Tag Archives: The Space Museum

Sep28

The Seeds of Death

Posted on September 28, 2013 by twistie1

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 What is more astounding is that in the world of Doctor Who rockets are perceived to be outdated and an anachronism.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.

Jul30

The Power of the Daleks

Posted on July 30, 2013 by twistie1

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“The Doctor was a great collector, wasn’t he”, the strange little man with the ill-fitting, improvised clothes said as he rummaged through the large chest. “But you’re the Doctor” exclaimed a confused Polly. “Oh, I don’t look like him” quipped the man.

So began the journey of the Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton, as he recovered from his “renewal” as though he’d been on an LSD trip. In fact, the reference to LSD comes directly from the production notes. This was 1966, of course. When Ben had told the “old Doctor” that the ordeal in the Cyberman ship was “all over” (The Tenth Planet) the Doctor had replied by saying “What did you say, my boy? It’s all over. It’s all over. That’s what you said. No, but it isn’t all over. It’s far from being all over”. The “new” Doctor had strangely chuckled “It’s over. It’s over” as he scrambled to his feet upon regenerating. Whilst the Doctor’s “renewal” may have been over, his journey to be understood by his companions was only beginning.

Upon renewal the Doctor is in a confused state, as if he’d been tripping on LSD

Quietly hostile and prone to referring to himself in the third person, the Doctor evaded answering uncomfortable questions by playing a recorder retrieved from the chest. The sceptic Ben was infuriated by the Doctor’s behaviour and didn’t believe the man before him to be the same person as the “old Doctor”. Polly, however, was more willing to believe and recalled the old Doctor’s comment to the effect that perhaps his old body was wearing a bit thin. No one had exited or entered the Tardis so surely this stranger must be the Doctor. It would take a Dalek to recognize the Doctor by sight, towards the end of episode two, for Ben to finally believe that the “new” Doctor was one of the same as the “old Doctor”.

Ben, Polly and the new Doctor with his 500 Year Diary

The Dalek’s recognition of the Doctor, and the Doctor’s visible fear of his oldest foe, was a superbly climatic scene which undoubtedly influenced Rob Shearman as he wrote Dalek, the pepper pots’ debut in Season 1 of the 2005 series. Watch the short clip from Dalek below and marvel at the Ninth Doctor’s fear when he hears the monotone voice of the Dalek say “Dock Toorrr”. The Doctor’s fear as he runs to the door is just palpable. Were The Power of the Daleks not lost and we could watch the serial in its full glory, then I suspect that the Second Doctor’s fear, as he backs into a chair as the Dalek focuses his eye stalk onto him, would be just as unmistakeable.

That The Power of the Daleks should be an influence on the writers of new series Who should come as no surprise. The serial is critically lauded as perhaps the best Dalek story ever and is undoubtedly held in higher regard as a consequence of its missing status. The soundtrack is smashing and the few fragment clips of the Daleks absolutely superb. You can even excuse the production team for the reasonably obvious cardboard cut-out Daleks used to swell the numbers in crowd scenes. We hear much chanting of “exterminate, annihilate, destroy” and “Daleks conquer and destroy”, whilst also seeing the construction of Daleks for the first time. Whilst proceeding down the conveyer belt their mutant insides are plonked inside and seen by viewers for the first time in their live state. The Dalek mutants seen in episode of 12 of the Daleks’ Master Plan were in a regressed form. What makes the Daleks all the more frightening is that they are initially so compliant and obliging.

The Power of the Daleks – Surviving Dalek clips

The similarity between the Series 5 episode Victory of the Daleks and The Power of the Daleks is remarkable. In both stories the Daleks originally portray themselves as servants of humans. In Power the Dalek chants “I am your servant”, whilst in Victory their incantation is “I am your soldier”. In both stories the Doctor is increasingly frustrated at everyone’s refusal to take his concerns about the Daleks seriously. Wildly cognisant of the Dalek’s evil reputation, similar fear and frustration would be instilled into the viewers as well. As Toby Hadoke stated in Running Through Corridors, “… with us, the audience, more aware than most of the characters involved in this adventure just how deadly these creatures are. It’s like watching kids playing with a hand grenade, but being stuck behind soundproofed glass and unable to issue a warning”.

