Doctor Who on 23rd November

Doctor Who began on 23rd November 1963 and, with the odd break, has been going ever since in one form or another. But what episodes were first broadcast on this date? Here's a rundown.

1963: 100,000 BC: An Unearthly Child

Two teachers curious about a strange pupil whose registered address is a junk yard. They decide to investigate and discover a strange man and a police box full of surprises...

The very first episode of the very first story (which has multiple titles in use), this one naturally appears and amongst fans it's probably the single least criticised episode in the entire history of the series. It introduces the basics of the series though there's a lot of the mythology that is established later on.


1968: The Invasion Episode Four

The Doctor and Jamie, with help from the newly formed Unit (United Nations Intelligence Taskforce), rescue fellow companion Zoe from the mysterious electronics businessman Tobias Vaughan, then continue to investigate his affairs only to discover he has some familiar business partners...

This is the only episode on the list which sadly no longer exists today due to the reuse of videotape. This may be the show's fifth anniversary but there's nothing in the episode that acknowledges this. Instead the story is looking to the future, serving as a pilot for a new format for the series that would become the norm in the next few years. This is a Cybermen adventure (particularly famous for the later scene where their invasion force marches down the steps in front of St Paul's Cathefral), but as is often the case with them they barely appear in the story and are only first seen halfway through this eight-part adventure.


1983: The Five Doctors

A mysterious individual lifts multiple past Doctors and their companions out of time and deposits them in the Death Zone, a dark dimension where creatures have fight to survive and discover the secret of the tower at the centre of it.

This feature-length episode celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the series and although in the UK it wasn't broadcast until the 25th November, it first aired two days earlier in the United States. Many past elements are reused in the story, although critics might note that the 1983 season had already seen use of Time Lords, the Master and the Brigadier (and would have also featured the Daleks but for a strike), but it works as acknowledgement of where the series has come from.


1987: Dragonfire Part One

The Doctor and Mel come to Iceworld, an intergalactic Iceland, where amidst the frozen food they find their old friend Sabalom Glitz in trouble with the sinister Kane amidst stories of hidden treasure guarded by a firebreathing dragon.

At the time of transmission Dragonfire was billed as the 150th Doctor Who story, although this depends on exactly how some earlier stories are and aren't counted (other numbers range from 146 to 153), but despite this and the transmission date there's no acknowledgement of the anniversary (Glitz is just a link to the previous season, a common feature in a new Doctor's first year). Instead the show is again looking to the future and showing its experimental nature with this homage to cinema that draws on the likes of Aliens and Star Wars. It also introduces Ace, one of the best written companions in the series and the model for many in the modern era.


1988: Silver Nemesis Part One

A group of Hitler supporting paramilitaries hiding in South America and wanting to establish the Fourth Reich, a 17th century lady with black magic powers, a bunch of alien invaders and the Doctor & Ace all converge on Windsor in 1988 where a comet crashes into the Earth containing a statue of unimaginable power...

For the show's silver anniversary the story does its best with limited resources, thus making a silver statue, a comet that comes near Earth every 25 years and silver aliens all key plot elements. The first episode also has a bunch of cameos from past cast and crew and even an almost encounter with the Queen. It's a fast paced runaround that does its best but there's another story in the season that has a stronger anniversary feel.


2013: The Day of the Doctor

The Doctor's two most recent incarnations team up as their hidden past self struggles with the final day of the Time War between the Time Lords and the Daleks whilst Unit try to prevent a Zygon invasion of London...

The fiftieth anniversary of the series also serves as a conclusion to many plot points from the last eight years since the show's revival. As a result secrets are revealed, the years when the show was off air are addressed, there are returning old faces but there's also a clear statement for the future of the series. Elements have been building up for years and the result is a strong tribute to both the past and future of the show.

Arrival of the Cybermen

For those who enjoyed this evening's Doctor Who, here's a special blast from the past - the first full introduction of the Cybermen from The Tenth Planet back in 1966:



Note that you can see the actors' eyes under those masks. With any other monster fans would cry out. But with the Cybermen it's very appropriate...

Doctor Who: The Trial of a Time Lord - 30 years on

A rare Doctor Who post these days but a special one.

People who've only discovered the series in its current incarnation may be forgiven for thinking the overall season long story arcs are a modern invention. But thirty years ago the series served up its biggest ever adventure.

"Eighteen months is too long to wait!" had cried a pop song that protested the twenty-third season being slightly delayed. How little did people realise there would come a time when an eighteen month wait would seem like nothing!

In the autumn of 1986 the series put the Doctor on trial for his actions, taking him all over space and time and even confronting his own future. There were many great guest stars, including the one and only BRIAN BLESSED, as loud as ever. It also had some of the best music of all.

Composer Dominic Glynn has reworked his brilliant rendition of the theme and here's an excellent music video celebrating the great epic:

The men who created Doctor Who

Fifty years of Doctor Who

Who would have thought it? It's survived budget deficiencies. It's survived ratings downturns. It's survived egotistical actors. It's survived TV executives without a clue. It's survived sixteen years in the wilderness. It's come all this way.

Many hands went into the creation of the series and others came up with the ideas that made it last so long, but there were three people who devised the basics in a meeting in March 1963 and ultimately are the show's creators. One is well known in connection with the series, another for his wider television work and the third has now sadly been forgotten.

