fought more than once', and all the trappings are certainly in place for it to be just such a showdown. Having remembered that they're not the villains in question, I was a little disappointed (I love Macra, even if there are no such things), but I love the thought of hearing this story thinking that they really could be controlling things on the rigs behind the scenes.

My main problem with Fury From the Deep, though, was summed up best by Nick Mellish in a conversation we had earlier this afternoon - “Like much of Season 5, works slightly better when listened to in isolation (i.e. not with the other Season 5 stories).” There's lots going on which, really, I should be lapping up, but we've seen it all before. Even worse - we've seen it all before this season. This is the kind of fatigue that I'd worried about when approaching Season Five (I knew from the start that this was likely to be the hardest of the 1960s seasons), though I guess I should be thankful that it hasn't set in until the penultimate story of the year.

June Murphy turns in a great performance as Maggie Harris, and plays the possession by the seaweed at just the right level of creepiness… but we've already seen people brainwashed by the enemy plenty of times this season, most prominently in the two Yeti tales, in which it's a key plot point. Robson is a perfectly good leader of the base, determined to keep to his own programme in the face of mounting evidence that it's the wrong decision… but he's not given the same amount of character that Clent had during The Ice Warriors.

In yesterday's episode, we had mysterious gloved hands creeping into shot to tamper with vital things, but the same thing was used for at least half of The Web of Fear, and it's only been a few days since I watched that one! Stretching back a little further to the end of Season Four, all those parallels that point toward the Macra are just as valid - this is an example of Doctor Who doing things very well, but things that it just does too often. Frankly, it feels like I've already watched this episode several times over…

a 

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

Day 205: Fury From the Deep, Episode One

Dear diary,

I can easily take Victoria’s complaint that the TARDIS is always landing them on Earth - since she joined the team at the end of the last season, they’ve only visited two alien planets, and only one of those was the result of the TARDIS taking them there. What’s harder to buy is Jamie’s assertion that they always end up in England - is he forgetting their trip to Australia and Europe two stories ago? And the trip to Tibet earlier in the season? And where was the glacier in The Ice Warriors? In my mind it’s somewhere other than the UK, but I’m not sure if it was ever actually stated on screen…

The only explanation I can think of is that our three friends here have spent plenty of time having adventures that we haven’t seen. Certainly, the way they joke and play on the beach at the start of this story (in a scene hugely reminiscent of the opening to The Enemy of the World) gives the impression of a group of people that are very comfortable and happy together, while the stories that we’ve seen with them haven’t spread out over a great deal of time. It feels like an age since stories like Marco Polo or The Romans, when the TARDIS crew would spend months on end hanging out in a particular time or place.

What’s also pretty fun is the way that our regulars arrive in this location - with the TARDIS materialising in mid-air, and then gently coming to rest on the ocean waves. ‘The TARDIS is quite capable of floating,’ the Doctor explains, though it has to be said that it’s a bit unusual as an idea. The soundtrack makes the whole scene seem a little muddled, with the sound of the ship’s engines taking a really long time to dies down, but their row to the shore in a little boat taking only a matter of seconds. Still, it’s something a bit different, which is always good.

As for the story itself… it’s another one of these tales that’s very much at home being produced in this era. I’m always put in mind of Gary Russell’s comment in the Second Time Around feature on The Dominators DVD - North Sea gas was everywhere in the news in this era, and here’s a story that brings the Doctor’s adventures right into your home. I’ve always thought of the seaweed creature as being a bit of an odd choice for a Doctor Who monster, though actually it’s the kind of thing that the programme does very well - taking something perfectly ordinary and turning it into something that should be feared. I think this is most in evidence when Maggie Harris throws some out on her patio, and it begins to write and pulse: small clumps of the stuff like this will be littered all over when kids visit the beach, and it too could start to move…

Of course, the big thing to note about today’s episode? It’s the first appearance of the Sonic Screwdriver! Hooray! I’ve been counting down to this one for some time now (and tracking the Doctor’s train of thought as he starts to develop the device), and I’m pleased to say that this is everything that I could possibly want from its first use in the show. It’s not being used to break the Doctor and his companions out of a cell, or to shoot energy beams at an alien, or hold open a heavy stone door - this Sonic Screwdriver does exactly what it says on the tin - it’s used to unscrew the front of a little box with soundwaves.

I like the idea that the Doctor has been developing this for a little while throughout Season Five (there’s another reason to imagine some unseen adventures for this trio - it gives him more time to work), and even though he claims here that the Sonic ‘never fails’, he’s clearly quite new to the tool, and Jamie obviously hasn’t seen it before (‘Neat, isn’t it?’, the Doctor adds). We’ll be seeing plenty more of the device over the next few years (well, the next few decades), but it’s nice to see it here in an extremely basic form - a ‘mark one’ of all the Sonics to come…

a 

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

Day 204: The Web of Fear, Episode Six

Dear diary,

It was always clear that this episode would feature some kind of defeat for the Great Intelligence, but it wasn't clear what form it would take. I half expected it to come down to the same as in the first Yeti tale, and we'd simply watch on as the Doctor disappeared down into the tunnels, where all we could hear would be his strangled cries. It worked well once, but I was dreading it a second time.

