Doctor Who: The Claws of Axos

Serial Title: The Claws of Axos
Series: 8
Episodes: 4
Doctor: Jon Pertwee
Companions: Jo Grant (Katy Manning), Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney)

Synopsis:
An alien spacecraft appears, heading for Earth, and blowhard government official Chinn (why do they give all these pompous idiots the authority to take control of UNIT? Do you think they'd just let "Senator Sturmwell from Nebraska" (picking a state at random, here, so no offense intended, Nebraskites!) just take control of the US Military? Isn't that what you have trained, experienced military commanders for?) steps in and orders it shot out of the sky.

The attack fails and the spacecraft lands- and devours a homeless man, grabbing him with a giant claw and sucking him inside the spacecraft. It causes all sorts of freak weather activities as well. Off to a promising start in Earth/Alien relations, the Brigadier, the Doctor, Jo, and American agent Bill Filer, dispatched to coordinate with UNIT on the worldwide manhunt for the at-large Master (whom the Doctor continues to insist has left Earth now that he has a dematerialization circuit handy, but on whom the Earth is taking no chances), unaware of the spacecraft's hobo-appetite, head out to meet the alien spacecraft firsthand.

Inside, they are met by the Axons, gold-skinned, faux-beautiful humanoids that have come to offer humanity a gift: Axonite, a miracle substance that can replicate and duplicate any material (including replicating food and power, ending all material needs). The material is taken to the nearby Nuton power plant for testing as Chinn starts getting delusions of Earth-revolutionizing grandeur.

Meanwhile, Bill Filer arrives separately from the group and is captured and held next to the Axon's other prisoner... the Master, captured soon after leaving Earth, who has led them back to this world as an easily-conquerable prize in return for his freedom (not yet granted). Filer has fulfilled his mission to find the Master, but is hardly in any position to do anything about it.

However, the Doctor suspects foul play, getting on Chinn's bad side, and insisting that he be allowed to join the team examining Axonite. Chinn, suspecting that UNIT and the Doctor will interfere in his becoming a global hero, retaliates by having the Doctor and UNIT placed... UNDER MILITARY ARREST...?!?!?! (SERIOUSLY, WHERE DOES HE GET THE AUTHORITY TO DO THIS?!??! I Did they elect a king of the entire planet, and this is his cousin or something?!?!) The Doctor, allowed to continue the examination under 'house arrest,' runs samples through an enormous 'light accelerator' machine.

The Axons create a false Bill Filer and send him to assassinate the Doctor, leading to a colossal battle around the light accelerator- but the real Bill Filer escapes and arrives just in time to destroy his duplicate by hurling them into the accelerator. The Axons are revealed to be horrific spaghetti-pile creatures, part of a collective intelligence, with the golden-beauties as false avatars... and, their evil plot revealed, they attack en masse, bulletproof, and armed with grappling claw-tipped tentacles that can explode a man simply by touching him. With UNIT under arrest, the standard military attempts to deal with them... and is slaughtered.

The Doctor and Jo are captured- the Axons know that the Doctor is a Time Lord, and want the secret of time travel (having captured the Master's TARDIS). They claim that they can restore the Doctor's knowledge of TARDIS operations, blocked by the Time Lords. Meanwhile, the Master escapes, and heads straight for the Doctor's TARDIS, intending to flee... but in the process of trying to make it operational, he is captured by the Brigadier! The Master bargains for his freedom in return for helping to defeat the Axons. He and the Brigadier make an excellent team, turning the power of the reactor and light accelerator, captured by the Axons to draw power form, back upon the Axon ship before they can activate the Axonite, a Trojan Horse that will envelop and devour the Earth.

The plan fails, but in the chaos, the Doctor and Jo escape... and the Doctor realizes that the avarice of the Axons could be used to trap them. In a ruse that even the audience almost believes, the Doctor convinces the Master that he is willing to team up to repair the TARDIS and escape the 'doomed' Earth, valuing a regained mobility over any loyalty to Earth. With the Master's help, the TARDIS is repaired, and the Doctor takes the two of them to the Axon ship.

The Doctor then offers his own deal to the Axons, double-crossing the Master: to link the power of his own TARDIS with the Master's captured unit and to give the Axons the power of time travel. However, he instead uses the power of the linked TARDISes to generate a time loop, trapping the Axons inside- because of their linked, interconnected nature, every bit of the Axons, including their foot-soldier avatars and the Axonite molecules throughout the world, is pulled in. The Doctor uses his TARDIS to escape the loop as it closes up, as the again-betrayed Master (seriously, for two serials in a row, he's been the honorable one that is double-crossed by a treacherous, lying, dishonorable Doctor!) escapes to his own TARDIS and likewise flees.

Oh, and that jerk Chinn...? No repercussions. He escapes the Axon attack, and is last seen alive and well with no repercussions for his absurdly heavy-handed, idiotic tactics. Talk about a flippin' loose thread...!

The Doctor returns to Earth, though not out of any loyalty to UNIT or Jo... instead, his TARDIS has been reprogrammed to rematerialize on Earth whenever it dematerializes. Even though, with the Master's help, the ship is functional again, the Doctor still lacks the knowledge to pilot it, and even if he could, it is irrevocably tethered to Earth- like, as the Doctor puts it, "a galactic yo-yo."