Victory of the Daleks Trailer

Victory of the Daleks bears distinct similiarities to The Power of the Daleks

Victory of the Daleks’ antecedents can be seen in The Power of the Daleks

Many of the humans in The Power of the Daleks are not particularly likeable. A rebel group within the community are planning a rebellion, however their grievances are unclear. Unlike the young double eye-browed rebels in The Space Museum whose oppression one could empathise with, even though they were the most useless revolutionaries ever portrayed on TV, these rebels are bullish and ignorant. Prepared to sacrifice anyone to achieve their ends, they make the Daleks in earlier episodes appear positively gentlemanly. Whereas the humans were unable to fathom the Cybermen’s lack of empathy in The Tenth Planet, it is in The Power of the Daleks that the monsters express the very same disbelief about the humans. A Dalek innocently asks, “Why do human beings kill human beings?”

It’s invariably the ignorance of humans, and the Rebels’ preparedness to co-opt the Daleks to their cause, which is the reason for their downfall. After using the humans to acquire the materials necessary to construct new Daleks, they have no further need for humans and destroy them. The Daleks are at their evil best and it’s a great shame that the visuals have been lost because the telesnaps make the massacre at the end look magnificent. Ultimately, however, the Doctor saves the day by destroying the Daleks. Or does he?

The Daleks are at their frightening best in The Power of the Daleks

What puzzled me was why the Daleks needed to be charged in Power of the Daleks whenever they were not on metal, yet the Daleks seen in The Chase and The Daleks’ Master Plan didn’t. Wood and Miles in About Time 2 posit cheekily that these Daleks must have been exhausted from their 200 years spent at the bottom of the mercury swamp or not fully-charged as they were fresh models straight off the production-line. One wonders how viewers can pick up these continuity discrepancies in the early years of Doctor Who, and yet the writers could not. Perhaps it was because the serial was written by David Whitaker and was the first Dalek serial in which Terry Nation had no input.

The Power of the Daleks was originally broadcast in the UK between 5 November and 10 December 1966

Loose Cannon’s VHS cover art for The Power of the Daleks. The Power of the Daleks was originally broadcast in the UK between 5 November and 10 December 1966

Vivien Fleming

©Vivien Fleming, 2013.

REFERENCES:

Robert Shearman and Toby Hadoke, Running Through Corridors. Rob and Toby’s Marathon Watch of Doctor Who (Mad Norwegian Press, Des Moines, Iowa: 2011),

Tat Wood & Lawrence Miles, About Time. The Unauthorized Guide to Doctor Who. 1966-1969 Seasons 4 to 6. Mad Norweigan Press, Illinois, 2010.

Jul10

The Peculiar Case of Vicki’s Quick Exit

Posted on July 10, 2013 by twistie1

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I have to admit I really liked Vicki. Young, perhaps no more than 17, she had a vibrancy that had been missing in her predecessor, the Doctor’s grand-daughter, Susan. As a former secondary school teacher I envied the way she was schooled. In The Web Planet Vicki incorrectly assumed that Barbara had taught at a nursery school because they “worked upwards from the three Rs.” The curriculum of Coal Hill School in 1963 seemed like child’s play to her. At the age of 10 she took a certificate of education in medicine, physics and chemistry. When asked by Barbara how long she spent in the classroom Vicki was totally perplexed. She’d spent almost an hour a week with a machine. Life in 2493 must have been a child’s dream existence!

A rare photo of Maureen O’Brien as Vicki in colour

Vicki was a member of the Tardis Crew in episodes which screened from 2 January 1965 until 6th November 1965. In just under 12 months Vicki had gone from an orphaned girl stranded on the planet Dido to the love interest of Troilus, son of the King of Troy. During that time, however, there was little in the way of character development. Save for when we met Vicki in The Rescue and she was clearly suffering from the effects of Bennett/Koquillion’s abuse, she remains a vibrant and forthright young woman throughout. As I have previously lamented, it was a shame that the opportunity wasn’t taken to examine the long term effects of this abuse on Vicki, however my concern for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder plainly comes from a 21st century perspective.

