TV Review: Doctor Who: The Green Death (1973)

Doctor Who: The Green Death (1973) written by Robert Sloman and directed by Michael E. Briant

The Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) has finally gotten permission from the Time Lords to leave Earth. He tries to convince his companion, U.N.I.T. employee Jo Grant (Katy Manning), to go off-world but she wants to go to Wales. She sees news of a fatal mining accident seemingly caused by Global Chemicals. She wants to join in the protests and leaves the Doctor behind. The mining accident turns out to be much more bizarre and sinister--a man was brought up with glowing green patches on his skin. Global Chemicals is in charge of the mine site and doesn't want anyone investigating what's in the mine. The Doctor eventually catches up to Jo, though he has to go down into the mine since she's gone to help out another miner trapped down there. They find some creepy crawlies down there. But is the subterranean threat worse than Global Chemicals, which has been brainwashing its employees and is run by an unseen character called "The Boss"?

The story is an early 1970s cautionary tale about the evils of fossil fuel. Jo teams up with a local professor who's developing mushrooms as meat substitutes when he's not protesting Global Chemicals's activities. The ambiguity about the villain of the piece is interesting and keeps the viewer engaged. I found the revelation of who "The Boss" is disappointing. The evil maggots from the underground actually look decent though the episode has a lot of low-budget-looking green screen work that I found distracting.

Mildly recommended--this is a fairly run-of-the-mill classic Doctor Who series.

TV Review: Doctor Who: The Five Doctors (1983)

Doctor Who: The Five Doctors (1983) written by Terrance Dicks and directed by Peter Moffatt

The Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) experiences some cosmic illness and is sucked back to the Time Lords' home world of Gallifrey. But not to just any part of Gallifrey--he's been pulled into the Death Zone. The Death Zone is an ancient area where combatants were placed to provide gladiator-style entertainment. The Zone was sealed off by Rassilon, a Time Lord with great powers and an even greater moral sense. As it happens, not only is the Fifth Doctor hijacked, but also the First Doctor (played by Richard Hurndall, replacing the late William Hartnell), the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton), and the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee). The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) is also kidnapped but he gets trapped in the time vortex and does not arrive on Gallifrey.The four Doctors travel to the Dark Tower at the heart of the Death Zone. The Tower is Rassilon's tomb, a place that legendarily can grant amazing powers.

The other Time Lords see the disturbance of the Doctor's timeline and send in the Master (Anthony Ainley) to get the Doctor out of the Death Zone. Sending in his worst enemy seems like a bad idea and none of the Doctors wants to work with him. They go through a lot of shenanigans to get to Rassilon's burial chamber, where the true mastermind behind the scheme reveals himself and tries both to achieve immortality and eliminate the Doctors.

The episode celebrated the twentieth year of Doctor Who. Baker did not want to come back for this special episode, so footage from an unaired episode was used to shoe-horn his Doctor in. The plot is a nice excuse to bring back not only the previous incarnations of the Doctor but also a lot of beloved companions and villains, some in minor cameo roles. Viewers need a bit of familiarity with these Doctors in order to appreciate a lot of the jokes and references. Without that background, the episode is probably much less interesting and enjoyable.

Recommended, but be sure to have some knowledge of the first several incarnations of the Doctor.

TV Review: Doctor Who: Inferno (1970)

Doctor Who: Inferno (1970) written by Don Houghton and directed by Douglas Camfield

Third Doctor Jon Pertwee is advising UNIT (United Nations Intelligence Taskforce) on a project to drill through the crust of the Earth. The project is headed by Dr. Stahlman, a headstrong scientist obsessed with tapping into the power resources deep within the Earth. The project is nicknamed "Inferno." The Doctor urges caution; Stahlman ignores him. His urging is justified when the TARDIS control panel throws the Doctor into a parallel dimension where Inferno is nearing completion and things are not turning out well at all.

The story is interesting and doesn't seem dragged out even though it lasts seven episodes (166 minutes). The alternate dimension has a fascist England with the UNIT people acting as government enforcers rather than benevolent peacekeepers. The twist is fun and I'm sure the actors enjoyed a chance to do something different with their characters. Pertwee is his usual gruff self--a bit overbearing and a bit too serious. His comedy is slightly mean-spirited, making me like him less and less as I see more and more of him. I might be done watching episodes with him unless I hear or read something especially good about them.