Thankfully, it's more interesting than a simple defeat - and you've got the Doctor berating Jamie for interrupting a plan that would have seen the creature fought off for good. It's not often that we get this kind of extra layer to the end of a story, and it really does help with the idea that the Intelligence is something a bit more sinister than your average Doctor Who baddie.

It makes me wonder if things are being set up for the proposed third Yeti story (which, I believe, was to be called The Laird of McCrimmon, and feature the departure of Jamie from the series). It's an interesting idea, preparing the viewers (and the characters) for an impending rematch, and that feels pretty different - the show doesn't often hint toward its own future in this way.

Indeed, the only recent example that I can think of is The Evil of the Daleks at the end of Season Four - but there's more connections to that story than just the hint of a survival for the monsters. I mused yesterday that the Doctor taking control of a Yeti was reminiscent of his control over the humanised Daleks in that earlier story, but isn't his plan almost the same, too?

Here, he's crossed some wires on the bad guy's super machine, so that it will do the opposite of what's intended. In The Evil of the Daleks, he switches around their machine so it makes more human Daleks, and they can rebel. It's not a problem, as such, but in a story I've enjoyed as much as The Web of Fear, it's a shame to see so many similarities to a (relatively) recent tale.

Also a shame… Do we ever find out just who was the Intelligence's pawn throughout the first few episodes? Was it always Arnold, or is that just since he went in to the fungus? Did I miss a bit? I was hoping for some big reveal that just didn't really come.

It's tempting to say 'I'd love to have The Web of Fear back in the archives, but I don't know if that's true. The first episode looks beautiful, but the story works so well on audio, that I think there's others is rather see. But in all? A success! It's no wonder that this is considered to be one of Doctor Who's all time classics - and so is the next story. Here's hoping things keep up like this!

7/10 

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

Day 203: The Web of Fear, Episode Five

Dear diary,

Back at the start of the month, when I was making my way through The Abominable Snowmen, I commented that I couldn’t quite get my head around the way that the Great Intelligence’s two 1960s stories joined up with the ones we’ve had this year in Series Seven. I started to put together a timeline (you can read the first four bullet points of it HERE), but I needed to wait for this story to come along before I could finish things up.

Thankfully, a lot of what we’ve had from the Intelligence during The Web of Fear corresponds to what I was hoping we’d get, so I don’t need to alter my timeline all that much to make it work. So, that said, I’ll be keeping the first four points the same as they were, and carrying it on as follows…

5) The Doctor defeats the Intelligence in Tibet, and Professor Travers takes some of the robotic equipment (including a complete Yeti) back with him to London. His success in this area wins him a small amount of notoriety, and the money he makes goes towards funding a new passion - electronics. By the mid-1930s, the money is drying up, so Travers sells his yeti to a friend, Who places it in his museum.

6) At the same time, the Intelligence has been forced back out onto the Asteral plane. Padmasambavah has now succumbed to his old age and died, leaving the creature without a form. From the Asteral Plane, the Intelligence is able to monitor the Doctor’s travels through time and space*, and so sets an intricate trap to catch him, and drain his mind of all it’s experiences*. As he does this, Travers is able to reactivate a Yeti control sphere, giving the Intelligence a closer presence to his creatures.

7) The events of The Web of Fear take place, and end… however they do in the next episode. I mean, obviously the Intelligence is defeated, but I don’t know how, yet. Following this, he retreats back to the Astral Plane, but keeps in contact with several minds ('I have many other human hands at my command', he tells the Doctor, here). One of those minds is Professor Travers, who at some point in the 1970s is drawn back to Det Sen Monastery, where he is kept alive beyond his years.

8) In the early 1980s, Victoria herself is brought back to Tibet, following visions of her father. The Intelligence takes control of her mind, giving her the instructions needed to create New World University, and formulating a plan to seize control of the planet via the emerging internet over the next fifteen years. At the same time, Ms Kislet is taken from her parents, and the Intelligence begins ‘whispering in her ear’, formulating different plans.

9) The New World University plan falls apart, partly because the internet isn’t yet widespread enough to take control globally (WOTAN would be disappointed), and partly because of a timely intervention from the Brigadier and Sarah Jane Smith. After this, he abandons the Yeti, as they’re not so vital to his current operations, and he’s gotten better at using humans for his dirty work. By 2013, he’s back to using the web as a way to take control, harvesting human minds via the wi-fi.

10) A plan which, once again gets stopped because of the Doctor’s intervention ('You thwarted me at every turn' he tells our hero in The Name of the Doctor). Now, yes, I know that the Intelligence in today’s episode claims that he doesn’t want to trap the Doctor for revenge (he calls it a very human emotion), but let’s face it, by the time The Name of the Doctor rolls around, the Intelligence is pretty darn vengeful. Having discovered the location of the Doctor’s grave, the Intelligence again plans to take control of the Doctor’s mind. Somehow.

11) When they arrive at the tomb, though, we’re introduced to the Doctor’s time stream - an the Intelligence realises that he can cause the Doctor an enormous amount of hurt by throwing himself into it. Sure, it’ll die in the process, but the Doctor (and his companions) have foiled his plans so many times now, that the sacrifice is worth it, just to know the Doctor is in that kind of pain.

