Story #59 - The Daemons (1971)

Harry -
IO-HE-VO-HE AZAL! (*making double horned signs*)

Season 8 ends on a high note with some folk horror in the village, Doctor Who style.

AZAL! HEAR ME AZAL! (*double horns again*)


Sarah -
It really is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, Harry!

What an excellent capper to the season -- science, folklore, witchcraft, aliens, and, most absurdly of all, Morris Dancers!


Harry -
The Morris Dancers of Death!


Sarah -
You know how much I love Morris Dancing. The only thing missing from this story is a Local Shop!


Harry -
There was a local pub, with lots of happenings among the locals, so that'll work.


Sarah -
Speaking of, I’d love to see an entire series set in Bert’s Pub!

Christopher Barry does an excellent job of setting the mood, from the creepy crypt to the Beltane revels. In fact, the only part of the story I found disappointing were the Daemons, themselves.


Harry -
I loved the atmosphere of fantastic weirdness woven through the first half of the story.

Jo hints at her belief in the occult and supernatural things. The Doctor scoffs, but nonetheless is very interested in the dig at the bronze age Devil's Hump.


Sarah -
I loved that turnaround. From, “You know, Jo, for a reasonably intelligent young lady, you do have the most absurd ideas” to hitting the road in Bessie within the first episode!


Harry -
Meanwhile, the Master is back on Earth, this time as a black priest performing esoteric ceremonies.


Sarah -
Of course he is. The Master is the idealized version of the complete renaissance villain!


Harry -
Perhaps weirdest of all was seeing Yates and Benton in casual wear. Season 8 has veered in a completely different direction!


Sarah -
When the Brig’s away, the mice will play. Speaking of the Brig, I really wanted him to be wearing a kilt when he went off to his event early in the story. It’s been too long without Jamie and I’m missing kilts.


Harry -
If I recall, we will eventually see the Brig's lovely knees sometime in the future.


Sarah -
An event that I have been eagerly anticipating for a while now.

Happily, Yates and Benton got a lot of screen time in this story and made the most of it. Excellent work by John Levene and Richard Franklin.


Harry -
The casual wear! I loved it! Yates looked like he was off to a book reading, while Benton was going to watch some footy.

Did you have the same thought as me about the announcer at the dig site? It should have been Michael Wisher!


Sarah -
Oh, how I was wishing it would have been Wisher. What a missed opportunity.


Harry -
I liked the curmudgeonly professor, and of course Miss Hawthorne. Another cast of memorable extras rounded this story off.


Sarah -
Miss Hawthorne was especially brilliant. I loved her pluck and commitment to her witchcraft. The scene where the constable picked up the rock to smash her over the head was a bit harrowing, but I loved her confidence in convincing the village that the Doctor was a great wizard who must be freed. Brilliant performance by Damaris Hayman!


Harry -
She was quintessentially English.   And some folks think highly enough of her to bring her back in a new film:  The White Witch of Devil's End.  Amazing!

I'm going to look up what else Damaris Hayman has been in.

Back to the story itself. Good ol' Guy Leopold (ha!) wrote a tale of occult happenings at a small English village that reminded me of several "folk horror" movies made around the same time. The Daemons reminded me of The Wicker Man, Blood on Satan's Claw, and Witchfinder General. These films were built around the premise that pre-Christian beliefs were perverted into something eerie and frightening, with generous lashings of outright Satanism thrown in. So it was delightful to watch the Master don a black priest's garb and recite incantations.


Sarah -
“SO MOTE IT BE!”

Sorry, I’ve always wanted to say that…


Harry -
All the while, the Doctor sensed what was really going on, but he was coy in the early going. He was determined to emphasize science over magic to almost everyone he spoke with in the first two episodes. It was just slightly disappointing when he took Jo down to the dig site and revealed that it was a spaceship down there after all.


Sarah -
It was even more disappointing to learn that the Daemons were responsible for all human advancement. Sheesh, why do we even bother?


Harry -
Yeah, it was odd to get that reveal halfway through the story. But in the grand style of the Barry Letts era, it opened up the remaining episodes to helicopter chases, motorbike action, and of course, the Morris Dancers of Death!