Review:
The Claws of Axos (also known as the far more generic ‘The Vampire From Space,’ which the first two episodes were produced as, animated titles and all, before they changed it; other candidates included ‘Doctor Who and the Gift’ and ‘The Friendly Invasion’) starts off with a blithering barrage of irritating illogic, and quickly (and unexpectedly) transforms into one of the best Third Doctor serials yet!

The beginning unquestionably starts off on the wrong foot- the alien spacecraft incoming, and UNIT ascertains a firing solution, which the (anti-military) Doctor (seriously, I wanted to punch his smug face in again for the first couple of episodes- thank goodness the likability meter was cranked again in the second half!) snipes at. "Just a precaution, Doctor," notes the Brig, reasonably. "Shoot first, ask questions later, eh, Brigadier?" asks the Doctor testily. Uhhhh... no. That is the exact OPPOSITE of what a precaution is, and exactly 180 from what the Brigadier just said!!! The Doctor's again just being hostile to prudence for no good reason, and demonstrating a complete lack of understanding of what a precaution is! To which Chinn responds by... immediately firing missiles at the as-yet-unidentified craft! Demonstrating that HE doesn't understand what a precaution is, either- proving the Doctor right by way of clumsy writing, despite having just given the Brig a line entirely contradicting this course of action! In fact, the whole first episode and part of the second is like this- characters behaving illogically, acting as if the last scene they were in or the last line given to them never happened, and generally doing things for no GOOD reason, only because plot contrivance told them to. It's all very ham-fisted and quite obnoxious.

And yet... somehow... at some point you don't even recognize, it begins to turn itself around. The Doctor and his obnoxious attitudes are taken out of center-stage, and Bill Filer and the Master- both entertaining and enjoyable characters, take his place. The narrative keeps up a brisk pace. The effects astound. The plot keeps interest. And when the Doctor does return, he's had a seeming personality transplant that's sanded down the prickles. And suddenly you find yourself saying "Hey, I LIKE this Third Doctor adventure! And not like Inferno or Ambassadors or Spearhead, where I can accentuate the positive because I'm loyal to the show... but like Terror of the Autons, where I genuinely ENJOY watching it! Except... more so!!" Before you know it, the Doctor is voyaging in the TARDIS again, the bad guys are being routed, explosions and plot twists galore, and all of a sudden, you LIKE this story!! The past transgressions are forgiven, and you can fully invest in the thrill of the serial. How did this happen? Well, let's explore some of the elements of the story and see if we can find out...

As per my quandary in the last serial, the Master returns- in quite an unexpected way- captured on his way off Earth. At the end, he departs again in a working TARDIS. In addition, the Doctor's dematerialization circuit is repaired, only for him to discover a new problem; his TARDIS is programmed to re-route to Earth. Still, now it is fully functional again, and potentially capable of travel across the globe. Both of these are extremely surprising developments- the expected status quo is being kept up (Doctor stuck on Earth, Master as recurring villain)- but without stagnating the story. The situations for both of them are continuing to develop, along paths that bring them back to the expected place through natural and well-thought-out plots instead of Gilligan's Island-style contrivances to keep everything from developing and resetting at the end of each episode. This is a good sign for the series- the writers are putting some effort into things! Still, is that it? The entire reason why things are so good...? Despite the detractions? I mean, everyone was acting pretty obnoxious at the beginning- All right, let's run down the characters, and see whether they helped or hindered.

Chinn... hindered. A lot. Here was General Carrington, Mark II- only this time, instead of an obsessed madman in charge, it's a greedy fool with bureaucratic power. Was there anything more satisfying than seeing his home office strip him of it, and offer his resignation for him to sign? Or when the soldiers turned on him? That the Brigadier didn't arrest HIM is a testament to his patience. This character was obnoxious, though more of a comic foil than a true antagonist. Again, once he was sidelined, the story got much better.

Bill Filer... helped. A great deal. He served more or less as the protagonist, taking some heroic actions, having a great (well-staged and well-realized) double-fight, and generally acting heroic- I was glad for his survival at the end, and wouldn't mind seeing him again.

The Master... was at his best here. He had some great sequences- his bridge-jump stunt sequence, his mulling over the TARDIS repairs, his taking a Doctor-like role in the first confrontation between the Master and the Brig, his working with UNIT and the Doctor, his disbelief that the Doctor would actually betray his friends- he had a lot to do, and carried much of the middle of the story on his own. The real surprise came when he actually fed the power to overload the Axons as promised- he had taken every previous opportunity to try and weasel his way into escape, it was the one bit of honesty that proved shocking! Again, with the Axons as the true villains, the master becomes more of a foil and a grudging ally- a role in which he does quite well.

Jo... must be really cold. Those location shots looked downright frigid (courtesy of an overnight snowstorm- out of continuity with the vagrant shots shot a few weeks before, necessitating an added line about ‘freak weather conditions’ resulting from the Axos ship’s arrival), and as short as that skirt was...! Jo continues the trend-reversal from Mind of Evil in this serial; though she is not as useful or active here as she was in that serial, she makes positive contributions (whilst not-understanding a lot in order to give the Doctor exposition opportunities). While certainly not the powerhouse that she was in the last serial- and rather reduced in role to accommodate the larger cast- her overall role was very positive- heaven help me, I think I'm actually beginning to like her as a companion!

