Written by Peter R. Newman | Directed by Mervyn Pinfield | Produced by Verity Lambert | Original air date 06/27/64
It's interesting seeing how adventures feel when watching them in order. Though I've seen all of Doctor Who before this blog started over the years, I remember enjoying The Sensorites quite a bit, before. It's not godawful or anything, but this episode is a bit dull. Perhaps this is the episode that's padded the most to make sure the serial lasts six episodes long? It might be - there's a sequence over two minutes long where Ian and Barbara walk slowly through the spaceship looking for Sensorites. It's supposed to be tense - and it may have been in 1964, but this scene doesn't age well. Once they find the Sensorites, at least as they back away for another minute and a half, we get a few lines of dialogue and can get a good look at the things. It's still pretty dull, though.
We get another reference to a past adventure the Doctor and Susan had - they were on the planet Esto, which had plants that could communicate via thought transference, and Susan uses that example to explain to Barbara why she wants to have them both think - and only think- "we defy you." The force of the thought knocks the Sensorites to the ground, and lets the Sensorites know that Susan is telepathic later on. It's interesting, though - two episodes in a row, now, we've heard of adventures the Doctor has had that we haven't seen. It seems Newman likes to use the time before An Unearthly Child for plot expediency - explain what he wants Susan to do by saying she's encountered a similar situation before, one that we never have to actually show. However, all these years and episodes later, the references to the past stand out to me - the Doctor didn't seem like much of a traveler in An Unearthly Child, at least not one who enjoyed adventuring, yet. Perhaps Esto was a super boring trip, one in which the only interesting thing that happened was psychic plants. Susan, weirdly, seems to have an affinity for plants - she's obsessed with the flower in the petrified jungle back in The Daleks, is terrified of the screaming jungle in The Keys of Marinus, and had the run in with the psychic plants on Esto. I'm not sure what to make of it - surely it's unintentional on behalf of the production team, of course - but it's an odd coincidence.
Presumably, the Sensorite on the outside of the ship that acted as the cliffhanger for yesterday's episode is one of the ones that enters the ship here. It's never really explained, and everyone on the ship seems remarkably unconcerned with it, at least until it's among them. Why they didn't try to track it or shake it off is beyond me.
Molybdenum, a real mineral, is the reason the Sensorites won't allow the TARDIS crew or spaceship to leave. The Sense-sphere is loaded with it. Apparently humans had arrived on the Sense-sphere before and caused great harm to the Sensorites, somehow. They mention a sickness in this episode, but it's largely unexplained for now. It's apparently easy to harm the Sensorites, though - they're terrified of the dark because they can't see at all in it (they're eyes are the exact opposite of a cat, the Doctor notices), and loud sounds appear to irritate them (why the high-pitched screeching they emit doesn't bother them, I don't know - perhaps they can't detect it).
The episode ends with Susan having a conversation with the Sensorites telepathically, where we can only hear what she has to say. She tells everyone to stay where they are, and that she's going with the Sensorites to their planet so everyone doesn't get killed, and the episode ends.
It makes me sad that I'm not loving this serial as much as I did the first time I watched it. Perhaps it gets better, but the reputation it has may be appropriate, for once - it's fairly overlooked in fandom. It has some good ideas, but they might be spread a bit too thin over the six episodes. Poor Peter R. Newman - the bonus features on the DVD explain how he died tragically young, and we don't know a whole lot about him. Toby Hadoke goes and interviews some of his family, and it borders on slightly creepy, but doesn't cross the line due to the respect Toby gives the family and that they pay to their relative. I would have liked to see what else Newman would have written for Doctor Who - I think he's largely pretty good, and most writers improved the more they wrote for the show (Terry Nation aside. Sorry, dude, your work is a rollercoaster of quality). And while I'm not sure if it was Newman or script editor David Whitaker who put in lines like "it all started as a mild curiosity in the junkyard," it's a good line, and it's a shame we just have the one serial from the guy.
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "Hidden Danger"
KAZIN WHO - One episode and one blog of Doctor Who every weekday
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
Tuesday, June 6, 2017
"Strangers in Space" - Season 1, Episode 31
Written by Peter R. Newman | Directed by Mervyn Pinfield | Produced by Verity Lambert | Original air date 06/20/64
Despite the last episode seemingly leading immediately into this one, Barbara says she's "over" the Aztecs already. How?! She was broken up about it just a few minutes ago. I suppose some time could have passed between the two episodes - when the Doctor starts flying the ship when they leave Mexico, he's alone, and there's a fade to black. Perhaps a few hours or days pass... Still, though, this is indicative of a problem Doctor Who faces throughout its entire classic run. Once a serial is over, the characters move on, barely remarking - if they remark at all - on what just happened. The worst example of this is Time-Flight in the early 80s, but that's a long ways away. For now, Barbara has moved on, and the Doctor's brief dalliance with Cameca is never mentioned again.
At least everyone is enjoying themselves, now! "Yes, it all started out as a mild curiosity in a junkyard, and now it's turned out to be quite a, quite a great spirit of adventure, don't you think?" the Doctor asks. They then recite, briefly, what they've been through (some of which become fandoms name for the mentioned stories, such as "The Daleks" or "Marco Polo"). The Doctor also mentions meeting Henry VIII - and making him angry enough to send them to the Tower of London, where the TARDIS was. Susan confirms this, so it seems like the Doctor isn't lying about it... I wonder if Big Finish has done an audio about this, because if so, I haven't heard it (I know the Sixth Doctor met him at one point, but I don't remember the First Doctor doing so). Anyway, it's another rare mention of stuff the Doctor got up to before An Unearthly Child - something we won't hear much more about in the actual show itself, since Susan is going to be leaving in a few serials. The series quickly looks to its future and doesn't fill much in about its past, which is ultimately a good thing, really.
The design on the spaceship is gorgeous, it has to be said. I love retro futurism. Unfortunately, the set is lit far too brightly, so the feeling of dread they were probably going for as the TARDIS crew examines what they think are corpses is nonexistent. It's too bad, too, because having no explanation for several minutes and a darkened set would have gone a long way to making things creepier.
Maitland, the captain of the ship, doesn't seem too fazed to learn that the travelers come from the 20th century - perhaps time travel is possible in their time? I don't know why Peter R. Newman included the bits about when they're all from, it's just awkward and the ship crew not being bothered that people from 800 years ago are interacting with them never feels right. Newman does get some cute dialogue in, though - the Doctor insists "there's not an ounce of curiosity" in him and then immediately asks more questions about what happened on the ship, and Ian and Barbara laugh.
The Sensorites are able to do what the Voord couldn't, and remove the lock from the TARDIS. This, apparently, means the TARDIS crew cannot get in. Breaking down the door would disrupt the inner dimensions of the TARDIS, so they need to get the lock back, somehow. So far, the TARDIS hasn't been flyable because the Doctor removed a fluid link, a switch got stuck, all the systems just completely shut down, a force field was put around it, the ship gets trapped in a tomb out of their reach, and now the lock is removed. Barbara wonders why they ever leave the ship, and it's a great question. Well, in universe, it is, anyway - clearly they leave the ship because there wouldn't be a television show otherwise. Anyway, I look forward to the writers realizing they don't have to break the ship or make it inaccessible for the crew to have adventures - it's straining credulity at this point.
The back half of this episode has some mildly interesting scenes, but there's not much to say about them, I don't think. The Doctor flying the ship out of colliding with the Sense-sphere would be entertaining if it weren't so static - he just says what he's doing and moves his hands a little. Still, I like that the Doctor is a skilled pilot, apparently, even if he can't quite figure out the TARDIS, yet. The women are forced to cook for the men, and Ian bugs them about when it'll be done, even. Shut up, Ian, cook it yourself (he's not a total jerk about it, but the scene grates nonetheless). John, the other crew member, seems possessed at first, then cries a lot. A Sensorite appears on the outside of the ship to close the episode - he looks like a stereotypical Area 51 alien with a scraggy beard.
