Gavin Winters
(Just kidding!)
Power Of The Daleks: âŠand hello Pat! Instantly likeable as the Doctor. Of course some contemporary viewers werenât happy with the change⊠đ
Itâs a clever device to have people investigating the Daleks as some ancient and dead curiosity, with only the Doctor (and the viewers) aware of the danger. Immediately puts you on the side of the new Doctor. You can see why they did it again with Tomb Of The Cybermen. #DoctorWho
Is the Dalek capsule meant to be bigger on the inside? Because when we finally see the full extent of it itâs bloody enormous! With a whole Dalek factory inside. How did they drag something that big into Lestersonâs laboratory? #DoctorWho
The rebels in Power Of The Daleks fit the gun-arms back into the disarmed Daleks to use them to overthrow the Governor (and of course the Daleks end up killing them!)
Did they not think to just try figuring out a way to operate the guns themselves? #DoctorWho
The Doctorâs clothes magically changed when he regenerated! Well, letâs hope nothing as silly as that ever happens again⊠#DoctorWho
Though I always assumed the intention with Troughtonâs costume is that itâs a baggy oversized version of Hartnellâs, so people watching on tiny 1960s TVs would think itâs the same clothes and the Doctorâs just shrunk a bit. #DoctorWho
The Highlanders: well itâs the last of the (by now, slightly plodding) historicals. But the best thing is that Jamieâs arrived. đ
Fair play to Frazer for getting on so well with the cast and crew they took an incidental character and turned him into a new companion! #DoctorWho
I donât know if they could have kept up this character trait of the new Doctor being a master of disguise and accents over the long term, but it was fun while it lasted. #DoctorWho
Oh no, donât let the right-wing papers see this, eh Russell? đ #DoctorWho
The Underwater Menace: Hooo boy! đ
Atlantis! Mad cults! Even madder Professors! Humans surgically-altered to become Fish-People! (!!) This is #DoctorWho at its most bonkers and comic-strip. Makes the 1960s Batman series look like I, Claudius.
Previously weâve had âDoc-Tor Whooo isss re-quired!â and âDoctor Von Werâ, now he signs off as âDr. Wâ. They were really leaning into the whole idea of Who as his surname at this point. #DoctorWho
The Moonbase: this feels like the proper debut of the âbase-under-siegeâ story, with The Tenth Planet having been a sort of practice run, before they got it down to a fine art. (Or became repetitive and predictable, if thatâs how you feel about them!) #DoctorWho
Three times in about 30 minutes a Cyberman strolls into the sick bay through the back entrance, sees Polly (who screams), then casually picks up a patient and walks out.
Lock the bloody door, guys! đ€Ș #DoctorWho
At least Polly gets to be proactive and clever by coming up with the idea of the âcocktailâ to dissolve the Cybermenâs plastic parts.
But of course sheâs still given the role of making the coffee, and has to put up with Benâs âNot you Polly, this is menâs work!â đ #DoctorWho
The character of Benoit is visually distinguished as being French by his fancy cravat, in case you couldnât tell by his Fronch ucksent. #DoctorWho
As an aside, Iâd forgotten how good these early animations were. Very rich and detailed compared to the later ones, which seemed to adopt a flatter, more âCaptain Pugwashâ style. #DoctorWho
The Macra Terror: or â #DoctorWho Gets A Dose Of The Crabsâ or The One With No Villain At All, because as we all know: THERE ARE NO SUCH THING AS MACRA! MACRA DO NOT EXIST!
A similar theme to The Savages (by the same author), with an idyllic-seeming colony hiding a dark secret.
The Macra are comically rubbish at concealing whatâs going on, broadcasting an image of a whacking great claw threatening the supposed leader. Doh!
