Companions: Polly Wright, Ben Jackson, Jamie McCrimmon, Victoria Waterfield
Season 4 is a shining season of Doctor Who, as long as you ignore the historicals. It is jammed with iconic moments, such as the first regeneration in which Troughton takes over from Hartnell brilliantly. It also features not one but two stories of both the Cybermen and the Daleks, and expands immensely on their mythos. The star of the show though is the Second Doctor, immediately a force for monsters to be reckoned with. Troughton is always in control, manipulating the situation to save the day. Ben and Polly are a good duo of companions, and Jamie really starts to shine as an empathetic man of action. This is the season that proved Doctor Who could go on forever.
The Review
Here’s the scores for the stories
The Macra Terror: 9.25/10
The Evil of the Daleks: 9.25/10
The Tenth Planet: 9/10
The Power of the Daleks: 9/10
The Faceless Ones: 9/10
The Moonbase: 8.75/10
The Underwater Menace: 8/10
The Smugglers: 6.75/10
The Highlanders: 6/10
Looking over the scores, you can see that the dreary The Smugglers and The Highlanders drag down a season with excellent sci-fi. Although overlooked in the season of Daleks and Cybermen, The Faceless Ones and especially The Macra Terror prove to me very memorable stories with excellent use of sci-fi world building. The Tenth Planet‘s eerie and effective debut of the Cybermen is a fitting capstone to Hartnell’s tenure, with his Doctor fending off one more crisis. The Moonbase is slightly less effective, but its mystery is a joy to be unravelled. The Power of the Daleks and The Evil of the Daleks dive deep into Dalek psychology, showing them at their most cunning: manipulating humans to try and create advancements in the Dalek empire. The other story is the deliciously camp The Underwater Menace that stopped just short of being a smash. All told, a great season.
Story 35, Episodes 156-161, Season 4 Episodes 32-37
Doctor: The Second Doctor
Companions: Polly Wright, Ben Jackson, Jamie McCrimmon
The Faceless Ones provides an engaging story exposing a very clever conspiracy at Gatwick Airport, 1966.
The Review
Everybody seems to love the Doctor and Jamie hiding behind a plane, so here you go.
It’s a dramatic opening, the TARDIS lands in the middle of an airfield and the four scatter. Polly witnesses a murder, and tells the Doctor but is soon captured. Ben isn’t far behind. The story is all about the Doctor and Jamie along with a girl, Sam, who is looking for her brother who vanished aboard a Chameleon Tours aircraft, the same place Polly saw the murder. After not being able to convince Gatwick’s commandant, the Doctor gathers enough evidence that even gets the RAF in on the investigation. Even at its six episode length, this story still moves quickly. I doubt you would guess the planes flying straight up, miniaturizing humans, and storing them in a filing cabinet on a satellite coming. The frozen in stasis originals are finally discovered, and the Doctor negotiates the release of the humans and lets the Chameleons go.
Sam probably didn’t make the cut to join the Doctor and Jamie.
The brisk pace of the story picks up after Polly and Ben are captured and left behind. Sam, a determined girl from Liverpool serves as a one-off companion of sorts and even a love interest for the similarly determined Jamie. (Jamie wanting to go back to the 1700s, a ‘civilized time’, is amusing). There’s not too much to discuss on the story other than it’s entertaining, and has a cleverly constructed mystery to peel away. Since this is their final story, a bit of a Ben and Polly retrospective is in order. They were quite an effective duo with Ben’s brashness and Polly’s inventive thinking. It’s a shame to see them sidelined in this story, but their final goodbye is tearful and heartfelt. The Doctor telling Ben to get back to his ship, and giving Polly potentially a more important job: looking after him.