I like this serial a lot - but mostly when it's on the Sense-sphere. The spaceship episodes aren't bad by any means, but they're a little dull. This is one of those episodes that I'm glad isn't missing - it would be awful to get through without the images.
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "The Unwilling Warriors"
Monday, June 5, 2017
"The Day of Darkness" - Season 1, Episode 30
Written by John Lucarotti | Directed by John Crockett | Produced by Verity Lambert | Original air date 06/13/64
Even though Ixta is convinced the tunnel filling with water will kill Ian, the production never shows us this directly - we only see a small trickle of water flowing next to Ian's feet. He's able to climb up into the room where the TARDIS is in the tomb in an oddly dreamlike sequence (there's nothing to it - he's just climbing, he's not hallucinating or anything. It's just edited strangely, and honestly I don't know what they're going for).
The Doctor is about to deliver the bad news to Barbara that Ian didn't make it when he pops up, and the Doctor is clearly overjoyed. He definitely enjoys the company of his reluctant passenger, and you can tell he feels responsible for his safety as well (recall the Doctor's mood in The Keys of Marinus when he thought he'd failed and gotten Ian sentenced to death - absolute numbness and disbelief. This is not the same man that we saw in An Unearthly Child). We also get a similar scene with someone who hates Ian - Ian again pops up out of nowhere to take Susan with him, as Ixta taunts her that he's dead.
The Doctor and Cameca scenes in this episode are somewhat depressing. Cameca has caught on that she won't be marrying the Doctor - why the Doctor's whittled wheel tells her this, I have no idea. Perhaps she intuits it, I don't know.
Autloc, who appears to have known Cameca for a long time, is disillusioned after being attacked early in this episode. He doesn't know if it was by Ian or someone else, and Barbara says it couldn't have been Ian, because why would she order the attack of the one man who trusts her? His faith in her gone, he decides to forsake his position and belongings and go to the wilderness to live (whether this is simply exile or suicide, I don't know. I don't know which would be worse for the poor guy, to be honest). Barbara realizes she's ruined this man's life by trying to change history and failing.
The scene where Cameca brings Ian and Susan to the throne room after springing them from capture is just cold on the Doctor's part. She saves his friend's lives, but he refuses to let her go with him. He doesn't explain or lie or anything. He turns his back to her and she just leaves. The Doctor's feelings for Cameca are ambigious, too - he goes to leave the coin she gave him in the last episode in the tomb before the TARDIS departs, but changes his mind and takes it with him. Maybe he did feel something for Cameca... but why leave her on such bad terms? Is it some patronizing attitude on his part that it'd "be good for her?" For a man who tends to call people not as technologically advanced as him "savages," I'm not sure he had much in the way of feeling for her beyond just a general attraction. That he led her on knowing this makes it all the more cruel.
Tlotoxl's plan is to kill Barbara in front of the whole city at the sacrifice during the solar eclipse (the eponymous day of darkness). His timing is strange - he attacks Barbara before any sacrifice is made (Ian stops him in time), but what if he had gotten her? He just claims that she's a false goddess. Though I suppose he'd have proven she wasn't a real goddess when she dies and is proven mortal. The TARDIS crew are able to get in the tomb to the TARDIS and make their escape, after Ian fights Ixta, during which he kicks him off the pyramid, ostensibly killing him. We get no dialogue about this - whether Ian is just happy Ixta is dead, whether he's upset, feels guilty, nothing, not in this episode or any other. Now, Ian is old enough, maybe, to remember World War II, so maybe he's able to handle better death better than me. Or he's not given a scene to grieve because of the serial nature of the show. Probably both.
We get a little epilogue where the Doctor and Barbara discuss recent events. Barbara is upset that she hurt Autloc, but the Doctor assures her that though he's lost his faith, he's better off, which is patronizing as hell (and probably wrong, as I'm sure Autloc's mental state is not in a good place - like I alluded to above, it's possible he killed himself as a result of all this).
This is the best full serial so far. It has problems - Barbara's idea that the only thing that prevented the Aztec society from surviving beyond Cortes was human sacrifice is ridiculous and, well, racist. There's no way Cortes and the other conquistadors weren't going to swoop in and kill everybody they found so they could pillage all their wealth. That was going to happen, human sacrifice or not. If Barbara really wanted to save them... well, I don't know how it'd be done, but preparing the Aztecs for Cortez, somehow, might have been nice. Don't ask me, though, ask Barbara - she's the supposed Aztec expert.
But, as I said, it's a well constructed four-parter. The pacing, for once, isn't glacial, and the characters are interesting and play off each other in surprising ways. All the little plot threads intertwine and affect the others throughout, which is not as common in this show as I'd like it to be. Susan's plotline was pretty bland, but it was Carole Ann Ford's turn for a vacation for most of this serial, so I suppose that's why. She does get a pretty big role for parts of the next serial, too (and is actually fairly good in it, for the most part). If I were to recommend a single serial from what I've seen so far, it'd be The Aztec, as it's the best serial of the first season (the next two serials aren't bad - I quite like The Sensorites - but they don't reach the heights of this one).
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "Strangers in Space"
Even though Ixta is convinced the tunnel filling with water will kill Ian, the production never shows us this directly - we only see a small trickle of water flowing next to Ian's feet. He's able to climb up into the room where the TARDIS is in the tomb in an oddly dreamlike sequence (there's nothing to it - he's just climbing, he's not hallucinating or anything. It's just edited strangely, and honestly I don't know what they're going for).
The Doctor is about to deliver the bad news to Barbara that Ian didn't make it when he pops up, and the Doctor is clearly overjoyed. He definitely enjoys the company of his reluctant passenger, and you can tell he feels responsible for his safety as well (recall the Doctor's mood in The Keys of Marinus when he thought he'd failed and gotten Ian sentenced to death - absolute numbness and disbelief. This is not the same man that we saw in An Unearthly Child). We also get a similar scene with someone who hates Ian - Ian again pops up out of nowhere to take Susan with him, as Ixta taunts her that he's dead.
The Doctor and Cameca scenes in this episode are somewhat depressing. Cameca has caught on that she won't be marrying the Doctor - why the Doctor's whittled wheel tells her this, I have no idea. Perhaps she intuits it, I don't know.
Autloc, who appears to have known Cameca for a long time, is disillusioned after being attacked early in this episode. He doesn't know if it was by Ian or someone else, and Barbara says it couldn't have been Ian, because why would she order the attack of the one man who trusts her? His faith in her gone, he decides to forsake his position and belongings and go to the wilderness to live (whether this is simply exile or suicide, I don't know. I don't know which would be worse for the poor guy, to be honest). Barbara realizes she's ruined this man's life by trying to change history and failing.
The scene where Cameca brings Ian and Susan to the throne room after springing them from capture is just cold on the Doctor's part. She saves his friend's lives, but he refuses to let her go with him. He doesn't explain or lie or anything. He turns his back to her and she just leaves. The Doctor's feelings for Cameca are ambigious, too - he goes to leave the coin she gave him in the last episode in the tomb before the TARDIS departs, but changes his mind and takes it with him. Maybe he did feel something for Cameca... but why leave her on such bad terms? Is it some patronizing attitude on his part that it'd "be good for her?" For a man who tends to call people not as technologically advanced as him "savages," I'm not sure he had much in the way of feeling for her beyond just a general attraction. That he led her on knowing this makes it all the more cruel.
