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

Day 376: The Time Warrior, Episode Two

Dear diary,

I’m going to start today by saying ‘ooh, look, new titles sequence!’. Not because I have anything particularly interesting or profound to say about it, but simply because it debuted in yesterday’s episode, and the longer I go without mentioning it, the more it’ll look like I’ve simply not noticed. For many people, this is the dawning days of the Doctor Who title sequence, the blue vortex and the diamond logo. I’m going to have to be honest, though, and say that I don’t really care that much for it. Oh, there’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s never been my favourite (I prefer both of the 1960s versions, for example. Or the 2005 – 2010 one. I think I prefer the current one, too). Of course, it doesn’t reach its most iconic style until the start of the next series, with the inclusion of Tom Baker and a TARDIS, but you can clearly see the through-line from here to there – they just update it to reflect the new Doctor!

Anyway! To business! I was surprised today, watching the cliff hanger reprise, just how rubbish Sarah Jane comes across. She’s being dragged inside the castle, events totally out of her control, ready for the Doctor to swoop in an rescue her… I made a note about how disappointed I was by how much of typical ‘companion’ figure she was being portrayed as, when things suddenly turned right on their head.

Suddenly, she’s brought before Irongron – lord of this castle – and she’s on fire. She snaps, and shouts. She wanders around the room, devising various scenarios for where she might be before dismissing them for logical reasons. There’s a way of watching this scene which sees her cast almost in the role of the Doctor, and you can’t help but love her. She proves her worth completely in this scene, and I felt a bit silly for complaining how ineffectual she seemed in the opening moments. She even manages to work in some funny lines about the ‘realism’ of this castle taking things a bit too far and making it far too grotty!

And then, as if that wasn’t interesting and fun enough, they turn her entire relationship with the Doctor on its head. I mused yesterday that they were clearly made for each other right from the word ‘go’ – though I countered this by saying how easy it was to think that with 40 year’s worth of hindsight. Today, they’re on opposite sides, and she’s actually suspecting the Doctor of being the man behind the kidnapped scientists, and plotting an attack to capture him. It feels like exactly the reaction that you’d expect someone to have, and you can easily see how she’s pieced all of this together;

Scientists go missing – They turn out to be trapped in the Middle Ages – The Doctor is there when one goes missing – He also happens to have a time machine in the same room – Also, he’s a bit odd.

Looking back, it’s almost the same kind of situation in which we’re first introduced to the Brigadier. There’s something odd going on, and the Doctor just happens to turn up at the right moment. Someone who will become hugely important to the Doctor in the future is initially very suspecting of him. It’s a brilliant dynamic to see again, and I had no idea that it was even here. It’s uncovering little gems like this that make the whole marathon worthwhile. And who can fail to love Sarah’s description of the Doctor: ‘He’s no magician! He’s just an eccentric scientist!’

The Time Warrior is another one of those pivotal stories in Doctor Who history. Yesterday saw the introduction of these new titles, Sarah Jane Smith, and the Sontarans. Today we get our first mention of the Sontaran-Rutan war, and the very first mention of the Doctor’s home-world, Gallifrey.

In the same way that I’m always surprised that the Sontarans don’t make their first appearance until the Eleventh Season, I’m really surprised that we don’t get a name for the planet until now. Heck, we’ve even been there more than once! It’s exciting, in a way, because all these little bits of the Doctor Who tapestry that we take for granted are starting to fall into place now. When the Doctor says it, it even in the style of the speeches David Tennant gives in the role: ‘I’m from Gallifrey. I’m a Time Lord’. It marks yet another milestone in the programme’s evolving story.

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

Day 375: The Time Warrior, Episode One

Dear diary,

It always surprised me that the Sontarans were considered to be such a major Doctor Who monster, considering that they only appear in four stories from the ‘classic’ era. They don’t even turn up until Season Eleven – almost half way through the series’ original run. Even recently, they didn’t join the Big Finish stable until very late into the audio’s run. And yet, they’re always grouped up there with Who’s ‘Second String’ monsters (not as popular as the Daleks or the Cybermen, but fondly remembered all the same, like the Ice Warriors).

It has to be said, though, that we get off to a great start here with Lynx. Kevin Lindsay turns in a great performance that manages to be captivating even when he’s hidden away under a helmet for almost the full running time of today’s episode – and when we do get a look at his face in the closing seconds, it’s filled with character. They’ve clearly been taking lessons from the Draconians last season.

People often sing the praises of Lynx the Sontaran – he’s one of the few characters that breaks out from the generic ‘monster’ role – and I’m starting to understand why. If he keeps up such a strong performance for the rest of the serial, then we’re in for a treat. It’s a great introduction to him, too. The first six-and-a-half minutes focus on the adventures of Irongron and this ‘Star Warrior’ before we even catch sight of the Doctor and the present day. It’s not even a brief introduction to the setting and the time period – at least a few days pass (though the implication seems to be longer) during which the two characters are forced into an unlikely alliance. We’ve the beginnings of a great Holmes double act here, and of particular highlight is both characters chiming in to say that if they didn’t need the other… It’s great fun.

A less unlikely alliance here is the Doctor and Sarah Jane. Oh, sure, forty year’s hindsight and all that, but they’re already made for each other the very first time they meet. They spark off each other, and they’re both as intrigued by the other. There’s a hint in the dialogue that you could read either way – is the Doctor annoyed by Sarah Jane, or is he simply teasing her? It’s clear from the direction Pertwee has taken it that he’s having a lot of fun with Sarah around, and even his musing about how she wound up in the middle ages is played with the same kind of interest the Eleventh Doctor takes in Clara.

That said… Sarah finding her way back in time raises two points for me. For a start, why does he find it odd that she should be there, when he’s just followed the trail of a disappearing professor to the same location? Secondly… just where does Sarah hide in the TARDIS so that the Doctor can’t see her? I know it’s supposed to be near infinite in there, but the Pertwee TARDIS has always seemed to be little more than the console room (it’s even where he keeps an emergency pop out bed just a few stories back), and she finds her way back out again pretty quickly, so she doesn’t seem to have gotten herself into a Tegan situation where she’s wandering the corridors for hours!

I love that the two of them are stuck back in time together – it’s a great way for them to bond. I know that Invasion of the Dinosaurs begins with them returning to their rightful time, so I’m assuming that they’ll be spending the rest of this story running around castles and courtyards!

Thankfully, we’ve got the Brigadier keeping an eye on things in the present, in a lovely surprise appearance from Nick Courtney. I didn’t know he was in this story, so seeing him come round the corner with the Doctor raised an instant smile from me. It helps to ease that transition from Jo leaving, because the rest of the team is clearly still carrying on. I wondered – briefly – if we’d get mention of Jo’s travels (the Brig does refer back to the Doctor’s jaunt to Metebilis III, after all), but I’m rather hoping now that we don’t. Now she’s arrived, I’d love the focus to be squarely on Sarah Jane – there’s a new girl in the Doctor’s life!

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

Day 374: The Green Death, Episode Six

Dear diary,

There’s a commentary on the DVD for this episode which features Katy Manning and Russell T Davies discussing the departure of Jo Grant from the series. During this, Russell describes The Green Death as featuring ‘the first great, sad, departure’, and I think he’s right. He goes on to clarify that when you’re eight years old, and you’re watching the series through, and the Doctor’s companion leaves, it always feels sad - but that this is the first time the series really lives up to that feeling.

It’s hard to disagree with him. I’ve made plenty of notes for today’s episode, ranging from the giant fly attack, to the use of the fungus, to the realisation that - really - the BOSS storyline and the maggot storyline barely overlap, and while I’ve been interested in both separately, they don’t really gel that well together for me… but after those final few minutes, all I can think about is Jo leaving the Doctor. It hits you quite hard, and it’s not always the case when someone gives up their place in the TARDIS.

If we go back to the middle of October and Jo’s introduction (and doesn’t it feel like longer than that?), I said:

’Making less of a great first impression on me is Jo, I'm sorry to say… I found that the Doctor and Liz worked well together, and everything just clicked for me. Suddenly, I was dreading Season Eight, and the introduction of a companion who - as the Brigadier puts it in this episode - is simply there to pass the Doctor test tubes and tell him how wonderful he is.’

Well, suffice to say that all this time on, my opinion of Jo has been completely over-turned. I’ve grown to really love having her as a part of the series. A large part of that has been thanks to Katy Manning, who turns in such a beautiful performance in the part. In hindsight, I can even appreciate all the things in her first episode that I wasn’t all that keen on to begin with - they’ve become a part of the character, and as Katy herself points out in the commentary, we’ve watched Jo grow up and change over the course of three years.

After everything that she’s been through, I’m genuinely sad to see her go. I’ll even confess that there was a bit of welling up during those final moments where she and the Doctor say their goodbyes, and then he turns to leave while he thinks she’s not looking.

Part of the charm comes from the fact that it’s just as clearly Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning saying their goodbyes, too. You can hear their voices starting to go, and it’s not just good acting - it’s true emotions bleeding through to the surface. I love that he gives her the Metebilis crystal as a wedding present - a nice parting gift and the real pay-off to the ongoing joke.

That said, the marriage proposal comes somewhat out of nowhere, doesn’t it? Cliff tells the Doctor that they’ll be leaving for the Amazon just as soon as they’ve picked up supplies and gotten married! Even Jo seems somewhat shocked by the suggestion! I’m almost a bit put out by the abrupt nature of this - it’s the only bit of their relationship that I’ve not truly believed - but everything around it is so perfectly crafted that it would be churlish to grumble.

And then the Doctor is gone. Slipping off into the night, with a final shot of him driving away as the theme music sting quietly fades up and into the closing credits, another thing that we’ll be saying goodbye to in this episode (and - for some reason - being played upside down. Well, it’s nice to go out in style, isn’t it?)

It’s a good job that Sarah Jane is coming up next - one of the most popular companions of all time. Jo, and indeed Katy, is a hard act to follow, and anything less than perfect would be something of a let down. Her departure also signals another shift in the programme’s style, as we move into the final run for Jon Pertwee, and it’s all change once again…

And with huge apologies for the delay, we've now amended The Web of Fear Episode Five (Revisited) to contain the right text. All is explained in the entry!

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

Day 373: The Green Death, Episode Five

Dear diary,

Let me start by saying that - once again - I’ve really enjoyed this episode. There’s loads in here that’s really great, and I’ll come to all of that in a few minutes. Sadly, though, I’ve had to actively knock off a point for some dodgy CSO. I don’t think I’ve ever been moved to actively mark an episode down because the Colour Separation Overlay has actually offended me, but when I’m enjoying a story as much as this and the return to it keeps jolting me right out of things… It can’t be easily forgiven.

If you’ve seen The Green Death, I’m sure you’ll know what I mean. We’ve got plenty of nice filmed footage of UNIT out on location in Wales. Look! There’s Sergeant Benton chatting to Professor Jones out on location! And look! There’s Jo, scrambling her way off up the slag heap out on location! Over there, look! It’s a helicopter coming along to bomb the maggots (if there was one thing missing from Jo’s final story being a proper return to the UNIT of old, it was a helicopter) out on location. Notice the trend?

And here’s a shot of the Brigadier and Benton watching the helicopter’s approach, out on… oh. No. Sorry. That’s not ‘out on location’ at all. It’s Nick Courtney and John Levene stood with a couple of extras on a CSO background. Hm. Odd. Ok, not to worry, it’s not the worst CSO we’ve ever seen the series attempt, but I can let it slide for now. Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re thinking. It really isn’t the worst we’ve seen from the series, but equally it’s far from the very best (which is on display elsewhere in this story when it’s employed to help move the maggots around).