A great sight gag with the upside down paper
UPDATE 10/22/20: I have obtained and watched the animated version of the Faceless Ones, bringing this story to life. Some observations: I forgot how little Ben and Polly were in this story which seems like kind of an odd choice to me. The story also starts a bit slow, but it does gradually unfold pretty satisfyingly, the reveal that the planes are flying straight up to a space station in the sky is a pretty big reveal. I like the agency for Sam and Jean, two female characters that are critical to the story, something you do not see a lot in classic Who. The animation made the Director of the Chameleons suitably menacing on the spacecraft which was fun. This story was better than I had remembered, and I had forgotten I gave it a 9, but I see why now. It’s a good mystery, and gives Troughton a lot to do and work with. The animation style continues to be simple but effective, and I am thrilled at the consistent pace these animated stories come out. Fury from the Deep is next, after that I’d like Marco Polo but if we’re sticking to Troughton I’ll take Evil of the Daleks.
Gatwick was also quite a good setting, immediately familiar and brought to life well. Some of the set design considering the time and budget is quite impressive.
9/10 A good, well-paced mystery earns high marks, even with missing episodes.
Story 34, Episodes 142-155, Season 4 Episodes 28-31
Doctor: The Second Doctor
Companions: Polly Wright, Ben Jackson, Jamie McCrimmon
The Macra Terror justifiably finds itself in the upper echelon of 60s stories with a unique villain and great sci-fi action.
The Review
The upbeat music of the majorettes filled with phrases like ‘control knows best’ help set an unnerving tone.
The TARDIS team arrives on a happy, jovial, colony, but it becomes quite clear that they are all subservient to the Orwellian messages from ‘Control’. A man, Midok, insists he has seen horrible creatures at night, but nobody except the Doctor believe him. The ‘leader’ of the colony is the Pilot, but even he takes orders unquestioningly from Control. By not sleeping at night, the Doctor discovers devices that influence people’s brain patterns, and demolishes them. Unfortunately Ben is still affected and sells them out. The midpoint of the story is the stunning scene when ‘control’ is seen, a weak, exhausted old man who is suddenly snatched by a large hideous claw. The team is sent off to the mines, getting noxious gases used somewhere unknown.
The face of Control, every broadcast preceded and followed by a distinctive audio cue.
It turns out the Macra thrive on gas. Jamie almost is killed by one as he tries to escape, but quick thinking by the Doctor saves him. The Doctor manages to show the Pilot the Macra are really in charge, and Ben recovers just in time to destroy the Macra as the Doctor, Polly, Jamie, and the Pilot were about to be killed by the gas. It’s a straightforward story, but it has those little flairs that make a story pop. The music is excellent, the performances are good (boy how the acting has improved since The Sensorites), and the mysterious hideousness of the Macra is very intriguing. The Doctor likens them to a plague or virus, and Polly figures they’ve got control of the colony’s brain. Even more pleasingly, all three companions serve different roles and each get their own time to shine, including Jamie hilariously doing a Scottish jig until his cover is blown. This is textbook 60s Who done expertly.
Interestingly, my episode source had a rather different reconstruction of episode three complete with linking narration. I can’t decide if I liked it better or not. I think it’s a credit to the story that something like The Highlanders is dull, but The Macra Terror pops even without video.
EDIT: Hey, it’s December 2019 and I have just watched the animated version of the story! It’s a credit to how good the reconstructions are that it didn’t feel like I needed one, but it was great to watch the story as it was meant to be originally shown. Here’s to more reconstructions!
9.25/10 Excellent stuff all around. Season 4 largely has been a winner.
The Doctor’s face greets us in the opening credits for the first time.
Story 33, Episodes 148-151, Season 4 Episodes 24-27
Doctor: The Second Doctor
Companions: Polly Wright, Ben Jackson, Jamie McCrimmon
The Moonbase is a find second outing for the Cybermen, at its best when the mystery is at its highest.
The Review
Amazing retro-futurist spacesuits. The Doctor happened to have the 2070 models the base crew were using.
The tension in the story is the best part. Why are people falling prey to a disease? What is behind the mysterious pressure changes and fluctuations in the Earth’s weather? It’s a classic Who scenario, the Doctor and his companions show up right as it all goes to hell and start to be blamed. Of course, the Cybermen are behind it all. Modernized from earlier in the season, they have harsh robotic voices and certainly must’ve been a fright in the 60s. Their immediate screen presence shows how they endure. Set in 2070, the story has plenty of tension and different aspects to consider, such as Earth radioing down, and weather reports making sure we don’t miss a thing. The final solution to lower the Cybermen’s gravity is a smart one, cleverly foreshadowed by the TARDIS team jumping about at the start.