Tlotoxl's plan is to kill Barbara in front of the whole city at the sacrifice during the solar eclipse (the eponymous day of darkness). His timing is strange - he attacks Barbara before any sacrifice is made (Ian stops him in time), but what if he had gotten her? He just claims that she's a false goddess. Though I suppose he'd have proven she wasn't a real goddess when she dies and is proven mortal. The TARDIS crew are able to get in the tomb to the TARDIS and make their escape, after Ian fights Ixta, during which he kicks him off the pyramid, ostensibly killing him. We get no dialogue about this - whether Ian is just happy Ixta is dead, whether he's upset, feels guilty, nothing, not in this episode or any other. Now, Ian is old enough, maybe, to remember World War II, so maybe he's able to handle better death better than me. Or he's not given a scene to grieve because of the serial nature of the show. Probably both.
We get a little epilogue where the Doctor and Barbara discuss recent events. Barbara is upset that she hurt Autloc, but the Doctor assures her that though he's lost his faith, he's better off, which is patronizing as hell (and probably wrong, as I'm sure Autloc's mental state is not in a good place - like I alluded to above, it's possible he killed himself as a result of all this).
This is the best full serial so far. It has problems - Barbara's idea that the only thing that prevented the Aztec society from surviving beyond Cortes was human sacrifice is ridiculous and, well, racist. There's no way Cortes and the other conquistadors weren't going to swoop in and kill everybody they found so they could pillage all their wealth. That was going to happen, human sacrifice or not. If Barbara really wanted to save them... well, I don't know how it'd be done, but preparing the Aztecs for Cortez, somehow, might have been nice. Don't ask me, though, ask Barbara - she's the supposed Aztec expert.
But, as I said, it's a well constructed four-parter. The pacing, for once, isn't glacial, and the characters are interesting and play off each other in surprising ways. All the little plot threads intertwine and affect the others throughout, which is not as common in this show as I'd like it to be. Susan's plotline was pretty bland, but it was Carole Ann Ford's turn for a vacation for most of this serial, so I suppose that's why. She does get a pretty big role for parts of the next serial, too (and is actually fairly good in it, for the most part). If I were to recommend a single serial from what I've seen so far, it'd be The Aztec, as it's the best serial of the first season (the next two serials aren't bad - I quite like The Sensorites - but they don't reach the heights of this one).
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "Strangers in Space"
Sunday, June 4, 2017
"The Bride of Sacrifice" - Season 1, Episode 29
Written by John Lucarotti | Directed by John Crockett | Produced by Verity Lambert | Original air date 06//06/64
There is a strong case to be made that this is the best episode so far this season, with only the very first, An Unearthly Child, to give it a run for it's money.
Jacqueline Hill as Barbara is the main reason for this. She is amazing throughout. She's a total badass! The episode opens with her rising to Tlotoxl's challenge to prevent Ian's death by grabbing a knife and holding it to Tlotoxl's throat! He relents, and when asked later why she didn't intervene supernaturally, she replies, "Why should I use divine powers when human abilities will suffice?" which is both a smart response and a good line on Lucarotti's part.
Lucarotti is forgiven for the slow, plodding Marco Polo for this serial, by far the better of his two season one scripts. He writes the Doctor as someone who barely bothers to keep up the façade as a servant of Yetaxa - when Tlotoxl wants to talk to him in the garden, he initially dismisses him with a curt "Oh, go away, Latoxl," pronouncing his name incorrectly like he does with Ian when he's annoyed with him, which I think is deliberate on Hartnell's part (though a few other actors screw up Tlotoxl's name in this episode, at least Hartnell has a reason to do so).
Barbara is amazing again in the scene where Tlotoxl and Tonila (another priest) attempt to poison her. She says both sides must show trust in each other, and bids Tlotoxl to drink the cup he proffered her. When he doesn't, Barbara loses it. She throws the cup to the ground and it shatters, and roars at Tlotoxl and Tonila to be gone. Tonila runs off, but Barbara grabs Tlotoxl and tells him she's a false goddess. She basically taunts him to prove it! Hill is magnificent in this scene. She is furious and scares Tlotoxl badly enough to have him cower over the sacrifice stone in fear as though she were to kill him herself.
Yesterday, I wondered if Tlotoxl actually believed any of the Aztec religion, or if he was just an evil, bloodthirsty bastard. The scene following the one above gives me pause, because John Ringham, the actor playing Tlotoxl, stands in the foreground of the scene while Autloc and Tonila discuss Yetaxa in the background. He looks disturbed and very, very angry, and I have to give him credit for absolutely selling how much he hates being manipulated by a woman he hasn't proven to be a fake yet. He acknowledges Barbara/Yetaxa as a worthy opponent - he claims "Yetaxa's weakness lies not in herself, but in her servants," reasoning that he can't beat Yetaxa by herself, which is a pretty good reading of the situation. His plan involves getting Susan in trouble by trying to force an arranged marriage on her which he knows she'll rebel against, which is against Aztec law. He's got the measure of Susan, because he's right, she throws a fit, even throwing in a bonus for Tlotoxl by saying to Autloc that he's a monster like all the rest of the Aztecs, even though he just said he'd do everything in his power to protect her. Susan isn't the brightest bulb in the box...
Hartnell gets some fantastic scenes in this episode, too. One thing I'd like to wonder about, though, is that Cameca says she was given a coin by Ixta's dad in the same garden they're standing in, but he disappeared and was never seen again that night. Where did he go? Did they ever find his body or anything? He apparently went up the tunnel to the tomb, but why did he go up there, and not ever seemingly come out? Did he have a TARDIS stashed away in there like the Doctor does now, and fly off after fathering Ixta? Is the Doctor Ixta's dad?! ...No, all of that is dumb, but I do wonder what happened to the guy, as it's never explained. All the Doctor cares about is the tunnel, not what happened to it's designer.
Anyway, the Doctor and Cameca share a cup of cocoa at the Doctor's urging, which means he mistakenly has proposed marriage to Cameca. He's alarmed when she spells it out to him, and, knowing that he will eventually leave before marrying her is a little heartbreaking. Autloc and Cameca end up in a bad place at the end of this story because of the TARDIS crew's actions, and I pity them both.
We later get a line that shines from Hartnell, so much so that it feels like something from Russell T Davies' or Steven Moffat's tenure on Who. When telling Ian about his discovery of the tunnel, the Doctor lets slip that he learned about its existence from his "fiancée." Ian, incredulous, asks him how he got a fiancée and the Doctor replies, as Hartnell looks into camera with a twinkle, "Yes, I made some cocoa and got engaged," which Ian laughs at and the Doctor waves him away. Hartnell doesn't get many lines like that, but he plays them well when he does. That type of line proves that the show that is airing now in 2017 is the same exact show that was being made in 1964, involving the same character. William Hartnell is the Doctor, and he's wonderful.
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "The Day of Darkness"
There is a strong case to be made that this is the best episode so far this season, with only the very first, An Unearthly Child, to give it a run for it's money.
Jacqueline Hill as Barbara is the main reason for this. She is amazing throughout. She's a total badass! The episode opens with her rising to Tlotoxl's challenge to prevent Ian's death by grabbing a knife and holding it to Tlotoxl's throat! He relents, and when asked later why she didn't intervene supernaturally, she replies, "Why should I use divine powers when human abilities will suffice?" which is both a smart response and a good line on Lucarotti's part.
Lucarotti is forgiven for the slow, plodding Marco Polo for this serial, by far the better of his two season one scripts. He writes the Doctor as someone who barely bothers to keep up the façade as a servant of Yetaxa - when Tlotoxl wants to talk to him in the garden, he initially dismisses him with a curt "Oh, go away, Latoxl," pronouncing his name incorrectly like he does with Ian when he's annoyed with him, which I think is deliberate on Hartnell's part (though a few other actors screw up Tlotoxl's name in this episode, at least Hartnell has a reason to do so).