Koquillion and Vicki

This absence of character evolution says much about the 1960’s perception of women, particularly young ones. In the 1960s the median age of first marriage for women was around 20 years of age. Career opportunities were limited and pay was not equal. Although unable to locate figures for the United Kingdom, Australia as a Commonwealth country would have been reasonably similar. Until 1966 the Australian Public Service required single women to resign from their positions on the eve of their marriage. Equal pay was not granted until 1972. Is it any surprise, therefore, that women were portrayed as either children or mothers? With women having perhaps only five years between leaving school and marriage, this period between childhood and motherhood was marginalized and frequently forgotten.

Maureen O’Brien

When we first meet Vicki she is in a stereotypical role as carer for Bennett. As Bennett is supposedly crippled and unable to work, Vicki is compelled to undertake all the chores including collecting water, cooking and cleaning. She isn’t seen to complain about this notwithstanding the absence of any thanks from Bennett. Once a member of the Tardis Crew, Vicki is somewhat of a companion for the Doctor – a faux grand-daughter, if you like. The Doctor has someone to fuss around, care about and instruct. She provides him with moral support and most probably a sense of identity. She is close by his side in The Romans and The Crusade and does not distance herself in any great manner until The Space Museum, where she becomes involved with the young Xeron rebels and seems to start a revolution for fun. A potential love interest comes to nothing. Although coupled with Steven for much of The Time Meddler, Vicki is back at the Doctor’s side during Galaxy 4. In her final serial, The Myth Makers, Vicki is again separated from the Doctor but only because he’s compelled her to remain in the Tardis because of a sprained ankle. As was the case with both Susan and Barbara, female companions in Doctor Who are overly susceptible to wrenching their ankles. They require time to recuperate from such injuries, unlike Ian who was frequently knocked unconscious and seemed able to get up, and shake it off, each time.

Vicki, Steven and the Doctor in The Time Meddler

Quite phenomenally Vicki is capable of falling in love with Troilus in less than 24 hours, most of which time she was a prisoner in a dungeon. This love affair was even quicker than Susan and David’s in The Dalek Invasion of Earth. Having pleaded with the Doctor in The Crusade not to leave her as the Tardis was her only home, Vicki was extraordinarily quick to leave its confines in The Myth Makers. The television audience is not even privy to Vicki’s farewells to the Doctor as they take place out of camera shot inside the Tardis. The Doctor, nonetheless, appears satisfied with her explanation which seems to have been that she didn’t want Troilus to think she had betrayed him.

Vicki with the Doctor in The Crusade

Although spending one’s life travelling in a blue wooden box through time and space may appear somewhat aimless, it’s certainly more secure than with a bloke you’ve only known for a day; in a time several thousand years before your own; and in a land where your love’s home City has been destroyed. Ever quick to point out logical flaws in a witty manner, Wood and Miles in About Time 1 couldn’t help but extrapolate on a grave problem that Vicki and Troilus would be confronted by. As the Tardis translates languages for the benefit of the Crew and persons they meet along the way, once it had left then the two lovers would be unable to communicate with each other. Unless, of course, Vicki had learnt Ancient Greek, the language that Homer attributes to the Trojans in Iliad, in school!

Vicki – I hope that tasted nice!

