The Planet of Decision (The Chase Episode 6)

The one where we say farewell to Ian and Barbara...

Aren't the Mechanoids magnificent? I mean, yes, they're incredibly cumbersome creations, and it's hard to see how the Doctor Who production team thought they might become "the new Daleks", but they look amazing. They look solid and formidable, and despite their springy little heads, the design is inspired, like a turtle crossed with a golf ball. The fact they created three Mechanoid casings is even more impressive, seeing as they have so little screen time. They could have been in more episodes of The Chase, and could certainly have returned for a second outing in Season 3 (most appropriately in The Daleks' Master Plan). Sadly, it wasn't to be...

Also impressive is the model of the Mechanoid city. That too looks huge, and you can even see the tiny little Mechanoid models moving along the walkways at one point. It's an intricate, beautiful design, and if I were a child in 1965 I'd have loved a play set of this city for Christmas (this coming from a kid whose most memorable Christmas was the year he got an Ewok Village play set!). Imagine the fun children would have playing with this city and a few Dalek and Mechanoid action models?

The Death of Doctor Who (The Chase Episode 5)

The one where the Doctor battles his own robotic doppelganger...

Terry Nation loved jungles. There was the petrified forest of Skaro, then the screaming jungle of Marinus, and in stories yet to come we'll visit the jungles of Kembel, Mira and Spiridon. But for the time being we're on Mechanus, which is populated with giant living fungoids which look like shuffling toadstools. Let's be fair, the fungoids are pretty impressive props, and our unfolding introduction to Mechanus is directed well by Richard Martin, complete with throbbing vegetation and a burbling soundscape which sounds like my stomach after a curry!

I've not been Richard Martin's greatest fan in the past, but I've got to hand it to him: he handles this episode really well, making the most of Ray Cusick and John Wood's design for the strange planet of Mechanus by using painted gauze drapes (as he did in The Web Planet) to add depth and texture to the picture.

Journey Into Terror (The Chase Episode 4)

The one where Vicki gets left behind and hitches a ride with the Daleks...

Have you ever noticed that Barbara is first out of the TARDIS doors every time they land in this story? She's first out on Aridius, first out in New York and on the Mary Celeste, and she's first out here, when they arrive in a nightmarish haunted house. She's leading the way throughout, unafraid of what might lurk outside. That's our Babs!

Well, I say unafraid, but within minutes of the TARDIS crew arriving in this strange house they're all gibbering like children, scared of the cheapest of props - "vampire" bats on string, thunder and lightning, creaky floors and even a fireplace with glowing eyes (OK, I admit that last one's a bit weird). But after everything these people have been through you'd think they'd be mature enough to take these tropes in their stride, but instead we get more of the comedy which is a hallmark of Season 2.

Flight Through Eternity (The Chase Episode 3)

The one where the Daleks visit the Empire State Building and the Mary Celeste...

Oh look, it's yet another overly-melodramatic episode title from Terry Nation, never one to undersell his work. Last week we didn't experience the death of time, and the week before that the executioners didn't execute anyone. This week we're promised a flight through eternity, but in actual fact it's more of a flight through a century because we only visit the years 1872 and 1966.

The depiction of the time vortex in The Chase leaves a lot to be desired. I can accept the spangly refraction technique, but the police box photo is rather poor (why not use the scale model?) and the Dalek time machine looks like a car battery. On the inside, it's rather more impressive, complete with lifts, ramps, some swirling pop art on the walls and even a glowing central console. And of course, it's bigger on the inside, just like the Doctor's TARDIS. Have the Daleks used the technology of the Doctor's people to construct their machine? Or are we to suppose that all time machines are bigger on the inside like this?

The Death of Time (The Chase Episode 2)

The one where Barbara's cardigan saves the day...

Director Richard Martin's atmospheric location filming at Camber Sands continues with lovely shots of Daleks making their way across the dunes - or tiptoeing across, as can be seen clearly in one early shot! Later, back in studio (at 12m 9s) a Dalek is caught on camera lifting and placing itself into position. It seems the Daleks were hovering above ground decades before Remembrance of the Daleks, although perhaps not intentionally in this case!