Barbara is amazing again in the scene where Tlotoxl and Tonila (another priest) attempt to poison her. She says both sides must show trust in each other, and bids Tlotoxl to drink the cup he proffered her. When he doesn't, Barbara loses it. She throws the cup to the ground and it shatters, and roars at Tlotoxl and Tonila to be gone. Tonila runs off, but Barbara grabs Tlotoxl and tells him she's a false goddess. She basically taunts him to prove it! Hill is magnificent in this scene. She is furious and scares Tlotoxl badly enough to have him cower over the sacrifice stone in fear as though she were to kill him herself.
Yesterday, I wondered if Tlotoxl actually believed any of the Aztec religion, or if he was just an evil, bloodthirsty bastard. The scene following the one above gives me pause, because John Ringham, the actor playing Tlotoxl, stands in the foreground of the scene while Autloc and Tonila discuss Yetaxa in the background. He looks disturbed and very, very angry, and I have to give him credit for absolutely selling how much he hates being manipulated by a woman he hasn't proven to be a fake yet. He acknowledges Barbara/Yetaxa as a worthy opponent - he claims "Yetaxa's weakness lies not in herself, but in her servants," reasoning that he can't beat Yetaxa by herself, which is a pretty good reading of the situation. His plan involves getting Susan in trouble by trying to force an arranged marriage on her which he knows she'll rebel against, which is against Aztec law. He's got the measure of Susan, because he's right, she throws a fit, even throwing in a bonus for Tlotoxl by saying to Autloc that he's a monster like all the rest of the Aztecs, even though he just said he'd do everything in his power to protect her. Susan isn't the brightest bulb in the box...
Hartnell gets some fantastic scenes in this episode, too. One thing I'd like to wonder about, though, is that Cameca says she was given a coin by Ixta's dad in the same garden they're standing in, but he disappeared and was never seen again that night. Where did he go? Did they ever find his body or anything? He apparently went up the tunnel to the tomb, but why did he go up there, and not ever seemingly come out? Did he have a TARDIS stashed away in there like the Doctor does now, and fly off after fathering Ixta? Is the Doctor Ixta's dad?! ...No, all of that is dumb, but I do wonder what happened to the guy, as it's never explained. All the Doctor cares about is the tunnel, not what happened to it's designer.
Anyway, the Doctor and Cameca share a cup of cocoa at the Doctor's urging, which means he mistakenly has proposed marriage to Cameca. He's alarmed when she spells it out to him, and, knowing that he will eventually leave before marrying her is a little heartbreaking. Autloc and Cameca end up in a bad place at the end of this story because of the TARDIS crew's actions, and I pity them both.
We later get a line that shines from Hartnell, so much so that it feels like something from Russell T Davies' or Steven Moffat's tenure on Who. When telling Ian about his discovery of the tunnel, the Doctor lets slip that he learned about its existence from his "fiancée." Ian, incredulous, asks him how he got a fiancée and the Doctor replies, as Hartnell looks into camera with a twinkle, "Yes, I made some cocoa and got engaged," which Ian laughs at and the Doctor waves him away. Hartnell doesn't get many lines like that, but he plays them well when he does. That type of line proves that the show that is airing now in 2017 is the same exact show that was being made in 1964, involving the same character. William Hartnell is the Doctor, and he's wonderful.
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "The Day of Darkness"
Saturday, June 3, 2017
"The Warriors of Death" - Season 1, Episode 28
Written by John Lucarotti | Directed by John Crockett | Produced by Verity Lambert | Original air date 05/30/64
*A quick note on the format of this blog. Past entries have been too summary-heavy, which has already proven tedious to write (particularly the note taking phase). Since episode summaries abound online, I'm going to try to limit posts to my own thoughts, starting with this post. As a result, post lengths may vary wildly, especially as I get used to the new format. I think it will prove more interesting as a result, though, hopefully! Thanks for reading!*
I love the opening scene of the episode, with the Doctor absolutely furious with Barbara for attempting to stop the human sacrifice from last episode. William Hartnell can play righteous fury with the best of them, and since Barbara is the best actor of all his companions, their scenes together always work so well. Barbara is on the defensive, here, which is unusual, since she's often the one furious with the Doctor in similar scenes. Jacqueline Hill is a good enough actress to play it both ways, though, and Hartnell matches her.
Tlotoxl is an interesting character. He is a master manipulator - he plays everyone off each other very well, be they the TARDIS crew or his fellow Aztecs. I'm largely unfamiliar with Aztec culture besides the broad strokes, but it seems odd to me that he's allowed to publicly declare Yetaxa to be a false goddess and not face any consequence. Lucarotti sets this up by making it appear to be a debate between Tlotoxl and Autloc - though Autloc is the senior priest, he doesn't seem to have absolute authority to completely shut Tlotoxl down. Which is probably a good thing, as it provides tension that lasts throughout the serial - and unlike his past effort, Lucarotti is able to keep things interesting throughout.
I can't blame the fight scenes on Lucarotti, though, of course. The first one in this episode seems to be a hug battle between Ian and Ixta. I'd imagine it's a directing problem - Waris Hussein was able to get a good fight scene out of cavemen in "The Firemaker," but Crockett seems satisfied with a fight between two men who appear to never have fought before (which is understandable on Ian's part as he's a schoolteacher, but Ixta is supposed to be a decorated warrior by this point in his life). Ian's Vulcan neck pinch is weird - it's something that would be painful, but shouldn't knock anybody out, much less an Aztec warrior.
I can't believe I'm saying it, but the First Doctor flirting with Cameca actually works. He seems genuinely affectionate with her, and while her actress's performance falls a little flat for me, Hartnell is able to carry the scene.
It occurred to me while watching this episode that it's possible Tlotoxl doesn't believe in any of the gods at all, and just enjoys being a bloodthirsty manipulative bastard. I don't remember how the last episode of this serial actually ends, but at the end of the last episode, Tlotoxl is obsessed with proving Barbara to be a false goddess. He's convinced she's fake as soon as she suggests the sacrifices should stop - and is never once afraid of being punished in case he's wrong (he says he is, but he's so confident he's right, he could easily be lying). When he tells Ixta to kill Ian despite Autloc's wishes, he's clearly so happy with the idea that he probably just wants to see people die. Perhaps this is a comment on human sacrifice on Lucarotti's part - that only someone as evil and bloodthirsty as Tlotoxl could perform the task. The Doctor, though, has more ambiguous feelings on it - he's mad at Barbara at the beginning of the episode not only because he thinks her attempt to stop human sacrifice will fail, but also because he feels like it's disrespecting Aztec religion and culture.
Susan's subplot is uninteresting. She's being taught how to be a proper, demure Aztec woman, and she protests that she'll pick her husband, not be assigned one, which is nice enough and agreeable to me, but playing it as a definite backwards cultural artifact doesn't work, considering there are cultures today that still do arranged marriages and I happen to know a couple who are very happy together in that situation (a Muslim friend of mine's parents were arranged, and they're a great couple).
The Doctor is arrested when he goes to talk to Barbara near the end of the episode, because her servants aren't supposed to go talk to her, according to Tlotoxl. I bring it up because Hartnell goes nuts in this scene, spitting and complaining about his treatment, and I love it. I always love an indignant Doctor, and Hartnell plays indignant very well.
This is another serial that I wish was in color. The costumes look gorgeous and I bet the sets would look better with some color in them - particularly the scenes at the top of the pyramid (though the painted background might not pop so well). I felt the same way about Marco Polo, so it appears Lucarotti gets lucky with his set designers.
