Who In Review: The Macra Terror

Patrick Troughton's take on the Doctor was very different from William Hartnell's, necessarily so, and his time on the show saw it evolve from an adventure series about travelling through time into one very much about aliens. It took a while for the actor to settle into the role, and for the production team to settle on the right formula for his interpretation, but they eventually hit the right mix with my favourite Troughton story:

The Macra Terror

You're probably all thinking there are far better stories than this missing Season 4 caper. Troughton got a lot of memorable and classic stories; his debut in The Power Of The Daleks is brilliant, the Season Four finale is equally stunning killing off the Daleks (at the time) once and for all, and David Whitaker arguably understands the Daleks far better than their creator did. Likewise, later stories such as The Enemy Of The World, The Invasion and The War Games are epic tales with great direction and wonderful location work, peppered with fascinating and varied characters. But for me, The Macra Terror is superior to all these because it epitomises the very best of the ideas that underpin the Troughton era, exhibits some great concepts and uses the main cast really well.

The serials which precede The Macra Terror saw the production team experimenting with different approaches and styles for the new Doctor. His first story saw him playing strange and mysterious, The Highlanders continued with the unpredictability of the character and his habit of dressing up. The Underwater Menace saw recognisable aspects of the Second Doctor we all know starting to emerge in a hit and miss comedy with some dodgy acting and dodgier design, and The Moonbase was a more sophisticated retread of The Tenth Planet by which time Troughton had clearly got a fix on how he was playing the character. The Macra Terror, however, is the first to actually be written for the Second Doctor and his three companions, rather than giving half of Ben's lines to Jamie or having Jamie unconscious for half of the story. Polly takes on the role of the typical companion, mostly accompanying the Doctor. But what happens to Ben and Jamie is very different and shows an understanding of their characters, rather than just writing for companions 1, 2 & 3.

The Colony, in which the Doctor et al. find themselves, is being controlled by the Macra, giant insect/bacteria/crab-like creatures which need a gas poisonous to Humans to live. In order to mine for the gas, they've enslaved the colonists by turning the Colony into an incredibly jolly, happy holiday camp where the day is regulated by cheerful music and catchy jingles, the colonists hold festivities and dance competitions, and everyone is very happy to work. But they're all being brainwashed. The concept is very Orwellian at heart, with huge Telescreens everywhere showing a static image of the Controller's face when he makes public addresses, but rather than having the society impoverished and living in a climate of fear, Ian Stewart Black has their subjugation enforced using the exact opposite - these people are slaves, but they're happy slaves. That is, until they unwittingly see a Macra (who only come out at night, after curfew), at which point reality kicks in and they go a little mad - like Medok - and have to visit the Correction Hospital. Medok is the way in for the Doctor. The first person they encounter, he's on the run from the Colony's guards, attacks Ben and is subdued and taken away. He's one of the last patients in the Colony and, once he's experienced the pleasantries and niceties on offer, the Doctor visits Medok to find out what's going on. It's this juxtaposition of the overly nice, the excessive cheer with Medok's obvious terror which makes The Macra Terror work so well. And it's the way in which the Macra brainwash the Colonists which fits so well with the personalities of Ben and Jamie.

Whilst sleeping, a gas is pumped into their sleep cubicle to make them susceptible and a voice intones "everything in the Colony is good and beautiful" and instructs total obedience to the leaders. Ben, as a sailor and therefore used to following orders, is perfectly set up to fall under the Macra's control. Jamie, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. He's only recently started travelling with the Doctor and so is finding it difficult to settle in the strange surroundings. Also, as a Highlander from the Jacobite uprising he will have got used to remaining alert and suspicious. He's clearly uneasy in the Colony from the moment they arrive finding the Refreshing Department strange and the people stranger. Not sleeping well, he's woken by the propaganda and rebels against its instructions, albeit subconsciously. When the Doctor comes in and destroys the brainwashing devices, Jamie hasn't fallen under the Macra's control, but Ben has. How Ben acts, the softening of his Cockney accent and the betrayal of his friends, is wonderfully played. The Doctor allows him to turn them in to the authorities because he knows Ben can't help what he's doing and it also serves the Doctor's own plans. He has a great line where he tells Ben that Jamie won't be as understanding as he himself is being, and Ben's internal conflict is brilliantly played by Michael Craze throughout the rest of the story. For the first time since Jamie's arrival, the show feels like a proper ensemble piece.

What makes this story so great is that it shows the Doctor doing what he does best - working with the underdogs, subverting authority and overthrowing a dictatorship. It's a motif which will occur again and again, and is a trait very specifically started with Troughton's Doctor. Hartnell would help those in need but mainly as a figure of authority opposing the wrongdoers. Troughton helps those in need, but he goes in on their level, allows himself to be arrested, locked up, treated like a criminal in order to get the oppressors to underestimate him and to get the oppressed to help themselves. Hints of this aspect of his character were seen in The Highlanders, but it most clearly starts here.

As for the Macra themselves? The props are cumbersome and (as seen in the few remaining clips) don't move a great deal, but they're massive crustaceans and the lighting they're given works in their favour. This is the story which terrified one of my work colleagues when she was 8 - "the one with the giant crabs" - and she vividly recalled the scenes with Polly and Ben at the construction site and the Macra in the Control room. As for the Macra as an adversary, I actually feel a little sorry for them. They may be enslaving the Colonists, but at least they're ensuring the Colonists are happy! And they're doing it to access gas which they need in order to survive. It's one of a very few early serials to have the monsters painted in quite such an obvious shade of grey, and whilst doing this, it also shows how brutal the Doctor sometimes has to be; there's no way of ensuring these two species can co-exist, and by knowingly enslaving the Humans the Macra forfeit their rights. It's a similar set up to Black's previous story The Savages but with a much harsher conclusion.

I wrote the above prior to the announcement that The Macra Terror was being animated and released on DVD and BluRay, and having been able to watch not only a reconstruction of the episodes, but also the serial re-imagined in animated form my love of this story hasn't diminished. The reconstructions, incorporating the remaining live-action clips with telesnaps and set photographs give a wonderful idea of how the episodes felt on transmission. The animation, on the other hand, takes the subject material and makes it into something which the 1960s budget and technical abilities could never have achieved. The Macra themselves are as imposing and frightening as I imagine they were in my work colleague's 8 year old mind, unencumbered by having to be a large, physical prop, and the animation itself is the most sophisticated there's been on a BBC release so far. I have to admit, I was quite surprised that The Macra Terror would be the second fully animated 'missing' Doctor Who serial but I was overjoyed when it was announced, and quite impressed that my two favourite Patrick Troughton stories were those first chosen for the fully animated treatment. It seems to have received a very positive response, as well, along the lines of the reappraisal The Enemy Of The World underwent following its recovery.

When it boils down to it, I think what I like most about The Macra Terror is what it says about society in general; leaders may make life seem rosy, but if it's all enforced then it's still enslavement. You can be singing a happy song and still be oppressed - things are not always what they seem.