Still, Pollyâs response of screaming about how âTheyâre in control!!â makes a good cliffhanger. #DoctorWho
Thereâs an official called Officia. The poor sod must have suffered from Nominative Determinism ever since his parents lumbered him with that. #DoctorWho
The Cold War paranoia of the Sixties led to all sorts of ideas about brainwashing and mind control, cropping up everywhere in TV and film. So now itâs Benâs turn to have his mind reprogrammed. Pretty easily, as it turns out! #DoctorWho
For a crab, the lead Macra has a very distinguished voice, with good clarity and projection.
If the whole evil plan of parasitically controlling space colonies doesnât work out, then surely a career in the theatre beckons. #DoctorWho
The Faceless Ones: another abrupt companion departure, as Ben and Polly disappear after a couple of episodes. At least they get to come back for a goodbye at the end.
Ah, Samantha Briggs, with her crazy hat and flirting with Jamie. The great lost potential companion. #DoctorWho
The airport commandant getting increasingly frustrated with the Doctorâs antics reminds me of this guy from Airplane! #DoctorWho
Ben and Pollyâs absence means that this is where the Doctor and Jamieâs relationship (with their occasional comic double-act) really starts to develop. Jamie had been a bit lost among the larger cast until now. #DoctorWho
Fairly daft of the Chameleons to leave some of their originals hidden in the car park, where theyâre easily found, instead of taking them with them. A bit of a contrivance to help wrap things up at the end. #DoctorWho
Evil Of The Daleks: some very good Sherlockian deduction by the Doctor at the start, following the flimsiest of clues to find Kennedy.
And of course, this day was a huge temporal nexus in #DoctorWho , with War Machines, Chameleons and Daleks all active at the same time!
Troughton almost channeling McCoy with his manipulation of Jamie as part of the plan, risking their friendship in the process. Good on Jamie for angrily standing up for himself. I wonder if viewers at the time thought he was serious about being done with the Doctor? #DoctorWho
The middle section in Maxtibleâs house (with all its Scooby-Doo style traps and secret passages) has a fair bit of padding and could do with being trimmed by an episode or two. Things pick up once we eventually reach Skaro and that great final battle. #DoctorWho
The babyish âhuman-factorâ Daleks playing and chanting is still a brilliantly bizarre concept. And slightly terrifying when you realise theyâre basically toddlers armed with death-rays! #DoctorWho
Tomb Of The Cybermen: the first ever mention of the Doctorâs age. Heâs officially 450 years old. Obviously I now expect this to remain perfectly consistent and accurate as we progress through the seasons. #DoctorWho
Love Troughtonâs deviousness in this one. âAccidentallyâ giving Klieg the key to the mathematical problem, then sneakily pressing the right button to ensure the hatch is opened. #DoctorWho
Klieg is the first in a long line of egotistical dumbasses who think âOh, but the Cybermen will respect MY intelligence, and share their power with ME! Of course they will!â
Aaaand he ends up dead. Well done genius! Werenât clever enough to see that coming, were you? #DoctorWho
This is the second story in a row to feature a large, mute (or near-mute) black servant of limited intelligence. Great job on the progressive front there guys. đŹ #DoctorWho
The Cybermen saluting their Controller look like theyâre doing the classic âfingers under nose to resemble Hitlerâs moustacheâ gag. #DoctorWho
I like how, in this story, as the cast are bumped off one-by-one, the bodies conveniently tidy themselves away and disappear so as not to appear in subsequent shots. #DoctorWho
The Abominable Snowmen: the Yeti are a very worthy addition to the roster of monsters, but the setting of the story is not the most exciting. Can be a bit slow in parts and might have been better tightened up as a four-parter. #DoctorWho
Khrisong has some interesting character development. Starts off as the usual obstructive git who thinks the Doctorâs responsible for everything, and you assume heâll remain that antagonistic for the duration of the story, but by the end heâs been won round. #DoctorWho
I like Victoriaâs little trick with the âpoisonedâ water. Makes a change to see her get herself out of trouble for once, rather than needing rescuing. #DoctorWho
The possessed Padmasambhava makes a very sinister and creepy villain, conveyed for the most part through just his raspy disembodied voice.
