The Faceless Ones

The Doctor and his companions arrive at Gatwick Airport where it is soon very clear that something is afoot. People are disappearing from flights run by the mysterious Chameleon Tours and a man has been murdered. It transpires that the alien Chameleons are taking humans and transforming themselves into duplicates of them- but to what end?

The Faceless Ones is something of an oddity. It does not concern itself with aliens bent on conquest and destruction, but on aliens who are seeking to save themselves. They have lost their identities and are stealing those of humans. It’s a nice spin on the Invasion of the Bodysnatchers trope, making as much of gaining an identity as losing one. The script has the aliens doing evil things, but never characterises them as evil, merely desperate, meaning that the Doctor has more options open to him than merely defeating them. It has really interesting things to say about identity- the Chameleons are basically moving lumps of flesh without them, and when they are disconnected from the original, they disintegrate.

The story does rely a lot on the visual which is unfortunate, as only the first and third episodes exist. Telesnaps and the soundtrack indicate things which would have looked fantastic on broadcast- the catatonic ‘originals’ kept in storage, the airliner converting into a rocket and then flying into a huge mother ship, the miniaturised humans and, of course, the horrific appearance of the aliens themselves. The end of episode one is still genuinely frightening today- an alien is escorted by its transformed brethren to the sick bay- all we see of it are decayed looking hands and a skull-like head from the back. The Chameleons, whatever their motivation, certainly look like the stuff of nightmares.

The fact that this is such a visual story is also unfortunate, as the surviving episode 3 is easily the ugliest looking episode of 60s Doctor Who I have yet seen, which is truly incredible for anything that has Wanda Ventham in it. Any scene with a conversation involving more than two people has clumsy composition that wastes the screen. The sets and costumes that appear in the episode have very similar shades of grey, as opposed to the dynamic range we are used to. This is not a problem in the first episode, however, and doesn’t appear to be so in the missing episodes from the telesnaps, so I will put this down to rushed camerawork and an unfortunate combination of sets for the episode. Gerry Mill puts in good directorial work elsewhere in the story and would direct episodes of Robin of Sherwood, one of the most beautiful series ever broadcast.

The story does have its share of longueurs and has poor pacing in parts. The reason for the Chameleons losing their identities is ‘a gigantic explosion’ which beats the ‘jumping a time track’ from The Space Museum and the jamming of the fast return switch from The Edge of Destruction for the award for Stupidest Reason for Something Happening in Doctor Who. Also, why do the Chameleons not process Inspector Gascoigne instead of killing him? Why do they draw attention to themselves by naming the airline ‘Chameleon Tours’ and by copying Polly and then giving her a different identity? The ending is also a bit weak and rushed, especially considering the story has blatantly been expanded from a four-parter.

The supporting cast are solid, though not great. The story features an early performance by Pauline Collins and, although she is fine, it is another case of a great future actor appearing in the programme before they have hit their stride. This story also marks the departure of Ben and Polly and unfortunately, they are sidelined for much of the story and don’t get the send-off they deserve. Both Anneke Wills and Michael Craze never failed to put in a good performance and although they were never very characterfully written, they filled in the gaps admirably. Their dynamic was also one of the most interesting ones given to programme regulars. Ben was a working class lad working a working class job, but was clearly very intelligent indeed and we are left to wonder what he would have become had he come from the same background as Polly.

Despite its flaws, the ambition of the story and the intelligence of its concepts makes it worth a look- but make sure you have the telesnaps to hand (available free on the BBC website) when you are listening to it.

NEXT: The Evil of the Daleks

The Macra Terror

The Doctor and his companions arrive on a human colony on a distant planet. The people seem to be happy and want for nothing. Yet a few are treated as lunatics and criminals, because they have seen monsters lurking in the forbidden zones- the Macra. Do the Macra, in fact, exist, and if they do, what is their relationship to the colony.

