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

Day 114: The Plague (The Ark, Episode Two)

Dear diary,

The Ark really is one of the best stories that we've had so far, design-wise. Everything about this spaceship has been really well thought-through, from the look of the place to the way that the characters interact with each other. It's only a small (and very silly) thing, but there's a moment where one of the Guardians addresses the rest of his people, and there's one off to the side - barely in shot - translating to sign language for the benefit of the Monoids. There's really no need to have someone specifically doing this, but it really does help to make the world seem far more real.

And then there's the design of the sets, too. Back during The Daleks' Master Plan, the existence of a surviving episode left me stunned at the sheer size of their council chamber. The same can be said of the main hall seen in this story - you really get a sense of the scale of this ship. It doesn't hurt that Imison is still proving to be one of the best directors we've had on the show, and his high-angled shots really make the most of the space.

It's frustrating, then, when things aren't done so well in this episode. There's a moment when a Guardian looks down that the Doctor on a video monitor, and the case around the screen looks like it's been thrown together in ten minutes out of MDF. I know that's more or less the way that most of Classic Doctor Who was made, but it sticks out like a sore thumb in an episode that's otherwise very well realised.

Perhaps even more of a problem for me is the Monoid's form of transport. The buggies appear to be scenery carts from the BBC (I'm willing to bet that they are), and they take me right out of the story every time they appear. There's a lovely moment early on, where a dead Monoid is taken on a funeral precision, carried through the gathered crowds to be jettisoned into space. It's far more moving than the death of a Monoid has any right to be, but then when they load him onto the back of the truck, it all falls apart.

At the end of the story, when the Doctor and his friends are taken back to the TARDIS rising on one, Hartnell looks as though he's off to the boarding gate at Gatwick. I'd not be at all surprised if he didn't turn up in tomorrow's episode… That said, how good does he look when Face Timing with the Guardian? He does it better than a few of the other actors in this story…

When people talk about The Ark, the thing that usually comes up pretty quick in the conversation is this mid-way cliffhanger. That's the unique selling point of this story - the Doctor and his friends turn up, cause a problem, save the day, leave… and then they come back again. That's the thing that everyone knows about this tale. It's almost a shame that I'm coming to it knowing that we're only half-way through, as I'd be keen to know what my reaction might be if I didn't know what was happening.

Especially since - and this isn't something that often seems to get said - the reveal of the cliffhanger is bloody brilliant. Seriously, I think it may be the best reveal that we've ever had in the series. The TARDIS rematerialises (having departed in a gorgeous shot that contains a Monoid! There's some gorgeous spilt-screen work in there), the Doctor and his friends look around, and then the cliffhanger is that the statue has been completed. That's it. They've arrived back on the Ark, and it's 700 years later. The 'Next Episode' caption comes up and everything.

It's only after that's all happened that we get the slow pan up the statue to reveal it's got the head of a Monoid. It's almost like you're let down by a naff cliffhanger, and then they hit you with that one! Bam! Oh, it's very clever, and it really works.

And it's set up very cleverly, too. What we get beforehand is the final scene of a Hartnell story. They all say goodbye. They sum up the resolution to us, wish those staying behind well and then depart for the next story. It might as well be the final scene of The Web Planet (but with less jumping around). It really takes what you expect from the series and turns it on its head.

Mind you, why do they instantly assume they're back on the Ark when they arrive? They've been in so many jungles lately that it shouldn't come as much of a shock! And, for that matter, why do they head back up to the main area instead of getting back in the ship and trying again? Dodo says it herself - 'it's only been a few seconds' - yet she still wanders around calling 'we're back!' as she looks for people. Strange.

Next Episode: The Return

Next Episode: The Return 

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

Day 113: The Steel Sky (The Ark, Episode One)

Dear diary,

It still feels weird to do an episode that's not been narrated by Peter Purves. I'm almost wondering if I can hire him so sit next to me on the couch and narrate the existing episodes while I watch them. I might look into that.

That said, it's nice to be back to a visual episode for today (and, indeed, for the rest of this story). Even better, it's a very visual episode! It's gorgeous! Right from the very start, as we see a lizard, followed by a bird and then a shot of a Moniod… That's striking. It's almost as if they knew this episode would survive, and decided to make full use of the fact that you can see it by really putting the effort in.

The direction continues to be of a consistent standard throughout the episode - from the tracking shot which stops just as the TARDIS materialises, to a range of high-angled shots. Director Michael Imison even manages to make the Moniods look good when the Doctor and friends come out of the caves and find themselves surrounded.

Ah, yes. The Doctor's 'friends'. I know it's early days yet, but I don't really know what to make of Dodo. On the plus side, she brings out the best in Steven - I'm greatly enjoying his exasperation with her, for example - but on the other… I've spent a lot of time so far in this marathon praising the way that companions are treated on the whole. The introductions of the last two 'major' companions (Vicki and Steven) have both been chances to reestablish the programme, and bring new viewers up to speed before we launch off on another adventure.

Dodo, though, right from her slightly odd arrival in yesterday's episode just seems to be thrust into things a bit too fast. It's almost as though they don't want to waste time in setting up this new character, so they're just getting all the early character beats out of the way as quickly as they can, before they move on with the story. Yesterday, we had the very quick introduction to her ('Hello! I'm Dodo! My full name is Dorethea, I'm an orphan, I live with my aunt, but she hates me, so I won't be missed. I might be from Manchester, but I've yet to decide on that…'), and an attempt to try and set up the show again ('this is a time machine. We can go anywhere in space, too. Don't know how to steer it though, so you may never get home. Off we go!). Today, she's already rooting through the TARDIS wardrobe and keen to explore. It's all just a bit too quick for me.

I'm hoping that it'll eventually settle down (The War Machines is the only Dodo story I've seen in full, and it was so long ago that I can't remember much about it…), but for now… no. Not sitting right with me at all. Still, that said, I do love the idea of her emerging from the TARDIS with a cold. It's a different idea, and it's lovely to see how it impacts on the plot. I wonder if these days they'd describe the TARDIS as having some kind of 'cure-all' filter inside it, to stop you from bringing back all manner of diseases from your travels through history? I know enough about The Ark to know where it's going in this story, but it's by far the best thing about Dodo so far.

I'm hoping that the direction continues to be of this standard moving forward, because it's the best thing about the story so far. I'm just enjoying the novel feeling of moving onto another moving episode! It's not something I've been able to do for a while, now…

Next Episode: The Plague

Next Episode: The Plague 

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

Day 112: Bell of Doom (The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve, Part Four)

Dear diary,

I was really not looking forward to this one. Having found the thing I enjoyed most about The Massacre was the whole subplot about the Doctor and the Abbot looking alike, I really worried that there wouldn't be anything in part four to hold my attention. Thankfully, this episode really brings everything together nicely, and I was captivated by it.

Early on, Steven returns to meet with Anne, and solemnly tells her that his friend is dead. He admits that he doesn't know what to do, and that if he can't find the Doctor's TARDIS key, then he won't be able to make it out of Paris. It's another chance for Peter Purves to shine (there are several in this episode), and it's interesting to see a companion in this predicament.

Towards the end of The Daleks' Master Plan, when Hartnell took a week off, Steven and Sara found themselves stranded, not knowing where the Doctor was. There, they were filled with optimism, and knew that he had to be out there somewhere, probably in the middle of the Dalek's plans. Here, though, Steven is convinced that he's actually seen the Doctor's body, and that he's got no hope. It's a brave thing to do with the programme, and one which we don't often see.

But then the Doctor appears, and all is well! Hooray! Except… where has the Doctor been all this time? He chastises Steven for not being at the tavern when he got back there, and says that the curfew is responsible for a lot of the mess they're in, but… Does he ever actually tell us what he's been up to? Has he just been wandering the streets of Paris for a few episodes?

The actual plot of the massacre itself has been of more interest to me here, too. Throughout the story, I've somewhat struggled to keep abreast of who's on which side, and which one is meant to be trying to massacre the other. Here, it's spelled out nice and clearly. The Queen Mother has given the order, and everyone of the opposing religion is to be killed at daybreak. Simple. The Doctor ten gives us a brief run-down of the events once we're safely back to the TARDIS, and suddenly I'm back up to speed again.

Indeed, it's these final TARDIS scenes that really sell the episode. I've praised Steven as a character in the past because he's not afraid to speak his mind and stand up to the Doctor. Never is this more in evidence than here, when he riles against him for sending Anne Chaplet home, even though it meant sending her to death. It's a beautifully written scene and Purves plays it with perfection again. All the more effective is the way that having told the Doctor he intends to get off the ship at their next stop, he barely says one more word to him before leaving. It's powerful stuff.

I'm only hoping that it gets picked up on in the next story. I've been impressed on more than one occasion with the series so far, when they pick up on big character moments like this even as we move to a new story, and it feels like a moment that really does deserve to have lasting effects. It was an argument like this from Barbara back in The Edge of Destruction that set the Doctor off on a route to becoming a new man, and it would be nice to see this moment continue pushing the Doctor down the right path.

The scene is then lifted even higher by Hartnell's monologue, straddling Steven's departure. He tells the boy that he stands by his decision, and that there is a chance - however slim - that Anne may have survived. Having then watched Steven storm out, the Doctor muses that everyone leaves him in the end. He thinks of Susan, and Vicki, before commenting that Ian and Barbara were all too eager to get back to their own time and place.

It then marks the first occasion in a while where the Doctor has really spoken of his own world, when he considers that it may be time to return. It's a very moving moment for the Doctor, and Hartnell is perhaps the best he's ever been. Much gets said in this story about the way he plays the Abbot in such a different manner to the Doctor - without the little gestures and the flubbed lines. People don't often seem to talk about this moment, where he gets everything spot on, and really sells it to us.

And then… Dodo! It feels silly, but I'd never realised the Anne Chaplet / Dodo Chaplet link had been made so explicitly in the programme itself. I always thought that it was left as a bit of a subliminal hint that everything might have been ok in the end for Anne. Unfortunately, the scene itself isn't perhaps the best introduction to a character - it's serves more as a four-minute info-dump than anything else, checking off everything we need to know (and then some) before heading back out to the stars.

The series has been a very dark place of late, with plenty of death and destruction. I've enjoyed it as a direction for the programme, but I'm looking forward to having Dodo here, and seeing the series head for a slightly less morbid place once more…

(By the way: There's a story that says Ian and Barbara were supposed to appear in this episode, watching the TARDIS as it departs across Wimbledon Common. Sadly, it never happened. How brilliant would it have been, though? I know I was sick of them by the end, but a brief snippet of them here and now would simply be marvellous…)

Next Episode: The Steel Sky

Next Episode: The Steel Sky 

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

Day 111: Priest of Death (The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve, Episode Three)

Dear diary,

Well… I hope that the Abbot isn't the Doctor in disguise, because if he is then the history of Doctor Who must have flowed very differently to the way I've always understood it, with Hartnell's Doctor killed here and his corpse left out on the streets of Paris.

Yes, this subplot is still the thing that's interesting me the most about this story, and I'm a little sad to see the back of it here in Episode Three, meaning that I'll need to find something new to latch onto for the final part of the tale. Throughout this episode, the entire storyline is expertly woven into the tale - you only need to look at the moment the Abbot's death is announced to see that.

Steven has just assured us again that the Abbot really is the Doctor in disguise, and announces that he's 'certain' of that fact now that he's seen the man up close… at which point we're told that he's been murdered outside his home. Steven is horrified (and Peter Purves turns in a great performance - he really is very good when he's having to portray anger), and rushes out to see for himself.

It's another one of those times that I extol the virtue of experiencing these missing episodes in the form of the narrated soundtracks - because the sight of this man laying dead on the street with the face of the Doctor was far more striking in my mind that it would have been on screen. Just to compare, I did stick on the last few minutes of the Loose Cannon recon when I got home (I've been listening to today's episode on a walk around the supermarket. The death of the Abbot was announced just as I picked up some lamb for tea. Lovely.), and while it's perfectly good enough, it really did very little for me.