TV Review: Doctor Who: Spearhead from Space (1970)

Doctor Who: Spearhead from Space (1970) written by Robert Holmes and directed by Derek Martinus

The Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) makes his debut (in color, no less!) when the Earth is threatened by invasion yet again. A group of objects have fallen to Earth and are not the typical space debris. They are glowing orbs being collected by odd-looking mannequin people (and one cantankerous human farmer). The Doctor is still recovering from his transformation, so roughly the first of the four episodes is more about the local reaction, especially the activities of U.N.I.T., the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. They are trying to locate and investigate the orbs as well as determine the identity of the Doctor (since he has a new face, he doesn't look like the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) anymore). Meanwhile, the baddies are slowly revealing themselves and their nefarious plans.

Slow is probably the key word in describing this story arc. Not much happens in the first episode other than establishing the various characters. The plot moves forward very slowly and the action doesn't pick up until late in episode two. The finale has some wobbly special effects, a bit of a shock after a fairly good, minimalist presentation of the bad guys. Pertwee is more dashing and robust as the Doctor, and not so comical as others before and after him. He may be a little too serious as the Doctor, though his good looks are offset by the flamboyant cape and puffy shirt. He's not my favorite Doctor but he does a good job.

TV Review: Doctor Who: The Mind of Evil

Doctor Who: The Mind of Evil written by Don Houghton and directed by Timothy Combe

The Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) travels with companion Jo Grant (Katy Manning) to Stangmore Prison to observe the latest in correctional technology--the Keller Device. The machine is used to remove all the evil thoughts and impulses from whoever is subjected to it. Professor Keller has used it over a hundred times in Switzerland and this demonstration will be the first use in England. The machine goes horribly awry and the Doctor begins to investigate.

Meanwhile, U.N.I.T. (the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce) takes on two missions. First, they are providing security to a world peace conference in London. Second, they will escort a Thunderbolt missile to its destruction. The Thunderbolt is armed with chemical weapons and is illegal, so they plan to dump it in the ocean so it can't be put to ill use. The conference has problems with the Chinese delegation, causing no end of problems for Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. He recalls the Doctor to help the situation, leaving Jo to cover the creepy problems at the prison.

The various threads take their time coming together but of course they do. If you know classic Doctor Who, the DVD cover spoils who the main villain is (though he is also mentioned on the back). He takes his time showing up, which fits the pacing of this six-part series. Only a few of the scenes look like padding to make the 146-minute running time. The story moves slowly but methodically to its conclusion in a satisfactory manner.

Pertwee isn't my favorite Doctor, his performance is uneven. The villain is very good. He doesn't have the over-the-top cheesiness that often comes with being a Doctor Who baddie. Jo is a competent, self-reliant, and compassionate companion--the sort of solid support the Doctor needs. Overall, the acting is good.

The production values are pretty high for Doctor Who. Since the villains are the machine and a person, there's no rubber suits or dodgy special effects constantly popping up. Only a few times the show looks dated and under-budgeted. They used Dover Castle for the prison exteriors which looks great and makes a good setting for drama and action. The synthetic music score is a little annoying and definitely dates the show.

Another fun adventure with the Doctor!

TV Review: Doctor Who: Death to the Daleks

Doctor Who: Death to the Daleks

The Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) are planning a beach holiday but the TARDIS crash lands on the planet Exxilon. All the electrical power systems have been drained, so the Doctor lights an oil lamp (he has one in a cabinet) and they head out. The planet is a bleak wasteland populated by mysterious humanoids who attack and/or kidnap any aliens. The Doctor and Sarah Jane run into some humans who've come to the planet for a special element that will cure a disease infecting millions of people from the outer rim planets. Their ship is also powered down but they were able to send a distress signal before losing all power. They hear a ship coming and they hope it is the rescue ship. When the new ship lands, out come the Daleks! The Daleks have also lost power and they are forced to ally with the humans to solve their problems. Naturally, the Daleks make bad allies, but are they worse than the Exxilons?

The episode has an intriguing premise that plays out slowly but creatively. The uneasy alliance with the Daleks creates some nice tension (obviously the Daleks will turn on them the first chance they get, but how soon?) and the locals have an interesting culture. As is common on the old Doctor Who, the visual effects aren't always the best but the sound design is excellent. It's an enjoyable story and worth watching.