Serial 60: Day of the Daleks

Doctor: Jon Pertwee (3rd Doctor)
Companions: Jo Grant

Writtten by: Louis Marks
Directed by: Paul Bernard

Editor's Note: Hey, guys! I have the week off because I'm prepping for what's going to be a really... weird entry in a few weeks. So Cassandra is here and talking about a big ol' loopy time travel story. But with Daleks. Word on the street is she liked it. And you know what they say about 'dem streets...

Background & Significance: This story is kind of a big deal. 

As the first story in Doctor Who’s 9^th season, “Day of the Daleks” promised to not only open the season with a bang, but also—well, Daleks.

Since their apparent departure in the epic Troughton serial, “Evil of the Daleks,” the Doctor’s first foes stayed off the air for essentially four years, before the BBC started wheedling script editor Terrance Dicks and producer Barry Letts to bring them back.  

But bring them back they did, and, though originally intended to appear at the very end of the season, instead got inserted into this lively little adventure, to open the season with a bit of spectacle.

“Day of the Daleks” is written by Louis Marks who wrote the enjoyable serial “Planet of Giants” wayyyy back in Hartnell’s second season.  He would later go on to write “Planet of Evil” and “Masque of Mandragora,” which gives him a pretty solid track record, at least in my book.  It’s directed by Paul Bernard, who would later go on to direct “The Time Monster” and “Frontier in Space,” so his track record after this is…not so good.  I honestly have no idea if this was a fluke or what, because… wow.

Anyway.  Enough of all that, let’s take a closer look, shall we?

Serial 63: The Mutants

Doctor: Jon Pertwee (3rd Doctor)
Companion: Jo Grant

Written by: Bob Baker and Dave Martin
Directed by: Christopher Barry

Background & Significance: Having just come off their first story "The Claws of Axos", Bob Baker and Dave Martin decided to do a story based on some real life issues. The idea they pitched that proved most sexy to script editor Terrance Dicks was an allegory about British colonialism in Africa, specifically the then-current "Apartheid" of South Africa, which was a form of racial segregation that kept the different racial groups segregated based on what quadrant they best corresponded to.

So, "business as usual", really.

In their defense (and I'm normally on such an offensive when it comes to them that I don't see why I shouldn't at the very least throw them a defensive bone once in a while; and this is the last time we're doing a Baker/Martin script so I might as well, right?), this sorta thing is ripe for a good science fiction story. Slap in a bit of a mythology and some crazy out there madness (in this case, Barry Letts's inclusion of the "the natives evolve" angle because he liked moths or something) and you're off to the races with a Doctor Who story based on some crazy expensive high concept shit which is your standard Baker/Martin affair.

But as you probably guessed, it didn't quite turn out the way they intended.

The biggest obstacle (in this case) to Baker/Martin's script was the inclusion of director Christopher Barry, previously known for his work on a bunch of major Doctor Who stories, including "The Daleks", "The Power of the Daleks", and "The Rescue" and who would later go on to direct "Robot", "The Creature From the Pit", and "The Brain of Morbius". See, Barry's problem was that he just wasn't interested in all that Apartheid in South Africa stuff. He really liked the sci-fi (did you see the other stories he worked on?) and so was more interested in all the science fiction trappings of the mutations and the space station and (in particular) the asshole of a station commander.

Needless to say, this story is in something of conflict with himself.

That said, it is always nice to see the Pertwee era do something off planet, even if this story is something of a bit of a stumble. The other offering this season, for example, did a much better job with it if you ask me, and it does provide an interlude between the season's two Master stories.... so... that's something. But enough gabbing. Let's just judge the damn thing.

So let's get to it!

Serial 62: The Sea Devils

Doctor: Jon Pertwee (3rd Doctor)
Companion: Jo Grant

Written by: Malcolm Hulke
Directed by: Michael Briant

Editor's Note: So we're back again after our month of celebration with yet another great story, in this case some Malcolm Hulke and "the return of the Silurians" in a way. But I'm not reviewing it. Guest-friend Cassandra is, but I'll be back next week for... something of an experiment. We'll see how that goes... But enough of me! Let's get to her!

Background & Significance: Let's talk about the sea, shall we?

In the history of Doctor Who, very rarely will you see a story set on water. Which is understandable, considering the trickiness of filming in such conditions, and also the considerable expenses of pulling it off. I imagine producer Barry Letts saw it as something of a challenge, because he specifically wanted to set a story in such circumstances when in the midst of planning out Season 9, Jon Pertwee's third season as the Doctor.

What ultimately became of this ambition is "The Sea Devils." Written by Malcolm Hulke, this would see the quasi-return of the Silurians, the main focus in his script from his story two seasons previous.