What's also interesting in this episode is Steven's faith in the Doctor. Early on, while trying to convince Anne to go back to the Abbot's home, he tells her that if the Abbot is the Doctor, then she has nothing to fear - the Doctor will make sure that no harm will come to her. It's interesting when you consider that his two most recent additions to the TARDIS (Katarina and Sara, and if you want to be really picky, then Brett, too) have both met their demise while under the Doctor's care. I've never been more convinced that Anne is destined for death.

Otherwise… I'm afraid I have to admit that I'm still just not into this story. I'm sorry. I'm trying, really I am, but I'm just not connecting with it. I've been so looking forward to Lucarotti's return to the TARDIS, but whereas his previous tales were painted on a broad canvas that was easy enough to follow, I just feel like I'm losing track of who's who and which side they're fighting on. And have France now gone to war with Spain or not? Yesterday I thought they had, but today they seem to not be…

Next Episode: Bell of Doom

Next Episode: Bell of Doom 

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

Day 110: The Sea Beggar (The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve, Episode Two)

Dear Diary,

I think I’ve said it before, but some days of The 50 Year Diary are easier than others. Sometimes, as I hit ‘pause’ on the music player (usually while the end credits are playing out), I’ve got a list of notes that fills a full side of my notepad, and the hard part is trying to decide which notes to pick up on, and discuss during my entry. More than once, I’ve started to talk about something before realising that it’s probably only of interest to me, deleted it, and taken a different direction for that day’s entry.

Other days… are just difficult. Today is one of those ‘difficult’ days. The problem is that there’s nothing really all that wrong with this episode – it’s perfectly fine as an episode of Doctor Who and all, it just hasn’t really grabbed me all that much. I’ve come away with only about four notes from this episode, and some of those are just bits of dialogue that I’ve liked.

Yesterday, I complained that I didn’t really know this period of history, and mused that it could be one of the problems I was having trying to connect with the story. The problem is… I’m loathe to look into it too much. A quick scan of the top paragraph on Wikipedia tells the that it took place in the late sixteenth century, and that’s where I stopped reading. It’s going to sound odd, but I don’t want any spoilers! Spoilers from a story (made and broadcast 48 years ago) about a historical even that happened several centuries ago!

I can already surmise that The Massacre isn’t going to have a happy ending. Just look at the title to know that! I don’t want to know the exact details, though, because I want to experience it as a part of the tale. This means, though, that I’m still wading through it not quite knowing the significance of events. There’s a few moments where characters say things that (judging by the performance) are obviously important contextually, but I don’t really get them. Ho hum.

Still, there’s plenty of interest coming in the form of the ‘is he or isn’t he the Doctor’ plot line. I thought it was quite clearly a case of the Abbot just happening to be a double of our lead character, but actually there seems to be more to it than that. When Steven first speculates that it could be the Doctor, passing himself off as an official for some reason (he wasn’t around to see the Doctor’s role in The Reign of Terror, but I’m imagining the Abbot as wearing the same feathery hat. Just because. I like that hat), the entire sub plot takes a very different turn.

Even more interesting is that other characters state definitively that it isn’t the Doctor. It can’t be him, because the Abbot has been an important figure in their lives for longer than the Doctor and Steven have been in France… but then they’ve only recently actually met the Abbot in person. Maybe this man is the Doctor in disguise?

The Doctor himself doesn’t actually appear in this episode (well, he might, if the Abbot really is the Doctor undertaking some clever ruse, but we’ve not been made privy to that yet), which only serves to make the whole thing even more of a mystery. It’s this that I’m enjoying the most at the moment, also I’m hoping it continues being built up as a key element of the plot. I’m half-wondering if the next episode might be this one told again, but from the point-of-view of the Doctor, before they reunite again at the end of the story…

And that’s the key thing. I’m interested to move on. I’m actively looking forward to tomorrow’s episode. It’s not like some of the stories we’ve gone through, where I’ve really not been all that bothered about the next episode. It’s just that – for now – The Massacre is just sort of there. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing particularly great about it either. Here’s hoping that things pick up from here on out!

(Are we placing bets on whether the Doctor is the Abbot, by the way? Don’t tell me if you know – avoiding spoilers there, too! – but for now I’m thinking… I’m thinking that it would be great if he were the Abbot, but I don’t think he is. I think.)

Next Episode: Priest of Death

Next Episode: Priest of Death 

DWO’s spoiler-free preview of episode 7.10 Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS:

When the TARDIS is dragged aboard a salvage vessel and begins leaking time, the Doctor and the Van Baalen brothers must fight through the labyrinthine corridors of his ship to find Clara before the ship can explode. But they're not alone, and something sinister is stalking them through the TARDIS, angry, and ready to attack... 

It’s safe to say that Stephen Thompson’s contribution to Series Seven, Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS has been one of the more hotly anticipated moments of the 2013 run. The title alone promises so much, and after years of fans clamouring to see more of the TARDIS interior, this is the opportunity to deliver. 

In the most recent issue of Doctor Who Magazine, Thompson says that showrunner Steven Moffat felt ‘duty bound to atone for’ 1978’s The Invasion of Time, the last story to take us deep into the TARDIS’ many winding corridors. Industrial action taken during the production of that story meant that the TARDIS interior had to mostly be filmed on location in an old Victorian hospital - perhaps not exactly the way the production team, or the audience, expected the ship to look. 

Journey takes the brief to make up for that story and really runs with it, giving us more to see of the Doctor’s machine than ever before. It would take a whole season (or several!) to see every room the ship has to offer, but the ones we catch sight of here are sure not to disappoint. There’s an appearances for both the library and the swimming pool (though, sadly, neither is inside the other), alongside some less-well known rooms, too. 

The design of the whole ship has clearly been the subject of an enormous amount of effort, and praise must be given to all involved, from the art department through to the set decorators, who’ve really pulled out all the stops to get this to screen. It’s everything you could possibly want to see from the TARDIS interior. Director Mat King guides us expertly through the many levels of the ship, managing to show us the beauty and the terror of the TARDIS at every turn. 

Tapping the cast together in a confined space (it it’s fair to call the ship that) means that we get to confront some of this season’s on-going story arcs head on. The Doctor has been trying to solve Clara’s mystery for some time, now, and the cracks are starting to show. The dynamic between Matt Smith’s Doctor and Jenna-Louise Coleman’s Clara continues to develop in interesting new ways, and the distrust between the pair reaches boiling point when subjected to this kind of pressure. Both of our regulars shine as bright as ever - it’s electrifying to watch them share the screen. 

Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, with many nods to the history of Doctor Who, and many hits as to what may be yet to come in the remainder of Season Seven is sure to be a fan pleaser, and is definitely one of the gems of this era of the programme.

Five things to look out for...

1) “You’re like one of those guys who can’t go out with a girl unless his mother approves”

2) ‘The History of the Time War’

3) It’s rude to whisper.

4) Lancashire, South.

5) “You call yourself ‘Doctor’. Why do you do that? You’ve got a name. I saw it..."



[Sources: DWO; Will Brooks]

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

Day 109: War of God (The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve, Episode One)

Dear diary,

“I wish I understood what's going on!” wails Steven about two-thirds of the way into this episode. Truth be told, I did wonder if he was just speaking aloud what was on my mind.

I've been looking forward to reaching The Massacre since… ooh, about three minutes after I finished The Aztecs. During the first season, John Lucarotti's scripts were fantastic, and really sold the idea of the pure historicals to me. While it's often said that this story was rewritten almost wholly by Donald Tosh, I was still hoping for the kind of richness in the setting that we got with visits to Cathay and South America.

In this area, the episode doesn't disappoint. The whole thing is steeped with atmosphere, even though my only frame of reference was a half-remembered image of the Doctor and Steven sat in a tavern. That said, the episode takes place in very few sets, and I can quite believe that they're the kinds of sets the Doctor Who team would have been very good at producing.

Where things fall a little flat for me, though, is in the denseness of the setting. As has been the case more and more with the historical stories since Season One, I'm finding myself in settings that I'm not familiar with. Most of the time, I'm able to bluff myself through the story to some extent, and in some cases I'm even sure that I actually learn something from Doctor Who. Sydney Newman would be so pleased!

Here, though, I genuinely didn't have any context for the setting until Steven be can to vocalise my confusion. I knew this story was set in France, and from the title I'd figured that it wasn't likely to be a light-hearted romp, but then I didn't have much else to go on. The story itself doesn't try to reassure either - the Doctor and Steven's first appearance comes as the enter a tavern, where we've already a scene in progress. I did briefly wonder if I'd managed to switch the soundtrack into 'shuffle' again.

What is nice about this story is the way that Steven and the Doctor get on during their initial scene together. This is the only story from the classic run to feature the Doctor alone with just a single male companion, and so it's a dynamic that feels very fresh. It doesn't last long before the Doctor is off to explore and Steven is caught up in trouble, but it's nice for a while. It's also clear that some time has passed since the end of the previous story, as the tone between the pair is far happier than it was when we left them yesterday.

The cliffhanger - the Abbot turning around and looking exactly like the Doctor - perhaps loses some if its imp ace by being heard on audio rather than witnessed on screen, but it's still quite a striking moment. It helps that Hartnell changes the tone of his voice for the part, too, so that he's almost, but not quite the man we know. The Massacre isn't a story that I know well, so I'm unsure if we'll get more Doctor-on-Doctor action as we had in The Chase (though if we do, because this is a soundtrack I'll be able to have Hartnell playing both roles all the time!), but it could be interesting to see…

Next Episode: The Sea Beggar

Next Episode: The Sea Beggar 

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

Day 108: The Destruction of Time (The Daleks' Master Plan, Episode Twelve)

Dear diary,

Whether you choose to look at this as one big story, or several little ones connected by a common thread, there's no denying that the last twelve episodes have seen an awful lot of death and darkness.

Sara's demise under the influence of the time destructor is one of those moments from this story that everyone sort of knows about. It's fairly common knowledge that she cops it before this story is out, and for the most part people know how she goes. That doesn't do justice, though, to just how effective the death is. She dies because she's gone back for the Doctor. I'd always assumed that she was captured by the Daleks and tried to escape or something, not that she was behind by choice.

And the basic knowledge that I had of the death didn't hold a candle to just how nasty it actually is. I mean, sure, I knew that she was aged to death, but when you're actually in the thick of it and listening to it happen… then it becomes genuinely horrific. The worst bit comes afterwards, when the narration describes Steven approaching her lifeless body, before a gust of wind brushes the hair and skin away from it, scattering them around in the dirt. It's a truly ignoble end for Sara, and perhaps a moment that I'd love to see recovered and put back in the archive.

Elsewhere, though… This episode always had an awful lot to live up to. This Dalek plot has been building up - either as the main story or in the background somewhere - for a full seventeen episodes, ever since Mission to the Unknown. It's a far grander scheme than we've seen the Daleks attempt before (and, with the debatable exemption of some 21-sf century stories), bigger than we'll ever see again. The problem is that after all that time, nearly three weeks for me, and a full four-and-a-half months on screen back in the 1960s… I'm not quite sure I can work out the Daleks' plan.

I'm sure that it made sense at some point during the story. After all, most of the plot has revolved around the Daleks trying to get back the Terranium so that they can get their Time Destructor up and running. But then alongside this, they've brought together delegates from a number of galaxies so that they can wipe them out and seize control of said galaxies.

So… what's the point of building a machine that will power through time very quickly and ruin those places? Have I missed something? As I say, at some point during the story, I'm sure it all made sense - I've never had cause to question the story before now - but I've completely lost it at the very end here.

One of the things that I did enjoy in this final instalment was the final end of Mavic Chen. I said yesterday that I hope he didn't die here, because nothing could top the shock of his fake death in the last episode. He does die, though, and while it's true that it really isn't as effective as his last one, there is still merit to having him back again. For a start, he's clearly gone completely mad. Proper bonkers. It's great to see the way that the Daleks play him and lead him right through to the right moment, before they simply exterminate him like any other person. It's fun to listen to Kevin Stoney ramping it up in the mad stakes, too.

