As the previous post implies, I’m baack, and better than ever! And so is this blog, but it will now be at a less breakneck speed, and more at the speed that I just want to watch “Doctor Who”. Right now though I am eager to watch the stories that are coming up, so we’ll see how it goes! The announcement of the Series 6 premiere date has left me very excited and very much in a Who-watching mood. So here we go again.
Episode 1
This episode has a lovely opening TARDIS scene, as the new crew size each other up. The Doctor is gruff and cantankerous, and Ben and Polly are perplexed as he explains what they have got themselves into. It really is a perfect season opener, since it introduces the audience to the concepts of the series again, and setting up Ben and Polly as audience identification figures. They are a far cry from Ian and Barbara. Unlike he introduction to the schoolteachers though, the Doctor is more open about being a wanderer who cannot tell where he ends up.
Once they get to Cornwall, Polly is far more enthusiastic than Ben, who seems extremely suspicious of everything. It’s reminiscent of how Steven behaved when he arrived in pre-Norman England in “The Time Meddler”. Anneke Wills and Michael Craze have wonderful chemistry, and I shall be paying close attention to how this develops. The Doctor has already accepted them and there are hints of the attitude towards companions that we see joked about in the show today; that they can’t look after themselves without him keeping an eye on them; that they just don’t listen; that he’ll have to bail them out. At this point in his journey though it seems to amuse him no end, as opposed to the world-weariness with which it is referred to by the 10th and 11th Doctors.
It’s interesting that Ben and Polly can accept the change in location and the bigger on the inside bit of the TARDIS, while it is the time travel thing that is so much less believable.
There are some definite nasty pieces of work in this story, as we start to meet the different factions that will drive the plot, but this episode is more about the fun interactions, as the new TARDIS crew meet the cast of characters that make up this suspicious village. There’s some nice setup in this area, as the plot gets set into motion, and we discover that there are precious things hidden away, and lots of people looking for it.
Oh look, it’s Paul Whitsun-Jones as the squire! It’s almost as if the Marshall from The Mutants has been transported back to 17th century Cornwall! How wonderful! He does fatuous pomposity, with a slightly sinister edge, like nobody else!
Episode 2
There goes the Doctor, turning on the charm again, to ingratiate himself with Captain Avery’s erstwhile shipmates. He appears to relish the company of these pirates, and is having a lot of fun negotiating with them.
Ben and Polly are not having quite as much fun, but they are definitely getting into the spirit of adventure, and ready to try every trick in the book to escape from their jail! Ben especially is now really getting into the swing of things – knocking out possible villains, and looking out for his friend. He has accepted their lot now it appears, and it just getting on with it.
Paul Whitsun-Jones continues his lovely performance as the squire. He plays this archetype to the hilt, and his enthusiasm is contagious. All of the actors are really getting into their roles and completely committed to them. It makes the drama so much more believable, despite some occasional cod accents and clichéd dialogue.
I love the joke of Captain Pike’s pike being fake, and the crewmembers needing to remind him to attach it!
Episode 3
Hartnell is having such fun with this script, which gives him plenty to do, and is unlike a lot of Brian Hayles’s later work for the show. This is just the type of script that Hartnell always enjoys, that come up a lot in the historical stories, where he gets to bluff and bluster his way through and have fun at the expense of his captors and trick his way out of any situation in which he finds himself. It’s in stories like these that we get to see the fun side of the 1st Doctor, rather than the sternness that people usually remember.
Ben and Polly have the Doctor pegged already, even though they have only been with him a short while. They know that he just cannot help getting into trouble. Today of course, everyone would complain about this early knowledge, as they did with Amy in The Best Below knowing that the Doctor is alien and very old, since the assumption was that the knowledge wasn’t earned. (On that score they are wrong. It’s all right there and Amy has noticed and is a smart young woman; but that’s a discussion for 27 seasons from now!) With Ben and Polly here it all seems perfectly natural that they would understand the Doctor this well. They are observant people and they have paid attention to how he behaves!
Captain Pike is a vicious sort. Michael Godfrey plays him wonderfully, with a charming veneer, hiding a mercilessness streak underneath.
As the Doctor explains his need to get to the crypt, rather than just escape back to the TARDIS, we get a lovely redefinition of his moral code as he asserts that he has a “moral obligation” to keep the village and the innocent villagers there safe. He’s come a long way from the character that had to be restrained from braining a caveman with a rock. This is absolutely the character we know today, who tries to make a difference and to do the right thing.
All roads lead to the crypt as the parties converge looking for the treasure. The stakes are high – for the village anyway! And everyone is out for their own gain except the Doctor and his friends.
Episode 4
The Doctor is wonderfully powerful again in this. His righteous anger and his schemes are on top form as he works to outwit the crew of smugglers. I would love to be able see Hartnell’s visual acting in this scene. Vocally he sounds full of energy and confidence that belies the myth of a sick man who was pushed off the show he loved and gave so much to.
I love Ben asking Polly to put the kettle on when she gets back to the TARDIS! So English and so typical! It made me laugh.
Finally the Doctor solves the riddle. He’s known the answer all along of course, and could have wrapped this up in episode 2. But it’s been fun getting to this point! Hartnell is having a ball with this. I will be very sad to see him go.
As we reach the climactic battle between Blake’s men and the pirates, I feel disappointment that we cannot watch it, and simply have some pictures and the audio (although I am grateful we have that at least!) Director Julia Smith was to go on to become a very important t person in the BBC over the following 20 years, and of the 8 episodes of Doctor Who she directed we only have “The Underwater Menace” episode 3. All evidence points to her work here being of a higher quality.
And what a lead in to the next episode! I can’t wait!