The Macra Terror has a synopsis that reads like a bad 50s B-movie, yet the story itself is so much more than that. Ian Stuart Black had a knack for taking simple and sometimes clichéd ideas and making them work in new and interesting ways. The colony is presented as a utopia that is really a dystopia. The people are happy in work and play and have access to countless recreations. The starts with full of holiday-camp style ‘stings’ that encourage the colonists to be happy. However, they are fed instructions in their sleep and are told not to question the status quo, and the majority of them do not because life is so comfortable.

However, there is a dark side to this society- the Macra themselves. They have been using the colonists to mine for the gases they need to survive and have been controlling the colony for years. Black astutely sees the colony as being an organism, and the Macra as an infection or parasite. They are clearly intelligent creatures to have accomplished them, yet they are never shown speaking or acting intelligently- their on-screen appearances are limited in number, and always have them acting simply as monsters. They clearly see the humans as merely a means to get their food and nothing more. The fact that they accomplish that by keeping the humans in a state of artificial bliss does not count in their favour- sometimes a person can be destroyed by fulfilling their desires rather than subjugating them, as struggle and conflict have been removed. They are worse than slaves- they are battery hens.

The guest cast is excellent, Peter Jeffrey is fantastic (as he often tends to be) as the Pilot and Terence Lodge is very effective as Medok, a man who has seen the Macra. The surviving clips show good production values. The Macra themselves are, obviously, not 100% convincing, but the sight of them coming out of the darkness with their glowing eyes is very effective. The script, as well as being thoughtful, is lightened with humour- the aforementioned ‘stings’ are great, as is the hilarious scene where Jamie leads an impromptu dance class. There is also the great ‘makeover’ scene where the Doctor is tidied up by a machine and then steps into another one to mess himself up again.

The regulars rise magnificently to the occasion. The fact that Ben is successfully brainwashed makes for a very interesting dynamic between Ben and Jamie and both Michael Craze and Frazer Hines rise to the challenge magnificently. Troughton is simply amazing, depicting the Doctor as being both brilliant and childish and a decidedly anarchic streak: ‘Bad rules were made to be broken’ seems to be a dictum he lives by.

If there is a flaw in the story, it’s that the ending is a bit rushed. However this is a great spin on a monster story, and well worth a spin.

NEXT: The Faceless Ones

The Moonbase

The Doctor and his companions arrive on an isolated base to find that the Cybermen are back. The villainous cyborgs plan to use a human invention to destroy the world, and the only thing that stops them is the discovery of a weakness and exploiting it. Yes, it’s pretty much the same plot as The Tenth Planet, but if it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it. Ah.

To be fair, The Moonbase has a better script than its predecessor, but that only really means that it is stupid on fewer levels. The Cyber-plan is still unnecessarily complex- why did they go to the trouble of spreading a virus in such a random and ineffective manner? The moon-base has a small complement composed entirely of scientists- would it have not been easier to tunnel in, subdue and convert the personnel directly and then take control of the Gravitron. However they eventually succeed- and then suddenly change their plan to destroy the Earth (the reason for which is never given!) If the Cybermen are a logical race, they must base their behaviour on Logic lecturers who are, by and large, utterly barmy. The script contains some good lines, but a cornucopia of terrible ones.

The guest performances are adequate, but at least there aren’t any egregiously bad ones. Again, Pedler and Davis try to show a multi-racial future, with the Nigerian geologist Ralph Adebayo. Unfortunately, he is dragged away by the Cybermen half-way through the first episode, which is a pity, as Mark Heath seems to give one of the better performances amongst the guest cast. However, characterisation is non-existent and it is only the differing nationalities that give the base personnel any individuality (poor André Maranne again being a professional Frenchman). The regulars put in good work as usual- I love the scenes where Troughton is trying to collect specimens from people while they are still working.

