The Tenth Planet Episode 4

The one where William Hartnell leaves and Patrick Troughton joins...

And so here we are, at the very end of the First Doctor's era, where William Hartnell leaves the programme he helped make a national phenomenon three years earlier. Frustratingly, The Tenth Planet episode 4 is also missing from the archives, and actually begins the longest run of consecutive missing episodes - 12 episodes between October 29th, 1966 and January 14th, 1967. Luckily, we have the audio of the episode, and although it was reconstructed using animation for the 2013 DVD release, I've chosen to stick to what we have from the episode as transmitted - the fan-recorded off-air audio and John Cura's telesnaps - and reviewed the VHS reconstruction from 2000.

William Hartnell makes an early return to the action, having gotten over his bronchitis, which is just as well given that this was scheduled to be his last ever episode (goodness knows what Plan B was if he was still too ill to record!). The Doctor tells Polly that he's not sure what happened to him, but that it "comes from an outside influence. This old body of mine is wearing a bit thin." An early indicator to the audience that not all is what it seems, and that we may not have seen the last of this strange influence upon our hero just yet.

Hartnell makes a characteristically fiery return to the role for a brief period, before the Doctor is bundled off to the Cyber-ship for a good portion of the episode's run (along with Polly). I'm pleased he got the chance to shine again before his final goodbye, getting the chance to show what a formidable and impressive actor he always was. This is no more obvious than the scene where the Doctor accuses the Cybermen of secretly wanting to wipe out Mondas's twin planet: "What is your second objective?" he asks. "It's quite obvious, isn't it? The destruction of the Earth!" But the way Hartnell bellows that last line gives me goosebumps. It drips with ominous dread, but also defiance and anger - hallmarks of this first Doctor's personality for the last three years. In his last moments, his final scenes, William Hartnell, as Doctor Who, is giving it his all, his last best shot. Defender of the Earth to the end.

I'm pleased to see the elimination of the now totally unhinged General Cutler, who seems to finally flip when the Z-Bomb rocket fails to launch. When it seems his son has been killed out in space, he turns on the strangers maniacally, and at last - just moments from his demise - Robert Beatty gets to do something more memorable than shouting as he accusingly repeats: "You... you... you... you killed my son!" The way he delivers that line is just as goosebumpy (and especially on audio only) as Hartnell's earlier line. It sounds like a man's sanity finally slipping away, a cranking up of the madness. And then he's gunned down by invading Cybermen, for which the Doctor thanks them. "We owe you our lives," he tells Krang. "That man was going to have us shot." I note with interest that there's a similar event in Silver Nemesis 22 years later, with Ace expressing gratitude to the Cybermen for saving her from a neo-Nazi bullet. "Don't thank them yet!" grimaces the Doctor.

I also love the scene where the Cyberman infiltrates International Space Command, creeping up on Wigner, who demands: "Who are you?", to which Gern chimes: "I am now controller of the Earth!" That's it, the Cybermen have clinched control of Earth by breaking into an office. Who knew that we were so vulnerable to alien invasion?

Ben is the hero of the hour once more (as he was in The War Machines) as he leads the rebellion against the Snowcap Cybermen by establishing that they are susceptible to radiation (I also love the way he says "Mandos" instead of Mondas!). The Cybermen are also susceptible to their own ray guns, so all in all, they're not the most formidable of invaders are they? Future Cybermen will show weaknesses for everything from solvents to gold coins. These guys need to man up.

The Cybermen are ultimately defeated, not by the Doctor's ingenuity (although he did seem to predict their fate), not by human ingenuity or might, but by the destruction of their homeworld, Mondas. As their planet absorbed too much energy from Earth (and I'm not at all clear how that was being achieved), it disintegrated, melting away it seems, and as a consequence, the Cyber-ships lose power and the Cybermen disintegrate too. The telesnap showing the melted, mangled Cyber-corpse is pretty gruesome, but I find it virtually impossible to believe that hundreds of Cyber-ships, and presumably hundreds of Cybermen, were powered solely by some form of remotely transmitted power source from the homeworld. It doesn't make sense. I suppose it's an interesting scientific theory, coming as it did from the imagination of Dr Kit Pedler, but I just don't buy it.