Sarah -
It was complete mayhem in the village – what fun!


Harry -
I particularly liked the barkeep's shredded newspaper wear. I've never seen something like that before or since.


Sarah -
I was thinking that would be a good look on you, Old Boy.


Harry -
I rather fancied the Master's ceremonial robes.

Let's take a moment to review the Master's arc in Season 8. Not sure if it's an arc in the current sense, but for one season of Doctor Who, the Master appeared in every story. We know he was created to be a kind of Moriarty to the Doctor's Holmes. The casting of Roger Delgado was perfect and he played the role brilliantly. Until now, though, I hadn't realized that stories involving the Master follow the same template every time: Master concocts grandiose scheme for power; Doctor investigates and uncovers said scheme; Master realizes the scheme was total rubbish and relies on Doctor's help to get out of trouble; Doctor obliges, Master suffers inferiority complex and flees vowing revenge. It's the same story every time!


Sarah -
It really is the same story every time. I believe I've seen most of these stories as one-offs and never in proper chronological order before. The Master is the Doctor's greatest nemesis and I felt more than a little guilty rolling my eyes at yet another formulaic Master story. As much as I adore Roger Delgado's brilliant performances, I prefer to spread them out a bit.


Harry -
OK, time to stop skirting around the problem here. Yes, it totally sucked that "The Daemons" is all about showing us the Daemons from Daemos, who have influenced all of human history. While the Doctor's proto-powerpoint presentation was illuminating, it was also disappointing.


Sarah -
And BORING!


Harry -
Azal, the last remaining Daemon was so all-powerful (and shouty loud!) that once again, the Master overstepped. It was up to the Doctor and Jo to engage in a, well, a very long chat with Azal. Jo's offer to sacrifice herself utterly blew the Daemon's mind. Kind of a weird ending. But this was a weird story. The atmosphere and cues from contemporary horror films were distinctive and fabulous, but I guess the Doctor Who'd version fell a bit flat at the finish.


Sarah -
Still, the excellent fun of the first four episodes more than made up for the disappointment of the finale. Jo is even (somewhat) vindicated when the Doctor admits, “You’re right, Jo, there is magic in the world, after all.”

The story ends with the Doctor and Jo participating in the Beltane rituals while the Brig and Yates have a pint. Once again, all is right in the world.

So, I have to ask Harry … Pint?


Harry -
I thought you'd never ask, chum.


Sarah -
Best Line: I’ve got to give this one to Miss Hawthorne, reprimanding the Master: “Why should I believe you, a rationalist, existentialist priest, indeed.”

Favorite Moment: The Morris Dancers arrive!

Lasting Image: The Morris Dancers arrive!

8/10


Harry -
Best line: "IO-HE-VO-HE AZAL!" (it's fun to shout and make the double horned signs)

Favourite Moment: The Brigadier remains totally unflappable while reviewing Yates' explanation of the wild goings on in the village. I laughed so hard I had to pause it.

Lasting image: The Master in his ceremonial robes.


8/10

 



Our marathon continues with Story #60: Day of the Daleks...

Story #58 - Colony in Space (1971)

Sarah -
The Master’s on the loose and the Time Lords are willing to restore the Doctor’s freedom to serve their own purposes. We’re back in the TARDIS again, Dear Harry!


Harry -
That was an unexpected opening. The Time Lords whisking the Doctor out into space like a game piece and leaving him to sort it out. You can see why he doesn't like them. At least we finally get a space story again.


Sarah -
These Earthbound stories have been excellent, but, like the Doctor, I've been itching to do some traveling. Unfortunately, Jo isn't quite ready for the Doctor's wandering ways.

I must tell you, Old Boy, that I've never seen this story before! I practically squealed with delight when I realized there was still a new story to see.


Harry -
I had this one confused with another one, but I really liked this one.


Sarah -
I was not prepared for Jo's reaction to entering the TARDIS for the first time. We're so used to all companions rushing headlong into the TARDIS, ready for adventure. What a surprise to find that Jo's first reaction was to hightail it out of there!


