The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon

The Ambassadors OF DEATH: Episode 1 (21/03/10) Well, that was just like The Sweeney! Welcome to 'The Ambassadors...OF DEATH'. It was all very fast and exciting. What to say? Well, basically Mars Probe 7 blasted off from Mars with its crew seven months ago, then contact was lost. Recovery 7 docked with Mars Probe 7 in a weird-but-cool sort-of pre-titles bit and now communication has been lost with that! Meanwhile, the space station has received a coded communication which the Doctor heard on the News report and is trying to decipher. However, someone in a warehouse in London has already sent a coded reply - UNIT went in and had a gunfight, the lackies were caught but their bosses escaped, destroying their transmitter. And back at Mission Control, French Taunter, er, I mean the uncooperative Frenchman Doctor Taltalian has just pulled a gun on the Doctor and Liz. It all looks very swish and is very gripping, if a little confusing, but just as good as last week. What else? Li...

Doctor Who And The Silurians: Episode 1 (31/01/10) Good start this week. The Doctor and Liz have been called to help the Brigadier investigate goings on at a Nuclear research complex built into a cave system in Derbyshire. There's an unusually high level of people having nervous breakdowns on the staff, and two scientists were attacked while pot-holing - one was killed and the other has gone mad and started drawing weird reptile men on the walls of his hospital room. Meanwhile, chief scientist Doctor Quinn and his deputy seem to be up to something; the man running the place, Doctor Lawrence, is determined to keep the place running at full power and seems likely to crack up at any point, too; and the security officer is determined to make sure everything's done by the book, which means he's very suspicious of the Doctor as the Brigadier has forbidden a security check on him. There was a wonderful scene at the start with the Doctor tinkering with an old yellow road...

Spearhead From Space: Episode 1 (03/01/10) Wow! It's in colour! It's on film! It's on location! It looks fantastic! The Brigadier's back along with UNIT who are investigating a meteor shower in some woods near Ashbridge Cottage Hospital. The Time Lords have put the TARDIS down right at the centre of the shower and the Doctor's unconscious body was found by UNIT soldiers and taken to the hospital. The Doctor has two hearts and weird blood, and the Brigadier went to see the Doctor but didn't recognise him. The new Doctor does look quite different (played now by Jon Pertwee, who's famous for comedy radio shows and a couple of Carry On films) being tall with greyish brown and white hair. He still sounds the same, but also a little different. The story started with UNIT tracking the meteors, then went to Lethbridge-Stewart meeting scientist Dr Elizabeth Shaw who's been hijacked from her studies at Cambridge to aide their investigations. She's a sc...

Having reached the end of the Troughton era it's time for me to cast an eye back on the Second Doctor and his adventures. I have to be honest about this one; after three years of variety and experimentation throughout Hartnell's reign, I find the Troughton era a difficult one. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with either Patrick's performance (which would influence more than one actor to take on the role in the decades to come), the stories or the companions, but the era is very much one of transformation. In the space of three seasons it goes from being a family-orientated show to being one quite squarely targeted at a younger audience. Whilst there are still a number of stories which hark back to the days when there was something in there for everyone (and foreshadow the grittier take of the early 70s), this era is where the remit for the show being an adventure series with educational leanings comes to an end and it becomes an adventure series for children ...