The Cybermen have been given the first of many makeovers and they might, at the time, have looked more impressive than their Tenth Planet forbears. Forty years later, however, I personally think the original Cybermen look better, if only for the fact that they don’t have flares and lace-up boots! More seriously, I don’t think the idea of the Cybermen being humans who have violated their own bodies has ever been visualised better than the original design. The voices, though, are very effective (although still a bit hard to understand). The set design and costuming is fine, but the special effects for the Cyber-ships leave a great deal to be desired, being amongst the worst ever seen in the programme- at least the wires holding up the Dalek ship in The Dalek Invasion of Earth didn’t snap halfway through the shot. Morris Barry directs with panache, except for the laughable scene where the Gravitron is used on the Cybermen.

As said, this is a better story than The Tenth Planet, but it lacks the significance of the earlier story making the grievous flaws in plotting and dialogue all too obvious.

NEXT: The Macra Terror

The Underwater Menace

Let’s get the praiseworthy aspects of the story out of the way. The sets are OK, and some of the guest performances are competent. The regulars are excellent, as usual and, indeed, the scenes which only feature them are very good. And that’s it.

The script by Geoffrey Orme is a mish-mash of sheer story-telling idiocy. Professor Zaroff’s plan is stupid (to drain the oceans into the Earth’s core). Zaroff’s motivation is stupid (he’s mad. Mad, I tell you!) This does not necessarily doom the story to failure. However, the stupidity snowballs: because of the stupidity of the villain’s plan, the supporting characters have to be stupid as well, in order to be taken in by it. The Doctor’s plans to stop Zaroff are foiled by the need to pad out the story (how could anyone fall for that ‘feigning illness’ act in episode 3?) so he has to propose two ridiculous contingency plans- make the Fish People go on strike to starve the Atlanteans and then flood half the country. This is backed by some utterly ludicrous dialogue (‘Help me stand at your side so I may feel ze aura of your goodness!’) making this not so much a script, but a lesson in how not to write one.

As said before, there are competent performances from the guest cast (Colin Jeavons and Noel Johnson) but the majority are anything but. P.G. Stephens and Paul Anil are terrible as Sean and Jacko and there is, of course, Zaroff. Joseph Furst’s performance is terrible, but the blame cannot wholly be apportioned to him. In the script, Zaroff is not so much a character as an anchor point for exclamation marks and it would have taken a director of superlative talent to make Zaroff remotely convincing. Julia Smith, however, has no concept of tone or consistency, which means that a ranting megalomaniac like Zaroff has to share a scene with a pantomime dame like Lolem. Smith is fine when a scene is more visual- the marketplace scene is very well shot. However, she seems to have little aptitude for making performances gel, which is not entirely her fault, considering the script. Dudley Simpson’s score is utterly ridiculous and frequently at odds with what appears on the screen. Then again...

This is, in short, bloody awful. It has some appeal as being ‘so bad, it’s good’, but there really are far better ways of spending your time. There are many laughable Doctor Who stories, but this is one of only a handful that are actually written and produced in a way that is indistinguishable from a spoof of the programme. There is not even a hat for the Doctor to like in it.*

_{*actually, there is, but it's a great way to end a review.}

Next: The Moonbase

The Highlanders

The TARDIS arrives in the aftermath of the Battle of Culloden, the British army triumphant over the rebel forces of Bonnie Prince Charlie. They are entangled in the ‘mopping up’ operation by the redcoats, where the brave highlanders must choose between death and slavery. This story is hardly the most historically accurate one the programme has made, but it must be remembered that this was broadcast only two years after Peter Watkins’s ground-breaking Culloden, the definitive television exploration of that event. The Highlanders simply gets on with telling a good story, and succeeds admirably.

There is an undercurrent of brutality in the story- characters are threatened with hanging and drowning and the sense of horror at the fact that defeat is only the beginning. However, there is a great deal of humour in the story, especially where the Doctor is concerned. Here, the Doctor dons all manner of disguises and silly voices- a German doctor (Doktor von Wer, no less!) who is fond of bizarre astrological and holistic remedies, a Redcoat and an aged Scottish crone. In fact, he spends more time pretending to be someone else than he does as himself. However, it is notable that it is his new-found fondness for headgear (‘I would like a hat like that!’) that gets them all into trouble. He also seems to have a new-found violent streak- witness his subduing of Grey, with the great quip ‘I've never seen a silent lawyer before’. Fortunately, these are played for laughs.