No, what really bothers me comes later in the episode, in which the Doctor drives up and has a bit of a chat with Benton. They’re back out on location by now, and it’s back to looking lovely. We cut away to another shot, and when we return, the Doctor and Benton are still having a conversation… only now they’ve moved to CSO, and it really doesn’t work. We then proceed to cut between shots of Bessie being driven around on location interspersed with shots done back in the studio some time later. The whole effect was so distracting that I really couldn’t pay much attention to what was going on.

I figured - in the usual way - that they’d simply run out of time to film everything they needed on location, so had to improvise when they got back to London. A quick check of the DVD Information Subtitles after the episode had finished confirmed that this wasn’t the case, and that they’d always intended to shoot it in this way. I can’t for the life of me figure out why, because it looks awful. Such a shame, when the location work in this tale has been so strong up until now.

Still, it’s not the end of the world, and there’s so much going on elsewhere in today’s episode that losing a point from the score due to bad CSO doesn’t harm it all that much.

John Dearth turns in a great performance as the voice of BOSS - he’s been brilliant all along, but today is the first opportunity we’ve had to hear lots from him, and it’s definitely a highlight of the episode. A shame that I’m less fond of the ‘sound wave’ effect when it’s being transplanted onto the big red disc than I was of it on the smaller TV screen in the earlier episodes, it seems somehow less creepy when it’s made into something this large, and taken away from the more ordinary device.

The maggots continue to look fantastic, and it really is no wonder that so many people recall them so fondly when thinking about Doctor Who monsters. The close-ups of them hissing really are quite scary - they look incredibly real. I’ve only ever encountered maggots properly the once. When I lived in Norwich, I had a cat (called ‘Wolsey’. I’d named him after Bernice Summerfield’s cat, but if anyone else asked, I’d say he was named for Henry the Eighth’s cardinal). For a while, I thought that the cat food was depleting rather quickly, but I couldn’t figure out how. I thought of the obvious - that he was somehow working his way into the stash and eating it when I wasn’t around, but I couldn’t see any evidence of this.

It was only a few weeks later, when I found that he’d - rather cleverly - admittedly - dragged the full pouches to the back of the kitchen, behind the fridge, before ripping into them and eating what he could, when I found a scene from this story waiting for me. It was the smell that I’d noticed first, and followed it to the point where I stuck my head round the back of the appliance. It really could have been a scene from this story. A pile of half-open cat food pouches, crawling with maggots. The worst bit was trying to get the place clean again. Not nice.

Perhaps my favourite thing about this episode, though, is that the blue crystal comes in as vital to saving the day. I’d been assuming that the Doctor’s trip to Metebilis III was simply there to illustrate that Jo was moving on from him (both in choosing not to go with him to the planet, and her lack of interest in the Doctor’s souvenir once he’d returned), and a pay-off to a running joke from Carnival of Monsters. Seeing that there’s actually a point to it makes the scene all the more richer, and it means that when the planet comes back to haunt the Doctor next season, it feels all the more important.

We also get the start of what I’d call out next loose ‘story-arc’, in Captain Yates being brainwashed. I’m not watching these stories in a vacuum - I know that Yates will be turning traitor in a few stories time - but here we’ve got the first hints of it. Sure, he;s acting under orders from the BOSS, but seeing him spring up, point a gun at the Doctor, and declare that he ‘has’ to die is quite striking all the same.

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

Day 372: The Green Death, Episode Four

Dear diary,

Now this feels like Jo’s proper send off! The Brig’s back in his UNIT attire, Benton’s arrived to help contain the situation, and there’s a group of soldiers running around an industrial location in film footage. It’s like being back in the early UNIT era, and I’m surprised just how excited I am by this. As if that weren’t enough, the Doctor gets himself backed into a corner, about to fight his way against a man from the government… when it turns out to be Yates working undercover! The Brigadier seems quite pleased with himself for having organised all of this, and quite right too – it comes as a brilliant reveal, and it’s another one of those moments when the series causes me to actually laugh out loud.

As if to really rub in the nostalgia-fest for UNIT, we get to see the Doctor fighting against the Bring (and the rest of UNIT, plus Global Chemicals) in an attempt to stop him from blowing up an underground hideout for this story’s ‘monster’. It really is just like old times. I love that blowing the mine up (in another impressive model shot; if there’s one thing this era does very well, it’s blowing places up!) has some very real consequences, in that it forces the maggots to the surface. Until now, the threat hasn’t seemed all the great because people had to actively go to the maggots (or, at the very least, to the slime) to get infected – now that threat is above ground, and seemingly unstoppable! I also need to draw attention to the Brigadier’s fab line today ‘I never thought I’d fire in anger at a dratted caterpillar…’, to me it should be much more famous than the much-quoted ‘five rounds rapid’.

Considering that I didn’t know they’d used any real maggots in the production of this story, they turn up en masse here today. And don’t they look really effective? Even the moment where one falls at some speed down the side of a muddy bank can’t stop the scene from being effective.

Of course I’m going to need to discuss the Doctor’s series of disguises today. His intention is clear from the second he sees the milk-truck, but I didn’t anticipate just how funny it would turn out to be. His turn as the milkman’s father recalls many of his radio performances, and then when he gets inside and switches into the guise of a (female) cleaner…!

As soon as I saw the cleaner earlier in the episode, I remembered that he’d be stealing the outfit at some point. I’ve never seen this story before, but it’s another one of those moments that you just know about simply by being a Doctor Who fan. It’s absolutely fantastic – hilarious! – and Yates’ reaction is priceless.

THE DOCTOR

You say one word…

YATES

(indicating the Doctor’s bucket) I like your handbag.

Though now, for any complaints I made the other day about knowing about this story taking away some of the effect… I don’t have a clue where we’re going from here. I’m becoming more and more convinced that the computer on the top floor could be WOTAN (don’t get me wrong, I’m not expecting them to actually say that it is, but in my head if there’s nothing to contradict it, then I’m taking it as fact), especially as it expects the Doctor to know him (it?). Aside from the fact that they will presumably get rid of the maggot problem and disable the computer, I really have no idea what’s still to come, and I really rather like that.

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

Day 372: The Green Death, Episode Four

Dear diary,

Now this feels like Jo’s proper send off! The Brig’s back in his UNIT attire, Benton’s arrived to help contain the situation, and there’s a group of soldiers running around an industrial location in film footage. It’s like being back in the early UNIT era, and I’m surprised just how excited I am by this. As if that weren’t enough, the Doctor gets himself backed into a corner, about to fight his way against a man from the government… when it turns out to be Yates working undercover! The Brigadier seems quite pleased with himself for having organised all of this, and quite right too – it comes as a brilliant reveal, and it’s another one of those moments when the series causes me to actually laugh out loud.

As if to really rub in the nostalgia-fest for UNIT, we get to see the Doctor fighting against the Bring (and the rest of UNIT, plus Global Chemicals) in an attempt to stop him from blowing up an underground hideout for this story’s ‘monster’. It really is just like old times. I love that blowing the mine up (in another impressive model shot; if there’s one thing this era does very well, it’s blowing places up!) has some very real consequences, in that it forces the maggots to the surface. Until now, the threat hasn’t seemed all the great because people had to actively go to the maggots (or, at the very least, to the slime) to get infected – now that threat is above ground, and seemingly unstoppable! I also need to draw attention to the Brigadier’s fab line today ‘I never thought I’d fire in anger at a dratted caterpillar…’, to me it should be much more famous than the much-quoted ‘five rounds rapid’.

Considering that I didn’t know they’d used any real maggots in the production of this story, they turn up en masse here today. And don’t they look really effective? Even the moment where one falls at some speed down the side of a muddy bank can’t stop the scene from being effective.

Of course I’m going to need to discuss the Doctor’s series of disguises today. His intention is clear from the second he sees the milk-truck, but I didn’t anticipate just how funny it would turn out to be. His turn as the milkman’s father recalls many of his radio performances, and then when he gets inside and switches into the guise of a (female) cleaner…!

As soon as I saw the cleaner earlier in the episode, I remembered that he’d be stealing the outfit at some point. I’ve never seen this story before, but it’s another one of those moments that you just know about simply by being a Doctor Who fan. It’s absolutely fantastic – hilarious! – and Yates’ reaction is priceless.

THE DOCTOR

You say one word…

YATES

(indicating the Doctor’s bucket) I like your handbag.

Though now, for any complaints I made the other day about knowing about this story taking away some of the effect… I don’t have a clue where we’re going from here. I’m becoming more and more convinced that the computer on the top floor could be WOTAN (don’t get me wrong, I’m not expecting them to actually say that it is, but in my head if there’s nothing to contradict it, then I’m taking it as fact), especially as it expects the Doctor to know him (it?). Aside from the fact that they will presumably get rid of the maggot problem and disable the computer, I really have no idea what’s still to come, and I really rather like that.

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

Day 371: The Green Death, Episode Three

Dear diary,

I used to work in a shop in Norwich, where Doctor Who products formed a large portion of the stock. The five of us who worked there at the time were all big fans of the series, so we were always excited to have signings in store with members of the cast. Over the years we had numerous guests (a personal highlight was answering the phone to John Leeson and acting as his remote sat-nav as I guided him to the store - any time he followed a direction, he would reply ‘affirmative’ to me), and exactly five years ago this month, Katy Manning was in store, doing a signing with Richard Franklin.

The shop was busy (it always was on signing days), but about lunch time a man strode through the crowd and right up to the desk. I greeted him and he responded quite simply: ‘I’m here to see my wife.’

I didn’t get much time to process the slightly odd statement before Katy jumped to her feet and exclaimed loudly across the crowd of people there to see her ‘Stuart!’ You’ve probably all pieced this story together by this point - yes, the man in question was Professor Jones himself Stewart Bevan - but as I’d not seen The Green Death before, and some 40 years had passed since recording, I couldn’t have told you that I was watching the reunion of Jo Grant and her one-time husband.

He didn’t stay long - only passing through when he happened to spot Katy’s name on a poster up in the window - but it was lovely to see the pair of them together, and the fans there for a signing enjoyed chatting to the two for a few minutes.

Even though I’ve never seen the story before, I’ve always known how Jo departed the series. Just like Susan being left behind on a Dalek-torn future Earth, or Sarah Jane being left behind when the Doctor was called home, it’s one of those departures that’s famous, and it seems to be justly so. I’ve already mentioned that the ‘falling in love’ of the pair may be a bit flat after the bubbling feelings between Jo and Latep in the last story, but it’s striking just how real this relationship feels.

If I was impressed by the way the pair met in Episode One with almost an identical sequence to her first scene in the programme three years earlier, then today pushes that to a whole new level. At first, I thought cutting from a scene in which a character commits suicide to one in which the Doctor, Jo, the Brigadier, and the Professor laugh and drink and smoke was ill judged and somewhat upset the pace of the story… but then you realise that it’s actually vital to the plot, and it gives a chance to stop and take stock of the situation. It’s all laughing and joking until the Doctor returns from a phone call to tell us that another character - and a particularly likeable one at that - has died, at which point the scene and the tone of the episode shift again.

Suddenly, that scene has become a chance to see Jo and Cliff happy together, before seeing the way in which he comforts her. A close up of their hands as he takes hers and gives it a little comforting squeeze says more about their evolving feelings than any line of dialogue does, and I spent much of the next scene in which he consoles her longing for them to actually kiss… before it’s interrupted by the Doctor. It puts me in mind once more of Susan’s departure where I was sure we’d not see a kiss or any true emotions until the end, but then they start creeping in early just to surprise you.

