Tag Archives: The Invasion

Oct6

Day 48 of 50th Anniversary Countdown – The Top 10 Cliff Hangers of the Sixties

Posted on October 6, 2013 by twistie1

One of the most frustrating aspects of 21^st Century Doctor Who is the almost complete absence of cliff hangers. Very few stories have extended beyond one episode. In a clear nod to William Hartnell era stories, the Series 7 story The Crimson Horror ended with a direct lead-in to the next story, Nightmare in Silver. Arriving back in present-day London, the companion Clara meets with the children she babysits, Angie and Artie, who blackmail her into taking them on her next adventure in the TARDIS.

Clara is blackmailed by Angie and Artie in the conclusion of The Crimson Horror

Clara is blackmailed by Angie and Artie at the conclusion of The Crimson Horror (2013)

In celebration of the great cliff hangers of Classic Series Doctor Who this article will briefly examine the Top 10 Cliff Hangers of the Sixties. So as not to reinvent the wheel, The Doctor Who Mind Robber has directly quoted the episode ending summaries from David J Howe and Stephen James Walker’s seminal book The Television Companion. No copyright infringement is intended.

David J Howe & Stephen James Walker’s The Television Companion was published in 2003 by Telos Publishing

10. Fury From the Deep – Episode 3

“Maggie Harris and Robson, both infected by the weed creature, meet on the beach. The former tells the latter that he will obey his instructions. Then she turns and walks straight out into the sea, eventually becoming completely submerged beneath the waves”.

The horror of this cliff hanger is the apparent suicide of Maggie Harris, the wife of one of the base employees. It is not until several episodes later that it becomes evident that Mrs Harris is still alive. Incidentally, Fury From the Deep is one of the few Doctor Who serials in which no one dies.

Unfortunately all episodes of Fury From the Deep have been lost, however the soundtrack, telesnaps and Loose Cannon’s excellent reconstruction brilliantly convey the horror.

In the cliff hanger to episode three Maggie Harris walks into the water, as if to commit suicide

9. An Unearthly Child – Episode 1

“The TARDIS arrives on a Palaeolithic landscape, over which falls the shadow of a man”.

This is the cliff hanger to the very first episode of Doctor Who and it’s the first time that the television viewers see the TARDIS materialize. The ominous shadow of a man in the barren landscape is both frightening and unexpected.

The ominous shadow of a man approaches the TARDIS in the cliff hanger to An Unearthly Child

8. The Mind Robber – Episode 1

“The TARDIS is in flight, the travellers having apparently escaped from the void. A low, throbbing hum is heard which grows in intensity until it is unbearable. Suddenly the TARDIS explodes. The Doctor spins away through space while Jamie and Zoe are left clinging to the console as it is engulfed in swirling mist.”

The end of the first episode of The Mind Robber is absolutely brilliant. This is the first time in Doctor Who that the TARDIS explodes and the crew is left floating perilously in space. The image of Zoe clinging onto the TARDIS console has become iconic for all the wrong reasons. Her tight sparkly cat suit clings to her body as the camera focuses on her bottom.

Wendy Padbury in the scene for which, unfortunately, she is perhaps best known

7. The Massacre – Episode 3

“The Abbot of Amboise lies dead in the gutter, a crowd of angry Catholics gathering around his body. When Steven protests that the Huguenots were not responsible, Roger Colbert incites the crowd against him. Steven flees for his life through the Paris streets …”

The Massacre sees William Hartnell play two roles – the Doctor and the evil Abbot of Amboise. Both characters are absolutely identical in appearance however the audience and companion Steven are unaware if the Doctor is masquerading as the Abbot, or if the Doctor and the Abbot are two different people. It’s for that reason that this cliff hanger is so powerful as it is not clear if it is the Doctor or the real Abbot who is dead.

The Massacre is another of the serials which unfortunately has all episodes missing. As discussed in Fury From the Deep, this does not distract from the potency of the ending.

Steven with the body of the Abbot of Amboise

6. The Tenth Planet – Episode 4

“The Doctor returns to the TARDIS, closely followed by Ben and Polly. The ship’s controls move of their own accord and the Doctor collapses to the floor. His companions enter and, before their astonished eyes, the Doctor’s face transforms into that of a younger man”.

This episode ending is of course Doctor Who’s first regeneration. The First Doctor, William Hartnell, collapses and with exceptional special effects for the era, his face is transformed into that of the Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton. The audience must wait until the next episode to see all of the new Doctor’s body and to experience his personality. There was no precedent for a change of the lead character in such a manner, and the audience was left stunned as they anticipated the new Doctor’s personality and physical appearance.

Episode 4 of The Tenth Planet has been lost however an amateur film was taken of a television screen during the broadcast of the episode. The episode has also been recently animated and will be released on DVD next month.

5. The Dalek Invasion of Earth – Episode 1 and Episode 6

“The Doctor and Ian, menaced by a group of Robomen, prepare to escape by diving into the Thames. As they turn, they see rising slowly from the water the familiar shape of a Dalek.” (Episode 1)

“The TARDIS dematerialises and, comforted by David, Susan moves away. Her TARDIS key lies discarded on the ground, with an image of a starscape superimposed …” (Episode 6)

The cliff hanger of episode 1 derives its force from both the iconic background of the Thames River and the emergence of Doctor Who’s first return monsters, the Daleks. Having been so well received in their first story, the return of the Daleks was eagerly anticipated by fans. As was the common practise in early Doctor Who stories, the monsters rarely appeared on-screen until the end of the serial’s first episode.

The episode six ending marked the first departure of a companion in Doctor Who. Just prior to the episode’s end the Doctor gave an impassioned oration to his grand-daughter Susan whom he was effectively deserting on the 21^st Century Earth.

