The Macra Terror Episode 3

The one where Polly and Jamie become miners...

A quick question before I kick off proper: why is the Pilot called the Pilot? It's a ground-based colony, it doesn't fly or travel anywhere. It's a strange moniker for Ian Stuart Black to give the leader, because it's just a rank, not a name. Everybody else has a proper name - Ola, Medok, Officia etc - but the guy in charge has only a faceless job title for a name. Strange...

Anyway... The Pilot sends the Doctor, Jamie and Polly to work down the mines, as part of the amusingly named "danger gang", which sounds like one of those ensemble comedy troupes from the silent film era, such as the Crazy Gang or Our Gang. I love how the Doctor takes the mickey out of the name too, by claiming that the person who wrote the lyrics for the colony's inane jingles should be in the danger gang!

Patrick Troughton is marvellous in this episode, as is now standard. The script writers are now very obviously catering for his style of performance, and you really can tell. There's a magical scene, which unfortunately suffers for just being on audio, where the Doctor is making some calculations and drawing on the walls in the pump room. Much of it is Troughton solo, so it's a little dull to endure on the soundtrack, but I can only imagine how amazing it looked. Episode recoveries from the Troughton era often reveal how nuanced and layered the lead actor's performances were, managing to communicate so much with just facial or bodily movements (The Underwater Menace Episode 2 and The Enemy of the World Episode 1 spring to mind). I bet there's the same magic being weaved here, but we just can't appreciate it.

Beams of brilliance shine through once Peter Jeffrey's Pilot joins the scene, and we get to hear how Troughton's Doctor gleefully covers up his true genius by masquerading as a mild buffoon. Oh, imagine being able to see the bit where the Doctor throws a bucket of water over his calculations on the wall, and teases: "X to the power of Y has dribbled into two threes are six!"

Troughton is adept at both comedy and pathos, we all know that. In many ways he is one of the best actors to ever play the Doctor, which is demonstrated in the lovely scene between him and Michael Craze as Ben's brainwashing begins to fray. The Doctor is gentle with his companion, understanding the mental predicament he's in. "You know Ben, this is very unlike you... It's hard for you to struggle against the voices, isn't it?" he lilts. A delightful scene between two actors who understand each other, and two characters with a recognisable history.

Polly, Jamie and good old Medok are sent down the mines where they must probe for gas. They don't know why they're probing for gas, just that they have to. The Doctor and Polly later work out what the gas is for - for the Macra to breathe. It seems the crustacean creatures breathe gas which is poisonous to humans, but as there's not enough gas to be had on the planet's surface, the monsters have somehow indoctrinated the colonists into mining it for them. This new fact begs an awful lot of questions - principally about how the hell they've gained control of the colony in this way - but it leads to a beautifully paced cliffhanger which sees a trapped Jamie (adorned in silvery apron and black marigolds) menaced by two Macra, revived from their slumber when Officia pumps gas into the old tunnel. OK, so each of this serial's three cliffhangers are basically the same - Argh! It's the Macra! - but nevertheless, all three seem very well executed.

The scenes with Jamie exploring the old mine shaft are suitably eerie and cobwebby, but the existing telesnaps are disappointingly murky, with very little to be made out of the gloom. It's a shame we can't see the docile Macra in the darkness, and I wonder whether it was at all discernible on transmission or whether lighting director Frank Cresswell under-lit the set? It's not as if the Macra props weren't impressive enough to be shown (just not mobile enough!).

The biggest - and saddest - event of the episode for me is the tragic death of Medok, a character who so far has been threaded through the story well and played expertly by Terence Lodge. It's a shame to lose him, and in such a throwaway moment too. It's a pity when a writer kills a good character off just for frights. No one will mourn Medok, except me.

First broadcast: March 25th, 1967

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Troughton's scenes with Craze and Jeffrey are delightful.
The Bad: Gloomy mine shaft telesnaps. Disappointing.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

NEXT TIME: Episode 4...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode 1; Episode 2; Episode 4

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/the-macra-terror.html

The Macra Terror is available on BBC soundtrack CD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Macra-Terror-Doctor-Stuart-2001-05-01/dp/B01K3N3EH4