Doctor Who Marathon - The Reign of Terror

This posts story is The Reign of Terror. I have little to no knowledge of this period of history, so Doctor Who's original remit of placing our team into historical periods and educating the viewer about the time will hopefully be met by this story.

Before I look at the story a quick aside. I've been looking at the figures with regards episodes watched and days to go. A quick Google search tells me that 23/11/13 is the 327th day of the year, so from the beginning of the year I would have needed to watch 2.44 episodes a day (798/327). As I have clearly been slacking, the episodes to days ratio is now 2.71 (798-42 episodes / 327-48 days) So just over two and a half episodes a day, that's easy right? We shall see.

A Land of Fear - We begin with a rather cock-sure Doctor adamant that, following Ian's apparent insolence at the end of the previous episode, he has landed on Earth in 1963 to return Ian and Barbara home. The TARDIS scanner shows trees and fields which Barbara suggests could be Somerset as she once holidayed there. Ian asks the Doctor to join them for a drink so that they part on happier terms and the Doctor duly accepts. Upon leaving the TARDIS our team hear a noise which Ian goes to investigate; returning with a young boy. This boy confirms that they are in France, 12 kilometres from Paris. The Doctor seems happy with this as '100 miles' either way is quite accurate, bearing in mind the travel capabilities of his ship. Ian and Barbara are quite sarcastic in their dismissal of the Doctors statement, saying that maybe there is a 100 year buffer as well.

A seemingly empty farmhouse offers refuge although, as ever, we find it is not deserted and our team is quickly apprehended by two French men. The Doctor is bashed about the head and is left upstairs, while Barbara, Ian and Susan are caught downstairs, shortly after they have changed into clothes that they have found. The farmhouse is suddenly surrounded by soldiers and our team are accused of leading them there. The two men inside the house are on the opposite side of the revolution than the soldiers outside. It seems that the way to tell the two side apart is that the surrounding soldiers are all wearing hats, compared to our rather dishevelled men inside. The soldiers outside intend to wait until the insiders give in and surrender themselves, this tactic proves to be very effective as one of our insiders cracks immediately. The second Frenchman follows his outside and is promptly shot, the first Frenchman is also killed and Barbara, Ian and Susan are captured. The outsiders briefly consider killing them there and then, but decide that 'Madame Guillotine' would be a much better option, this does involve marching to Paris I assume is where the next episode will pick up. The episode ends with the outsiders setting fire to the farmhouse, unaware that the Doctor is still inside. He wakes up and attempts to escape the burning building but is overcome by the smoke. We see the young boy from the beginning of the episode hiding in the trees just outside, and a slow pan up from the burning building ends the episode...

Guests of Madame Guillotine - This episode continues the bad guys wearing hats theme, our jailer and his men have a variety of head gear between them. Very much a filler episode, we spend most of our time with Barbara and Susan in a jail cell, attempting to dig their way out. The Doctor is saved from the burning building and takes a fanciful and elongated stroll to Paris, shown in a lengthy walking montage. On the way he is forced to assist in digging up a road, and gets out of it in a genius move of deception. Tricking the labour master into thinking they had found treasure, when really it was money the Doctor had pick pocketed from him moments before. The main crux of the story continuation lies with Ian who is in a separate cell from the Ladies. His cell mate passes away but not before he has told him to seek out James Stirling, and to tell him that he must make it back to England. The episode ends with Ian, who has been pardoned from the guillotine as the master jailer believes he is withholding information received from the dying man, watching Barbara and Susan being led to the guillotine...

A Change of Identity - As Susan and Barbara are being transported to the guillotine, their cart is ambushed and they are rescued by two men who take the two ladies back to their safehouse. Ian escapes from his cell, after the jailer conveniently leaves his keys in the lock, and disguises himself in some clothes he finds in the jail. The Doctor arrives in Paris and enters a shop looking to swap his clothes for that of a regional officer. The shop keeper agrees, but only if he can have the Doctors ring. It is this ring that forms the episodes cliffhanger, when the shopkeeper tells the guards that the owner of the ring is a traitor...

The Tyrant of France - After escaping in the previous episode, this one sees Ian, Barbara and Susan recaptured. Susan falls ill and, despite protestations from the two men who took them to the safehouse, Barbara takes her to a physician, who promptly rats them out as escaped prisoners. They are taken back to the prison and are to be interrogated by none other than the Doctor in his regional officer disguise. Ian is initially rescued and taken to the safehouse. He then arranges to meet with Leon, who is trying to find out the message that Ian was given by the dying man in the prison, and is captured by Leon's armed guards...