A submerged Dalek emerging from the Thames River

Susan talks to the Doctor through the TARDIS’s PA system

4. Planet of Giants – Episode 2

“After cleaning Farrow’s blood from the patio stones outside, Smithers goes into the laboratory to wash his hands, unaware that the Doctor and Susan are hiding in the water outlet from the sink. As a helpless Ian and Barbara watch, he fills the sink with water, washes, and then pulls out the plug”.

The brilliance of the episode 2 cliff hanger of Planet of the Giants is that it successfully made the mundane frightening. Watching a plug pulled from a sink and water cascading down a drain would ordinarily be exciting as watching the kettle boil. Our heroes, however, have been shrunk to less than an inch in height and are as vulnerable as an ant is to the heavy boot of a human. The companions Ian and Barbara, together with the audience, are left paralysed with fear at the imminent drowning of the Doctor and Susan.

The Doctor and Susan before descending into the sink drain

3. The Daleks – Episode 1

“Exploring their apparently deserted city, Barbara encounters one of the Daleks and is menaced by its telescopic sucker arm.”

As outlined in The Dalek Invasion of Earth, it was standard practice in early Doctor Who for the monsters not to emerge until the cliff hanger of the first episode. This absolutely iconic ending sees Barbara pinned to a wall in fear as a Dalek’s sucker arm menaces her. The audience has not yet seen the rest of the Dalek’s body however the expression on Barbara’s face paints a picture of a horrifying spectacle.

Barbara is pinned against the wall in fear during the Daleks’ first appearance in Doctor Who on 21st December 1963

2. The War Games – Episode 1 and Episode 10

“In the First World War zone the Doctor has been found guilty of spying against the English forces and is tied up before a firing squad. Captain Ransom brings his men to order, tells them to present arms and opens his mouth to give the order to fire. A shot rings out and the Doctor grimaces” (Episode 1)

“A still protesting Doctor spins away through a dark void to begin his sentence of exile on Earth with a new appearance. His face is shrouded in shadow …” (Episode 10)

By the time the first episode of The War Games was broadcast Patrick Troughton’s decision to leave the role of the Doctor had been made public. Whilst history had shown that the Doctor always escaped serious harm, the audience could not be certain that his luck hadn’t finally ended. Perhaps he would be killed by the firing squad and regeneration was imminent?

Episode 10 is perhaps my all-time favourite as so many mysteries about the Doctor’s past are answered. His forced regeneration at the episode’s end is chilling but perhaps not as sad as Jamie and Zoe’s departure earlier in the episode. The monochrome era of Doctor Who was at an end and things would never be the same again.

The Doctor grimaces as a shot rings out

1. The Invasion – Episode 6

“The Cybermen emerge from the sewers and march through the streets of London as the invasion begins.”

The Cybermen’s emergence from the sewers of London and their march down the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral is justifiably iconic. By placing the monsters in an easily recognizable London landscape genuine fear would have been instilled in the audience. Although the Daleks had visited tourist spots such as Westminster Bridge in The Dalek Invasion of Earth, the Cybermen were in current day London. This wasn’t one of the Daleks’ futuristic tales but rather a genuine invasion in our own time. As Jon Pertwee said, there’s a “Yeti on the Loo in Tooting Bec”.

Perhaps the most iconic cliff hanger in classic series Doctor Who. The Cybermen on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral

Arguably the most iconic cliff hanger in classic series Doctor Who. The Cybermen on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral

TOMORROW – DAY 47 – The 10 Greatest Billy Fluffs

YESTERDAY – DAY 49 – The 10 Least Remembered Monsters of the Sixties

Vivien Fleming

©Vivien Fleming, 2013.

Sep28

The Seeds of Death

Posted on September 28, 2013 by twistie1

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The Doctor had long shown himself to be adept at time travel, however it was not until the 1969 serial The Seeds of Death that he was seen to man a more conventional form of space transportation, a rocket. That the Doctor and his friends should find themselves on a rocket to the Moon should come as no surprise given that this serial was broadcast in early 1969 and the Apollo 11 landed the first humans on the Moon on 20 July 1969. What is more astounding is that in the world of Doctor Who rockets are perceived to be outdated and an anachronism. In The Seeds of Death Professor Eldred is the curator of a space museum who spends his spare time secretly working on a rocket. All transportation is now carried out by T-Mat, otherwise known as transmit, a form of instantaneous particle matter transfer. Even motor cars have become redundant and the T-Mat system is used to transport people and produce throughout the world. There is a T-Mat relay on the Moon and it is from there that the Ice Warriors intend to commence their conquest of the Earth.

Jamie, the Doctor and Zoe arrive on Earth following their adventures with The Krotons

The Doctor is covered in foam as he attempts to gain entry to the Weather Station

That there is no alternative transport to T-Mat is extraordinary, particularly as the sustenance of the whole world is dependent upon its operation. This extreme example of “putting all your eggs in one basket” was what led the Doctor and his companions to risk their lives in an untested experimental rocket. It appears that together with world famine, local stock-piling of goods has long since ended. Although the details provided in The Seeds of Death are sketchy, it appears that the T-Mat system is operated, if not wholly owned, by a corporation named Travel-Mat. What Travel-Mat’s relationship is to the governments of the world is not specified. Perhaps Travel-Mat is the world government? Travel-Mat certainly has some relationship with the United Nations as Professor Eldred describes Sir James Gregson as the United Nations Plenipotentiary. Radnor clarifies this by saying that Gregson is the Minister with special responsibility for T-Mat. I suspect that the climate change sceptics with whom I frequently debate would revel in declaring The Seeds of Death to be an accurate prediction of their New World Order conspiracies. Come to think of it, most climate change deniers know so little about science that they’d probably think the mistaken “science” of The Ice Warriors is correct. Distinguishing fact from fiction can at times be difficult for some, hence the premise behind The Mind Robber!