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "The Bride of Sacrifice"
*A quick note on the format of this blog. Past entries have been too summary-heavy, which has already proven tedious to write (particularly the note taking phase). Since episode summaries abound online, I'm going to try to limit posts to my own thoughts, starting with this post. As a result, post lengths may vary wildly, especially as I get used to the new format. I think it will prove more interesting as a result, though, hopefully! Thanks for reading!*
I love the opening scene of the episode, with the Doctor absolutely furious with Barbara for attempting to stop the human sacrifice from last episode. William Hartnell can play righteous fury with the best of them, and since Barbara is the best actor of all his companions, their scenes together always work so well. Barbara is on the defensive, here, which is unusual, since she's often the one furious with the Doctor in similar scenes. Jacqueline Hill is a good enough actress to play it both ways, though, and Hartnell matches her.
Tlotoxl is an interesting character. He is a master manipulator - he plays everyone off each other very well, be they the TARDIS crew or his fellow Aztecs. I'm largely unfamiliar with Aztec culture besides the broad strokes, but it seems odd to me that he's allowed to publicly declare Yetaxa to be a false goddess and not face any consequence. Lucarotti sets this up by making it appear to be a debate between Tlotoxl and Autloc - though Autloc is the senior priest, he doesn't seem to have absolute authority to completely shut Tlotoxl down. Which is probably a good thing, as it provides tension that lasts throughout the serial - and unlike his past effort, Lucarotti is able to keep things interesting throughout.
I can't blame the fight scenes on Lucarotti, though, of course. The first one in this episode seems to be a hug battle between Ian and Ixta. I'd imagine it's a directing problem - Waris Hussein was able to get a good fight scene out of cavemen in "The Firemaker," but Crockett seems satisfied with a fight between two men who appear to never have fought before (which is understandable on Ian's part as he's a schoolteacher, but Ixta is supposed to be a decorated warrior by this point in his life). Ian's Vulcan neck pinch is weird - it's something that would be painful, but shouldn't knock anybody out, much less an Aztec warrior.
I can't believe I'm saying it, but the First Doctor flirting with Cameca actually works. He seems genuinely affectionate with her, and while her actress's performance falls a little flat for me, Hartnell is able to carry the scene.
It occurred to me while watching this episode that it's possible Tlotoxl doesn't believe in any of the gods at all, and just enjoys being a bloodthirsty manipulative bastard. I don't remember how the last episode of this serial actually ends, but at the end of the last episode, Tlotoxl is obsessed with proving Barbara to be a false goddess. He's convinced she's fake as soon as she suggests the sacrifices should stop - and is never once afraid of being punished in case he's wrong (he says he is, but he's so confident he's right, he could easily be lying). When he tells Ixta to kill Ian despite Autloc's wishes, he's clearly so happy with the idea that he probably just wants to see people die. Perhaps this is a comment on human sacrifice on Lucarotti's part - that only someone as evil and bloodthirsty as Tlotoxl could perform the task. The Doctor, though, has more ambiguous feelings on it - he's mad at Barbara at the beginning of the episode not only because he thinks her attempt to stop human sacrifice will fail, but also because he feels like it's disrespecting Aztec religion and culture.
Susan's subplot is uninteresting. She's being taught how to be a proper, demure Aztec woman, and she protests that she'll pick her husband, not be assigned one, which is nice enough and agreeable to me, but playing it as a definite backwards cultural artifact doesn't work, considering there are cultures today that still do arranged marriages and I happen to know a couple who are very happy together in that situation (a Muslim friend of mine's parents were arranged, and they're a great couple).
The Doctor is arrested when he goes to talk to Barbara near the end of the episode, because her servants aren't supposed to go talk to her, according to Tlotoxl. I bring it up because Hartnell goes nuts in this scene, spitting and complaining about his treatment, and I love it. I always love an indignant Doctor, and Hartnell plays indignant very well.
This is another serial that I wish was in color. The costumes look gorgeous and I bet the sets would look better with some color in them - particularly the scenes at the top of the pyramid (though the painted background might not pop so well). I felt the same way about Marco Polo, so it appears Lucarotti gets lucky with his set designers.
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "The Bride of Sacrifice"
Friday, June 2, 2017
"The Temple of Evil" - Season 1, episode 27
Written by John Lucarotti | Directed by John Crockett | Produced by Verity Lambert | Original air date 05/23/64
Barbara and Susan exit the TARDIS by themselves, and Barbara immediately recognizes Aztek iconography on the corpse they come across in the tomb they've landed in. She admires the jewelry and even puts one piece on. Apparently the Aztecs were a specialty of Barbara's, so she knows quite a bit about their culture. Susan, meanwhile, doesn't, or at least isn't that impressed: "Hey, look! Cartoons!" she exclaims, pointing at a wall. Barbara leaves the room in a door on a pivot (this is actually an important fact). Someone dressed in Aztek priest clothing sees her and initially claims that she must be arrested and punished for trespassing at the temple of Yetaxa.
The Doctor and Ian follow Susan out of the TARDIS, who told them she can't find Barbara. The Doctor is not happy she went off on her own. They find the door on a pivot and go out, looking for Barbara. It closes behind them and they realize they've just locked themselves outside the tomb where the TARDIS is. The man who caught Barbara before, Autloc, enters and greets the three of them as servants of Yetaxa. He explains that Barbara was wearing a bracelet that indicates she's the reincarnation of Yetaxa, apparently a wise high priest. They are taken to Barbara, but as they are, Susan is scared of someone as soon as she sees him - a man called Tlotoxl, who is the man who performs the human sacrifices. I realize the scream is functional - make us suspicious of Tlotoxl as soon as we see him - but it strikes me as though Susan, in character at least, is a little racist (she sees an unfriendly brown person and screams, while earlier in the season she decided a tall, blonde haired, blue eyed Thal was "perfect," which is... something). We discover he and Autloc disagree on whether human sacrifices be performed, though Autloc will not prevent the tradition on his own.
The TARDIS group meet up with Barbara, who is in a gorgeous feather getup that makes her look like some sort of god, like the Aztecs think she is. We find out, through Susan, that Yetaxa used to be a man, so why would the Aztecs worship Barbara as the same person? Barbara replies: "The form the spirit takes is unimportant." Who knew Barbara Wright, in the very first season, would make the first argument for a female Doctor?
The Doctor tells her that if the Aztecs realize she is not Yetaxa, they'll kill them all. When Autloc asks if he can let her servants wonder among the people freely, she lets the Doctor and Ian go, while Susan is to remain with her. The Doctor makes a big show of wanting to be the eyes and ears of Yetaxa among the people, so he and Ian can go learn more about the tomb the TARDIS is locked in, so they may be able to find their way back in.
Barbara is to be used to bring forth the rain, and to do so will require a sacrifice be made to Tlaloc, the rain god. Ian, who, at Tlotoxl's urging, will train to lead the army, is supposed to hold the sacrifice down, and he is not looking forward to it.
The Doctor, doing some in-person research, travels to the garden where "retired" Aztecs live. This is remarkable - people at age 52 get to "live free from responsibility and care," a setup I hope I get to see in real life someday (and preferably at that age, too. I can dream, I guess, because it will never happen, at least not in the US). The Doctor immediately takes an interest in a woman named Cameca, who he is clearly attracted to . He sets about flirting with her, likely for pleasure just as much as it is for learning about the temple. Cameca knows the son of the dead man who designed the temple, so she is to arrange a meeting between the Doctor and this unnamed warrior.