Again, writer Terry Nation treats his creations with slightly less respect than previously, as he gives them dialogue which is much more emotional and human, such as when one Dalek asks of the TARDIS crew: "Are they to be taken alive?", and the other replies: "No! They are to be exterminated!" The first Dalek seems excited by this, and hails: "Good! Exterminated!" like a petulant child. Later, we see two Daleks discuss using slaves to dig the TARDIS out of the sand. "Well, see to it!" snaps the boss Dalek in a vernacular more suited to humans than Daleks. Compare the dialogue they are given here to the more staccato, emotionless, monotone lines in The Daleks - it's changed considerably.

The Executioners (The Chase Episode 1)

The one where the TARDIS travellers watch time telly...

What exactly is going on with that model shot at the start of this episode? As the episode title and writer captions fade in and out, underneath we can see a model police box which appears to be placed on a plain black surface or table. The baffling thing is that you can vaguely see the edge of the table at the top of the screen, and as the camera zooms slowly out you can see faint writing to the left of the picture. It seems the TARDIS has materialised on a giant blackboard! I have to say, that's a pretty ropy effect to open the episode with, plus there's some wildly out-of-place jazz music too!

We first see our heroes relaxing in the TARDIS: the Doctor is fiddling with a new chunk of technology (and what a big chunk it is!), Ian is reading a science-fiction book ("it's a bit far-fetched") and Barbara is making a dress for Vicki, who flits between the three bored out of her head, like any right-minded teenager would be.

The Final Phase (The Space Museum Episode 4)

The one where the Xerons finally rise up against their Morok oppressors...

The Doctor must have one hell of a constitution if he can recover from the Moroks' embalming machine as easily as he does. We've seen the Doctor exhausted by the gentlest of jogs in the past, but here he seems to recover from a majorly debilitating procedure with some ease. He is two-thirds of the way through what we're told may well be an irreversible process which plunges his body temperature to several hundred degrees below freezing - but all he suffers upon coming round is a spot of rheumatism!

His body might have been frozen but his thoughts never stopped ticking over: "My brain was working with the speed of a mechanical computer!" he boasts. The Doctor says that his conscience will not allow him to take revenge and place Lobos in the embalming machine, but William Hartnell delivers this with just enough fire to make it a regrettable mercy for the traveller.

The Search (The Space Museum Episode 3)

The one where Vicki becomes an unlikely revolutionary...

"It didn't take them long to find it," says Ian at the start of this episode when he sees the Moroks capture the TARDIS. Well, it doesn't exactly blend in, does it Ian? We're then treated to some more bickering and some more oohing and aaahing about how best to avoid their glass-fronted fates, and it's all so dull and repetitive. Never have Ian and Barbara been written so poorly. They've had their spats in the past, but they've rarely been as argumentative as this.

Got to commend Barbara for calling Ian out on his moaning though: "All we do is stand around saying 'this whole thing is a nightmare'. Why don't we do something?" Ask Glyn Jones, Babs! The prevaricating gets worse when a Morok guard happens across them and points a gun at them. Our heroes then spend ages chatting among themselves about fate-avoidance yet again while the morose Morok looks on like a goon, waiting for them to finish. A combination of poor writing and direction. "I've had enough of this," says Ian. I know the feeling.

The Dimensions of Time (The Space Museum Episode 2)

The one where Ian tries to unravel a cardigan with his teeth...

Plinky-plonky sci-fi B-movie music accompanies the opening scenes of this episode, which introduces us to the Morok race... and boy, are they dull! No wonder the space museum decor is so tediously drab if these guys designed it. Their leader, Governor Lobos, even admits he's bored, and furthermore that he's just as bored here on Xeros as he was on their home planet, Morok. This man, played with about as much enthusiasm as a breeze block by Richard Shaw, is the sort who insists people knock when they enter his office, which is about as much characterisation as we get for him.

It's a poor start after such a promising opening, but it's sadly indicative of the entire 25 minutes. After presenting such a tantalising and potentially exciting premise for our heroes to get mixed up in last week (time tracks etc), writer Glyn Jones falls into a crushingly dull runaround with one-dimensional characters and virtually no plot development. After blowing his load in episode 1, it seems Jones has little else to give except Flash Gordon Saturday serial cliche (but without the flash).

