Well, after what can only be described as a superb opening series for Jon Pertwee there’s no pressure going into his second…
The Autons are back but obviously utterly overshadowed by a certain someone else arriving on the scene for the first time. And, of course, Roger Delgado nails the role of the Master from minute 1.
The story is interesting enough. The Autons are giving an Earth invasion a second crack and the Master is assisting by committing mass murder of Earthlings in order to cause a spot of confusion before they land. Obviously, his plots are over elaborate basically unnecessary but that’s half the fun.
Sadly, this story loses marks for containing one of my least favourite scenes in Doctor Who history. After a bit of a kerfuffle the Doctor and Jo are rescued by a police car with two officers in the front but quickly they are shown to be unveiled as Autons. I hate to be the guy that takes things over seriously but it’s utterly irresponsible. I also know that they specify it’s NOT a police car but it’s still a hugely thoughtless thing to do. When I started this blog I was interested in how the police were represented in Doctor Who. Up until now it’s been either as fools or as muscle the Doctor uses from time to time. This scene, however, shows utter disregard for the fact that children watch the show and should feel able to trust the police. Sorry for the rant but it always winds me up…
Aaaaanyway…
The Doctor annoys me a bit in this – he pooh poohs important clues raised by other people – Jo notes the plastic promotion and The Brig notices the coach hire – the Doc undermines them both. Arrogant sod but nonetheless appears to take credit when the truth is discovered, even though it could have been discovered more quickly is he’d listened to those pesky humans.
The Doctor and The Master meeting properly is great. It’s a cracking scene and quickly establishes the rivalry that’s coming…
The story itself is undermined at the end a little, as The Master realises that the Autons will betray him once they’ve landed. The Doctor mentions it in passing and the Master doesn’t take much – well, any – convincing before switching sides. This annoys me. The Master is introduced as a genius to adversary The Doctor and yet he’s fallen into the age old trap of assuming that just because he assists an alien invasion, said aliens will be nice to him when they land. Did this not cross his mind sooner? Would a proper villain not have taken this remote possibility into account? This does rather spoil the ending for me as it effectively undermines everything that has gone before.
The introduction of Jo is actually quite interesting. She is brought in as a pretty hare-brained blonde but as the story progresses you see that she may actually be quite handy after all. She’s not a scientist (and the departure of Liz Shaw is a massive shame) but she’s clearly likely to be quite useful by the end of the story.
This is basically a decent story but lets itself down a lot along the way. Can’t get more than a 6/10 from me, sadly.
The Autons are back but obviously utterly overshadowed by a certain someone else arriving on the scene for the first time. And, of course, Roger Delgado nails the role of the Master from minute 1.
The story is interesting enough. The Autons are giving an Earth invasion a second crack and the Master is assisting by committing mass murder of Earthlings in order to cause a spot of confusion before they land. Obviously, his plots are over elaborate basically unnecessary but that’s half the fun.
Sadly, this story loses marks for containing one of my least favourite scenes in Doctor Who history. After a bit of a kerfuffle the Doctor and Jo are rescued by a police car with two officers in the front but quickly they are shown to be unveiled as Autons. I hate to be the guy that takes things over seriously but it’s utterly irresponsible. I also know that they specify it’s NOT a police car but it’s still a hugely thoughtless thing to do. When I started this blog I was interested in how the police were represented in Doctor Who. Up until now it’s been either as fools or as muscle the Doctor uses from time to time. This scene, however, shows utter disregard for the fact that children watch the show and should feel able to trust the police. Sorry for the rant but it always winds me up…
Aaaaanyway…
The Doctor annoys me a bit in this – he pooh poohs important clues raised by other people – Jo notes the plastic promotion and The Brig notices the coach hire – the Doc undermines them both. Arrogant sod but nonetheless appears to take credit when the truth is discovered, even though it could have been discovered more quickly is he’d listened to those pesky humans.
The Doctor and The Master meeting properly is great. It’s a cracking scene and quickly establishes the rivalry that’s coming…
The story itself is undermined at the end a little, as The Master realises that the Autons will betray him once they’ve landed. The Doctor mentions it in passing and the Master doesn’t take much – well, any – convincing before switching sides. This annoys me. The Master is introduced as a genius to adversary The Doctor and yet he’s fallen into the age old trap of assuming that just because he assists an alien invasion, said aliens will be nice to him when they land. Did this not cross his mind sooner? Would a proper villain not have taken this remote possibility into account? This does rather spoil the ending for me as it effectively undermines everything that has gone before.
The introduction of Jo is actually quite interesting. She is brought in as a pretty hare-brained blonde but as the story progresses you see that she may actually be quite handy after all. She’s not a scientist (and the departure of Liz Shaw is a massive shame) but she’s clearly likely to be quite useful by the end of the story.
This is basically a decent story but lets itself down a lot along the way. Can’t get more than a 6/10 from me, sadly.