The Doctor goes back to speak to "Yetaxa." He warns her that she musn't interfere with the coming sacrifice. Barbara flat out refuses. She claims she'll be able to save Aztek civilization - her reasoning being that if the human sacrifices are done away with, when Cortez arrives, he won't slaughter them all. I, uh... still think he will. Dang, Barbara, I thought you were an expert? The Doctor reacts with that famous line: "But you can't rewrite history! Not one line! What you are trying to do is utterly impossible. I know. Believe me, I know!" It's interesting, because I usually hear only the first two sentences of this - not the bit about the Doctor "knowing" that rewriting history is supposedly impossible. It takes a different meaning with the added context - it implies the Doctor has tried to change history before, but was unable to. I wonder to what he's referring to? It's odd, too, because we've already seen him change history - he arrived and, with Ian's help, taught cavemen how to make fire, and traveled with Marco Polo and, though it's minor, Polo saw him dematerialize. All of that counts as rewriting "one line" of history, no? Anyway, Barbara responds to him with. "Not Barbara. ...Yetaxa," meaning she is about to do what she damn well pleases.
The sacrificial ritual begins. Just before Tlotoxl is about to kill the man, Barbara stops him and proclaims all sacrifices are to stop. The man to be sacrificed accuses her of denying him honor - so Tlotoxl tells him to "honor us with your death," as he runs and jumps off the pyramid, ostensibly kill him. As soon as he does this, it starts raining, and Tlotoxl is convinced this is why. Anyway when the sacrifice still looked like it was going to still happen, Susan screamed, which Tlotoxl asserts is a crime. Barbara decides Susan should learn more about the Azteks so rather than kill her, sends her off to study. Tlotoxl is upset about this, and claims Barbara is a false goddess, and he'll prove it, as the episode cuts to credits.
Lots of great bits in this episode. The famous line "But you can't rewrite history, not one line" happens here, and Barbara is clearly enjoying herself as Yetaxa (it's pretty clear Jacqueline Hill is enjoying herself, too, lending her performance with a gravitas Barbara doesn't usually have. Autloc is kind of not acting very well, but the other guest actors are well done. And this is only a four part serial, so that should mean there's not much padding, right! That's true so far, at least...
Barbara and Susan exit the TARDIS by themselves, and Barbara immediately recognizes Aztek iconography on the corpse they come across in the tomb they've landed in. She admires the jewelry and even puts one piece on. Apparently the Aztecs were a specialty of Barbara's, so she knows quite a bit about their culture. Susan, meanwhile, doesn't, or at least isn't that impressed: "Hey, look! Cartoons!" she exclaims, pointing at a wall. Barbara leaves the room in a door on a pivot (this is actually an important fact). Someone dressed in Aztek priest clothing sees her and initially claims that she must be arrested and punished for trespassing at the temple of Yetaxa.
The Doctor and Ian follow Susan out of the TARDIS, who told them she can't find Barbara. The Doctor is not happy she went off on her own. They find the door on a pivot and go out, looking for Barbara. It closes behind them and they realize they've just locked themselves outside the tomb where the TARDIS is. The man who caught Barbara before, Autloc, enters and greets the three of them as servants of Yetaxa. He explains that Barbara was wearing a bracelet that indicates she's the reincarnation of Yetaxa, apparently a wise high priest. They are taken to Barbara, but as they are, Susan is scared of someone as soon as she sees him - a man called Tlotoxl, who is the man who performs the human sacrifices. I realize the scream is functional - make us suspicious of Tlotoxl as soon as we see him - but it strikes me as though Susan, in character at least, is a little racist (she sees an unfriendly brown person and screams, while earlier in the season she decided a tall, blonde haired, blue eyed Thal was "perfect," which is... something). We discover he and Autloc disagree on whether human sacrifices be performed, though Autloc will not prevent the tradition on his own.
The TARDIS group meet up with Barbara, who is in a gorgeous feather getup that makes her look like some sort of god, like the Aztecs think she is. We find out, through Susan, that Yetaxa used to be a man, so why would the Aztecs worship Barbara as the same person? Barbara replies: "The form the spirit takes is unimportant." Who knew Barbara Wright, in the very first season, would make the first argument for a female Doctor?
The Doctor tells her that if the Aztecs realize she is not Yetaxa, they'll kill them all. When Autloc asks if he can let her servants wonder among the people freely, she lets the Doctor and Ian go, while Susan is to remain with her. The Doctor makes a big show of wanting to be the eyes and ears of Yetaxa among the people, so he and Ian can go learn more about the tomb the TARDIS is locked in, so they may be able to find their way back in.
Barbara is to be used to bring forth the rain, and to do so will require a sacrifice be made to Tlaloc, the rain god. Ian, who, at Tlotoxl's urging, will train to lead the army, is supposed to hold the sacrifice down, and he is not looking forward to it.
The Doctor, doing some in-person research, travels to the garden where "retired" Aztecs live. This is remarkable - people at age 52 get to "live free from responsibility and care," a setup I hope I get to see in real life someday (and preferably at that age, too. I can dream, I guess, because it will never happen, at least not in the US). The Doctor immediately takes an interest in a woman named Cameca, who he is clearly attracted to . He sets about flirting with her, likely for pleasure just as much as it is for learning about the temple. Cameca knows the son of the dead man who designed the temple, so she is to arrange a meeting between the Doctor and this unnamed warrior.
The Doctor goes back to speak to "Yetaxa." He warns her that she musn't interfere with the coming sacrifice. Barbara flat out refuses. She claims she'll be able to save Aztek civilization - her reasoning being that if the human sacrifices are done away with, when Cortez arrives, he won't slaughter them all. I, uh... still think he will. Dang, Barbara, I thought you were an expert? The Doctor reacts with that famous line: "But you can't rewrite history! Not one line! What you are trying to do is utterly impossible. I know. Believe me, I know!" It's interesting, because I usually hear only the first two sentences of this - not the bit about the Doctor "knowing" that rewriting history is supposedly impossible. It takes a different meaning with the added context - it implies the Doctor has tried to change history before, but was unable to. I wonder to what he's referring to? It's odd, too, because we've already seen him change history - he arrived and, with Ian's help, taught cavemen how to make fire, and traveled with Marco Polo and, though it's minor, Polo saw him dematerialize. All of that counts as rewriting "one line" of history, no? Anyway, Barbara responds to him with. "Not Barbara. ...Yetaxa," meaning she is about to do what she damn well pleases.
The sacrificial ritual begins. Just before Tlotoxl is about to kill the man, Barbara stops him and proclaims all sacrifices are to stop. The man to be sacrificed accuses her of denying him honor - so Tlotoxl tells him to "honor us with your death," as he runs and jumps off the pyramid, ostensibly kill him. As soon as he does this, it starts raining, and Tlotoxl is convinced this is why. Anyway when the sacrifice still looked like it was going to still happen, Susan screamed, which Tlotoxl asserts is a crime. Barbara decides Susan should learn more about the Azteks so rather than kill her, sends her off to study. Tlotoxl is upset about this, and claims Barbara is a false goddess, and he'll prove it, as the episode cuts to credits.
Lots of great bits in this episode. The famous line "But you can't rewrite history, not one line" happens here, and Barbara is clearly enjoying herself as Yetaxa (it's pretty clear Jacqueline Hill is enjoying herself, too, lending her performance with a gravitas Barbara doesn't usually have. Autloc is kind of not acting very well, but the other guest actors are well done. And this is only a four part serial, so that should mean there's not much padding, right! That's true so far, at least...