A Bargain of Necessity - Ian is chained up and told he will not be released until he tells Leon the information that he wants, Ian pleads ignorance and says he has no information. Jules enters and says Ian, killing Leon in the process, they both return to Jules' safe house. Meanwhile in the prison, the Doctor has come up with an ingenious plan to break out Barbara and Susan. The Doctor convinces the Jailer that if he releases Barbara they can follow her back to the secret safehouse, the Jailer takes the credit for the idea and releases Barbara, who returns to the safe house. The Doctor tries the same trick for Susan but the Jailer is wise this time. The Doctor instead tells Susan to hide behind her cell door so it looks like she has escaped. The Jailer opens her door and the Doctor bashes him on the head. The Doctor and Susan attempt to escape but he is caught by LeMaitre, the head Jailer, who tells the Doctor that he was wise to his dress up deception from the off. The Doctor and LeMaitre turn up at the secret safehouse to provide a cliff hanger for the episode...

Prisoners of Conciergerie - LeMaitre is Stirling, the man who Ian has a message for. This message reveals that a secret meeting is to take place at The Sinking Ship Inn, between conspirators looking to overthrow Robespierre. The conspirator leader is Barras who is Robespierre's second in command, the man he is meeting in no other than Napoleon Bonaparte! Following this meeting, Robespierre is overthrown in Paris and shot in the jaw, which paves the way for the revolution to start. Our TARDIS team are reunited, after the Doctor sneaks Susan out of the jail, while the jailers are distracted by their latest prisoner, Robespierre. Our team are dropped off at the TARDIS by LeMaitre/Stirling on his way to Calais as he returns to England. We end with a shot of the stars and a voiceover from the Doctor...

'Our destiny is in the stars, so let's go and search for it.'

This story is a fitting end to the first series of Doctor Who. There seems to have been no expense spared as we follow the TARDIS crew through France/Paris. This is mainly true throughout the series, the wobbly walls in The Sensorites are an exception, and with the many different places and time zones encountered this is testament to the whole crews dedication to producing the best show that they could.

 

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Doctor Who Marathon - The Sensorites

This time it's the Sensorites...

Strangers in Space - We start in the TARDIS with the team reminiscing about the previous adventures we've seen. This is a nice touch which shows how far we've come on this journey. The Doctors reference to an adventure with Henry VIII tells us that there were adventures before we joined the team and doubtless many more aside. Leaving the TARDIS, the team come across two seemingly dead bodies. These are quickly revived with a strange gadget, and it is revealed that the two humans have been trapped there by the Sensorites. While this is happening, the TARDIS lock is stolen, trapping everyone one the spaceship. Barbara and Susan get trapped with a third human, who has been driven mad by the Sensorites mind control, and it is while a rescue attempt occurs that two Sensorite ships are seen through the spaceships window The episode end with the reveal of a Sensorite climbing up the outside of the spaceships window... 

The Unwilling Warriors - The Sensorites board the ship and attempt to control Barbara's and Susan's minds. The mind control is reversed by Barbara and Susan thinking of the same thing the same time. Once Ian has used his magic super strength to open the massive metal doors, Barbara and Susan are safe. The majority of the rest of the episode is Ian and Barbara creeping through a particularly flimsy set until they come across the recently boarded Sensorites. They are then slowly lured back to the control room and the rest of our gang by Ian, waving around a wrench. The episode concludes with Susan telepathically conversing with the Sensorites and agreeing to go down to their planet,the Sense Sphere, with them as a bargain against the lives of the others... 

Hidden Danger - The team, minus Barbara, accompany the Sensorites to the Sense Sphere, where they hope to retrieve the TARDIS lock. The Sensorites are wary of the humans due to a previous group, who tried to exploit them over the precious minerals inside the planet. The Doctor and Ian don't really help their cause by utilising a suspected aversion to the dark to great effect. The Sensorites are cautious, but seem to be won around by the Doctor, claiming that they are trustworthy as they did not attack when the Sensorites were blinded. It is also revealed that the Sensorites are suffering from a disease, and I suspect that part of the trust they put in our group is that they hope the humans can assist with finding a cure. Two of the Sensorites are not convinced and unhappy at the human presence, plan to kill them with a laser to the heart, but this is thwarted. The episode ends however, with Ian choking after he has taken a drink from the water offered to him by the Sensorites...

