Written by Louis Marks | Directed by Douglass Camfield | Produced by Verity Lambert | Original air date 11/14/64
When this episode was originally taped, it was a four-parter. However, due to pacing issues, the third and fourth episodes were combined and much was cut to make this serial a three-parter. This does make this episode a bit snappier, but at the expense of coherent storytelling, since crucial plot-related scenes were cut, what we're left with is a bit of a mess.
I mean, the serial ultimately works, but right around the middle of the episode, there's an obvious cut scene. Barbara had just passed out from the effects of the poison as the rest of the TARDIS crew realize what's happened to her. The Doctor says they have to get Barbara back to the ship, that making Barbara the correct size will make her body's natural defense mechanisms work on the poison. But after the cut, Barbara seems to have refused to go back to the ship, seemingly to prevent Forester (not that any of them know his name) from mass producing the pesticide, risking her own life. The Doctor agrees with her - which is quite different from his tone of urgency in getting her back to the ship literally seconds ago. It's a jarring scene - the first time I watched this serial, I had to rewind to make sure I didn't miss anything. I've not gone and watched the bonus feature on the DVD to see the recreation of the third and fourth episodes - some of the material cut was necessary, like the scene where the four walk around a notepad and piece together the chemical formula on it. And besides, this is what was broadcast - whatever they cut has been lost, deleted with the rest of the episodes by the BBC in the 70s (what we have is piecemeal from the odd episode in the BBC archives, but most of pre-1980s Doctor Who was found at various locations around the globe as a result of the BBC selling these episodes to other territories, and the TV stations in those territories not following BBC orders to destroy the tapes after a certain amount of time).
Still, though this is the weakest of the three episodes, it's still very watchable, and the serial overall is quite good. We get the first indication that the Doctor is a bit of a pyromaniac here - he has a few lines like "nothing like a good fire!" and such, and he giggles with joy once Ian and Susan light the match and light the gas aflame with it. We'll see this again when he watches Rome burn in a few serials, along with a new companion, Vicki, who laughs delightedly along with him (not to get ahead of myself, but I love Vicki).
Kudos to Jacqueline Hill again, though, who plays Barbara wonderfully as her stress levels reach a peak just before she passes out. She does a great job selling how taxed Barbara is from the poison and the exertion of this adventure. It's not just a layer of sweat and a slumped posture - she moves slowly and the look on her face throughout shows the strain on her body. She really is a wonderful actress - probably the best actor on the show to date.
I always laugh at the police officer who is unable to put his hat on correctly, giving up in the middle of the scene and walking out of shot with the chinstrap in his mouth. Oh, Doctor Who actors, never change.
While this episode may seem small scale, it comes highly recommended from me. Only Doctor Who could take an idea like "ever-lasting pesticide" in a time travel show, shrink the four main characters down to an inch tall, and never have them interact with the guest cast and make it work. An excellent start to the second season.
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "World's End"
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