On the whole, while I've enjoyed the episode, I don't think it quite fulfils the role of being the final part to an epic such as this one.

Speaking of which… just what is The Daleks' Master Plan? I've been saying for a week now that it feels like several separate stories, and I stand by that. I think in my mind now, I'll be thinking of it as;

Mission to the Unknown
A 1 Episode prequel (as it standard thinking).

The Daleks' Master Plan
6 Episodes. In which the Daleks' plan to take over the universe, but the Doctor and his chums steal the core of their machine and leave them in a bit of a pickle.

Revenge of the Monk
4 Episodes. The Doctor, Steven, and Sara bumble around in time a bit, getting arrested in the 1960s, and visiting Hollywood. They then realise that they're being followed by another time machine, and get caught up with the Meddling Monk. The Daleks then turn up to demand their Terranium back.

The Mutation of Time
A 2 Episode Coda to the entire arc, which sees the Daleks defeated and an end to the threats posed by their galactic conquest plans.

Does anyone else have a way of thinking about this story which isn't as a 12-parter? The thought of breaking it up seems a little like heresy, but it just seems right!

Next Episode: War of God

Next Episode: War of God 

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

Day 107: The Abandoned Planet (The Daleks' Master Plan, Episode Eleven)

Dear diary,

Within a minute of Mavic Chen arriving back on Kembel and reporting to the Dalek Supreme, proudly boasting about the return of the Terranium, the Dalek asks him a - very sensible - question, which I can't quite believe Chen hasn't yet thought to ask himself: 'Are you sure it is the real core?'.

It's a valid point, if you think about it. Right back in Coronas of the Sun, the Doctor managed a bait-and-switch, with he and his companions handing over a replica so perfect that it was only when the Time Destructor failed to operate that the Daleks realised something was amiss. On this occasion, the Doctor has dropped the core into Chen's hands and darted off back into the pyramid to make his escape… and Chen didn't even question it. I was almost willing it to be fake again, just because I quite like the idea of the Doctor managing to keep fooling Chen and the Daleks time and time again with the same trick.

And so, here we are. Via the police station and 1920s Hollywood, a cricket match, a volcano world, Christmas and New Year's eve, Ancient Egypt and all, we're back on Kembel for the big final showdown. Except, we're not quite. Not yet. The Doctor's gone AWOL (Hartnell on Holiday again?) and most of the episode is spent moving the pieces into place for the big finale tomorrow. I'm guessing (?) that the delegates from the Galactic Council will be returning with their armies to wipe out the Daleks, while the Doctor slips away quietly, unseen. I'm just hoping that it's spectacular. It certainly deserves to be.

So, here we are. Eleven episodes into (debatably) one of Doctor Who's longest ever stories. Eleven whole days I've been withering on about this tale. And in all that time, I've not once managed to muse on the identities of to delegates. I thought that was going to come up early on! 'Which Delegate is which' is one of those questions that crops up in several forms in Who fandom, and I thought I was going to be able to make my own opinion. I was all set to give my great idea to the world, my version of who's who.

But as it transpires, the Delegates aren't really all that important, are they? We witness their first meeting right back during Mission to the Unknown, where they gather together and agree to do some evil things. We then watch them thump the desk a bit during a council meeting, and run around trying to point the finger of blame at each other when things start to go wrong. In today's episode, they get a bit ratty with Chen again and then find themselves locked in a cell.

I wonder if it's because I'm listening to the story via audio. My entire notion of what the delegates look like comes from the Mission animation and the surviving Day of Armageddon. I know what they look like for the most part (my favourite is 'Christmas tree'. It's a shame he doesn't turn up in the Christmas episode, really), and that's enough. The one with the raspy voice in this episode is in my head as the chap with the cracked face. One of the others is 'pebble guy'.

Unfortunately, that means I've nothing witty or new to say about them, or the way in which we can identify them. Sorry. Thought I'd better bring that up, in case you read through all my thoughts and figured I was just ignoring it. Mind you, I sort of am.

That said, I must confess a real love for Mavic Chen. The moment when his spaceship explodes really did take me by surprise. I think I may have actually gasped out loud. I listened to today's entry while I was painting a wall (it's spring - not that you'd know it to look outside - and time to freshen the place up!), and that was the moment I physically stopped and took it in. I thought it was a terribly sudden way to get rid of the character, but a fantastic one, and very in-keeping with the dark tone the series has been developing.

And then, like all good panto villains, he turns up again! Wielding a gun and making threats. Of course! I hope he doesn't die in tomorrow's episode, because it's never going to have the impact that this moment did.

Next Episode: The Destruction of Time

Next Episode: The Destruction of Time 

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

Day 106: Escape Switch (The Daleks' Master Plan, Episode Ten)

Dear diary,

“Everyone loves Magical Chen, agreed to work as the Daleks' lackey and then, got caught in a chase for the Teranium case, flying though time, it's all such a crime…”

What? I love a good Billy Fluff, me, and the moment when he refers to one of their enemies as 'Magic Chen' instantly set of a verse of the 'Magical Trevor' song in my head. Truth be told, it's still going round there, now, and I'll be a bit disappointed if I don't hear a Dalek singing it by the end of the next episode.

Oh, all right. I should have known that returning to an episode that really exists in the archives would turn things back around for me. I mused yesterday that Douglas Camfield's direction of the fight scenes between the Daleks and the Egyptians would probably be a highlight, and I think that this episode proves that completely.

It has to be said - and this must be an effect of moving into this period where there's more and more missing episodes - when the titles faded away and I saw an actual image of the Pharaoh's treasures, it took me back a bit! It's been a while since I saw a moving episode that wasn't animated (well, a 'while'. Four days. It feels like longer. I blame all that time we wasted mucking around on the volcano world), so something just struck me as odd about it here. Trust me, by the time I finish Season Four, I'll have forgotten that Doctor Who isn't a radio series.

This is probably a good point to mention the way that I tackle the missing episodes, as it's something I get asked about fairly often. I always listen to them now as the narrated soundtracks, or occasionally as an animation (as in the case of Mission to the Unknown or The Feast of Steven). People often ask why I'm not following along with a recon of some sort and the answer is, simply, that I just can't get into them. Oh, believe me, I've tried!

Some of them are fantastic, certainly, and it's the way that I watched Marco Polo, but I find that they just put me off a bit. Truth be told, when I was headed towards this season, the thought of having to sit and watch that many reckons was almost enough to nix the whole diary. I considered hiding in a wardrobe until the Jon Pertwee years landed and missing episodes were a thing of the past. But the narrated soundtracks, I've found myself getting really hooked on (A real U-turn - I couldn't bear the one I listened to for The Roof of the World back in January).

But enough about narrated soundtracks and reconstructed episodes - we can see this one properly! It moves and everything! And - oh - is it just me or does Douggie get better every time? There's a shot in this episode where the Sun morphs into a reflection on a Dalek dome, and I couldn't quite believe what I'd just watched. It. Was. Stunning.

It also means that we get to see the gorgeous shots of the Daleks gliding through the half-constructed Pyramids. It's hard to refrain from using the word 'stunning' here, too. I've said it before, and I've little doubt that I'll say it again before the 60s are out, but this version of the Dalek prop is perhaps my favourite. They just look so good.

And as the bad guys, they're still coming across better here than at any other point we've seen them so far. Remember back in The Daleks, when I complained that the final battle essentially boiled down to them being overthrown by a handful of Thals in leather trousers? That wouldn't happen to this bunch. This lot are set upon by a hoard of Egyptian slaves, and the Daleks just plough though them, exterminating en masse.

Yesterday, I complained that I'd rather have had an Egypt story told on its own terms, away from this story arc about the Daleks and Mavic Chen. As it is, having been though this episode now, too, I think I've had a perfectly good story. Two episodes feels about the right length for this tale - though I can still see how they might get four from it, with the Daleks and the Monk only turning up half-way - and I've really enjoyed it. The ending seems to imply that the Monk is out of the way now, and with the Doctor headed back to Kembel to finish up the story from way back when, so I'll be sad to see him leave. It's been great to have him back again, and he's been far better served in this Egypt portion of the tale than he was by the leftovers from The Chase.

I can't let this episode pass without mentioning the discovery of the film prints. This one, along with the print for Counter Plot were the ones that infamously turned up in the basement of a church (Mormon or others, depending on which version of the story you're being told). The rediscovery of missing episodes is a fascinating topic, and I love the tales of where things were found - this has to be my favourite of the bunch. It's just so, so, surreal. Perfect for this story, then!

Next Episode: The Abandoned Planet

Next Episode: The Abandoned Planet 

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

Day 105: Golden Death (The Daleks' Master Plan, Episode Nine)

Dear diary,

It's tricky, this one. On the one hand, I love the idea of a Doctor Who story set in ancient Egypt, and especially in this era of the programme. On the other… it feels a shame to see it thrown in to this part of this story, where they just seem to be filling time before getting back to the main plot. I've been championing the idea of this being more than one story for a while now, and I wonder if I'd have preferred a 'straight' Egypt story for an episode or two before the Daleks et al turn up on the sand.

That said, there is a lot in this episode that I like, and that I think really works. The idea that the TARDIS is taken into the pyramid as one of the pharaoh's treasures for the afterlife is very much the kind of thing that would have happened back in Season One. Indeed, lots of elements away from the Dalek-based story are the kind of things I'd expect to see in what I'm starting to consider as a 'traditional' Doctor Who story.

There's a scene in which Steven and Barbara are interrogated by a sinister marshall of the soldiers, and they protest their innocence strongly, claiming that they have no interest whatsoever in the treasure being gathered for the tomb. 'Even the old man?' they're asked, being told that he was examining the 'blue box' very carefully. The entire exchange might as well have been Ian and Barbara being put in the spotlight.

I could even go as far as to say that I'd be interested to see this story spread across a few episodes in ancient Egypt, in which the Monk turns up at the end of the first part! The idea of a showdown between the Doctor and the Monk certainly appeals to me, and after I felt yesterday's confrontation was wasted, today's seems to be back on form. The Monk works as a really interesting adversary to the Doctor - the first time that we've seen an equal to him, and the Monk is painted as such.

It's great to watch how bumbling he can be, but then he's filled with a truly sinister streak, where I'm not quite sure what he's going to do next or why. He seems intent on bringing revenge on the Doctor - and he's determined to make sure it happens. There's a school of thought that says the Monk ends up becoming the Master, and, (though it's not an idea I subscribe to)I can see where it may come from. If you take this desire for revenge and keep twisting the dial up, up, up… yeah, I can see the link.

And yet for all that I protest that I'd love to see a pure, Egyptian, historical, or a rematch of The Time Meddler set on the plains and around the Great Pyramids, the Daleks turning up is just wonderful. It's terribly Doctor Who - an extremely surreal juxtaposition as the Daleks massacre the Egyptian slaves. It's so bizarre, I almost wondered if I might be dreaming it. Done right (and directed by Camfield, I'd imagine it is!), that could be a really spectacular moment for the Daleks.

Elsewhere, we've got the Monk being recruited to the Dalek's cause as he tries to save his own skin, and there's some great fun to be had watching him squirm and apologise before Mavic Chen, who has a semblance of his former dignified imposing self back the second the Monk arrives before him. We've seen him just as writing and apologetic toward the Daleks in recent episodes, so it's nice to see the tables turned back for him - albeit briefly.

I won't even go into much detail on the Doctor breaking into the Monk's TARDIS (again) and messing around with the settings. It's really become his signature move when dealing with the man, and you think after the last time he'd have thought to lock the door one he'd hidden his TARDIS away!

Next Episode: Escape Switch

Next Episode: Escape Switch 

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

Day 104: Volcano (The Daleks' Master Plan, Episode Eight)

Dear diary,

Sometimes, there's so much useless Doctor Who knowledge buzzing around in my head that I simply ignore bits of it. I file it away in a cabinet marked 'you'll probably never need to know this' and go on thinking about something else. The nice effect this has is that elements of Doctor Who surprise me, when they probably really shouldn't.

