The Three Doctors Episode Four

The one where the Doctor's recorder saves the universe...

When the Doctor is released from his battle with the dark side of Omega's mind, Jon Pertwee has to pretend to be in a head-lock with the invisible man, but this made me wonder whether the Doctor had been tumbling around the singularity room all this time, fighting an unseen troll? I hope not, because that would've been silly.

Omega finally reveals what it is he wants the Doctor to do: replace him. In a twist reminiscent of The Mind Robber, Omega wants the Doctor to perpetuate the anti-matter universe so that he can leave, because as things stand, Omega cannot leave without relinquishing control, and he cannot do that unless he leaves. It's a paradox. So he needs someone else to take control.

The Three Doctors Episode Three

The one where the Doctors meet one of their heroes (and you know what they say about meeting your heroes)...

I realised while watched the reprise that when UNIT HQ is zapped off into the black hole, it leaves behind a beautifully grassed verge where it once stood, rather than torn foundations, leaking water pipes and sparking electricity junction boxes. It's also rather silly that there's absolutely nobody else in the entire building when it's transported, not even a squaddie on the loo, a cleaner, or a secretary. The only people transported to the anti-matter universe are those who matter. PLUS... when UNIT HQ arrives in the anti-matter universe, we never see it there. It would have been a fantastic shot of an entire building sitting in the middle of a quarry, even if it was done by using a cut-out of the building (as with the black hole effect).

When the Brigadier opens the door to see the CSO beach outside ("I'm fairly sure that's Cromer"), it looks nothing like the reality of a chalk quarry in Rickmansworth. It actually looks quite pleasant outside, which makes me wonder why, if he's all-powerful in this domain, Omega doesn't imagine himself a much more pleasant environment to exist in.

The Three Doctors Episode Two

The one where UNIT HQ is transported through a black hole...

Isn't it interesting how Sergeant Benton has really taken a front seat in this story, as well as in The Time Monster? In the absence of the Second Doctor's actual companions, Benton becomes a replacement sidekick, and the two work very well together, with Benton acting as a sort of ersatz Jamie. I've no idea where Captain Yates is in all this. Richard Franklin appeared in only seven episodes in Season 9, and only appears in three in Season 10 (not The Three Doctors). I think John Levene is more than up to the job, however, and certainly has a more amiable presence than the sometimes smug Franklin.

And with Jon Pertwee's absence, Patrick Troughton really comes into his own, and is able to be the Second Doctor properly rather than a comedy foil for the Third Doctor. Troughton balances his performance beautifully here, being both funny and serious in accurate measure (the bit where he and Benton scarper back into the TARDIS when the organism fizzes is classic!).

The Three Doctors Episode One

The one where the first three Doctors team up...

Doctor Who celebrated its tenth anniversary a whole 11 months before the actual anniversary, because the tenth season started in December 1972. Would it have been wiser to celebrate the anniversary at the start of Season 11, which started in December 1973? Or would that have been too late?

The idea of having more than one Doctor at a time starts here. There'd only been subtle hints and reminders of "earlier Doctors" before now (a glimpse of Hartnell in The Power of the Daleks, and the first two Doctors seen during the Dalek mind scan in Day of the Daleks), but this story was the first to acknowledge properly that there had been earlier Doctors - other actors - and to joyfully bring them back! Now that's pretty damn exciting, isn't it?

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.

The Tenth Planet Episode 3

The one where General Cutler risks the future of Earth to save his son...

Can I just say, before we start, seeing as he's the first person we see in episode 3, a big "Woof!" to the actor playing the radar technician, Christopher Matthews. That's all.

Right, where are we? Ah yes, there's hundreds of Cyber-ships on their way from Mondas to Earth, so what better time for the Doctor to suddenly, without warning or due cause, faint. In the real world, of course, William Hartnell was not a well man, and although his performances in preceding stories such as The Smugglers and The War Machines were as good as ever, they had been recorded during the summer of 1966, when Hartnell was obviously feeling better. By the time recording for Season 4 resumed for The Tenth Planet in mid-September, Hartnell was noticeably frailer and his performance was suffering. Something had to be done, so the Doctor's role was greatly reduced for this story, and on August 6th, 1966, it was announced to the media that Hartnell would be leaving Doctor Who.

The Tenth Planet Episode 2

The one where the Cybermen storm Snowcap Base...