It’s terribly exciting, if I’m honest, I’m only now half-way through the story, and yet already we’ve seen the seeds sown for Jo’s departure at the end. The idea of travelling up the Amazon has already started to take hold, and the beautiful moment where to Doctor tries to excite her about Metebilis III by showing her the crystal he’s managed to obtain - only for her to brush him off and return to a book about the adventure she could be having is magical. The Doctor knows that she’s leaving soon, and I can’t wait to watch how he reacts over the next few episodes as the end draws ever closer.

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

Day 370: The Green Death    The One with the Maggots, Episode Two

Dear diary,

‘The One with the Maggots’ is often brought up when I speak to people about Doctor Who. You know the type of situation - as Who fans, we’ve all been there. You’re introduced to someone new and whoever is making the introduction makes a point of saying ‘Will’s something of an expert about Doctor Who. The conversation from here goes in one of three ways;

1) They instantly make a point of telling you that they don’t like Doctor Who, and change the subject (or, in one case, when I was being introduced to a member of the crew, the person introducing me told them I was ‘something of an expert’ before adding that they didn’t like the show, and thought it was rubbish).

2) They mention how they really liked David Tennant, but don’t really care much for ‘the new chap’. Smith seems to have remained ‘the new chap’ to people I’ve met over the last three years who aren’t what you’d call fans.

3) They tell me how they remember watching Doctor Who when they were younger. You know, the original Doctor Who with Peter Troughton and the Daleks made of tin foil. If the conversation takes this direction, ‘The One with the Maggots’ seems to crop up more often than not.

Which is odd, in some ways, because this particular story achieved the lowest average ratings for the entire Tenth Series (no fault of the story, really. The last story in three of the five Pertwee seasons was always the weakest, ratings-wise). This was one of the stories to get an omnibus repeat later in the year, though, during which it scored almost 3 million more in the ratings, so perhaps that’s where the fond memories come from?

Because there’s no doubting that you would remember this story if you’d seen it as an impressionable eight-year-old. The first shot, with the live maggots crawling around is genuinely quite a shock (partly because I didn’t realise they’d used live maggots at all in the story), and even some dodgy CSO cutting around Pertwee doesn’t let it down. Then in the closing moments when the models of the giant creatures start to show up… well they’re bloody well done, aren’t they?

And yet, the story having this big selling point often used to describe it - it’s got giant maggots in! - robs it of some tension. Had I not known they were going to be in there as the monster, and had The Green Death been one of my ‘blackspots’ from this era of the programme, I’d have been trying really pretty hard to work out what’s going on here. For the first time since perhaps as far back as Fury From the Deep, there’s lots of things that make me think a previous foe could be making a reappearance.

The look of the tunnels couples with the overalls and hardhats recall similar scenes in Doctor Who and the Silurians. The idea of pollution being so central makes me think of the Autons. There’s a mysterious green slime, similar to (well… identical to) that from Inferno. We’ve got a mysterious computer controlling things from behind the scenes and brainwashing innocent people into working for it, just like in The War Machines. I’d love to come to this story after all the previous ones, but with no knowledge of what’s coming up in these six episodes - I’d love to see the reaction.

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

Day 369: The Green Death, Episode One

Dear diary,

Something odd happened when I settled down to watch yesterday's episode. I'd spent the day bubbling with anticipation, and was excited to finally sit down and start Jo Grant's final story… until I remembered that I'd not yet finished Planet of the Daleks, and would have to wait until today to reach this one. I've spoken a lot recently of my growing sense of nostalgia towards the series, and I've suddenly found myself somewhat nostalgic for the early Pertwee years! It's funny - by the time the Doctor started to venture out into space more and leave UNIT behind, I was ready to get him away from Earth. Now I couldn't wait to get back there - I was with Jo, there was only one planet that I wanted to see.

This is one of the longest stretches without a UNIT story since Pertwee took over the part of the Doctor (and - although the future Brig turns up in one of them - adding almost a fortnight's worth of recovered 1960s episodes into the mix last month means it's even longer since I last saw the team), and I was really ready to get back to them. I was somewhat disappointed that we didn't get to see Jo and the Doctor returning home, though. After all the nice setting up during the last story that she was beginning to get a bit homesick, I was hoping that we'd see them arrive and follow that line of thought a little further.

Instead, we pick up some time later (and it really is left vague. It could be days, weeks, or even months since the events on Spiridon), and Jo has taken on a sudden passion for preserving the planet. In some ways, it feels perfectly natural that Jo should have such an interest in stopping pollution and saving the planet, but that she should feel this strongly about it all of a sudden… it feels a bit like it's come out of nowhere. We even reach a point where she tells the Brig that she'll resign from UNIT if that's the only way she can head to South Wales and support Professor Jones - where did she strike up such a fire from?

Still, it gives a great excuse for comedy when the Brig informs her that he's trying to send her to exactly that location, and that he'll give her a lift down if she cares that strongly about it! It's nice to see the two of them paired off like this, and it highlights just how far the Brig has come since his early days in UNIT - can you imagine the Season Seven Brigadier tolerating Jo's 'a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do… sir!'?

Once we've arrived at the Nut-hutch, the set up for Jo's departure is in full swing. I'd worried that after a romantic interest in the last story, any that would come in here may feel a bit too forced, or as though it's treading over old ground (though it is, at least, a reason to assume a large gap between the two stories), but it actually feels completely natural. Early on, Jo admits that the Professor reminds her of a younger Doctor, and then their first meeting (in which she bumbles around, destroying an experiment by leaving the door open and then clattering into things) is wonderfully reminiscent of her first meeting with the Doctor right back at the start of Season Eight. It's too neat to simply be a coincidence, so it's another little benefit for those of us watching through the programme in order.

We've also got the seeds of the Doctor's departure a year from now being seeded in, too. I'd completely forgotten that he takes a trip to Metebilis III in this story (When it was first mentioned in Carnival of Monsters, I was surprised because I thought this was the first we heard of the planet… and then promptly forgot all about this little excursion!), but it's great fun to see. In many ways it's simply obvious filler material, so bringing it back as the cause of the Doctor's 'death' suddenly gives it a weight that it wouldn't have had at the time. I've never seen Planet of the Spiders, but from what few clips I have seen, I don't think it looks anything like this planet, but I look forward to comparing the two when the time comes.

The only real disappointment… no Benton or Yates? Do they turn up later on in the story? it's lovely to have the Brig back, and it's great to be down on Earth again in the 'traditional' Pertwee format (and don't those opening scenes at the mine just feel so much like a Pertwee story?), but I was rather hoping for a proper UNIT reunion for Jo's big send off…

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

Day 368: Planet of the Daleks, Episode Six

Dear diary,

Crikey, this episode has been something of a roller coaster for the Daleks. For a start, they look brilliant. Certainly better than I can remember them looking for a very long time. There's some shots early on where they chase the Doctor and his Thal friends through the corridors of the city and they move so smoothly. They swing round corners and glide down the corridors - they look genuinely quite menacing during these moments!

But then we get to see repeated shots of them trying to break their way through the barricade by bumping in to it. Over and over again. They're not even backing up enough to take a good run (glide?) up to it, they're just moving back and forth a few inches as they nudge the barrier forward a bit, in the hope that they'll break through at some stage. Why don't they shoot their way through? Surely their fund can do some damage to the assorted junk in their path?

Oh, but the shots of the Dalek army in the cavern being flooded by the onslaught of molten ice! It looks fab as the waves crash through and knock the little Dalek models all over the place. Oh, sure, the dimensions of the models aren't quite right, and the way they're positioned means that the army doesn't look as impressive as it could, but who can fail to love the shot of the Dalek domes poking out from the setting ice? It looks great, and when we get nice long shots of them starting to come to life just a few minutes earlier, that looks pretty good, too!

Except they had to go and ruin it. The models are passable in a nice long shot, but then we get a close up of them as they work their way down a miniature corridor, and the wall is blasted out by the ice. This shot gives us a good clear look at all the wrong dimensions of the models and completely ruins the effect for me. It doesn't help that it moves mere moments after we've seen some full-size Dalek props reduced to smouldering husks, so the fact that a big chunk of wall smacking into one leaves it completely un-marked really irritates me.

There's a couple of instances where Daleks are shot by their own kind in this episode, and on both occasions we get to see smoke billowing from under the victim's dome. It looks great (I can' help myself, I love a good smoke effect), and I was glad when it happened for the second time that we could get a better close up for it.

Yet when the Dalek Supreme arrives on the planet all black and gold and taking control, the dome wobbles about horribly if it tries to turn around. Or move forward. Or speak. Basically, the dome on that particular prop looks a bit rubbish any time it's on screen, really.

So yes. Plenty of ups and downs for the pepper pots today, but that's ok, because I'm more interested today in our two regulars. I'm really finding myself softening to Pertwee as we move further and further through his era, and his speech at the end of todays episode where he asks the Thals to make sure they don't glorify war when they return to Sakro is perhaps my favourite moment yet. It's beautifully played in every line, and credit where credit is due, it's one of the best things that Terry Nation has ever written for the series.

And then there's Jo. Dear, dear, Jo. I said yesterday that they seemed to be setting her up for a departure with Latep in today's episode (and speculated that he would die. Well, a 50% success rate isn't that bad…), and we get what can only be described as a 'classic' companion departure scene, in which she's asked to stay behind (or, in this case, head to Skaro) with one of the story's guest cast.

But there's still another six weeks on Katy Manning's contract, so we get to watch a rather moving scene in which she politely says that she won't be leaving with this other character, but will instead be heading back to the TARDIS with the Doctor. Things aren't all about whizzing off into time and space some more, though. She tells Latep that she's got a world and a life of her own, and then tells the Doctor that Earth is the only planet she has any interest in visiting right now. Jo's getting home-sick, and she doesn't have all that long to wait before she's back there…

 a

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

Day 367: Planet of the Daleks, Episode Five

Dear diary,

Something that’s been troubling me a little throughout this story (‘Troubling’ is probably too strong, but you know what I mean) is how the jungle set can look so good… but not quite be perfect. It’s highlighted in today’s episode when the Doctor lures a pair of Daleks down into the molten ice. The whole scene (shot on location) is filled with smoke. It adds a real atmosphere to the image, and makes the location look that bit more alien. Smoke effects is what I’ve felt the jungle is lacking for some time now – when the Daleks fire on the ship in Episode Two, the smoke lingers for a minute and makes the set look that bit more real.

It’s not really a complaint, though, because on the whole I’m rather liking the design on display in this story. The jungle – lack of atmosphere aside – is nicely done, and while you never forget that it’s a set, you do get a real impression of size. I’m sure they’re just using a few small areas of the studio shot creatively from a number of different angles (maybe they move the odd plant from time to time), but I’m not spotting a lot of re-use. It really feels like they’re in a large jungle.

