#9 (13.13 - 13.16): The Android Invasion.

The Doctor is captured by the evil Kraals!

4 episodes. Approx. 96 minutes. Written by: Terry Nation. Directed by: Barry Letts. Produced by: Philip Hinchcliffe.


THE PLOT

The Doctor and Sarah Jane materialize near Devesham, a rural English village located not far from a Space Defence Station. They have only just arrived when they spot a UNIT soldier, who runs erratically over a cliff to his death. When the Doctor searches the man's body, he discovers that his money is all newly minted - which is very improbable.

Mysterious events continue to build up. Strange men in spacesuits fire on them without even a word exchanged. When they reach the village, they find it completely deserted - with the money in the local pub all newly minted, just as the soldier's was. When the people finally arrive, they are dropped off in trucks and shuffle into the pub where they sit or stand like zombies - until the clock strikes twelve, at which point they suddenly behave normally.

The Doctor goes to the Space Defence Station, in hopes of finding UNIT allies to fill him in on the situation. He finds familiar faces: Harry Sullivan, Warrant Officer Benton. But these friends turn on him violently. These are not the real Harry and Benton, but android duplicates - and by the time the Doctor reconnects with Sarah Jane, she has been replaced as well...


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Though The Android Invasion isn't one of his better stories, Tom Baker is on excellent form. The scene at the end of Part Two, in which he confronts the android Sarah Jane, is a particular highlight. He has a calm, even casual tone as he reveals what he's figured out so far (which is a lot), but there's a dangerous undercurrent as he asks what has happened to the real Sarah. He switches between casual irreverence and deadly seriousness regularly throughout the story, sometimes within the same line delivery, and makes a fairly weak script very watchable in large part through sheer charisma.

Sarah Jane Smith: You know you're in a Terry Nation script when capable Sarah Jane Smith can't help herself from falling over nothing in each of the first two episodes - the second time, even spraining her ankle! To Nation, all companions are Susan Forman. That said, I love the easy screen rapport that had developed by this point between Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen. The opening bit, as they leave the TARDIS and walk into the woods, is wonderful as the Doctor's aside about "watch the bramble" is carried on to a full, natural-sounding conversation as they walk away. There are a lot of little bits like that between these two, who just "fit" beautifully together on camera.

Harry Sullivan/Warrant Officer Benton: This serial is the final series appearance of both characters. Not that there's much for either of them to do - We don't even see the real Harry and Benton until the final episode, and the effectiveness of having android doubles of them is undercut by Terror of the Zygons having done something similar just a few stories earlier. They remain welcome presences, though, even if one could have wished for stronger roles for them.


THOUGHTS

With its rural village and UNIT involvement, The Android Invasion feels very much like a leftover from the Pertwee era. One expects the Brigadier to pop up and start shooting at things and for the Doctor to hop into Bessie at any moment. It also is another Season 13 story whose plot involves doppelgangers of familiar faces, which can create a sense of deja vu so soon after Terror of the Zygons.

These factors probably have a lot to do with just how poorly-regarded this serial is. To be sure, this isn't one of the series' better stories. The Kraals are weak villains with a plan so convoluted as to practically be nonsensical.  An ending twist involving the weak-willed Crayford (Milton Johns)'s eyepatch is so ludicrous in its stupidity it about crosses the Event Horizon of idiocy. That's not even mentioning the presence of Colonel Faraday (Patrick Newell), a third-rate Brigadier knockoff who might as well be clad in a sandwich board reading, "Nicholas Courtney wasn't available, so you got me."

For all its faults, though, I find this a passably entertaining runaround. It moves along at a decent pace, and Barry Letts' direction is sturdy. The opening episode is by far the best of the story's four installments. The Village of the Damned trappings are genuinely spooky, and the script artfully piles one mystery on top of another: the strange spacesuited figures, the radiation, the mint condition money, the odd behavior of the locals. It's all effectively presented, and builds quite nicely... albeit, to a very weak cliffhanger.

The Android Invasion is an enjoyable time-filler, and it's given a tremendous boost by the performances of Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen. But its plot feels half-formed, and its most effective ingredient - evil doubles of our regulars - was already done earlier in the same season. All of which leaves this a passable runaround, but ill-placed and outclassed by most of the stories surrounding it.

Overall Rating: 5/10.

Previous Story: Pyramids of Mars
Next Story: The Brain of Morbius


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#8 (13.9 - 13.12): Pyramids of Mars.

Possessed by Sutekh.

4 episodes. Approx. 98 minutes. Written by: "Stephen Harris," Lewis Griefer (uncredited), Robert Holmes (uncredited). Directed by: Paddy Russell. Produced by: Philip Hinchcliffe.