C.E. Webber is by far the most forgotten. A BBC staff writer who wrote up the discussions into the series's first format guide, he ultimately captured the essence of what the series would be and sketched out the basics that would be returned to time and time again. He wrote what was intended to be the first ever story but it was ultimately not used and his material was instead used as the basis for the first transmitted episode though his co-authorship was not cedited onscreen. Much forgotten for a long time, in recent years fan historians have rediscovered his role. There are few photos of him available - the one here is cropped from a group shot where he's sitting next to Enid Bignold (Samantha Cameron's great-grandmother).

Donald Wilson spent 1963 changing jobs as the BBC Drama Department was heavily reorganised, going from the Head of the Script Department to the Head of Serials. He contributed ideas to the creation of the series and then served as what would later be described as the show's "Executive Producer" for its first two years, though he curtailed his input after his reservations about the Daleks were proved wrong. Otherwise he had a long career writing and producing television, with his greatest work being the 1967 adaptation of The Forsyte Saga.

Sydney Newman is by far the best known of the three. He spent much of his career putting people's backs up and doing things differently; with longstanding results such as The Wednesday Play or The Avengers, as well as Doctor Who. But he sometimes opposed what turned out to be big successes with both the Daleks and The Forsyte Saga making it to the screens in spite of him, not because of it. A brash Canadian who had shaken up drama first at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation then at the Associated British Corporation (the ITV weekend franchise for the Midlands and the North) before coming to the BBC at the end of 1962 and shaking things up with a strong determiation on realism and the masses instead of just adapting elite classics. In later years he returned to Canada and served as chairman of the National Film Board, where he continued to outrage others and had to have armed guards patrolling the headquarters during the October Crisis.

These three between them came up with the basic ideas for the series, both the character types that the show has returned to time and again, and the core philosophy of storytelling. Unfortunately there has never been a "Created by" credit on the series (and there wasn't an official system for designating particular personnel as a "series creator") but they are not forgotten.

The unjust hatred of Pamela Nash

I wonder if the MP for Airdrie and Shotts ever receives misdirected hatred from Doctor Who fans. If so then I hope she's aware that she shares a name with probably the most unfortunate person in the story of the missing Doctor Who episodes.

The Pamela Nash in question is a former employee of BBC Enterprises (now BBC Worldwide), the section of the BBC devoted to commercial and international exploitation of the BBC's output. Amongst her tasks was ordering the creation of copies of programmes for overseas sales. At present out of the 253 episodes of Doctor Who made in the 1960s, only 147 survive (a number that may change very soon). However if the series had never been sold overseas at all then the number surviving would be just 7 - the seven unusually made as & transmitted from film copies that were then kept by the BBC Film Library. It is thanks to BBC Enterprises - and particularly Pamela Nash - that so many early Doctor Whos survive at all.

However that's not how Doctor Who fans traditionally regard Nash. For later on in the 1970s she oversaw the destruction of the BBC Enterprises stock of telerecordings - and not just Doctor Who was affected. She then had an encounter with a fan chasing rumours that some episodes still survived and wasn't the most sympathetic in the encounter.

Now the whole issue of lost television is actually quite complicated and it's easy to point fingers or talk about hindsight without considering the broader reasons. But it strikes me as somewhat ludicrous to focus on the destruction of the overseas sales stock without considering the consequences. The primary causes of the destruction of much material were the old attitude that television was an ephemeral medium with little interest in past performances (the view that the BBC was the "national theatre of the airwaves" applied in more ways than one), severe rights restrictions that limited the scope for repeats & overseas sales after so many years, changes in broadcast standards that saw the arrival of a higher resolution format and colour, and a general lack of belief or supporting money for maintaining a comprehensive archive.

It was primarily the cost of reusable transmission videotape that meant that many, many BBC shows were wiped over when they appeared to no longer be usable. A small number were made on and transmitted from film and some of these transmission prints survived but not all. However nobody ever seems to find a single name to blame in either the Engineering Department or the Film Library. But we have one in the sales division so the finger gets pointed.

Blaming Nash and BBC Enterprises for the holes in the Doctor Who collection is probably on the scale of blaming publishers and booksellers for the gaps in the British Library's holdings (and there are some items that have been lost or which were never held in the first place). At the end of the day Enterprises was focused on selling programmes it currently held the rights for and which were profitable. And it had limited storage space. It could no more be expected to hold onto rights expired old material any more than publishers maintain huge backlists on books either where they no longer hold the rights for or which just don't sell any more. Anyone who's ever browsed a remainder bookshop knows what gems can be found in them but publishers have to take a broader approach.

Nash's "crimes" seems to be:

• Not recognising that Doctor Who (or for that matter any number of series that were either very popular, had a strong fan following and/or are important in the history of a particular genre) was a special case that should be preserved at all cost.
• Not realising that it was BBC Enterprises' duty to do things it wasn't its duty to do.
• Not having the available budget to hand and using it to create a special archive to retain the old shows.
• Not giving the desired response to a stranger who didn't work at Enterprises who came charging into her office one day freaked out about old film prints being cleared out.

In the last case many of us have had experience of outsiders of one kind or another butting in and telling us how to do our jobs and what our priorities should be; and our reaction is rarely going to satisfy them.

At the moment the Doctor Who world is abuzz with reports that some missing episodes have been recovered but strangely the BBC is embargoing the precise information. But whilst we await it, let's stop the hated for somebody just because we have their name and they didn't meet up to the standards of an obsessed fan one day.

How much for a Doctor Who episode on film?

The missing Doctor Who episodes have received a lot of attention over the years, especially last December when the discovery of two was announced. However perhaps less well-known are that there are a number of black & white 16mm film copies of many existing episodes held in private hands, and occasionally they pop up for sale.