The downside to this is that when we arrive at Plain of Stones, it feels like the jungle ends and is replaced by a vast expanse of… well… nothing. We suddenly hit a barren rocky wilderness. It still looks quite nice, especially when we head out onto location (which – by rights – it shouldn’t. We’re in a quarry. It’s wet. It’s muddy. I wince every time we see a shot of Jon Pertwee’s shoes caked in mud and have flashbacks to the days of Cross Country at school in Decembers gone by…), but I’m not sure that I understand the geography of this planet. A tropical jungle… surrounding an ice volcano. Which could erupt at any time, but doesn’t seem to impact on the jungle. Not that it matters, because eventually, the jungle just stops, and then there’s nothing but mud for miles and miles around (seriously, I used to hate Cross Country. At one point, you had to make your way through a pig farm. By the time you’d hobbled back up the lane to the school for double French, you absolutely stunk…)

The design in the rest of the story looks pretty good, too. I’ve never been all that fond of the Doctor’s purple get-up for this tale. It’s always seemed that bit too garish for me, and I’ve never been able to understand quite why people were always clamouring for a Third Doctor action figure in this outfit. Seeing it in action, though, it looks really good, and I’ve fallen for it completely. It even matched the Spiridon’s furry purple coats! Speaking of which, it’s a lovely touch when Wester dies, that he loses his invisibility. It adds something extra to the culture, and it’s good to actually see this mysterious figure in an episode where he’s been back and forth in my mind – unable to decide whether he’s working for the Daleks, or against the Daleks, or a bit of both.

I’m also starting to think that if I didn’t know Jo was leaving us in the next story, I might be expecting her to nip off at the end of this one. She’s been growing closer and closer to Latep for a while now, and the moment she declares that she’s going with him today because he can’t go alone really feels like they’re setting them up to depart together. I can only assume he’ll be dead by the end of tomorrow’s episode.

 Day 366: Planet of the Daleks, Episode Four

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

Day 366: Planet of the Daleks, Episode Four

Dear diary,

I think the problem I’m having with this story is that because of the way Terry Nation writes (he’s very much writing this as an ‘adventure serial’), we’ve got episodes injected with false action and excitement. Today, for example, the Daleks get hold of the Thal’s map and discover where they’ve hidden a stash of explosives. Being sensible little pepperpots, they decide to venture into the jungle and dispose of the explosives. ‘It’s fine,’ says Dalek One (well, words to that effect, anyway), ‘we can just prime the detonators and leave them to explode here…’

Leaving aside the sheer irresponsibility of this move (have they checked with the Daleks still inside the city to make sure they’re not going to accidentally blow up a tunnel of molten ice?), the Daleks then trundle back off into the foliage to get a safe distance from the explosives. Enter Jo Grant - Dr Who’s plucky young assistant - who turns off the detonator on two of the three bombs… before she’s hit on the head by a falling rock and left unconscious as the timer counts down to an explosion!

We then cut away to catch up with the Doctor and his escape attempt up the ventilation shaft, before returning to find Jo waking up… just in time to move the timer and let it blow up some Daleks instead of her. It could be quite a good moment, but the whole thing just smacked of false terror - there’s no way that they’re going to blow Jo up, and at least if it came as a cliffhanger then we’d be able to suspend our belief a bit more. As it is, the whole thing comes across as pointless filler.

Still, it’s a minor complaint really, as I'm rather enjoying the story. Yes it's a bit of a naff runaround. Yet it's filled with as many clichéd Terry Nation ideas as it's possible to squeeze into one story. Yes it's seemingly forgotten any links to Frontier in Space (Even this far into the story, I was hoping for some kind of resolution - or at least a mention! - of the Daleks plans involving Earth and Draconia), but it's all a lot of fun.

And if worst comes to worst, at least the Daleks are preparing to unleash a deadly bacteria across the planet!

 a

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

Day 365: Planet of the Daleks, Episode Three

Dear diary,

Is it just me, or is the Daleks’ way of storing their frozen army horribly inefficient? Somewhere on this planet, they need to tuck away 10,000 Daleks, but there’s so much space between all of them! Surely there must be a more practical way of storing Daleks than this? Obviously they didn’t bother to check in with Davros (or anyone who’s had to package up a multitude of Dalek action figures when moving house).

More and more, this feels like typical Terry Nation stuff, and I’m still really enjoying it. I don’t think there’s anything in this episode that would feel out of place in one of the Hartnell Dalek stories. The crawl through the tunnels is reminiscent of The Daleks, as is a sequence in which the creatures disable the lift with the Doctor and his companions inside. There’s even a sequence of a Dalek cutting through a door while the Doctor searches desperately for an escape which is similar to that very first story, too. Add in a sequence where the Doctor and his (temporary) companion ambush a Dalek when it comes into their cell… actually, this is just a ‘best of’ package from The Daleks, isn’t it?

And yet, despite seeing it all before, I can’t help but really enjoy it. I knew where the story was going at every turn (I’ve been watching today on the train, so I’ve refrained from narrating it out-loud as I usually would were I watching alone), but that added to the fun of it all. There’s something really pleasant about having a story that’s so rooted in the older episodes. It feels somewhat like greeting old friends. I’m just surprised that the Thals - who’ve had that first Dalek serial handed down through the generations as legend - aren’t recognising the similarities!

The only downside is the Daleks themselves. I’ve always felt that they just don’t look right in colour during the classic series. In the 1960s, they’re sleek, and shiny. We can tell that they’re supposed to be made of metal, and the quality of the video hides a few of the imperfections. By the time you reach the colour era of the programme, it’s all too obvious to see the paint lines on the casings, and the places where they’ve been knocked around a bit being loaded on and off BBC props lorries.

It’s a pity, because the way they’re being directed in this story is very good. There’s been some fantastic shots - two Daleks flanking the Doctor as they escort him to the prison in yesterday’s episode. Standing guard at the city gates today, and later heading out into the jungle to dispose of the Thals explosives - and they’re only let down by the quality of the props. I know they couldn’t really stretch the budget to new props in every appearance (though I think I’m right in saying that this story was the first to have new Daleks constructed purely for TV use - as opposed to repurposing ones from the Peter Cushing films - since the very first one. Another connection to The Daleks!), but surely they could have performed a bit of routine Dalek maintenance?

 a

“Hello! Happy New Year. 2013 - surely this is the year to be a Doctor Who fan? Anyway, resolutions made (same as ever, I promise to visit the gym more. I'll go later. Or maybe tomorrow.), and it's time to settle down to watch the first episode of my marathon.”

Well would you look at that? December 31st, 2013. Have we all been the subject of a bit of TARDIS travel, or has this year disappeared especially quickly? 

And what a year it’s been! For a start, it was Doctor Who’s big old 50th Anniversary. At one point, that was the Holy Grail. The end-point for my marathon. 50 years of the world’s best science fiction programme watched at the pace of one episode a day, in order, from the very beginning. But then Matt Smith announced his departure from the series, and it meant I’d be stopping one episode short of the end of an era. More than that - I’d be stopping one episode short of the final adventure in the Doctor’s original regeneration cycle! 

So, it’s worth telling you (because I’m not sure that I have before), The 50 Year Diary will be running up to The Time of the Doctor. But oh! That’s a long way off from now! There’s a whole 2014 to get through before I reach Trenzalore, and there’s so much left for me to experience. 

I’m not gonna lie - I didn’t honestly think that I’d reach this point. I’m fickle, you see. Proper fickle. Yeah, sure, it sounded like a great idea to watch through all these stories in order and write about them for Doctor Who Online, but I’d be bored before the William Hartnell years had finished. For a start, he was on pretty much year round. And a chunk of them don’t even exist any more! Truth be told, I really did think that I’d bottle out of the experiment sometime around Marco Polo. On the good days, I thought I might make it as far as The Aztecs.

But look at us now! Right in the middle of Planet of the Daleks, and having sat through every episode that preceded them - sometimes twice (How wonderful that The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear should crop up, but just too late for me to watch them the first time around...)! And you know what? I’d not have missed this journey for the world. 

I’ve always known that I love Doctor Who, but I didn’t realise just how much I loved it. Even in the dark days of The Dominators, I can’t help but enjoy this programme, and I’ve grown to really love writing my thoughts about each episode here in the Diary. It’s all because of you lot! Those of you reading now. Everyone has been incredibly kind about my blog taking over the DWO news page (apart from the one person who reacted badly to my dislike towards The Evil of the Daleks, who sent in a message to suggest they hire someone who actually knew what they were talking about), and I can’t believe the goodwill and support that you’ve all offered. 

Thank you very much. I can’t wait to share 2014, and the adventures of the next few Doctors with you. 

In celebration of the New Year, we’re offering 15% off the price of The 50 Year Diary - Volume One from Pageturner Publishing. Just enter the promo code DWO2014 in your cart to activate the discount, it’s valid until the end of January. The Kindle version of the book is also still available, directly from Amazon (UK / USA).

- - - -

You may have noticed that the Diary has been a little quiet over Christmas week. I’ve been taking a break from posting while I’ve been away visiting friends and family (also stuffing myself with turkey and tuning into the obligatory Christmas Special!), but I’ve stayed true to my mission - I’ve still been watching an episode every day to keep up. 

These entries have now all been added to Doctor Who Online under their relevant days, and you can catch up with them using the links below. 

Happy New Year!

Carnival of Monsters

One | Two | Three | Four

Frontier in Space

One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six

Planet of the Daleks

One | Two

a

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

Day 364: Planet of the Daleks, Episode Two

Dear diary,

If ever you needed an example of how watching through the series in order from the beginning impacts your reaction to it, today was the day to see it. It came as we watched a Dalek glide through a door and into a room where six other Daleks are stood waiting. It’s a simple scene. It’s stagey. The direction isn’t anything particularly out of the ordinary or special, but I immediately spat out my (metaphorical) drink as I found myself loudly exclaiming ‘Bloody hell! Look at all those Daleks!’

I know, I know, you’re doing the maths now. Six waiting Daleks plus one gliding around. That equals seven. It’s not really a huge number of the pepperpots, but coming after The Day of the Daleks, in which we had an Earth invasion force of three, and several 1960s stories where I grew used to the cardboard cutouts filling in the background of the shots, this is a veritable infestation of the creatures.

And as if that weren’t enough to excite me as a Doctor Who fan (and one who’s growing love for the Daleks has only come about as a result of watching them through in order - go back and track the evolution of my love if you fancy), we end the episode with a great cliffhanger: ‘Somewhere on this planet, there are 10,000 Daleks!’

Crikey, that’s an exciting thought. I don’t even have the faintest clue how they’re going to show us 10,000 Daleks (have they bought a job lot of the toys?), but just the prospect of it really makes be desperate to continue on with the story. Assuming that it’s pulled off well (and, being used to Doctor Who, the jury is still out), then it could be another big tick on the list of things that you want to see in a big Dalek story. More and more I wish we could have forgotten all about Day and moved right onto this one.

I’ve been very full of praise lately for Katy Manning. Rightly so - she’s being given plenty to sink her teeth into before bowing out of the series in the next story, and the production team seem to be getting their money’s worth by giving her long periods of episodes to herself lately. All this love for Jo, though, means that poor Pertwee is being a little overlooked.

But not today! He’s on fine form here, and it’s the first time in a while that we’ve had one of those iconic lines of dialogue (as ever, I’m using ‘iconic’ to mean a line that I know of having never seen the story, but often hear repeated);

THE DOCTOR
Courage isn’t just a matter of not being frightened, you know. It’s being afraid and doing what you have to anyway.

It’s a lovely moment, and it’s another chance to see this Doctor’s softer side. It’s also a rare opportunity to see him in a more vulnerable position, believing that Jo has been killed by Dalek scouts. The whole thing is beautifully played, especially the moment when the Doctor seems to really let it sink in that she’s ‘dead’. Listening to Jo’s tape recorded notes from Episode One, the camera lingers on Pertwee’s face. He tries to explain it to a Thal in the cell with him, firmly telling us that the Daleks ‘murdered’ her. It’s quite brutal to hear it phrased like this - for all the killing that the Daleks have done since 1963, I’ve never before thought of it as being ‘murder’.