However, it conveniently brings the Cyber-threat to an end, so we can turn our attention back to the ailing Doctor, who is reunited with Polly and Ben in the powerless Cyber-ship. Hartnell's performance in these final scenes is spine-tinglingly eerie. This might be something to do with the fact we can only witness the scenes on juddery, grainy cine film (thanks to a fan in Australia who pointed his camera at the TV for its broadcast Down Under in 1967 or 1968), but there's a definite foreboding quality to them. Hartnell delivers his lines with doomy disquietude: "It's all over, that's what you said. No, but it isn't all over. It's far from being all over!" And then he lurches towards the camera, his exhausted face looming right into close-up, as if the Doctor is falling into our living rooms.

Back in the TARDIS, his Ship seems to be alive, bristling with energy and activity as something begins to happen to its owner. Again, all we have is the grainy cine film, but I love this cine film, it makes me feel I don't want them to ever find the episode proper, because surely it could never look as moody, scary or eerie as this. Switches on the console operate themselves, lights flash and flicker, director Derek Martinus shoots the bewitched William Hartnell - all staring eyes and swaying posture - in extreme close-up and in shadow. Brian Hodgson's sound design for the TARDIS is electrifying. He makes it sound both organic and electronic.

As Polly and Ben rush in, they find the Doctor collapsed on the floor, and as Polly pulls aside his scarf, we see William Hartnell's face flare into bright white, then fade back... to another man's face! It's a simple special effect by today's standards (complex at the time, mind you), but it retains its magic. The Doctor's appearance alters totally in a flare of bright light, and he - and the programme - will never be the same again.

The Tenth Planet is a relatively weak story. It's plodding and dull, and is nothing like a fitting end for William Hartnell. It introduces Doctor Who's second greatest monsters, the Cybermen, but in a way that wouldn't endure (but would eventually be revisited!), and it also introduces the concept of the show changing its leading man (or woman!), which at the time was simply unheard of. Bonkers!

I'm really, really going to miss William Hartnell, and his Doctor. There are too many fans who dismiss his portrayal for being too grumpy, too crotchety, too unpleasant. Too many fans criticise Hartnell for fluffing his lines, for missing his cues, for not being young and agile and sexy. But those fans are simply stupid. They haven't done their homework, they haven't watched (or listened) to enough of this era to fully understand or appreciate it. Because William Hartnell did it first. He loved Doctor Who, and he loved being Doctor Who (a role he likened to being a cross between Father Christmas and the Wizard of Oz). His belief and passion in the programme and role are apparent in every single story, episode, scene and line. He was ever-professional, always giving 100%. He never got disinterested, like Troughton and Tom Baker sometimes did; he never performed on autopilot, like Pertwee and Tom Baker sometimes did; he never got his performance wrong, like Colin Baker and McCoy sometimes did.

William Hartnell was the best ambassador Doctor Who has ever had. I imagine he'd be tickled pink to know what was to come - robot dogs, multi-coloured frock coats, question-mark umbrellas, leather jackets, talking paving slabs and a female Doctor. William Hartnell is, was, and always will be Doctor Who. My journey through every episode has renewed by respect for the First Doctor and the man who played him with such passion and skill. I always liked this Doctor, but now I'm going to miss him so very much.

The new one had better be good...

First broadcast: October 29th, 1966

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The final scenes, leading up to and including the regeneration, are spellbinding, full of magic and wonder. Thank god somebody thought to point a camera at the screen all those years ago.
The Bad: The Cybermen are destroyed far too easily, reducing the threat they pose considerably.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ (story average: 6 out of 10)

NEXT TIME: The Power of the Daleks...

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-tenth-planet.html

The Tenth Planet is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Tenth-Planet-DVD/dp/B00EF1I85Y