The Brigadier... was likewise not the powerhouse of the last serial... but he is no-nonsense in his dealings, not over-reactive militarily, and you have to cheer when he gets the upper hand over that git, Chinn. And with both Chinn and the Master, he forgoes any kind of grudge, acting honestly, honorably, and practically to resolve the crises at hand. Again, a very positive portrayal.

And, the Doctor... oh, Doctor. So irritating in the beginning; why must you always begrudge the military prudent precautions against potential threats, especially those that turn out to be right every time? It was about the scene in the particle accelerator, facing off against that obnoxious and grating scientist, that I came to a realization about this Doctor- he is a jerk to everyone he comes in contact to, abrasive and rude. We like him when he is being a jerk to people we don't like (like Stahlman in Inferno), and get annoyed with him when he's a jerk to people we do (like the Brigadier, of late). Either way, he never stops being a jerk... he just re-directs it to targets we approve of sometimes. Well, the first half of the serial did him no favors, but the second half- starting with his escape with Jo (and use of number recitation to keep her conscious and rational), to his apparent-betrayal, and last-minute heroics, re-earned the good graces that he had in series 7. Overall, the second half fares much better for him than the first, and he ends the serial more likable than unlikeable... please, Doctor- keep up the trend!

Alright, More good than bad- and most of the bad centered in the first half. That could certainly account for things... but aren't we forgetting the two stars of the show?

The first, the Axons, are excellently realized- the pile-of-spaghetti true forms are a little clumsy, perhaps (reminding me of an unholy union between the Krotons and the Excalibans from the original Star Trek's "The Savage Curtain"), but the humanoid forms- with their golden skin, sculpted-looking hair, and strange golden bug-eyes, were quite effective (if goofily clad in flower-child hippie attire) and very alien- with excellent mannerisms and voices. Little alienesque touches abound- the biological technology and protruding claws, the use of tentacles primarily (resulting in a number of shocking moments, from the hauling in of the vagrant- WHY did they have to keep cutting to him so often? It got obnoxious- and Bill, to the stabbing of Bill with a tentacle in episode 3, to the explosive effects during the outdoor battle... all of which were superbly realized, creepy, alien, and disturbing), the wonderfully funny moment in which the Axons assume that frogs are one of our primary food animals, and embarrassingly continue with "Well, pretending that they were..." after finding out otherwise, the hanging alien eye (again, like an unholy crossbreed between a Star Wars dianoga and Max the computer from Fligth of the Navigator) with it's weird, biological, pulsing background, the round, mushroom-like protrusions making up much of the floor and the oddly-configured chair, and most excellently, the view screen!

A humanoid-Axon's head appears, slowly rotating left as it talks, then fading seamlessly to a straight-on gaze which slowly rotates to the right... then back to the center, rotating left, and so on... all done in one take with no rotation of the head, change in tone, or break in continuity- it is all one continuous take (probably accomplished with dual cameras)- it most definitely ISN'T the actor reciting part of the line, then going back to the middle and trying to mimic his own performance- it's one seamless, unbroken take that is marvelously alien and astoundingly creative; I have seen something this innovative and unique, yet simple and effective, since... well, since Matt Smith and new Doctor Who, actually. It's crackling full of Doctor Who brilliance- a little moment of conversation on a view screen that cold have easily been just a head talking, and no one would have thought twice about it- but instead, this little extra touch, just to make things more ALIEN, calls attention (in a good way) to the truly unfathomable weirdness of this species, to great effect. Everything involved with the Axons is brilliantly realized and tremendously creative; this is a totally alien culture and technology branch, and ti shows... and it WORKS. I cannot give high enough kudos to this effort- I haven't been this impressed with innovation in film-making technique and overall method to set a mood in Doctor Who (or anywhere else!) since The Mind Robber! And the effects (which we'll get to shortly) only add to the effect! (Ironically, the legacy of this serial, brand new as of 2011, goes completely WITHOUT any visual components- The Feast of Axos, a sixth-Doctor (why does he get all the legacy stories, seriously?!? Jamie, Zoe, Axons…) audio drama which features Bernard Holley reprising his role as the voice of the Axons.)

But, what of the other star of the series... the TARDIS. My jaw hit the floor when the Master entered into the TARDIS... and the camera followed him in! I was not expecting to see a TARDIS interior until The Three Doctors in series 10; the Earth-exile is not ended, but here we have the new console room, a new console... the first TARDIS interior we've seen since the War Games, and the VERY FIRST TARDIS interior in the color era! What a milestone- and it looks great! The cannibalized, under-repair TARDIS as the Doctor left it, the repaired and function version- the old girl actually FLYNG again!- one of the roundels functioning as a view screen just like the end of The Wheel In Space... and oh, OH, OH!!! did it feel good to be flying in the TARDIS again!!! This is the way it was always meant to be, and the thrill of the Doctor escaping in the TARDIS at the end was truly tangible! It was familiar and wonderful, and I think we shall be rushing through the remainder of Series 8 and all of Series 9 in order to get to the return of that era; it's truly been missed. This, then, supercharged the already exciting atmosphere and perhaps pushed the serial over the top- this is what the audience wanted, and it feels GOOD.

