The beginnings of Doctor Who stories can often be misleading, but it's hard to think of a story that has mislead us as much as this one! We start on a quiet, lovely beach in Australia. The Doctor runs to the surf and dispatches Jamie and Victoria to fetch the pails and spades, presumably so they can make a sand castle. Suddenly, a hovercraft appears and they're under siege, only to be rescued by a helicopter.
And with that, a lovely child's day out at the beach turns into a Cold War-ish thriller!
Harry -
Jamie and Victoria handled their first helicopter ride quite well, considering they'd just seen their first hovercraft and been shot at. I like how they go with the flow and trust the Doctor implicitly.
Sarah -
Companions really have to learn to roll with it, don’t they?
Harry -
This story felt like a 60s thriller from the get go. And no wonder there's so much action - the director is Barry Letts, whose era of Doctor Who would be synonymous with action thriller stories.
Sarah -
In this story, the Doctor's moods change as quickly as the storyline - playful to pleasant to suspicious. He definitely doesn't trust Astrid and Kent. They inform the Doctor that he is a dead ringer for Salamander, the planet's would-be dictator, and try to convince him to pretend to be Salamander for their own ends. The Doctor's mistrust is well-founded when Kent calls in Security Chief Bruce, forcing the Doctor to impersonate Salamander.
Harry -
This really is a different kettle of fish. We are on Earth, but it is at a time in our future. I wondered if the Doctor thinks of the era as Earth's past? Is this a kind of "future historical" without any robots or aliens? I obviously had a lot of time to think while watching this one.
Sarah -
It’s a bit timey-wimey, isn’t it?
Harry -
I'll accept that it's an Earthbound story and just run with it. After all, Patrick Troughton gets to play two roles!
Sarah -
And has a ripping good time! I have to admit that it took me a while to realize that Salamander's accent was meant to be Mexican.
Harry -
Maybe from the German part of Mexico?
Sarah -
With a swing though the Ukraine. I honestly couldn't figure out what Troughton was trying to do, but it grew on me eventually – even if it was nowhere near an actual Mexican accent. It matters not a whit because Patrick Troughton is having so much fun being the baddie!
Harry -
Because it was a mishmash of accents, it became unique unto itself, which made the portrayal all the more distinctive. Troughton certainly relished his dialogue-chewing moments.
Sarah -
His Salamander is threatening simply because he is so calm. Troughton's underplaying of the role is absolutely perfect, accent be dammed!
Harry -
About halfway through the story, I thought to myself, "jeez this is a sort of Doctor Lite story." Then I remembered that Troughton had been on screen more than anyone. His Salamander was a success in that respect.
Sarah -
He successfully created a new character, that’s for sure.
Harry -
Still, the story is laced with uncertainty and paranoia. Can the anti-Salamander faction be trusted? The Doctor readily sends Jamie and Victoria off to play spy games in Hungary (love the supersonic rocket travel!), but he seems reticent to do much else but sit and bide his time.
Sarah -
This is one of the oddest things about the story. The whole scheme to send Jamie and Victoria off to play spies is designed entirely to convince the Doctor that he should get involved. I couldn’t stop thinking that it was lazy writing to get the Doctor out of the way while Troughton rips up the scenery as Salamander.
Harry -
At the same time, the evil of Salamander got a very slow reveal. For the first couple of episodes, he is only mentioned as a threat and a menace to the world. This would-be dictator oozes slime, but it's not until halfway through the story that the bodies start piling up.
But before we get to the meat of the story, how about our espionage all stars, Jamie and Victoria!
Sarah -
They were brilliant! Both actors made the most of their screen time and do a great job with the material. While I was never really convinced that their half-assed plot was going to work, I knew they were fully committed to it!
And speaking of fully committed performances, how about Reg Lye as Salamander’s cook? If we’re only going to get one remaining episode of this story, I’m so glad it’s the one with his brilliant performance! There are times when six-episode stories can feel really padded, and then there are times when six episodes are exactly right because they allow time for little gems like Lye’s performance as Griffin, the put-upon gourmet!
Harry -
Griffin's world-weary quips gave this story some much-needed humanity. All the other characters were pretty stock and predictable, but you can't go wrong with a chef who replies to violence with: "I know the food's bad but you don't have to go that far."
Sarah -
He was a delight.
Harry -
After Griffin shuffled out of view for the last time, the fun ended and the remaining story became a chore to watch. It didn't help that Jamie and Victoria - the characters that we the viewers most relate to - disappeared for an episode and a half.
Sarah -
Holiday time again! I imagine them on a beach in Ibiza, knocking back fruity drinks.
Harry -
...which left us with stock characters doing stock things. There was an awful lot of dialogue to sit through, with nary any action at all. I guess Barry Letts had blown the budget on the hovercraft and helicopter in part one, leaving us with little else the rest of the way.
Salamander's descent to the bomb shelter was a nice twist and breathed some life back into the story, but by that point I was eager to get to the end.
Sarah -
This strange development definitely piqued my interest. What the heck was going on?
Harry -
It was definitely a "what the--" moment.
The Doctor did less in this story than any other. I kept wanting him to do something and seize events by the throat, but it never happened.
Sarah -
The Doctor really took a backseat to Salamander in this story, which is unfortunate. More interaction - or even some interaction - would have been exciting.
Harry -
Yeah, there was no confrontation between the two until the very last scene, and of course the BBC had to junk that footage. Damme!
Sarah -
I guess Salamander being tossed into the void of space was at least interesting.
Harry -
The story played itself out, and the baddies (or at least, one faction as opposed to the other) got their just desserts. It was weird that the story ended with a cliffhanger - in fact, the best cliffhanger of the whole thing - with our friends splayed across the TARDIS floor in terror!
Sarah -
So may baddies to choose from in this story. The revelation that Salamander and Kent were in some kind of plot, which involved keeping a group of people trapped in a bomb shelter for years was just bizarre.
A very confusing and poorly written story with a few good performances and nice moments.
Harry -
I doubt we'll be watching this one again any time soon.
Sarah -
If we did, it might only be to catch a glimpse of Jamie in his hot (in more ways than one, no doubt) rubber guard’s uniform.
Best Line: "People spend all their time making nice things, and then other people come along and break them." (At least the Doctor got a few good lines in while he was doing Sweet FA.)
Favorite Moment: Griffin’s put-upon rant.
Lasting Image: Troughton as the sneering Salamander.
5/10
Harry -
Best Line: The hostile exchange between Jamie and the creep, Benik: "You must have been a nasty little boy." "Oh I was. But I had a very enjoyable childhood."
Favourite Moment: Benik terrorizes Kent by... smashing all his crockery.
Lasting Image: the hovercraft.
5/10
Sarah -
For those playing along at home, there are only 5 stories with lost episodes remaining. Onward to the Web of Fear!
Our marathon continues with Story #41 - The Web of Fear...
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