And then it’s all over. No more Intelligence, and Clara has to run around the Doctor’s past adventures in hundreds of different forms, saving the day without anyone knowing. Somewhere, I’m tempted to believe that the Intelligence impersonates the Doctor during the Shalka incident, just because it tidies everything up, but I might be pushing it to include that somewhere, too.

I think everything ties together quite nicely, or at least nicely enough for me. I’ll probably review things when I reach Series Seven again (well over a year from now!), but it keeps things neat in my head for now, at least.

As for the episode itself? I’m still really enjoying the experience of being swept along with this one, but I’m starting to feel like it’s time to draw to some kind of resolution (that’s not a complaint - we’re at the end of Episode Five, things are about to come to a close). I then spent a while, as the Doctor controlled both a Sphere and later a full-blown Yeti trying to recall why it felt so familiar, before realising that he does a very similar thing with the Daleks at the end of Season Four. Here’s hoping that the final episode sees The Web of Fear going out on a real high - a story like this certainly deserves to!

*I’m going to assume that the Intelligence is only able to monitor the Second Doctor’s adventures, probably in the order that we’ve been seeing them (I guess he’s had more than two excursions between Tibet and now, we’ve just not been privy to them), otherwise he’d be trying to trap one of the later Doctors, who would have even more experience.

a 

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

Day 202: The Web of Fear, Episode Four

Dear diary,

That sense of paranoia just keeps on growing in this episode - literally everyone is falling under suspicion at one point or another. Today’s suspects are mainly Chorley (absent here, but possibly off in the tunnels and up to no good), The Doctor (he’s always going to be under suspicion), Evans (Who’s acting stranger and stranger by the scene - there’s something up with him, even if he isn’t either working for the Intelligence, or an operative of Torchwood), and Travers, Who actually gets to turn up in the final scene, all possessed.

What’s quite nice is that I’m still trying to piece this all together - even though poor Travers is a pawn of the Intelligence now, has that been the case all along? Surely it wasn’t him steering the Yeti into position all this time? I’m expecting that things will be brought to a head in the next episode, so we’ll possibly be getting some answers pretty soon, just in time for the big climax.

I’m also rather pleased that having worked my way this far into the story, suddenly there’s a lot more of Downtime that makes sense to me. I said during The Abominable Snowmen that I’d never understood vast parts of the spin-off, but that story didn’t really help to put things straight for me. Here, with the Yeti figurines being used more as homing beacons than anything else, things are starting to slot into place more, and it’s all helping to form the rest of my big ‘Great Intelligence Timeline’, which I started in the entry for The Abominable Snowmen Episode Four, and will be continuing in tomorrow’s update.

It’s strange to see the Doctor bringing the Colonel up-to-speed on the TARDIS as quickly as this, as I’d always assumed that he didn’t find out all that much about it until the Third Doctor came to work for him - specifically, I’m thinking of The Three Doctors being the Brig’s first look inside the ship. Here, though, he’s willing to accept the Doctor’s description of his ‘craft’ at face value, telling one of his soldiers that he ‘doesn’t intend to leave any escape route unexplored’ no matter how ‘screwy’ it might seem!

Lines of comic relief like this have been peppered throughout the story so far, and they’re really helping to walk the line of this story being just the right balance of light and dark. So far, smiles have been raised by the description of the Yeti coming from Outer Space (How did they get here? Through the post!) and Evans stopping to pick up a chocolate bar from a conveniently-placed vending machine. In a story where things could be getting very sinister and brutal, they’re helping to keep things at least a bit jollier.

Which is necessary, really, because things are quite brutal in places. Today’s Yeti attack in Covent Garden is lost somewhat by appearing only on audio - the telesnaps for the scene, coupled with knowledge of Dougie Camfield’s direction, make it look fab - the new style Yeti even look imposing when outside. Last year, the Mirror newspaper published online a load of photos from this scene, with the Yeti menacing a man and his dog - they do look great!

The main problem I had with the scene was the use of music - its Space Adventure! That’s the Cybermen theme, not the Yeti! Have to admit (shamefully) that it did actually put me off a little for a few minutes. Sadly, though, it’s also the last time we’ll be hearing Space Adventure in Doctor Who, it’s retired after this use, I believe. A shame, as I think it’s always going to be one of my favourite pieces of music used in the series. Brilliantly, it was played as part of the Doctor Who Prom last week - and didn't it just sound wonderful?

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a  Day 201: The Web of Fear, Episode Three

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

Day 201: The Web of Fear, Episode Three

Dear diary,

I really love it when the Doctor has an extended circle of friends. In the new series, I've always liked it when we find ourselves back on present-day Earth, and the Doctor meets up with Jackie, or Micky. The Stolen Earth is like heaven for me - all those friends he's made across the last four years, together! Brilliant stuff. More recently, we've got the Paternoster Row gang - a 'family' for the Eleventh Doctor. I don't doubt that when the Twelfth Doctor takes over next year, he'll get an extended group of friends for himself.

There's something about it that just feels so much more real than simply meeting friends, travelling with them for a bit, then dropping them off to never return. The Web of Fear marks the very first time that we get a returning 'good' character to the programme (as opposed to Daleks or Cybermen or whatever) in the form of Professor Travers. It's being played really nicely - there's an argument between Travers and Jamie early on in the tale, before Victoria realises who he is, and the Doctor catches up with him today like he's an old friend.

