The Tenth Planet (TV Story) Review

Title: The Tenth Planet
Writer: Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis
Original Broadcast Date: 8 October 1966 - 29 October 1966

The Tenth Planet is the first of many things: the first appearance of the Cybermen, the first base-under-siege story and the first regeneration of the Doctor, but beyond its legendary status, the story remains standing as a clever and genuinely creepy bookend to the Hartnell era.

The Doctor, Ben and Polly land in the South Pole, 1986 where the most recent routine space flight has taken off, but strange things begin to happen. Outside the window of the spaceship the pilots see a tenth planet, that looks exactly like earth, moving towards them. And then something lands by the arctic base, something that was once human, but not anymore.

In their first ever story the Cybermen are incredibly menacing, and dare I say, scarier than the Daleks. The image of the blank faced creatures, lacking all human emotion, making its way across an icecap is particularly frightening; it is no wonder they were brought back only four stories later. My minor and only issue with them (and this story in fact) was the voiceover was sometimes out of sync with the actors, so the suspense was stunted a bit.

On the other end of the spectrum, in Hartnell's final regular appearance, he is stunning, despite his absence from the third chapter. He brings a definite gravitas to his scenes and proves his worth, making this a fantastic episode to leave in. His absence is written out fairly well, improving the regeneration with some lead up to the event, but it would have been nice to have had one of the very best Doctors at centre-stage the entirety of his final story.

His regeneration is short but sweet, and I proudly admit I shed a few tears at his final and heartbreaking line, which was such a major contrast from his frosty personality in his first few episodes, showing his growth as a character, but also seemingly a line talking directly about the show, because it didn't finish with Hartnell's departure; no; it was, it is far from being over:

"...It isn't all over. It's far from being all over... I must go now... Ah yes! Thank you. It's good! Keep warm."

9.5/10

Thank you, Mr Hartnell!

The Smugglers (TV Story) Review

Title: The Smugglers
Writer: Brian Hayles
Original Broadcast Date: 10 September 1966 - 1 October 1966

In Ben and Polly's first trip in the TARDIS, and Hartnell's penultimate one, we are served a fun yet slightly forgettable adventure of smugglers and pirates situated at the coast of Cornwall.

For the recent visitors, you may have noticed: this is my very first review of a missing episode and as no substantial video footage or animation are available this review is entirely based off the soundtrack, so my final rating is more of an estimate than a definite judgement as the addition of the video footage could either aid or lower the score it receives. Anyway: on with the review!

In his second-to-last story Hartnell is excellent. He achieves an wondrous charm next to his two new younger companions and the script proves the character has developed over his run, with The Doctor actively attempting to save people and going out of his way to do so, something that wouldn't have been dreamed of back in his first year.

The plot is relatively simple but by the third part gets clouded with too many unnecessary characters, something that wouldn't prove as much of a problem if I had visual aid, and without I felt a little lost and overwhelmed at times. The first two episodes, as often in the Hartnell era, are better than the final two, with the story dragging towards the end, subjecting to an unfocused wild goose chase that feels a little like a waste of time, but results in some fun.

The Smugglers is nothing special, but its not bad either. The plot is rather lackluster and is dragged on too long but the magnificence of Hartnell alongside his new companions played by Michael Craze and Anneke Wills does give this forgettable story some unforgettable moments.

7.5/10

Season 2 - Ranking and Stats

Doctor Who - Season Two (1964/65)
31 October 1964 - 24 July 1965

After a successful first season, Doctor Who returned for a second season later in 1965, bigger and better than ever. Here I've ranked the episodes of Hartnell's second and best season. Click on the episodes to see the full reviews.

1. The Time Meddler (10/10)
2. The Romans (10/10)
3. The Rescue (9/10)
4. The Space Museum (9/10)
5. The Chase (8.5/10)
6. Planet of Giants (8/10)
7. The Dalek Invasion of Earth (7/10)
8. The Web Planet (2/10)

N/A. The Crusade (?/10)

Unfortunately The Crusade is missing, but from the remaining episodes I'm sure it would be up in the top three of the season.

Averaging these out means Season Two has an average rating of...                    7.94/10

And a range of                                                                                                        8.0

If it wasn't for The The Web Planet, my least favourite episode of Doctor Who... ever, Season Two would have an average of 8.79/10 which is an astoundingly high score!

From my ratings we can see Season Two had:
2 Perfect Episodes (10/10)
2 Amazing Episodes (9+/10)
2 Great Episodes (8+/10)
1 Good Episode (7+/10)
1 Terrible Episode (2+/10)

Now for the graph!

As you can see, because of The Web Planet's abnormally low score only two episodes fall below the average.

Comparison

As we're only two seasons into Doctor Who, not much can be compared, but we can see Season Two has a higher average than Season One.

1. Season Two - 7.94/10
2. Season One - 7.79/10

But on the terms of range, Season One is much more consistent with its episodes, with a range lower than Season Two. (Remember: the lower the range, the more consistent the series)

1. Season One - 5.5
2. Season Two - 8

Join us tomorrow for the next Doctor Who review!