After two episodes of rare video material it’s tough to switch back to tele-snaps and audio for this final instalment, particularly as there are large chunks that involve fiddling with equipment or water rushing through the caves. From the sounds of it, this was a suitably apocalyptic climax to a story that threatened the end of the world, with photos showing the statue of Amdo toppled and hurled into the sea: another fallen civilisation joining Troy and the Elders’ in the Doctor’s 500 Year Diary.

Continue reading →

I know this is generally viewed as a cheap and rubbish story, but there’s a level of detail in some of the sets and costumes that shows a touching amount of effort. The market place has a little fountain, the idol face of Amdo and the hieroglyphics suggest an ancient culture with African and South American roots, and the visual signifiers – the scientists in lab coats, Zaroff’s guards in wetsuits, priests in Lionfish headdresses and robes, and the Atlanteans in their elaborate shell costumes – differentiate each class. Partly converted Fish People wander round the market, and the stallholders worry about their goods. It’s hardly Star Wars, but this world does feel more complete and lived in than the planet of the Savages.

Continue reading →

This is a treat: the first extant Troughton episode. I was in the audience at the BFI when this was unveiled in 2011, and can still remember the slight deflation (the rumours were The Tenth Planet 4), followed quickly by surprise and delight as the episode unfolded.

Continue reading →

There’s a lovely scene at the start of the episode where the TARDIS team contemplate where they might have arrived this time. Polly hopes it’s Chelsea, 1966 – still desperate to get back to normality. Ben is sarcastic, Jamie is fearful and the Doctor is excited by the thought of ‘prehistoric monsters’. It’s a lovely little introduction to the new crew.

Continue reading →

There are two noteworthy things about The Highlanders: it’s the last “pure historical” for 15 years, and it’s the first story with Jamie. Neither fact actually says anything about the story. It’s relationship to the actual history of the 1745 Rebellion is fleeting, and, other than being played by the telegenic Frazer Hines, Jamie is a less significant character in it than either the equally-telegenic Kirsty (who gets a lot more screen time and dialogue with the Doctor) or Colin. The Doctor’s ready agreement to Polly’s suggestion of taking him along at the end is the first time a companion has been introduced quite so casually.

Continue reading →

The new house style, introduced with The Savages, is very much in evidence again here. It’s the typical “Ten O’Clock News” approach where you’re told what you’re going to see, then you see it, then are reminded what you’ve seen. As such, there is absolutely nothing that’s in any way surprising in this episode. We were told in Episode 1 that Solicitor Grey was planning to sell the captive Highlanders in the West Indies. We are now seeing this exact plot happen.

Continue reading →

This episode sees the regulars running rings round the locals which, taken alongside Ben’s cruel ‘witchcraft’ pranks in The Smugglers, doesn’t necessarily cast them in the best light. Polly has no time for Kirsty’s greetin’, and lures the hapless Ffinch into the trap they’ve fallen into before robbing him, and threatening to blackmail him.

Continue reading →

The second and last of the short-lived Celtic Fringe historical sub-genre. Like The Smugglers, this is based less in historical fact and more in historical fiction, with Davis, like Robert Louis Stevenson, “following rather the poetry of history than its chronology: his business is not to be the slave of dates; he ought to be faithful to the character of the epoch”. It features loads of nice-looking location filming (and caves), and pits earthy locals against well-spoken but ill-intentioned toffs.

Continue reading →

There’s an odd moment near the start of this episode when two armed Daleks, issued with orders to conquer and destroy, let the Doctor chat to them and walk away. It epitomises a script that seems to have developed amnesia about things that happened just a few pages before.

Continue reading →

Events come to a head this episode, as Lesterson’s dire warnings are dismissed as the ravings of a madman, Bragen and Janley move against Governor Hensell, and the Daleks have their own power, literally and metaphorically.

Continue reading →