And as if that weren't enough, this story also marks the first appearance of perhaps the most famous of the Doctor's many recurring friends - in the form of the Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart. Now, I know he wasn't considered as a long-running character at this point, but there's still something really brilliant about his first appearance being from a time before he became 'the Brigadier'. Fittingly, the man we're presented with here isn't quite the one we'll come to know and love over the years, but there's certainly elements in there that shine through, and as a Doctor Who fan, Nick Courtney's voice is so embedded in my mind that you can fail to recognise him the second he begins speaking.

Interestingly, he's played as something of a 'grey' character here, and we're not entirely sure that we're supposed to trust him. Certainly, if you pointed him out to a viewer watching in 1968 and told them that this man would become the Doctor's best friend through several incarnations, they'd think you were mad. Just as in yesterday's episode, tensions in the base are rising, and everyone is starting to suspect everyone else. What's great about this is that we're invited to join in with all this, and to start trying to work out just who is in league with the Yeti.

Certainly, for a while, it's supposed to be Lethbridge-Stewart himself (you have no idea how hard it is not to just call him 'the Brigadier'). When he first turns up, both the soldiers and Victoria wonder about where he might have come from - no one was expecting him, after all. It's pointed out that Evans didn't mention any other survivors of the ammunitions attack (where the Colonel claims to have come from), and the Doctor muses that he just appeared out of nowhere. As if to court the suspicion a little further, the Colonel himself even comments that the soldiers know more about the Doctor than they do about him, and that they still don't really know all that much about the Doctor…

Then you've got Evans, too, or 'our man from Torchwood' as I'm still insisting to think about it. There's something shifty going on with him, and I'm not entirely sure what it is just yet. Jamie seems to think that it's as simple as the man being a coward, looking to escape at any opportunity, but I'm not sure it's so simple. Having made up his mind to escape while he can, Evans is later found skulking around the tunnels, and every excuse he makes sounds just a little too forced.

Or maybe it's Chorley, the only reporter who's been allowed in to monitor the situation? He's been a thorn in everyone's side since the very first episode, and here he's seen talking to Victoria about the TARDIS, before locking her and the Doctor in a room and making his escape. Again, there's a suggestion that he might simply be too much of a coward to be stuck in this atmosphere any longer, but that might seem too obvious!

To put it bluntly, I'm not sure who is working with the Intelligence - and I like that! It's keeping me guessing (and second guessing) at every turn, and that's really helping to keep me engaged with the story. Something else that's keeping me involved is the stations that we're caught in - I'm off to London again this afternoon with Ellie, and the routes we need to take will pass us through Monument, Covent Garden, St Pauls… all these places that just don't seem to be all that safe right now! I'll keep an eye out for fungus…

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

Day 200: The Web of Fear, Episode Two

Dear diary,

In some ways, this episode is absolutely made to be listened to as just the audio. Not only does the claustrophobia of the dark Underground tunnels really lend itself to being heard through headphones, but the script is almost written as if it were a radio play. 'Let's just hope they're not on the Circle Line!' one soldier exclaims, watching as the fungus moves along that very tunnel. Cut from this to Jamie and Evans, who instantly find a Tube map and declare themselves to be walking right down… the Central Line. Of course. We get another example a few minutes later, where we've just been told that Jamie is headed for Monument station, and we cut back to the soldiers discovering that the fungus is about to arrive at… Monument. (And just in case we needed the point underlined, the action then shifts back to Jamie, who emerges from a tunnel and loudly proclaims 'here we are! Monument!').

I also spent some time thinking that it was a good job we couldn't see the huge battle between the Yeti and the soldiers, until I remembered that it's a Douglas Camfield episode we're dealing with, and hurried to go through the tele snaps. It's hard to tell, because so many of the snaps catch people mid-action, but the impression I get is that it looked brilliant. The setting really helps, too, the cramped tunnels really helping to give the Yeti a kind of scale that was completely lost out on the Welsh hillside.

I think it's probably a testament to how much I'm enjoying this one that it was fifteen minutes or more before I noticed the complete absence of the Doctor from the story. It's been a while since I stopped tracking the cast's holidays (though for the record, Jamie and Victoria took a week off during The Enemy of the World that was nicely glossed over), but they're rarely as well done as this. Much of the story becomes about the absence of the Doctor. We're constantly reassured that he hasn't been killed in the explosion - because it didn't go off properly - but we're left to wonder exactly what has happened to him.

And in that absence, the suspicion is allowed to turn on him. It's Anne Travers who first makes the suggestion that the Doctor might be the one behind the Yeti - pointing out the odd coincidence that the Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria have all turned up on both occasions that the Yeti have been involved with her father's life. She dismisses this suggestion very quickly (though I'm hoping there's still some lingering doubt in her mind - it provides a nice bit of drama), but later on the idea resurfaces from some of the soldiers, who realise that the fungus has only just started moving again, after three weeks of inactivity, when the Doctor shows up on the scene.

It all helps to add to that sense of tension that's really at the heart of this story. We're in such a closed, confined space that it's only a matter of time before this kind of suspicion is going to arise from people. It's almost the same as the small group of characters we get in Midnight: trapped in a small space, with terror closing in around you, of course you're going to start turning on each other. In this instance, the soldiers have someone else that they can project their fear onto in this mysterious 'Doctor' who no one has actually seen, and just happened to be around when the explosive attack failed. Coming so soon after an episode in which the bad guy is the Doctor's double, it's nice to see this kind of atmosphere.

