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

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

Blog Announcement: Missing Episodes to be reviewed!

As I first begun my Doctor Who marathon I decided to avoid watching and thus reviewing the missing episodes to not over-complicate things but as time went on I begun to experience more and more gaps, that became ever more significant.

As I approached Hartnell's final two stories I decided I'd listen to The Smugglers, his penultimate story in audio form (released by the BBC with linking narration) and since I have decided from now on to start reviewing the missing episodes on this blog, well at least the soundtrack.

From tomorrow on wards The Smugglers will be reviewed and every missing story afterwards in chronological order, in between the surviving ones. For missing stories from the Hartnell era I've previously missed out I will go back and review them one day!

Also as a minor change, I will start releasing reviews and posts every two days rather than daily that I have been doing since last month. This is because I don't have enough time to watch and review a story per day, and my scheduled posts list is running dry.

Anyway: thanks for reading and enjoy all The Smugglers' review tomorrow and two days after that: The Tenth Planet, Hartnell's final story!