"Doctor Who" puns: 2 | Tomorrow: "The Warriors of Death"
Thursday, June 1, 2017
"The Keys of Marinus" - Season 1, Episode 26
Written by Terry Nation | Directed by John Gorrie | Produced by Verity Lambert | Original air date 05/16/64
Sabetha wants to tell Tarron, the chief investigator, about Susan, but Barbara is unsure if he's in on the kidnapping, so they resolve not to. She also doesn't want to worry the Doctor, so she leaves him out of it as well, hoping that he can come up with some sort of solution to save Ian. They decide to go talk to Kala, to see if she saw anyone her late husband met with often, in the hopes that she may have some idea who is involved. She starts crying while they're there, and says she misses her husband and is ashamed to have to live with his crime for the rest of her life. She says, "You must have been sick with worry since you spoke to Susan, but I just can't help you, I know nothing," which is odd since no one told her Susan had been kidnapped. No one notices this mistake at first, and they leave. Kala stops crying as soon as the door closes, and she goes to her closet where Susan is tied up to taunt her. In the hallway, Barbara realizes Kala couldn't have known about Susan, and they go back, just as Kala is about to kill Susan on the orders of her co-conspirator.
You'll have to excuse me for reading more into a Terry Nation script than I probably should, but Kala and Aydan fascinate me. They are truly a messed up couple - Aydan slaps Kala for speaking to him in a way he doesn't like, suggesting ongoing spousal abuse. They conspire with the prosecutor to steal the micro-key, apparently to sell it, meaning they're unhappy with their current financial situation - perhaps they blame that for the problems they clearly have with their marriage? When Aydan is about to confess in the courtroom, we find out that Kala is the one that killed him (while she's being interrogated later). Before she's caught, though, the prosecutor says he's going to pick up the key and "collect" Kala - suggesting perhaps killing Aydan and leaving with the prosecutor was the plan all along? It wouldn't be that much of a stretch, since Aydan keeps abusing her, so she's wanted to leave for a while. Aydan seems like a huge wuss (as spousal abusers usually are), so I doubt he even wanted to steal the micro-key in the first place - I bet Kala pushed him to do it, so she could eventually leave and/or kill him. We may only be with these characters for an episode and a half, but I feel like there's more there than what we see.
Before all that, though, the Doctor is clearly upset, sitting and ruminating on his loss. The prosecutor congratulates him on a good defense, and the Doctor mindlessly, sadly, thanks him and says he didn't do as well as the prosecution. Barbara then calls Tarron and informs him that Kala killed Aydan, and he brings her in for questioning. She tells Tarron that she was working with Ian, meaning even her confession isn't enough to save Ian (which she must know, meaning at this point she's just angling to get Ian killed out of spite for having been caught. What a fascinating character). Susan says she overheard Kala's phone call with her co-conspirator, saying that he'd come get the key before coming and getting Kala. The Doctor realizes he can set a trap for the last criminal, saying they can catch him when he comes to get the key. I remember thinking, but Doctor, we don't know where the key is yet, how will you set this trap? Turns out the Doctor knew all along, that it was in the murder weapon. He didn't tell anyone since the information wasn't useful until that moment, apparently (why they didn't scan the murder weapon when looking for the key is beyond me. Detectives on Marinus are morons, I guess). When the prosecutor shows up to collect the murder weapon, they catch him, and all is forgiven (apparently the prosecutor isn't as vindictive as Kala, as he could have said he was in league with Ian too, but doesn't). The Doctor says the people of Milennius should read Pyrrho, and adopt his skepticism to improve their legal system. Ian expresses surprise that the Doctor has read Pyrrho, but the Doctor claims not to have read his work, he met the man, apparently. I love when the Doctor drops names, especially this early on in his travels. He's probably lying about it because his statement is all the evidence we have that he met the man, though we do know that he traveled a bit before An Unearthly Child (there are some super, super boring Big Finish* stories set before it, none of which detail this supposed meeting).
They warp back to what I call Good Model Island (so named such because I'm fond of the model work the production team did on it), and we see Altos tied up. Yartek, who helpfully explains who he is here, says he's killed Arbitan and wants Altos to give him the last key to the machine. Altos won't tell him, so he has Sabetha brought in. The Voord escorting her literally trips over his own feet on the way in, almost falling. Poor Voord, in only two episodes of the entire series, tripping over your own flipper feet, getting dissolved in your fish torpedoes because of a tear in your suit, and so on. You're so charming for being so incompetent! Anyway, Yartek plays Altos and Sabetha off each other, and they won't give up the key but want to protect each other because they're clearly in love. Altos tells Yartek the Doctor has the last key, so Yartek decides to set a trap for the Doctor.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group has arrived in the building, and they're trying to find each other. Ian whips his head around a corner and scares the crap out of the Doctor, who yells at him for it, "Oh, you drive me around the bend! I don't know what's going on!" and he mutters as they continue down the corridor. The TARDIS force field has been lifted, apparently, as the Doctor has checked it, so they can leave at any time. Ian and Susan go to find Arbitan while the Doctor and Barbara go to find Altos and Sabetha, since the Voord are still in the building, they discover, when they have to overpower one.
Ian and Susan go to the main room and talk to who they think is Arbitan, but is clearly just Yartek wearing his robe (note the giant Voord headpiece poking through the hood). Yartek, trying to act like Arbitan, lets slip that he doesn't know Altos, which tips Ian off that the person he's talking to isn't Arbitan since Arbitan sent Altos to find the keys originally. Ian leaves the fake key that Barbara found in "The Screaming Jungle" and they go to find the Doctor. They all meet up in the cell with Altos and Sabetha and free them, but Altos explains that when Yartek puts the fake key in the machine, that it'll blow up, likely taking the building with it. That then happens as they escape.
At the TARDIS, we get a mostly boring scene in which every character says goodbye to one another (streeeeetch that screen time out, Terry! Do it!), but thankfully, the Doctor also condemns Arbitans machine when saying goodbye to Sabetha. At least there's that - there's no way the Doctor, in any incarnation, would be okay with a machine controlling the people of an entire planet. It's too little too late, but it's something. We get one last shot of the model island as the TARDIS disappears (still, frustratingly, without the wheezing, groaning sound), and we cut to credits.
Look, I understand that The Keys of Marinus is a bit ropey, with plenty of goofy bad effects and actors tripping over themselves, but I just find the whole thing charming. Kala is an interesting character as I noted above, and Vasor, the brutal mountain hermit, is a terrifying enemy in a way no one has been so far (though Darrius, Arbitan's friend who lives in the Screaming Jungle, is an idiot. Can't win them all, I guess), and I'll always have room in my heart for brains in jars. I'll say it - I think the Keys of Marinus is an underappreciated episode from Doctor Who's first season. I had more fun watching it than Marco Polo, which I realize is probably Doctor Who fandom blasphemy, but it's the truth (though the big disadvantage is not being able to see Marco Polo. I can only imagine how dreadful Keys of Marinus would be if it were missing). Tomorrow is the beginning of the Aztecs, the supposed best story from the first season of Doctor Who. While I may not agree with that, I do quite like the serial.
*I like Big Finish, quite a bit, actually, but they do not do well in the space before An Unearthly Child. According to their story "The Beginning," which is supposed to be when the Doctor and Susan initially leave Gallifrey, the TARDIS they steal is being decommissioned by a man named Quadrigger Stoyn, and he's taken with them when they leave since he's in the ship. They go through a terribly generic adventure and end up leaving Stoyn behind, to be encountered again later by the Second Doctor. We're not told any reason why the Doctor left Gallifrey which is understandable, but implausible considering they literally leave it for the first time right at the beginning, and neither the Doctor or Susan comment on why, not even so much as a "I wonder if mom and dad will be okay." I understand that this release was part of the 50th anniversary year, but I wish they'd have left well enough alone, as it is quite a let down for the Doctor's first trip in the TARDIS. Sorry, Marc Platt, I like your Seventh Doctor work much better.