And it's nice to see the return to that old favourite, the base-under-siege story, being done so well. It's effectively the same kind of situation we've had in some form throughout the Fifth Season, from The Tomb of the Cybermen to The Ice Warriors, and even this story's predecessor, The Abominable Snowmen, but the change of setting really helps to amp up the tension.

When we're trapped in Det Sen Monastery, there's the vast rolling mountains outside to help expand the setting and give you room to breathe. The ice tombs on Telos has that handy lobby area where the Doctor and the guest cast could retreat to in order to catch their breath and plot their next move. So much of The Ice Warriors took place out on the open ice plains, and even when we were trapped inside, it was in a nice, high-tech environment, where they had the technology to end it all if need be (though not necessarily in the way that they'd like).

But trapped down in the London Underground is a totally different story. They've got several ways out… but they can see the enemy creeping along them in the form of the fungus. They know which weapons they need to defeat the Yeti… but their deliveries keep getting attacked and destroyed. It's the best atmosphere we've had for one of these stories, so it's a great one to kick back into them with.

One thing I did wonder, though: they find Evans wandering around the tunnel all on his own (singing a song). He claims to be one of the ammunitions drivers, and has a rank, but makes a point (twice) of pointing out that he's not one of Knight's men, and claims to be lost trying to find his way back from the Yeti attack. I don't know where the character is going for the rest of the story, but in my mind, I've decided that he's not a driver at all, but rather an agent for Torchwood, trying to keep an eye on exactly what's happening down here - robot Yeti could be good for Queen and country, after all!

 

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

Day 199: The Web of Fear, Episode One

Dear diary,

Hooray! It's the welcome return of Douglas Camfield to the director's chair! It feels like an absolute age since we last had some of his work on the series (it is: the last Doctor Who he directed was The Daleks' Master Plan, which finished broadcast just over two years before this story began), and he's managed to completely by-pass the entirety of Innes Lloyd's time on the show. Over the course of Seasons Four and Five so far, I've often had Camfield's style in mind when listening to the soundtracks, but it's lovely to see his return to the series actually surviving in the archives.

And what a return it is! The direction of this episode is, to but it bluntly, stunning. It has the feel of an old 1930s film, and the use of both candles in the museum and shadows in the Underground really help to sell the effect. It's miles ahead of the stuff seen in The Enemy of the World Episode Three (our last surviving episode), and had me completely gripped.

The style is spot on for me right from the opening of the episode, with the shots of the Doctor and his friends caught in the TARDIS console room as it spins out of control. I'll admit, it's tricky to watch the way the Doctor and Victoria cling to each other as they write about on the floor and grunt a lot without something of a raised eyebrow, but the whole scene is filed with a real sense of tension, which isn't always easy. The crowning moment has to be when Jamie finally manages to find the right switch on the TARDIs console and get the doors to close - and the camera returns to a proper position as the doors shut. It's such a simple thing, but it really works.

Cut to the inside of Silverstein's museum and right into the face of a Yeti! It's so abrupt that it really strikes you, and had I not known that the creatures would be making their return in this story (I'm a Doctor Who fan, of course know the Yeti are back in this one, but just in case I didn't, there's a handy trailer at the end of The Enemy of the World, in which the Doctor directly address you and warns you that these Yeti are scarier than the last lot we encountered), I'd have been absolutely flawed by it. I'm one of the few people who actually quite likes the appearance of the creatures in The Abominable Snowmen, but even I'll admit that they're not the most terrifying thing we've ever had in the series. The use of angles and lighting here really sells the effect of the dormant one here, before we get the switchover to the newer, more powerful version that we'll be dealing with for the next few days.

It's strange to have the reveal of the Yeti come so early on into the adventure - indeed we know that the Yeti are involved long before the TARDIS has arrived on Earth - but it means that we get a very different type of episode once again. It's not about the Doctor and his companions getting caught in a base under attack from the monsters (well, not yet, anyway), but about the anticipation of our heroes discovering what we already know. The scene where the Doctor hides beneath the Underground platform, peering round to see the new-and-improved Yeti is fantastic, and a great chance for Troughton to pull one of his trademark faces.

Ah, yes, the Underground stations. It's a well-known anecdote about this story that having been given a cost for filming on the Underground, the BBC decided instead to build their own replica sets so convincing that they ended up being reprimanded by London Transport. I can't say I fully believe the story, but seeing what they've managed to build here… well, I guess there could have been cause for concern! They're fantastic, and it's hard to believe that most of this episode isn't shot out on location. The details are absolutely spot on, and the tunnels in particular are gorgeous. Indeed, my only complaint (having been in Covent Garden's Underground station just last week) is that it's in too good of a condition!

There's loads that I could rave about for this episode (my notes are overloaded with things!), but I'll hold off for now - there's still another five instalments to go, so there'll be plenty of time to discuss all the other aspects that make this so good. The Web of Fear is another one of those Season Five stories with a very high reputation, and I've not really fallen in step with the common feeling towards some of them so far - here's hoping that this one can buck the trend. If it carries on like this, I'd say there's a pretty good chance of that happening!