A Race against Death / Kidnap - I watched these two episode together so am lumping the writing bits together. The Doctor deduces that it is the water that has poisoned Ian, as Susan and himself had only eaten the fruit. We are treated to a water testing montage, many test tubes of water and a piece of card that is moved across as each vial is tested. The Doctor finds out which aqueduct is tainted and sets out to investigate. He is warned off as there are 'creatures' out there, but he is undeterred. This ultimately leads to him being attacked and his jacket is shredded, he is given a rather fetching cape to replace it. It is this cape that leads to the reveal, to our team and the Sensorites, that some of their number are scheming. The Doctor is accused of attacking someone, by taking a weapon out of his coat pocket, which is not possible after it was shredded earlier. The viewer is quite aware that two of the Sensorites are scheming, having seen them discussing it quite loudly. My favourite moment of scheming comes from the Sensorites realising that the only thing differentiating them, in the humans eyes, is their sashes and collars. There is a speech, almost directly to camera, where two of the characters discuss that if the Sensorites where to switch there clothes they wouldn't be able to tell them apart. To link it to 'new Who', it is similar to the Sontaran Stratagem, where one of the characters says that the Sontarans, being a clone race, all look the same. It is quickly countered with the Sontaran saying that to them, all humans look the same. The episode ends with one of the humans being kidnapped by the two scheming Sensorites...

A Desperate Venture - She is forced to write a note saying she has gone back to the spaceship, so that the rest of out team do not suspect she has been kidnapped. Our team know this to be a lie as they have just retrieved Barbara from the ship (and I assume Jacqueline Hill was on her annual leave for the two weeks/episodes Barbara was absent). The Doctor and Ian head back into the sewers to find out who is poisoning the water supply. It turns out that the poisoners are the survivors from the previous human mission to the planet. They have been driven mad by the Sensorites mind reading and believe that they are at war. The Doctor and Ian lure them out of the sewers by claiming to be a further human mission and that they have defeated the Sensorites and won the 'war'. Upon leaving the sewers, a group of Sensorites meet our group. The Doctor pleads leniency on the survivors, which is granted and they are free to leave with the rest of the human contingent. The story is wrapped up very quickly and we find our TARDIS team in the control room, watching the humans leaving the Sense Sphere. Ian makes a comment about the humans knowing where they are heading, and the Doctor erupts with rage, accusing Ian of calling him a fool and deliberately not taking them home...

I've made a change to the story pictures at the bottom of each post. My plan going forward is to do one post per story, and add an appropriate image at the bottom. The original plan was to use the title card from each story, but as I've watched further stories, the single episode names do not really reflect the overall story name. Anywho, onto the The Reign of Terror...

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Doctor Who Marathon - The Aztecs

The Aztecs - This story takes our team back to Earth and is a historical adventure. Following the previous historical, Marco Polo, I approached this one with a little trepidation. Seeing it is four episodes alleviated these fears as hopefully the story is not dragged out.

Story - This adventure has two main threads, one which reflects the historical nature of the piece and one which reflects the time travel nature of the show. Thread one sees Barbara mistaken as a God and is worshipped so, this leads to thread two, the decision by Barbara to try and change history by stopping human sacrifices.

Thread one - This part of the story takes inspiration from the true story of Hernan Cortes who, upon encountering the Aztec people, was worshipped as a God as he matched the description from Aztec prophecy. The documentary extra on the DVD was very informative on this point.

Thread two - The discussion of altering history arises and is quickly shot down by the Doctor. As it is established history things cannot be changed. Fixed points in time come up quite often in 'New Who' and seeing the idea come up in the sixth story, to me, shows that the key themes of the show continue to be utilised.

Side notes - Honourable mentions from this story go to the fight scenes, which are well choreographed, but due to limitations in the budget, the actors cannot go full throttle for fear of breaking the props. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLPR_uB4-5s) Another sub-plot concerns the Doctor and his accidental engagement to an Aztec lady. His reaction when he realises what has happened is priceless and reminded me of the 11th Doctors reaction to Amy at the end of Flesh and Stone.

Other bits - It has been announced this week that the second half of the latest series of Doctor Who is to begin on 30/03/13, as such I've upped the total episode count to 798.

Anywho, next time is The Sensorites...

 

30 of 798 episodes watched

Doctor Who Marathon - Catch up, Caves & Keys

It has been a week or so since my last update, and in that time I have watched the five remaining episodes of Marco Polo and the six episodes of The Keys of Marinus.

Marco Polo - The story seemed to be dragging on by the end and I felt that the realisation that Tegana was the villain, by Marco Polo was drawn out seemingly endlessly. Tegana finally got his comeuppance and the Doctor and his team get their TARDIS back. The story could have been cut down by a few episodes and still worked as well. Being a historical piece I found the information about the origin of the word assassin interesting, but much preferred the earlier Dalek story to compare the longest stories I've currently watched.