THE PLOT

The TARDIS is thrown off course again. It materializes in the right place, but the wrong time, arriving in the priory that once stood on the site of UNIT headquarters. The year is 1911, and the priory is home to Marcus Scarman (Bernard Archard), a professor of Egyptology. Marcus discovered an ancient tomb linked to the prison of Sutekh (Gabriel Woolf), the last of the Osirans. When the archaeologist opens the site, Sutekh is able to reach out with his mind to possess him, giving him a chance to free himself from his prison and resume his reign of destruction.

After he witnesses the possessed Marcus, the Doctor quickly realizes the nature of this enemy. Sutekh's power is greater than any adversary he's ever faced. He has help from Marcus's brother, Laurence (Michael Sheard) - but Laurence's concern for his brother makes him unreliable. As the Doctor's every plan fails, he is forced into a direct confrontation with Sutekh. It's a battle he cannot hope to survive...


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: This is a rare story in which we see him genuinely scared. He knows that he is no match for Sutekh, and his fear manifests in extreme crankiness. He snaps left and right at Sarah Jane, and even more at Laurence. When Laurence's hopeless desire to save his brother disrupts one improvised plan, the Doctor reacts with cold fury. Sarah complains about his coldness, stating that he barely seems... "Human?" he says, finishing her sentence pointedly. The desperation lends urgency to Tom Baker's performance, which vies with Genesis for his best work up to this point.

Sarah Jane Smith: The "alternate 1980" scene in Episode Two is a justly famous one. Safely in the TARDIS, the ever-pragmatic Sarah Jane wonders why they can't just leave. After all, they've seen the future, and they know Sutekh doesn't destroy the world. The Doctor refutes her argument in the most direct way possible - by taking her home. But since they didn't stay to stop Sutekh, this alternate 1980 is a wasteland. Sarah Jane looks out onto it, and you can read the emotion on her face. She retreats into denial, accusing the Doctor of trickery, before resigning herself to reality: "We have to go back." It's a terrific scene - not least because Elisabeth Sladen sells it superbly, making what might have been merely an interesting detour into something that feels emotionally real.


A SHORT DIGRESSION...

There's no such thing as an "unbiased review." Reviews are, by nature, opinion pieces. Still, my bias for Pyramids of Mars is greater than any other single piece, because this was the serial that sucked me back into Doctor Who, 15 years after I had viewed it religiously as a child.

I had watched Who avidly during its weekly PBS showings during the 1980's. I saw every story from Robot through to Trial of a Timelord, and I enjoyed most of them. But after Trial, my local PBS station looped back to the First Doctor. The Hartnell era is now my favorite, but my young self had no interest in watching a creaky old black & white show. So I drifted away and more or less forgot about the series.

In the late 1990's, I discovered a few old Who stories in the collection of my local video store: Pyramids of Mars, The Brain of Morbius, and The Robots of Death. Pyramids was the most interesting-looking of the three, so I brought it home to indulge some nostalgia, figuring that I'd laugh at the cheapness of the program and at myself for ever having enjoyed it.

I did exactly that... for about the first five minutes (it should be noted that the opening Egyptian tomb scene is appallingly tatty). But once that opening scene was done, I found myself drawn in by excellent performances and a well-scripted story. After that, I quickly rented the other two tapes, and then I began actively seeking out more. Pyramids got me hooked. Though I've taken a few breaks from Doctor Who since, and I will again in the future, it's a show that I know I'll always come back to.


THOUGHTS

This is one of those rare cases in which all the elements of a production come together just right. This is almost a surprise, given its chaotic origins. Writer Lewis Griefer was commissioned delivered a 4-parter involving the Brigadier and UNIT, which was not to the liking of producer Philip Hinchcliffe or script editor Robert Holmes. Holmes proceeded to rewrite it from scratch, with the final product credited to the pseudonymous Stephen Harris.

The result is a superior piece of craftsmanship, one of Robert Holmes' best scripts even if it doesn't bear his name. At the start, it seems as if it's going to be standard fare. The Doctor is pretty much his usual self through Episode One, casually clowning about as when he does an exaggerated "crouch walk" under the priory windows. Then he sees the possessed Marcus and hears the name "Sutekh," at which point all facetiousness vanishes. From that point to the end, he is focused, snappish, and grim.

The story's effectiveness heavily depends on us believing that Sutekh truly is such a threat, even though he doesn't directly do much. The biggest factor in making him so formidable is the Doctor's own reaction. He doesn't simply proclaim Sutekh to be powerful - He reacts viscerally, growing ever more agitated as his plans fail. The serial also shows the fraction of Sutekh's power that is wielded by the possessed Marcus Scarman (Bernard Archard), who isolates the area in an invisible dome and dispatches people with a single touch.

Critically, the story sees the Doctor failing repeatedly. One gambit is scuttled by a misguided Laurence. Another is stopped because of Sutekh's mental control. Finally, the Doctor is brought face-to-face with the Osiran... and he is rendered powerless, with the dark god sneering that he is now "the plaything of Sutekh" before explaining the nature of good and evil from his warped perspective:

"Your evil is my good. I am Sutekh the destroyer. Where I tread, I leave nothing but dust and darkness I find that good!"


