Written by Dennis Spooner | Directed by Henric Hirsch | Produced by Verity Lambert | Original air date 09/12/64
What was all that about?
The Reign of Terror might actually be the nadir of the first season. I know I did not enjoy Marco Polo very much, but at least it had a coherent plot. I'm usually sympathetic to a sort of romp through a historical period, watching the TARDIS crew interact with various historical characters and events, but this was a bit ridiculous. It's too on the periphery to be interesting - Napoleon may show up in this episode, but it's basically a cameo, and he never interacts with the TARDIS crew. His entire appearance is to hint that he eventually becomes ruler of France, which... duh? There's a way to write a serial where Napoleon interacts with the TARDIS crew - say, he was on his way to Paris, or ran into them on the road or something. But having him for one scene when he would be the most interesting guest character on the show is an odd choice. Lemaitre's revelation that he's James Stirling is nonsensical as well - surely he'd have seen Webster in the prison he was overseeing at some point? For two men who were apparently friends, it's remarkable that Lemaitre/Stirling never interacted with him. Bah, the plot of this one is just dumb.
Barbara and the Doctor reference the Aztecs again. That serial has already, by the end of the first season, taken a very important place in the show's mythos, hasn't it? The writers at the time - I suspect David Whitaker, primarily - really wanted to set it in stone that history cannot be rewritten.
I do like the scene where Ian tells Jules to remember the name Napoleon Bonaparte, when Jules idly asks who will rule France. Jules' reply - "a Corsican, ruling France?!" is adorable. Ian likes spoiling people, it appears! I wonder if River Song ever met him.
The coda to end the episode is interesting:
Doctor: "Our lives are important, at least to us. But as we see, we learn."
Ian: "And what are we going to see and learn next, Doctor?"
Doctor: "Well, unlike the old adage, my boy, our destiny is in the stars. Let's go and search for it."
Thus ends the first season of Doctor Who. It's interesting - it reminded me of the coda from Survival, the final episode of the classic series:
Seventh Doctor: "There are worlds out there where the sky's burning, and the sea's asleep, and the river's dream. People made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, and somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace, we've got work to do!"
They are similar, though I vastly prefer the Seventh Doctor's more evocative version. It is kind of amazing how much the ethos of this show survives over the years - the delivery would have been different, but I could see William Hartnell giving the same speech. I could see any Doctor giving either speech, come to think of it.
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "Planet of Giants"
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