The Keys of Marinus - This story is my favourite of the ones I have watched so far, at least the first four episodes are. The pace at which the story moves forward and the initial construction, of having to find four keys spread across a planet, means that each of the opening episodes could almost be taken as a separate adventure. The court proceedings that take up a majority of the final two episodes turn into a bit of a 'who'dunnit (pardon the pun) and is resolved due to a mis-speak by the guilty party. Having the murderer revealed due to her making mention of the conversation set up by Susan's kidnapper was a clever touch. This story doesn't hang around with getting started and the multiple locations, made it feel closer to the 'new who' stories that I am used to watching.

Caves - Of the five stories I've watched, four of them have included a cave of some sort. An Unearthly Child had the cave of skulls, The Daleks had the cave travelled through by Ian and Barbara on the way to the city, Marco Polo had the cave of five hundred eyes and The Keys of Marinus had the ice cave. I appreciate it may have been down to financial constraints and the reusing of sets would be cost effective, I just found it interesting that four very different stories, two historical Earth pieces, and two futuristic planets would all have need for a cave. Maybe caves were all the rage in the sixties?

Birthday - It was my birthday last Friday (18/01), and I received some Doctor Who DVD's to aid this marathon. I got The Keys of Marinus, The Aztecs, The Sensorites, Planet of Giants and The Dalek Invasion of Earth. This should keep me going for the next couple of weeks, although I may have to invest in The Reign of Terror that has recently been released with two episodes recreated through animation.

Anywho, until the next time...

        

26 of 790 episodes watched

Doctor Who Marathon - The Roof of the World/The Singing Sands

In my attempts to track down an audio of this story, I found a reconstruction on YouTube. This has the audio over colour pictures from the episode. My initial fears over this episode have subsided; having images of the characters has allowed me to get into the story much more easily. I find this quite telling of the society we live in, in that I feel more comfortable with pictures in front of me rather than just the sound. I briefly considered seeking out the Target novelisation of this story, but the time constraints I've put on this challenge means it is not viable. 

Back to the episodes, the TARDIS has landed on a snowy mountain and the team discover a passing caravan which is revealed to belong to Marco Polo. We find out that Marco is working for Khan, and is hoping that the completion of this journey will allow him to return home. The villain of this episode is Tegana, one of Marco's highest ranking chiefs. The asides we are shown with Tegana reveal his plan to kill Marco and his Caravan, through abandoning them in the desert with no water. He is hoping that this will curry favour with Khan and will get rid of his rival Marco. Tegana is portrayed almost as a panto villain with the reveal of this plan, I could almost imagine him twirling his moustache. He may have been, without the the video we will never know. Also, it is almost as if Tegana is so proud of his plan that he can't wait to tell everyone. He keeps making mention of killing the king while Marco and Ian are playing chess. I mean there's foreshadowing and then there's shouting that you plan to kill the leader. I have written a short script excerpt from the chess game below: 

Marco Polo: Hey Ian, wanna play chess?
Ian: Sure Marco.
Marco Polo: Remember the aim of the game is to capture the King.
Tegana: Or kill the King
Marco Polo: Yes Tegana, or kill the King.
Tegana: Kill the King, kill the King!
Marco Polo: Are you all right Tegana?
Tegana: Yes, yes. *whispers* kill the King.

There is also a moment where Tegana draws his sword as though to attack Marco. When Marco spots him, Tegana claims he is testing him to ensure he is ready should any attacks come. Let's just say Tegana is not being very subtle with regards his plan. Even with the above moments the characters do not suspect Tegana, to the extent that following his sabotage of the water supplies, they agree to let him continue towards to the oasis to bring water back. This is the cliffhanger to the episode and I can't believe it will be much further into the story that Tegana gets his comeuppance. 

Tegana being devious (any picture of him could have the same description)

Something I have been keeping my eye on in each episode is which character will say the name of the episode in their dialogue. Just something that makes me chuckle, but as it has happened in the last four episodes I thought it was worth mentioning. Anywho, until the next time... 

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Doctor Who Marathon - The Edge of Destruction

The Edge of Destruction/The Brink of Disaster - A two parter set entirely inside the TARDIS and without a visible enemy is an early indicator of how varied this show can be. The first two stories we've had have taken the viewer to Earth's past and an alien planet, while this two parter subverts the grand show pieces and provides a story confined to two rooms.

Something is wrong with the TARDIS! The doors will not open and the control panel cannot be touched without a great electric shock. The Doctor, Susan and Ian all fall foul of the control panel, causing them to attack one another. Ian attempts to strangle the Doctor and Susan attacks Barbara with scissors. This leads to a confrontation between the Doctor and Ian & Barbara, with accusations from both sides of deception. The revelation that they have only 15 mins to live, compounds the fear and adds to the desperation of the situation.