Recently a copy of the Reign of Terror 1 (A Land of Fear) was auctioned on eBay and ended up selling for £1600.00 - a new record for any episode. Doctor Who prints are extremely rare on eBay but like buses two have come along at once - now a copy of the Web Planet 6 (The Centre) is up for auction.

eBay.co.uk: DOCTOR WHO TV EPISODE 1965 16mm film print

Anyone like to guess how much this one will eventually go for?

Bye bye Doctor Who Confidential

The recent news that Doctor Who Confidential is being dropped at the end of the current series has provoke tow quite contradictory reactions in me.

On the one hand the recent series of Confidential have been, to put it mildly, rather rubbish. It's been full of inconsequential fluff rather than a good behind the scenes look at the series. Extending the length to forty-five minutes didn't help.

On the other hand Confidential was the very show which convinced me to make the plunge and get digital television. (Yes there was once a time when digital television wasn't everywhere. In fact here in London we've barely started the digital switch-over.) I'd been thinking about it on and off for a while, but it was the prospect of bonus Doctor Who material that was the eventual tipping point in my decision to get my first digibox/decoder or whatever they're actually called. So it's a pity to see it go.

But then nothing lasts forever.

This does highlight one worrying thought. The number of Doctor Who spin-offs have been steadily diminishing - Totally Doctor Who, the Sarah-Jane Adventures and now Doctor Who Confidential all gone for one reason or another, whilst Torchwood's fate seems uncertain. This leaves just the series itself. The rationale for the various spin-offs was to build a "firewall" around the series, giving it greater support and protection. Now the series will be left to fend for itself.

Ever since the news in 2003 that Doctor Who was being revived, fans have wondered for a long time how long it will last. I'll be honest - I don't expect the current incarnation of the show to last twenty-six years. Everything comes to an end at some stage or another. But I don't know if the end of Confidential brings that end forward or not. The main series hasn't relied on it for some time now.

Of course as previous cancellations have shown, just because the series may come to an end doesn't mean that's it for ever. The show's format is such that given the right circumstances it can be revived many times and it has become a modern day icon of almost mythological proportions. I have no doubt we will see many future incarnations of the show itself.

French Daleks

And here's another little Doctor Who clip featuring the Daleks. This time it's from the French dub of Genesis of the Daleks broadcast in Canada:
They may not use the traditional electronic effect, but these Dalek voices sound far more sinister than their German counterparts.

German Daleks

As a brief break from the election, here's a fun Doctor Who clip from YouTube - an extract from The Five Doctors as dubbed in German, featuring an encounter with a Dalek:
I can't say it's the best version of a Dalek voice I heard - maybe this is one of the ones heard at the start of the Paul McGann TV Movie?

New depths to the Master's villainy

One of my favourite Doctor Who stories is The Mind of Evil. For my reasons I can do no better than refer you to my review on the Doctor Who Ratings Guide. However this story has sadly only existed as a black & white film recording for over thirty years now.

But all is not lost. Recently a special process has been developed that extracts colour information from the black & white copy to restore it to colour - some of you may have seen the results when BBC2 transmitted a restored Dad's Army episode last December. Now the process has been applied to some Doctor Who episodes, including at least one episode of The Mind of Evil.

And being able to see things in colour will reveal many things. For example in one scene the Master disguises himself as a workman wearing a football scarf. Now, courtesy of a post by Steve Roberts of the Doctor Who Restoration Team at this post on Roobarb's Forum, we know which team he supports:
Yes the master of chaos is wearing a Newcastle United scarf. And he's doing so in a tent that wouldn't be too out of place at Sunderland AFC!

I hope that this is a teaser for a forthcoming full colour restoration of The Mind of Evil so that it can be enjoyed in all its original glory.

John Scott Martin 1926-2009

I've just heard the news that John Scott Martin has recently died. (The Stage: Obituaries: John Scott Martin) He was one of the most prolific actors in the classic series run of Doctor Who, with numerous roles from playing a giant ant (a Zarbi) to an infected miner to a huge prawn! But by far his best known role was as a Dalek operator for over twenty years. He will be much missed.

And the new Doctor is...

...Matt Smith!

Well let's see how this goes...

The new Doctor Who

At the moment we're still awaiting the announcement of who the new Doctor Who will be.

So naturally like all other fans who have yet to see the new actor in action I feel perfectly qualified to declare that the series will be "Ruined FOREVER"! (Yes I know that's a different site, but it sums up the point well.)

But seriously, yes there will be criticism from fans - organised fandom has always attacked the show of the day. But for once let's actually wait and see what the new Doctor is like before condemning him, okay?

Very long term interest rates

All the recent interest rate cuts have got me thinking about a few situations in various science fiction series where characters can take advantage of (or suffer from) very long term compound interest. Some of these are worth a little thought as to whether such a situation could truly work.

The first one is the Doctor Who story The Time Meddler in which it's revealed, amongst other things, that one of the Monk's previous schemes involved depositing £200 into a London bank in 1968 then nipping forward in time 200 years and collecting a fortune in compound interest. Just how possible might this scheme be? (For the moment we'll ignore the fact that in the Doctor Who universe 2168 is around the end of The Dalek Invasion of Earth which might have caused some disruption to the banking system.)

Now let's start by assuming that either the interest rate remains approximately the same or the Monk was able to get a fixed rate long term account, though that's a big if. Otherwise the scheme could have been derailed by the bank rapidly passing on cuts in interest rates to savers, but not passing on rises so hurriedly. Let's also assume the Monk chose a bank that he knew would be in operation in 200 years time. Whilst there are protection mechanisms for savers if the bank goes under, it's better to use one with the least fuss.