The Space Museum (Episode 1)

The one where the TARDIS jumps a time track and our heroes become intangible...

Now, if I drifted off into a daydream for a moment, and then came to, only to realise my clothes had completely changed, I'd be pretty shocked, not to mention confused. This is precisely what happens to the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki, whose attire changes from their crusading clothes to their "normal, everyday clothes" of plain, dull cardigans, blazers and knee socks in the blink of an eye (you can tell Ian isn't the history teacher, as he refers to their crusading clothes as 13th century). But the oddest thing is that the Doctor doesn't seem remotely puzzled or fazed by it, and puts it down to "time and relativity". What bunkum is he spouting this time?

It's the first in a series of strange incidents which marks this episode out as a real departure for the series. It feels odd and unsettling, rather like Inside the Spaceship did, but without the scissor attacks and blaring horns. Opening with an eerie pan across a planet surface seemingly covered with abandoned spaceships of different designs (great modelwork too!), it sets the scene for 25 minutes of existential surrealism which we don't usually see in early Doctor Who.

The Warlords (The Crusade Episode 4)

The one where Barbara goes into hiding in a harem...

"I'm not afraid of you," retorts Barbara to the malignant El Akir. "Fear is nothing to do with contempt. Or disgust." Good old Babs, never letting her side down and always standing up to the bullies, like the best school teachers should. David Whitaker has always written Barbara well, and although the early episodes of The Crusade seemed to consist of her getting kidnapped and escaping, he makes up for it in the story's second half (even though Barbara escapes yet again here!).

However, the pinnacle Whitaker reached with episode 3 is not maintained here, because it feels to me quite rushed, as if he started out planning for a six-parter, but realised he only had four so just wrote an ending really quickly. It's not done too badly, but to me it's quite obvious that all of the delicate world-building, characterisation and subplots just collapse like a house of cards here.

The Wheel of Fortune (The Crusade Episode 3)

The one where Barbara is asked to murder a young girl in order to save her from marauders...

Wow. I really don't think there's been an episode of Doctor Who this good since Season 1, and even then I'd probably vote for this as the very best so far. Thank goodness we have the luxury of being able to sit and watch it because if this was just audio-only I don't think we'd be able to fully appreciate just how great it is.

Central to the entire episode is a guest actor called George Little, who plays Haroun. Little gives one of the most moving performances ever given to Doctor Who, enhanced by David Whitaker's sensitive writing and Dudley Simpson's beautiful music. Haroun is the man who grabs Barbara at the end of episode 2, but he is not the enemy (far from it). He is a sworn enemy of El Akir, but he's not your usual run-of-the-mill vengeful plot device. Haroun has a reason - several reasons - to want El Akir dead. In a beautiful monologue to camera, Jacqueline Hill looking sympathetically on, Haroun tells us that El Akir destroyed his happy home life by murdering his wife and son, and abducting his daughter Maimuna, then burning his house to the ground.

The Knight of Jaffa (The Crusade Episode 2)

The one where Ian is knighted by the King of England...

The Crusade is the only serial in Season 2 to have any episodes missing from the BBC Archive, but luckily fan David Holman recorded the soundtrack off-air so that we can at least hear the episode. In tandem with John Cura's legendary telesnaps, this is the best way we can currently experience The Knight of Jaffa.

It's a much stronger episode than The Lion, but still has its faults. For instance, Barbara is written as a run-of-the-mill damsel in distress for much of the time, David Whitaker not giving Jacqueline Hill much to do at all except get kidnapped and escape. By the end of The Knight of Jaffa, Barbara has been abducted or captured three times (twice by El Akir, and once more in this episode's cliffhanger), demonstrating very little imagination on Whitaker's part.

The Lion (The Crusade Episode 1)

The one where Barbara gets kidnapped within seconds of arriving...

The first five minutes of The Lion are among the most violent Doctor Who has ever been, certainly up to this stage. There's sword fights, fist fights, murders and an abduction in quick succession, and it all feels very full-on and quite jarring as we're not used to being thrown into quite so much action so soon after the titles have rolled.