And it ends with the now familiar trope of âAha! You thought the creatures were all dead? But wait! Thereâs some signs of lifeâŠâ #DoctorWho
The Ice Warriors:
Futuristic base âïž
Stressed-out Commander (older man) âïž
More reasonable second-in-command (younger woman) âïž
Lumbering monsters outside âïž
Computer with weird modulated voice âïž
Just needed someone traitorous/possessed to complete the set!
#DoctorWho
Also the debut of a trope that carries on into early Pertwee - the (very silly to modern audiences) idea that computers are TERRIBLE inventions that are ALWAYS wrong and itâs far better for a human to work things out using just their brain and a pencil and paper. #DoctorWho
Victoria spends most of this story in a state of constant panic and hysteria. Youâd wonder why she actually wants to travel with the Doctor and Jamie when everything terrifies her.
(And lol at Jamie teasing her about wearing hotpants like the girls in the base đ) #DoctorWho
âWe must use the Ioniser to blow up the Ice Warriorsâ ship!â
âWe canât! We might get killed too!â
âWe must!â
âWe canât!â
âWe must!â
âWe canât!â
âWe must!â
âWe canât!â
(âŠetc, for six episodes)
*eventually uses Ioniser*
âPhew! We didnât get killed after all! Hooray!â
#DoctorWho
The Enemy Of The World: weâre off to the far-flung space year 2018, where the worldâs divided into âZonesâ, rocket trips from Australia to Europe take two hours, and people still mostly use landline telephones. #DoctorWho
Landing on a beach, Jamie and Victoria are treated to the arresting sight of the Doctor stripping down to his underwear and splashing about in the sea⊠#DoctorWho
Itâs a bit mad that those guys immediately believe heâs Salamander, when only seen through binoculars.
I mean, if you thought you saw Vladimir Putin at your local beach, having a paddle while wearing a pair of longjohns, youâd doubt what you were seeing, surely?! đł #DoctorWho
Griff the Chef: funniest one-off character ever? Should have had his own spin-off! đ #DoctorWho
The Enemy Of The World really stands out as being a drastically different type of story to all the surrounding monster romps.
Troughton is completely believable in the dual role. You never see him as the Doctor when heâs Salamander and vice-versa.
#DoctorWho
Some clever use of back projection (before green screen takes over in a couple of years). I like the bit where Jame is seen approaching in the background film before appearing in the studio set. #DoctorWho
Look itâs your own fault for believing his story, you gullible prats. I mean, honestly!
(Also⊠er, *how* exactly are they causing worldwide natural disasters using a few machines in their underground base? The script glosses over that!)
#DoctorWho
The Web Of Fear: like the Daleks before them, for the Yetis second outing theyâve wisely placed them somewhere much more relatable to the viewers, and it works a treat. Tons of atmosphere in the Underground setting. The pinnacle of the âbase-under-siegeâ stories. #DoctorWho
So the *entire* issue of âUNIT datingâ stems from Travers claiming the previous Yeti story was â40 years agoâ and, in a separate conversation between Victoria and Ann, that it was 1935. When thereâs so many ways either statement could be wrong/misremembered/etc⊠đ€·đ»ââïž #DoctorWho
Lethbridge-Stewart is amazingly more credulous at this point, believing in the idea of the TARDIS without even seeing it, and how it could be a means of escape. A huge contrast to his later attitude in The Three Doctors! #DoctorWho
Neil Corry@gavinwinters Itâs not just that.
@neilcorry But itâs still the foundation stone the whole idea is built on really, isnât it?
CliffChapman@gavinwinters Never seemed anything special from the surviving Ep 3 or the audio. But what a joy to see the whole thing - and what a story it turned out to be. One of my all time favourites now.
Metebelis Two PodcastThe Ice Warriors is the one Troughton #DoctorWho story that never resonated with me. I love the time team and the guest cast are great, but the story is repetitive as you point out and overly long. That and I think Ice Warriors are a waste of Mars.