10/10 

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.

a 

a  a

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.

a  a

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…

a 

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

Day 192: The Ice Warriors, Episode Six

Dear diary,

Long-term readers of The 50 Year Diary will know that I like to keep a track on the Doctor's development of the Sonic Screwdriver. Every now and then, you get a moment in a story which - with hindsight - could be leading the the creation of our favourite Time Lord get-out tool. We've seen the Doctor using sound waves to open locks before now via his recorder, but today is the moment that I think he starts putting two and two together, and gets to work on the sonic.

There's a lovely moment when the Doctor is trying to disrupt the Ice Warrior's weapon so that he can turn it on them. Sat on the floor, coated in cables, the Doctor tries to explain his plan to Victoria - 'The gun seems to work on the basis that sound waves produce reverbs in the objects in their path'. Obviously, this is a pretty good description of what the Sonic Screwdriver does at its most basic level (I'm still thinking of it more as a handy lock-picking device than the all-purpose tool we get in the more recent adventures), and I'd not be surprised if it's thinking about the Ice Warrior's weapon that starts the Doctor really thinking about creating his trusty friend.

In A Christmas Carol, the Doctor tells Kazran that he stayed in his bedroom inventing a new type of screwdriver, and we know from the Series Six DVDs that the Doctor has a number of adventures while his companions are sleeping. I'd not be surprised if he's going to be spending the next few nights shut in his TARDIS bedroom developing said screwdriver. I've not seen Fury From the Deep (where we'll be seeing the device for the first time), but I'm hoping that it's going to tie in nicely.

Anyway! Episode Six provides me with one last chance to praise how heartless these Ice Warrior chaps can be. My notes are full of scribbles about the way their acting ('surrender, or I will blow up your base') and the way they interact with the 'good guys' in the story. 'You'll live to regret this', one is told, to which he replies, coldly, 'At least I will live to regret it'. Perhaps my favourite moment has to be Vaaga establishing which members of the base's crew he needs to keep around to successfully free his ship. 'What are your qualifications for existence?' he asks Clent. I might adopt that question for people I come into contact with!

I've also not really mentioned the simply fantastic guest performances that we've had across these last six episodes. I did initially worry that I'd not be able to look at Perter Sallis in the part of Penley without picturing Wallace and Gromit (in the event, though there's the occasional line where Wallace's tones are instantly recognisable, I found myself thinking much more of Last of the Summer Wine), but he turns in a brilliant appearance. Equally, Peter Barkworth gives us one of the programme's finest performances, and it's especially evident here in the final moments of the episode.

One other thing that I've not mentioned, but I've been meaning to for a while, if the relationship between Jamie and Victoria. We all know that Jamie is completely smitten for her (indeed, he sets off to rescue her from fates unknown in The Evil of the Daleks having only seen one picture of her that he thinks is beautiful), but I'm wondering now… does Victoria have a romantic soft-spot for the highlander, too?

'There is a vague risk that it will kill everybody. Clent and Penley included…' the Doctor admits to her as he prepares the sonic weapon for its first attack. 'AND JAMIE?!?' Victoria replies (in a moment that put me instantly in mind of Watling's cameo from Dimensions in Time), obviously desperately worried for the boy. The pair of them have spent most of The Ice Warriors desperate to get back to or save each other, and they seem to be more focussed on their fellow companion than on the Doctor.

Maybe it's simply that they know the Doctor well enough to know he'll take care of himself - especially in this tale where he's more commanding than we've seen from this incarnation before. It's reasonable to argue that they could have something of an older brother/younger sister relationship, and they both feel a strong sense to care for each other. Or it's possible that there's love in the air. What do we think? Are Jamie and Victoria an item?

a 

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

Day 191: The Ice Warriors, Episode Five

Dear diary,

It has to be said that the design of this story is really 1960s in some places. It's evident right through the look of the Ice Warriors' ship, from the little TV screens in the walls to the large circle motifs that are dotted all around. It must have been in fashion when they left Mars.

Perhaps even more obviously, though, you've got the costumes of the base personnel. They're some of the most 'out-there' costumes that we've had in the series so far, and they're certainly not dull! In my mind, the bits that show up as white here are probably all different garish colours (probably denoting rank. For some reason in my mind, Clent's outfit is a bright blue and the female technicians are all orange), with those black patterns stretched across them. I'm assuming it's so that when they're out on the glacier, amongst the snow, they can be easily spotted. Well, that's my reasoning for it, anyway.

I'm also impressed by the headsets they wear when operating the computer - strange visor-like things which come up and over the head, forming a kind of 'shield' in front of their eyes. It's a typically 1960s science-fiction idea (although it's not been stated on screen wether they display data to the wearer, or if they just act as a shield, possibly to negate the effects of staring at this 'advanced' computer for so long each day), but it doesn't seem to sour of place in a world where we have things on the horizon such as Google GLΛSS. If anything, they just look like an oddly stylish version of that same invention!