A look at the very awesome animation. Polly tells Ben he can suck it with this ‘men’s work’ nonsense.
The guest cast is well done, the head of the station, Hobson, is a good authority figure and his French number two Benoit is well done too. There is one non-white guy on the crew, but it’s diverse in terms of country of origin. The Doctor is up to his wry self before, and I continue to love Troughton. His monologue that there is evil out there that must be fought is pitch perfect, as well as is hysterics when he realizes the Cybermen are in plain sight. Jamie is sick a lot of the story, so his character is still developing. Ben gets a lot to do, but Polly is the companion star. She first sees the Cybermen, comes up with the way to liquify their organs, and even goes out and attacks after Ben tells her that’s ‘men’s work’. Polly does twice make coffee for the crew, but pleasingly gets as much action as Ben. This story’s guest cast is superb.
This is a fine, classic, easily watchable story. It doesn’t have the pitch-perfect tension that would elevate it to an all time classic, but shows the Cybermen are here to stay.
8.75/10 Don’t think we’ll be waiting for more Cybermen for long.
Story 32, Episodes 144-147, Season 4 Episodes 20-23
Doctor: The Second Doctor
Companions: Polly Wright, Ben Jackson, Jamie McCrimmon
The Underwater Menace is a pretty good story taking on the myth of Atlantis.
The Review
Polly almost becomes a fish person
When Patrick Troughton is on, he is on. His interactions with Professor Zaroff, who is played as a massive ham by Joseph Furst is spot-on. The Doctor always seems like he is asking questions and letting Zaroff take the lead, but is always in charge of the room at all times. That’s what makes the Second Doctor so well done, he is never not in control no matter what everybody else in the room thinks. The companions are alright in this story, they mainly give us more background information on the world of Atlantis that shows a pretty well-devised society. Atlantis sank into the ocean, only the tip of a volcanic island remaining. Air passages remained, and the inhabitants were able to survive. Zaroff is an aquatic scientist who promises to raise Atlantis and after twenty years is nearly there.
The fish people!
The real trick is that Zaroff is going to drain the ocean, and turn the water into steam in the Earth’s molten crust. That steam will cause a huge explosion that may shatter the planet, flinging Atlantis into the air. Why? Well, as the Doctor tells us, because Zaroff is mad. The ruler of Atlantis does not believe them until it is too late, and Atlantis has to be flooded by the Doctor and Ben to prevent Earth from being destroyed. The famous fish people you see in photos aren’t in the story much, they are inspired to go on strike from collecting food to cause chaos in Atlantis. The setting of the story is memorable, as the Atlanteans wear wild robes and tribal fronds. Including a glimpse at a marketplace, unlike Vulcan in Power of the Daleks, Atlantis is a fully realized society.
UPDATE (1/28/24): It’s now 2024, and we have animated versions of the first and last episodes! Honestly, this is a pretty good story, mainly because of the amount of effort put into the fish people. Yes, Zaroff is extremely hammy, but Troughton is giving a great performance and it feels like a fully realized society. Nothing crazy but better than the reputation!
What elevates this story beyond a pretty unmemorable outing is the development of Atlantis as well as Zaroff’s chewing of the scenery. Again, I wish there were video recordings, especially of episode four.
8/10 Pretty good story, all things considered. The Second Doctor keeps finding his stride.
Story 31, Episodes 140-143, Season 4 Episodes 16-19
Doctor: The Second Doctor
Companions: Polly Wright, Ben Jackson, Jamie McCrimmon
The Highlanders is certainly not helped by its lack of surviving material, but is a rather standard affair.
The Review
Polly, who typically gets celebrated, with Kirsty.