T-Mat employees wear an unfortunate uniform with their underpants on the outside

Arguably the most powerful person employed by Travel-Mat is Miss Gia Kelly, the Assistant Controller, who inexplicably is the only person who completely understands T-Mat. Again the question arises as to what would happen to this world-wide transport system, on which the distribution of all Earth’s food is dependent, if Miss Kelly suddenly became indisposed. It’s a pleasant development in Doctor Who to have a women in such a powerful role and not be denigrated for her gender by fellow on-screen workers. Kelly even managed to escape the sexism inherent in the UNIT soldiers’ praise for Zoe in The Invasion, when they said that she was “prettier than a computer”. That being said, I’m at a loss to understand why Kelly was portrayed as so officious and unable to smile. What does this say about our perceptions of powerful women? Do women that attain the giddy heights of success necessarily relinquish all vestiges of humanity in the minds of others? Even a casual observer to Australian politics in recent years would be cognisant of sexist vitriol thrown at our former Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. Being “deliberately barren” was perhaps the most offensive of them all. I would posit that the writer Brian Hayles’ portrayal of Kelly is an example of this offensive stereotyping of successful women.

Miss Kelly is the only person who truly understands T-Mat. She is pictured here with the rocket countdown reflected onto her face

Gia Kelly is arguably the most powerful person working for Travel-Mat

Unfortunately I have a concern with the Doctor’s ethics in The Seeds of Death. At the serial’s end the Doctor sent the Ice Warriors’ rockets onto an orbit close to the Sun by transmitting a fake homing signal. When the Warrior Slaar told the Doctor that he has destroyed their whole fleet, the Doctor’s response was that “you tried to destroy an entire world”. Given that the Doctor believed these Warriors to be the only survivors of their species, he was effectively committing genocide. Whilst we all now know that the fleet didn’t comprise the last of the Ice Warriors, that’s not the point. The Doctor acted in a similar manner to the Daleks in The Evil of the Daleks and to the Drahvins in Galaxy 4. In my review of Galaxy 4 I discussed in some detail how the Doctor’s apparent genocide of a race was at odds with his classic moral deliberations in The Genesis of the Daleks.

The Doctor kills the first of many Ice Warriors

Akin to Brian Hayles’ problems with science in The Ice Warriors, The Seeds of Death is similarly tainted. Remarkably, whilst the Ice Warriors collapsed when the temperate reached 60 degrees Celsius, the humans exhibited no ill effects at all. Not a bead of sweat was seen to develop on a single brow. This story did, however, again exhibit Hayles’ apparent concern for things environmental. The plant consuming foam which emerged from the Ice Warrior’s seeds would eventually result in the removal of all oxygen and the death of humans as the atmosphere became more akin to that of Mars.

The Doctor discovers that water destroys the Ice Warriors’ seeds

Technology had also caught up with Doctor Who by the Ice Warrior’s second appearance. Filmed inserts for episodes were by then being produced during the recording of the previous stories. Because of the 1968/1969 Christmas/New Year break, some inserts were filmed up to six weeks prior to the recording of the episodes. It’s for that reason that careful observation will show that within the same episode the Doctor can at one point have particularly bushy side-burns, and the next moment has none.

The Doctor discusses retro rockets with Professor Eldred

When Jamie suggested that the Doctor should use the TARDIS to travel back to the Moon the Doctor was quick to advise that “the TARDIS is not suited to short range travel”. It’s a shame that the Eleventh Doctor didn’t remember that when he decided to take the TARDIS for a quick hop to the Moon to run her in during The Eleventh Hour (2010). He didn’t come back to Amy until two years later! The Doctor also seemed to have forgotten exactly how much of an unpleasant time he’d had when last he visited a space museum (The Space Museum). Quite naturally Zoe knows how to pilot a rocket so she necessarily went up in my esteem, yet again. She also has a photographic memory.

Clearly the Eleventh Doctor had forgotten that the TARDIS is not suited to short range travel in The Eleventh Hour (2010)

Clearly the Eleventh Doctor had forgotten that the TARDIS was not suited to short range travel in The Eleventh Hour (2010)

Amongst her many skills, Zoe can pilot a space rocket

With the conclusion of The Seeds of Death we say goodbye to the last monster story of Patrick Troughton’s tenure. Not only is it the final monster serial of the 1960s but also of Doctor Who’s monochrome era. Troughton’s penultimate adventure, The Space Pirates, has no aliens although it does have a space cowboy who is almost as bad, in a frightening sort of way!

The Seeds of Death was originally broadcast in the UK between 25 January and 1 March 1969

Vivien Fleming

©Vivien Fleming, 2013.

Sep24

The Krotons

Posted on September 24, 2013 by twistie1

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The second part of Series 7 of Doctor Who, which is also referred to as Series 7B, has been said by some to be a “love letter” to Classic Doctor Who. Resplendent with obscure references to Who’s 50 year history, the Eleventh Doctor’s final complete season also contained “shout outs” to the Second Doctor’s tenure. Together with the re-appearance of the Great Intelligence after a 44 year absence and the Ice Warriors following a 39 year hiatus, Series 7 also made reference to the mysterious HADS, the Hostile Action Displacement System. In the same episode that heralded the Ice Warrior’s return, the TARDIS dematerialized from a sinking submarine in the South Pole to the North Pole (Cold War). When functioning correctly the HADS dematerializes the TARDIS to a close-by location when it is under external attack. It needs to be manually set, however, and the Doctor usually forgets to set it. The first and only on-screen reference to HADS prior to Cold War was in the 1968-1969 serial, The Krotons. In that instance the TARDIS relocated several metres up a hill after being attacked by Krotons.