Harry -
Yeah, Jo takes a huge hit in my estimation here. It's not Katy Manning's fault that she was written to be an 8-year-old child. Once she started playing "frightened", it seemed she'd be spooked by her own shadow. The Doctor stroking her cheek and talking down to her didn't help. Watching all these stories in a row is starting to put a bit of a dampener on my memories of the Pertwee era.


Sarah -
Jo's never been one of my favorite companions, but this isn't one of her finer moments. Isn't she supposed to be UNIT-trained? Shouldn't she have some amount of stiff-upper-lip-ness to see her through?


Harry -
Should have, but let's put aside the poor characterizations and talk about the story. Mac Hulke has given us another cracker. I hadn't really paid attention to which writer wrote which story before we set off on this marathon of ours, Sarah. Hulke is becoming one of my favourite Who writers!


Sarah -
He never lets us down, does he?


Harry -
He gives us a classic confrontation between plucky, self-sufficient pioneers and cruel, corporate mercenaries. The colonists were idealistic and willing to stick it out together, while the Intergalactic Mining Corporation thugs resorted to threats and violence in the name of profit.


Sarah -
With the native primitives tossed in, all that’s missing from this western are a few dramatic shots of Monument Valley. Oh, wait, we’re in space, aren’t we?


Harry -
If Mac Hulke's script wasn't in-your-face enough, the costume design was perfect. The colonists looked like a band of English folk musicians, while the IMC were dressed in fascist-looking uniforms.


Sarah -
Subtle it was not. Still, I find myself wishing they’d broken into a round of Morris dancing... in space!


Harry -
Into this stark black-and-white scenario are plunged the Doctor and Jo. The Doctor immediately sides with the colonists and exposes IMC's sabotage efforts. Captain Dent and his thugs do not appreciate this, and continue their campaign to expel the colonists.

Dent is a fantastic villain. Colder than a snake, and nastier. Hulke didn't give him an ounce of compassion, unlike Caldwell, the miner who gets caught between his job and his conscience.


Sarah -
We’ve seen some baddies before, but chaining Jo and Winton to a bomb is a new low! And let’s not forget that charming sociopath, Morgan.


Harry -
Norton the infiltrator, Winton the agitator, Ashe the doomed leader. So many great characters here, it felt like we really got to know them.


Sarah -
I have to admit that I wasn’t at all looking forward to another six-parter, but I love the room the story had to develop the characters. I found myself becoming quite attached to our merry band of settlers.


Harry -
Then there's the awkwardly named "Primitives." On the surface, they seem to be just that, but once within their city, the Doctor and Jo discover the remnants of a once-brilliant society, one that seemed to regress as a result of experimentation and radiation exposure.


Sarah -
I loved this unexpected twist on the “primitives.” Not that anyone is going to listen to their cautionary tale, mind you.


Harry -
While the Doctor and Jo are in the underground city, the character that the Time Lords hinted at in part one finally arrives in the person of the Adjudicator. Using this façade, the Master aims to enter the underground city and take control of the Primitives' superweapon. It's the latest in a series of plots that have grand objectives but little practicality.


Sarah -
I know the decision was made to include the Master in all the episodes of this season, and I don’t want to be seen questioning Barry Letts decision making… but I guess that’s exactly what I’m doing. Does the Master have a Doctor-homing-device in his TARDIS. His ability to show up wherever the Doctor is – even when his earthly exile is ended – is uncanny.


Harry -
So as we move into the second half of the story, we have a lot going on. The colonists and IMC continue to sabotage and attack one another - highlighted by several close-range gun battles. The Doctor and Jo have discovered the underground city and its people. The Master is worming his way into the thick of things, and the Boards-of-Canada-esque incidental music continues to delight this viewer!


Sarah -
The tension is mounting!


Harry -
I think what made this six-parter work was that the story definitely progressed from one episode to the next, without circling back to repeat itself.


Sarah -
Absolutely! Unlike recent stories, we find ourselves with a fresh cliffhanger for each episode. Things keep moving along at a brisk clip.

Our pioneers find themselves agreeing to leave the planet to the mining thugs, which leads us to one of the most devastating moments of the series so far – shortly after taking off, the settlers spaceship explodes. I was devastated and couldn’t believe Doctor Who was doing this to me.