Take today's episode, for example. It's the return of the Meddling Monk! Now, I knew - somewhere in the back of my mind - that the Monk returned in this story. I'm sure I knew that. Heck, the BBC's official 50th Anniversary website has an entry for the Monk in which he's surrounded by Volcanoes! Yet still, I didn't manage to piece it together until almost the last moment.

When this episode opens, the TARDIS is being pursued through the vortex by another time vessel. Steven speculates that it has to be the Daleks, and the Doctor thinks that he's probably right about that. Meanwhile, we keep cutting back to Kembel, where the Daleks are preparing to send a time machine out to hunt for them. It wasn't until the Daleks were ready to leave the planet that I suddenly realised that it couldn't be them chasing the TARDIS, and it all fell into place!

Aside from that nice surprise, this episode is a bit lackluster. It feels like a number of left over ideas from The Chase being added in to help pad out the story a little further. What if the TARDIS were to materialise in the middle of a cricket match? What if it turns up on New Year's Eve, during the countdown? It can't just be fleeting materialisations (and what happened to the ship needing twelve minutes to take off again?), so we get a showdown between the Doctor and the Monk, but rather than the great back-and-forth we saw between them last series, it just dissolves into a bit of laughing, and then we find that the Doctor has been trapped here.

Even then, it only takes the Doctor a matter of minutes to fix the problem and get them back on their way again. To be honest, the whole episode feels like padding before we can get onto the really interesting stuff.

Where things do still fall into place for me is when we spend time with the Daleks on Kembel. These are still the ruthless creatures I've grown used to this season, and they're by far the best thing about this episode. That they allow one of the delegates to die for them as proof that he is truly devoted to his cause is sinister enough. The fact that he survives the experiment - so they exterminate him anyway, just because they were expecting a death - is even worse. These Daleks are unlike any we've had before, and they're a fantastic breed of the creatures.

To tell the truth, though, I think things need to get back to Kembel full-time. While I still believe this tale could be seen as more than one story, it feels like its flagging a little in the middle here - they don't really know what to do with the characters before we head back in for the final showdown. I'm hoping that the final four episodes are where we bring things back into focus…

Next Episode: Golden Death

Next Episode: Golden Death 

 Day 103: The Feast of Steven (The Daleks' Master Plan, Episode Seven)

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

Day 103: The Feast of Steven (The Daleks' Master Plan, Episode Seven)

Dear diary,

*clears throat * IT'S CHRIIIISSSTTTTMMMAAAAASSSSSSSS! What? It's tradition, isn't it? No? Oh hush, it's my blog. And it's Christmas! Spread the cheer! And isn't it nice of the weather to keep the winter feeling going right the way through until now, just so it would feel more like Christmas. Yeah, let's enjoy the snow as I crank up the heating and mutter 'Bah Humbug' under my breath…

But look! Hooray! Santa has been! And what's that he's left for me under the tree? (By 'under the tree', I mean 'on the computer'. I did suggest getting the Christmas tree back out, but Ellie wasn't having any of it.) It's a copy of The Feast of Steven that's been animated! That's right, I've been enjoying today's special Christmas episode in the form of Adamsbullock's version.

It's another very different style of animation, quite far removed from what I've seen for either The Reign of Terror or Mission to the Unknown. Far more stylised, and with a much simpler tone to it. Outside the police station, for example, the background is painted in with only a few tones and a couple of windows. And yet, it works really well! I don't know if I'd be able to do the entire Daleks' Master Plan in this style, but for the slightly bizarre Christmas episode, it's absolutely perfect.

Truth be told, by the end I'd grown quite accustomed to the animated Hartnell. It's going to be a bit of a shock to go back to the real, human version. Maybe for the next few audio episodes I'll imagine everyone else as real, with this version of Hartnell alongside them. It'll keep me amused at least!

As for the episode itself… it's a bit of a game of two halves really. All the stuff at the police station was great fun, and I really rather enjoyed that. I seem to recall reading somewhere that the original intention was to have the cast of Z Cars take the roles of the police officers, which would have been great fun and really helped add to the Christmas feel - plus, it has to be said, the idea of Brian Blessed squaring up to Hartnell excites me far more than it should!

There's plenty of comedy in this section of the episode, and it's played nicely: lots of fun banter between the policemen as they wait outside the TARDIS, and especially after the Doctor has stepped outside for the very first time. Then there's the business with the man inside the station ('haven't I seen your face before? Of course! The marketplace at Jaffa!') and Steven coming to take the Doctor away by pretending that he's a bit mad.

Yeah, the first section of the episode is great fun, and I really enjoyed it. But then we arrive in Hollywood and… oh dear. It's a good job I didn't listen to this episode as part of the narrated soundtrack with my headphones in. Whoever was in charge of sound for this segment should be shot. It's so noisy! Every character is shouting, and they're all doing it at once! There were moments when I couldn't understand what was actually being said.

(Incidentally, I did scroll through the audio once I'd finished watching the animation, just in case it had been made better on the narrated soundtrack. One section of screeching was more than enough for me, so I didn't push it any further.)

Something I did wonder about, and it's happened a few times over the last few episodes, is Sara's name. Which way do people tend to pronounce it? I've always said it as 'Sa-ra', as does the Doctor here, and as it's clearly written. Peter Purves (both in the episodes and on the narration) seems to refer to her as 'Sarah' more commonly. Which do people tend to go for? Is 'Sara' the majority vote?

Now, I mused yesterday that things felt like they were building to the end of a six-part story and getting ready to move off onto a new adventure, but that I'd need to watch through more before coming to a decision on that one. Well, I think I've already reached one. The Feast of Steven is not the seventh episode of a twelve-part serial called The Daleks' Master Plan. Frankly, it's not! The only link we have to that story is the Doctor double checking that they still have the terrarium core, to which Sara replies 'Oh, I'd forgotten about the Daleks.'

That's less of a link than the Steven Moffat era has between stories that are a part of the story arc! The six episodes from The Nightmare Begins to Coronas of the Sun are definitely a story, and the episodes that follow this one may be a follow-up to that story, but from where I'm standing now, somewhere around the middle-point, this certainly feels like an individual one-episode story all on its own. I'll review this situation once I finish the next five episodes, but it's looking likely that I'll think of them as separate stories from now on. The campaign to change it starts here!

Next Episode: Volcano

DWO’s spoiler-free preview of episode 7.9 Hide:

Legends exist throughout time about the ‘Ghast of Caliburn House’ - a spectral figure caught in a moment of abject fear and terror stalking the halls of the house. The house has stood for 400 years, but the ghost is far older than that. She’s held many names over the centuries, and now the Doctor has arrived to solve her mystery. 

For the first half of its running time, Hide is part Ghost Stories for Christmas and part Most Haunted, as the Doctor and Clara team up with Professor Alec Palmer (Dougray Scott) and Empathic Psychic Emma Grayling (Jessica Raine) for a night in the house in November 1974. Palmer and Grayling, along with the Doctor and Clara, carry the weight of much of the episode, while the four of them hunt the ghost through the halls of the house. 

It’s in this part of the story that the episode really sings, building up a nice amount of traditional ghost story terror, and providing plenty of opportunities to make you jump. It also gives us another great chance to see Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman sharing the screen. The pair of them continue to work well together - it’s telling that while this was the first episode shot with the current version of Clara, the two feel like they’ve been travelling for a while. 

Clara’s continuing to find her feet throughout this episode: she’s not as sure about time travel as some of the Doctor’s other companions have been. Hide plays with the slightly interesting idea that the Doctor and Clara don’t really trust each other, but that they just get on with the adventure - having an empath around certainly allows each of them to be given a few clues about the other. 

Once the story has moved on from the early ghost story feeling and starts to reach outside the confines of the house it somewhat loses its atmosphere, and risks becoming A. N. Other Doctor Who adventure. Though the series has often gone out of its way to find a more scientific explanation for supernatural phenomena, the interesting idea behind this ghost seems to get a bit lost during translation to the screen, leaving the latter half of the episode less interesting than the set-up.

There’s plenty to love throughout the tale, though, including some fantastic direction from series newcomer Jamie Payne throughout, whose style is a perfect fit for a ghost story. This, coupled with the iconic ‘haunted house’ look of Hide really is one of the highlights.

Five things to look out for...

1) “It’s 1974 - you’re the assistant”

2) Ignorance is Carlisle.

3) A blue crystal from Metebilis III plays a vital role.

4) Whiskey is the 11th most disgusting thing ever invented. 

5) “Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it!”

[Sources: DWO; Will Brooks]

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

Day 102: Coronas of the Sun (The Daleks' Master Plan, Episode Six)

Dear diary,

Hooray! The Doctor and his friends have made it back to his ship, the TARDIS. And while the Daleks are massing outside, with some fake Terranium in tow, out heroes have escaped, in the TARDIS. And it turns out that the scanner isn't working inside the TARDIS. And if either Steven or Sara were to step outside the Doctor's ship - the TARDIS - they would be in big trouble, because the atmosphere is poisonous!

Genuinely, though, was there a reason that the Doctor kept referring to it as his ship, the TARDIS? Did I miss something there? Was it because Steven was under suggestive control? If so, why did he say it to the Daleks a lot, too? In the last five minutes of the episode, the Doctor refers to 'my ship, the TARDIS' on three occasions, and simply 'my TARDIS' on one other. The word TARDIS also crops up twice more in the dialogue, and three times in the narration. I know that's where the end of the episode takes place, but it really does feel incredibly clunky!

For all intents and purposes, this feels like the end of a story. The Doctor and his friends have evaded the Daleks, made it back to his ship, the TARDIS, and have landed somewhere brand new, but can't leave the ship because of the bad atmosphere. Under any other circumstances, this would just be the beginning of a new adventure. I know it's because they wanted the Christmas story to stand alone, but I also can't help but wonder if there was another reason?

Back during Season One, I often mused that I'd love to not know what was coming up. As a viewer in the 1960s, not knowing where one story begins and ends. Right at the very beginning, we go from a four episode story, into a seven-parter, before back to the Doctor's ship, the TARDIS for a two-part tale, followed by another seven parter starring Marco Polo. From there we spend six episodes on Marinus and four with the Aztecs, before heading off for two consecutive six-part stories.

By this point, shortly after the programme's second birthday, it's more-or-less settled down into either 4-parters or 6-parters. There's the odd anomaly, like The Rescue, or Mission to the Unknown, but a regular viewer will have picked up the drill. If they've not started wrapping up by mid-way through the fourth episode, then there's another two to come. Coronas of the Sun is the sixth episode of The Daleks' Master Plan, and so it feels perfectly natural to have reached this point, and be heading off to a new story. I can't help but wonder if this was part of the intent?

It also makes me wonder whether these twelve episodes should really be counted as one big story or not. I'm going to have to watch right to the end before making my decision, but there certainly seems to be some scope here for breaking it up a little. I'm looking forward to seeing how that develops as we go on. I know that there's three Sara Kingdom stories set between the Seventh and Eighth episodes as part of the Big Finish Companion Chronicles range (and they're supposed to be some of the best they've ever produced), so there certainly seems to be a gap of some kind. Incidentally, I'm wondering if I might do those stories in the gap between Seasons Three and Four? I'm already planning on listening to The Destroyers, the Terry Nation solo Dalek story, but that was written at the time, while these Sara audios are brand new… Any thoughts? Leave a comment below, or pop over to the Facebook Page and let me know!

There's a lot to like in this episode, and it's certainly a step up from the last one. One of the most interesting aspects has to be the Daleks themselves. This is their most ruthless story so far, and it's a far cry from the pepper pots we saw in The Chase. There, they were being used for humour, ranging from the coughing Dalek as is rises from the stand, or the one who has to think about its answer before it gives one ('Uh… in Earth Time… Uh… Four… Uh… Four MInutes…'). Here, they're played decidedly straight and they've actually become chilling in a way I don't think we've seen before.