That a story as humble and lowly regarded as The Krotons should be alluded to more than four decades later is a testament to the high regard in which the Patrick Troughton era is generally held. Even “bad” Troughton stories have their redeeming features, not least of which is the very presence of the Second Doctor himself. Troughton has some charming scenes in this story including his classic encounter with the Kroton’s intelligence testing machine. As seen in the clip below, the Doctor decides to take the test after Zoe accidently completes it and receives a score twice as high as the Gonds’ previous best students. “Zo-Gond” (Zoe) is chosen to be a Companion of the Krotons and the Doctor won’t allow her to enter the Kroton’s Ship, the Dynatrope, alone. Easily flustered, the Doctor has difficulties at the commencement of the test which precipitates a wonderful banter between the pair. After assisting the Doctor to put on his headset and press the correct button, the Doctor barks at Zoe, “All right, there’s no need to shout! Now go away and don’t fuss me. No, come back. What’s this? It’s all right, I know. Right, fire away, I’m ready”.

Great Jumping Gobstoppers, The Krotons.

“Oh, my giddy aunt” is one of the better known Second Doctor’s expressions, however it’s in The Krotons that it makes its debut – less than six months before the end of Troughton’s tenure. As shown in the video posted, “great jumping gobstoppers” is also a lovely Troughtonism.

The Doctor and Zoe are approached by a Kroton

Zoe’s extraordinarily high intelligence is remarked upon several times in The Krotons. She tells Selris that the “Doctor’s almost as clever as I am” whilst earlier the Doctor had said to him, “Yes, well, Zoe is something of a genius. Of course it can be very irritating at times”. The Doctor, however, is never seriously concerned by Zoe’s brilliance. There’s no sense of threat and never a suggestion that her intellect is unbecoming of a young woman. Similarly, the Doctor is not dismissive of Jamie, notwithstanding his apparent dimness. What Jamie lacks in schooling and cultivation he more than compensates for in gut instinct and cunning. The Doctor is equally as accepting of both his companions.

The Doctor is almost as clever as Zoe

Zoe helps the Doctor take the Krotons’ test

I have little doubt that if I’d watched Zoe as an impressionable young girl then she’d have been my heroine. Able to complete any mathematical task better than a male and even the Doctor on occasion, Zoe had intellect in abundance and was gorgeous to boot. If I was 6” shorter, numerous kilos lighter and a few decades younger, playing Zoe would be my ultimate Cosplay ambition! The Third Doctor’s first companion, Liz Shaw, continued and expanded upon Zoe’s keen intellect and abilities, although her tenure was regrettably cut short. I will extrapolate upon this when Season Seven in reached.

The delightful Wendy Padbury as Zoe Heriot

The moral that I took from The Krotons were the dangers of indoctrination and limitations to free scientific enquiry. The Gonds had been in a state of self-perpetuating slavery to the Krotons for thousands of years. They were educated by machines created by the Krotons and forbidden to study chemistry. As the Doctor noted, there were tremendous gaps in the Gonds’ knowledge. He asked why the Gonds had never thought to question why the prohibition on chemistry existed. That people would be educated by machines in the future was a prediction considered several times in 1960’s Doctor Who. The First Doctor’s companion Vicki, an orphan from the 25^th Century, had been educated for only one hour a week on machines and considered the History teacher Barbara’s 1963 curriculum to be infantile. The manner of Zoe’s education is unclear, however as a product of City’s Educational institution she, like the Krotons, had enormous gaps in her knowledge. Whilst able to undertake mental calculations in a second, she was bereft of social skills.

The Gonds have been in self perpetuating slavery to the Krotons for thousands of years

The 1960’s fear of educational indoctrination would most certainly have had its genesis in the Nazi’s brainwashing of the German people. Technophobia is also likely to have been influential. Distain for computers was evident in The War Machines and The Invasion. In the latter the Doctor loudly proclaimed his hatred for computers on several occasions. The Luddite-like smashing of the Kroton’s educational machines by a group of Gonds further evidences this fear of technology.

The growing awareness of South African apartheid, in which the minority whites enslaved the black population, could also have influenced Robert Holmes in the writing of this story. On the suggestion of Roy Skelton, he and Patrick Tull voiced the Krotons with a slightly South African inflection.

The Krotons spoke with South African accents

Yet another attempt at a Dalek replacement, the Krotons were a poor substitute. With arms that looked like the robot’s from Lost in Space, the Krotons were disabled by their strange and inflexible metal hands. Possessed of a rather cool spinning head, the poor Krotons were not so lucky with that part of their costume below the waist. A rubber skirt was merely tacked on to disguise the operators’ legs. The concept behind the Kroton’s creation was rather more interesting. Crystalline beings, the Krotons survive in their space-craft, the Dynatrope, in suspended animation in a form of slurry. To reconstitute themselves they must absorb sufficient mental energy. It is for this reason that every year they have taken the best two Gond students, drained them of their mental powers, and then killed them. Rather than exterminating them as the Daleks do, the Krotons “disperse” them in a process in which the victim in essence disintegrates.

The Krotons with Jamie

Join me for my next review when the Ice Warriors return in their second adventure, The Seeds of Death. Our time with Patrick Troughton is fast coming to an end.

The Krotons was originally broadcast in the UK between 28 December 1968 and 18 January 1969

Vivien Fleming

©Vivien Fleming, 2013.

Sep20

The Invasion

Posted on September 20, 2013 by twistie1

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One of the greatest benefits of watching Doctor Who in chronological order is discovering hitherto unknown continuities. The Invasion was one of the first Patrick Troughton serials I watched. Simple incidents, like the Doctor and his crew deciding to drop in on their old friend Professor Travers, were lost on me. Had I watched The Abominable Snowmen, and its sequel The Web of Fear prior to my first viewing of The Invasion then the significance would have been obvious. Similarly, that The Invasion was to some extent a remake of The Web of Fear would have been reasonably self-evident. The apparent absence of story arcs in Classic Series Doctor Who, and the presumption that all serials are entirely self contained, makes casual viewing of stories a joy. Jumping between seasons and different Doctor’s tenures ensures the viewer of a diverse and eclectic range of material. The handicap, however, is the loss of character and series development.

