Frontier in Space Episode Two

The one where the Doctor and Jo are locked up again and again and again...

It's frankly ridiculous how much of this episode the Doctor and Jo spend locked in a cell. They've already been incarcerated more than once in episode 1, but in this second episode they are banged up no fewer than four times! In fact, much of the episode is pointless as it merely recycles the same ideas for 25 minutes: the Doctor and Jo are accused of being spies, they insist they're not, and they're locked up. Rinse and repeat ad nauseam.

The one good thing about the episode is that it's a great showcase for the chemistry between Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning, whose scenes together are warm and endearing. Having the Doctor and Jo locked up so much slows the story right down to a crawl, but the time they spend together in jail is nice to watch because the two actors are so good together (I love Jo's "no need to push!" when the guard shoves the Doctor into her back).

The Doctor's anecdote about being interrogated by the Medusoids (hairy jellyfish with claws, teeth and a leg!) is fantastically silly, but perfectly enjoyable in Pertwee's hands. It's hardly one of his beloved "moments of charm", but it's a nice moment between the Doctor and his friend as he tries to take her thoughts off the mind probe. Amusingly, he mentions that one of the delegates at the third intergalactic peace conference was a purple horse with yellow spots, which Doctor Who expanded fiction has named as an Equinoid. These equine aliens made an appearance in the Radio Times comic strip Perceptions, and also cropped up in the Big Finish audio Kingdom of Lies!

Apart from this amusing anecdote, and the various examples of our heroes being accused, counter-accused, locked up and abducted, there really is very little to say about this episode. There's a nice amount of action when the Doctor tries to escape the Draconian Embassy, and when the Draconians kidnap the Doctor, but it all amounts to naught in the end. The concrete jungle that is the Hayward Gallery on London's South Bank makes for an interesting location, but it's terribly dull watching the Doctor and Jo led from A to B, on their way to their next jail cell.

Hulke's writing for the Draconian prince and his secretary is deliciously layered, as they plot to kidnap the Doctor without ever actually admitting that's what they're doing. There's some great acting going on under the rubber masks from Peter Birrel and Lawrence Davidson (the latter cruelly uncredited).

The Ogron assault on the prison block is impressively staged, especially when the hulking primates come smashing through a door and cut all resistance down with their ray guns. The Ogrons have come to kidnap the Doctor and Jo, which means they'll no doubt be taken out of one jail cell and taken to another. This is getting tiresome now...

First broadcast: March 3rd, 1973

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The scene where Jo tries to come up with an escape plan, and the Doctor wearisomely tries to calm her down, is lovely.
The Bad: The Doctor and Jo are incarcerated four times in one episode. Unforgivably tardy story-telling. This episode serves barely any purpose.
Overall score for episode: ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

"Now listen to me" tally: 25 - three in one episode! The Doctor tells Gardiner: "If you'd only listen to me", then when addressing the President: "Madam, I beg of you to listen to me", and "Please listen to me" as he's escorted out (to a jail cell, naturally).
Neck-rub tally: 13

NEXT TIME: Episode Three...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode One; Episode Three; Episode Four; Episode Five; Episode Six

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.com/2014/05/frontier-in-space.html

Frontier in Space is available on BBC DVD as part of the Dalek War box set. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Frontier-Planet-Daleks/dp/B002KSA3T8