OVERALL

Pyramids of Mars is one of the series' best stories. Veteran director Paddy Russell helms it with an eye toward the visual, from the Doctor's introductory shot which sets a tone from the off, to the grounds of the priory, to the bleakness of the alternate future in which the villain isn't stopped. It's flat-out excellent, and I think it's a nearly ideal pick for viewers new to the Classic Series.


Rating: 10/10.

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#7 (13.5 - 13.8): Planet of Evil

The Doctor and Sarah Jane are being watched.

4 episodes.  Approx. 98 minutes. Written by: Louis Marks. Directed by: David Maloney. Produced by: Philip Hinchcliffe.


THE PLOT

Zeta Minor is a planet at the edge of the known universe. It is also the site of a Morestran science expedition led by Professor Sorenson (Frederick Jaeger), which has been picked off one by one by a bizarre energy creature. The Doctor and Sarah Jane arrive in response to a distress call, but they are far too late to save any of the scientists. Only Sorenson remains, a half-mad shell of a man who clings to his samples like a lifeline, insisting that they represent a discovery that will save his civilization.

When a Morestran military ship reaches the planet to check up on the expedition, the young captain (Prentis Hancock) instantly blames the deaths on the Doctor and Sarah Jane. But the Doctor realizes that they are at a point of collision between two universes: the universe of matter and that of anti-matter. Sorenson's samples are pure anti-matter. If they leave the planet, then it could spell the end of everything!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Tom Baker's performance is easily this serial's strongest asset. I love his disgust at the Morestrans, with him regarding them basically as a nuisance. He admits to Sarah that it's tempting to simply leave them to their fates, and there's a sense that he might actually do so if the consequences wouldn't be so dire. He's downright ruthless when confronting Sorenson in the final part, telling him that "we purchase the right to experiment at the cost of total responsibility," with a stern expression and unforgiving body language. It's great character stuff overall, with a darker tilt than the early Doctors traditionally have been allowed to show.

Sarah Jane Smith: Her sensitivity to the anti-matter creature provides a few creepy moments early on. But it never gets any sort of payoff, seeming mainly like a residue of an earlier draft. Sarah is refreshingly assertive in the story's second half, particularly when she pushes Vishinsky to take charge. By and large, though, this is not a strong story for her. "Generic companion" stuff, though Sladen does it well.


THOUGHTS

Planet of Evil is a story of two halves and, unfortunately, of two settings. The first two episodes are quite promising. David Maloney's tightly controlled direction makes the most of designer Roger Murray-Leach's studio jungle, creating an effectively eerie atmosphere.

Too bad, then, that the last two episodes switch settings, with most of the back half of the tale confined to a bland spaceship set. A shift in focus accompanies the change of setting, and the tension of the first two parts gradually fades away.

I've read that this script went through several rewrites. Unfortunately, it shows. Watching this story, I often feel as if the first two episodes of one serial somehow got attached to the last two of an entirely different (weaker) serial. Save for the characters and people repeating "anti-matter" every few minutes, the two halves play out like completely separate pieces.

Sorenson's Jekyll/Hyde transformations were apparently the reason for commissioning this in the first place. But the whole Jekyll/Hyde bit doesn't even start until Episode Three, with no clues in the first half that the scientist is affected by anything other than his own ambition (and possibly a bit of PTSD). The character of the Morestran Captain (a wooden Prentis Hancock) switches midway through from being ruthless to merely being an imbecile. Vishinsky goes from being stern to sympathetic at about the same point.

Oh, and the Doctor's statement that the whole universe is in danger? It's somewhat contradicted by the Morestrans' dilemma. The planet will not allow them to leave with antimatter aboard, something that we are shown repeatedly throughout. That means there really is no danger to anyone other than the Morestrans. If the Doctor truly is inclined to leave his unpleasant hosts to their fates, then there's really nothing stopping him.


OVERALL:

Tom Baker is extremely good in this story, enough so that it just about skates by on his performance. The jungle planet is one of the Classic series' better attempts at an alien world, and David Maloney's direction is as strong as I've come to expect.

Planet of Evil is entirely watchable. But after the gripping first two parts, the second half sinks under the weight of fairly leaden performances of two-dimensional characters, alongside a shift in focus that jettisons the story's strongest elements in favor of bland sci-fi/horror trappings.


Rating: 5/10.

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#6 (13.1 - 13.4): Terror of the Zygons

Harry is taken prisoner by the Zygons!

4 episodes. Written by: Robert Banks Stewart. Directed by: Douglas Camfield.  Produced by: Philip Hinchcliffe.


THE PLOT

The Brigadier's call for help brings the Doctor, Sarah Jane, and Harry to Scotland, where several oil rigs have been destroyed by an unknown force. An investigation of the wreckage reveals that the metal bears the unmistakable impression of teeth - with a single tooth being roughly half the size of a man!