Added to that, of course, is an unflagging pace. (Which is ironically only an after-effect of the over-budget preceding Mind of Evil; its expense caused the original seven-episode serial- already whittled down to 6 by the producers who were starting to realize that 7 parts was too long- to be whittled down to 4, the action relocated from the originally-planned later-Doctor Who cliché of Battersea power station, and overall tightened up). The plot keeps along at a fair clip in this shorter, 4-part serial... and it takes numerous twists and turns; first an alien-visitor story in which it is UNIT vs. Chinn, the foolish bureaucrat- then, just as that is getting resolved, we discover that the aliens aren't what they seem, and the Master is involved, having sold out Earth... and our characters are prevented from finding out about it, as Chinn takes over and unlawfully imprisons our heroes- now, it's a race to escape and a tense journey of exploration, to see if they can discover the plans of the Axons before it's too late, with a 72-hour ticking clock... then, a brief plot about doubles and the Doctor's abduction segues us into a marvelously clever Master and UNIT vs. the Axon invasion- a standard army-vs-aliens plot enlivened by fantastic effects and an uneasy alliance- then, the Doctor escapes (and you have to love that moment where he strides in the door just as the Master reaches it, foiling the latter's escape; it was a bit of a cheer-out-loud, "I am that man!" moment)... and it becomes an apparent conspiracy, the Doctor and the Master working together to escape a doomed Earth- you know that each is playing the other, but you don't know HOW- (between this and the Mind-of-Evil-climax exchange betrayal, the two can never have any trust between them; or, I'd suspect, work together ever again!)- and then, it becomes a traditional, and much-appreciated, Doctor Who ending- the Doctor in the TARDIS, pulling a last minute trick to defeat the bad guys and escape... with a fine little comedy ending in which the Doctor finds he can't explain the concept of a time loop to the Brig, and that he's stuck on Earth due to TARDIS programming (another great moment that, like his entrance above, probably should've gone into the Doctor's paragraph as examples of some of his positive moments). It goes all over the place, offering us so many different KINDS of stories within its short run- so much variety and fun, it never fails to keep interest.

And, of course, all of this is aided by fantastic effects. They blew the budget on this one, I imagine- not only is it bluescreen-crazy, but we have the opening (okay, a little cheap-looking) model shot of the ship, that fantastic entrance with its irised-portal, a magnificent matte-painting establishing-shot for the particle accelerator, and best of all, some fantastic practical effects in battle. The moment in which an Axon tentacle stabs a man, who instantly explodes, is incredible- one of the most seamless effects I've ever seen- with no jump or awkward cut; it's very smooth, and very effective. Shots of the Axons outside- including one strange, dream-like shot of an Axon marching down a tunnel from far off, and with a strange frame-rate- compliment the action well, and the practical-effect work of the deflating heads sucking into themselves is gruesome and appropriately creepy. There was only one major effects failure, and that was the scene of the Axons taking over a jeep (which was excellently staged, with great stunts and pyrotechnics)- the blue background behind the truck (either supposed to be a dark sky-blue background, or an unkeyed bluescreen that hadn’t been replaced with anything- accounts differ) doesn’t even REMOTELY match the overcast gray/white sky of the exterior scenes; the effect is quite jarring and confusing, even after one realizes what one is looking at. It’s a severe and disorienting mismatch. Of course, it's all accompanied by the same awful music; this lot is better than Mind of Evil, with some actual melodies and tone-appropriate-ness, but my long-desired GOOD score to a Pertwee serial, it ain't.

All in all, Claws of Axos blew me away with its great story, excellent pace, amazing effects, aura of excitement, and incredibly creative Axon effects. It's a winner for sure, and exactly the kind of serial that the Third Doctor needed to inject the sense of adventure back into the show.


Great Moments:
The fight in the particle accelerator. The Doctor and Jo’s recitation-escape through the disorienting vessel. The Axon on the catwalk.

Rating:
I want to subtract some points for the obnoxious opening and annoying Doctor characterization in the first half... but I can't. I honestly can't justify taking a single point off for this serial, and though the opening isn't perfect, the overall serial more than makes up for it's flaws. 5 out of 5 Tumbling Autons- the second perfect score, and the first true classic on the level of Marinus and Mind Robber, for the Third Doctor's era.

Rating:
With its high-tech accelerator, international manhunt for the Master, and general high technology throughout, I think I'm going to have to give this one a near-future-80s vote by a narrow margin.

Doctor Who: Inferno

Serial Title: Inferno
Series: 7
Episodes: 7
Doctor: Jon Pertwee
Companions: Liz Shaw (Caroline John), Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney)


Synopsis:
Crazy Professor Stahlman has this nutty dream to drill down to the core of the Earth to mine pockets of gas he suspects there to create a new energy source. He also has government funding, a bevy of experts he ignores, a UNIT presence he resents, and an abrasive personality and tendency to ignore all reason in the pursuit of his dreams. Lovely.

Still, the Doctor is onboard as one of those ignored advisers in order to get him access to the base’s nuclear generator, which he is using to experiment with re-activating the TARDIS console which he has removed from the ship. Liz is there to assist him. The Brigadier is there in an official liaison capacity. Sir Keith Gold, Executive Director, is there to provide oversight that Stahlman ignores. Petra Williams is there as Stahlman’s personal assistant. And newcomer Greg Sutton, an oil drilling expert, is there to provide practical experience in case of emergency… which Stahlman ignores. Suffice it to say, of the above list, only Petra is happy to be there… though, once he lays eyes on her, Sutton doesn’t seem to mind sticking around too much.

