Category: Doctor Who
Doctor Who: The Pilot Episode (26/8/1991)
‘Absolutely brilliant at some things, excruciatingly bad at others and, well, just inexplicable at the rest.’ Broadcast as part of The Lime Grove Story commemorating the closure of those studios, this is the original version of An Unearthly Child – the one that prompted Sydney Newman to order a remount. It’s understandable why – although later first Doctor episodes included worse fluffs (here, Jacqueline Hill stumbles over ’15 year old girl’ and Hartnell sounds like he’s making up his speech about ancient Romans and gunpowder) they aren’t the kind of things you want in your showcase first night.
Doctor Who episode 701: Survival – Part Three (6/12/1989)
‘I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet and just run forever.’ Rona Munro shows her workings a little bit too clearly as Midge is transformed into a Yuppie, and I’ve never quite understood why – of all things – the Master gets a gang that looks like the Jets from the Soho Men’s Choir production of West Side Story and decides a game of chicken on motorbikes is the best way to get rid of the Doctor. However, this largely lands the ending. It helps that Munro has written a three-part story with three episodes’ worth of material (rather than four or five), and so even if the details of the Master’s plan are wonky we can follow the progress to that point.
Doctor Who episode 700: Survival – Part Two (29/11/1989)
‘Do you know any nice people? You know, ordinary people, not power-crazed nutters trying to take over the galaxy?’ Ainley’s performance, controlled, almost subdued, like the Master is battling to suppress the animal instincts that threaten to rule him, disproves the idea he was just an old ham. This wouldn’t have worked in something like The Mark of the Rani – he would have been lost against Colin Baker and Kate O’Mara, but here it’s exactly what the script requires, and it adds impact to the moments when he surrenders to the power of the cat to howl at the moon.
Doctor Who episode 699: Survival – Part One (22/11/1989)
‘So what’s so terrible about Perivale?’ The opening sets the tone: on a suburban street a man (living with his mum, we can all infer the rest) runs from something terrifying. The Curse of Fenric included a similar, typically Doctor Who moment – but normally it’s on a haunted beach or a space station corridor, not West London in broad daylight in the present day. This is the most domestic Doctor Who story, juxtaposing the local youth club, a playground, a corner shop, with alien cat people from a pink-skied planet.
Doctor Who episode 698: The Curse of Fenric – Part Four (15/11/1989)
‘They’re trying to control the world with chemical weapons. Let’s join forces. Fight the real enemy.’ “So, the secret of defeating Fenric is an illegal chess move and a quick chat with the Ancient One. Simples. Now that’s all sorted let’s dry clean our clothes and go for a swim and try not to worry about your grandma turning up on the doorstep of a complete stranger in Streatham.” I bet Kathleen nursed a grudge against that Ace for years for sending her on a wild goose chase.
Doctor Who episode 697: The Curse of Fenric – Part Three (8/11/1989)
‘You always know. You just can’t be bothered to tell anyone. It’s like it’s some kind of game, and only you know the rules.’ Again, the choppy TV edit constantly teeters on the brink of collapsing into a mess. Luckily, it’s shot on location in period costume rather than on outer-space sets with glittery costumes, because the dialogue and plot isn’t much advanced from Dragonfire’s (and I like Dragonfire).
Doctor Who episode 696: The Curse of Fenric – Part Two (1/11/1989)
‘Deep down, everybody wants to come into the water.’ I guess because Fenric is an evil from the dawn of time it has the power to do more or less anything, which explains the creepy but baffling events in this episode: runes burning themselves into existence; a wellspring of deadly poison; girls running fully-dressed into the sea, and barnacled corpses rising from the deep.
Doctor Who episode 695: The Curse of Fenric – Part One (25/10/1989)
‘This is it. The final battle between the gods and the beasts.’ It’s the most convincing Halloween episode since State of Decay, even if most of it takes place during the day. As with Dragonfire, it’s a melange of references, particularly to Dracula. And like most great Doctor Who it juxtaposes modern (for 1942) computers and machinery with ancient runes and Viking curses. It’s got POV shots of an unseen something hunting a terrified man along the beach, and the promise of ancient evil returning to haunt the present. It’s as much a race memory of Hinchcliffe Doctor Who as Remembrance of the Daleks was for the UNIT era.
Doctor Who episode 694: Ghost Light – Part Three (18/10/1989)
‘If you don’t like it then bog off.’ Light is defeated in the same way as Dr Johnson in Blackadder the Third, by the hero pointing out gaps in his catalogue. This is more straightforward than the first two episodes, offering some necessary clarifications around Smith and Light’s separate plans (although how Smith thinks assassinating Queen Victoria will allow him to ascend the throne still less overturn Parliament is anyone’s guess).
Doctor Who episode 693: Ghost Light – Part Two (11/10/1989)
‘To catch a wolf, I may have unleashed a tiger.’ This has a reputation for being complicated and impenetrable, and I think this is largely because there are two stories in parallel. One is Josiah Smith’s attempts to become a Victorian gentleman and restore the British Empire, the other is the Doctor’s decision to uncover the evil Ace once sensed in Perivale.
Next Time... 