As if that wasn’t a strong enough moment, we get a few seconds of silence before Katy Manning’s voice continues to play out from the tape recorder, and it’s actually heartbreaking. It’s almost a shame that actors don’t take weeks off from the series at this point, because it loses some of its impact cutting so quickly back to her. One things clear, though, we’re being set up for the prospect that Jo won’t be around forever…

a

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

Day 364: Planet of the Daleks, Episode Two

Dear diary,

If ever you needed an example of how watching through the series in order from the beginning impacts your reaction to it, today was the day to see it. It came as we watched a Dalek glide through a door and into a room where six other Daleks are stood waiting. It’s a simple scene. It’s stagey. The direction isn’t anything particularly out of the ordinary or special, but I immediately spat out my (metaphorical) drink as I found myself loudly exclaiming ‘Bloody hell! Look at all those Daleks!’

I know, I know, you’re doing the maths now. Six waiting Daleks plus one gliding around. That equals seven. It’s not really a huge number of the pepperpots, but coming after The Day of the Daleks, in which we had an Earth invasion force of three, and several 1960s stories where I grew used to the cardboard cutouts filling in the background of the shots, this is a veritable infestation of the creatures.

And as if that weren’t enough to excite me as a Doctor Who fan (and one who’s growing love for the Daleks has only come about as a result of watching them through in order - go back and track the evolution of my love if you fancy), we end the episode with a great cliffhanger: ‘Somewhere on this planet, there are 10,000 Daleks!’

Crikey, that’s an exciting thought. I don’t even have the faintest clue how they’re going to show us 10,000 Daleks (have they bought a job lot of the toys?), but just the prospect of it really makes be desperate to continue on with the story. Assuming that it’s pulled off well (and, being used to Doctor Who, the jury is still out), then it could be another big tick on the list of things that you want to see in a big Dalek story. More and more I wish we could have forgotten all about Day and moved right onto this one.

I’ve been very full of praise lately for Katy Manning. Rightly so - she’s being given plenty to sink her teeth into before bowing out of the series in the next story, and the production team seem to be getting their money’s worth by giving her long periods of episodes to herself lately. All this love for Jo, though, means that poor Pertwee is being a little overlooked.

But not today! He’s on fine form here, and it’s the first time in a while that we’ve had one of those iconic lines of dialogue (as ever, I’m using ‘iconic’ to mean a line that I know of having never seen the story, but often hear repeated);

THE DOCTOR
Courage isn’t just a matter of not being frightened, you know. It’s being afraid and doing what you have to anyway.

It’s a lovely moment, and it’s another chance to see this Doctor’s softer side. It’s also a rare opportunity to see him in a more vulnerable position, believing that Jo has been killed by Dalek scouts. The whole thing is beautifully played, especially the moment when the Doctor seems to really let it sink in that she’s ‘dead’. Listening to Jo’s tape recorded notes from Episode One, the camera lingers on Pertwee’s face. He tries to explain it to a Thal in the cell with him, firmly telling us that the Daleks ‘murdered’ her. It’s quite brutal to hear it phrased like this - for all the killing that the Daleks have done since 1963, I’ve never before thought of it as being ‘murder’.

As if that wasn’t a strong enough moment, we get a few seconds of silence before Katy Manning’s voice continues to play out from the tape recorder, and it’s actually heartbreaking. It’s almost a shame that actors don’t take weeks off from the series at this point, because it loses some of its impact cutting so quickly back to her. One things clear, though, we’re being set up for the prospect that Jo won’t be around forever…

a

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

Day 363: Planet of the Daleks, Episode One

Dear diary,

I thought that Frontier in Space was something of a nostalgic story, which pandered to my recent nostalgia for the 1960s era of Doctor Who. Frankly, it had nothing on this.

For a start, it's the return of Terry Nation to the series for the first time since Christmas 1965. It's funny to think that the last time we saw his work was for The Daleks' Master Plan, because in many ways the series is a completely different beast now, almost eight years on. Not that Terry is aware that things have changed much, though, because he brings with him a whole host of stock 'Terry Nation Story Ideas' which feel like they've been given the briefest of dust downs since he hung them up all that time ago.

For a start, we're back in a jungle! It feels like an age since we had a proper jungle, whereas when Terry was last around, it's the only environment the TARDIS seemed to land in. And - of course - Jo remarks that (all together) 'The things growing in this jungle seem more like animal than plant life…' (hooray!). Just in case we missed that point, it gets reiterated by a Thal a little bit later on in the episode.

And there's a point - it's the Thals! Back for the first time since The Daleks, which seems like an absolute age back (it was - for me it's been a whole year!), and just to refresh out memories it even gets a mention, along with Ian, Barbara, and Susan. And still, the Thals don't show up until 12 minutes into the episode. Until then, it's just the Doctor and Jo carrying the action, and the Doctor is in a coma for lots of that time!

We don't get a character called 'Tarrant', but we do have a 'Taron', so we're halfway there, at least!

With all of this crammed into these 23-and-a-half minutes, this episode could end up feeling like a bit of a dull re-hash of so many old ideas. but you know what? I've loved it. Every minute of it! The Three Doctors at the start of this season kicked me off thinking about how much I missed the early years of the show, and a trip back to the 1960s for the recently recovered The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear just cemented that feeling of nostalgia, but it really feels like the programme itself is starting to reach a point where it can start to delve into its rich past and use ideas to tell new stories.

And I'm wondering how 'traditional' this episode would have felt at the time? For me it's easy to pick up all the trappings of a Terry Nation story because I've seen all his previous efforts within the last twelve months, but as I've said above, when Planet of the Daleks first aired, he'd been away from the series for seven-and-a-bit years. To put that in context, there's about as long between The Feast of Steven and this episode as there is between The Runaway Bride's first airing and now. Doesn't that just feel like a lifetime? In those seven-and-a-bit years, the programme has seen in two new Doctors, plenty of new companions and enemies, tonnes of new episodes… I wonder if at the time, this would have felt as nostalgic as it does to me now? Any memories of this one first time round?

In some ways, it feels like this would have been the right episode to reintroduce the Daleks with after their long absence, instead of Day. Sure it means that we wouldn't have gotten that brilliant reveal in yesterday's episode when the Master introduced us to his allies, but we'd get them back in a very 'retro' tale, and it seems somehow fitting. It even properly does the 'reveal the Daleks at the end of Episode One, even though their name is in the titles' thing that they didn't quite manage last season!

a

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

Day 362: Frontier in Space, Episode Six

Dear diary,

I think I'm right in saying that this was the only time in the history of 'classic' Doctor Who that the appearance of the Daleks was intended to be a surprise. Of course, everyone knew that they'd be back in the next story (It's not exactly hard to figure out, they're in the title, again), but that's all part of the clever deception - while everyone is busy getting excited for next week and the return of the Doctor's most famous foes, no one is expecting them to arrive today!

And what an entrance they make! The Master appears atop a cliff, looking down on his enemy (and isn't it very much a great thing to see in his final story? An image like this was first teased way back during the Doctor's nightmare hallucinations in The Mind of Evil. I know it wasn't intentional, but still, a great coincidence), before declaring that while he may be unarmed, he's not unaccompanied! The Daleks look great as they trundle into view silhouetted against the sky, and I'm almost sorry that I knew they'd be in this episode.

I didn't realise that they'd be in the episode so much, though. I mean, sure, all they really do is turn up, remind the Master that he'd better not fail them, and then bugger off to awaken their army somewhere, but they're revealed much earlier than I was expecting - I figured that they'd be turning up for the last thirty seconds in the cliffhanger!

Unfortunately, when the end of the episode does roll around… it's a bit of a disappointment, isn't it? The Doctor and his friends escape from (yet another) prison cell - that makes it two breakouts for Jo alone in this episode! - get into a bit of a kerfuffle with the Master and his Ogron dummies, and then they all go their separate ways. I don't know a great deal about the next story, but I don't think we see a return for the Draconians or any of our human characters from this story, which somewhat renders the last six episodes a bit of a waste of time, with lots of running around between prison cells and not a whole lot else.

The biggest shame, though, is that in all the commotion, the Master slips away un-noticed. Usually, this would be a good thing. Curses! Foiled again! Off he skulks, ready to team up with another alien menace and be a thorn in the Doctor's side. On this occasion, it's a shame that we don't get much of a departure for him, since it's the last time Roger Delgado will be appearing in the programme. Not long after this, he was killed in a car accident while filming abroad, and when the Master next turns up in the series it will be in a new form and against a new Doctor. If I can quote myself from the entry on Terror of the Autons, Episode One;

“It's confession time. I've never actually watched a full story featuring Rodger Delgardo's incarnation of the Master. I know, ok? I know. Everyone bangs on about how he's the best version of the character, and how he's so menacing and suave and wonderful, but for me he's simply in the wrong era.”

That was true. I had a couple of people message me to say that it was impossible that I could have been a Doctor Who fan for a decade without watching a single Delgado story, but my general distaste for this period in the programme's history meant that I'd never had any real desire to check his stories out. Over the course of the last few months, I've now caught up with every single one of his episodes, and it does have to be said that I can see why people love him so much.

He really is the perfect foil to Jon Pertwee's incarnation, and I think that's why I'm so saddened that they never got the chance to film that epic final story that Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks had planned out. A final tale in which this pair were seen fighting to the death before the Master saves the Doctor's skin (either on purpose or by accident - who can tell?!) would have been the perfect way to see Delgado leave the world of Doctor Who.

That said, there's something oddly fitting about the fact that he slips away without anyone really noticing. This incarnation of the Master has always been slippery and good at getting away, and it is nice to see that happen one final time before the end of the era. It also means that we're reaching something of a clean break for the programme once again. The Master has gone (both in this incarnation and from the series for some time), Jo will be leaving in just a couple of weeks, and the Doctor is approaching the end of his current incarnation. It's the right time to say goodbye to this phase of the programme.

But not just yet…

a

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

Day 361: Frontier in Space, Episode Five

Dear diary,

I try to avoid finding out too much about a story before watching it for the marathon, whether I’ve seen it before or not. I occasionally brush up on a few basic facts (usually by sending a message to Nick to say ‘am I right in thinking that…’) so that I have a vague idea what the hell I’m talking about in these entries, but I try to go in as unbiased as I possibly can.

It’s rare, then, that I hurry to the internet during the opening moments of an episode to check things out. Today was something of an exception, because I had to find out if the director had changed since the last episode. Right from the off, the direction here seems to be of a far higher standard, and I spent a good deal of time today really enjoying it. The camera moves about a lot more here – both in terms of what I’d loosely define as ‘sweeping shots’ and in making the various space ship sets look as though they’re being rocked about – and it creates a wholly more polished look. A particular highlight is the moment the Master demands that he be taken to the Draconian Emperor, and the camera pans in to him as two guns are pointed in his direction. The framing is fantastic, and it was this shot which drove me to do a quick Google check.

It transpires that it is still the work of the same director - Paul Bernard, in the last of his three contributions to the programme - but for some reason this episode has just felt far more attractive in its presentation. Even the flight deck of the stolen prison ship, which I singled out for ridicule yesterday, looks quite good here! It’s great, because it means that I can sit back and enjoy the story itself more than worrying about the effects of Kirby wires on the space walks, or the design of the sets.

As a result, I’ve enjoyed today’s episode a lot more than yesterday’s, but I still get the feeling that I should be liking it more than I am. There’s lots of ides in here still that really appeal to me, and I love that it’s very much the second half of the story we saw with the Doctor and Jo being held prisoner on Earth. The dynamic of the Draconian Emperor and his son is very similar to that of the Earth president and her second-hand-man, quite deliberately so.