Problems (beyond the personal ones) arise when a toxic green slime begins spewing from the drilling pipe- one of the workers touches it and begins to mutate into a feral creature, radiating incredible heat, and going entirely and murderously berserk. While the Brigadier and returning character Sergeant Benton investigate (he was in Ambassadors of Death as the nitwit who let Lennox die on his watch…), the Doctor is testing the TARDIS console- and an unexpected surge of power due to a struggle between the mutated man and a technician in the reactor control room sends the Doctor and the console hurtling through a strange dimensional void, which he barely escapes from thanks to Liz. The Doctor is certain that he had almost reached somewhere, possibly somewhere important…

The mutated creature is killed by a UNIT soldier in self-defense when the group goes to investigate the reactor room, and the Doctor recognizes its eerie sound from something he heard once… in 1883 at the explosion of Krakatoa. Outside, the Doctor encounters another mutated creature (the technician attacked by the first man) which falls to its death from a catwalk- but doesn’t see a third creature, lurking in the shadows.

In the shadow of multiple murders and the strange green goo, Stahlman… refuses to listen or halt the drilling. (The nuclear station must be restored! The Wheel must run smoothly! The gas-flow will NOT be shut down!!!) Instead, he manhandles a canister of the stuff and almost-bravely gets it inside a containment box as the container begins to fracture from the heat- his hand is briefly exposed, and he begins to mutate very slowly, hiding his condition. He also sabotages the project computer, which was reading unsafe conditions and recommending a shutdown. He also throws the Doctor out of the project, cutting off the power, and then orders the drilling ACCELERATED. Then, a baby seal shows up with a warning to slow down the project, and he axe-murders it, followed by a message from God written in the clouds that says “STIOP YOUR DRILLING,” which he responds to by ordering a dome be built over the drill-site so that no one can see the sky.

Okay, maybe those last two didn’t happen, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they did, just off screen.

The Doctor surreptitiously restores power when no one is looking and flees to his lab; Liz arrives just in time to see him and the TARDIS console vanish from reality. The Doctor, obsessed with finding out where his trip was leading, has ditched this dead-end world for… the same place? No, as he explores the area with Bessie (pulled along for the ride with him for some reason), he comes under fire, battles one of the mutated creatures atop a water tower, and finally finds Liz- a brunette Liz who pulls a gun on him- the Doctor comes to realize that he’s side-slipped onto a parallel Earth. Here, the Brigadier is the cruel and thuggish Brigade Leader, clean-shaven and wearing an eyepatch (and a large scar to prove that it’s not just for show- see, this guy I could believe committing the Silurian Genocide- okay, okay, I’ll let it go…), Liz is a fascist officer under his command, Sutton is a rebel against the totalitarian government given one last chance to be useful by aiding the slave-labor-manned drill project, Petra is a doctor with a severe dress sense, Sir Keith Gold is dead (killed in a staged car accident to prevent his attempts to shut down the project), and Stahlman… really isn’t any different. (No, that’s not just dry wit condemning his character- he really isn’t different!)

The same shenanigans have been going on in this alternate universe, but now the danger readings, mysterious murders, strange creatures, and broken computer are blamed on a saboteur- the Doctor. He is repeatedly interrogated, and even though he saves the day during a crisis with pipeline pressure, he is still thrown in a cell. His cellmate is a green, feral, beast-like creature; a Primord (so named only in the credits- like the Ewoks of Star Wars, the name is official and canonical but never spoken or known by anyone onscreen), the full result of the green slime mutation- an animalistic savage radiating incredible heat. When it kills one of the guards, the Doctor is able to escape- too late, as penetration of the crust is achieved. The Earth rocks and the bore-hole screams in howling fury; tremors and eruptions wrack the globe. In short, the Earth retaliates with a fiery fury unrivaled in all of human history. Stahlman (already infected as in our universe) enters the heated, boiling drill chamber and is sealed in… he, and the others trapped within, soon emerge as Primords and begin to attack the survivors, as the Doctor calculates that this world is doomed, and will soon tear itself apart from the crust-breaching. However, the survivors latch on to the Doctor’s plan to restore power to the TARDIS console and return him, at least warning the other Earth to prevent its following in their footsteps.

Fighting off Primords with fire extinguishers (cold is more effective against them due to their heightened heat), Petra and Greg- blossoming in a doomed romance- manage to get the power restored- but the Brigade Leader pulls a gun on the Doctor, demanding safe evacuation for the group back to his universe. The Doctor dearly wishes to save them, but can’t, as bridging the dimensional barrier with them could prove catastrophic (even though it wasn’t when he crossed over…)- when his arguments fall on the deaf ears of the desperate thug, Parallel Liz, whom he has reached, shoots him down and gives the Doctor the time he needs to escape. The Doctor begins the crossover as flowing magma roars through the complex and the end of the world accelerates…

But it may be too late- in our universe, a few hours behind its counterpart (and thus drilling has not yet reached the critical point), Sir Keith Gold has also gone to his superiors to lobby for shutting the drilling down, and after his driver’s bribe and orders from Stahlman to delay him are discovered, the car gets into a crash- perhaps the events the Doctor has seen ahead in the other universe are inevitable! And even if it isn’t, the Doctor arrives in our universe, comatose from the traumatic crossing… with only three hours left to go on the drilling, the time is ticking down.

