The Moonbase Episode 2

The one where the Cybermen poison the sugar...

After all my deliberating about whether contemporary audiences would recognise that the silver giant was a Cyberman (because they look so different), Polly makes a huge leap herself by stating that what she glimpses so very fleetingly is indeed a Cyberman. The fact that she knows Cybermen to be tall, cloth-faced, flesh-handed men with polythene-like suits - and the creature she sees briefly is quite, quite different - matters not to Polly, or indeed writer Kit Pedler. It doesn't ring true for me that Polly would know it to be a Cyberman, or that the Doctor would believe her so absolutely without a scrap of evidence. By the end of the episode, the Doctor reaffirms his belief that the culprits are Cybermen, but he still hasn't any more evidence than he did at the start. He must trust Polly so implicitly!

Good old Polly gets the most to do in this episode, but that's really not saying much. So far, Kit Pedler hasn't proven himself to be very good at writing solid subplots for the entire main cast. He virtually ignored Polly in The Tenth Planet, and Ben only got as many lines as he did because William Hartnell fell ill. In The Moonbase, Polly at least becomes the Doctor's lab assistant, but Ben is reduced to random exclamations that anybody could say, while Jamie remains semi-conscious in the sick bay spouting on about the phantom piper. I realise that Jamie's role in this story was small due to the fact he wasn't in the original drafts, but his absence from proceedings seems so obvious, and only highlights the fact the production team at the time just didn't know what to do with all of the characters they suddenly found themselves with. In Pedler's case, he just didn't bother!

The Moonbase Episode 1

The one where the Doctor and friends go walking on the moon...

After a reassuringly trad bumpy TARDIS landing, the Doctor and friends discover that they haven't arrived on Mars, as planned, but the Moon, approximately 200 million miles away (as Ben impressively observes). The Doctor elects to take off straight away (he has a habit of wanting to leave straight away in this body), but the typically excitable Polly wants to stay and explore the Moon. And why not?

I like how Jamie finds it difficult to swallow the fact that they're on the Moon, which he only knows as a huge orb in the night sky, not a place you can actually go (of course, when The Moonbase was transmitted in February 1967, nobody had actually been to the Moon!). Jamie wonders if they'll get to meet the Old Man in the Moon, which is a nice touch for a character who really wouldn't find it easy to grasp what's going on. The fact he accepted the existence of Atlantis rather more readily is glossed over!

The Underwater Menace Episode 4

The one where the Doctor floods Atlantis and potentially drowns a load of innocent people...

This new Doctor's idea of a plan has so far left a lot to be desired. In The Power of the Daleks his plan led to the partial destruction of the Vulcan colony. In The Highlanders, he armed a bunch of angry Scotsmen and potentially caused the death of a number of highlanders and Redcoats. And now his crazy plan is to flood Atlantis to prevent Zaroff destroying the world.

"Can we all swim?" he flippantly asks. Most Atlanteans probably can, but a good few probably can't, such as children, the elderly, those who are ill, as well as the animals. It's as bonkers as the Fourth Doctor opening the TARDIS doors to flush the Master out in Logopolis, but here, there's a much higher potential loss of life. Sean admits himself that he's not a great swimmer, and there's also reference to some citizens who may have perished, including Lolem (poor Lolem).

The Underwater Menace Episode 3

The one where we're subjected to a laborious underwater ballet...

When it was only this episode which survived of the four, it's easy to understand why The Underwater Menace had such a poor reputation. Where episodes 1 and 2 build the story nicely, albeit with lashings of B-movie trappings, this third episode really pulls out all the stops in an effort to be as strange, bizarre, alienating and laughable as possible. It's not really an accurate representation of the story so far in tone and style.

Although his performance as Professor Zaroff never started off anywhere near subtle, here Joseph Furst cranks his crackpot up to 11 on the Bonkers Scale, giving the madman a swivel-eyed, Bond villain vibe which really does not match everybody else's performances. While all about him are treating the text as seriously as they can (or ought), Furst is chewing the scenery as if it's his last meal. His diction leaves a lot to be desired too, which is more unfortunate when you realise it's Furst's real accent, not put on...

The Underwater Menace Episode 2

The one where the Doctor realises Zaroff is a complete fruit loop...

Oh joy! The Underwater Menace episode 2 is the earliest surviving episode of Patrick Troughton's era, and so finally I can watch as well as listen! And what an absolute revelation Troughton is now that he can actually be seen! He had the most amazing face, so expressive and lived-in, and capable of interpreting entire scripts without a word. And the depth in his performance is astounding, and a lasting lesson in the art of the thespian for generations to come.

Troughton is a physical performer, but I don't necessarily mean in the action-packed, corridor-running way. I mean he's always doing something, and that something could be fiddling with a prop, or a revealing facial expression. You can see everything the Doctor is thinking behind Troughton's eyes, he's truly living the character. Troughton's not playing the Doctor; he is the Doctor.

The Underwater Menace Episode 1

The one where the TARDIS lands in Atlantis...

As this adventure opens, Jamie is introduced to the wonders and marvels of the TARDIS and its impossible interior, although the Scotsman seems to get over it all and accept things quite quickly. I suppose he had to, seeing as he was written into this serial rather hastily at a very late stage. This TARDIS scene is very grounding, as the new four-strong team seem to be very happy in one another's company, and keen to get on with things.

One particular joy about this scene is Patrick Troughton's Doctor, who so far has been something of a moveable feast. Cold and scheming in The Power of the Daleks, but a complete buffoon in The Highlanders, here he's much more the Second Doctor we recognise, and his child-like excitement is deliciously reassuring. The viewers share the excitement and mystery of the TARDIS landing in a brand new place, so it's lovely to have that expressed on screen, endearing this new Doctor to us. Not knowing where or when they've landed is fun, he says, and when we overhear the Doctor, Ben and Polly's thoughts about where they might have landed, the Doctor's hope for "prehistoric monsters" is delightfully innocent and wide-eyed. It puts me in mind of the Eleventh Doctor and how excited he'd probably be in the same situation.

The Highlanders Episode 4

The one where the TARDIS gains a fourth crewmember...

Luckily, action man Ben has slipped free of his bonds and swam away from the Annabelle and back to shore, affording viewers (well, in 1967) the splendid sight of a dripping wet Michael Craze. The surviving telesnap makes him look like he's shivering with ecstasy, which is fine by me. Ben later reveals that he escaped his bonds by using an old Houdini trick, by flexing his muscles when he was tied up, and relaxing them afterwards... "that way, you were half the size you were". Blimey, how muscly is Ben under there?

Once at the quayside, Ben encounters a wounded Redcoat with a silly moustache and a gruff Cockney accent, but it's alright because it's only the Doctor in disguise. Again. There's no sense to him being dressed this way at all, and certainly no need. He claims it's to prevent the other soldiers bothering him, but where exactly did he get the clothes from (presumably he's stolen them from a wounded, or even dead, Redcoat)? Why is he out at night wandering the quayside? Is it just so that he can plunder the dressing-up box again, like a child? Oh dear, I'll be glad when this Doctor settles down and forgets the tiresome disguises.