The main difference, being on Draconia instead of Earth, is that we get to see lots of close ups of the Draconian make-up. It really is stunning, isn’t it? I know I spent most of Episode One drawing attention to how much I’d liked the designs, but I’m truly impressed by it. More and more, I’m becoming convinced that it’s the best alien prosthetics we’ve seen in the programme, and it really is up there with the very best that the new series has to offer.

As ever with a Malcolm Hulke script, the dialogue is absolutely brilliant, too. One laugh-out-loud moment follows the master’s speech about devoting his life to the preservation of law and order (‘are you feeling alright, old chap?’ the Doctor asks, leaning in over his soldier), but the real stand-out has to be the final scene, in which the Master tries to hypnotise Jo only to be met by a resistance of nursery rhymes. It’s quite childish, and a little bit silly, but sounds perfect coming from Katy Manning. Plus it means that – in his final story – we get a last chance to watch as Roger Delgado tells us that he is the Master, and that we will obey him…

a

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

Day 360: Frontier in Space, Episode Four

Dear Diary,

Back in the very early days of The 50 Year Diary, during Season One, I spent a lot of my entries saying things along the lines of 'this is another episode carried only by our four regulars, giving them plenty of opportunities to shine'. As the programme evolved and changed, episodes with the bare minimum of guest cast became fewer and fewer. There's one or two examples in the Troughton era, but for the most part it's a practice that died away with those first few years of the programme.

But here we are, in early 1973, and something like twelve minutes of today's episode features only Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning, and Roger Delgado. Everything from the Master's ship leaving the Lunar Prison up to the Draconians boarding towards the end is spent in the company of three regular cast members, and it's just like the old days.

You could almost get away with thinking of it as being a bit of a nostalgic treat in the programme's tenth year. Indeed, there's a lengthy section in which the Doctor recounts the events of The War Games Episode Ten and explains to Jo how he came to be exiled to Earth. Later still, he goes on to list the problems with Lethbridge-Stewart. It's a proper trip down memory lane.

And if Doctor Who can play to nostalgia from time to time… oh, go on then: this episode being mostly carried only by these three regulars, gives them plenty of opportunities to shine. All three are given some great dialogue, and a few minutes to take centre stage. For Pertwee, it's the aforementioned description of his trial (and his account of 'borrowing' the TARDIS in the first place). Manning gets to ton on at length with a monologue about being returned to UNIT, where she'll probably be court marshalled. Delgado gets to play the smooth Master again, sitting back with a book while he lets his prisoners chatter.

It's not all praise from me today, though. As great as it is to see the Master so relaxed, the flight deck of his spaceship is a terrible looking set. There's no charm or design in there at all, it's just very bland, and not very interesting to look at. One thing it does do is to reinforce how at home the character looked during The Time Monster - he needs the comfort of a high-backed chair! It's often been said that when working on Doctor Who, the design department always fared better with the historical stories. While that may be true to some extent, it's not often that I'm as put off by a set as this one.

They do succeed elsewhere, mind. There's a logo peppered throughout this episode (it may have been in earlier ones, too, but I haven't noticed) that simply screams 'Dalek'. A circle, which contains a single 'dot' at the top, and a series of lines underneath. The design looks like a Dalek eye and the neck rings. It could be accidental, but with this episode containing reference to the people the Master is working for… surely it's a subtle foreshadowing of the next tale?

I'm sad to report that I'm also less than impressed by the scenes of the Doctor climbing across the hull of the space ship. The wires are just that bit too visible, and once you've seen them, you can't un-see them. The whole sequence seems to only exist to A) kill time, and B) act as a set-piece for the episode (which makes the fact that it doesn't really work all the more annoying). The Doctor formulates his plan. We spend ages watching him make his way carefully to the flight deck…

…And then within a minute, he's back down in the prison and he's being held captive again. There's a fight with the Master thrown in for good measure, too.

It's nice to see three great actors given the chance to really prove themselves on screen with no other interruptions, but I fear that Frontier in Space just isn't grabbing my attention in the way that I really want it to…

a

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

Day 359: Frontier in Space, Episode Three

Dear diary,

One of the problems with doing this marathon now is that - even for stories like this one where I know relatively little about the plot - I do have a fair idea of what's going to be happening. I know, for example, that this is the last Roger Delgado story, and that therefore the Master will be turning up at some point. The fact that he didn't arrive in Episode One means that we've got a Colony in Space situation, where he'll turn up half way through pretending to be someone he's not.

It means that I've spent this episode wondering when he'll appear. We're introduced at one point to the Lunar Penal Colony's governor, and I wondered for a moment if it may turn out to be our favourite nasty Time Lord. When this turned out not to be the case but a few minutes later we're given build up to the introduction of a new character coming to take the Doctor and Jo away… well, there wasn't much of a surprise for me.

And yet, the whole scene is written, directed, and played as though it should be a surprise. 'The Commissioner, Madam…' a secretary announces, before Delgado strides into the room wearing another elaborate costume (though quite a nice one). I'm wondering - how much of a surprise was it first time around, when the master turned up in a story like this? Obviously, Season Eight doesn't really leave much guesswork needed (I wonder who the evil brains behind the plan could be this week…?), but in stories like this one, or Colony in Space, was it in any way surprising to have the Master show up?

For the first time in this marathon (and partly inspired by the spoilerific iTunes descriptions for The Enemy of the World last week), I've been moved to take a look at the Radio Times billings for this story. I've only looked at the first three - in case I spoil myself for the rest of the tale - but they don't really leave much to the imagination. Take, for example, the listings for today's episode;

“Imprisoned on the Moon, the Doctor plans his escape. Immediately, his life is endangered by treachery from within. Meanwhile, an old enemy reappears in a new role.”

Coming fresh from watching the episode, this seems to give away loads. It tells us that the Doctor will be sent to a Moon Prison. It tells us that his escape will be impeded by someone else working from the inside, and it does hint at someone like the Master coming back. Actually, though, I think it's vague enough to not really spoil the episode. As soon as the Doctor and his new friend entered the airlock, I deduced that the cliffhanger would be the air being drained out from it (I didn't see the empty air canisters coming, though. I figured they would be the get-out clause tomorrow…), so it's pretty standard Doctor Who fare.

More annoying is that the listings go on to list “The Master…………Roger Delgado” in the credits for the day! They really didn't want to keep his return a surprise, did they? I'm interested to know, though, do any of my readers recall being surprised by him turning up at all? Not necessarily for this story, but at any point during this era? It would be nice to know how it felt the first time around…

(And, incidentally, a very Merry Christmas to all of you at home!)

a

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

Day 358: Frontier in Space, Episode Two

I’ve praised before the way that the Pertwee stories seem to exist in their own very distinct ‘future’ that remains consistent from tale to tale (similarly, the Troughton stories take place in their own self-contained future, too). Frontier in Space keeps this trend up – even going so far as to reference previous events (The Doctor explains to Jo that Solos and the events of The Mutants came at the very end of Earth’s empire, while the period we’re visiting this time around comes at the very start).

It seems silly, but this kind of consistency really does appeal to me. It even means that I can be a bit more lenient with the story than I might otherwise have been. What I should be saying at this point is ‘the future looks an awful lot like a hideous 1970s building’ (or, more accurately, ‘the future looks a lot like the architecture from the University of East Anglia’), but actually, I’m impressed that it’s in keeping with the kind of less-than-attractive buildings we had in Day of the Daleks.

And we’ve got plenty of opportunities to get a good look at the buildings, as large chunks of this episode are given over to typically-Pertwee chases and fights, up-and-down flights of concrete stairs and across open walkways. At one point, we even get to see him have a fight in the gardens of the Draconian embassy – where he’s up against some of the most incompetent guards we’ve ever seen in the series. Even UNIT could take on this lot!

It really does hammer home the fact that this story spends a lot of time ferrying the Doctor and Jo from prison cell to prison cell. Yesterday saw them locked up twice, today they’re shuttled from one to another to another… No onder we have to have these scenes of them running around outside – they need the excuse to stretch their legs from time to time!

As ever, it sounds like I’m complaining, whereas I’m actually rather enjoying things with this story. I love the idea that someone is playing both Earth and Draconia, and setting them against each other, and I really love the idea that the Doctor and Jo have arrived at just the wrong moment, leaving them under suspicion from both sides of the rising conflict. I’m guessing that it turns out to be the Master who’s pulling the strings (possibly in turn working for the Daleks? I know they turn up at some point in the final episode, so I’d imagine it’s one of those ‘aha! Look who the real brains fo the operation are!’), and I sort of like the idea that he may be operating somewhere in the background. This story marks Roger Delgado’s final contribution to the series, so it would be nice to see him bow out with a more audacious plan than usual.

It may be hitting harder simply because I know I’m little over a fortnight away from her departure, but once again it’s the relationship between the Doctor and Jo which serves as the real highlight of this episode for me. The opening scene in their prison cell sums up Jo for me. She paces the cell, coming up with all these clever plans to escape and get back to the TARDIS, while the Doctor simply sits back and makes the occasional quip.

Katy Manning turns in another fab performance while she plans to burst out of the prison, take control of the situation and force their captors to return them to Earth before the Doctor reminds her that they’re ‘already heading for Earth’. As the episode continues, the pair carry on shining. I particularly love the Doctor’s description of a Mind Probe (‘They’re only a sort of computer with extra knobs on’), and his description of how he got away from similar questioning before (‘They had to let me go eventually. They ran out of Mind Probes…’). I’ve found myself completely won over by this TARDIS team, and despite my love for the Brigadier, removing him (and the rest of UNIT) from the equation and letting the Doctor and Jo shine on their own has been one of the best moves in the series for some time…

a

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

Day 357: Frontier in Space, Episode One

Dear diary,

It’s not something I say a lot at the moment… but I’ve really been looking forward to this one. Frontier in Space is another one of those Doctor Who black spots for me, where I only know a few very scant details. I know that it features the Draconians. I know that it’s Roger Delgado’s final hurrah as the Master. I know that it ends with some Daleks turning up and leading neatly into the next story. That’s all I’ve got.

But I’m excited by the very thought of it. A twelve-part (in some ways) epic featuring the Daleks (for half of it) for the first time since The Daleks’ Master Plan. I think it appeals to me now, so soon after musing about my sudden nostalgia for the older stories.

It even feels a bit like a 1960s story right from the word ‘go’, with some lovely shots of model spaceships hanging in space, before the TARDIS arrives on board and the Doctor steps out to explore with his companion. They get to look around a bit in private before someone points a gun at them and they find themselves separated from the Police Box. From the off, the episode caught my attention, and it didn’t let it go easily.

It helps that there’s quite a lot visually to draw my attention in, too. The model spaceships really are very well done (all I seem to do at the moment is point out what a great job the model-builders are doing for the programme, but it’s true! Their work deserves to be pointed out every week), some of the sets look fantastic – I’m thinking specifically of the cargo hold where the TARDIS materialises, there’s a great sense of scale to it, especially in some later shots where the familiar blue box is positioned far in the background and it feels like it’s miles away!

But everyone knows what I’m going to be drawing attention to – the Draconian make up. Jon Pertwee used to tell an anecdote that during the recording of this story, he sat down with one of the Draconian actors for a conversation, and that by the end he’d completely forgotten that there was a person underneath all that. I’ve always been a little sceptical of the claim, and when we get our first look at one of the creatures staring out from a screen I was completely unconvinced.