This is closer to their original appearance than we've seen since then (and it's nice to have the Doctor forming a plan that involves caking a Dalek's eye in mud, just as they did in the cell on Skaro - I half expected to have a reference to that one), and it's also a sign of the Daleks to come later in the show's development - the all-conquering galactic force that swamp in and take over. What's nice, though, is the way that they can still be undermined if done properly.

A few episodes ago, a Dalek orders their pursuit ship to return to base, before severing communications with it and instructing that it be destroyed because they do not tolerate failure. This is a sentiment reiterated here, when the Dalek proclaims that the squad from Mira will also be punished. This moment comes at a time where the same Dalek has been berating Mavic Chen for failing in his own orders, and he gets the chance to turn the situation on its head, by pointing out that it's the Daleks who keep failing. I quite like the dynamic we've got going on between the two sides - not quite trusting each other, but needing each other all the same.

Anyway, I must be off to bed. I've left out a glass of warm milk and a plate of cookies in the hope that Santa will come (tomorrow is Christmas, after all). He'll have a job getting down my chimney, though, because I don't have a fireplace and live in a third-floor-flat in Cardiff Bay. He can ring the buzzer, I guess. I've been a really good boy this year (hey - I sat through all of The Space Museum and didn't complain all that much…) so I'm hoping for some extra special presents!

Next Episode: The Feast of Steven

Next Episode: The Feast of Steven 

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

Day 101: Counter Plot (The Daleks' Master Plan, Episode Five)

Dear diary,

I'm a bit hit-and-miss with the episodes that survive from this era of the programme. I can easily list all the stories which have missing episodes, I just can't pin-point which odd episodes survive from Seasons Three, Four and Five. It's just a bit all over the place. I came into this story, for example, thinking that it was Episodes Four and Ten which existed in the archives, when it's actually Two, Five and Ten.

Would this, then, be an episode I'd have chosen out of the ones I've watched for this story so far? Well, yes and no. No because I'd have liked to have Episode Four complete in the archives - even if it is a bit of a bloodbath, it's an interesting one, at least! Or Episode One, maybe, to set up the story? Maybe Mission to the Unknown, if I can count that as a part of the tale…

On the other hand, this episode contains one of the scariest moments in Doctor Who so far. Hah! Oh yes, I can see you sitting up at the back there, trying to rack your brains and figure out what's got me so terrified of Counter Plot. Is it the mice? The sinister bald man? The invisible creatures on the planet Mira?

No. It's the Doctor. Babelcolour has a wonderful video on his YouTube page, which collects together a number of short clips he's colorised from the Hartnell era. There's also a rather fantastic Troughton one on the page, too. There's a shot in that First Doctor one, though, which has freaked me out since the very first time I watched it, and it turns out it's from this episode.

It comes from the moment that the Doctor, Steven, and Sara first get caught in the molecular dissemination experiment, and we see the image posterise as they go through the pain of being disassembled. One of the shots features Hartnell rolling his head around in a circle, with a vacant expression on his face and a wide grin. Frankly, it's terrifying. I've genuinely seen that shot in a dream after watching the video, and it's no less freaky in black and white (even if it is less psychedelic). Aside from that potentially scarring shot, it's certainly worth checking out Babelcolour's videos, because they're stunning.

Quite aside from that moment, there's not an awful lot to note about Counter Plot. This is the 'sagging' part of the story, and I'm hoping that it won't be dragged out for too long. Our heroes - and Sara - are transported to what appears to be another jungle planet, and I'm just thankful that their surroundings have yet to be described as being more animal than vegetation.

The invisible creatures are realised quite well (that's an odd thing to say), and I've certainly enjoyed them (even if they seem to serve little purpose). Early on, I did think how nice it would be if they were able to achieve a footprint effect, before realising they wouldn't really have the technology to pull it off - and then they do! Weyhey! Good old Camfield. Incidentally, how did they do it? Is there a series of footprint-shaped bits under the sand that can be dropped down? Stop motion? Someone put me out of my misery, I wanna know!

And then there's Sara Kingdom. She comes around to understanding the truth a little easily, if anything. I thought we were going to see her coming after the Doctor and Steven for a bit before giving in and joining their side in the battle against the Daleks. It's a shame to see her switch teams so simply, and after she's killed her own brother for it. The fact that Bret is her brother is one of the well-known facts about this story, so it's shame to see it treated so simply here, in a moment that you could easily overlook. I had high hopes for Sara, and I'm hoping that she'll live up to them before too long.

If nothing else, the cliffhanger - 'I'm afraid, my friends, the Daleks have won' - is striking, and a wonderful note to end on. Here's hoping that things get back to the higher standard again for the next episode…

Next Episode: Coronas of the Sun

Next Episode: Coronas of the Sun 

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

Day 100: The Traitors (The Daleks' Master Plan, Episode Four)

Dear diary,

Hooray! This is my one hundredth consecutive episode of Doctor Who (It's not the hundredth episode of the programme, because I took a six-day gap between seasons one and two to listen to Farewell Great Macedon). What better way to celebrate such a milestone than by… Oh. Having a complete and utter bloodbath of an episode.

Yesterday, I spoke about my impatience in waiting for Katarina to die. How I'd spent the entire story so far somewhat on edge just waiting for her to kick the bucket. It felt almost as though she had to die before the story could get going properly. And here, she does die! I've reached that point in the tale and things can continue on from here nicely. It's the one story-point that I know about in The Daleks' Master Plan (aside from the fact that Episode Seven is something of a Christmas special), and now everything else is a delicious unknown. A real adventure.

Except… I'd always thought Katarina's death would be a cliffhanger. An 'end-of-the-episode' shock, leaving you reeling for the next week while you wait to see what happens next. That's why it threw me so much yesterday when the episode drew to a close, everything seemed to be in place and then she just screamed. How were they going to stretch out this episode inside the spaceship for a full 25 minutes before she died? The simple answer: they don't.

Katarina's dead within about five minutes of the episode starting, and then we just carry on with the story. There's a few minutes spent to mourn her before the story moves forward, but it's very quick, very sudden, and very… un-affecting. Yes, yes, yes, I know we're supposed to revere this moment - it's the first time we've seen one of the Doctor's companions (and I've decided that she is a companion, as we'll see below) has died. The problem is that I just don't have any kind of connection to Katarina.

While the idea that she thought she was dead and on the way to limbo was interesting enough to begin with, by the time she was sucked out of the airlock, I'd grown a little weary of it. The problem was that they needed her to be at once blissfully ignorant of everything that she's being introduced to, but at the same time able to pick it up quickly enough to be of some use to the plot. In the end, wether it's because I knew she was destined to die or because it's just the way that the character feels for five episodes, she never quite fitted in for me.

I think I'm right in saying that when Terry Nation first delivered his scripts for this story, he'd not realised that Vicki would be leaving in The Myth Makers, and thought that it was her who would be killed off here. Now that would have been a shocker. Especially had the story moved with the same beats for the rest of the episode, moving on very quickly from the death. In some ways, I wonder if it would have been too distressing for viewers at the time - especially children. Having followed Vicki through the series for a year, to suddenly see her killed in such a brutal manner. In that sense, at least, it feels right that we should have a temporary stand in.

All that said, I still don't believe it when the Doctor says he will remember her always. I bet he'll have forgotten her by the time ben and Polly turn up.

Now, this is the best time to bring it up again - Katarina's companion status. Over the years, I've seen many different criteria for what forms a companion. 'They have to have travelled in the TARDIS!', ''They need to appear in consecutive stories', 'They have to be described as one in the press' etc etc. The problem with most of the theories is that they all end up needing to use the 'except for' phrase. For example, I've seen someone say 'If they don't travel in the TARDIS, they're not a companion. Except for Liz, who is'.

More closely tied to this story, I've also seen people say that even though Katarina does travel in the TARDIS, and she is in consecutive stories, she still 'doesn't count' as a companion. Just because, you know?

The best criteria I've ever seen for deciding if someone is a companion or not (aside from just 'gut instinct') is: 'Someone whose presence hasn't got to be explained but whose absence does need to be'. Basically, they're a companion if you expect them to be there. It seems to make sense to me. If Katarina suddenly stopped appearing between episodes, it would need explaining, since she was there in the TARDIS.

Equally, you don't need to explain the Brigadier's absence from Pertwee stories set on other planets, because you don't expect him to be there. He's not a companion, he's an acquaintance of the Doctor's who appears when stories are set on Earth. And don't even get me started on Kamelion, who's absence isn't explained for about a season! To that end, I've decided that Katarina is indeed a companion of the First Doctor - albeit a very temporary one.

While I'm on the subject of the Brigadier - I didn't know that Bret Vyon died here, too! I knew that Sara Kingdom killed him, but I assumed it was at the end of the story somewhere! I thought he was in this one for the long haul! That came as a bit of a shock.

Next Episode: Counter Plot

Next Episode: Counter Plot 

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

Day Ninety-Nine: Devil's Planet (The Daleks' Master Plan, Episode Three)

Dear diary,

One of the problems with the narrated soundtracks is that they don't always feature the narration where you would like it. The very end of this episode is the perfect example: the ship is taking off, the Daleks have made a bad landing, giving the Doctor and his friends some much needed time to escape, the Doctor turns to ask Katarina to keep an eye on the door… and she screams. CRASH! The theme music kicks in!

Now, I don't have a clue what she's screaming about. Has she turned to find a Dalek in the doorway? Maybe she's stubbed her toe and it really hurts? There was a similar problem with the narration on the Galaxy 4 release, where Vicki turns and screams - it's only later that you actually find out what's happening. Still, it's a minor niggle, I suppose.

Something that keeps surprising me in this story is that Katarina is still alive. I feel like I'm a spectre at the feast, constantly waiting for her to die. I thought it was going to happen at the end of the second episode, as the ship lifts off from the Dalek conference and we've seen Zephon wiggling his plant-like appendages as he breaks free of his bonds. But it didn't.

Then I spent much of this episode waiting for someone to step out of the shadows and do the deed, but they didn't. Later in the episode, I figured that the convicts would be the ones to get aboard the ship and drag her into the airlock, but they didn't (that said, there's one convict unaccounted for, so I think I can probably piece together what she's just seen in that cliffhanger - a madman with a knife). I really wish that I was coming into this not knowing that she was destined to die in this story, because it really does feel like I'm just waiting for that to happen, and that everything else is merely delaying it.

That said, everything that's getting in the way of her demise is still pretty good. The confrontation between Zephon and Mavic Chen is nicely played, and Chen comes out of it rather well. He's incredibly cool and calm, and the kind of villain that you really love to hate. I'm still impressed by his appearance yesterday, which I think is helping me like him even more. I'm not sure where I got the idea from (maybe a piece of fan art? A dodgy photoshop once? I honestly can't remember. Maybe I dreamt it…), but I've always thought of Mavic Chen as being Kevin Stoney in a slightly ill-fitting orange mask, with a dodgy beard attached.

Thinking about it, I might be thinking of his appearance in Revenge of the Cybermen and simply transplanting bits of that costume over to him here. When he appeared on screen yesterday, and he looks fantastic, that just helped to make everything fall into place. Another thing transferring over from yesterday is the great design of the sets - in my mind, the confrontation between the delegates took place in that huge council chamber, with Chen and Zephon stranded in the centre, while the other delegates called on from their places on the sidelines.

I feel that I should probably also mention Nicholas Courtney, considering that we're witnessing his first of many appearances in the series. Suffice to say that he's as good here as he ever is, playing a character who I rather like, but I probably shouldn't. He's cold and hard-nosed, and it's interesting to see his interplay with the Doctor and Steven. I love the fact that he refers to the Doctor as 'grandpa', and generally has very little time for him - it's making for a very interesting dynamic.

Next Episode: The Traitors

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

Day Ninety-Eight: Day of Armageddon (The Daleks' Master Plan, Episode Two)

Dear Diary,

A few years ago, when I first started reading the Wife in Space blog, it used to astound me how easily Sue could spot an episode directed by Douglas Camfield. I mean sure, every director has a distinct look, but it's not something that I often notice while watching Doctor Who. For Season One and most of Season Two of this marathon, there's a fair few places where I wouldn't be able to tell you where one directer stops and another takes over.