Today, Whovians wonder why pure historicals aren’t around anymore. Well, its because they kind of sucked. Rather than being in a crucial dramatic situation like the sci-fi adventures, the historicals largely see the Doctor and his companions meandering throughout history. The crew gets caught in the middle of the end of a failed Scottish rebellion, and almost gets sent to work as slave labor in Barbados. The Doctor manages to smuggle weapons aboard the Annabelle and the plot is foiled. To me, it’s more of a credit to Marco Polo on how good it is compared to these stories. I think I may have been lacking some historical context though, as I was a bit surprised to see Scottish revolts as late as 1700s.
The Doctor has looked better.
Now one thing an animation/discovery of original story could net us is looking at the Doctor’s clever identities. Taking the guise of ‘Doktor von Wer’, a German doctor (based on talking about, well, germs), as well as an old maid, it sure sounds like Patrick Troughton is doing some serious acting work. Unfortunately, it’s too hard to tell. It’s also a shame that this era of the classic series mainly just uses the companions as more characters to create sub-plots instead of genuinely exploring their relationship with the Doctor, something well-improved on by the new series. At the end of the story, legendary Jamie McCrimmon joins the team, though it’s hard to get much of a read on him yet.
The Highlanders is dull and uninspired, just like most of the historical stories. Ah well.
Story 30, Episodes 134-140, Season 4 Episodes 9-15
Doctor: The Second Doctor
Companions: Polly Wright, Ben Jackson
The Second Doctor makes his first appearance facing off against his most classic of foes, the Daleks. In a classic story, capital intrigue on the colony of Vulcan makes for a great story.
The Review
Bregan orders Janley to betray their supporters to consolidate power.
The crucial word in this story isn’t ‘Daleks’, it’s ‘Power’. That’s what the entire story is about. Just as much and maybe more time is spent on the coup-attempt of the Governor on the colony Vulcan. Apparently a mining colony and lacking much female upper leadership, vague notions of ‘rebels’ is gradually revealed to be a coup plot by head of security Bregan supported by assistant scientist Janley. Bregan gradually dresses more and more fascist throughout the story (which is animated quite well. Very excited to see these stories continue to get brought to life). The Doctor, Ben, and Polly get on the scene impersonating an inspector from Earth, the Doctor taking his badge after witnessing Bregan murder him. By the end, the deputy governor Quinn, one of the few good guys, survives to help rebuild Vulcan.
The Doctor’s recorder playing as dramatic events unfold helps underscore the tension.
Lesterson is a scientist who wants power too. He discovers this capsule with apparently ‘bigger on the inside’ technology with dormant Daleks he decides to re-awaken against the Doctor’s urging because, you know, he’s a scientist. It takes him seeing the Daleks reproducing for him to panic, but eventually gives up and lets the Daleks take him. The Daleks famously pretend to be the servants of the colonist leaders on Vulcan while they gradually reproduce to consolidate power. The tension keeps getting ratcheted up from a dormant Dalek, to three, to the realization of four, then a whole army before the Doctor manages to overload the power and destroy them. Polly doesn’t have too much to do, Ben mainly gets angry at people. There’s also the other rebels, chiefly Valmar, the only person other than Quinn to survive the massacre.
A trippy moment where the Doctor sees his former self in the mirror.
Without being able to watch his movements, it is too early for me to be able to judge Patrick Troughton’s turn as the Doctor. It’s not too far from Hartnell right now, except the grouchiness is washed away in turn of a mischievousness. His biggest moment is yelling that Daleks destroy human life completely and utterly as the leadership of Vulcan refuses to listen to him. There is a bit of a fake-out where the Doctor refers to the Doctor in the third-person, but it becomes obvious that he is very much the same man. We get the first look at a signature trait of his Doctor, when Troughton tells Ben to run like a rabbit when he says run. It’s quite good stuff all around. The first Star Trek episode aired a few months earlier, so I think the naming of Vulcan is a coincidence. Also, a Dalek seemingly survived the destruction in some capacity, but I doubt that thread will picked up.
In a story all about power, it delivers a great story that rarely drags over its six episodes. It’s full of intrigue, and establishes that, yes, Troughton is the Doctor.
Companions: Polly Wright, Ben Jackson, The Captain. Projections of Bill Potts and Nardole
Twice Upon a Time is not what anybody expected. There is no big fight, no big battle, just thinking. Sadly, the great capstone to the Capaldi era already happened.