The attacks are the work of the Zygons, aliens who crash landed on Earth centuries ago. They have kept a low profile, content to await rescue. The situation has changed, however. Their planet has been destroyed, leaving them with no home to return to. Broton, the Zygon leader, has decided to use their superior technology to make Earth into their new home world... with crushing the human race the first step in their plan of conquest!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: After my previous viewing, I wrote that Tom Baker's Doctor seemed unengaged in this story. I can only conclude that I was in the wrong mood when I watched it - This time around, I thought he was terrific. He carps at the Brigadier for calling him back over oil rigs, but he gives the investigation his full attention once the Brig points out that lives have been lost. He is singularly unimpressed with the Zygons, treating their ability to change their form as if it was a mere carnival trick. Baker continues to play against the lines, clowning during serious moments - which makes it all the more effective when he actually does take a situation seriously, as when he and Sarah are locked in a pressure chamber.

Sarah Jane Smith: This is a particularly good story for her. When the Brigadier briefs the group on the situation, she seizes on her experience as a journalist and begins interviewing the locals, finding out what they know about strange occurrences. Later, a Zygon attempts to impersonate Harry to steal a device that the Doctor discovered. Sarah has no idea about their shape-changing abilities - but she can sense that he's behaving oddly, and she trusts her instincts enough to stop him from getting away with the device. Elisabeth Sladen's rapport with both Tom Baker and Ian Marter elevates several scenes in the first and final episodes, as well, with both actors' performances improving in their scenes with her.

Harry Sullivan: He gets the smallest slice of the action he has had since Robot. He's put out of action early, injured and then made a prisoner of the Zygons for the bulk of the story. This may well have been a conscious decision. Harry got a lot of focus in Season 12. Minimizing his involvement allows this story to emphasize the bond between the Doctor and Sarah before Harry's departure. He still gets a few good moments, particularly in Part Three when he saves the Doctor by mashing random switches in the Zygon control room.  Ian Marter also is very good as the Zygon Harry in Episode Two, playing him as cold and brusque in his interactions with Sarah, then becoming downright vicious when he attacks her.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: This would be his last appearance until Season 20. It was probably time for him and UNIT to be given a rest, truthfully, as they had fallen far from the crisp, military competence exhibited in Season Seven. Here, he's perplexed at such a basic and obvious investigative technique as filling a cavity with a plaster of Paris to gain an impression, something the Season Seven Brig would have ordered without needing the Doctor to do it for him.

Nicholas Courtney retains a stiff dignity, and the character gets some decent scenes in the back half of the serial. He executes a well-planned mortar attack on Loch Ness, where the Zygons are hiding, an attack which results in the alien ship surfacing. I also think it's appropriate that, in his final regular story, he gets to meet and deal with an alien menace that is not resistant to bullets.


THOUGHTS

When I reviewed Terror of the Zygons more than a decade ago, I stated that it's a fan favorite but not a favorite of mine. I'd agree with my past self that it's not a "great" story. It is a good one, however, one that gives strong roles to the regulars and to the returning UNIT characters while offering some fine set pieces.

Sarah's encounter with the duplicate Harry is a genuinely memorable moment, made all the better because Ian Marter succeeds in making this Harry different. Gone is the easy affability, with him being cold and even vicious. The Part Two cliffhanger sees the Doctor pursued by the Scarasen (the Loch Ness Monster, under Zygon control), an encounter he only survives because of Harry's fast action on the Zygon ship. The Zygons themselves are particularly well realized. They may be men in rubber suits, but the suits look reasonably convincing and even organic. It helps that we mosty see them on their ship, where the tinted lighting disguises any limitations.

There are some notes from the previous version of my review that I'll stand behind. I stated then that Terror of the Zygons feels a bit like a leftover Pertwee story: The Brigadier and UNIT investigate strange occurrences in a rural area; there's an energy conference that we're assured is important but whose specifics are vague; the Doctor climbs (briefly) on a soapbox to talk about fossil fuels; and locals are portrayed as simple and highly superstitious. Replace Elisabeth Sladen with Katy Manning, and this would fit snugly in the middle of Seasons Nine or Ten.

But I don't think that's a bad thing in any way. Sometimes it's fun to see a new TARDIS team in a familiar story setup. This serial offers the same pleasure as Robot: A chance to see how differently a Third Doctor-type story plays when it stars the Fourth Doctor. As an added benefit, this is a much better story than Robot. 

The 4th Doctor/Sarah/Harry team remains one of my favorites. The first shot of the trio, walking merrily together through the Scottish countryside, is charming: The Doctor decked out in a Tam o'Shanter, his scarf a Tartan palette that loops lazily from him to Harry, while Sarah walks comfortably and happily between them. There's a genuine sense of chemistry and affection, the sort of thing that can't necessarily be planned or made to happen. This, more than anything, makes me regret that Harry was written out so soon. If I were to cite one Philip Hinchcliffe decision that I strongly disagree with, it would be that one - I could have happily watched this trio stay together for another full season, at least.