Then we get a lengthy scene in which a Draconian holds a conversation with the Earth President and I was sold. Not only is it a great design, but it really has been applied expertly. It looks stunning even in the close ups, and I almost couldn’t believe just how well it worked. It’s a design that I’m surprised we’ve not seen again in the modern series, and I’d certainly love to see the new Doctor coming face-to-face with the creatures if we could make them look half as good now as they do here!

I think the real stamp of approval came from my friend Emma, watching the episode with me. It was her first exposure to ‘classic’ Doctor Who, and I wasn’t entirely sure if Frontier in Space would be a good first impression to the series. Knowing so little about it, I worried that it could swing either way. ‘Don’t worry,’ she assured me, ‘I watch enough original Star Trek to know what to expect….’

It should have put my mind at ease, really. I’d recently given her a list of DVDs from which to pick my Christmas present, all of them from pre-1968. She ended up buying four titles from the list – all of them ones which she wanted to see. Ah, but, I explained, Star Trek had a budget per episode that was probably about the same as the one Doctor Who had for a full year. I went into typical Doctor Who fan mode – automatically preparing for the worst reaction.

Emma was broadly quiet as we watched, but when I expressed surprise at just how good the Draconian make-up looked, she admitted that it was very impressive, though she stopped short of saying it was better than Star Trek! The real proof of the quality came as the cliffhanger sting echoed around the room and she asked if we could move right on to the next episode.

There’s several other things in my notes that I just haven’t had a chance to draw attention to. From the first shot of the TARDIS almost colliding with the ship in space (the way it fades in on the screen is stunning - right up there with the best CGI effects we get in the new series), the return of everyone’s favourite default ‘space’ font (you know the one), a surprise reappearance of the Drashigs (and there I thought they’d only ever appeared during Carnival of Monsters!), Ogrons arriving on the scene (no complications)… I could go on for a while. I’ll save it for now, though, as I’m sure I’ll have plenty to say over the rest of the week, but it’s a good start for a story I know so little about…

a

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

Day 356: Carnival of Monsters, Episode Four

Dear diary,

I’m somewhat fascinated by the fact that we make it – broadly speaking – to the final episode before the Doctor and Jo meet up with a large chunk of the guest cast for this story. It takes a real skill to tell a Doctor Who tale in this style, with two distinctly different stories running in parallel, and yet keep me interested in both halves. Right back when I started on this story, I was thinking that the cliff hanger to Episode One would be the Doctor and Jo encountering the Drashigs in the marsh, while Episode Two would conclude with them leaving the Mini Scope, and Episode Three would be the start of the attack on our alien world.

In my mind, I remembered the story being a straight split down the middle – with the first half seeing the Doctor and Jo inside the Scope, while the latter half saw them outside it, stopping the attacking Drashigs. I’d completely forgotten that the crew of the SS Bernice were present right to the end of the tale, or that the attack on the city was so… well…

I’ve been very fond of Carnival of Monsters this far. There’s a lot to love. That said, the ending does come as a bit of a let down. We’ve spent so long building up the plan to let the Drashigs loose on the city and use this as a way to engineer an overthrow of political regime that when it comes and it lasts about three minutes… Oh maybe I’m just being grumpy. The Drashigs still look fantastic here – though more like puppets than at any other point of the story – and there’s some really great CSO work on display again as they mill around the city.

It also provides an opportunity for Vorg to redeem himself somewhat, even though he’s not an out-and-out villain. You almost get the impression that in the modern series, you’d have him popping up from time to time as something of a lovable rogue. There was something of a return for the character – or at least the concept of the character – in the form of his son, Vorgenson, popping up in the Doctor Who Live arena tour a few years ago, where the concept of the Mini Scope provided a great excuse for the stage to be invaded by a parade of monsters.

For me, though, the biggest success of this story is growing to love Robert Holmes. I’ve been fond of him since his first appearance in this marathon (my average ratings for his stories have been generally quite high - 7 for The Krotons, 8 for Spearhead From Space, even Terror of the Autons came in a smidge above 'average' at 5.25. The only one that let the side down a little was The Space Pirates with 4.66), but this is the first time that I’ve really felt as though I understand all of the things people love about Holmes’ writing.

I’ve also started to see what people mean when they say that Vorg and Shirna are a good stand in for the Doctor and his companion – there’s a moment here where he gets Shirna to put her finger on an exposed metal part of the Doctor’s machine to check if it’s the ‘live’ part. It’s a scene that I could imagine playing out with the Second Doctor and Jamie, or even the Third Doctor and Jo. It’s good to see this kind of dynamic cropping in, though it just reinforces my desire to see this pair return again!

To celebrate the upcoming Dr Who Christmas special, Direct Blinds look back at their favourite Christmas special and reflect on the allure of villains in the series.

Thought For The Day - Why Do We Love The Villains More Than The Hero?

Every hero needs an anti-hero – Superman has Lex Luthor, Sherlock has Moriarty, and the Doctor has, of course, the Master.

Naturally, he has faced far more foes than this, but for one true nemesis, you just can’t beat the Master. I remember, as a kid, being terrified by Peter Pratt and Geoffrey Beever’s corpse-like appearances in The Deadly Assassin and The Keeper of Traken. However, that was simply the shock factor itself – it wasn’t until the reboot that (in my opinion) The Master became a true villain. 

I know he’s a ridiculously popular choice, but I simply cannot fault John Simm’s performance as the Master first time around. His transformation from old, kindly yet troubled Derek Jacobi to deviously slick Simm is simply superb, and the juxtaposition against my (and many others) favourite Doctor, David Tennant, is just brilliant.

Shame though about the Toclafane, which I feel were a bit lacklustre. 

Anyway, back to the main point – whilst rewatching the episodes with a couple of friends, we all found ourselves simultaneously rooting for the Master. Yes, he’s evil, he’s tricked the last of humanity into doing his evil deed, he’s caged the Doctor and attempting to kill a tenth of the human race, so why do we root for him?

It all seems to come down to one factor – he has a purpose.

The Master, mad from staring into the Untempered Schism, is driven to his actions and as Harold Saxon, a high ranking member of the Ministry of Defence, seeks to forge an empire. You can’t knock him for effort, and the sheer glee he takes from it lends him that evil charisma.

It’s his passion, focus and glee in everything that makes him the audience favourite. The Doctor simply acts reactively – everything he does is because of the Master, much the same as with Moriarty and Sherlock.

But is it as simple as this? Is it more that we see a damaged soul that has the wrong viewpoint so much that we feel that we should help them? Maybe he’s not such a bad guy – he’s just taken a wrong turn or had his view of the world skewed by others. Is iy because we inherently know that good will ultimately triumph and want to see what will face the hero until then? Or is it something else?

Let’s get a debate going!

And in the meantime, check out the TARDIS blind that we at Direct Blinds have designed – we’re working with Doctor Who Online to provide a fantastic discount of 33% - and it’s made to measure, so it will suit the home/TARDIS of any Whovian!

[Source: Direct Blinds]

 Day 355: Carnival of Monsters, Episode Three

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

Day 355: Carnival of Monsters, Episode Three

Dear diary,

It’s always the sign of a good episode if you reach the cliffhanger and you’re surprised that 23-and-a-half minutes are up. It usually signals that I’ve been so caught up in the events on screen and completely absorbed myself in the world. I think a lot of the cause for this really does need to be laid at the door of Robert Holmes.

I’ve said before that I can see with each passing Holmes script just why he’s considered to be such a fantastic writer of Doctor Who. Both Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat have sung his praises before now, and back in the day Terrance Dicks and Eric Sawad were both huge advocates of the man. And yet, I’ve never really understood it. His stories have always been quite good, but they’ve always felt like just A. N. Other episode of Who.

It’s another example of why watching through the series in order is such a fantastic way to experience the programme. You can chart the evolution of his writing from the early scripts in Season Six through to now, and you can see his trademark styles developing. One of the things people always seem to bring up is the ‘Robert Holmes Double Act’, and it’s well in evidence here. You’ve obviously got Vorg and Shirna playing nicely off each other – I’ve seen it said more than once that they’re a great metaphor for the Doctor and his companion, but I’m not sure that I completely agree with that – and our group of aliens plotting to overthrow the government and sharing a similar chemistry.

We’ve also got a great selection of writing for the Doctor and Jo in this story. More and more I’ve been drawing attention to the way that the pair interact, and you really do get the sense that this is a team who’ve been together for some time – and they have! By this point, Jo has been the Doctor’s regular companion for a couple of years. She seems to attract the best lines, too. Yesterday was another personal favourite, after the heat is ramped up during the attack on the Scope and the Doctor asks her to try getting up. ‘I can’t,’ she responds, ‘I’m only half cooked!’

Today their friendship is shown best while they’re hiding once more on the ship. Jo’s leg being spotted, she indicates to the Doctor that he should keep quiet and stay behind. It’s quite simple hand gestures – it wouldn’t take a genius in mime to figure out what she’s saying to him – but it conveys how close they’ve become. I’m so pleased, because I was worried I may not warm to Jo (Terror of the Autons wasn’t the most auspicious start for her), but as we approach the end of her adventures, I’m becoming very aware of how much I’m going to miss her personality.

Another thing that’s quite interesting – coming to this story so soon after watching The Enemy of the World - is Barry Letts’ direction. Just as with his use of back projection in that tale, we’re seeing him go all out with the use of special effects and various technology in this story. I’ve been tracking the ups-and-downs of his CSO use for a little while (today is as much a mixed bag as any other episode: the miniature Doctor staggering from the Scope during the cliff-hanger looks great, but Vorg’s hand holding back the Drashigs is less effective), but we’re really seeing the benefit of the model work in this tale.

To put it bluntly – the Drashigs look bloody stunning. They really are a bit of a silly design when you stop to think about them (the eyes especially make them look a bit ‘cuter’ than I think was intended), but they look so effective throughout this episode. The way one crawls off through the marshes (one of the best uses of CSO – not just in this story but in this era of the programme) is flawless, and the shots of them bursting through the walls of the Scope and later the ship are just as brilliant. There’s a special feature on the revised release of this story which shows some of the behind-the-scenes work with the puppets and it’s surprising that they come across so well – several of the unused takes are a lot less effective! I’m also very fond of the way that we get close ups of the creatures’ bodies as they move – the contracting bodies are so reminiscent of a caterpillar and an effective way of showing us their travels without the need to overlay them into another shot.

It’s becoming something of a tradition with the Pertwee stories of late, but I’m going to have to draw attention to the fantastic explosions in the marsh scenes, too. The effects team in this era really know what they’re doing! It also marks another step in the evolution of the Sonic Screwdriver – we saw the Doctor using it to detonate landmines in The Sea Devils, but here it’s used to ignite the marsh gasses, and adds another function to its growing list. We’re starting to really blur the lines now, between what the Sonic was originally designed for, and what we know it as from the latter half of the 1970s and beyond.

One last thing, which comes as a nice result of watching these stories in order. The Doctor tells Jo that he had ‘a great deal to do’ with getting the Mini Scopes banned as they were an insult to sentient life. He explains that while the Time Lords don’t interfere as a rule, he kicked up so much of a fuss that they gave in and took action. They muse that the machines were called in and destroyed – but that this one must have slipped through the net. It’s incredibly tempting to think that even though his exile has been lifted and the Time Lords have set him free, they may have still steered him in this direction to sort out this one last rogue machine…

Day 354: Carnival of Monsters, Episode Two

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

Day 354: Carnival of Monsters, Episode Two

Dear diary,

I can remember when I first bought Carnival of Monsters on DVD. When I first started collecting the range, instead of picking up the most recent release to keep up-to-date, I’d venture into the BBC Shop and choose one at random from the shelf, based mainly on how good the cover looked. This story was – I think – the only time that I’d ever gone out with a story specifically in mind to buy. I knew from an advert in the back of a Doctor Who Magazine that it was available, and pictures of Vorg and a Drashig in a book (Possibly ‘The Legend’?) looked very much appealing.