But Wait! It was all a ploy! Ashe bravely piloted the spaceship on his own, knowing it wouldn’t fly – saving the rest of the colony! I nearly stood up and cheered!


Harry -
Ashe gave everything in order to make the colony succeed, including his life. Not that I keep a ranking of such things, but his death was especially tragic.


Sarah -
It was utterly heartbreaking.


Harry -
Meanwhile, the Master once again tempts the Doctor with a half-share of All The Power In The Universe. The Doctor seems to mull it over before he shoots the Master down again. All these failures and rejections in short order must take a toll on the Master's fragile psyche - no wonder he goes increasingly bonkers as a character.


Sarah -
This is getting a bit old, to be honest. Too much Master in a row.


Harry -
Things are quickly wrapped up as the Primitives' tiny elder decides to destroy the superweapon, taking their city with it. Our heroes escape, the Master flees, the colonists are left to start over, and the TARDIS returns to UNIT HQ mere seconds after the Brigadier called it back. Nicely done!


Sarah -
The Doctor returning to UNIT HQ on the Brig’s command was priceless.

Best Line:
Caldwell -- “Are you some kind of Scientist?”
Doctor -- “I’m every kind of scientist.”

Favorite Moment: The Doctor reveals he has the Master’s TARDIS key.

Lasting Image: The settlers on the hill after the ship explodes. Just this once, everybody lives!

7/10


Harry -
Everybody lives... except Ashe. He's going to haunt us!

Best line: Ha! We picked the same one. Hugs all round.

Favourite moment: The TARDIS returns to UNIT HQ, seemingly on the Brig's command.

Lasting image: Dent's cold, stone face of corporate contempt.

7/10

 



Our marathon continues with Story #59 - The Daemons...

Story #57 - The Claws of Axos (1971)

Sarah -
Poor Pigbin Josh – his parents certainly sealed his fate when they gave him that moniker. Sadly, never could they have imagined that it would lead him to be the first human to encounter Axos as it plunders its way through the universe.


Harry -
Pigbin Josh is one of the legendary bit parts in all of Doctor Who. His name and his utterances ("Ooo arr?") live on in countless message board posts. I tip my gin glass to Derek Ware for portraying this cult character, and for agreeing to dive into a pool of frigid water fully clothed. Gives me shivers just thinking about it.


Sarah -
"The Claws of Axos" could have been just another take of alien invasion, human greed, and bureaucratic ineptitude, but Bob Baker and Dave Martin’s script is so well-written and clever, that I ended up watching the entire story in one viewing, despite my plans to watch an episode or two before getting on with the day.


Harry -
It's a very breezy watch, never drags. Similar to "Spearhead from Space" - same opening scene, in fact - but a lot more psychededlic. More on that later.


Sarah -
The elements of the story are definitely reminiscent of "Spearhead from Space," but the reshuffling is clever enough to make it work.


Harry -
Once again, we have a story where everyone seems to be at their worst. The aliens are revealed almost immediately as writhing, gory things, and we soon learn they have been led there by the Master to plunder and destroy the Earth. Meanwhile, the human characters cannot stop bickering over who has authority. Soon enough, they start arresting each other. Well done. Even the Doctor casts a sneaky eye on the so-called "axonite" with designs for repairing his own TARDIS. As I noted in bold letters: EVERYONE IS IN THIS FOR THEMSELVES!


Sarah -
They are – and, at the same time, nothing is quite what we expect. The attractive Axons turn out to be hideous monsters. The Master and Doctor have to work together against the Axons. Chinn keeps the Axonite for Britain and manages to keep it from spreading worldwide. One hardly knows what to think!


Harry -
Ah, Chinn. Another in a long line of pompous, self-serving civil servants in Doctor Who. I liked how he kept getting his ego deflated by his own minister. Well played by Peter Bathurst.


Sarah -
Very well played. I was torn between contempt and sympathy for our friend Chinn. This is a man who is never going to win … at anything!