This series’ monsters, The Cybermen

Defeated Cybermen

Seeing the evolution of characters that have been iconic is a real joy. The Invasion is the story which introduces UNIT, the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, to the world of Doctor Who. It is not, however, our first introduction to Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. Our first encounter with the then Colonel was in The Web of Fear where Lethbridge-Stewart was a suspicious unknown entity. Arriving in the embattled London Tube, as if out of nowhere, the Colonel could well have been the feared Yeti collaborator. A relationship of trust took some time to develop. A camaraderie from a past battle fought was evident when the Doctor and Jamie again met the promoted Brigadier in The Invasion. It was four years since their last meeting, the Brigadier noted. The character with which we become so familiar during the tenure of Jon Pertwee’s Doctor is not yet fully formed, though. It will be some time before we encounter “classic” Brig moments like the eye-patched alter ego of Inferno or the “Chap with wings, there. Five rounds rabid” of The Daemons. Although often experiencing difficulties with women, Lethbridge-Stewart was particularly Neanderthal in The Invasion, an issue that I will address when discussing the character of Isobel Watkins.

The Brigadier proudly informs the Doctor and Jamie that he’s been promoted since last they met

It’s not often that I disagree with anything that Rob Shearman or Toby Hadoke say in their excellent marathon watch diary, Running Through Corridors. It’s with Shearman, however , that I have issue with concerning the portrayal of Isobel Watkins who was played by Sally Faulkner. Isobel is the niece of Professor Watkins, a professor of computer engineering and friend of the Professor Travers previously referred to. Travers had decamped to the United States, letting his home to Watkins and Isobel during his absence. In his discussion of episode two I believe that Shearman is unfairly critical of the character. He describes her variously as “a talentless pseud”, “friendless”, and a “selfish, utterly insane cow”. Shearman doesn’t end there. He’d sooner have lunch with the psychopath Tobias Vaughn than Isobel who is the “sort of social misfit that will try to muscle her way into other people’s jokes”. Shearman is then extraordinarily critical of Isobel’s feminist defence to Lethbridge-Stewart in episode five. In his defence, Shearman believes that Isobel is a caricatured feminist, badly written by a male, who is made to look like an idiot. That’s not how I see Isobel who is not unlike the former companion Polly. A little akin to my squeals of delight at Maaga’s comments about men in Galaxy 4 (see my review for details), Isobel’s defence of women was one of those rare “stand up and cheer” moments. It’s worth extracting it in full here.

Rob Shearman and Toby Hadoke, Running Through Corridors

Isobel takes shots of Zoe

BRIGADIER: And how do I prove that in the sewers of London there are creatures from outer space waiting to attack us. Go and get one?

ZOE: You wouldn’t stand a chance against them, Isobel.

ISOBEL: Ah, you wouldn’t have to go anywhere near them. Photograph them.

BRIGADIER: That’s not a bad idea. Now, wait a minute, it’d be pitch dark down in those tunnels.

ISOBEL: You could use an infrared film, a twenty five filter on a thirty five mil camera with a telephoto lens, and why, you could take frame after frame without getting anywhere near them.

BRIGADIER: Is that all gibberish or do you really know what you’re talking about?

ISOBEL: Of course I know.

BRIGADIER: If you’re right, it could well be the sort of proof I need to get some action.

ISOBEL: Well, all I need is my cameras from the house and then I’m all set.

BRIGADIER: Well, you’re a young woman. This is a job for my men.

ISOBEL: Well, of all the bigoted, anti-feminist, cretinous remarks.

BRIGADIER: This is no job for a girl like you. Now that’s final.

ISOBEL: Oh, you, you, you man!

BRIGADIER: I’ll get in touch with my photographic unit and get them onto it.

ISOBEL: Oh, that stupid bigoted idiotic.

Isobel and Zoe in colour

Zoe descends into the sewers to take photos of the Cybermen

Isobel descends into the sewers to take photos of the Cybermen

Zoe, who then stood up to Jamie when he expressed agreement with the Brig, was also afforded the opportunity in the serial to combat sexist assumptions. To Jamie she said, “Just because you’re a man you think you’re superior, don’t you?” To the automated answering machine at International Electromatics she gave an ALGOL problem which, being unable to be answered made the machine blow up. Zoe finally calculated complex missile trajectories in her head which facilitated the programming of the Russian missiles and the destruction of the Cybermen’s mother ship. The UNIT soldiers thought that she could be kept on as she’s “much prettier than a computer”. Who dared say that girls know nothing about computers and maths!

Zoe takes great delight in blowing up an automated answering machine

The Doctor and Jamie have some wonderful physical comedy moments in The Invasion. A fast walk away from the mysterious UNIT undercover agents quickly turns into a run. When eventually they’re cornered in a lane, with a wry smile the Doctor sits down in the gutter and produces a pack of cards which he shuffles whilst awaiting their imminent capture. Jamie gets in the rear driver’s side door of a Jaguar, slides across to the passenger side door, disembarks and then hops in the front passenger seat. The Doctor does some wonderfully comic running and jumping whilst evading bullets and grenades on two occasions. All of these are done silently and are just superb.

The Doctor protects his hearing as he runs from a Cyberman

The Invasion has arguably the most iconic of all Doctor Who images, the Cybermen emerging from the sewers and descending, on mass, the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral. The phenomenal cliff hanger to episode six has rightly taken its place in history. The only cliff hanger to compare, in my humble opinion, is the Dalek emerging from the polluted waters of the River Thames in episode one of The Dalek Invasion of Earth.