Aside from the characterization failures in Doctor Who, the reality of Maureen O’Brien’s hasty exit from the role of Vicki appears to lay in programme’s change of producer. According to Howe, Walker and Stammers in The Handbook, O’Brien had been cast by Verity Truman having been suggested by one of her former drama teachers who then was in the employ of the BBC. The new producer, John Wiles, replaced Truman beginning with the production of The Myth Makers, although he had shadowed Truman during the making of Galaxy 4. Wood and Miles argue that “Wiles had noticed her tendency to pick holes in the dialogue during rehearsals for Galaxy Four, and made arrangements to have her removed while the cast were on holiday”. It was on her return from a week’s break given to the regular cast whilst Mission to the Unknown was filmed that O’Brien heard of her dismissal. Although the new character of Katarina was going to replace Vicki it soon became evident to Wiles and story editor, Donald Tosh, that Katarina’s Trojan naivety would make her an unsuitable companion. It’s for that reason that Katarina was just as hastily written out of Doctor Who in the fourth episode of The Daleks’ Master Plan.

A recent photo of Maureen O’Brien

So ends the less than a year long tenure of Maureen O’Brien as Vicki. This was but the beginning of a revolving door of companions which would grace the screens of Doctor Who over the next several years.

Vicki as we first meet her

Vivien Fleming

©Vivien Fleming, 2013.

References

David J Howe, Stephen James Walker & Mark Stammers, The Handbook. The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to the Production of Doctor Who. Telos Publishing Ltd, Surrey, 2005.

Tat Wood & Lawrence Miles, About Time 1. The Unauthorized Guide to Doctor Who. 1963-1966 Seasons 1 to 3. Mad Norweigan Press, Illinois, 2009.

Jul1

The Space Museum

Posted on July 1, 2013 by twistie1

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You can always be assured that Rob Shearman will give a hearty defence of any long derided Doctor Who serial. Writer of the Series One episode, Dalek, and several Big Finish audio productions, Shearman joined with Toby Hadoke, of Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf fame, to author Running Through Corridors: Rob and Toby’s Marathon Watch of Doctor Who. Shearman’s affection for The Space Museum is laid bare in the DVD special feature, Defending the Museum. His devotion rests on the assumption that The Space Museum is a parody of William Hartnell era Doctor Who episodes. The aggressors, the Moroks, are little more than morons who invade a planet only to turn it into a museum for their past achievements. The rebels are excruciatingly bad. Dressed in black polo neck jumpers, they look like students in a coffee bar. Vicki starts a revolution only because she’s bored and the native Xerons don’t need a great revolutionary, just a locksmith!

Writer Rob Shearman

Shearman is quick to praise episode one of The Space Museum, which he considers quite extraordinary. The story, he argues, is about inaction and how an event can be prevented once you know it’s going to happen. If this was in a theological context the argument would be about predestination and Calvinist theories of same. In the world of Doctor Who, however, does doing something really matter? In The Space Museum’s case it certainly does. Although all the motions of the Tardis Crew lead them into the very same situation, their actions have a positive effect on third parties. It is precisely because of other people’s deeds that history, for want of a better word, is changed and the Doctor and his companions are saved.

The Tardis Crew as museum exhibits

Although Shearman’s analysis is a worthy summation of the serial’s message, The Space Museum suffers from internal contradictions which counter this. In episode four Barbara laments that the crew have been on four separate journeys involving four discrete courses, yet they all lead to this one point. The Doctor explains that their actions may have influenced others, to which Ian responds by concluding that it can be others that change the future for them. Vicki quips in with the example of a revolution. What none of the Tardis Crew seem to realize, however, is that they’ve actually changed history themselves. The Doctor made much of the loss of one of Ian’s buttons earlier in the serial and chided him for not having noticed whether the frozen Ian in the display cabinet had a lost button or not. The Doctor and his companions, after all, were all wearing the same clothes. What no one twigged to, regrettably, was that once Barbara’s cardigan had been unravelled then she was no longer identical to the cardiganed Barbara in the display case. A bite of Barbara’s cardigan by a clueless Ian, and Barbara’s homely skills in teaching Ian how to retrieve wool from a knitted garment, was all that was required to save them. Heck, who needs a revolution with an arsenal of firearms when a knitted one will do!