Harry -
Another memorable guest part is American agent Bill Filer, played by Paul Grist. Everything about Filer is just the way the British see Americans: his gung-ho attidue, his disrespect for authority and process, his massive hair and sideburns, and of course his car, the "big Yankee job" as Benton put it. I would have loved to see a BBC spinoff starring Bill Filer. In fact, the only title it could possibly have had would be BIG YANKEE JOB: The Bill Filer Adventures.


Sarah -
I suspect Jo would have gladly signed on as his partner for that series. She could barely tear her eyes from him!


Harry -
There's a fanfic for that.

Okay, let's pull it back together here. I mentioned the psychedelic look of this story and it might just be my favourite thing about it. Inside Axos it's all swirling lights and colours. The torture/interrogation scene was like an acid fuelled nightmare. Even Axos' choice of what non-threatening Axons might look like to humans is wild: golden-haired humanoids in colourful leotards with bulging eye sockets. They are attractive and repellant at the same time.


Sarah -
The art design is definitely the highlight of the story. The BBC team was on their game for this one and it looks like they had fun with it!


Harry -
Overall, story was something of a romp. The Doctor and Master came closer than ever to forming an alliance. Full credit to Jon Pertwee for playing those scenes so well that I totally believed he was about to leave Earth when he said "Goodbye Jo. I shall miss you."


Sarah -
That was heartbreaking! I knew he would be back, but felt devastated that he’d leave like that.


Harry -
Things worked out in the end. The menace was defeated, the Master absconded, UNIT did their part for Queen and Country, and the Doctor and Jo were back on the team.


Sarah -
Huzzah!


Harry -
Watching all of season eight in rapid succession does make the Master something less than his reputation demands. His grandiose plots keep landing him in jams where he has to beg the Doctor for help - the same Doctor he is trying to impress with his grandiose plots. I wonder what he'll get up to next.the same time.


Sarah -
I’m glad you’ve brought this point up. The Master’s reputation is so huge in fandom, and no doubt much of that is due to Roger Delgado’s fulsome performance. Watching the stories in order, one just gets the feeling of the same thing happening over and over again, with little real development of the Master’s character beyond his sticky relationship with the Doctor.

In any case, we’ll soon see what he gets up to next!


Harry -
Onward!

Best Line: "Axos calling Earth." I loved that voice.

Favourite Moment: the gory Axon creatures run wild.

Lasting Image: Bill Filer driving in a snowstorm, wearing Elvis sunglasses, because that's what every American does, right?

7/10


Sarah -
Best Line: The Master - "Take the normal procedures, sticky tape on the windows, that kind of thing."

Favorite Moment: The Doctor trying to explain the time loop.

Lasting Image: Chinn with the TOP SECRET file made me laugh out loud

7/10

 



Our marathon continues with Story #58 - The Colony in Space...

Story #56 - The Mind of Evil (1971)

Harry -
With the colourized DVD of this story not yet released, here we are, watching scratchy black and white Doctor Who episodes online. I thought these days were behind us.


Sarah -
On the bright side, at least it's not a recon with blurry images and a crap soundtrack.


Harry -
True, "The Mind of Evil" presents an interesting story with a Pertwee era soundtrack - my favourite! There are many pieces to this story so it felt quite epic. A slew of scenes shot on location added to that.


Sarah -
It is an interesting story – but one that would have been more effective as a four-parter.


Harry -
We begin with a kind of mad laboratory scene, with the Doctor and Jo checking out a demonstration of the Keller Machine at the nicely realized Stangmoor prison. The machine itself was a bit daft - something that can remove evil impulses from the human brain, like so much lint in a dryer. Really? I was as skeptical as the Doctor.


Sarah -
The extraction scene was ludicrous. The Doctor’s snarky comments were the only thing that made watching it bearable.

My biggest problem with this story, though, is the Master’s cockamamie plan to take over/destroy/or whatever Earth. He’s created this machine and used it 113 times, just so he can steal an illegal missile that is conveniently being transported while the first-ever World Peace Conference is being held in London. You’ve got to credit the Master for planning ahead.


Harry -
There does seem to be a large time gap between the conclusion of "Terror of the Autons" and now, in order for the Master to have assembled the machine, assumed the identity of Doctor Keller, tested the machine, and had it approved for use and delivered to Stangmoor. What have the Doctor and friends been up to all this time?