So assuming a fixed rate of 5% (historically the usual interest rate) across the entire period, then exactly 200 years would yield £3,458,516.16 If the interest rate was higher, say 8%, then the outcome rockets to £967,789,916.98 (though if he waited another year he'd be a billionaire). And if he could find a bank insane enough to offer him a fixed interest rate as high as 18% then he'd get £47,580,769,007,364,000.00 Not bad eh?

But there are two fairly major problems. The first is that the Monk would have to somehow be able to claim the account after 200 years' dormancy. He could, I suppose, pose as the descendant of the original depositor, but might run into problems with inheritance tax. Or he could open in the account by posing as a father wishing to create a nest egg for a newly born son, then nip forward in stages and by posing as each successive generation he could transfer the account down. Or he could claim he was an eccentric who wished to help his descendants and make an arrangement for the account to only become active upon the rightful heir claiming it. He could, of course, use an overseas bank in a country that will never have the inheritance tax. The other problem also relates to the tax on interest, though again the Monk could use an overseas bank. A time traveller could be expected to know what they were up to.

And one final problem is inflation. Any major hyperinflation would wipe out the value of the savings. Even normal inflation will reduce it, but so long as the interest rate could keep ahead of that it wouldn't be so much of a problem.

A more interesting case comes in the Red Dwarf episode "Me²". In one scene Holly tells Lister the following:

"It seems when you left Earth three million years ago... you left seventeen pounds, fifty pence in a bank account. Thanks to compound interest you now own ninety-eight percent of all the world's wealth, but since you've hoarded it for three million years nobody's got any money except for you and NorWEB."

Now this scene is a wind-up in a comedy series, but the basic principles are still present. This time round we would have to assume that a person who is frozen in stasis (basically suspended animation) for a very long time can resume their financial affairs upon being released, which makes sense, although three million years is stretching it. If we can accept that the human civilisation (or its successor) still exists after three million years and a person's bank account can remain active then what does this yield?

Given that Lister is hardly the most organised of people, I'm going to assume his bank account is just a current account with an anaemic rate of interest - let's say 0.1%. (And I'm also going to assume that the bank calculates the exact interest rather than rounding it to the nearest whole, which is significant for the first few milleniums.) So even after 300 years Lister would have only £23.62 on deposit. After 3000 years it is £350.97. But after 30,000 years it has risen to £184,230,880,712,550.00. And after 3,000,000 years it has risen to £2.9886565148476356806364059915386 x 10 to the power of 1303. That's a very big number.

And this is where the whole thing would get messy. Interest doesn't grow like a tree, it is made by banks taking their depositors' money and investing it, then giving them a return. And current accounts have terms and conditions that allow the depositor to withdraw the lot instantly, so a bank would be vulnerable to a run if it didn't have reasonable funds available. At some point there just wouldn't be any more money that a bank could make and the interest payments would grind to a halt. The anaemic interest rate would, however, mean that the bank wouldn't have that much to make proportionally, but it would still be tricky. They could, I suppose, offer to buy Lister out of the account with a fixed amount and get a court order or special legislation to impose it upon him if he can't be reached, but that might have side effects on consumer confidence. Equally they could, I suppose, take a risk on Lister not returning and use his money to run the economy, but it would be a big risk. But then the entire scene is a joke being played on someone not au fait with all this.

Another jokey one is in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy where we learn about how to pay for a meal at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, located at the end of time which is 576,000,003,579 years away, as counted by Marvin. This is an underestimate according to Wikipedia: Future of an expanding universe will be about 10 to the power of 10 the power of 76 years in the future. My computer's calculator cannot even process that number. For the meal you just deposit one penny into your bank account and then by the end of the universe compound interest will pay for the bill. The computer still can't calculate even 576,000,003,579 years' worth of interest at 0.1% so we'll just have to assume it's a big amount. Again we have to wonder how the banks can manage it, but the whole thing is impossible, but then so is the entire basis of the Restaurant.

Sadly time travel and stasis are not yet available and so we're all mortals on a rather shorter scale. And current interest rates are so low that if you can find a long term account with a fixed rate good enough to grow a fortune for your great, great, great grandchildren then you're very lucky and they will be luckier still.

British Obamas? Yes we've had a few

Peter Cuthbertson has contributed an interesting post CentreRight: After Obama, could it happen here? Yes, in 1868 noting that the UK had a Prime Minister from an ethnic minority 140 years ago. But many people now no longer list Jews amongst ethnic minorities and so forget Benjamin Disraeli.

I also remember a moment of the Question Time US election special when someone in the audience said that the United States is the only place where someone raised by a single mother could become leader. Again the UK has been there long ago, when in 1924 Ramsay MacDonald became Prime Minister.

So how long will it be before we see a non-white Prime Minister? It's hard to say because leaders rarely suddenly emerge in British politics but rather spend some time in the Commons first, and to describe someone as "going to be Britain's first [something] Prime Minister" is a kiss of death to a career. But I think after the next election we will be seeing several potentials on the front benches. This country is used to being led by non-white Britons - look at sport! All we're awaiting is the right candidate in politics.

(P.S. I've been told that by the US definition of these things we've already had a black Doctor Who. Can you guess who? And no, it's not Lenny Henry.)

Regeneration ahoy

So David Tennant has announced he'll be leaving Doctor Who after next year's specials. (BBC News: David Tennant quits as Doctor Who) Well it had to happen at some point and by the time we reach the last one he will have been playing the role longer than seven of his predecessors (give or take but I'll leave the debate about how long Sylvester McCoy was in the role to other Who fans).