The big reveal at the end of the episode is that a faulty switch is the cause of what has been going on. It feels a bit of a cop out for me, but giving the viewer a lot of character moments. The conversation between the Doctor and Barbara shows that he cares for the people he has taken under his wing.

The next episodes I have to watch are the first of the missing episodes. Onward to Marco Polo. Until the next time...

13 of 790 episodes watched

Doctor Who Marathon - The plan, the cave and ride on Daleks

The post in which we cover the end of the Dalek serial in episodes - The Expedition, The Ordeal and The Rescue. I have split the post into three parts to give my thoughts on the key parts in this triple bill.

The Expedition (aka The Plan) - Following the Doctor and his teams' escape and return to the Thals, the Daleks hatch a plan to reclaim Skaro for themselves and eradicate any other life on the Planet. The use of a nuclear bomb to do this has echoes of WWII, although this version has the perceived bad guys with the weapon. Yes, what I'm getting at is are the Daleks really the bad guys? The Daleks have adapted to life on their planet, encasing themselves in machines to protect themselves from the radiation that has ravaged the planet. Also, the technology to cultivate food with artificial sunlight has allowed them to survive in the harshest environment. Applying Darwin's 'survival of the fittest' to this situation, you could argue that the Thals have no right in attacking the Daleks, granted they lured the Thals into a trap and killed their leader, but was this an act of self defence? Am I on the side of the Daleks? At this point I think I am. 

Hug a Dalek - A peace keeping initiative?

The Ordeal (aka The Cave) - The Thals plan of attacking on two fronts makes sense from an element of surprise aspect but trekking through a deadly swamp, and entering a cave with no idea if there is an exit reeks of stupidity. I'd be the first to volunteer to escort the Doctor and Susan on the path they've already travelled and know is safe. The journey through the swamp passes without major incident, in the grand scheme of this attack, as the Thals only lose one member to a mysterious swamp creature. I should mention that the Thals were initially against re-entering the city, but are easily persuaded by Ian with a flimsy argument of its you or them. It's almost as it they want a fight. Entering the cave, one of the Thals suddenly decides that he is not up for a fight and wishes to go back, fortunately for the progression of the story a cave collapse puts paid to that. A convenient chasm opens up before our travellers, allowing for, quite literally a cliffhanger. The Thal who wanted to go back ends up falling short of the ledge leap and is left hanging. There is a fine show of struggling to hold on acting going on from Ian to end the episode.

The Rescue (aka Ride a Dalek) - The Thal who wanted to go back, gets his wish in a way, as he cuts rope, saving Ian from a fall and allowing the others to continue. The cave eventually leads to the basement of the main Dalek building which is handy. The Doctor and Susan have been taken prisoner, and as Ian, Barbara and their crew make tracks through the building, they meet with the other Thals who have become concerned that the Doctor had not returned. Upon reaching the Dalek control room, on level 10 as the Dalek intercom helpfully pointed out, what follows is a game of hide and seek almost as Ian sneaks around the room. It is reminiscent of Metal Gear Solid, in that the Daleks have a limited tunnel vision directly ahead.

For red dots imagine Daleks

 As Ian releases the Doctor and Susan, Thals suddenly appear from every direction, including one rappelling down from the roof. The Daleks are seemingly defeated by being ridden by various Thals. This looks like fun, and is a precursor to the inflatable ride in Daleks released last year. 

Re: My Birthday - This please, but bigger so I will fit!

The kicking of the Daleks and seeing them glide around, is similar to how we find the Daleks being controlled by Donna Noble in Journeys End. Fortunately, the Daleks are defeated and have left the fluid link that the team need to restore the TARDIS on one of their control machines. After a tender moment back at the Thals camp with Barbara, the team enter the TARDIS and onto adventures new. A sudden jolt in the TARDIS, throws the team to the floor for this episodes cliffhanger.

I enjoyed the cave episode and the final episode of this serial, although with the riding of the Daleks towards the end, I couldn't take it too seriously. A lot of the plot points seemed quite contrived, the cave collapse and the Thal suddenly deciding he wanted to go back progressed the story, but some character moments arrived from nowhere. I am enjoying the journey so far, and my eyes have just about adapted to the black and white and I think that watching most of the episodes on my phone certainly helps. I've two more episodes until I hit the first missing story, and I am looking forward to experiencing a story in audio form. Having read a lot about 'classic' who stories and the characters, finally seeing them live on screen compounds my reading, and will help with visualising the Marco Polo story that is coming up.

Anywho, until next time...

11 of 790 episodes watched