I've never really noticed the direction in Doctor Who before. It's usually being made under such pressures that it becomes very basic, with plenty of use being given to stock framing and basic direction of actors. In fact, then only time I've ever really connected to a Who director was shortly after Blink aired for the first time, and I found myself in an interview for a place at university, studying film production. I wasn't sure what to expect at the interview and was caught completely off-guard when they asked about my favourite example of direction. The first thing I thought of was Blink (since it was the most recent episode to air) and I managed to make up a load of stuff about how much it had affected me.

Of course, I couldn't remember that it was Hettie MacDonald who'd directed it, so I had to stall on using the name for as long as I could. Then I spoke about how Graeme Harper likes to shout 'lots of energy' before each take. Bizzarely, I actually landed a place on the course, but six years on, my own directorial work amounts to an afternoon of Blue Peter and a selection of rubbish student films.

Anyway, it always struck me how easily Sue reacted when Camfield was behind the cameras, but suddenly, I get it. I didn't have a clue that he was the man responsible for tackling this twelve-part Dalek epic, but as soon as I loaded up the Lost in Time DVD for today's episode, it was obviously him.

For a start, the sets are of a quality in places that is very reminiscent of The Time Meddler. For the last episode, my image of the jungles of Kembel were based more on the look of The Chase than of the animated Mission to the Unknown. As soon as they appeared today, though, I couldn't quite believe it. They're stunning! I mean, really, stunning. I was a little disappointed by the Daleks gathering around the TARDIS - the narration on the soundtrack made it sound more impressive than it actually is - but the shots Hartnell creeping around in the foliage are great. He's got the same confident air here that I praised during A Battle of Wits a few weeks ago - Camfield really brings out the best in him.

Then we've got the Dalek's council chamber, for want of a better description. Oh, sure, it's not the best-looking set we've ever seen in the series - it's mostly a load of drapes and some fancy chairs - but the sheer size of it! There's a shot early on, when Mavic Chen sits at the table writing and a Dalek glides down the ramp to meet him and it feels like ti takes the Dalek an age to reach him! I don't think we've had a bigger set in the programme than this before.

Of course, while I'm raving about the direction (there's only 25% of this story available to watch, so expect me to really latch onto the direction when I can see it!), I have to talk about the way the Daleks themselves look. There's shots of them talking that involve the eyestalks reaching out towards the camera, and just giving them more of a screen presence than we've had before. It just feels like this is the best they've ever looked.

And there's the scene of them burning down the jungle. I have to admit, it was terribly exciting to see them first ignite their flamethrowers. I'm a twenty-three-year-old-man, I shouldn't be as excited by the thought of a Dalek with a flamethrower, but frankly… how brilliant! The way they come on, one at a time…

I mean, in fairness, things then feel a bit dragged out as we watch them - slowly - trundle around and wait for the set to catch fire, but it's still brought about by a terribly exciting moment. If anything, this episode has made me regret that I'm not going to get to see more of this story than I am. I mused the other day that of all the ones to be missing from the archives, Galaxy 4 wasn't perhaps the biggest visual loss. I'm getting the feeling that this one might be…

Next Episode: Devil's Planet

Next Episode: Devil's Planet 

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

Day Ninety-Seven: The Nightmare Begins (The Daleks' Master Plan, Episode One)

Dear diary,

Oh, lord, that's not a promising title to start on a twelve-day 'epic', is it? I have to confess, I've been slightly dreading this. I've found something of a new love for the Daleks since the start of this marathon, to the stage that by the time The Chase rolled around, I was actually quite excited to have them back again. Now, though, I'm faced with almost two whole weeks of them. I tend to start getting bored (and running out of things to say, too!) during a six-parter! Hold tight, this one could sink the entire experiment…

As per usual, I'm listening to this story via the narrated soundtrack, which is available for download at a really reasonable price! It's one of the few that I didn't already own, and I was dreading the cost, so that was a pleasant surprise. The audio opens with a pre-titles sequence that recaps the ending of The Myth Makers - all the stuff with Steven coming round in the TARDIS and Katarina believing that she's in limbo.

It's a fascinating way to introduce a new character to the show, and very different to any of the other introductions that we've had over the last fifty years. I must confess that I've been really looking forward to her arrival, because I wanted to settle something in my own mind: is she a companion or not!?! I was rather hoping that actually hearing the introduction might clear it up once and for all, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Whereas the introductions of both Vicki and Steven were used to remind the viewer of the programme's basic premise, reintroducing us to the important aspects of the show, Katarina is just sort of treated with a sense of 'well, here she is then'. Even the Doctor, when he departs from Troy pretty rapidly, doesn't stop to panic that he's accidentally kidnapped a young handmaiden, he simply asks her to carry on looking after Steven. It's all very odd, and all a little rushed.

I don't know if it's this feeling of rushing that's making Katarina feel like a part-time companion, or if it's because I know that she'll be dead before too long. It's a shame, because there's a fair bit of scope in the idea, and the way she describes the TARDIS ('this isn't Troy. This is not even the world. This is the journey through the beyond') is wonderful. That said, she takes to the idea of how to open the TARDIS doors pretty quickly, and seems more comfortable in the ship that Bret Vyon does later on. Is this a case of Clarke's third law? To Katarina, this is all the magic of her Gods. To Brett, it's just a really really bizarre space ship.

The episode proper is a curious beast. For the first half or so, you could be forgiven to assume that it's a repeat of Mission to the Unknown, as the TARDIS doesn't appear until quite some way into the story. That's not a bad thing, though. Already, thanks to that earlier episode, we feel like we have a head start on the Doctor - we know what's going on inside the buildings he's headed for. We know that the Daleks are here on Kembel. We know that the Doctor should be avoiding the strange, spiky plants. Incidentally, the soundtrack narration makes a great point of mentioning that the Doctor doesn't know how dangerous these plants are.

The entire first section of the plot is a perfectly executed way of setting up the background for the story we're about to watch. We follow Vyon's communication from Kembel right back to the SSS central control, where it's being ignored by two people arguing over what to watch on TV. It's this simple, every day situation that makes it feel so natural when we're told of a 'Mars-Venus' game being screened (there's no need to give any more information, this paints in more than enough beautifully), and we're introduced to Mavic Chen, the 'Guardian of the Solar System'.

Sure, by the end of that section, it does feel a little like we've been given one massive info-dump, with lots and lots of information being thrown at us very quickly. Most of it can fade away into the background, though, just there to spark up if and when it's needed. We're told that it's now the year 4000, and we're given the date for the signing of a Solar System peace treaty. We're even given a date for it (was it 3975? Something like that?), and that's all I need to know. It's the 41st century. The Solar System is at peace, and Mavic Chen is the Simon Cowell of his age. Good enough.

Something that I'd been planning to bring up here - ever since the strange culture shock of going from Daleks in a jungle to the plains of ancient Troy - was that we don't need that other story between Mission to the Unknown and this. You could just as easily go from that episode into this one and it would flow just nicely. But then… what took me by surprise is that this episode picks up some time after that one, with Vyon and his comrade here out hunting for the SSS agent we saw back in Mission.

It feels like time has passed in the story, because time has passed for us watching it. That's clever. And because we know that the Daleks are around on Kembel, there's no need to make a big surprise out of it - the first time they appear, they simply turn up and kill a man. No questions asked. It's the most ruthless we've ever seen them, and it's really quite effective. It's just a shame that we spend the first few minutes being told that 'they' are out there, trying to build up at least a little suspense.

Next Episode: Day of Armageddon

Next Episode: Day of Armageddon 

DWO's spoiler-free preview of episode 7.8 Cold War:

The Ice Warriors haven’t had the most lucky experience with Doctor Who over the years. After appearing in two 1960s stories, and two 1970s stories, they somewhat disappeared from the show. In the 1980s, two planned returns for the creatures were both scuppered when the series was cancelled. They’ve shown up plenty of times in comics and novels since then, but this is their first appearance in televised Who for 39 years. That’s one hell of a nap.

The Doctor and Clara - headed for Vegas, but getting the direction a little wrong - arrive on a Soviet submarine in the mid-1980s. Following an expedition to the North Pole, the sub is carrying a very precious cargo: a creature found perfectly preserved in the ice. As curiosity gets the better of the crew, disastrous consequences await them...

Coming after two adventures set in big, open places - filled with panoramic views of modern London, or overlooking an alien vista with a parasitic sun - the most striking thing about Cold War is the claustrophobia of the episode. The feeling of being trapped on an submarine, with a vengeful alien bearing down on you really comes across, and director Douglass Mackinnon really sells the feeling of entrapment, and ramps up the tension as time runs out for the Doctor and the crew. 

Praise also needs to be given for just how... wet the set is throughout. Almost every scene features the sub leaking from somewhere, with water streaming down the walls. Visually, it’s quite unlike anything we’ve seen in the programme before - and it’s gorgeous.

Of course, the thing that everyone is waiting on this episode for is the reappearance of an Ice Warrior to the series. It’s pleasing that the design of the creature remains true to what we’ve seen in the series before now, and proof that some Doctor Who monsters are so fantastic that they don’t need a big overhaul to make them acceptable to twenty-first century viewers. We see the advancement of the Ice Warrior, though, and it performs a trick that even the Doctor hasn’t seen one do before.

Ice Warrior aside, this is another important step for Clara as a companion - her first trip back into history. Following on from last week’s episode, it helps to establish the rules of the programme again for a new companion, and an audience that might have joined since Amy Pond ventured into World War Two in 2010 (in another script by Mark Gatiss, who pens this week’s instalment). There’s plenty of opportunity for Clara to learn about life in the TARDIS: it can get very real sometimes. 

Elsewhere, David Warner as Grisenko steals the show, puncturing all the end-of-the-world macho-ness with a wonderfully fun performance, roaming the corridors of the submarine singing the hits of the day. Warner’s character is fairly representative of the story as a whole. For all the danger of the Ice Warrior and the threat to the world, Cold War is a very funny episode, filled with great dialogue that really gives the cast - and especially Matt Smith - a chance to shine. 

Five things to look out for...

1) It’s probably a mammoth.

2) An Ice Warrior isn’t the only Second Doctor-era invention to appear in this episode.

3) The Doctor is always serious. With days off. 

4) Polar Bears are cuddlier than Ice Warriors.

5) It’s not a mammoth. 

[Sources: DWO, Will Brooks]

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

Day Ninety-Six: Horse of Destruction (The Myth Makers, Episode Four)

Dear diary,

Can we please have a petition to change this episode's title back to Is there a Doctor in the Horse?, as Donald Cotton originally suggested? I'm willing to mount quite an aggressive campaign in favour of this.

Do you know, I'd completely forgotten about Katarina. I knew that this was Vicki's final episode. I knew that Katarina existed. And yet I'd not managed to put two and two together to remember that she was actually going to turn up in this story.

It's odd, considering how much time I spent yesterday praising the amount of care and attention given to the departure of companions in these early days, to then be confronted with a new addition to the TARDIS who simply turns up in the last episode, and doesn't even play a vital role until the very last scene! If anything, she feels like a temporary stop-gap companion, but that's possibly because I've always known her to be just that - but there'll be plenty of time to discuss Katarina's companion status during the next story, I'm sure.

Elsewhere, the departure of Vicki is still handled magnificently, right until the end. As I've said, I know that this is Vicki's last episode, but when we hear the TARDIS dematerialise, having seen the Doctor and Vicki venture inside it towards the end… it threw me. I wondered if I'd understood the terms of Vicki's departure wrongly for all these years, and that we might be getting what you might call a Time-Flight situation developing.

But when we cut from that to Trolius injured out on the plains, calling for his newfound love as the city burns before him, and Vicki appears to him, having opted to remain behind so that he wouldn't think she'd misled him… Oh, of course it's well handled. It's actually incredibly moving in a way that I wasn't expecting it to be, and the appearance of Trolius' cousin serves to suggest that there's a real future for Vicki here, in the same way that David's outstretched hand and Ian and Barbara laughing on a bus did for them.