As with The War Machines, we get some vital information about the situation transmitted to the world via a newscast (this time on International Television News), adopting Russell T Davies' method of filtering extraordinary events through everyday means almost 40 years beforehand. It's a pity we don't get to see 1966 Doctor Who's vision of the earlier serial's London boozer as it might appear in the "futuristic" year 1986! Actually, it'd probably be a wine bar rather than a pub.

The Cybermen inexplicably don their victims' anoraks in order to infiltrate the control room, before revealing themselves in extravagant fashion by whipping off their ill-fitting hoods and displaying their utterly strange visage for all to gasp at (or scream at if you're Polly). These Cybermen, as we learn they're called ("Yes, Cy-ber-men"), really are very strange to look at. They appear to have been designed in a piecemeal fashion, reflecting the spare part surgery which took place to bring these monstrosities about. Sandra Reid's costume design might have been executed rather haphazardly (the Selloptaped headgear is embarrassing), but the aesthetic is terrifying and ageless. Fifty-one years later the new series would bring back and update the design, to fabulous effect.

The Tenth Planet Episode 1

The one where Earth's long-lost twin planet reappears in the Solar System...

The Tenth Planet starts with the same modern dynamism that The War Machines did (and The Smugglers didn't), complete with animated opening captions, shots of bleeping computers, and some stock footage of a rocket launching (it's actually an Australian missile test, but we'll let that slide).

We're introduced to a bunch of earnest looking men at the South Pole base of International Space Command (Snowcap Base) who are in communication with the two astronauts aboard the Zeus 4 rocket, Schultz and Williams. It's great that Williams is played by a black actor (and that his skin colour is not relevant or referred to). It's pretty progressive casting on behalf of director Derek Martinus, because although we soon discover this story is set 20 years in the future (ie, 1986), in the real world, there wasn't an African-American astronaut until 1983's third Challenger mission (interestingly, that was Guion Bluford, which is a twisted irony as the Caucasian astronaut here has the nickname "Bluey"!).

The Smugglers Episode 4

The one where we find out who Ringwood, Smallbeer and Gurney were...

I'd only ever really known George A Cooper as the interfering caretaker Mr Griffiths in BBC school drama Grange Hill before I found him in Doctor Who, so it's quite a surprise to find that he gives very good, convincing villain. He makes Cherub a thoroughly unpleasant character, and although he does sometimes stray a little too far over the top in his performance, he's certainly one of the best baddies of the Hartnell era. If he'd introduced a little more balance to his performance, toning it down at times to make him more quietly threatening, it would have been spot on.

If Cherub is a shouty, snarling bully, then Captain Pike is merely all these things in a frilly shirt. Michael Godfrey pleasingly does manage to bring light and shade to Pike, coming over as broodingly nasty one moment, and outrageously demented the other. It seems as soon as Pike uncovers Avery's hidden gold, he turns into a swivel-eyed monster, possessed by greed and obsessed with betrayal in the ranks. He seems hellbent on murdering the Doctor (aka Sawbones), and the energy Godfrey puts in to his final scenes is unsettling to hear!

The Smugglers Episode 3

The one where the Doctor, Ben and Polly explore a graveyard...

Episode 3 of The Smugglers is somewhat inconsequential, so I'll start off by addressing the whole dating issue that surrounds this story. It's stated a number of times that this is the 17th century (ie, somewhere between 1600-1700), but in order for the references to Henry Avery and his treasure to work, this has to be set in the 18th century. Avery went missing in 1696, and it is thought he died sometime in the next two or three years (it's not actually known where and when he died), so The Smugglers surely has to be set after that.

Henry Avery actually appears in The Curse of the Black Spot 45 years later, which is apparently set in 1699. He's still alive and well here, although he does "go missing" from history when he and his crew disappear into the stars aboard the Siren's spaceship. That's all bunkum though, and really does not help the dating dilemma in The Smugglers at all!

The Smugglers Episode 2

The one where Polly pretends to be possessed by the Doctor...

The Smugglers is a terribly violent story, which I suppose is inevitable given that we're dealing with criminals and cut-throats. But there are things which happen in this story which could never, ever happen in Doctor Who today, most notably the copious use of blades. At one point, the ironically-named Cherub mentions cutting off the Doctor's ears, and also refers to "what them Mexican Indians can do to a bloke's eyelids". Pretty gruesome stuff, and bearing in mind that we've already seen Cherub murder poor old Joseph Longfoot with a knife between the shoulder blades (cut out by Australian censors so that we can watch the brief sequence today!).