Doctor Who has always been about more than any individual actor and so has survived such changes before and I have no doubt it will do so again. The idea that the series is so fragile that one wrong move and it will be "Ruined FOREVER" is more laughable today than it has ever been. The series has come a long way, outlasted so much and even converted its greatest enemy. (See Michael Grade admits he was wrong) It has become a modern myth, reinventing itself for each successive generation, and I have no doubt that we will see many further adventures of the Doctor in years, decades and centuries to come.

As for David Tennant himself, he's had a good innings and some of his adventures have been astounding. But as Disraeli once said, it is better to leave people wondering why you did not go on for longer than leave wondering why you did.

Here's to the next Doctor, whoever he or she may be.

Doctor Who - Black Orchid

And now for my old reviews of the latest Doctor Who stories released on DVD from the Doctor Who Ratings Guide.

It's back to normal this time, with Black Orchid:

Nice setting, shame about the plot

After an absence of nearly sixteen years the historicals make a brief reappearance with this story, taking the TARDIS crew to an upper-class country house in 1920s Britain. This is a period made familiar by many period dramas and books and it allows for an interesting little story that tries to merge the series with the genre.

A major plot point is the similarity between Nyssa and Ann but fortunately the entire story does not revolve solely around this element. Instead we get a brief exploration of the way of life for an upper-class family and how the values of the period require certain aspects to be kept firmly locked away. Unfortunately the realisation of the story isn't the best as there is little mystery about who is committing the murders - thus eliminating all the other characters as suspects - whilst the Doctor establishes his credentials with the police not through his actions over the course of the story but rather through showing them the TARDIS as a quick solution to the problem. The result is a plot which is clearly telegraphed and unexciting. However there is more to this story as the setting is developed well and allows for some good character development for some of the regulars.

This story is notable as being the only time in the television series when Davison's Doctor actually gets to play cricket (though he gets more practice in comic strips such as The Tides of Time and has it brought back to him in The Stockbridge Horror) and there is much clear enjoyment. As often happens the Doctor is mistaken for someone else and exploits the situation to his advantage. This story takes place on a more limited scale than many and thus allows for the character to be exposed well in the more down to earth environment of the story. Sarah Sutton has the dual role of Nyssa and Ann Talbot and manages to carry off both of them easily though the story is not long enough to fully develop the latter. Nevertheless it gives Sutton a chance to shine when often there can be competition for space amongst the three companions. Matthew Waterhouse has much less to do in the story and Adric makes little contribution beyond stuffing his face at the ball. The guest cast give reasonable performances but few make any spectacular impact.

The sets for the story work well, though it does feel that the railway station is not 1920s authentic due to the abandoned second platform being all too clear. Otherwise the story is a competent production that compares well to contemporary period dramas. It is unfortunate that the plot is weak and telegraphed but otherwise this brief story is a welcome one-off return for the historical stories. 7/10

Doctor Who - Black Orchid can be purchased from Amazon.co.uk.

Doctor Who - The Five Doctors

And now for my old reviews of the latest Doctor Who stories released on DVD from the Doctor Who Ratings Guide.

It's yet another bumper one this time, as the latest release is The Five Doctors in both its original and Special edition forms. First off the original version:

A wonderful anniversary present

In the days before virtually every existing episode and clip was available on video the series' twentieth anniversary came along. This could have been merely marked quietly perhaps with a documentary or even maybe with a special 'episode' that featured the-then current regulars talking to provide in-character links for a series of clips. But instead it was decided to create a special anniversary story featuring as many elements from the past as possible, whilst at the same time telling a new story. This was perhaps the best anniversary present the series could get and it was worth it.

Many commentators bemoan the absence of Tom Baker from The Five Doctors and criticise Richard Hurndall's performance as the original Doctor. But it would be difficult if not impossible to accurately recreate Hartnell's performance and so Hurndall instead wisely develops the performance to give his own take on it. The result may not please the purists but it works well enough. Tom Baker's absence was more unfortunate but there are at least a couple of clips of him in it. Whilst the two scenes seem a little strange and disconnected, they are successful in allowing the viewer to see Tom Baker for a bit. Furthermore Baker's absence prevents the production from becoming over-heavy and thus allows all four of the other Doctors to play a substantial role in the story.

The title itself is reminiscent of the earlier The Three Doctors and there are some similar elements shared by the two tales such as the various Doctors and companions being transported off to another strange dimension where they encounter one of the key figures from Time Lord history. Even the location for UNIT HQ is the same. But The Five Doctors is no mere imitation of its predecessor. The plot may be a relatively straightforward affair that allows for the available cast to be mixed and matched but at the same time we get to see many homages paid to the series' history. This story is a celebration of twenty years and is in no way ashamed of it.

In a clear throwback to the traditions of the Hartnell years, the first scene of the story is set in the TARDIS console room, showing the Doctor and his companion discussing things before the adventure begins rather than with a scene establishing the setting for the story. Along the way there are many other such scenes that remind the viewer of times past, such as Jon Pertwee's Doctor driving Bessie and taking an action role, Patrick Troughton's Doctor showing a complete disrespect for authority or the Master ruthlessly exploiting events for his own advantage. Even the scene where Susan trips and twists her ankle is entirely appropriate for this story since it reminds us of the way female companions were used in the show's earlier years. Then there's the scene with the booby trapped board that is very similar to a scene from Death to the Daleks. There's a good plot as well and whilst it may involve yet another member of the High Council of the Time Lords turning traitor for their own ends, there is at least an attempt to keep the viewer guessing through hints that either the Master or Rassilon may be behind the scheme. The story's resolution may be a bit deus ex machina but it shows how the original Doctor was always one step ahead of the rest and how defeat and victory often go hand in hand, as is the norm for many stories in the Davison era. The story begins with a brief clip of one of William Hartnell's finest scenes as he promises 'One day I shall come back' and then ends with the Davison Doctor once more fleeing Gallifrey and reminding us that this is how it all began. Thus ends one of the best stories in the programme's history.

