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 oddness continues when Vicki goes to fetch the Doctor a glass of water from the food machine (yay!) but seems to be distracted by something unexplained and drops the glass (exactly what does make her drop the glass?). But when it suddenly reforms in her hand, complete with water, we know something weird is going on. What I like about Vicki trying to explain what happened to the Doctor is that he humours her, and almost seems to believe her. If this was Susan trying to tell him that a glass reformed in her hand, he'd be far less patient and tolerant and probably offer a jolly good smacked bottom. Another example of the Doctor's softened character, and the delightful relationship between he and Vicki.

Outside, the Doctor claims they have landed on a "dead planet", and coupled with the same soundscape used for Skaro in Season 1, it might suggest we're about to encounter the Daleks again! Ian notices that they're not leaving any footprints in the dust, and when two natives walk past them, they seem to be oblivious to their presence. All very strange, and all very intriguing. I must mention at this point a pet hate of mine - the Sudden Sneeze. I think it's the first instance of this in Doctor Who, when the travellers hide from the approaching natives but Vicki develops a suddenly itchy nose and has to stifle a sneeze so they're not rumbled. You see this lazy device used again and again in TV drama from this time (and much later - even the Doctor's a culprit in Remembrance of the Daleks!) and it really annoys me. Luckily this time, Vicki's ferocious nasal explosion doesn't raise an eyebrow with the locals.

As the Doctor and friends explore the space museum, they are needlessly afraid of being seen by the natives, but why? There has been nothing to suggest the locals are dangerous or hostile, or that they would be in any kind of trouble if they met them. OK, they haven't paid for tickets to get into the museum, but other than that, writer Glyn Jones sets the situation up as dangerous with absolutely no good reason. I mean, these people look harmless enough, even if they are rather rude by ignoring the strangers!

A space museum is a nice idea too, it adds size and scale to the universe. Of course there would be space museums (the Delirium Archive), and galleries (the Braxiatel Collection) and shopping centres (Iceworld) and toll ports (G715) and libraries too! It's a sign that the Doctor (as we see him here, halfway through his first incarnation) is relatively inexperienced in travelling the universe, as this is his first space museum, and he says that he always thought he'd find one eventually, as if they were almost mythical things! Of course, a space museum should be awesome and amazing, vast and beautiful, and although Ian intimates the museum is miles long, it looks about as inspiring as a potato. Spencer Chapman's soulless set design makes the museum look like a hospital waiting room, drab, colourless, textureless and depressing. I know museums have a reputation for being dull but this takes it to the max!

It's a nice touch to see a Dalek as an exhibit (so I wasn't wrong about meeting them!), and it poses the question as to how it got there which is never answered, but I do like Vicki's bemused reaction to it. She's never met them and thinks this Dalek looks quite friendly. It's a nice touch, and a bit meta, because the Doctor, Ian and Barbara (as well as the viewer) know how wrong Vicki's summation is! Ian's comment that they are very unlikely to meet the Daleks again is also cheekily meta, seeing as we'll be encountering the metal meanies for a third time in a few weeks!

Vicki discovers that one of the exhibits is literally untouchable, her hand passing through it when she tries to reach for it. It's a simple but effective visual effect, surprisingly so when you realise it's directed by Mr Safe Pair of Hands himself, Mervyn Pinfield, but the Doctor's lack of comprehension seems naive. I mean, if I were in a futuristic space museum and found that I couldn't touch the exhibits, I'd automatically assume it was some sort of security measure, or that the exhibits were mere projections in lieu of real examples (surely that would be the future of museum exhibition - 3D and virtual exhibits in place of the real McCoy?). However, when the team encounters an intangible TARDIS exhibit, things really do start to get weird, and the Doctor begins to figure out what's happened - they've jumped a time track, and they're not really there at all!

Eat your heart out, Steven Moffat - Glyn Jones was doing timey-wimey four decades before you came up with your time windows and quantum-locked statues! Think about it: it's bloody clever, and although hard science-fiction ideas such as this had been written about in books for decades, and were often explored in TV anthology series such as The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, this is Doctor Who in 1965 we're talking about. Doctor Who didn't go in for stories dedicated to the fourth dimension, despite it being a time travel show, so this is actually really fresh and boggling! It's challenging and clever and makes Doctor Who relevant and contemporary (which makes it even more of a shame that it's directed and designed so sombrely).

And when they see themselves staring blankly, like stuffed exhibits, from the glass cases against the wall, it becomes obvious that they are seeing their own futures, and they must work hard to make sure that future does not come about (tampering with established events, hey Doctor?). It's great that Vicki is the one to lead the explanation too (oddly, the Doctor says it's "inexplicable" just after having explained it!). I love the Doctor's timey-wimey line: "All we have to do is wait here until we arrive", and Barbara speaks for the viewer when she replies: "I beg your pardon?"

The climax to the episode, with a montage of the travellers' movements so far mixing in with new, contemporaneous events happening for the first time (the natives discovering the TARDIS outside, the footprints appearing in the dust), is done well, and the music accompanying it sounds ominous (it's World of Plants by Jack Trombey aka Jan Stoeckart, who also composed the themes to the detective series Van der Valk and Callan and the sitcom Never the Twain).

The episode ends with a seemingly innocuous statement from the Doctor - "We've arrived!" - but which in this case has much more meaning and implication. As we're treated to a classic Hartnell close-up, the caption tells us Next Episode: The Dimensions of Time, and the credits roll. Wonderful!

First broadcast: April 24th, 1965

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The whole concept behind it is so refreshingly advanced for Doctor Who at this time. Glyn Jones was offering something new here, decades before Doctor Who embraced the storytelling possibilities that time travel offers.
The Bad: Spencer Chapman's drab sets. Dull, dull, dull... the dreariest museum in the galaxy!
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★★☆

NEXT TIME: The Dimensions of Time...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: The Dimensions of Time (episode 2); The Search (episode 3); The Final Phase (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/2013/08/the-space-museum.html

The Space Museum is available on DVD in a box set with The Chase. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Space-Museum-Chase/dp/B0033PRJWQ