Incidentally, I was intrigued enough to look up what Cherub's talking about in relation to Mexican Indians and eyelids. Yeurgh! It seems the Comanche people used to cut off people's eyelids so that their eyes seared in the sun. There are countless other tortures attributed historically to the Comanche, involving pretty much any body part you wish to name, so Cherub has obviously done his homework (and maybe even some work experience!). "Let me give him a taste of Thomas Tickler!" Cherub threatens the Doctor at one point. I dread to think what that would have entailed...

The Smugglers Episode 1

The one where Ben gets his kit off...

Doctor Who had been off-air for a couple of months, and when Season 4 kicked off with The Smugglers, the production team was kind enough to put a quick recap at the start of episode 1 to remind viewers that new companions Ben and Polly had (forcibly) boarded the TARDIS.

Ben and Polly don't seem too put out by the fact there appears to be an entire futuristic control room inside a police box. Ben wonders where "all this came from", but that's pretty much it. The Doctor explains (very quickly and freely, it has to be said) that his TARDIS is a time and space ship, and although Ben in particular does not believe the Doctor, the architectural and scientific impossibility of the dimensionally transcendental police box just gets glossed over.

The War Machines Episode 4

The one where the Eleventh Doctor makes an unexpected cameo...

Sometimes it's the little things that delight me most about Doctor Who. I think a lot of fans get enjoyment out of the silly little incidentals of their favourite show, those little moments that make them chuckle or get the hairs standing up on the back of the neck. Those private little moments that may mean nothing to everybody else, but which you always notice and treasure - your bits of Doctor Who!

I do enjoy the semi-regular feature in Doctor Who Magazine called Supporting Artist of the Month, which highlights some of the oft-missed performances by those uncredited people who mill about in the background, filling scenes and adding atmosphere. There's one particular supporting artist in this episode (who I think may well crop up in two different places) who I believe is a foreshadowing of a future Doctor! He's in the background of the studio scenes outside the Burrows warehouse, fiddling with equipment in a white coat (see picture on right). He looks the spitting image of Matt Smith! He possibly pops up again briefly in the scene where the US correspondent is reporting the news: he's busy on a phone, so it's hard to tell, but it looks like the same guy (and to be honest, I don't blame the other extra who crosses the screen, gently tapping him on the waist as he passes - is there more to these two supporting characters' relationship than we can ever know?).

The War Machines Episode 3

The one where the Army mounts an assault on a Covent Garden warehouse...

The design of the War Machines is both unwieldy and impressive at the same time. Raymond London's tank-like inventions are certainly formidable physically and defensively: as well as club arms that smash (mainly tables or empty crates), they have flammable gas-spraying guns, a miraculous radio signal that can jam rifles and machine guns, and a blinding headlight. These machines look and act like the all-conquering behemoths that they are, and they're certainly more convincing than their 1980s cousins, the Cleaners from Paradise Towers.

On the minus side, they're somewhat too clunky and bulky to convince me that they can take over the world. They certainly don't have stealth on their side (the incessant chirruping computer noises put pay to that), and I can't imagine how they'd actually get through a normal door, or down a narrow alley, or along a third-floor corridor, or even over an uneven patch of land. They have a range of about 30ft (or is it yards?) with their weaponry, but that's not good enough to catch every human being on the planet. WOTAN has an ambitious plan, but it needs a bit of work if it wants to conquer every major city in the world.

The War Machines Episode 2

The one where Dodo gets sent away to the country...

"Doc-tor Whoooo isssss re-quir-ed! Bring him heeeeere!" hisses the newly-discovered voice of WOTAN, thus opening a can of worms which has reverberated down through the decades and still has an impact today. WOTAN refers to the Doctor as Doctor Who, as does Professor Brett ("Top priority is to enlist Doctor Who"). Why he calls him Doctor Who is a mystery, unless it's his actual name (after all, WOTAN even knows what TARDIS stands for, so maybe it also knows what the Doctor's real name is?). Some of this is addressed with tongue firmly in cheek in World Enough and Time 51 years later of course.

