6.4: The Krotons

• Doctor: Patrick Troughton 
• Companions: Jamie, Zoe
• Creators: Norman Ashby (Pseudonym of Writers Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln), Morris Barry (Director), Peter Bryant (Producer)
• Season 6

What's the rating?

Just there.

What's interesting about it?

It's Robert Holmes' first story for Doctor Who. As indicated below, the story itself doesn't warrant celebration, but Holmes would go on to be perhaps the most interesting writer in all of classic Who, so that's something.

As for this story, we're given a promising start with a story that's a combination of the classic children's science fiction story The Tripods and a bit of The Hunger Games, with the first monster we encounter being straight out of James Cameron's The Abyss (or Deep Throat -- you decide!)

The first episode and a half contains an intriguing mystery about who these unseen Krotons are that have controlled the human society on this planet for a thousand years and kill off the best and brightest for unknown reasons. But unfortunately once the mystery is answered, we're stuck with a pretty boring story and, well, the Krotons, who appear to like to do a bit of vacuuming up.

There's nothing particularly offensive about this story, and there's nothing particularly strong about it. It's just there, and as such I can't recommend it.

What is worth watching is the hour-long documentary about Patrick Troughton on the DVD, The Second Time Around, which you should ideally watch after The War Games. Also worth watching is the Frazier Hines interview.

What are others saying?

• Radio Free Skaro podcast #414
• Tin Dog Podcast #250

How can I see it?

• Amazon
• Netflix

6.3: The Invasion

• Doctor: Patrick Troughton 
• Companions: Jamie, Zoe
• Creators: Derrick Sherwin (Writer), Douglas Camfield (Director), Peter Bryant (Producer)
• Season 6

What's the rating?

Must See.

What's interesting about it?

The introduction of U.N.I.T., and the return of Lethbridge-Stewart, first seen in The Web of Fear, now settling into the role he'll maintain in the show. This is also the first appearance of Benton, who works in the military for Lethbridge-Stewart (the character is very well-regarded by fans; the actor, not so much). U.N.I.T. is the military organization that The Doctor will interact with over the decades of the show, though their appearances trail off after a few years.

This was the first attempt to restore missing episodes using animation, and the approach was a huge hit with fans. Surprisingly, the animation here seems more lively and to have more soul than the subsequent attempts in other stories. I suspect that this involved more hand-made work and that some later animation efforts just involved simplistic moving of shapes to save money, not unlike the He-Man comics and their famous flapping mouths. While the live-action episodes also have excellent direction, the visuals of the animation are actually more interesting than the live action.

The story opens with mysterious events, building suspension through excellent direction of the animation as well as some nice acting and music. The opening has the whole package.

The bad guy is excellent, oozing evil from every pore. Played by Kevin Stoney, he has a disturbing drooping eyelid, a compelling gravelly-yet-smooth voice, and the perfect villain name: Tobias Vaughn.

This is an eight episode story, which means it's doomed to boredom unless something changes mid-way through, and that's exactly what they do here. At the end of the fourth episode we discover the evil behind the evil that is Tobias Vaughn, the Cybermen. (No point avoiding mentioning it here, as the cover of the DVD spoils it anyway.)

The Cybermen and the invasion plot don't do much for me, except for the interesting dance for control that Vaughn is doing with the Cybermen. What makes this a Must See is a combination of the villain and some very nice directing from Douglas Camfield. Complex and subtle camera work heightens the suspense and helps flesh out characters. Tobias Vaughn engages in the most suspenseful and surprising "Go ahead, shoot me" sequence I've ever seen.

The making-of documentary -- Evolution of the Invasion -- is unusually long and in-depth, and worth watching as well.

What are others saying?

For many fans -- especially those who first saw this during their childhood -- this story seems to be what The Dalek Invasion of Earth is for me; that is, the first classic Doctor Who story that truly rocks. I can't begrudge anyone their childhood nostalgia, but I do gently nudge people to check out Dalek Invasion again...

• The Memory Cheats podcast #16

How can I see it?

• Amazon (expensive!)
• Netflix

6.2: The Mind Robber

• Doctor: Patrick Troughton 
• Companions: Jamie, Zoe
• Creators: Peter Ling (Writer), David Maloney (Director), Peter Bryant (Producer)
• Season 6

What's the rating?

Must See.  (To my shock!)

What's interesting about it?

I hated this story when I first watched it years ago, so much so that I was tempted to skip it in this go-round. I just vaguely recalled some extremely childish and silly storylines and acting, and I also had the impression that it was at the bottom of everyone else's list as well, right there with The Web Planet.

Wow, how wrong could I be, and on both counts?