Murmurings in his sleep get the attending Liz thinking about concerns to the drilling project, especially as things he half-coherently warns of begin to happen. When the Doctor awakens in a half-manic state, he spurs into action, and begins smashing equipment in the drilling control room. Judged to be still delirious, he is restrained by UNIT soldiers and removed from the buildings- but Liz finds evidence to confirm his ravings, an realizes that the Doctor is right on the money. Repairing the computer, she is able to confirm the Doctor’s dire warnings- as outside, the Doctor uses his Vensuian Karate to escape his escort and return to the drill shaft, as Sir Keith shows up- alive, but with a broken arm, showing the Doctor that events CAN be changed.

One thing is destined to happen, though- Stahlman reaches a critical point in his mutation, and instinct takes over- smearing himself with more of the goo, he completely hulks out into a full Primord. He emerges to attack as the drill reaches critical and warnings sound all over the complex…

The Earth is then destroyed.

Not buying it? Okay, no, actually Stahlman is subdued with a fire extinguisher and Greg Sutton manages an emergency shutdown of the generator. The Doctor announces that, with the console functional again, he is leaving. He and the Brig exchange harsh words when the latter objects to his departure, and the Doctor vanishes… only to reappear, bedraggled, moments later, having made a jump directly into the nearby garbage dump and breaking down. Chagrined, he mends fences and grovels a bit to get the Brigadier’s help in retrieving the console, as an amused Liz looks on.


Review:
The season-ending Inferno is quite an interesting story which at first seems to be shaping up as something quite different than what it turns out to be. We dip into the Star Trek Mirror Universe conceptual spring for this parallel-Earth tale about a brunette Liz and a clean-shaven, eye-patched Brigadier on an alternate, totalitarian and oppressive Earth, the manically obsessed professor drilling through the Earth’s crust to reach the mantle in both worlds, and to a lesser extent, a mysterious green possibly-sentient goo that mutates humans into green-skinned versions of Lon Chaney’s Wolfman makeup. Yikes! Let’s get into it…

The story does a good job of bait-and-switch, setting up what seems to be a standard-beyond-standard by-the-numbers alien invasion/zombie plot- and then throwing things in a totally different direction, doing enough establishing work to get you good and familiar with the scenario so as to recognize it in the parallel world, and then cutting loose with, essentially, a cautionary tale- not only a disaster story in the alternate world, but a picture of what the Doctor must return in time to PREVENT in our own world. They even throw in another twist, as the story in the parallel world lasts long past the drilling and into an Armageddon-survivor post-apocalyptic scenario, trying to get the Doctor home while under siege by monsters overrunning the base.

The Brigadier has another unfortunate serial in which he is sometimes on the Doctor’s side but sometimes not, though certainly far more positive than the Silurian madness. He is firm and authoritative (as much as his position allows) in dealing with the mad professor, but he’s still in Ms. Marple Mode (MMM), doubting or mistrusting the Doctor who has yet to be wrong (unless you count the Silurian incident, which the Brig might- but since the Doctor doesn’t show any evidence of acting or being motivated based on those events, why should we assume the Brig is?)- which the Doctor calls him on at the end, and rightly so. Does their reconciliation mean a change in the Brig’s character for next series? We shall see. Meanwhile, Nicholas Courtney gets a chance to stretch his acting legs with a turn as the nasty, cruel, thuggish, and selfish Brigade Leader, who becomes the piece’s secondary villain by the end- a nice evil mirror universe character to have fun with.

Liz – in her swan song, after a very brief 4-serial run- gets a bit more to do as the sinister-but-smart evil counterpart of herself, who, just like the real article, is the first to give the Doctor a chance and believe in the possibilities. In the end, she’s the one that takes charge and acts as the voice of reason (shooting the Brigade Leader), allowing the Doctor to escape and warn our Earth. (In fact, the actress said she had more fun playing her evil doppelganger than she did her regular role!)

In the real world, she only has the first and last episodes and a few cutaways, but manages to be both supportive and stern in warning the Doctor off of another ‘test run,’ and has a great scene in which she realizes what he’s up to. So… still fairly background in her this-universe incarnation, but in her alternate persona, the actress finally gets a chance to break out of the background. I think Liz may end up going down as one of the meekest and mildest companions in Doctor Who history (save for her initial appearance). She hasn’t given me a strong character impression to counteract her initial noxiousness, but while I still don’t have a strong positive impression of her character, her gently supporting and sympathizing nature, and tendency not to call much attention to behavior negative or positive, has managed to soothe away the initial feelings. To put it more simply, she hasn’t done anything to make me ‘love’ her the way Jamie, Zoe, Steven, Ian, Barbara, etc. have… but I don’t dislike her, either. She’s on my good side in general, but more towards the middle neutral ‘I don’t mind them one way or another’ median than towards any extreme of like or dislike.

The Doctor has a number of moments, from his Karate bits to several good action and chase scenes in both worlds to his taking charge and smashing the controls at the end to his TARDIS trip and surreptitious theft of power to complete the TARDS-console trip midway through, a very clever gambit. He has an excellent farewell/exit scene at the end that we, as the audience, know won’t pan out, and indeed his situation gets reset seconds later, denying him time/space travel once again- and he has yet another great scene to end with. He also has a wonderful moment describing himself as feeling like a ‘shipwrecked man’ without the TARDIS and his ability to travel in time and space- a lovely and moving picture of the Doctor’s torment in exile. He is take-charge in this serial in a way not seen since Troughton in Seeds of Death, active and in-charge, even as a prisoner. He has great moments in his interrogation and escape, as well. He also has a number of great quotes- about computers “I don’t care for them myself, but they are tools, and if you have a tool, it’s stupid not to use it,” about the console’s humble appearance “You were expecting a rocket ship with Batman in it?”, and about the professor himself… when he announces to the professor that “You, sir, are a nitwit!” you want to cheer and give him a high-five, because you’ve been wanting to say the same thing to him for the last hour! (In addition, the radio announcement scene near the end in the mirror universe is clearly Pertwee’s voice- and was indeed cut from the original British broadcast for being too recognizable).