The Review
The Captain. Him being the Brig’s dad is fine.
Precious little actually happens in this episode. The crux is that The Captain (the Brigadier’s dad) played quite well by Mark Gatiss has been kicked out of his death in World War I. We find that the glass figures the Testimony are taking people’s memories before they die from throughout time and letting them live on. Not that evil! Included are the memories of Bill, who isn’t really here. That includes a visit to the Dalek net by visiting Rusty from Into the Dalek which is such an odd choice for a returning character. Then the Captain is returned to his death a few hours later, in time for the Christmas Armistice. Then, the two Doctors choose to regenerate. To me, it’s pretty clear that Moffat intended The Doctor Falls to be the regeneration, because, well, it’s a much better finale episode as this is basically a long epilogue. So that’s a big problem, regeneration episodes should be epics like The War Games and The Parting of the Ways, even with all its problems Time of the Doctor sure is a ride.
Bill, Clara, and Nardole are all memories, but recast Ben and Polly are real! They look nothing like Ben and Polly
Let’s talk about the First Doctor. The opening showing ‘709 episodes ago’ and the closing showing the fragment of the regeneration to the Second Doctor was amazing, especially having seen The Tenth Planet just yesterday. David Bradley looks a lot like him, his voice is a bit high, but what can you do. His best moments is when he’s talking to Mostly Bill about why he left Gallifrey, not saying exactly why but saying that he was interested in seeing why good always triumphs. He’s the problem here, the First Doctor acts like a sexist idiot. Now, I understand wanting to reference the past of the 60s, but as someone who’s seen all of the First Doctor…he is never as overtly sexist as he is in this episode. Telling Bill she is a member of the fairer and weaker sex is just completely un-Doctor-like, even for the First Doctor. It’s kind of disrespectful honestly. That’s not who the First Doctor is. Now him being really young, the Twelfth Doctor feeling a lot more formed than him makes sense, but he feels just so much less.
The regeneration itself
I think the thing that felt the most disappointing about this episode for me was that after all that build-up not much really happens this episode. For a lot of people, that poignancy and melancholy really sat well with them. Maybe I’ll come around on this episode one day, but compare this to the operatic soaring finale that is The Doctor Falls. The Doctorsacrificing himself for all those people, fighting the Cybermen, and finally completely dying. I think a big problem is that there is not a. a character arc to reckon with, like Tennant coming to grips with his vanity or b. a lot of plot threads to propel it along like with Smith. Capaldi’s Doctor is so completely fully formed in a way that certainly no new series Doctor has been, not just his incarnation, but he really feels like the culmination of the journey the Doctor has been on. It makes sense why he wouldn’t want to go. Seeing Nardole again was lovely, seeing Clara again was necessary but weird because Jenna Coleman clearly was not there. I guess I just can’t get as excited for a regeneration, even of my favorite Doctor when the build-up is sitting quietly and a hug. The Doctor Falls was an all time classic, this is disappointment.
Peter Capaldi is my favorite Doctor, and I feel bad that I dislike his regeneration episode so much. So much so that I think it may be one of worst, to no fault of his own. He gets no real epic plot, and it just happens. However, the Doctor has gone on a long journey from ‘I don’t want to go’ to ‘Doctor, I let you go.’ As someone who has felt like he’s gone on a personal journey the past few years, Capaldi doing the same meant a lot of me. God speed, see you at the 60th Anniversary.
6.5/10 What really happened in this episode? Everything and nothing at all. The Doctor Falls was leaps and bounds better. We barely got anything of the new Doctor!
The first regeneration story is a curious one indeed, drawing its tension not from the Doctor’s demise but the incredible tension from the Cybermen’s first appearance.
The Review
The game is afoot.
There’s one thing that this story has going for it, tension. It’s as if all the best parts of The War Machines were taken and put into effect here. There’s no ridiculousness, the stakes are high and there’s no letting go. The Doctor, Ben, and Polly arrive on the South Pole in 1986, and quickly a rocket they launched sees another planet, Earth’s twin Mondas, quickly arriving on Earth. Soon we are visited by the Cybermen, incredible old costumes and sing-song voices and demeaning of emotion. What lends the tension is that this is a military base, and General Cutler (who consistently reminds us that his son is up in a rocket) demands a military solution. There’s not a lot of reminiscing on the philosophy of the Cybermen, but it’s very interesting when Hartnell asks them if they have no emotions.