Perhaps the most iconic cliff hanger in classic series Doctor Who. The Cybermen on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral

There are parallels between the Series Two episodes, Rise of the Cybermen and The Age of Steel, and this 1968 Cybermen tale. The name given to the Cybus Industries front company which collects the homeless for upgrading, International Electromatics, is identical to Tobias Vaughn’s conglomerate in The Invasion. Humans are controlled by Ear Pods in the first 21^st Century Cybermen tale, whilst in 1968 it was a microchip in IE produced electronics goods, such as disposable transistor radios, that put humans into a deep sleep.

In the 2006 episodes, Rise of the Cybermen and The Age of Steel, the Cybermen controlled humans through Ear Pods. Pictured here are Rose Tyler’s parents, Jackie and Pete

Director Douglas Camfield made a gifted choice in casting Kevin Stoney as the partly cyber converted head of International Electromatics, Tobias Vaughn. Stoney, as you may recall, portrayed Mavic Chen in the Season Three epic, The Daleks’ Master Plan. The characters of Chen and Vaughn are in many respects quite similar. In both instances a human (or humanoid) seeks the ultimate power of world (or solar system) domination and in doing so enters into an uneasy alliance with monstrous aliens. Both characters are under the unfortunate misapprehension that they can successfully betray their allies at an appropriate juncture, however Chen and Vaughn are both disposed of once they have served their purpose. Stoney was a sublimely brilliant actor who created what were arguably the two greatest villains of Classic Series Who.

Kevin Stoney played the role of Tobias Vaughn

The Doctor and Vaughn shortly before Vaughn’s death

Although five years into Doctor Who’s history, there are still some firsts in The Invasion. Notwithstanding being a Science Fiction series, it is not until this story that we hear reference to a UFO. It’s also the first time that we see the Doctor drive, albeit briefly. That’s something that we will all become very accustomed to during the Third Doctor’s tenure. John Levene also makes his first appearance as the then Corporal Benton, although he had previously appeared inside monster’s suits. In The Moonbase he was uncredited as a Cyberman, and in The Web of Fear he was a Yeti.

John Levene appears for the first time as the then Corporal Benton

Episodes one and four were animated by Cosgrove Hall superbly. Having recently watched the animations in The Reign of Terror and The Ice Warriors, both of which were undertaken by different teams, I can unreservedly say that The Invasion’s is by far the superior. The sense of light and shade, and the landscapes, were particularly agreeable. That being said, once The Tenth Planet is released I may well view all the animations again. I suspect that watching them one after another will give me a greater appreciation of each of the respective animators’ strengths and weaknesses.

The Doctor and Jamie leave Vaughn’s office in an animated episode

Cybermen Ambush, The Invasion (1968)

Join me for my next review as I examine Robert Holmes’ debut story, The Krotons.

The Invasion was originally broadcast in the UK between 2 November and 21 December 1968

Vivien Fleming

REFERENCE:

Robert Shearman & Toby Hadoke, Running Through Corridors. Rob & Toby’s Marathon Watch of Doctor Who. Volume 1: The 60s, Mad Norweigan Press: Illinois, 2010.

Aug27

The Web of Fear

Posted on August 27, 2013 by twistie1

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Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart began his television career in Doctor Who as a Colonel in The Web of Fear and ended it, more than 40 years later, with a knighthood in the Sarah Jane Adventures serial Enemy of the Bane. In the interim the Brigadier, as he was most frequently and affectionately known, appeared in 103 TV episodes of Classic Series Doctor Who¸ the 1993 30th Anniversary Special Dimensions in Time, and two episodes of the Sarah Jane Adventures (2008). The character’s death was acknowledged in the Series 6 episode The Wedding of River Song (2011). The Brigadier also appeared as a character in countless audio dramas, books, cartoons and short stories right up until the actor Nicholas Courtney’s death in February 2011.

The Doctor first met Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart in less than perfect circumstances in The Web of Fear (1968)

Lethbridge-Stewart appeared alongside the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Seventh Doctors in serials and with the Sixth Doctor in Dimensions in Time. Nicholas Courtney, however, had the distinction of also appearing as Bret Vyon in the first four episodes of the First Doctor’s serial, The Daleks’ Master Plan. Interestingly, Courtney’s first and last appearances in Classic Series Doctor Who were alongside fellow actor Jean Marsh. Marsh had played Courtney’s sister, Sara Kingdom, in The Daleks’ Master Plan and was Morgaine in 1989’s Battlefield. To tangle the interweaving web of Doctor Who even further, Marsh had been married to Jon Pertwee, the Third Doctor, between 1955 and 1960.

Brigadier Sir Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart in the Sarah Jane Adventures serial, Enemy of the Bane (2008)

Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart was the longest running recurring human character in Doctor Who by a country mile. The only villainous characters of greater longevity have been the Daleks, who first appeared in 1963, the Cybermen (1966), The Ice Warriors (1967) and quite ironically for the purposes of this review, the Great Intelligence (1967). And to think that contract to appear as Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart was only four weeks long!

The Eleventh Doctor learns of the Brigadier’s death in The Wedding of River Song

Aside from the creation of the iconic Lethbridge-Stewart, one would be hard pressed to find another Doctor Who story that had such a long term influence on the series than The Web of Fear. As a classic example of the “base under siege” genre, it was the first to be set in present day London. Transferring the previously Himalayan bound Yeti to the London Underground provided both a contemporary and identifiable point of reference for viewers. The sense of terror was greatly amplified when monsters were lurking in the tunnels and tube stations that most viewers knew so well. Incidentally, one of the actors in the Yeti suits was none other than John Levene, who would go on to portray another long time recurring character, UNIT’s Sergeant Benton.