The guest characters are very memorable, especially David Garth as the loathsome Solicitor Grey, who refers to the Scottish prisoners as ‘Highland cattle’. Michael Elwyn puts in a funny, but sympathetic performance as the foppish Lt Algernon Ffinch ('...with two "f"s!') a man who illustrates the perils of ‘buying a commission’, but proves to be honourable in the end. I must also mention Dallas Cavell as Captain Trask, who seems to have wandered in from The Smugglers!

Ben and Polly are also on fantastic form- in fact Polly has never been better than here, where she schemes and uses her feminine wiles on the hapless Ffinch. However, this story contributed something very important to the legacy of Doctor Who- Jamie McCrimmon. Surprisingly, he doesn’t take centre stage at any point here, but is still engagingly played by Frazer Hines throughout.

The Highlanders marks the end of another era in Doctor Who, that of the pure historical. There would be trips to the past after this, but there would always be an alien or monster waiting there. Whatever the motivation behind this decision, it is a real shame- all of them are well worth watching/ listening to, and some rank as among the finest examples of 1960s television. They were also very varied in tone, from the doom-laden Massacre to the farcical Myth Makers. The Highlanders is a very entertaining story to end this era.

Next: The Underwater Menace

The Power of the Daleks

There has probably never been a Doctor Who story with as much riding on it as The Power of the Daleks. A much-loved actor has been drastically replaced and the programme could fail without him. William Hartnell was so integral to the programme’s appeal that many at the time could have been forgiven for predicting the imminent cancellation of the programme. It is clear that it would take a very special story to make the changeover even a qualified success.

David Whitaker was well aware of this when writing the story. He makes Ben very sceptical about whether this strange little man is, indeed, the Doctor and puts questions and comments that must have been in the viewers’ minds at the time of transmission: ‘He doesn’t even act like him!’ This is compounded by the Doctor speaking of himself in the third person. Polly, on the other hand, never doubts who he is, ensuring that the audience doesn’t lose itself in scepticism, too early.

However, it was the brave decision of the production team to replace Hartnell with an actor very unlike him in appearance and mannerism, but also, crucially, one who was as good an actor. This Doctor conducts himself with considerably less decorum than his predecessor, playing tunes on his recorder in answer to questions, acting like a fool in order to get information- I love the scene when the Doctor is trying to unlock a sonic lock by blowing on a dog-whistle- only for a dog to howl in the distance! The specifics may be very different, but the Doctor is trying to do the same thing he has always done. Troughton captures our attention from the start and never lets go.

Of course, there is one other thing that would convince viewers that this was Doctor Who- the Daleks. Here, they too seem to be behaving in an unexpected manner, pretending to be the servants of the Vulcan colonists. However, we know what they really want to do and we know that only one person can save the day- which, of course, he does.

This is the first Dalek story to be written by someone other than Terry Nation, and it really shows. The characters have a great deal more depth and are more believable. Lesterson is not a monomaniac, but merely a talented man out of his depth. Janley is a strong and believable female character who is not merely there to fly the flag for women’s lib, a genuine rarity at the time. In fact, none of the antagonists are really portrayed as evil- even Bragen is mindful of the human cost of his coup. The only evil is, of course, that of the Daleks. The supporting cast is well up to the task, with Robert James deserving special mention for his portrayal of Lesterson. Like the best actors, he knows when to hold back, which makes his playing of Lesterson’s hysteria very convincing.

From the telesnaps, it seems that Christopher Barry again put in some good work in the director’s booth. Episode 1 is influenced slightly by Quatermass and the Pit and the opening of the capsule in the episode is shot in a very similar way. The sets and costuming are excellent and there is the very welcome return of Tristram Carey’s Dalek themes. This is a great debut for Patrick Troughton and the very special story that the programme needed to survive.

