The Faceless Ones (TV Story) Review

Title: The Faceless Ones
Writer: David Ellis and Malcolm Hulke
Original Broadcast Date: 8 April 1967 - 13 May 1967

The TARDIS lands in Gatwick Aiport, 1966, where Polly discovers a murder in a nearby hangar, before she is kidnapped. Jamie and the Doctor attempt to find her when they uncover a series of mysteries, all revolving around Chameleon Tours: planes full of thousands have people have arrived in their destination with no one on board!

From what I heard about this story I expected it be an early Troughton masterpiece; that, it certainly was not! The episode starts off with a great chase scene, where the Doctor and friends all separate as they are chased by the police around the runway of an airport. I regret to say this was the most enjoyable part of the story. After that it all goes downhill.

The Faceless Ones, with such an intriguing concept behind it, failed to capitalize on its potential, leaving us with a rather unpolished, inconsistent story that dragged on too long. Perhaps it would have worked if it was reduced to four parts, but pacing is not its biggest problem. Instead that lies in how it handles (or fails to) the characters, with Ben and Polly completely sidelined for most of what is their final appearance, only present in the first two and last episodes. While not as bad as Dodo's departure, it feels more offensive mainly because of the fact no one liked Dodo (sorry Jackie Lane!); Ben and Polly were a fantastic duo that brought some lovely charm to many adventures across the two Doctor's eras they featured in.

Adding to the already ridiculous situation, the lovely Pauline Collins (who I'm afraid can't pull off a Liverpool accent) takes their place for the rest of the episode, but even then, she is completely underused and forgotten about for large periods of time throughout.

Even with complications such as this stripped away, The Faceless Ones still lacks in quality, with a menace that never really felt menacing and (as two episodes remain intact) sloppy direction, making this story feel like it never took off. (Get it? Because its set in an airport? Ah forget it!)

5/10

The Macra Terror (TV Story) Review

Title: The Macra Terror
Writer: Ian Stuart Black
Original Broadcast Date: 11 March 1967 - 1 April 1967

The Macra Terror, sorely missed from the BBC archives, follows the adventures of The Doctor, Ben, Polly and Jamie in a earth colony holiday camp, where they're treated with luxury, but something doesn't seem right. A prisoner escapes, crying about massive insects, but no one believes him - the Macra don't exist! Or do they?

Plunged straight into action, the story sticks to this fast pace throughout its four parts, which works well considering some aspects of the plot are a little daft and are best moved on from, but its a lot of fun nonetheless. Countering The Moonbase's problem with dealing with three male leads, everyone, Doctor and companions included, has something to do in this story, and both Ben and Jamie are given some great time in the spotlight (and the latter is even given some hilarious lines).

As with all the missing episodes, the soundtrack is the only fragment of the episodes that exist, which could potentially work in its favour (60s Who Costume Design + Giant Crabs = Oh Dear!), or not considering the annoying screechy incidental music that could have been masked over with the brilliant visuals.

I'd also like to mention the great use of the setting in this story, with some great chase scenes (at least I assume they're great) and some touches to give the sense of the scale of the colony.

The Macra Terror is spectacular and incredibly unique, something quite unlike anything other in Who history, so very weird, but so very compelling.

8/10

The Underwater Menace (TV Story) Review

Title:  The Underwater Menace
Writer: Geoffrey Orme
Original Broadcast Date: 14 January 1967 - 4 February 1967

Ah, The Underwater Menace! What a story! Mad scientists, Atlantis, fish people: this story is utterly unforgettable, simply because its absolutely bonkers!

With Jamie now on board, the TARDIS lands on a deserted volcanic island, where deep below the surface the lost city of Atlantis thrives. Behind the seemingly primitive civilization, a scientist plots to destroy the world.

I actually really enjoyed watching this story, but that doesn't mean it's not crap. The story was very entertaining throughout but the plot was rather daft and far-fetched to say the least. The costume design, on par with The Web Planet's Menoptra, is terrible, with the fish people, who in concept are rather scary (and make for a spine-tingling cliffhanger to Part 1), look like a child's Halloween costume stitched together the previous night. Adding to this, the costumes for the residents of Atlantis are ugly and do nothing for the serial, other than add to the existing campness.

Thanks to the late decision to bring Jamie on board the TARDIS, Orme had the job of splitting lines between the now three companions which causes some lack of characterization, most offensive in the case of Polly, who is sidelined and portrayed as a weak, whimpering shell of the real character. Not affected by this, Troughton's Doctor, now comfy in the role, is undeniably awesome, providing a brilliant opposition against Joseph Furst who plays a chillingly mad scientist, who's progression into hysteria is unnerving. Their rivalry reflects that between The Doctor and The Master, yet to come into fruition by the time of the story's broadcast. Even so Furst's strong performance failed to draw a veil over the character's lack of development, with a poor excuse behind his motivations.

The second episode of The Underwater Menace is in fact the very first surviving Troughton episode, and while I'm thankful I got to watch him oppose a mad scientist whilst Polly, Ben and Jamie are dressed in fish-themed costumes, I'd much rather have the chance to see the creepy and atmospheric Power of the Daleks or the fun romp, The Highlanders over this entertaining but beyond far-fetched adventure.

6/10

The Power of the Daleks (TV Story) Review

Title: The Power of the Daleks
Writer: David Whitaker
Original Broadcast Date: 5 November 1966 - 10 December 1966

Patrick Troughton's first story, unfortunately missing, sees Ben, Polly and the newly regenerated Doctor arrive on the Earth colony, Vulcan where trouble is stirred up when experiments on the inhabitants of a 200 year old capsule, buried deep beneath the earth, is dug up.

The first two episodes are some of the best Doctor Who has seen, with the former focusing on the Doctor's regeneration and Ben and Polly's reactions, and the latter bringing the main plot into centre stage with a gloomy, genuinely scary atmosphere. But beyond these first two episodes it goes downhill a bit unfortunately. un

By the fifth episode it starts to drag with not much happening and very little progress made between each episode, that is until the final part, which compared to its predecessors is slightly jarring, with a much faster pace and a vast array of action sequences. The story also feels slightly 'all bark no bite' with promises made of epic rebellion fight scenes and development of the trust between the Doctor and his companions not delivered on, or at least not to full potential.

The sixth and concluding part also only briefly touches on a concept, delving into the travesty the Daleks cause, that could have really benefitted the story if drawn out and developed much more, but didn't take away much with its brief mentioning.

From this review it may seem I hated the episode but honestly I really enjoyed it and I felt it was a rather strong story, but due it to it being one of the most hyped up stories of Doctor Who history I couldn't help feel a little disappointed with its flaws. Problems aside Troughton is fantastic and plays a strikingly different Doctor to Hartnell to great effect and proves himself a worthy replacement in this great Dalek story that, for me, just couldn't live up to it's reputation.

8/10