Yes, Professor Stahlman is a pain in the neck, another stock RPGP character in the Robson/Lawrence/Carrington mode, driven by Hollywobsession, the kind of obsession that presumably occurs only in TV shows and movies, and involves a completely unreasonable degree of insane, unyielding, driving obsession which not only cannot stop, but cannot slow down long enough to take measures that will ensure its own success in the long run until you begin to suspect that the character is not so interested in their end goal (drilling through to penetration) as they are to the action that they seem to be contributing more to (running the drill as fast as they can without stopping EVER) since their choice to repeatedly endorse the latter action is actually endangering the success of the former goal! And he does so to a dangerous degree, actually smashing safety equipment and the like! Strangely, in the parallel universe of evil counterparts and fascist, totalitarian doppelgangers… he doesn’t really seem any different.

Stahlman is among the more annoying of the specimens of this already-annoying archetype, as he is in active denial whereas others like Lawrence and Robson seem to simply gloss over the valid points that others make instead of acknowledging them and then refuting them based on total illogic. His insistence on doing so, however, is his downfall- when he picks up the canister the Doctor warned him to avoid (a very cool scene with the fracturing container, by the way) for apparently no other reason than to SPITE THE DOCTOR who was telling him not to touch it for his own safety. It’s the only explanation for his not grabbing a glove, some cloth, simply turning the box upside-down on top of it, etc.- the infection that turns him into a monster and kills him (I think? Or paralyzes him? The monsters of this serial, their nature, and their fate, are really not well elaborated-upon) comes from his own insistence on doing a completely illogical thing contrary to his long-term goals simply for the express purpose of NOT doing the smart thing that someone else just told him to do, very much like a pouting, petulant child.

The monster concept was pretty cool, as is the notion of intense heat radiating from them, which I don’t think was always consistently portrayed, but was very neat whenever it was. Funnily enough, the Primords were an addition to the script to help pad out the 7-episode length.

As for his staff, though, I have to ask, just as I did for Robson, Charles, and Carrington (and many others)- just how loyal are his staff? At point do you just say “This guy is nuts and clearly very ill, staring off into space and groaning, doubled-over, while racked with pain- I am going to have to say that this guy is not in his right mind and I am not going to listen to him anymore, I’m going to follow established safety procedures.”? Loyalty is great and all, but- what have these RPGPs, these ranting, obsessed, insulting, belittling, decidedly-non-people-person, non-confidence-inspiring, selfish, introverted, demanding, impatient, short-tempered cruel bosses done to inspire their workers to follow them into the very gates of Hell? I mean, leaders like Washington, Patton, and Macarthur likely had trouble inspiring such loyalty in their troops; what the heck would these people- hired employees in all cases but General Carrington- have POSSIBLY done to inspire such loyalty and unwavering, unquestioning obedience in the men whose lives are being actively endangered by their ignoring every safety protocol and scrap of prudence?

Then there’s Greg Sutton, the oil rig driller. (Whose actor is a Who veteran, having first appeared as Za in An Unearthly Child) Not exactly Mr. Congeniality (at least to the prof. he’s nice to everyone else, and it’s only after he’s snubbed that he gets caustic), he says things like they are, and seems intent on the roughest, most drag-her-out-of-the-cave-by-the-hair, least tender, most-aggression-based romance ever seen on the face of the Earth (or as we Trek fans call it, a Kahn/McGuyvers romance) with the prof’s assistant, who he lumps into his aggressions for being a meek sheep to the crazy boss.

In the alternate universe, he is quite right in pointing out everyone’s futility in continuing on with their actions in the face of Armageddon, and at first seemed like the bloke to root for, bucking the tiresome totalitarian authority, beyond caring about the consequences… but he became quite obsessed in his own way with a completely and equally illogical need to escape. Considering that everywhere was equally doomed, is there any reason that his last days couldn’t be more fulfilling NOT risking his life in escape attempts to nowhere? Perhaps pursuing the potential romance he had right where he was? So, he became a bit annoying in his hypocrisy, challenging the illogical adherence to orders in the face of death to advocate his own illogical need to escape the compound in the face of death.

Sir Keith Gold was a nice and likable fellow who didn’t get much focus- save for the bizarre driving/chauffeur scene, but he was polite, considerate, concerned for others, safety-conscious, and acted as the voice of reason- not quite an everyman, but one that the everyman can easily identify with emotionally, if not in terms of position. It’s little surprise that such a reasonable fellow was killed off in the alternate universe, but it was nice when they threw us a curve in our world and spared his life. I liked him.

And lastly, the professor’s assistant, a passive-aggressive woman with a strangely vulnerable side in the alternate universe. Too much of a minor character in our own world to really review, she was a heroic and brave character- like alternate-Liz, a far more open and reasonable (for some reason, all of the parallel-males are just thick and obstinate- I suppose some might say that it’s a trait not reserved solely for the parallel Earth…) character who saw what needed to be done and risked her life to do it.