Sarah -
It was 1971. We can probably guess what they were up to…


Harry -
There's probably a fan fiction for that.

Well, we know that UNIT is knee deep in overseeing the security arrangements for the World Peace Conference. So nice to see the Brigadier got himself a proper office.


Sarah -
Playing security guard doesn’t quite seem within UNIT’s brief, and they don’t really seem to be doing a very good job of it, do they?

Wow, I’m just a nattering nabob of negativism today, aren’t I? (Just trying to create some early 70s atmosphere for you, there.)


Harry -
It was not nice to see how the Doctor treated the Brigadier when they went to see the Chinese delegate in episode two. While the Doctor charmed Fu Peng by addressing him in his native language, the Brig was ignored, talked over, and made to look like a fool. Did not like.


Sarah -
I was half expecting the Doctor to say he picked up Chinese while traveling with Marco Polo!


Harry -
He is a name dropper...


Sarah -
The tension between the Doctor and the Brig continues. And the Doctor’s grumpy mood continues, as well.


Harry -
By the end of part two, the story has broken out into several interesting strands. The Keller Machine proves lethally dangerous, killing at least a couple of people and almost the Doctor. The Master and his accomplice are wreaking havoc at the Peace Conference, and a jailbreak-hostage drama erupts at the prison. Oh, and there's a nuclear warhead in play, just to make it interesting. Wow!


Sarah -
We never really find out the identity of the creature inside the Keller Machine, do we?


Harry -
No, it was just a generic blobby thing without a name. But so evil!  Evil enough to attack the Doctor in three out of the first four cliffhangers.


Sarah -
It’s not much of cliffhanger if it keeps happening over and over, is it? Still, they gave Pertwee a chance to pull some panto faces… over and over and over again. (Uh oh, there I go again.)


Harry -
As for the Master's relationship with the Doctor, here it is on multifaceted display. He can be cordial with the Doctor in one scene, he can be raving about killing him in the next, and he can be pleading for his help in the next... and the Keller Machine reveals a giant mocking Doctor as the Master's greatest fear. As many an armchair psychiatrist has noted over the years, the Master has some serious Doctor issues.


Sarah -
I’ve read that the Master was a late addition to the story, which explains its disjointed feeling. Still, without Delgado, The Mind of Evil would be missing its greatest strength – the many scenes between the Doctor and Master. There are times, frankly, when the Master seems the preferable of the two. He’s at least trying to be charming, while the Doctor’s eternal bad mood marches on.


Harry -
I mentioned the location shooting earlier and it really is great. The missile hijacking and Stangmoor shootout are lively stuff, much more polished than the hijack scene from "The Ambassadors of Death" just one year previously.


Sarah -
During the shootout, I found myself wondering what Sydney Newman thought of the direction of the educational children’s show he had envisioned nearly ten years prior! We have yet another massive body count in this story.

Turns out the helicopter scenes, among others, put the story over budget, leading to director Timothy Combe never working on Doctor Who again. You don’t mess with Barry Letts’ budget!


Harry -
Combe also spent some cash on another new UNIT face, and I'm glad we got to meet the oh-so-earnest Major Cosworth. Perhaps the campiest UNIT member ever! Not sure if we'll see him in future stories, but he made an impression.

Maybe I'm just hearing things, but the Brigadier's cockney deliveryman was... odd. And did you find Jo's accent a bit posh?


Sarah -
Odd and very, very funny. As for Jo, she got her job through nepotism, so there’s likely a posh girl on the inside of all that grooviness.

Speaking of odd, the dragon that attacks the American senator has to be the most pathetic deepest fear one can imagine!


Harry -
It wasn't even a real dragon but a statue (or a poor prop anyway). Weird phobia, that.

You were right that this story would have been better as a four-parter. The last episode ends with a bang when the hangar is blown up, but by then we've seen maybe one too many insincere exchanges between the Doctor and the Master, and the Keller Machine's peek-a-boo routine got tedious. Then Barnham, who has been an innocent bystander through the entire story, meets a terrible end. Kind of a sad ending.