One of the things that I'm finding myself really enjoying in this story (actually, it's probably the thing that I'm enjoying the most, currently) is just how much Patrick Troughton has become the Doctor that I think of as the second Doctor. His character has been there right since his very first episode, but we've watched it develop and evolve since his run-in with the Daleks on Vulcan. Here, there's a priceless moment as he enters the Ice Warriors' ship, having been let out of their air lock for satisfactorily answering questions. 'Thank you very much. Very civil of you,' he says, striding into the ship, before he looks up at the sheer size of an Ice Warrior, and turns to hurriedly leave with an 'Oh my lord!'

Equally, there's something about the idea of the Doctor using a stink bomb in an attempt to escape from the ship that feels so right for this incarnation. it put me in mind of the Tenth Doctor's escape from a Pyrovile through the use of a little yellow water pistol, and I think there's a very clear through-line between these two events. Here, it feels like the kind of thing I can see the Doctor doing in one of the TV Comic stories, with a finger pointed toward the top of the panel as he explains that the stink bomb may well be deadly to an alien.

Oh, and also, how cosy does it look when the Doctor (in his over-sized furry coat) gives a big cuddle to Victoria (in her little cloak with the fur collar)? You just want to cuddle up with them and enjoy the sensation!

a 

a  a

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

Day 190: The Ice Warriors, Episode Four

Dear diary,

I’ve just realised that I’ve not done my cheer for alternative ways of doing the titles in this story! It’s been a little while since we had something a bit different from the norm, and I guess that, technically, I should have been titling the last few entries as ‘The 50 Year Diary, Day XX, The Ice Warriors, ONE’. While I quite enjoy it when we have occasional different looks to the episode titles, it really doesn’t look right for the programme. Maybe it’s because I got so used to the standard look during the Hartnell era?

Something that I have mentioned already for this story is just how great the Ice Warriors themselves look, but having an actual moving episode to watch them in makes it worth mentioning again. They’re fantastic, aren’t they? I’ve never noticed before all the little movements they make of their heads when speaking, but it really does add something to the characters. Equally, I’d never spotted how flexible their arms are. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know how weird that sounds, but I think I’ve become so used to the action figure of the Ice Warriors that I’d assumed their arms were made of a kind of hard carapace like their body armour. In many ways, I'd never realised just how lizard-like they are in this story. I've always thought of the creatures as being a type of lizard (it's the scales, and the hissing voice which seems to suggest a forked tongue) but I'd never realised that they were actually played as such.

It’s also worth noting just how well the direction here is serving them. There’s lots of tight close-ups on the faces, which really allows us a good look at the make up design (though it does also reveal that the lips don’t look quite right when the creatures are talking, sadly). We also get a lot of close ups on the armour itself, which shows that off rather nicely, too. I think I quite liked Derek Martinus’ direction of The Tenth Planet, too, so perhaps it shouldn’t come as any great surprise to me to see him doing well here.

One thing about the Ice Warriors that I have to confess I’m less than impressed by is (what I’ve called in my notes) ‘Big Head Warrior’. The Ice Warrior with the especially large head is an image I know from images taken during this story’s recording, and it’s never looked quite right to me. I’d always assumed that there must be a reason in-story that this one particular Warrior had such a different outfit… but I don’t think there is one. Certainly, I’ve not noticed any reason being mentioned.

It's not the only thing from The Ice Warriors that I know quite well from the photos of the story. I've previously mentioned the images of the Ice Warrior towering over Victoria in the store room, but here we've got a scene which was captured perhaps one of the most iconic photographs from this era of the programme - Victoria being chased through the ice cave by the (Big Head) Ice Warrior. I'm still stunned that the DVD cover to the story doesn't have the image on there (though it is still a gorgeous design - one of the best that the range has ever had, I think.)

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

Day 189: The Ice Warriors, Episode Three

Dear diary,

There’s something quite nice about how ruthless these Ice Warriors seem to be. Creating a trap for the base personnel, we’re told that if they come looking for Victoria, the Ice Warriors can destroy them. If they don’t come looking for her, then they can deduce that there aren’t enough humans to pose a resistance to their plans.

Only… what is their plan? I think I’ve missed something here. Ice Warrior A (I love their voices, but it’s almost impossible to pick out individual names with the quality of the soundtrack on this recon) is found frozen in the glacier, having been trapped there since the last ice age. He resolves to find and thaw out the rest of his kind, as their ship crashed there. He kidnaps Victoria and forces her to show him how he was revived.

They then take the technology, locate his comrades, and wakes them up… so that they can build a trap for the humans. I think I must have missed a line of dialogue somewhere, where we find out what this lot have against us.

And yet, it doesn't really matter. Much as I'm not entirely sure what's actually going on, and as much as the two missing instalments have dented my early enthusiasm for the story, I'm still enjoying it. I think it's fair to say that this is the first time that I've really appreciated just how much animating the missing parts of the story will be of a benefit to the tale - hopefully they'll help bridge this period of the story better than the recon has.

Yes, I'm sorry to say that today still hasn't endeared me to the ides of the recon. To begin with, I tried to listen to it as though it were just a soundtrack (I placed the macbook nearby while I did the washing up, so I could sort of see the story playing out of the corner of my eye, but I was really just listening to it), the problem with this, though, is that without the linking narration, half the time I just didn't have a clue what was happening when the dialogue wasn't around to fill the void. In the end, I resorted to actually watching it again, but by then I'd already given up a bit.