Yeti in the tunnels of the London Underground

The Second Doctor’s co-operation with the military in The Web of Fear would resurface in Season Six’s The Invasion, in which both Lethbridge-Stewart and Benton were members of the newly established United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT). The Invasion was the template for the Third Doctor’s earthbound exile in Seasons Seven and beyond. But more about that when I review The Invasion.

Jack Watling reprised his role of (an aged) Travers in The Web of Fear

The appearance of the Yeti in The Abominable Snowmen, and its sequel, The Web of Fear, propelled them to iconic status. As a consequence of the writers, Henry Lincoln and Mervyn Haisman’s, falling out with the Doctor Who production team the Yeti would only appear again briefly in the 1983 Twentieth Anniversary Special, The Five Doctors. The Yeti’s short screen time had little effect on the creatures’ iconic status. Although never appearing alongside the Yeti on screen, Jon Pertwee is fondly remembered for his oft quoted phrase, “Yeti on the loo in Tooting Bec”. What Pertwee was referring to was the direction that Doctor Who had taken during the Third Doctor’s earthbound tenure. The Doctor was confronting the monsters, not on an alien planet, but in the viewers’ own backyards, or toilets, or under their city …. Akin to the expression, “Behind the Sofa”, “Yeti on the loo” quickly entered the Who vocabulary.

Reading a paper in the loo is a perfectly reasonable thing to do. But did the Third Doctor anticipate meeting a Yeti in the loo?

This “Yeti on the loo” in-joke was most probably lost on a great many New Series viewers to part three of Pond Life, the prelude mini-adventures to Series Seven. The pun was much more than just the play on words of “Ood” and “loo”, and was most certainly a shout-out to Classic Series Who. Give a thought to the late Jon Pertwee as you watch Rory and Amy’s startled responses to the Ood in their bathroom.

Rory and Amy are confronted by an unexpected guest in Part 3 of Pond Life.

Before we leave the Yeti, The Web of Fear was the last serial to feature the sublime composition by British Composer, Martin Slavin, entitled Space Adventure. Ordinarily the Cybermen’s theme, it provided a superb backdrop for their first three stories, The Tenth Planet, The Moonbase and The Tomb of the Cybermen. In its last appearance in Who this composition accompanied the Yeti in Covent Garden.

Victoria, Jamie and the Doctor contemplate their options

The Web of Fear is not without its failings. There is an unfortunate negative Jewish stereotype in episode one in the form of Julius Silverstein, a wealthy artefact collector and business person who runs his own museum. Having acquired a deactivated Yeti from Edward Travers, he refused to return it after being advised that the Yeti’s control sphere had been reactivated and disappeared. The consequence of this belligerence was Silverstein’s own death at the hands of the reactivated Yeti. When Terrance Dicks novelized the serial as Doctor Who and the Web of Fear in 1976 the character’s name was changed to Emil Julius in an attempt to avoid the negative stereotype.

The unfortunate artefact owner, Julius Silverstein shortly before his death at the hands of a Yeti

As equally offensive, but rarely mentioned, example of racism is the characterization of Driver Evans, a Welsh officer of the British Army and a member of Lethbridge-Stewart’s team. Evans is portrayed as unintelligent and cowardly, and he clearly wants to dessert from the Army. Had there been more than one Welsh Army officer in the serial then this Cymrophobia (anti-Welsh sentiment) could have been averted by presenting the other character(s) as courageous. Evidently Terrance Dicks was also concerned by this Cymrophobia and had Lethbridge-Stewart state that ordinarily the Welsh are good soldiers.

The character of Driver Evans was evidence of Doctor Who’s Cymrophobia.

The unfortunate stereotyping of the age aside, The Web of Fear is a tremendously suspenseful serial beautifully directed by Douglas Camfield. High up on many Who fans lists of “most wanted” missing serials, The Web of Fear’s influence on the future of Doctor Who could never have been imagined when its episodes were junked. Only episode one remains in the BBC Archives, which is one more than the next serial in my marathon, Fury From the Deep. Join me for my next review as I examine how Australian film censorship has given us a tantalizing glimpse of this long lost story.

A body at the entrance of the deserted Tube Station

Episode 1 of The Web of Fear is held in the BBC Archives and has been released on the triple DVD set, Lost in Time. The Web of Fear was originally broadcast in the UK between 3 February and 9 March 1968.

Vivien Fleming

Aug4

The Moonbase

Posted on August 4, 2013 by twistie1

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The Moonbase is arguably the story where the Second Doctor’s characterization truly takes its most familiar form. The Doctor who is sentenced to regeneration and exile to Earth in The War Games for his continual breaches of the Time Lords’ Non-Interference Policy, conceivably had his genesis in The Moonbase. For it is in The Moonbase that this Doctor’s incarnation utters perhaps his most famous words, “There are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things. Things which act against everything we believe in. They must be fought”. The Doctor’s goofing about has ended, although of course he’ll always be amusing, and his quest to save the universe has begun.

The genesis of the Second Doctor’s characterization can be seen in The Moonbase

In The Highlanders the Doctor was keen to leave as soon as he spied a steaming cannon ball. It was only after Polly’s mocking of him that the Tardis Crew remained. In The Moonbase, it is Ben who is keen to decamp at the earliest possible opportunity but the Doctor who is insistent on remaining. This is quite a radical change. This is, of course, after the Doctor had initially wanted to immediately leave the Moon after discovering he was not at his intended location, Mars. Being so experienced in space travel the Doctor had not even considered that his three companions may have relished the idea of walking on the moon. This, naturally, was more than two years prior to the first human stepping foot on the Moon on 20th July 1969. Ever since the Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, became the first human to fly in space on 12th April 1961, the Western world was agog with the desire to beat the Communists and be the victors of the space race. That it took over three years for Doctor Who to first venture to the Moon is somewhat surprising given the context of the age.