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "The Temple of Evil"
Sabetha wants to tell Tarron, the chief investigator, about Susan, but Barbara is unsure if he's in on the kidnapping, so they resolve not to. She also doesn't want to worry the Doctor, so she leaves him out of it as well, hoping that he can come up with some sort of solution to save Ian. They decide to go talk to Kala, to see if she saw anyone her late husband met with often, in the hopes that she may have some idea who is involved. She starts crying while they're there, and says she misses her husband and is ashamed to have to live with his crime for the rest of her life. She says, "You must have been sick with worry since you spoke to Susan, but I just can't help you, I know nothing," which is odd since no one told her Susan had been kidnapped. No one notices this mistake at first, and they leave. Kala stops crying as soon as the door closes, and she goes to her closet where Susan is tied up to taunt her. In the hallway, Barbara realizes Kala couldn't have known about Susan, and they go back, just as Kala is about to kill Susan on the orders of her co-conspirator.
You'll have to excuse me for reading more into a Terry Nation script than I probably should, but Kala and Aydan fascinate me. They are truly a messed up couple - Aydan slaps Kala for speaking to him in a way he doesn't like, suggesting ongoing spousal abuse. They conspire with the prosecutor to steal the micro-key, apparently to sell it, meaning they're unhappy with their current financial situation - perhaps they blame that for the problems they clearly have with their marriage? When Aydan is about to confess in the courtroom, we find out that Kala is the one that killed him (while she's being interrogated later). Before she's caught, though, the prosecutor says he's going to pick up the key and "collect" Kala - suggesting perhaps killing Aydan and leaving with the prosecutor was the plan all along? It wouldn't be that much of a stretch, since Aydan keeps abusing her, so she's wanted to leave for a while. Aydan seems like a huge wuss (as spousal abusers usually are), so I doubt he even wanted to steal the micro-key in the first place - I bet Kala pushed him to do it, so she could eventually leave and/or kill him. We may only be with these characters for an episode and a half, but I feel like there's more there than what we see.
Before all that, though, the Doctor is clearly upset, sitting and ruminating on his loss. The prosecutor congratulates him on a good defense, and the Doctor mindlessly, sadly, thanks him and says he didn't do as well as the prosecution. Barbara then calls Tarron and informs him that Kala killed Aydan, and he brings her in for questioning. She tells Tarron that she was working with Ian, meaning even her confession isn't enough to save Ian (which she must know, meaning at this point she's just angling to get Ian killed out of spite for having been caught. What a fascinating character). Susan says she overheard Kala's phone call with her co-conspirator, saying that he'd come get the key before coming and getting Kala. The Doctor realizes he can set a trap for the last criminal, saying they can catch him when he comes to get the key. I remember thinking, but Doctor, we don't know where the key is yet, how will you set this trap? Turns out the Doctor knew all along, that it was in the murder weapon. He didn't tell anyone since the information wasn't useful until that moment, apparently (why they didn't scan the murder weapon when looking for the key is beyond me. Detectives on Marinus are morons, I guess). When the prosecutor shows up to collect the murder weapon, they catch him, and all is forgiven (apparently the prosecutor isn't as vindictive as Kala, as he could have said he was in league with Ian too, but doesn't). The Doctor says the people of Milennius should read Pyrrho, and adopt his skepticism to improve their legal system. Ian expresses surprise that the Doctor has read Pyrrho, but the Doctor claims not to have read his work, he met the man, apparently. I love when the Doctor drops names, especially this early on in his travels. He's probably lying about it because his statement is all the evidence we have that he met the man, though we do know that he traveled a bit before An Unearthly Child (there are some super, super boring Big Finish* stories set before it, none of which detail this supposed meeting).
They warp back to what I call Good Model Island (so named such because I'm fond of the model work the production team did on it), and we see Altos tied up. Yartek, who helpfully explains who he is here, says he's killed Arbitan and wants Altos to give him the last key to the machine. Altos won't tell him, so he has Sabetha brought in. The Voord escorting her literally trips over his own feet on the way in, almost falling. Poor Voord, in only two episodes of the entire series, tripping over your own flipper feet, getting dissolved in your fish torpedoes because of a tear in your suit, and so on. You're so charming for being so incompetent! Anyway, Yartek plays Altos and Sabetha off each other, and they won't give up the key but want to protect each other because they're clearly in love. Altos tells Yartek the Doctor has the last key, so Yartek decides to set a trap for the Doctor.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group has arrived in the building, and they're trying to find each other. Ian whips his head around a corner and scares the crap out of the Doctor, who yells at him for it, "Oh, you drive me around the bend! I don't know what's going on!" and he mutters as they continue down the corridor. The TARDIS force field has been lifted, apparently, as the Doctor has checked it, so they can leave at any time. Ian and Susan go to find Arbitan while the Doctor and Barbara go to find Altos and Sabetha, since the Voord are still in the building, they discover, when they have to overpower one.
Ian and Susan go to the main room and talk to who they think is Arbitan, but is clearly just Yartek wearing his robe (note the giant Voord headpiece poking through the hood). Yartek, trying to act like Arbitan, lets slip that he doesn't know Altos, which tips Ian off that the person he's talking to isn't Arbitan since Arbitan sent Altos to find the keys originally. Ian leaves the fake key that Barbara found in "The Screaming Jungle" and they go to find the Doctor. They all meet up in the cell with Altos and Sabetha and free them, but Altos explains that when Yartek puts the fake key in the machine, that it'll blow up, likely taking the building with it. That then happens as they escape.
At the TARDIS, we get a mostly boring scene in which every character says goodbye to one another (streeeeetch that screen time out, Terry! Do it!), but thankfully, the Doctor also condemns Arbitans machine when saying goodbye to Sabetha. At least there's that - there's no way the Doctor, in any incarnation, would be okay with a machine controlling the people of an entire planet. It's too little too late, but it's something. We get one last shot of the model island as the TARDIS disappears (still, frustratingly, without the wheezing, groaning sound), and we cut to credits.
Look, I understand that The Keys of Marinus is a bit ropey, with plenty of goofy bad effects and actors tripping over themselves, but I just find the whole thing charming. Kala is an interesting character as I noted above, and Vasor, the brutal mountain hermit, is a terrifying enemy in a way no one has been so far (though Darrius, Arbitan's friend who lives in the Screaming Jungle, is an idiot. Can't win them all, I guess), and I'll always have room in my heart for brains in jars. I'll say it - I think the Keys of Marinus is an underappreciated episode from Doctor Who's first season. I had more fun watching it than Marco Polo, which I realize is probably Doctor Who fandom blasphemy, but it's the truth (though the big disadvantage is not being able to see Marco Polo. I can only imagine how dreadful Keys of Marinus would be if it were missing). Tomorrow is the beginning of the Aztecs, the supposed best story from the first season of Doctor Who. While I may not agree with that, I do quite like the serial.
*I like Big Finish, quite a bit, actually, but they do not do well in the space before An Unearthly Child. According to their story "The Beginning," which is supposed to be when the Doctor and Susan initially leave Gallifrey, the TARDIS they steal is being decommissioned by a man named Quadrigger Stoyn, and he's taken with them when they leave since he's in the ship. They go through a terribly generic adventure and end up leaving Stoyn behind, to be encountered again later by the Second Doctor. We're not told any reason why the Doctor left Gallifrey which is understandable, but implausible considering they literally leave it for the first time right at the beginning, and neither the Doctor or Susan comment on why, not even so much as a "I wonder if mom and dad will be okay." I understand that this release was part of the 50th anniversary year, but I wish they'd have left well enough alone, as it is quite a let down for the Doctor's first trip in the TARDIS. Sorry, Marc Platt, I like your Seventh Doctor work much better.
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "The Temple of Evil"
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