OVERALL:

My opinion of Terror of the Zygons has risen considerably with this viewing. I still wouldn't class it as a favorite story, but I would rate it as comfortably above the series' average. It benefits from location work, from the sure hand of director Douglas Camfield, and from the Zygons themselves - one of the best-realized humanoid aliens of the Classic series. It's easy to see why the Zygon design was not much changed when the aliens reappeared in the New Series decades later. 


Rating: 8/10.

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#4 (12.11 - 12.16): Genesis of the Daleks

The Doctor confronts Davros (Michael Wisher),
the evil genius who created the Daleks!

6 episodes. Written by: Terry Nation. Directed by: David Maloney.  Produced by: Philip Hinchcliffe.


THE PLOT

While transmatting back to Nerva, the Doctor and his companions are intercepted by the Time Lords. They have taken him to Skaro, to a time before the Daleks' development, in order to either avert the Daleks' creation or affect their evolution to make them less aggressive.

However, they have dropped the Doctor in the midst of a brutal, generations-long war between the Daleks' ancestors, the Kaleds, and their enemies, the Thals. The Kaleds are brutal, militaristic fascists whose society has become dominated by Davros (Michael Wisher), the scientist whose experiments seem to be only tangentially related to the actual war. The Thals are little better, hostile and suspicious, with no qualms about literally working prisoners to death. Separated and scattered between the great, domed cities, the time travelers will need all their wits and luck just to survive.

And that's before Davros unveils his greatest achievement - the subject of the Doctor's mission: The Daleks themselves...


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Tom Baker was an engaging presence in his earliest stories, but Genesis adds an extra layer: a seriousness of purpose that we only really saw hinted at in The Ark in Space. The humor is still there, as when he distracts two guards by introducing himself as a spy, but it's a light veneer. He is disgusted by what he sees on Skaro long before he sees Davros's first Dalek, and there are moments in which this most dominant of Doctors becomes still, heavy with despair when it seems all is lost.

His best remembered scene is the "do I have the right" speech. Its fame is justified, Baker superb as the Doctor agonizes over whether killing the Daleks would truly be the right thing to do. Discussions of the moment, however, often miss that the Doctor doesn't refuse to destroy them. His decision is interrupted when he's told that Davros has agreed to introduce compassion into the Daleks' make-up. It's a ruse - but it's one that he is grateful to believe, is desperate to believe - precisely because had he not been given hope, he almost certainly have done it.

Sarah Jane Smith: Separated from the Doctor and Harry, and captured by the Thals, she once again takes on the Doctor role, organizing the prisoners into an escape attempt. The attempt fails, but it comes reasonably close to success and gives the doomed prisoners a last, fragile hope. After that, she recedes into the background, but she does act as the voice of pragmatism when the Doctor is mulling the moral dilemma of committing Dalek genocide.

Harry Sullivan: This serial provides Harry with a number of good moments. He takes decisive action early on, rescuing the Doctor from a land mine. When the Doctor's Time Ring is confiscated, he keeps the Doctor from protesting, pointing out that it would be bad for the Kaleds to realize how crucial the bracelet is. I can't help but lament his short tenure as a regular, given that Ian Marter's laid-back presence makes a natural foil for Tom Baker's dominance.

Davros: I'd have to agree with fan consensus that Davros's debut remains his best television appearance. Long before the phrase, "God of the Daleks," was ever uttered in a television episode, Wisher's Davros is basically that. He has created them in his own image, gliding along in casings that look exactly like the life support/travel unit that sustains him. He has purged his Daleks of pity and compassion, just as those same emotions were burned away from him. He is a Dalek in all but name.

He is also a highly formidable opponent. It is worth noting that the regulars never actually defeat Davros. The Doctor is left to flee for his life, while the only justice Davros meets is a poetic one - doomed by his own insistence on barring compassion from the Daleks. The scenes between Davros and the Doctor are uniformly excellent, with Davros's musing about using a virus that would destroy all life being a particular highlight. Wisher is compelling, as hypnotic in his quiet moments as during his rants. Tom Baker is outstanding in this story - but Wisher is even better.

Nyder: Peter Miles delivers his best-ever Who performance as Nyder, the Kaled security chief. Miles' facial features are well-suited to his role. Dressed entirely in black, Nyder lurks in the background, watching hawk-like. In Episode Four, he briefly pretends to be betraying Davros to gain information from a dissenting scientist. Miles makes it plausible that the scientist believes Nyder, softening his tones and speaking urgently. On first viewing, I was fooled. Abruptly, his voice hardens and sharpens, allowing the chilling realization to sink in for both scientist and viewer. It's a fine performance in a fine part. It's a testament to this story that this secondary villain is more memorable than most other serials' primary antagonists.