Since then, I’ve seen the story a few times – probably more than any other Pertwee adventure – and yet I can’t remember what happens. I was watching Episode One yesterday remembering that they end up wandering around inside the Min-Scope (more on that in a minute) and then were attacked by Drashigs but that’s about as far as my memory goes. I’m pretty sure that the creatures end up breaking out of the machine and going on a bit of a rampage around the main square of this alien planet, but I’m a bit worried that it won’t fill two whole episodes! It’s strange that even stories I really enjoy from this era and I know I’ve seen more than once can still end up being black spots in my Doctor Who knowledge.

There’s no wonder that I’ve seen it so many times, though, because there’s a lot to love in here, isn’t there? Yesterday, I praised the setting of the ship and just how well the Third Doctor fits into it. Today I’m captivated by the insides of the Mini-Scope. I can remember the design of this set being something of a fascination for me when I first saw the story, and it’s easy to see why. The whole thing has a scale that really impresses and the style of it is quite unlike anything else that the programme ever gives us. There’s part of me that wants to say it looks a bit like the kind of set I could imagine the 1960s giving us… but I’m not sure that’s really true. The same can be said for the latter half of the 1970s – it wouldn’t fit there, either.

And it’s strange how well this incarnation of the Doctor fits in here, too. It sounds silly, but I think it’s simply because he’s wearing a colourful jacket and it blends him in nicely with the surroundings. I’ve spent so long thinking of the Third Doctor as so Earth-based and establishment, it’s nice to see him somewhere a little out of his comfort zone… but where he still feels very much at home. By that same token, I’m interested to see him squaring up to the aliens later in the story (I’ve another half-memory of the Doctor breaking out of the scope and growing to normal size, complete with trademark ‘Jon Pertwee Knee Bend’), because I’m imagining a dynamic similar to the one he has with the superiors at UNIT.

But it’s not the sets that are impressing me the most with this one – it’s the monsters. A few years ago, when Character Options released a three-pack of Third Doctor monsters, one of the creatures included was a plastic Drashig. Not only that, it served as a glove puppet. I always thought it was a slightly odd choice of toy for them to produce, because I’d never thought of the Drashigs as being a particularly well-known or well-loved monster. Actually, they’re brilliant! They look fantastic when they’re bursting up out of the marshes, and the ‘roar’ is genuinely scary. I’m hoping that the effect holds out through the rest of the story, because I’m really impressed!

 a

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

Day 353: Carnival of Monsters, Episode One

Dear diary,

It really does feel like a culture shock suddenly coming back to the Pertwee era after a couple of weeks in black and white. And it’s just the right time to come back – because we’re returning more to the style of those 1960s stories, with the Doctor and his companion arrive at some new destination in the TARDIS and set off to explore.

I’m surprised that it feels so odd watching the ship arrive in the cargo hold of the SS Bernice, because the last few seasons have been far less ‘UNIT orientated’ than I’d expected, and the Third Doctor being off-Earth isn’t as alien a-concept as I’d imagined. Still, there’s something exciting about seeing the familiar shape of the blue box materialise; it’s still rare for this point in the programme’s run.

As is a trip into history! We visited Atlantis in the closing few episodes of the last season, but the Third Doctor hasn’t really spent a lot of time on pre-1970s (or 80’s, take your pick) Earth yet. I’m glad he’s ended up where he has, though, because it looks very nice. The Third Doctor really suits this kind of 1920s, upper-class lifestyle, and it’s great to see him brushing up against it. Extra points for him almost blowing Jo’s cover story by refuting the fact that he’s not travelled very much!

I’m also really rather liking the script we’re being given. More and more, I’m understanding why people hold up Robert Holmes as one of the truly great Doctor Who writers. Here, I’m enjoying the way he’s sending up the programme itself in the dialogue – ‘Roll up! Roll Up! See the monster show!’ – and in amusing little scenes like Jo’s over-reaction that there’s something alive in the cargo hold with them… only to discover that it’s a cage of chickens. I love it when Doctor Who can make me laugh out loud, and this was a brilliant example.

Elsewhere… I’m a bit up-and-down with my reaction to this episode. My first note of the day was to comment on the CSO fringing early on (where it seems to have been used simply to add in a sky behind some character’s heads), but then the rest of my page comments on how good the CSO effects for today are. They’re not flawless (The boat on the open waves doesn’t quite work, but it’s close enough to not matter so much…), but shots of the dinosaur seen through an open doorway are very well realised.

Similarly, I’ve made lots of notes about the design of our latest alien culture, commenting that the style has been nicely developed to tie a thread through the sets and the costumes, and making it feel like a very real world. The set itself is quite interesting, and there’s lots of shots that really make the most of it. But then I switch tone and complain that the masks and the make up are a bit below-par in places.

The two notes that I enjoy the most, though, are both related to loose story arcs. There's the Sonic Screwdriver arc, which I've been following for much of the year, obviously. Here, we're told that the Sonic only works on 'electronic locks' (something that's been alluded to in the modern series, too: most recently being a fun point in The Day of the Doctor), and when the Doctor tries to open up the mysterious hatch in the ship's floor, he suggests that they need a 'magnetic core extractor', and it's happy to have one in the TARDIS *.

But we also see the first mention of 'Metebilis III', which the Doctor describes as 'the famous blue planet'. I've never really thought of there being an arc as such with this - although I'm aware that he'll make a quick recce of the world before this season is out - but it's great to see it being seeded in this early, though I'm sure it wasn't intended as foreshadowing of the Doctor's demise at the time! I've seen lots of talk recently - especially given Matt Smith's final episode - of the way in which the modern series foreshadows the departure of the Doctor long before it happens, but it's not a new idea! It's been going on since at least 1973…

*As a side note, wouldn't it have made the Daleks' invasion of Earth much easier if they'd thought to bring an industrial, planet-sized version of this technology? That's why they're always getting beaten by the Doctor - they just don't think things through…

 a

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

Day 352: The Web of Fear, Episode Six (Revisited)

Dear diary,

When I first watched this episode, I was a little bit disappointed. Having worked my way through the tangled tunnels of the London Underground, the solution to the story came in as fairly simple on the whole, and very similar to the resolution of The Evil of the Daleks, which hadn’t been all that long ago at the time.

Part of my issue was that the Doctor’s plan in both these stories boiled down to him crossing some wires on the bad guy’s machinery, and taking control of a few ‘foot soldiers’ to do battle for him. I think – as with several elements of these recently recovered stories – being able to see the action has really helped.

Seeing the Yetis turn on each other and begin to fight is actually very effective, and there’s a sense of scale to this episode that’s you don’t really think about when listening to the narrated soundtrack of the story. Until now, only the Covent Garden battle has felt like it escapes the claustrophobia of the tunnels (even the scenes in the Goodge Street bunker have felt cramped and oppressive), but this final episode is filled with a lot more space. Almost as a way of showing this off, they pack the final shots with as many characters as they can – at one point the screen contains the figures of the Doctor, Jamie, Victoria, The Colonel, Anne, Professor Travers, Chorley, and Staff Sergeant Arnold. It’s not the biggest cast we’ve ever had in the show, but it’s a pretty impressive one.

It’s tricky, in this final episode, so say anything much else new or original. I spent six entries praising the story first time around, and all I have to add now is how brilliant the visuals are now that we can properly see them.

If anything, the best thing has simply been the opportunity to watch nine episodes of Patrick Troughton-era Doctor Who that we thought were lost forever. You may have noticed that since The 50 Year Diary reached the 1970s, my average scores have taken a bit of a dip. While I’m enjoying the Pertwee years more than I’d thought I would, it’s still just not doing it for me in the same way that the 1960s episodes did. Getting the chance to dip back into the Troughton years for a bit has been wonderful.

And it’s come along at just the right time. I’m starting to find myself getting a little bit nostalgic for the older episodes again. Maybe it’s having our two former Doctors back again for The Three Doctors the other week, but I’m starting to get a real hankering to watch some of the stories that I’ve already been through. Perhaps oddly, I’m really keen to pop in The Keys of Marinus - and I’ve no idea why!

I’ve absolutely no doubt that there’s more missing episodes out there waiting to be discovered, and that’s all part of the fun.

 a

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

Hello all – it’s Will from the future here! For me, it’s Day 374, and I’ve travelled back to tweak this entry, so that you can actually read my revised thoughts on The Web of Fear Episode Five. You see, somehow, this entry of The 50 Year Diary is our very own ‘missing episode’ (and how fitting that it should be for a recently recovered story!)

When I write up the Diary, I do so into an app on my computer designed for diary writing. The idea of it amuses me. The entries are then copied across to the Doctor Who Online website, where they’re formatted, the little sidebar images are added and then they go live for you to see. I go to bed, and when I get up the next morning, it’s time for another episode of Doctor Who.

But somehow, I’ve managed to completely wipe the original posting of this episode. I managed to write over it with another copy of Episode Six. Thankfully, a few readers tweeted and emailed to point out the error, so I headed to my diary app… to find a blank post where Episode Five should be. Lost in the Time Vortex! No idea what I’ve done with it – completely vanished. Luckily, though, all my notes for the episodes are neatly filed away (by which I mean when I run out of room on a bit of paper, I shove it in the cupboard with all the rest), and once you’ve written an entry, you can usually remember what you’d said.

So! With apologies for the delay…

Day 351: The Web of Fear, Episode Five (Revisited)

Dear diary,

The biggest problem with doing a Doctor Who marathon and blogging about it so publicly (The Doctor Who Online News Page receives upwards of 30,000 unique page views every day) is that I can sometimes feel a bit… silly. Not only because - just over 350 days in - I continue to assume that people actually want to read my thoughts on these episodes, but because I sometimes wonder if I should be saying something a bit more meaningful about them. There's several Doctor Who blogs out there on the web that really delve into detail on the series, and analyse each story from a new and unique perspective. I've several books on my shelf that do just the same thing.

And yet, having watched The Web of Fear Episode Five today, the only thing I can think to say is how good the effect at the end looks, when the fungus bursts its way into the base. I don’t recall it making all that much of an effect on me when I first went through this episode (indeed, checking back to my previous entry, I didn’t mention it. A quick look at the tele snaps makes it clear that it’s not all that impressive looking there).

It seems like such a ridiculously silly thing, but the moment the fungus pushes over a table is a highlight. It’s such a simple and uneventful thing but it suddenly makes the fungus look unstoppable. Maybe it’s because it’s so mundane that it holds impact? Or maybe because it just look pretty impressive for some model work?

Overall, I think I came away from this episode with the same general feeling that I did the first time around - that there’s plenty to love, but it does feel like the right time to start drawing towards a conclusion. The highlight is surely the Doctor and Anne working first on the control sphere, and then with the Yeti in the tunnel, and there’s lots of opportunity for Arnold to have some humour, too. The further through the story we get, the more I’m loving him.

Because this episode doesn’t have a whole lot going on that’s holding my interest, I spent the entry for it last time discussing the latter half of my ‘Great Intelligence’ time line. The recovery of the episodes doesn’t throw up any complications to it (Not that I expected they would - the main theories were all worked out based on the dialogue anyway), so I’m quite happy to leave it where things stand. The more I think on it, though, the more I’m keen to actually watch Downtime as a part of the marathon just to see if it all hangs together. What do you think? Worth doing?