Elsewhere, this is quite a dark episode, especially following the humour that I'd grown used to from the last few day's entries to the diary. The latter half of the episode basically consists of the city burning while the Trojans are massacred by the Greeks. Having experienced this entire story via the narrated soundtrack, I had grown used to the feel of listening to Doctor Who as audio again, and there's not much left to the imagination in this way.

It's perhaps another reason to be pleased that I'm experiencing the story in this way - there's a moment when Peter Purves' narration describes the Greeks opening the gates of the city, and a whole army flooding in to win the war. On screen, I can imagine this being a few extras running in, swords aloft. In my mind, it could almost look like a scene from Lord of the Rings. I do usually picture things as looking more-or-less the way I think they would have done on screen (that's the result of moving through the series at this pace and in this way!), but the sound design here is too good to not suggest more.

On the whole, The Myth Makers has been an odd one. It's moved from something that didn't really appeal to me, to being funny, dramatic and moving to varying degrees throughout it's last three parts. This is the first time in the marathon that I've encountered one of those stories that I really know little about - aside from the departure of Vicki - and so it's a very interesting time for me.

Hopefully, that'll be continuing into the next story. While I know it's the single longest story from the 1960s, features the Daleks and has a Christmas episode hovering around in the middle, I don't really know all that much about The Daleks' Master Plan. And so we move into what I'm likely to be calling Dalek Fortnight…

Next Episode: The Nightmare Begins

Next Episode: The Nightmare Begins 

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

Day Ninety-Five: Death of a Spy (The Myth Makers, Episode Three)

Dear diary,

Something that I've found a little odd so far is the way the Doctor has reacted to being forced to make plans for getting the Grecian army into Troy. Yesterday, Steven suggested the obvious one - let's build a great, big, wooden horse. You know, like it says in all the legends of this war. The Doctor's dead set against the idea, because it was all made up and probably never even happened… and then he goes an suggests that they build gliders and flying machines to sail over the walls of the city!

Still, it's really only an excuse to give the Doctor something to play around with for an episode or so, until they're ready for him to announce his plan to use the wooden horse after all part-way into today's instalment. This way, everything is in place ready for the final episode. I can't complain, though, as we do get some rather nice comedy as the suggestion is made that the Doctor be the first man to fly into Troy, and he swiftly tries to back-track!

The comedy is a bit toned down for this episode compared to the last, although there's still plenty of it in evidence. There's a lovely discussion between Vicki and Steven as they find themselves locked away in the dungeon, where he protests that he's dressed as a Greek to come and rescue Vicki, and she droles 'You've done a beautiful job'. It's nice to see the pair getting some time together again here - I'm really going to miss the pairing of Steven and Vicki.

It's a period in the companionship of the programme that I've never really considered before. In my mind, the Hartnell era is usually Ian/Barbara/Susan - Ian/Barbara/Vicki - Steven/Dodo - Ben/Polly, and then onto the Second Doctor. I wonder if it's because this is such a short pairing together (only 13 episodes, if we count the end of The Chase)? A real shame, though. I even spent some time wondering if I could slip in a Big Finish adventure for the pair before embarking on this story, but it didn't seem right to have a more contemporary tale thrown in. It's definitely going to the top of my list for the future, though!

One of the most interesting aspects of this episode is sadly overlooked rather early on. While the Doctor is being given just one more day to devise a plan to invade Troy, Vicki is tasked to coms up with a way to stop a potential Grecian invasion, and to bring a swift end to the war. Steven sums it up best, when he says that it's Vicki against the Doctor, and knowing the Doctor, he's probably already got a good plan.

There's something quite intriguing about having the Doctor and his companions on opposite sides of a battlefield, each working against the other without truly realising it (come to think of it, isn't there a book along those lines? Though with a different incarnation of the Doctor on each side? Or did I imagine that? If there isn't then there should be!). It's a shame, then, that this is swept under the rug so quickly, when the Doctor's actions see Vicki released from prison and praised for winning the war, without ever lifting a finger.

Before she's released, though, we get a lovely scene between her and Trolius. I commented when Ian and Barbara left that the programme at this stage was still very good at setting up a companion's departure, and it's been really well handled again, here. Little hints yesterday that the pair may be falling for each other are enough to start the ball rolling, but it's really brought to the fore here, as they talk together - ignoring Steven for the most part - and Vicki sighs that she thinks she'd be very happy here, in time. I really can't fault the work being put into this area here, and special praise must be reserved for Maureen O'Brien, who turns in one of her very best performances in the programme for the scene.

Next Episode: Horse of Destruction

Next Episode: Horse of Destruction 

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

Day Ninety-Four: Small Prophet, Quick Return (The Myth Makers, Episode Two)

Dear diary,

Well today's episode has certainly picked things up a little for me! I still don't know enough about the events of Troy to get as much from it as I should, but with references to the wooden horse, and suggestions of things being brought into Troy with Greeks hidden inside… there's enough here for me to latch onto.

Perhaps the best thing about this episode, though, is the addition of the Troy characters. They've got a sense of humour to them that really struck a chord with me, creating a historical comedy that I'm enjoying, as opposed to something like The Romans, which didn't appeal. I wonder if it's because I knew that The Romans was supposed to be a comedy, and as such was waiting for it to make me laugh. With The Myth Makers, I was expecting a more traditional tale (and that's certainly what Episode One seemed to promise), so the comedy is an unexpected and happy addition.

I think Paris has to be my favourite of the characters on display, and he certainly gets the best of the more humorous moments from the script. The way he mocks Cassandra over her ability to tell the future ('I'm sure you don't have a monopoly on it') and his sense of pride at having captured the - unguarded - police box from the middle of the plains ('What use is it? What use is it? Well, I've not idea, really…').

It's nice to see Vicki brought back into the action again today, too, and given more of a presence in the story. The moment that she emerges from the TARDIS at just the right moment to be mistaken for a God is still fun, just as it was with the Doctor in the last episode, but it's nice to see her cutting though the pomposity almost instantly, telling the assembled crowd that she's nobody important, just a girl from the future.

All round, there seems to be a lot of open and honest talk about where our regulars have come from. Vicki tells the Trojans, while Steven explains their predicament with the Greeks (calling it a 'miscalculation' on the Doctor's part, who seems pretty pleased with himself to have managed to land on Earth at all). It's unusual to hear them talking like this - not something we're often shown. It's another (albeit minor) step down the road of this history-altering arc we've been on.

Next Episode: Death of a Spy

Next Episode: Death of a Spy 

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

Day Ninety-Three: Temple of Secrets (The Myth Makers, Episode One)

Dear diary,

It's not a particularly original thing to say, but crikey this isn't half a tonal shift coming from Mission to the Unknown. It seems like such a culture shock to have spent an episode in an alien jungle, with Varga plants and Daleks, alongside a whole host of alien delegates… to suddenly find yourself on the plains of ancient Troy, where a couple of chaps are having at each other.

That said, it's the kind of trick I can imagine the new series pulling - two people from history engaged in battle, when one asks for a sign from the gods, and the TARDIS arrives, right in the middle of the battlefield! That's a more elaborate way of showing the events here (the narration on the soundtrack describes the pair as 'not even noticing' the blue police box. Hm, somewhat less impressive).

And then you've got the Doctor being mistaken for Zeus. It's quite fun, and I like how amused the Doctor is by this notion, especially considering the way that Barbara used a similar situation for her own ends two seasons ago. I like the way he pretends not to know Steven, but suggests that he be taken to his 'temple' (the TARDIS) for his execution, promising to show those who don't believe in him a miracle.

Otherwise, you could be forgiven for assuming that this episode was setting up a holiday for Maureen O'Brien. Having taken part in the early TARDIS scenes, Steven asks her to remain behind in the ship… and we don't hear from her again! Most unusual. I'm guessing that she'll have a bigger role to play in the next episode, though, now that the 'temple' has gone missing.

Now, I have to admit, I'm not particularly well-versed in my ancient Greek mythology, and so much of the stuff in this episode (and indeed through the rest of the story) is likely to go right over my head. I have to admit that there were parts of today's instalment that left me a little cold - longing for a Dalek, even! I dread to think how kids reacted in 1965, getting only a single week of the pepper pots before being plunged into such dense history, but I'm keeping an open mind. I've herd plenty of good stuff about this story in the past, so I'm hoping that it delivers!

Next Episode: Small Prophet, Quick Return

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

Day Ninety-Two: Mission to the Unknown

Dear diary,

When you think about the early years of Doctor Who, the Dalek serials divide themselves up quite nicely. One in the first season, two in the second, a feature-length adventure for the third year, and then back to having two for the fourth, before they disappear from screens for a bit. Watching the marathon in order like this, though, you realise how darn quick this one comes around again - wasn't it only about a week ago that I last watched the Daleks trundling around in a jungle?

Much like the fantastic timings of The Reign of Terror and Galaxy 4 on DVD, this episode has come around just right for me, with the animated version being posted online about six weeks ago. I know there was a lot of talk about the episode at the time, but I purposely avoided it all. I wanted to wait and experience it in context with the rest of the marathon. It's also quite timely considering I realised yesterday that there's about as many missing episodes left to wade through as there are episodes that I've already experienced. That was a scary thought.

So then! This story has the infamous distinction of being the only episode of Doctor Who to feature neither the Doctor or any of his companions. Ellie found it a most bizarre concept to get her head around, and wondered why it was even considered a part of the series. In some ways, I figure that she probably has a point. I'm hoping that events of this story will prove to be integral to the upcoming Dalek epic, but I have a feeling that it could be boiled down to just a few bits of the scenes featuring the Daleks and the array of weird and wonderful alien delegates - something tells me that's all I'm going to need to know from this one.

And that's kind-of ok. Certainly the aliens turning up was one of the stronger parts of the episode. I have to confess that I found the opening to be more than little dull, and I wasn't relishing the project of a full episode of two new characters stood around repairing a spaceship. It's telling that it picks up for me once the Daleks start to pursue them through the jungle, and eventually kill them. The Daleks here are colder than we've seen them for a while, and that's an interesting development.

One of the things I did pick up on during this one, and possibly as a result of this coming so close to The Chase*… Terry Nation does *really like the idea of plants that are part vegetation, part animal, doesn't he? I know that it's something of a joke within Doctor Who fandom - one of those ideas that he reuses time and time again, but actually, it's glaringly obvious when you sit down to watch it! We had a cliffhanger built around it in The Keys of Marinus, last week the Doctor was commenting on how fascinating it was on Mechanus, and now we've got the Vaaga plants here.

Actually, though, I'm not really complaining. The idea of the Vaaga plants is by far the most interesting one that Nation has given us in this theme. I like the idea that they are part animal because they've taken over a living creature, and it does make for quite a chilling moment as several of the plants move in on the spaceship and its remaining crew, even more so when you remember that one of the plants was their former crew-mate.

It's another area where it's perhaps better than this episode exists now as animation rather than physically in the archive. The effect of the Vaaga plant shuffling toward you, or as a person transforms into it, it rather well realised, here, though I'd imagine it could look less effective in the studio in 1965. The same is true for the moment that the Daleks destroy the spaceship, and it's described as 'just falling apart' - something that would either really work, or really not in the studio.

On the whole, I think I was rather fond of the animation used here. It took me a while to get over the fact that the Daleks all seem to have the wrong dimensions (but then, I'm a Doctor Who fan. Of course that was going to irritate me!), but I think it helped this episode fare better in my estimation than just the soundtrack might have. I don't think this was as polished at The Reign of Terror or The Invasion, but it's certainly nice to have it in existence.

Barring unforeseen miracles, this is the last time that things will fall into place just in time for the marathon. The other upcoming animations - for The Tenth Planet and The Ice Warriors - won't be available until long after I've passed those stories in the run. It's a shame, as I head deeper into the wastelands of 1960s Who, but it's been nice to have so many things arrive just in time so far.