THOUGHTS

Genesis of the Daleks is rightly regarded as one of the series' all-time classics. Even as a child, watching each story with no knowledge whatever of a given serial's reputation, I recognized that there was an extra dimension here that hadn't existed in the previous three stories. That's not to say it's flawless: Like most six parters, there's padding, and detractors within Who fandom take great pleasure in pointing out that and "B" movie silliness such as giant clam monsters.

I used to sympathize with this viewpoint, simply because the faults are real. A good chunk of Part 1 is devoted to a narratively pointless capture/escape/recapture. So many trips are made between the Thal and Kaled Domes that I started to wonder if someone had installed a tram line, and those domes appear to be ludicrously close together for a war that's ravaged an entire planet. But successive rewatches have made me realize that I don't care about these issues. The bits of silliness exist, but they never threaten to disrupt the overall sense of an inevitable, unfolding tragedy.

I'd also note that much of the so-called "padding" is rather good drama. Sarah Jane's escape attempt doesn't actually advance the story.  But it provides not only a memorable Episode Two cliffhanger, but quite a good sequence in general, ending with a memorably sadistic bit in which a Thal guard dangles her over a chasm. Could you lop it out of the story without hurting anything? Of course. But doing so would not improve the story; it would instead just make it "smaller." Could you tell the story of Genesis of the Daleks in four episodes? Of course you could. The 90-minute repeat version of it proves that. However, though it's tighter paced, I don't find the 90-minute version to be an improvement in dramatic terms.

David Maloney's direction is exceptional. The serial begins with a striking visual image, gas masked soldiers being gunned down, then disappearing into the mist, before the Doctor is revealed within that same mist. The serial is lit more effectively than any other story this season, with a good mix of lighting effects for the different settings. This is a serial that, in places, looks like a feature film. Rarely has Who brought a setting to life this vividly, which is all the more impressive when you consider how relatively few in number the sets actually are: a bit of corridor, a few rooms, a cave set, and a trench.


THE DALEKS

This story's treatment of the Daleks is effective. In the first three episodes, we barely see them. Davros is the villain, Nyder his henchman, and the Daleks are used as weapons (an interesting parallel with their use in The Power of the Daleks). In the second half, they are unleashed more and more, until at last they emerge as a force unto themselves.

The two forces forming a person's identity are nature and nurture, and both are made to play a part in the Daleks' development. Davros has carefully expunged compassion and pity from his creations. We see, in the Dalek's first speaking scene, that it recognizes aliens and desires to exterminate them. It shows no such desire to exterminate the Kaleds, however, recognizing them as "conforming."

Here's where nurture might come into play. Davros uses the Daleks against any of his own people who dissent, until the Daleks grow accustomed to killing Kaleds. By the end, it likely seems only natural to turn on the remaining half. From the Daleks' perspective, the Kaleds loyal to Davros are exactly the same as the Kaleds they've been ordered to destroy. If the term "enemy" includes Kaled dissenters, then it includes all Kaleds - who are not, after all, Daleks. Davros created the Daleks in his own twisted image, and he succeeds all too well.


OVERALL

Genesis of the Daleks offers some of the series' all-time great moments. It also boasts polished, almost cinematic direction by David Maloney, who was to '70s Who what Douglas Camfield had been to '60s Who. A few nit-picks about padding and giant clams aren't remotely enough to interfere with the Fourth Doctor's first genuine masterpiece, a 6-parter that remains one of Doctor Who's highlights.


Rating: 10/10.

Alternate Version: Daleks! Genesis of Terror

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#3 (12.9 - 12.10): The Sontaran Experiment

Sontaran Field Major Styre (Kevin Lindsay) menaces Sarah.

2 episodes. Written by: Bob Baker & Dave Martin. Directed by: Rodney Bennett.  Produced by: Philip Hinchcliffe.


THE PLOT

The Doctor, Sarah, and Harry have transmatted down from Space Station Nerva to repair the transmat system, so that the waking survivors can recolonize the Earth... but Earth is not as lifeless as they had believed.

A group of astronauts were lured by a false distress signal, and their group has been growing smaller. Out of a crew of nine, only three remain. When they find the Doctor, they decide that he is responsible. While they interrogate him, Sarah befriends one of their missing colleagues, Roth (Peter Rutherford), who is half-crazed after escaping from an "alien in the rocks."

That alien is Styre (Kevin Lindsay), a Sontaran Field Major and scientist who is studying the humans in preparation for an invasion. The Sontaran battle fleet is already preparing to secure Earth as a foothold in the endless war against the Rutans - which leaves very bleak prospects for both the astronauts and the humans on Nerva.

