The Macra Terror Episode 4

The one where Jamie dances the Highland Fling...

The first five or so minutes of this episode consist of a pretty laboured catch-and-escape scenario, with the Doctor and Polly running away from Ola's guards, and Jamie dodging the Macra's giant claws. It struck me only now, four episodes in, that the Macra don't make any sound (except for their control voice). They're huge monsters, this is Doctor Who, so why don't they roar or growl or gnash their fangs (that's if they have fangs - there's certainly plenty of teeth on display on the sleeve of the BBC soundtrack CD!). They must be the quietest monsters Doctor Who ever had (aside from the Weeping Angels).

Everything picks up when Jamie escapes into the main hall where a group of colonists are rehearsing. There's no doubt about it, the chant they're rehearsing is sheer bonkers, and the main cheerleader is as ardent as an American Christian TV evangelist (surely his refrain to recite the chant again "but this time with more feeling" is a sly reference to the 1958 play/ 1960 film Once More, with Feeling?).

Whaddya know?

We all know Control is right and we must obey!

Let them know, let them know,

Let them know they're happy!

Greet the morning with a shout,

Everyone up, the sun is out!

Ra-ra-ra! (Ra-ra-ra!)

Cheers for the Colony!

We're the gang that works the hardest and we must obey!

Obey Control, ring that bell!

Ra-ra-ra! (Ra-ra-ra!)

Work well! Ring the bell!

It's all so ferociously like The Happiness Patrol. The cheerleader even says: "You have to be very good to get into the Happy Colony Finals. We want something gay and cheerful!" And to top off the attack of unrelenting campness, Jamie then dances the Highland Fling in an effort to escape. It's so ridiculously silly that, in some ways, it's just as well it only exists on audio, because if we could actually sit and watch this scene, the story would probably polarise fandom as much as The Happiness Patrol does today. And I bet Frazer Hines is probably quite pleased we can't witness that scene too...!

While there's a lot of nonsense and padding in this episode, I do like how writer Ian Stuart Black tinkers with characterisation here, turning the Pilot into a last-minute hero after he witnesses the truth of the Macra, and having Ola rebel against the Pilot and attempt a coup to try and restore order to the Colony. It's also great when the Doctor blusters in and tries to get the two warring officials to make up with one another!

My favourite characterisation, however, is reserved for good old Ben, played so well by Michael Craze. After spending the last couple of episodes as a turncoat bad guy under the influence of the Macra (and altering his performance expertly to fit), Craze is rewarded by having Ben turn out to be the hero, breaking free of his brainwashing (at one point sounding tearfully upset in a scene with Jamie) and messing with the gas flow to destroy the Macra. The Macra Terror is by far Michael Craze's best performance as Ben after The War Machines.

The finale is unforgivably rushed and confused. Parts of it work - the controller's increasingly hysterical and desperate cries to protect the colony and stop the strangers' interference, as the Doctor, Jamie, Polly and the Pilot choke to death - but the overall conclusion is muddled and weak. How is the Macra threat overcome simply by Ben altering the gas in-flow and out-flow? The control voice claims the pressure "would be unbearable for all, for humans as well", but there seems to be little consequence other than a Dalek gun-style negative effect on the picture. Then everything is suddenly resolved and people are happily dancing and singing in celebration in the hall.

It's too quick and simple, and not at all convincing. After four weeks, the viewer deserves something a little more than a simple gas flow swap.

The final scene, with that interminable earworm jingle and various majorettes entertaining the colonists, is pretty cringeworthy, in a Season 24 kind of way if you're not a fan of Season 24. The Pilot wants to make the Doctor his successor, so in order to escape without being noticed, the TARDIS regulars dance their way out of the hall and back to the Ship (Troughton wearing a hat, I notice from the telesnaps!). It's so camp and silly and childish that even those watching at the time probably wondered what the heck they were seeing. A total of 8.4 million people watched this episode back in April 1967, but Doctor Who wouldn't reach those ratings heights again for another 11 months (thanks to the Yeti). I can understand why some people might have bailed at this point...

The Macra Terror is a curious beast. It's a monster story with some very inconspicuous monsters (they're never seen very clearly, and don't make monstery noises), it's as camp as Christmas, and the guest characters are all pretty two-dimensional. It's a good story for the four regulars, perhaps one of the best attempts to occupy all four series regulars in Season 4, but somehow just doesn't meet its potential. Two decades later, echoes of The Macra Terror can be found in Paradise Towers and The Happiness Patrol (and we'd be seeing the Macra again, of course, in 2007's Gridlock), but I can't help feeling that what Ian Stuart Black was attempting to say was achieved much more clearly in these later serials.

One thing I wouldn't mind though, is revisiting the colony to see one of the new dance festivals, with its Strangers' Trophy for the winners!

First broadcast: April 1st, 1967 (no surprise there!)

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Denis Goacher's maniacal performance as the control voice adds a lot to what tension there is in the finale.
The Bad: Jamie doing the Highland Fling. Another Second Doctor story resolved by an explosion. The Doctor dancing his way out of the colony. Urgh...
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ (story average: 6.8 out of 10)

NEXT TIME: The Faceless Ones...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode 1; Episode 2; Episode 3

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