Ian attempts to eat Barbara’s cardigan

The Space Museum is resplendent with comic interludes, the Doctor being given the majority of them. Eccentric as always, the Doctor frequently giggles at the cleverness of his own actions. After tying up a young Xeron rebel without the victim even seeing him, the Doctor hides in the casing of a Dalek exhibit. Popping his head out of the top of the Dalek is a classic moment. When hooked to the Moroks’ thought machine he is able to outwit the truth analyser which reflects thoughts onto a television screen. When asked how he arrived on Xeron, a picture of a penny farthing is flashed onto the screen. A pod of seals is seen when the Doctor is asked where he comes from. The Doctor naturally cackles with glee.

The Doctor hides inside the casing of a Dalek exhibit

Ian is portrayed in a menacing and quite violent light in this serial. Although cheerfully playing a game of “Cowboys and Indians” after removing a ray gun from its exhibition case, Ian is soon brandishing the weapon like a true warrior. Threatening the aggressors with a gun comes easily to Ian, who astounds the viewers with his matter of fact acceptance of violence near the close of the third episode. Pointing the ray gun at the Morok leader, Ian is told by the threatened Lobos that he’d be a fool to kill him. “You will achieve nothing”, says Lobos. Ian’s reply is chilling – “Possibly, but it might be enjoyable”. Ian’s colleagues at Coal Hill School would scarcely recognize him.

Morok Leader Lobos. The Moroks’ hairstyles are as unappealing as the Xerons’ eyebrows

Vicki is able to distance herself from the Doctor in this serial and spends much of the time in the presence of the young rebel Xerons. She has a rudimentary knowledge of the Daleks from 25th Century history books although she is surprised at how unintimidating they appear. Vicki has a sound understanding of time dimension theory and is able to re-programme a less than intelligent computer to accept truthful, but otherwise incorrect, answers. As previously mentioned, her crowning glory in the serial is convincing the laid back rebels that revolution is not only a good, but also an achievable, objective. Unfortunately everything concerning the revolution is too easy and entirely implausible, with young Vicki making it appear like a fun afternoon distraction.

Vicki tricks a less than intelligent computer

Romance appears imminent at the story’s end as Vicki bids a fond farewell to the rebel, Tor. Holding both of his hands on their goodbyes, it appears for a moment that Vicki may have to choose between love and the Doctor. Alas, another quick marriage proposal is not made and Vicki remains with the Tardis Crew – at least for the moment.

Those bizarre Xeron extra eyebrows. Is it little wonder that Vicki didn’t stay?

Barbara’s role in The Space Museum is somewhat less forthright than usual, although she does display her characteristic homely skills in clothing (de)construction. The costume department failed her miserably and she is dressed in the most matronly garb yet seen. That the show was filmed almost live is evident from Barbara’s half slip being in view for the best part of an episode.

The Tardis Crew examine the Dalek exhibit. Barbara lucked out in the costume department

The serial ends with the revelation that the whole “time dimension” problem was caused by a stuck component in the Tardis. If this sounds familiar, well it is. The bizarre events of The Edge of Destruction were prompted by the same type of technical malfunction. As Tat Wood and Lawrence Miles state in About Time 1, the Doctor has clearly yet to discover WD40!

The special features on The Space Museum DVD are well worth viewing. Together with Rob Shearman’s defence, there’s also a delightful short piece, My Grandfather, the Doctor, in which Jessica Carney speaks about the career of her grandfather, William Hartnell. Comedian Christopher Green’s spoof, A Holiday for the Doctor, in which he stars as actress Ida Barr, is not to be missed.

Christopher Greene as “Ida Barr”

“The Space Museum” was originally broadcast in the UK between 24th April and 15th May 1965

The Space Museum was released in a Box Set with The Chase entitled (you guessed it!) “The Space Museum The Chase”.

Vivien Fleming

Reference

Tat Wood & Lawrence Miles, “About Time. The Unauthorized Guide to Doctor Who. 1963-1966 Seasons 1 to 3″. Mad Norweigan Press, Illinois, 2009.

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Tag Archives: The Space Museum

The Seeds of Death

The Power of the Daleks

The Peculiar Case of Vicki’s Quick Exit

The Space Museum