The Doctor has a more immediate problem: Sarah has been taken prisoner, and she is about to be subjected to the Sontaran's latest experiments!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: This was the first recorded story of the production block, and writers Baker & Martin would only have had Robot to go on in their characterization. This may explain why the Doctor doesn't come across as strongly here as in The Ark in Space. Tom Baker remains in fine form, but the script makes the Doctor useless and even borderline stupid for much of the first part, notably when he falls down the same trap that entangled Harry through willful recklessness. The climax feels like a leftover of the Pertwee years, relying on physical combat, which leaves only major "Doctorish" moment at the end, when he attempts to bluff the leader of the Sontaran fleet.

Sarah Jane Smith: With the Doctor having an unusually weak outing, Sarah ends up practically taking on his role in the first episode. She befriends Roth, rescues the Doctor from the astronauts, and asks all of the key questions about Roth's fear of his shipmates and about the alien in the rocks. Yes, the second episode falls back on the tried and true formula of her being captured and needing rescued, but this still emerges as a strong story for her.

Harry Sullivan: A nice character beat sees him enjoying the tranquility of an Earth with no people, half-regretting that the people on Nerva will change this idyllic countryside all too quickly. Once it becomes clear he is not going to be rescued from his trap anytime soon, he finds his own way out, just in time to witness Sarah being kidnapped by Styre. He wisely doesn't attempt to rush in, instead doing what he can to try to help where he can while retaining his own freedom.

Villain of the Week: Styre may be the only Sontaran in a televised story to be genuinely menacing.  The Time Warrior is a better story, but Lynx was more amusing than frightening, while later stories would tend to play them more for comic relief. Styre is anything but amusing. The dispassionate, meticulous way he goes about his "experiments" is quite chilling. "You are nothing," he tells Sarah, and he means it. His victims are mere data points, with him neither enjoying nor bothered by their cries as he tortures them.


THOUGHTS

Classic Who had very few two-part, 50-minute serials, and that was mostly for good reason. The series tended to be at its best when it had time to explore settings and characters. Lacking that breathing space, most Classic Series two-parters tended to come across as rushed.

The Sontaran Experiment is one of the better 50-minute stories. The Doctor's weak role aside, the first episode is genuinely good. Writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin establish the base situation quickly, and they give each of the regulars something to do. The problems are small at first: Harry's fall, the Doctor's capture by the astronauts. In working to solve these problems, Sarah Jane encounters larger ones - "the alien in the rocks," the tortured Roth. This progression fuels the first episode, building to the effective reveal of Styre, with Sarah recognizing him as a Sontaran with genuine fear.

Unfortunately, in Part Two, the action becomes a bit too rushed, and the resolution comes a bit too easily. The Doctor defeats Styre by challenging him to single combat and just avoiding the Sontaran until he gets conveniently tired.  Meanwhile, Harry yanks a Thingamajigee out of the ship, which conveniently is enough to resolve the situation with minimal effort. In short, a lot of things suddenly happen with a lot of convenience for the regulars, with even the Doctor's grand bluff at the end - a scene with the potential to be great - going by too quickly to be particularly dramatically effective.

This isn't to say that Part Two is bad. Styre himself is well-written and wonderfully portrayed by Kevin Lindsay. The scenes involving his experiments evoke the "scientific research" of Dr. Josef Mengele during the Second World War, as the alien methodically tests humans' reaction to lack of fluids and to "immersion in liquid." He tests Sarah's responses to fear, and he begins a rather gruesome experiment that involves the resistance of the human ribcage to extreme pressure. Realization is variable, particularly if you've read Ian Marter's much, much better novelization, but his clinical reactions to each test makes it effective.


OVERALL:

I honestly think that part of the reason this story is a fan favorite is its novelization, which takes the ideas of this story and develops them to far more memorable effect. In its televised form, Part One is mostly excellent, but Part Two rushes through the plot and finishes with a rather limp conclusion.

It's never bad, and I would rate it as one of the Classic Series' better 50 minute stories. Still, given how well it starts, the weak conclusion is a definite disappointment.


Rating: 6/10.

Previous Story: The Ark in Space
Next Story: Genesis of the Daleks

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#2 (12.5 - 12.8): The Ark in Space

Noah (Kenton Moore), captain of Space Station
Nerva, undergoes a terrible transformation...

...or Dr. Who in an Exciting Adventure with Bubble-Wrap!

4 episodes. Written by: Robert Holmes. Directed by: Rodney Bennett.  Produced by: Philip Hinchcliffe.


THE PLOT

The Doctor's attempt to prove the TARDIS's properties to Harry with a quick trip goes predictably awry. Instead of materializing on the moon, they find themselves in the far future, on a space station orbiting Earth. Space Station Nerva is an ark, carrying the cryogenically frozen survivors of a global catastrophe. The station's systems have been sabotaged, but the Doctor brings the power back on-line, awakening the command crew in the process.