It’s not the best animation, but has kind of a cool aspect. And I’m certainly glad it’s here.
The Doctor is laid up for the entire third episode on account of Hartnell’s health, leaving a lot of heavy lifting to Ben, who’s a bit shouty. Polly cleverly says she’ll make coffee to stay in the main situation room. Cutler wants to blow up Mondas with the ‘z-bomb’ which may decimate Earth too, but he is stopped by Ben in the nick of time. He’s going to kill him and the Doctor, blaming them for his son’s death, but the Cybermen get him. The thing that works best is not actually the Cybermen themselves, but it is instead the dilemma of what to do. In the end, in a kind of anticlimax, the Cybermen draw too much energy and Mondas explodes, killing that vein of Cybermen. There’s some kind of philosophy to their ending, but the episode pays no mind. Barclay is the best of the scientists, well acted. Thought I’d say that.
This is the end. But there is so much good left to come.
Of course, I must talk about the end of the First Doctor era itself. I admit, I was surprised how suddenly I got emotional, even watching the cheap animation as the Doctor, knowing his day is done, is shaken awake by Ben. Here he is, with two kids he hardly knows, far from his home. “Keep warm.” hardly rates as far as last lines go, but there’s something beautiful in the simplicity. The last thing that the Doctor was looking out for was again a paternal wish for his companions. The scene of the Doctor alone in the TARDIS playing with the console for the last time was beautiful and sad. We’ll have to see what David Bradley does as the actual First Doctor, but I have to speak to his Adventure in Space and Time performance, full of sadness, but knowing that something great is coming. It’s small but poignant. I’m going to miss him.
The Cybermen are appropriately spooky, the military tension is well done, the blowing snow makes for a hell of a setting, the destruction of Mondas without any influence by the good guys is a philosophical anticlimax. The departure of the First Doctor is understated, but beautiful. It’s Christmas Eve. Can’t wait to see David Bradley.
9/10 It’s a classic because it doesn’t mire itself in history or its surroundings, and goes straight for the throat. If the First Doctor’s last story wasn’t going to be directly related to him, giving him the Cybermen and a good story is a fine way to go.
In the beginning of Season 4, it is the First Doctor’s last adventure he survives. It is…an adventure.
The Review
Polly and a pirate
I’ve got to admit it…I didn’t give The Smugglers the full attention it deserved. I am fitting this in with The Tenth Planet coming tomorrow and had to do it. The setting is actually intriguing. The Doctor, and a disbelieving Ben and Polly arrive in the ’17th century’, and become caught up in the search for dead Captain Avery’s treasure. Unfortunately for the timeline, Avery died in 1699, confirmed when he actually shows up in The Curse of the Black Spot. So let’s leave it to the Doctor’s technical mind that 1700 is in the 17th century I guess. It’s pretty interesting, and the final hoe-down in the crypt is pretty exciting. A very Last Crusade thing going on here. But there’s a problem.
Jamaica wasn’t that racist of a character…pretty sure.
I think this happened with The Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Eve, the episodes being missing has really hurt this story. Not that I think The Smugglers would become a classic story if it was found, but once the squire and everyone it is introduced, it becomes pretty complex to follow with the cavalcade of historical characters. It also is about an episode too long, the second and third episodes could get all the characters to that graveyard pretty quickly. Again, I lost a bit of interest here because I’m just so excited to get to the Christmastime. Ben and Polly are working pretty well as characters, and despite his severe health difficulties, Hartnell really gives us his all. This story could be a lot better if we ever saw it. Bless their hearts at Loose Cannon though, they did the best they could.
Maybe this would be better if I paid more attention, or could be able to see it. A pirate adventure isn’t a bad idea, but feels wrongly placed in Hartnell’s timeline.
Reviewing Doctor Who from Start to Finish 