Sarah -
Barnham’s death was the final nail in the coffin for me. This story left me almost as grumpy as the Doctor in his Earthly exile.


Harry -
Lots left unresolved too. We don't know how the Peace Conference turns out. The Master has slipped away after taunting the Doctor. And yeah, the Keller Machine alien got blown up and that was that. The more I dwell on this, the less satisfying it is. Ah, let's move on. A four-parter is next (hooray!)


Sarah -
Before we go, I have something positive to say! Jo was quite smashing in this story – resourceful, loyal, and not afraid to play her part in a fight scene. Well done!


Harry -
Best line:
Benton - "I'd like to come on the assault, sir."
Brigadier - "Benton, you're supposed to be suffering from severe concussion."
Benton - "I know sir, but it's only a scratch, honest. And you said yourself I've got a thick skull."

Favourite moment: the Doctor and the Master act like the best of frenemies in the prison governor's office.

Lasting image: the Doctor pulling faces when the Keller Machine attacks him.

7/10


Sarah -
Best Line: "He’s got his TARDIS back. He’s free to come and go when he pleases and I’m stuck here on Earth -- with you, Brigadier!"

Favorite Moment: The Doctor’s and Master’s verbal sparring.

Lasting Image: The smile on the Brig’s face when the Doctor delivers his final line. (See above.)

6/10

Our marathon continues with Story #57 - The Claws of Axos...

Story #55 - Terror of the Autons (1971)

Sarah -
If you don't mind, Harry, I'd like to take a moment to pay tribute to Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, who has been dispatched with not an ounce of ceremony. Honestly, Dodo had a better send off than poor Liz.


Harry -
Ugh, what a horrible send off, or rather lack of. Writing Liz out out of the show through a couple of lines of dialogue completed the end of her unfortunate character arc. She began season seven as a Cambridge-schooled woman of science with a healthy dose of skepticism and independent thinking. Four stories later, she'd been rendered into an errand girl, running messages between the Doctor and the Brigadier as her skirts got shorter and shorter. I'm sure Caroline Johns was glad to see the back of that job.


Sarah -
I really started worrying about her skirts!

As we know, the producers decided Liz was far too intelligent and, in the words of the Brig: "What you need, Doctor, as Miss Shaw herself so often remarked, is someone to pass you your test tubes and to tell you how brilliant you are. Miss Grant will fulfill that function admirably."

That quote pretty much sets up the premise of Doctor Who for most of the rest of its run, doesn't it?


Harry -
Enter Katy Manning, wide-eyed and clutching a message from the Brig to the Doctor. I've never been wild about Jo. I think of her as one of the few companion characters without any sort of character arc. She was announced as the Doctor's new assistant, she assisted him, then she left. Hopefully this rewatch of the Jo Grant era will provide us some new insights, or a better appreciation for her character.


Sarah -
This is really the beginning of the Doctor as the all-knowing Time Lord with a human companion along to ask the right questions. It's not that past companions didn't fulfill this role, but their relationships with the Doctor were different.

More than once, the First Doctor, had little grasp on what was going on and his companions were left to figure things out for themselves. The Second Doctor was always quite chummy with his companions -- he and Jamie were just a couple of blokes out on a lark.

As season 8 begins, the Third Doctor is clearly in charge and Jo is there to assist him.


Harry -
Unfortunately Jon Pertwee opens season eight in the same crabby mood where he left off. And the way he talks down to the people around him (which seems to be too often!) makes him slightly less likeable than I'd like the Doctor to be.


Sarah -
Watching the stories in order is really changing my perceptions. More than once I found myself thinking the Doctor was acting like a complete jerk. He managed to soften a bit towards Jo, but I felt so badly for her when she met him the first time. Rude Time Lord!


Harry -
Strangely, it came as a perverse sort of relief when a new adversary appeared to take on the Doctor, maybe put him in his place even!


Sarah -
At last, someone to out Time Lord the Time Lord! I couldn't stop myself from giggling with glee when the Master first appeared. How I've been anticipating this moment!


Harry -
How can you not love Roger Delgado as the Master? Suavely imperious, quietly menacing, utterly watchable. As he starts executing his evil scheme - and executing people - the show corrects itself. The Earth is under siege again, and the Doctor resumes the hero role.