NEXT: The Highlanders

The Tenth Planet

There are very few Doctor Who stories that are as important as The Tenth Planet. It introduced one of the programme’s most enduring adversaries, the Cybermen and it introduced the very concept that enabled the programme to become the longest-running science-fiction show in television history.

The Cybermen are a brilliantly realised race, with excellent costume designs by Sandra Reid and there is the genius touch of having the Cybermen not move their ‘lips’ when they speak with their eerie voices. Derek Martinus manages to come up with some very effective shots and his revelation of the Cybermen at the end of episode one is excellent. We see eerie figures in the snow, who knock out the men outside the base. The camera then focuses on a human hand, which is attached to a grotesque robotic parody of a human body.

Gerry Davis and Kit Pedler try and show a future where racial barriers no longer exist- not only is one of the astronauts in the Zeus IV capsule black, he is the commanding officer. However , the script itself is at best unpolished and at worst, downright terrible. The Cybermen’s plan doesn’t make much sense- if Mondas is the Earth’s twin, why not simply move operations there instead of risking both planets? There is real stupidity in some of the finer plot points. We are asked to believe that it never occurred to Barclay to sabotage the Z-Bomb missile. We are asked to believe that General Cutler would sacrifice millions of lives for the mere possibility of saving his son. Scientific accuracy completely goes out of the window in a story that was co-written by Kit Pedler, who was meant to be the programme’s scientific adviser. I won’t go into his complete ignorance of astrophysics and just point out one thing that demonstrates the lack of care in plotting and scientific accuracy- the radiation chamber has a ventilation shaft that leads to other rooms in the Snowcap base!

There are some truly dreadful performances in episode one and it is a real relief that the two main offenders (Tito and the American Sergeant) are killed by the Cybermen at the end of episode one. Of the remaining cast, only Robert Beatty is really better than adequate which is strange, considering the quality of the cast, such as the wonderful Earl Cameron, who had been touted as the ‘British Sidney Poitier’ since the 1950s. The blame for this must be shared by Derek Martinus- whilst he is excellent visually, he is less successful in directing performances.

It is truly astonishing how little the Doctor contributes to the story and it is a real pity that Hartnell is effectively playing second-fiddle in his own swan song- Ben essentially fulfils the Doctor’s function in this story, and it is Michael Craze who comes out best in this story, playing Ben as being resourceful, intelligent and being the prime motivator of events. However, the focus is on the Doctor again in the last third of the final episode. He is obviously weakened by events and needs to be helped into the TARDIS. There then follows one of the most striking scenes in the history of the programme. It seems that the TARDIS is in as unpredictable a state as the Doctor, with the light flickering and levers on the console moving of their own accord. The weakened Doctor manages to open the doors to let Ben and Polly in, before collapsing. Alarmed, they see the Doctor’s body glow in an unearthly light- and when it fades, there is a stranger lying on the TARDIS floor.

This scene is still hugely effective now, but the impact it must have had on audiences in 1966 must have been staggering. It is one of the iconic movements that make this hugely flawed story a must-see for anyone interested in Doctor Who.

Next: The Power of the Daleks

The Smugglers

The Doctor, with new companions Ben and Polly become entangled in the affairs of smugglers and pirates, when they land in Cornwall in the 17th century. The treasure of Captain Avery is hidden in the town and the villainous Captain Pike is willing to stop at nothing to get it.

