Category: Episode by Episode
Doctor Who episode 351: The Green Death – Episode Two (26/5/1973)
So far this is possibly the most X-Filesy Doctor Who, with its dodgy government contracts, colourful locals and something nasty buried below the Earth infecting people. There’s a strand of thought that UNIT stories are all like this, but usually they’re providing security for something, or acting as official observers, rather than the Brigadier, in civvies, having a nosey. Courtney looks great in his flat cap (I’m less sold on Pertwee’s dog blanket), but no-one can hold a candle to the incredible cuteness of Katy Manning in her miner’s gear, hat askew.
Doctor Who episode 350: The Green Death – Episode One (19/5/1973)
The sinking feeling when Robert Sloman’s name appears in the opening credits is misplaced. There’s none of the archness and whimsy that disfigured his last script, The Time Monster. Instead, we’re presented with something that skirts dangerously close to polemic as Professor Jones and Jo Grant take a stand against the diesel pollution threatened by Global Chemicals’ new factory in South Wales. This has a sense of purpose and passion beyond pretty much anything the show has previously offered, and the result is one of the most instantly compelling episodes ever.
Doctor Who episode 349: Planet of the Daleks – Episode Six (12/5/1973)
The Latep/Jo relationship sums up Planet of the Daleks. It’s oddly cursory, it comes out of nowhere, lasts just long enough to make a point, and is then over and done with (Latep takes the whirlwind, one-episode romance very stoically as he waves a cheery goodbye and heads back to Skaro). It’s almost like a pastiche of what Terry Nation remembers about the 1960s episodes and Susan and Vicki’s shotgun marriage departures.
Doctor Who episode 348: Planet of the Daleks – Episode Five (5/5/1973)
Pace has slowed to a crawl in this instalment, as it tends to with most fifth of six episodes. A great deal of time is spent battling creatures in the dark (represented by some light bulbs) which reinforces the dangers of Spiridon, but doesn’t do much to move things forward. You can sense how much the serial has run out of steam by the amount of time the Doctor and Jo sit about wondering what to do next, with no particular sense of urgency.
Doctor Who episode 347: Planet of the Daleks – Episode Four (28/4/1973)
One thing I really like about Planet of the Daleks is its focus on the utter, relentless horror of the Daleks themselves. They cut through a solid metal door, quickly discover the Doctor’s escape route up the ventilation shaft, send a squad out to locate and destroy the Thal bombs and intercept the escapers at the top of the shaft, send a Dalek to elevate up after their enemies (belying Revelation and Remembrance‘s claims to have been the first to feature flying Daleks), and develop a deadly bacteria to wipe out all life on Spiridon just out of spitefulness towards the little band of rebels. There’s something quite Michael Myers about this unremitting pursuit and destruction that reminds us how brilliantly horrible an invention the Daleks are.
Doctor Who episode 345: Planet of the Daleks – Episode Two (14/4/1973)
Terry Nation has decided to give this story a theme, with all the subtlety he displays when naming planets. So we have several moments where the Doctor reflects on the difference between recklessness and courage, condemning Vaber’s hot-headedness and praising Codal’s self-sacrifice. It all boils down to “feel the fear and do it anyway”. Thanks for attending this Ted Talk.
Doctor Who episode 344: Planet of the Daleks – Episode One (7/4/1973)
Frontier in Space/Planet of the Daleks was inspired by memories of the 12-part Daleks’ Master Plan, but separating the planet hopping/interstellar politics/enemy Time Lord elements of that serial from the Dalek city on Kembel. Terry Nation’s first script for the programme since 1966 picks up almost precisely where he left off, with a desperate mission to a Dalek-infested jungle planet populated by deadly flora that can turn a human being into a vegetable. Instead of Agent Bret Vyon we get Taron the Thal, but for the most part this repurposes Mission to the Unknown and the first five episodes of The Daleks’ Master Plan. It even has a desperate message recorded on a cassette.
Doctor Who episode 343: Frontier in Space – Episode Six (31/3/1973)
The problems with Episode Five are that once the Doctor has convinced Earth and Draconia that the Master is trying to tip them, Blofeld style, into war there’s nowhere for the story to go until the showdown. If anything, this week the issue is even more pronounced, with about 15 minutes of pure vamping as the Doctor does an agonisingly slow space walk to repair General Williams’ ship, while Jo stages a prison break and sends a message to warn the galaxy only for the Master to reveal he was pranking her. When Hulke has to resort to the Ogron Eater, a monster that looks far more fearsome as a Lovecraftian mural than a billowing duvet on location, just to keep things going another couple of minutes it’s a bit heart sinking.
Doctor Who episode 342: Frontier in Space – Episode Five (24/3/1973)
This episode is ever so slightly thin after the last four weeks. The main issue is that once the Doctor has convinced the Draconian Emperor that he’s telling the truth about the Ogrons, which happens around halfway, there’s nowhere much for the story to go until it ends next week. This results in a second half that is an extended spaceship chase sequence complete with lots of wobbling about action to simulate a battle. Hulke’s script is good enough that it never threatens to become tiresome – the Master’s ongoing reluctance to kill the Doctor, particularly at long range, is nicely done – but it does feel like killing time.
Doctor Who episode 341: Frontier in Space – Episode Four (17/3/1973)
Having done plenty of work to establish the setting, this episode is content to trust that the interplay between the Doctor, Jo and the Master is enough to entertain the audience for 25 minutes. It’s a fairly safe bet, given how well established these characters are, and this is pretty indulgent (we didn’t really need to spend 25 minutes on the way to the Ogron planet) but very entertaining. We don’t really learn very much to advance the story except the intriguing nugget that the Master is working for mysterious ’employers’ who want the Doctor brought to them, and the suggestion that Jo and the Doctor have been travelling the universe for quite some time given Jo’s fretting about a court martial when she gets back, and says, ‘We keep landing up in one terrible situation after the other.’
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