Next Episode: Temple of Secrets

Don't forget to 'like' the 50 Year Diary Facebook page ! I'm sure I'll be using it to ask questions etc in relation to the marathon! 

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

Day Ninety-One: The Exploding Planet (Galaxy 4, Episode Four)

Dear diary,

well here's a first for the 50 Year Diary - I watched today's episode twice. No, no, not because The Exploding Planet is the best episode of Doctor Who ever made, but because having listened to the narrated soundtrack release, I really wanted to see how the new recon on The Aztecs disc two held up.

The answer? It makes things seem a little rushed. It's odd, really, as I spent the audio version of the episode thinking on how little tension there is. They spend the time with Steven constantly asking the Doctor for a time update, and then they take a stroll back to the TARDIS before the world blows up. It's all very leisurely.

The recon, though, just makes the wrong things happen very quick. The Chumblies throw an ammonia bomb into the Drahvin's spaceship, so they all hurry outside, where they spend twenty seconds saying hello to the Chumblie, before they all turn on their heel and go back inside! At lest in the full length audio, they're outside for a while, and the Chumblie tells them when the air inside the ship is safe to enter again.

The other thing lost in the cut-down version, which really is a shame, is some depth to Steven's character. Everyone knows the big twist to Galaxy 4 - the beautiful aliens are evil, while the hideous ones are the good guys. You see it coming before you're halfway into Episode One. What's nice in the full-length Episode Four, though, is that when Steven is left alone with a Rill, he asks why he should trust the creature.

He muses that they must have given the Doctor enough evidence to be working with them, but that he's less sure. How does he know they're any different to the Drahvins? This goes on for a few moment,s before he concludes that the Doctor will have made the right choice, and he agrees to help work on the power transfer. In the cut-down version, most of this exchange is cut, and he simply agrees to help out with the power transfer as soon as the Doctor leaves the room.

If anything, this makes me even more glad to have Airlock back in the archive. The story could fall very very flat: there's nothing particularly new and exciting about it, after all. One of the most interesting things in here, though, is the way that Maaga acts during the third episode. We've seen her as steely and uncaring, dishing out punishments to her crew if they fail to obey her orders. We've seen her talk down to them, and ruthlessly trap Steven in the airlock.

But then there's s moment in that third episode, when she laments being stuck on this planet with her soldiers because they are just that - soldiers. She talks of how she tried to tell her commanders that they weren't right for a mission like this, but that they sent them along anyway. The character is given in that scene far more depth than we see anywhere else in the story. It's the one moment when she's not just your cardboard cut-out villain of the week. It's something of a redeeming feature to the character, and to the story itself.

Of course, she then goes on to talk about the thrill of watching the Doctor, his friends, and the Rills as the planet explodes around them, so there's a chance that she's just plain mad, too.

And one last thing, is the serial called Galaxy 4, or Galaxy Four? I've gone with the former because it's the more common (and I seem to remember about five years ago, when they announced the episode 42, Russell T Davies described it as being the first Doctor Who story to feature a numerical character in the title since this one), but the Target book opts for the latter version. What's everyone's preference?

(You have no idea how tempted I was to give this a '10', just for April Fool's sake. But then I figured you'd all see the score, figure I was mad, and leave for ever. Come back! Come back, I cry!)

Next Episode: Mission to the Unknown

Next Episode: Mission to the Unknown 

 DWO reports from The Rings Of Akhaten, with a spoiler-free preview of episode 7.7:

DWO's spoiler-free preview for 7.7: The Rings Of Akhaten.

Having finally caught up with the impossible Clara Oswald, the Doctor is determined to solve her mystery. First, though, he has a date to keep, and offers to take Clara anywhere in time and space. Armed with her trusty guide of 101 Places to See, she only has one stipulation: somewhere ‘awesome’. 

Last year, much was made about Season 7 being comprised of stand-alone episodes. Big, individual, filmic ideas that can really take in the full scope of what Doctor Who can deliver. Taking us from a Dalek Asylum, to a spaceship filled with dinosaurs and back to the old west in the space of three weeks. 

The New Series, while having more of an on-going narrative than the final days of the Ponds, still retains this style. The Bells of Saint John was typified by being set against a backdrop of twenty-first-century London icons, while this episode takes us through to another end of the spectrum, with a rich and textured alien society, where they barter with memories rather than money, and live in a world ruled in part by songs and stories. 

It’s in the design that The Rings of Akhaten really excels, with the TARDIS landing on the inhabited rings of the title, an alien civilisation with an arabic vibe. The heart of the society is the bustling marketplace - crowded streets filled with a whole host of brand new aliens. While it’s perhaps a shame not to not see any familiar faces buried within the crowds, it’s hard not to find yourself drawn in by the sheer... alienness of these new creatures. 

There’s something of a vibe of the Russell T. Davies era present here, with our brand new companion out on her first adventure. The story serves the same purpose as The End of the World or The Fires of Pompeii, and there are elements of both those stories echoed here, opening Clara’s eyes to the wonder of the TARDIS. 

We’re also given the perfect opportunity for Jenna-Louise Coleman to shine on her own terms, removing The Doctor from the equation so we can can witness her first exposure to the universe though Clara’s eyes. Matt Smith continues to - impossibly - keep getting better at simply being the Doctor, and is given plenty of time to shine in this episode, too. 

As this version of Clara first steps out into the stars, The Rings of Akhaten doesn’t disappoint. If the rest of the series continues on in the same quality displayed here, then we’re certainly fulfilling Clara’s desire - we’re headed somewhere really, really, awesome... 

Five things to look out for...

1) The Doctor is a fan of The Beano.

2) Time isn’t made of strawberries.

3) Clara’s leaf is the ‘most important leaf in human history’.

4) The Doctor gets to imitate a certain famous archaeologist.

5) Reference is made to the Doctor’s first incarnation.

[Sources: DWO, Will Brooks]

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

Day Ninety: Airlock (Galaxy 4, Episode Three)

Dear diary,

I've been a good boy with this marathon. I told myself that I'd take it an episode a day, and stick to the era that I'm currently in. That means that since January 1st, the only episodes of Doctor Who that I've watched are the ones you've seen me write about for Doctor Who Online. I caught a 30-second clip of a Colin Baker episode the other day when a friend was watching and it completely there me. Who was this strange man? Why does he call himself 'the Doctor'? And what's with all the colour!

Something that's come along quite nicely for the pace of my marathon is the DVD releases this year. The Reign of Terror came out just about a week before I needed to watch it, and The Aztecs special edition - including today's episode of Galaxy 4 - was out just a couple of weeks ago. The problem is that because I'm being a good boy and not skipping ahead, I've not been able to watch this one! It's only been back in the archive for 18 months, and so the thought that it was sitting on the shelf while I was wading my way through The Space Museum was slowly killing me.

And then, on the day of the DVD's release, my friend Nick Mellish (who's opinion on Doctor Who I'd trust any day of the week. Even if he is wrong about Time of the Daleks. We wrote a whole book about it once) popped up on Facebook: “I've just watched Air Lock! A new-old episode of Doctor Who! Amazing. I mean, sort of: fair to say that the episode and story itself are rather patchy affairs, but it has its moments. Some brilliant stuff hidden in there. But, Will! New Who! A new episode! Let's face it, that's bloody wonderful regardless of quality.”

Now, for me, there's slightly less of a thrill about the episode. As I said the other day, Season Three is my weak area of the Hartnell-era. I've seen bits of it (The War Machines) before, and other bits (The Gunfighters) I've been holding off watching until I finally did a marathon like this. The rest of it just doesn't exist, so I've never sought to find it. That means that many of the episode this season are going to be 'new-old' episodes of Who. Heck, the last two episodes were! And the next several are!

But there's still something special about Airlock. I think it's the magic of knowing that it was sat, unknown, in a collection for years. Waiting patiently to be discovered and reappraised again. It also helps that until a few years ago, with the recovery of a single photograph, we didn't have a clue what the Rills actually looked like! There wasn't any surviving material to show us. Throughout the 80s and 90s, you could only speculate as to what these 'hideous' creatures resembled. And now we've got a whole episode which features them! Sure, they're behind a glass screen, but we get the basic idea.

And I think, on the whole, that's why I'd much rather see at least one episode from every missing story returned, rather than a single full story. Don't get me wrong - I'd love to have a full story come back to the archives, so that we can enjoy it as originally intended from start to finish, but being able to actually see this episode has helped, a bit, to raise my opinion of the story as a whole, just as the surviving Episode Three did during The Crusade.

So! Anyway! The episode itself. My first port-of-call when loading up the DVD was to take a brief look at some of the recon bits from Episodes One and Two. Not the full thing, just snippets here and there. They look great, there's some really effective stuff in there, including the CGI Chumblies which are just adorable. Actually, that's true of the live-action Chumblies in the rest of Episode Three, too. I've long thought that Chumblies are meant to be a little bit naff, this kind of rubbish monster from the start of Season Three which doesn't quite work…

But they're ace! For a start, they've got lights inside them which flash around its body! I'm fairly sure that Peter Purves didn't describe that to me on the narrated soundtrack! They make them look far better than they might have otherwise. And the way they move is smooth and fun, gliding around the Rill's spaceship as they escort Vicki and the Doctor. Of course, it's not entirely flawless - I'm not keen on the way that the top 'dome' wobbles for a while when they come to a halt - but it's better than I'd anticipated.

Really, 'better than I'd anticipated' is a pretty good way to describe many of the things we see here. Catching the tail-end of the second episode on the recon, where the Doctor and Vicki explore the Rill ship, I was thinking how great it would be if the ship could have really looked as good as the backgrounds here, with the metallic frame and the sheets between them… and it does! That's what the ship really looks like throughout Episode Three!

On the whole, there's a lot of excitement associated with this episode, but the story itself still isn't the most fascinating thing in the world. I'm going to take the fair option and ration my excitement at actually seeing some of the story against how much the story itself is grabbing me, giving this episode:

Next Episode: The Exploding Planet

Next Episode: The Exploding Planet 

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

Day Eighty-Nine: Trap of Steel (Galaxy 4, Episode Two)

Dear diary,

This isn't likely to be a particularly popular comment, but I don't think that Galaxy 4 is one of the greatest losses among Doctor Who's missing episodes. That's not to say that I'm glad it's missing - I might be enjoying it even more were I able to see it properly - or that I wouldn't want to see more of it returned to the archives, but I'm glad that we've lost this one, as opposed to, say, The Time Meddler.

Yes, yes, I'm sure you can judge from that opening paragraph my feelings towards today's episode. It's that same sense of disappointment that I found myself experiencing during Season Two - It's not that there's anything wrong with the episode, it's all just too bland. The Doctor and Steven get caught in the TARDIS, where bombs are set off outside, but there never feels like any real threat.

Then the pair wander back to the Drahvin spaceship and discuss the poor quality of its design. Then they argue with Maaga a bit, before she takes one of the Doctor's companions hostages, and he goes for another walk. Ooh, exciting.

That's not to say that the episode doesn't have its merits. Steven still proves to be a real boon to the series, and his discussion with the Drahvin soldier, as he tries to convince her to go and get the better gun is fantastic. Steven knows the way that this works, and he's able and willing to play the situation to get the result he needs. It helps to give us a glimpse at his intelligence while painting a picture of the way the Drahvin society works.

I also have to give praise for the scene in which the Doctor and Vicki observe, note, collate, conclude… and then she throws a rock at a Chumblie. It's another example of the series injecting just the right amount of comedy, and I have to admit to laughing out loud when Vicki explained her method to the Doctor. It feels as though Vicki's character has been given a bit more of a rounding out over the last couple of stories again, which is nice to see.

But tomorrow is surely the bigger excitement. An episode of Doctor Who missing from the archives for several decades, and now back in its rightful home, fully restored and out on DVD just in time for me to reach it with this marathon. And just think, it's only a single dawn away!

Next Episode: Airlock

Next Episode: Airlock