Historicals in Doctor Who can have many purposes. They can show how different historical cultures were, they can show how famous events came to pass, they can comically reinterpret history. However, The Smugglers is a story driven by one concept: pirates are great. This is a story that sets out to do nothing more than tell a good story and it achieves this with gusto. As expected, there is a lot of ‘arrr’-ing, cutlass-play and at least one instance of the mainbrace being spliced. The pirates are a very colourful bunch, wonderfully played. Captain Pike is played with great relish by Michael Godfrey as a grimier version of Captain Hook. He commands his crew with an iron fist (sorry!) but knows that the only way to maintain control is to allow the men’s blood-lust to be sated. He is ably supported by George A. Cooper as the very inappropriately named Cherub. The smugglers are represented by the untrustworthy Jacob Kewper (played by David Kelly) and the Squire, as played by Paul Whitsun-Jones, an actor who portrays corpulent authority figures with immense energy, always looking as if he is about to burst a blood vessel.

It is commonly thought that the reason for Hartnell’s departure was ill health. This is strange as in this, his penultimate story, the Doctor takes a very active role and Hartnell throws himself eagerly into the role, and clearly has a ball doing it. The Doctor tricks his way out every deadly situation he ends up in and is clearly having the time of his life. Ben and Polly, though separated from the Doctor, manage to be resourceful and cunning on their own, and Michael Craze and Anneke Wills’s rapport is wonderful.

Surviving footage indicates that this story had excellent production values and effective location filming, but, even from the soundtrack alone, this is a fun story to listen to for all the reasons listed above, most notably the simplest one: pirates are great.

NEXT: The Tenth Planet

The War Machines

The TARDIS lands in London in 1966 near the Post Office Tower. Inside the tower, Doctor and Dodo meet Professor Brett, the creator of WOTAN (Will Operating Thought Analogue) that will connect with other computers around the world in a kind of world-wide web, an international net, if you will. WOTAN is self-aware and it makes a decision that will endanger all humanity. The supercomputer organises the construction of ‘War Machines’- armed automata that can neutralise weapons and kill any who oppose them- and they are poised to strike.

This story illustrates how different the Hartnell era was from what followed more than any other. Today, there are many threats to contemporary Earth in general and London in particular. Today, the Doctor is known to at least one paramilitary organisation and can count on their support. However, this was the first time these tropes were ever seen in the programme and it genuinely seems odd to see the First Doctor blag his way into laboratories, confiding in politicians and being helped by the Army. The script is again by Ian Stuart Black and while it lacks the nuances of The Savages, it is successful in accomplishing what it sets out to do. It is, however, deeply weird to hear the lead character referred to as 'Dr. Who'!

The production values are impressive- there is extensive location filming around London and the design work is sound. Michael Ferguson directs the location scenes with panache, with high shots, what look like (but probably aren’t) crane shots and Dutch angles. He is generally fine with character scenes, but a fair few are fumbled- there are some conversation scenes where he only shoots one participant, or the wrong person and the actor doesn’t convincingly emote when not talking.

Again, the guest cast is merely competent at best and Alan Curtis is a bit rubbish as Major Green. However, the new regulars Anneke Wills and Michael Craze are instantly appealing. In her first scene, Polly gurns when she is called pretty, which is fantastic. There are also the brilliant scenes in the Inferno nightclub- I’m a sucker for 60’s club scenes with people shimmying about. The interplay between Dodo, Ben and Polly is great and feels real. It is a real pity that Dodo is given such short shrift by the story- she is the only companion who doesn’t get to say goodbye to the Doctor. Once her accent stabilised, Jackie Lane put in a good performance and had she had longer she would, no doubt, be better remembered.

The character of the Doctor is slightly different to how it has been presented in the past. Rather than gaining allies piecemeal or inspiring people, he is seen instructing military officers in strategy and is flanked by troops. There is also the only scene where we see the First Doctor losing control- the scene when WOTAN attempts to hypnotise him. Hartnell is easily up to this in a portrayal that is prescient in some ways of Pertwee’s.

This is a very enjoyable story but I get a sense of it being slightly dumbed down from the highs of earlier stories. The writing is not quite as sharp and it also seems to lack freshness which is, to be honest, unfair, as it was the first story of its kind, making it a story of great importance in Doctor Who and ending one of the finest seasons in the programme's history.

NEXT: The Smugglers