Sarah -
Viewers can only be grateful to the Master for forcing the Doctor to get over himself and focus on the problem at hand.


Harry -
That scene where a bowler-hatted Time Lord appeared and warned the Doctor was brief, but offered a fascinating concept. Imagine if Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks made this a regular feature in the show - having an oddly costumed Time Lord pop up at the start of each story to warn the Doctor of imminent danger.

Hmm... maybe not.


Sarah -
Another reason to be grateful.


Harry -
But look who did pop up again: Michael Wisher, as wishy washy as ever!


Sarah -
The hardest-working man in the Whoniverse! (Check out this smashing graphic!)

Harry -
Hard to believe such a gentle soul could harbour the ultimate megalomaniac. A performance to look forward to!


Sarah -
Speaking of hard-working -- the Autons are back, yet somehow they're not quite as threatening this time. Is it the comical heads? The daffodils?


Harry -
The sudden ability to speak? The "haven't we seen this before" invasion plan?


Sarah -
The more I think about it, the less this invasion plan seems to make sense.


Harry -
Was it much of a plan at all? This is where we encounter some more of what began in the Troughton era: taking monsters that got a great reception the first time around and bringing them back without really thinking up something new for them to do. Here, it's the return of the Autons and the Nestene Consciousness, taking a second crack at trying to conquer the Earth. They have a nefarious accomplice in the Master, but it all gets muddled. How did the Master fall in with this lot? What will he get out of this? And was his own scheme really so flimsy that the Doctor could point out a glaring flaw in it so easily? Weird.


Sarah -
Not quite the cunning plan one would hope, is it?


Harry -
I rather liked the part of the story where the Master left traps for the Doctor to fall into repeatedly. Hah! Who's all arrogant now?


Sarah -
Hoisted by his own petard! (I think I've been waiting two years to find a place to say that.)


Harry -
Nice!

Oh, getting back to the daffodils. Bit daft, that. Although I did like the Autons with the boaters, yellow blazers and giant carnival heads.


Sarah -
The carnival heads were creepy. I'm glad I didn't see this one as a child -- they would have given me nightmares.


Harry -
Apart from Delgado's searing performance, they might be the other highlight of this story for me. Which isn't saying much, sadly.


Sarah -
There were some rather good lines, but they didn't add up to much.

Before we sign off, Harry, a quick shout-out for Captain Mike Yates -- who joins Jo and the Master by making his first appearance in this story. Interesting to learn from the featurette on the DVD that Ian Marter almost got the job. Good thing his schedule didn't allow it or we might be Sarah and some-other-bloke right now.


Harry -
Things have a way of working out for the best. Each story brings us closer to the Elisabeth Sladen / Ian Marter era!


Sarah -
Don't get ahead of yourself, Old Boy!


Harry -
Last season, the UNIT team was still taking shape. Now, we have the Brigadier, Captain Yates, Sergeant Benton, the occasionally arrogant but still dashing Scientific Advisor and his enthusiastic new Assistant all together. The UNIT family is ready to take on all comers. Bring it on!

To me, the real importance of "Terror of the Autons" is that it sets the template that Doctor Who will follow all through this season and into the next two. As a stand-alone story, it left me wanting. But I can't wait to see what that old rascal the Master will get up to next, and I'm eager to see more of the Jo Grant era as we move on to the next story. Shall we?


Sarah -
I can only agree. There are isolated moments of brilliance, but they don't add up to much in the end. Onward to "The Mind of Evil"!


Harry -
Best Line:
Jo - "Doctor, stop being childish."
Doctor - "What's wrong with being childish? I like being childish."

Favourite Moment: Captain Yates slams an Auton with his car, the Auton rolls down a long hill, lands at the bottom... and gets right back up.

Lasting Image: the yellow blazered Autons with the giant carnival masks.

6/10


Sarah -
Best Line: "I have so few worthy opponents. When they're gone I always miss them."

Favorite Moment: The Master's first appearance.

Lasting Image: The killer plastic chair!

6/10

Our marathon continues with Story #56 - The Mind of Evil...