There's loads of continuity in this story and I spotted: the William Hartnell/Richard Hurndall Doctor, the Brigadier, UNIT & its HQ, the Patrick Troughton Doctor, the Jon Pertwee Doctor, Bessie, Sarah Jane, K9, the Tom Baker Doctor, the Lalla Ward Romana, Borusa, the Castellan from Arc of Infinity, Gallifrey, the Master, Susan, a Dalek, Cybermen, the Cyberleader, a Yeti and Rassilon all competing for attention. But it all works and many of the cast slip effortlessly back into their old roles with Patrick Troughton giving perhaps the finest performance of all. There's also some new ideas in the story as well, most obviously the Raston Warrior Robot, and the result is a story that is milking the past shamelessly but also finding new ideas as well and so doesn't feel at all dated in any way.

Productionwise The Five Doctors features some good location filming for the Death Zone scenes, whilst the studio sets are either nostalgic reminders of Gallifrey or good at enhancing a downbeat setting for the Dark Tower. There are many action scenes in the story such as the various massacres of the Cybermen and these scenes give plenty of action. Indeed it is hard to find much in this story to disagree with since it casts such a good mood. This story set out to summarise the series' history and gave it a truly fine celebration in the process.
10/10

And now The Five Doctors Special Edition:

How good an alternative?

The original version of The Five Doctors is one of the strongest stories in the entire history of the series so an alternative version is a very dangerous move as it runs the risk of alienating the fans of the original whilst at the same time not satisfying those who found the original disappointing. Fortunately this is not the case with The Five Doctors Special Edition. The extended scenes, alternate order and occasional trims do significantly alter the tone at times - for instance the original opens with a TARDIS scene like many a Hartnell adventure but the new version now has a 'tease' of what lies ahead by starting with the Dark Tower. Throughout the story these additional little touches surprise and delight, offering an alternative take on events. It's clear that someone involved has read the novelisation for ideas - for example when the scene showing that Tom Baker's Doctor has been released is a return to the river Cam as in the novelisation rather than a scene of the Doctor lying by the TARDIS as in the original. It's been some years since I read the novelisation and haven't got it to hand so I can't tell if the scenes involving the various Doctors being timescooped, the Player putting pieces on the board and the Peter Davison Doctor reacting are now in the same order as in the book but this new order generally works better since we wonder what has happened to the earlier incarnations and then how long the current Doctor will survive before cutting to the next Doctor being captured. The extensions to scenes rarely feel like they are in any way dragging out the story or giving away key moments. Of special note is the shot of Peter Davison's Doctor smiling at Susan before Richard Hurndall's Doctor disapprovingly interrupts. It is easy to see how this shot has generated much speculation.

Peter Howell returns to the story to enhance the music and somehow manages to improve upon what was an already impressive score. The flute theme for Patrick Troughton's Doctor as he moves through the wilderness is especially memorable, whilst the extension of the music to accommodate extensions to scenes, such as the one where the Doctor uses the Master's transmat recall to escape the Cybermen, makes it seem as though the music was always written like that. The stereo version of the theme music is highly memorable, whilst the use of a piece of the opening music reversed to accompany the Special Edition credits is a clever move and creates a highly effective sound.

The story's video effects have also been updated, with the result that the thunderbolts and lightning on the chessboard now look a lot more realistic than the BBC Micro Computer efforts of the original. The new timescoop is especially effective, although why the original has been included at the start of the UK VHS release where the BBC logo is timescooped is beyond me. There are even some little additions such as the Cybermen firing their weapons in battle against the Raston Warrior Robot. Unfortunately there are a few lapses towards the end. It does indeed make sense for Rassilon to use the timescoop to send everyone home, so why the Master just fades away is a mystery. Also the recorded material of the various Doctors and companions trooping into the TARDIS makes little sense now that the timescoop is being used to get everyone home. And just what is the Doctor's line about 'temporal fission' supposed to mean?

Although there are a few points where the changes are questionable in general this updating works because it enhances the story no end and makes it highly viable for watching again and again. The more subtle work that has gone into improving the quality of the original film and videotape is generally unnoticeable - a sign of how effective it has been - and the result is a strong special that was a good choice to launch the DVD releases. 10/10

Doctor Who - The Five Doctors can be purchased from Amazon.co.uk.

Doctor Who - The Time Meddler

As per usual, here is my old review from the Doctor Who Ratings Guide of this month's DVD release, The Time Meddler:

A strong and sedate tale

The final story of Doctor Who's second season, The Time Meddler is something of a curiosity. This is the first story where we meet another of the Doctor and Susan's people, the first story to combine futuristic and historical events and even the first story where TARDIS is said to stand for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space (previously it was just Dimension). It also completes the introduction of Steven as a companion and takes the TARDIS to one of the most obvious years in history - 1066. This is quite a list of achievements and what is surprising is that the story not only does all this but adopts a relaxed pace which is a welcome change from the hectic tension of previous adventures.