It seems to be that - as ever - it's Patrick Troughton that's carrying me through this one. As usual, he's been given plenty of great dialogue to speak ('He's a scientist and a bit inclined to have his head in the cloud. You know the type…' he says of Penley. 'I certainly do!' comes the reply from our favourite time-travelling Scot). There's another moment when the Doctor makes a big deal out of the importance of being passed a pencil, which left me grinning like a loon.

It's not just confined to the Doctor, either. I don't know if it's just me, but it really does seem over the last few series, there's been a real increase in how much of the dialogue I'm jotting down in my notes. Highlights from today include a discussion of humanity and its reliance on machinery ('Robotised Human. Fully extinct.') and the description that Clent doesn't need personnel - he needs a mirror.

Still, I'm glad to be moving back into actual moving episodes again tomorrow. I think doing these two episodes as reckons may have hindered my enjoyment somewhat, so I'm hoping Episodes Four through Six can really revive the promise that the first did. If nothing else, I'm keen to re-watch this story at some point in the future with the animated episodes - so it must be doing something right…

a 

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

Day 188: The Ice Warriors, Episode Two

Dear diary,

Oh, I agonised over how best to experience this episode. Earlier in the year, I picked up all the narrated soundtracks in bulk – most of them are available from the AudioGo website as (extremely reasonably priced!) downloads. The couple that I couldn’t get as downloads were collected together as part of ‘The Lost TV Episodes’ collection Volume 5. At the time, The Ice Warriors was scheduled for release on DVD in around April time, so I didn’t bother picking up the soundtrack for that one.

And then… I completely forgot about it! The DVD release date was shifted back to later in the year, and I didn’t even think to pick up the soundtrack. Today, then, when it came to scrolling through my iTunes looking for the episode, I was thoroughly confused before I realised what I’d done. A search online told me that The Ice Warriors is one of the few soundtracks that you can’t pick up via a legal download, and it’s only available on CD. Panic!

For a while, I seriously considered using the recon from the VHS. I’d ripped it to a disc when copying my video anyway, so it was already sat in the DVD drive of the Mac. The problem? It condensed both Episode Two and Episode Three into the space of about 20 minutes. I know I cheated by skipping Episode Four of The Highlanders in favour of the Target reading, but it felt like a step too far to actually put the two episodes together here – after all, the whole idea of The 50 Year Diary was to do one episode a day, every day.

Thankfully, a panicked request on Facebook revealed that a friend had a copy of the Loose Cannon reconstruction for these two episodes, and since he lived close, I was welcome to pop round and borrow it. My thoughts on recons have been pretty clear throughout the course of this marathon – loved the one for Marco Polo, but by the time I’d reach3ed the Crusade, I couldn’t bear the thought of them. I’ve come to the conclusion that I much prefer the soundtracks. Still, needs must and all that!

Now, let’s get this out of the way first, and then I can talk about the episode itself: I’ve not changed my mind on the recons. There’s plenty in this one that looks pretty good (the moving snow on scenes outside was a lovely touch, for example), but I find that my mind wanders just that little bit too much when I’m watching them. I’ll be using a recon for tomorrow’s episode again, but I think I’ll be sticking to the soundtracks for the rest of this season’s missing parts.

As for the episode itself, I think it was a bit of a comedown from yesterday’s instalment. I don’t know how much of my more muted reaction came from being put off by the recon, or how much was a result of my expectations being raised by my enjoyment of the first episode, but it just didn’t strike a chord with me in the same way.

It does have to be said, though, that the design of the Ice Warrior is gorgeous. It’s no wonder that they didn’t alter them radically when bringing them back to the series this year, because they’ve pretty much got it spot on right from the word ‘go’. There’s some shots of the creature in here which I’m fairly certain were taken from The Seeds of Death, but there’s also still images that show how great they’ve always looked. The voices, too, are fantastic from the very start, wit that great hissing sound to them. The images of the Warrior towering over Victoria in the storeroom are ones that really embedded themselves in my mind as a teenager when I first saw them, so I'm glad to see that their height really is effective in the story, too. It’s also nice to see a creature that’s remained so similar across all these years.

The Seeds of Death is the only ‘classic’ Ice Warrior story that I’ve ever seen, and that was a good few years ago. It was surprising to me, then, when Cold War made such a reference to the creatures being a kind of Cyborg, with a fully mechanical ‘suit’ of armour. I’m thrilled to see that, actually, it’s always been a part of the creatures, right back to this story. Yesterday, the Doctor mused that there was some kind of electrical apparatus frozen in the ice with the Warrior, and today he tells the scientists ‘'This headpiece is no warrior's tin hat! It's a highly developed space helmet!’

I’m also really enjoying that, for at least a little while, the Ice Warrior isn’t the main danger to the Doctor, or the crew of this story’s base-under-siege. The threat comes from the idea that there could be a kind of alien spaceship buried somewhere in the glacier, and that the Ioniser could accidentally ignite its fuel supplies, causing one almighty explosion. I’m hoping that this strand of the story won’t be forgotten as the story progresses (especially now that more Warriors have been located), though I’m fairly willing to bet that using the Ioniser against either the Warriors or the ship will end up forming a vital part of the tale’s resolution…

I’m really looking forward to the release of this one on DVD – I think there’s a very good story in here, and I look forward to a chance of watching it without the distraction of the recon…

a