It turns out this is a fantastic story, possibly the best so far of the Troughton era. It's filled with both visual and verbal cleverness (driven by financial desperation on the part of the producers and writers!)  And it turns out it's a favorite of many fans as well.

The show dares to return to the spare Beckett-like storytelling landscape first explored in The Edge of Destruction (and for the same budgetary reasons) -- but this is a vastly more satisfying trip.

From the first moments it establishes much better footing, easing us into the situation as the TARDIS enters a nowhere space filled with infinite whiteness, accompanied by suitably creepy story beats as the crew of the TARDIS is tempted to venture into the infinity by images of their respective homelands. Unlike Edge, we are drawn in with the characters and have a sense of what they are going through. While The Doctor of this era has no homeland yet and is aware enough of the situation to put up his best mental fight, beautifully dressed images of Jamie and Zoe beckoning to be saved by him do the trick.

It's a very strong episode (one of the best ever, even) ending with perhaps the first stunning visual sequence in Doctor Who outside of the credits (not something that would happen very often...)

The story explores the connection between fiction and reality, what happens when those streams cross, and the question of whether we're writing our own destiny or some omniscient author is doing so for us, leaving us to just act out the parts. We are treated to an amusing variety of characters, including rather nicely done life-size toy soldiers.

Though the robots that they scrounged up from another BBC science fiction show (once again, because they were out of money) are kind of dorky.

Dorky robots notwithstanding, this is a story not to miss; a story generated from desperation that somehow gelled in ways the creators never anticipated. It's fair to say that if they'd had all the budget and time they wanted, we wouldn't have had this story, and that's something from the land of fiction worth pondering...

What are others saying?

• TARDIS Tavern podcast #28

How can I see it?

• Netflix
• Amazon

6.1: The Dominators

• Doctor: Patrick Troughton 
• Companions: Jamie, Zoe
• Creators: Norman Ashby (Pseudonym of Writers Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln), Morris Barry (Director), Peter Bryant (Producer)
• Season 6

What's the rating?

Worth Watching, with caveats.

What's interesting about it?

An oddly constructed first episode -- before The Doctor and company even arrive there are several deaths of characters you would assume were going to be present throughout the story. After a somewhat action-packed start, events slow to a crawl. The latest monsters are teased at but kept out of sight for a last shot stinger reveal (or because they were too embarrassed to show them before they absolutely had to).

The monsters are another blatant attempt to replicate Daleks -- the writers were actually hoping they would get to cash in on their design, leading to a big fight with the BBC over the licensing rights (which turned out not to be too important...) -- unfortunately these monsters seem to have been designed, performed, and voiced by five year olds.

The inspiration for the story, according to one of the writers, is the peace movement of the 60s. The writers wondered what would happen if a war-like people encountered a completely peaceful race who refused to fight back. This is a pretty explicit criticism of hippie peaceniks, which turns off some fans in itself.

There's a theme of everyone on their own quest for truth in this story, constantly investigating, debating or researching, each in their own way. This is combined with the question of when to bow to authority and when to defy it. And then for good measure responding to violence with pacifism or action is thrown into the mix. With all the sitting around debating what to do, this is more of a Star Trek story than the typical Doctor Who fare...

Wonky monsters aside, ultimately I find this Worth Watching because of the eclectic mix of themes and characters, and in particular the odd relationship between the two Dominators, who constantly bicker in an amusing manner. Way too many science fiction shows present every single member of a species as complete mental clones of each other who agree on everything; it's much more interesting when people are acknowledged to have differences and to argue among themselves and to not always like each other.

The story has more threads and fleshed out characters than most, and you should find something interesting in the resulting morass (no refunds if you don't, though...)

I do like the fashion sense of the Dominators...

But not so much that of the natives of the planet...

Though the BDSM-style women's wear is certainly intriguing...

What are others saying?

It's The Sensorites all over again, where fans typically consider it boring beyond belief while I'm captured by the themes of the story. The "making of" video is worth watching, providing the somewhat odd spectacle of the cast, production crew, and writers all trashing the story.  Perhaps it's best summed up by one of the writers, who says:

"The annoying thing is that so many of the others are missing, and this one they've got the whole damn lot."

However, as with The Sensorites, I notice a trend where people who go back and actually watch the show again -- instead of relying on ancient memories -- find more to like than they ever thought they would. 

• Wife in Space (score: 1/10)
• The Memory Cheats podcast #10
• The Tin Dog Podcast #133
• The Unearthly Child podcast #30

Where can I get it?

• Amazon
• Netflix

5.7: The Wheel in Space

What's the rating?

Wiped.