But it would also see the return of the Master, who hadn't been seen in a while. The Master had appeared in all of the stories in the previous season, but the Doctor Who team realized that this was a lot of overexposure for the character, and so decided to limit his appearances. So this story picks up from where we left off, with the Master in prison (which is actually more awesome than it sounds).

Aside from just a return of some villains and the decision to have a story set on and alongside the sea, I think "The Sea Devils" does some rather remarkable things as far as characters are concerned; which is rather surprising, considering the fact that this was the early 70s, and the emphasis on character development instead of plot was really a rare, almost unheard of thing. But the return of not only the Master, but the Silurians (the Sea Devils being their aquatic cousins) meant that this was to serve as a sort of sequel or companion piece to that previous story, with all of the baggage and repercussions that implies.

But enough of all that. Let's take a closer look, shall we?

Serial 64: The Time Monster

Doctor: Jon Pertwee (3rd Doctor)Companion: Jo Grant

Written by: Robert Sloman
Directed by: Paul Bernard

Editor's Note: Hey guys! Just popping in to give another introduction to another insight from friend-of-the-blog Cassandra! I'm trying to give her the rounds... A Dalek story, every Doctor in turn, a Cybermen story, etc. This is her Master story and boy howdy did this serial turn out to be just awful. I still feel bad about it. So as a result she's got some doozy awesome coming up in the future (one of which I just know I'm going to regret giving away, but c'est la). Anyways. This is Cassandra's take on what is probably going to end up being the WORST Jon Pertwee story we'll ever see (and please don't let anything be worse than this). So... yeah. Enjoy. Next week I'll be back with... more Tom Baker. But the good stuff. The early stuff. You'll like it. Maybe. Hope to see you back here then!

Background & Significance: After co-writing "The Daemons" with Barry Letts earlier in Season Eight, Robert Sloman was then asked to develop yet another story that combined sci-fi elements with mythology in a historical setting with UNIT and the Master along for the ride (because "The Daemons" was so popular). Also to be included were elements of the Doctor's past, which ended up beautifully realized in what I consider to be one of the greatest speeches in Doctor Who history. But we'll get to that later.

But instead of blending medieval images of Satan and cult worship and sci-fi all into some awesome, Sloman chose instead to focus this time on Classical imagery and the myth of Atlantis.

What we end up with, ladies and gents, is "The Time Monster", a seriously underwhelming serial that was boring as hell, and then in the last ten minutes totally jumped the shark in such a way that left me mystified and giggling. Again, we'll get to that later.

I'll forgive Sloman, though, because he went on to write Jo Grant's departure "The Green Death" and Pertwee's swansong "Planet of the Spiders". So that's awesome.

Also interesting to note is that this serial is the second-to-last appearance of Robert Delgado as The Master, "Frontier in Space" being his final appearance before his tragic death.

Oh, and the guy who ends up wearing the Darth Vader suit in the Star Wars movies has an appearance as well.

But enough of all that. Let's take a closer look, shall we?

Serial 61: The Curse of Peladon

Doctor: Jon Pertwee (3rd Doctor)
Companion: Jo Grant

Written by: Brian Hayles
Directed by: Lennie Mayne

Background & Significance: "The Curse of Peladon" is an exploration of what happens when The Doctor goes out to help out another society, not necessarily to stop a problem, but to actually help some folk out.

People have said that this story is essentially what if Doctor Who told a story in the vein of Classic Star Trek, and while I'm not a yes man by any stretch of the imagination, I'm hard pressed to disagree with them. Doctor Who, as I know it, is this show that's a whole lot more about fun and big adventure a la Star Wars than the more "serious" and "culture examiney" genre of shows like Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica. That's not to say Doctor Who doesn't do commentary, but a show about political maneuverings and intrigue is certainly not the story I tend to look for when it comes to Doctor Who.

Then again, Doctor Who has this chameleonic ability to blend and mix genres as they see necessary. Want an alien invasion story? Do Daleks. You want zombies? Do Cybermen! It's like zombies, but they're robots! They can do western stories or horror stories or thriller stories or romance stories or war stories... It all depends on what a writer wants to do with this story. The possibilities are endless.

Granted, certain of these genres blend in with Doctor Who more than others, and political intrigue (which inevitably involves lots of people talking and very little action running) is not the easiest story to pull off.

But how in the world do they pull this off? The odds are stacked against them. If there's one thing wrong with classic Who, it's the propensity to have too much talking and cut back on the high adventure. So how do they make this, a decidedly not adventure story, into a kick ass adventure story?

I'm gonna blame the cage match. But we'll get there soon enough.

So let's get to it.