A quick mention also for Gerald Taylor's thoroughly spooky voice for WOTAN (the end titles would have us believe that WOTAN is actually real and plays itself!), which is eerie, rasping and ghostly, not at all what you'd expect a computer to sound like. But it's all the better for that, swapping predictable electronic Dalek-style monotone for a more menacing vocalisation.

The War Machines Episode 1

The one where the Doctor visits the hottest nightclub in town...

Right from the outset, The War Machines is different, new and fresh. After the usual 20-second opening titles, we get an animated introduction of the story title, episode number and writer, with a drum roll to accompany it. This is highly unusual, but is another example of how the people behind Doctor Who were making changes to what was by then a tired format.

We're then treated to a glorious, sweeping view of the London skyline, and then a zoom into a leafy park where the TARDIS materialises. This is seriously progressive camerawork from director Michael Ferguson, a young talent who was only 28 years old at the time. His ambition and drive shines from the very first seconds of this episode. It feels very New Series.

The Savages Episode 4

The one where Steven becomes the new leader of an alien civilisation...

You don't get strong female characters very often in classic Doctor Who. You often get a tokenistic number of female characters, and more so in the Hartnell era than most of his successors' when you break down the statistics - no Troughton, Pertwee or Colin Baker story ever has more than 30% of the credited cast as women, for instance. So it's important to note the stronger female characters when they come along, and none more so than The Savages' Nanina.

Nanina is a character who seems to have been created in reverse. Usually in Doctor Who, the writer introduces a strong female character but then allows them to weaken or fade into the background over the course of the episodes, but Ian Stuart Black does the opposite. Nanina starts off as a stereotypical "maiden in distress", being chased through the scrubland by the guards, and then subjected to the transference procedure in the opening episodes, all with as few lines to say as possible.

The Savages Episode 3

The one where the Doctor is reduced to a comatose zombie...

I've forgotten to mention how cool I think the light guns are in this story. I'm not altogether sure just how they work, but it's clear that the light ray the guns emit is some form of tractor beam (a phrase first coined by SF novelist E E Smith in the 1930 novel Spacehounds of IPC), but the beam also has the effect of rendering the target immobile. And if the beam gets in the target's eyes, they are left unconscious for some time, as if mesmerised. The light guns are ingenious little inventions by Ian Stuart Black, and the sound effect accompanying them is good too.

It's actually the light guns which provide the catalyst for the narrative in this episode. In many ways it's a typical episode 3 in that there's a good bit of padding, notably with Exorse pursuing Steven, Dodo and Chal through the darkened tunnels, but at least it's directed atmospherically. But it's when Steven establishes how to turn the tables on Exorse and his weapon that things start to speed up again.

The Savages Episode 2

The one where the Doctor stands up against the Elders' experiments...

I've got to get straight back on to a subject that's preoccupied me ever since The Chase: that of how damn bloody annoying Steven Taylor is. Before I embarked on this epic episodic expedition through the history of Doctor Who, I didn't really have a strong opinion of Steven either way. I had a view of him as being a forthright young man, but that's about it. So few of his stories actually exist in full that it can be hard to get a hold on the true character.

But watching and listening to everything through has given me a much clearer idea as to what Steven is like, and I really don't like him! I've mentioned before how self-centred he can be, how he likes to be the one in the right and rarely accepts other people's opinions on face value. But it's the way he treats his fellow female companions which annoys me the most, and Dodo most of all.

The Savages Episode 1

The one where the Doctor is honoured as "the greatest specialist in time-space exploration"...

As soon as the Doctor insists that the TARDIS has landed in "an age of peace and prosperity", alarm bells surely chime! While he wanders off to take some readings with his questionably-named Reacting Vibrator, Steven and Dodo wait for him outside the TARDIS. These initial scenes were filmed on location at Callow Hill sandpit in Surrey and give the episode a bracingly open and atmospheric feel. Quarries and sandpits would become the laughable norm for Doctor Who in years to come, but here in The Savages, it feels spookily appropriate.

Judging by John Cura's telesnaps (hooray, they're back!) and the filming report in Richard Bignell's fantastic 2001 book Doctor Who On Location, it seems that William Hartnell himself didn't make it to Surrey, but we do get lots of lovely footage of Peter Purves (now dressed in what I like to call "puppeteer black") and Jackie Lane (dressed in what appears to be a dinner lady's tabard) with the police box prop.