The opening scenes aboard the TARDIS serve as a useful reminder of the basic format of the series. It is reassuring that Steven doesn't immediately accept everything he is told and instead slowly comes round to accepting that the TARDIS is a time machine and this makes for some nice scenes as Vicki tries to convince him. The mystery is established almost immediately after the TARDIS arrives and the strange Monk observes it but does not seem at all surprised.

As the story progresses and a succession of anachronisms are presented the Monk become ever more the key figure. Peter Butterworth's whimsical performance is a wonderful contrast to William Hartnell's Doctor and the all-too few scenes involving them in the final two episodes are a delight as they seek to outwit one another. Whilst the other guest cast are somewhat bland with the possible exception of Edith, portrayed well by Alethea Charlton, this doesn't matter as it means there's more scope for the conflict between Doctor and Monk. With the departure of Ian and Barbara in the previous story The Chase, the Doctor could have been left without a reason for his wanderings but here one is soon clear - he must put things to rights by stopping the Monk rather than just escape to the TARDIS.

The cliffhanger to A Battle of Wits is wonderful as there is no previous clue that the Monk has a TARDIS too. The conflict between the Doctor's and the Monk's philosophies of time travel and history is strong. Although no famous historical characters appear in this story, the threat to history is all-too clear. The one downside is the story's resolution as it's never made clear whether or not the Monk could still fire his cannon to destroy the fleet and a few lines sorting this out would have wrapped that up nicely.

The story, and the second season, ends with a strange sequence showing treated images of all three regulars over an images of stars and bodes well for the future. About a decade ago this story was chosen to represent the Hartnell years in a series of repeats on BBC2. Although it is highly atypical of the Hartnell years it was nevertheless a good strong choice to launch the repeats with. 9/10

The Time Meddler can be purchased from here.

Doctor Who - Beneath the Surface

And now for my old reviews of the latest Doctor Who stories released on DVD from the Doctor Who Ratings Guide.

It's another lengthy one this time, as the latest release is a box set containing the three stories featuring the Silurians and Sea Devils. First off Doctor Who and the Silurians:

A strong message and story

Wisely, the second story featuring the Doctor exiled to Earth does not focus in any way on the reasons behind the Doctor's exile and his attitude to it but rather shows just how the Doctor fits into the entire UNIT structure whilst at the same time presenting an interesting variation on the UNIT format showing how flexible it is after only a few stories of the type. It speaks volumes that Jon Pertwee's first scene shows him tinkering with Bessie rather than with the TARDIS and thus showing him attempting to improve his situation on Earth rather than emerging from the TARDIS after yet another failed attempt to depart. Malcolm Hulke's scripts are highly intelligent and challenging, presenting a set of characters who are all highly believable as they face the unusual developments at Wenley Moor.

One feature of the story that stands out is just how much of a loose cannon the Doctor is. He travels about in his own classic car which he has heavily modified, steps in to help with technical problems, ventures off into the caves by himself on several occasions and is routinely out of sync with even the Brigadier. Nevertheless there is a strong bond of respect shown between the two with the result that when the Doctor desperately needs the Brigadier, such as when the plague spreads at the end of Episode 5, the latter is willing to do everything he can to help even though the the Doctor as ever does not provide the greatest of reasons to be trusted.

The guest human characters are all interesting, ranging from Dr Quinn who is driven by vanity to be known as the discoverer of the "Silurians" (okay the name's inaccurate but then so is the alternative version of "Eocenes" given in The Sea Devils and that sounds even worse) to Miss Dawson who doesn't understand much of what is going on around her other than her love for Dr Quinn to Dr Lawrence who becomes increasingly paranoid as the research centre becomes ever more diverted and he appears ever more unable to keep things going. The Silurians themselves are equally well portrayed, evoking both our sympathy for their plight but also our revulsion for the actions taken by the Young Silurian, often at odds with the Old Silurian. The message of the story is clear - that when two highly developed communities encounter one another it must always be the moderates on both sides who must win through to prevent bloodshed - and this is as strong a message today as it was at the time of the story's original transmission when the Troubles in Northern Ireland had only just begun one of their most bloody phases.

Hulke's scripts are backed up by some strong production values which, with the odd exception such as the dinosaur, never let the story down, nor does the cast. One particular good feature is the way that many on both sides are killed off including even normally 'untouchable' characters in a story such as the civil servant (Masters - ably played by Geoffrey Palmer) and the second in command (Hawkins - portrayed by a young Paul Darrow before Blake's 7 made him famous). The Silurian costumes are good and even their head shaking when using their third eye makes sense as it implies that they are focusing their power. CSO makes its first appearance in Doctor Who in this story and it works well here since it isn't used to make the critical action shots. Direction wise this story works well, with the location work giving it a strong edge and also making the plague seem especially menacing as it strikes down commuters at Marylebone Station. Although the story's title is rather silly, this can be easily ignored as a cock up (and there are many books where the 'Doctor Who and...' variant also appears in story titles, such as The Making of Doctor Who) and in no way detracts from a highly rewatchable story that never slows down throughout its seven episodes. 10/10

Next The Sea Devils:

A strong sequel

About a decade ago The Sea Devils was selected to represent Jon Pertwee's time in the series in a repeat run. As an all action adventure, and being the middle story of his middle season it seems a highly appropriate tale to select. However it is noticeable for being set on contemporary Earth and featuring no direct appearance of UNIT at all. This gives a degree of freshness in the early episodes as the Doctor can not immediately call upon the support of the Navy in the way he would be able to do so with UNIT, whilst Edwin Richfield gives an excellent performance as Captain Hart without having to compete with any UNIT regulars.