The performances are very stagy and theatrical in the way many costume dramas of the period were. The actors are very capable and committed, but it instantly feels like you're watching a Shakespeare play on the TV. To some that might speak of quality drama, but to me it's all a bit po-faced and stiff. It's the style of the time, but by 1965 it was also quite old-fashioned, stemming right back to the advent of sound films. Although his performance forms the backbone of this, at least Julian Glover brings a good-humoured dimension to the proceedings.

The Centre (The Web Planet Episode 6)

The one where we learn how to herd Zarbi...

Zaaaaaaaaaaaaar-bi! Zaaaaaaar-bi-bi-bi! Zaaaaaaar-beeeeeeeeee!

This is the sound of the Menoptera teasing and herding a Zarbi, using vocal commands and intonations which take your breath away. In what has to be one of the weirdest scenes ever in Doctor Who, we watch a bunch of furry giant wasps herd a giant monster ant around a smeary alien planet's surface, and it's all presented as if it's completely normal and everyday. Which maybe it used to be on Vortis, when the Menoptera herded Zarbi like cattle in their flower fields, but at 6pm on a Saturday evening in 1965? Bonkers!

Invasion (The Web Planet Episode 5)

The one where Barbara takes control of the Menoptera's plan...

No, not The Invasion, the eight-part Cyber-story from 1968. And no, not Invasion, the first ambiguously named episode of the 1974 six-parter involving dinosaurs. This is Invasion, episode 5 of The Web Planet, in which no invasion takes place!

However, episode 5 is the one where the beginning of the end is apparent, and there's some relief to be found in that thought. Barbara and Prapillus happen upon an abandoned Temple of Light, the beauty of which the ancient song-spinners of the Menoptera sang. Just this little glimmer of Menoptera ancestry and cultural history adds weight to these funny little furry wasps, but what's most astonishing is that Bill Strutton's suddenly very lyrical dialogue does not end there:

Crater of Needles (The Web Planet Episode 4)

The one where Ian goes underground and meets some grunting worms...

Is that really someone laughing hysterically that you can hear as this episode opens? It sounds like someone's just cracked The Funniest Joke Ever during the rockfall reprise. Whoever it is, their mirth has been captured for posterity on the soundtrack for Crater of Needles and it kind of sums up how most people watch this serial generally - in fits of laughter!

The beautifully named Crater of Needles sees us reunited with Barbara (or "Abara" as the Menoptera insist on calling her), who takes exception to having to cart a load of vegetable matter around. What they're being forced to do is feed vegetation into the acid streams which lead to the Carcinome and help to nourish the Animus, which in turn spreads its evil influence around Vortis. I like how writer Bill Strutton has made an analogy between the Animus and cancer, with the Carcinome growing like a tumour on the planet's surface and spreading its poison across Vortis. Battling the fungal infection are the airborne Menoptera and (very soon) the subterranean Optera, which could be analogies for radiation or chemotherapy and antibodies respectively.

Escape to Danger (The Web Planet Episode 3)

The one where we finally begin to find out what the heck is going on...

Fair's fair, I love the voice of the Animus. Catherine Fleming was a vocal coach who trained actors at RADA and the National Theatre, so her work here is predictably effective. Her hoarse but breathy voice is really quite unsettling and gives the idea of a great intelligence at work behind these crazy giant ants. In the 1970s, Fleming gave politician Margaret Thatcher vocal coaching to "reduce her annoying shrieking", and also help reinvent her as a strong and stable Conservative leader, and eventually Prime Minister. So we have the Animus to blame for Thatcher!

Escape to Danger is the strongest of the three episodes so far because we get to find out an awful lot about what's going on, rather than just watching a load of monster insects bump into each other. The Doctor communicates with the Animus via a drop-down hair-dryer (love the bit where Ian says he hopes the Doctor's asking where Barbara is. She's on holiday this week, that's where!), and the disembodied voice tells him that it wants the Doctor to help locate the swarming Menoptera in space as it says the giant wasps are planning to invade Vortis. It's a clever twist to paint the gentler creatures as the invaders, but as we'll find out, this isn't strictly true.