It quickly becomes apparent that something has gotten into the station. The insect-like Wirrn have invaded the station while its crew has slept, laying their eggs inside one of the crew. Now, the larval Wirrn has taken control of the station commander, Noah (Kenneth Moore) - leaving the Doctor and his friends, along with the remaining station crew, in a race against time to prevent this last outpost of humanity from being consumed!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Robot introduced the new Doctor in a story that was otherwise indistinguishable from a Pertwee offering. By contrast, this outer space thriller allows Tom Baker and the incoming production team to establish their own tone and style. This story sets the new template that would largely exist through producer Philip Hinchcliffe's tenure, with the Fourth Doctor being not only quirkier than his immediate predecessor, but also more intellectual and more emotionally remote. Tom Baker is marvelous, with several terrific individual moments: trying to use his hat and scarf to deal with station defenses (and giving a perfect nonverbal reaction when both of the aforementioned get zapped); the iconic "homo sapiens" speech when he discovers the frozen bodies; berating Sarah to get her moving, only to grin with pride and affection after she completes her task.

Sarah Jane Smith: Writer/script editor Robert Holmes gives more focus to new companion Harry than to Sarah.  The first episode, in particular, puts all the focus on the Doctor and Harry, reducing Sarah Jane to "woman-in-peril" status and then literally putting her into storage. Even after she is thawed out in Episode Two, she is given less to do than in most of Season 11's entries, with her only memorable moment being an attack of claustrophobia in the air vents. Elisabeth Sladen still invests the character with likability and intelligence, but I hope that the remaining stories of the season don't sideline her to this extent.

Harry Sullivan: Harry's character is given a chance to emerge and stretch a bit, and he's immediately likable. There is something very humorous in his attempts to take everything in stride. In contrast with the character's intermittent reputation as a nincompoop, he never loses his head, nor does he behave recklessly. In fact, he makes a rather good team with the Doctor, keeping up with him just enough so that the Doctor can usefully bounce ideas off of him, without ever being at risk of being at the Doctor's own level. Ian Marter's rapport with his co-stars remains excellent, and I'd argue that the 4th Doc/Sarah Jane/Harry line-up is a strong contender for my favorite 1970s team.


THOUGHTS

Incoming producer Philip Hinchcliffe's first story is a sharp break with Barry Letts' era in both tone and presentation style. Reputation has it that Hinchcliffe was initially weak on production. There isn't much evidence of that here, save for the too-obvious bubble wrap of the Wirrn larval stage - which, admittedly, is seen a bit too clearly, a bit too often, particularly in Part Three.

Bubble wrap aside, I'd rate this as possibly the best-looking Doctor Who story since The Sea Devils. The station sets are superbly realized for their time. White, antiseptic corridors in a circular shape, to match the station models (and to make it easier to convincingly reuse one stretch of curving corridor for different parts of the station), running the circumference of a more dimly-lit central core. The station architecture is effectively established in the early episodes, and there is little to interfere with the illusion of being in a station orbiting Earth, as opposed to a BBC studio set. Even the Wirrn are passably realized, with smart directorial choices keeping their on-camera appearances to a minimum.

I like this story - but I don't love it the way much of fandom seems to. The first two episodes are excellent, building atmosphere and mystery. The second half just doesn't quite hit the same mark. I honestly think the third episode drags a bit, while the final installment is slightly rushed, with a sequence of the Doctor and Sarah besieged in the cryo chamber seeming like a beat that should have been held longer. Wendy Williams' Vira is a strong guest character, just hesitant enough at taking charge to feel human while still being a convincing leader, but the other guest characters are too thinly sketched to get invested in. This includes Noah; his few pre-infection scenes make him seem a little too much like a Pertwee-era pompous bureaucrat for his fate to particularly resonate.

It's still a good story, mind you. Robert Holmes does a fine job of maintaining tension, with the characters dealing with one threat after another. In Part One, the regulars are in jeopardy from the station's automated defense systems. Once the crew start being revived, they become suspicious of the Doctor, with Noah seeming almost eager to summarily execute him and his companions. In Part Three, the characters evade the larval Wirrn, while the Doctor probes for weaknesses. It is only in Part Four that the adult Wirrn emerge, effectively putting the characters under siege. It's a clever structure, well-designed to keep the audience engaged without giving the audience too much to keep track of.


OVERALL:

It's easy to see why this story is a fan favorite. The set design is superb, the alien design is above the series' average, and the script is adeptly structured. Tom Baker is particularly good here, and the 4th Doctor/Sarah Jane/Harry line-up is a strong contender for the best set of 1970s regulars.

All of this makes The Ark in Space a good story. But the third episode feels a bit overstretched, whiel the guest cast are mostly too bland to get invested in. I like the story... but on this viewing, as in previous ones, I find that my reaction just doesn't match the serial's reputation.


Rating: 7/10.

Alternate Version: The Ark (audio)

Previous Story: Robot
Next Story: The Sontaran Experiment

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