There is a huge amount of action in this story, ranging from the Doctor's duel with the Master to the scenes of the naval task force attacking the reptiles' base. The story itself is for the most part a rerun of Doctor Who and the Silurians with the Master thrown in as an additional element but the story never noticeably drags. Michael Bryant's direction is strong and competent and makes good use of a mixture of stock footage, visual effects and equipment loaned by the Royal Navy to give the story a strong and slick feeling. Malcolm Hulke's script is well written and the only character to get sent up is Walker, a wonderful caricature of 'patriots' who merely make the entire situation far worse.

On the acting side, Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning and Roger Delgado all give their usual strong performances whilst Clive Morton (Colonel Trenchard) and the aforementioned Edwin Richfield both give exceptionally good supporting roles. Clive Morton brings a strong sense of tragedy to Trenchard, a strong patriot who believes he is doing his country a great service but finds out that he has been merely used by the Master as a means to an end and he then dies guarding his prisoner.

There's a limited degree of humour in the story, such as the Master and Trenchard's exchange about the Clangers being an alien life form or the Doctor's initial attempts to transmit a distress signal resulting in his picking up Jo's favourite DJ, but predominantly the story is serious. There's much less of the moralising of its predecessor, with only one of the reptiles (their Chief) being able to speak and he doesn't appear until the fifth episode and instead this story focuses on the action. Consequently the ending is far less tragic than before but instead focuses on the Doctor and Master escaping and continues the trend of the almost sibling rivalry between the two when the latter waves goodbye as he flees in the hovercraft. Whilst not as strong as its predecessor, The Sea Devils nevertheless presents a strong tale that is complemented by good production values. The music is radically different from the norm, being provided by Malcolm Clarke and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, but this experiment works well and uses many distinctive sounds. By breaking out of the standard formula for the Pertwee years, this story benefits from a degree of originality and so fully deserves its existence as more than a mere sequel. 8/10

And finally Warriors of the Deep:

Definitely Warriors on the Cheap but what about the script?

This story is often called Warriors on the Cheap by harsher critics and the conventional wisdom has it that this is a story that was written with some very strong ideas and premises but which was completely let down by poor direction, having less time than most Doctor Who stories to be completed, weak visual effects, poor design work that was not what the writer had envisaged at all and some terrible lighting that makes the story's weaknesses all the more glaringly obvious. But conventional wisdom can often be wrong and here it is difficult to see much of merit in the script for the story either.

For the series 1984 begins appropriately with an extremely pessimistic vision of the future in which the-then present day divisions of the world are chillingly mirrored and expanded upon. Warriors of the Deep never actually uses terms like 'the Americans' and 'the Soviets' or 'West Block' and 'East Block' (that was only in the novelisation) and so it has been argued that this is a new division of the world but it is clear that writer Johnny Byrne was thinking of the Cold War lasting for another century even if he avoids clarifying which side the Seabase is on. Unfortunately by the time the story's tenth anniversary appeared the world political situation had drastically changed and so although 2084 is a very long way away at the time of writing, it is hard to envisage this story as anything like what that time will be.

This story also sees the revival of the Silurians and the Sea Devils, both last seen in the respective Jon Pertwee stories named after them. Whilst those stories were 14 and 12 years old when Warriors of the Deep was first transmitted, the impact and long lasting effect of Malcolm Hulke's novelisation of the first story should not be ignored and so the revival gap diminishes somewhat. To the non-dedicated fan it doesn't matter if the monsters have appeared before or not - there have been other times when the Doctor has known about new races and characters - but for those who are familiar with the creatures it soon becomes clear that Warriors of the Deep is a big letdown. The costumes are very different, the Silurians' voices are electronic and their third eye has now become a flashing bulb indicating which one is speaking rather than a focusing point for their mental energies and worse still the very premise of the creatures has changed drastically. The earlier stories had clearly established that the reptiles sought merely to reawaken and establish their civilisation once more, with divisions between those who wanted to try for peaceful coexistence with the humans and those who wished to wipe them out completely, but now they are shown as ruthless and making no concessions whatsoever to a chance of any form of negotiated peace. The Doctor and Icthar have met before but it is hard to tell if this is an unseen adventure or a reference to Doctor Who and the Silurians.

The convenient plot device of the Sea Base being stocked with hexachromite indicates a laziness on the script's part, whilst the body count for the story is immense. It is hard to think of a previous story where out of such a large cast and extras virtually every speaking character (bar one) and many extras are wiped out completely. The script is a hideous mish-mash that completely fails to work as much more than a glorified action piece and the Doctor's final line 'There should have been another way' completely fails to convince from the way the story has progressed.

The cast are a mixture of clichés such as Tom Adams' solid Vorshak and utterly bizarre characters such as Ingrid Pitt's Solow who encounters the Myrka and reacts by trying to engage it in martial arts rather than fleeing while she can. The characterisation is generally poor, with the Doctor establishing his credentials all too easily through the crew's discovery of the TARDIS and the whole story limps along. It is hard to feel any sympathy for the deaths of any characters.

The production of this story routinely takes a knocking but it must be said in its defence that the model work of the Seabase and the Silurians' vessel is extremely good. Unfortunately that is just about where it ends. The interior of the Seabase completely fails to come across as an underwater military outpost, whilst the lighting is ridiculously high. There are far too many "secure" doors that look like rubber when they collapse, whilst the Sea Devil costumes completely fail to generate any sense of terror. Much has already been written about the Myrka but this has merely served to distract attention from the other weak elements of the story. All in all Warriors of the Deep is a story that sinks even lower than the Seabase. 1/10

Doctor Who - Beneath the Surface can be purchased from Amazon.co.uk.