It took three years for Doctor Who (and the Cybermen) to visit the Moon

Although appearing of sturdier construction than the Mondas forebears in The Tenth Planet, the Cybermen of The Moonbase had lost their most frightening element – the vestiges of their humanity. Prior to watching The Tenth Planet I’d scoff at the awkward appearance of the Mark 1 Cybermen, with their cloth stocking faces and human hands. This was but another example, I thought, of lacklustre costuming. Fancy the team at Doctor Who thinking that the audience could be scared of men with stockings over their heads! How wrong was I. The Mark 1 Cybermen were so very threatening for the primary reason that the vestiges of their humanity were still evident. Their sing-song voices hinted at a humanity that had somehow gone askew.

The Mark 2 Cybermen of The Moonbase have lost the vestiges of their humanity

A Mark 1 Cyberman in The Tenth Planet

The Mark 2 Cybermen of The Moonbase are an almost different species altogether. Monsters they are, but humans they are not. Their monotone metallic voices pay no homage to their humanoid origins and they are little more than robots. Of itself there is nothing amiss with robots, per se, it’s just that “Cyber” without the “men” makes for an altogether different creature. Doctor Who, however, had established its second great monster and no longer would the audience’s imaginations be limited to a Dalek only mindset. Iconic imagery would soon abound to add to the Dalek’s emergence from the murky pollution of the Thames in The Dalek Invasion of Earth. Cybermen will emerge from their icy tombs in The Tomb of the Cybermen and march down the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral in The Invasion. Nothing will be the same again.

A Cyberman with Jamie

Akin to The Power of the Daleks, the Doctor is recognized by the Cybermen, notwithstanding his regenerated form. Moreover, the adventures of the Doctor and his gang have for the first time gone down in the annals of history. Hobson is perplexed by the Doctor’s ignorance of Cyberman history. Every child knows that the Cybermen died when Mondas was blown up, Hobson states irritably. School children clearly now learn about the adventures of the Doctor and his companions. The Moonbase commander, Hobson, is also the first to utter the words “we’re under siege” but the sentiment of a confined environment under threat by monsters is quickly to become a hallmark of Patrick Troughton’s era. There’s a “base under siege” and under siege the confines of Doctor Who will remain for much of the Second Doctor’s tenure.

The Moonbase is under siege and staffed by an international contingent including Brits, French, Danes, Australians and New Zealanders

The Moonbase is an early example of Doctor Who’s environmental concerns which would become all the more evident during Barry Lett’s tenure as Producer in the early 1970s. The 1964 Season Two opener, Planet of Giants, had contemplated the effect of pesticides on the world’s eco-systems. In The Moonbase the Gravitron controls the Earth’s tides and has been doing so for the last 20 years since 2050. By controlling the tides through the emission of deep sonic fields, the Gravitron controls the weather. It is thermonuclear powered and has an inner core temperature of four million degrees. The Gravitron guides hurricanes, for example, and when it is not working correctly the potential for disaster exists. In this story we learn that thirty minutes previously, in Miami, Florida, they’d been experiencing blue skies and a heatwave. Cyclone Lucy was now just overhead. Something was causing the Gravitron to malfunction, but it is not until the story progresses that it is revealed that the Cybermen are the source of the problems. It’s the Cybermen’s intention to use the Gravitron to kill all life on the Earth and hence eliminate its threat to themselves. Whereas the Mark 1 Cybermen of The Tenth Planet were susceptible to radiation, it’s gravity which is the Mark 2 version’s weakness. The Doctor saves the world by turning the Gravitron onto the Cybermen and blasting them out into space.

The Gravitron is operated by men in funny hats that look like they were rejects from The Underwater Menace

Polly is spectacular in The Moonbase, and seemingly without scientific training is able to formulate a solvent to disintegrate the Cybermen’s plastic chest plates. Deriving the idea from Jamie’s off-hand comment that witches were kept at bay by sprinkling holy water, Polly reasons that if nail polish is a plastic and is removed by acetone, then surely chemicals exist on the base which could disintegrate the chamber holding the Cybermen’s heart and lungs. Being uncertain that acetone would be the correct solvent to dissolve the Cybermen’s plastic, Polly sets about making a cocktail of different solvents in the hope that one will do the trick. Thankfully her ad-hoc mix of benzene, ether, alcohol, acetone and epoxy-propane doesn’t blow up and does a splendid job of producing great sprays of foam from the dying Cybermen. Ben nick-names the concoction the “Polly Cocktail”, although the boys, as is their want, seek to take the fame for the Cybermen’s destruction and to dissuade Polly from participating in “men’s work”. Girls can do anything and Polly certainly proves this!

The “Polly Cocktail” makes Polly the true hero of The Moonbase

Jamie doesn’t see a great deal of action in The Moonbase and spends most of his time recovering from a head injury in the sick bay. His Scottish Highland origins are brought more to the fore in this serial. Together with his comment about holy water and witches, Jamie also innocently speaks of seeing the “man in the moon” and in a hallucinatory state thinks that a Cyberman is the “Phantom Piper”. Akin to the Grim Reaper, the McCrimmon “Phantom Piper” appears just prior to death. Thankfully we get to see Jamie running around in a kilt, which is always a blessing!

Polly tends to the ailing Jamie. Whilst hallucinating Jamie mistakes a Cyberman for the “Phantom Piper”

The Moonbase concludes with Doctor firing up the time scanner, a hitherto unheard of Tardis accoutrement which provides a glimpse into the future. Used infrequently and not very reliable, the time scanner shows an image of a giant claw. Our next story, The Macra Terror, is sure to be chilling.

The Moonbase was originally broadcast in the UK between 11 February and 4 March 1967. Episodes 2 and 4 are available on the triple DVD set Lost in Time

Vivien Fleming