As far as production values, there were some great clearly-a-real-person fall stunts (in fact, the shot of a Primord falling off of a tank/catwalk near the end was, at the time, the highest fall ever performed by a British stuntman- not exactly the traditional perception of Doctor Who as a show made on-the-cheap), some nice combat, and a great chase sequence with the Doctor and Bessie. The introduction of Venusian Karate, giving the Doctor a chance to finally have something other than fast-talking to aid him in various confrontations, was a welcome change, a cool concept, and made for several fun moments- “Have you ever seen anything like THIS?” Sets and locations were good.

Music was minimalist, but good when used. Sound effects were pretty good- especially compared to the recent ear-piercing Silurian hogwash. I had hoped that we were seeing the Third Doctor Sonic Screwdriver with the ‘door handle device,’ but since there were two, I’m guessing it was a separate device.

Effects were generally positive- though the first travel sequence made use of some fairly stock camera/mirror tricks, it used them to generally good effect- reminiscent of the travel sequence from The Daleks’ Master Plan, actually. The curtain-of-bubbles transition was a simple but effective way of identify transitions between universes, and the parallel narrative, while it surprised me, was good at building the suspense. The volcano footage was put to good effect, and the lava-flow-through-the-doorway was rather impressive- technically simple but visually striking, a very iconic and effective image. Even the camera shake for the earthquake long shots was far more natural than such shots normally look, a very smooth execution for an often slipshod camera technique. And the man responsible for it all, VFX supervisor Jack Kine, is forever immortalized… as the face of the totalitarian regime leader on the posters.

The cliffhangers on this one felt a little sloppier, not quite as effective as the Ambassadors of Death, and the makeup- though it looked pretty good in patches or partial-mutants, was pretty hokey in its final form. Still, that lava/doorway shot… man, was that cool!!! And of course, we’re left with a deep-Earth menace never explored or explained, a menace bubbling deep beneath the surface that may return some day…

And speaking of returning someday, as per the novels, the Doctor’s estimates of mirror Earth’s destruction were a bit exaggerated… and though it was rendered nearly uninhabitable, a group of survivors managed to steal the TARDIS of the alternate-Master (a good guy in that universe) and bridge the gap to our universe- where they were (understandably) enraged that their crossing over did no harm, thus meaning that the Doctor could have saved them, and went on a campaign to destroy the Doctor, eventually being thwarted by UNIT, in conjunction with a 20-years more aged Ian and Barbara. Of course, as with all novels, this is not canon. Still, an interesting notion (that makes the ending here a bit bitter).


Great moments:
Venusian karate, the Doctor calling Stahlman a nitwit, and the lava through the doorway.


Rating:
This story ends the series on a high point, garnering 4 out of 5 “Shoes!”, marred only by slightly slow pacing at first and a patently obnoxious stock villain. Still, this is a very good showing for the Third Doctor’s era, and a recommendation to watch. Most significantly, this is the final appearance of the original TARDIS console, which has been in use since An Unearthly Child all the way back in the pilot- it is fitting, then, that the console become a centerpiece of this particular story. Farewell, TARDIS v1.0- it shall be a long time until we see your like again. Or even the TARDIS again. Rats.

Dating:
Nothing in particular implies a date. Slightly futuristic drilling technology and computer capabilities are offset by the fact that the computer technology is decidedly contemporary. Sure, there’s nuclear power, a drill that can reach the Earth’s core, etc., but nothing to suggest these aren’t meant to be contemporary. Still... the Doctor does end it by referencing the years he’s known the Brigadier, so I’m going to have to give this one the future-1980s nod.

Series 6: Overview

Series 6

So, series 6 has come to a close- and with it, Troughton and the Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe, Black and White, Time and Space- major upheaval is in the works as the show enters a chrysalis with Troughton, regenerating into a completely new incarnation. After a 6-month break (unprecedented at the time, and used to introduce the UK to the new program “Star Trek,” which got the time slot temporarily), the show would return in the greatest revamp that the series has ever seen- even 2005 and it’s Last Great Time War wasn’t as great a paradigm shift as Doctor Who was about to undergo as the 1960s ended and the 1970s began. So, how did this final series of the old paradigm fare?

This series is marketed by lower script quality overall (Partially explained- see the War Games review for more), with a few major exceptions- but also bigger setpieces, far more impressive effects- and almost all video. Yes, this is only a judgement of posterity and not the quality of the series produced- nonetheless, it remains that this is the only Troughton series almost entirely video, with only 2 episodes of the Invasion (reconstructed with animation) and one serial missing- if you count Series 5’s “Tomb of the Cybermen” as a surrogate to the missing Space Pirates, Troughton has EXACTLY one series in video format, and 90% comes from here. Sadly, that doesn’t automatically mean great stories- but I’d call it more good than bad.

Jamie and Zoe make a great pair for the Doctor, probably his best companion pairing. Good writing and performances for the three leads make even poorly written stories watchable. So sad, then, that their journey end here. Or does it…?

Popular fan theory centers around the untelevised Series 6B. The theory is this: That the Doctor’s regeneration- which we did not SEE onscreen, in fact did not occur at the finale of The War Games, but rather he was recruited into the CIA (Celestial Intervention Agency), a branch of the Time Lords that does interfere when it is deemed necessary; something the Doctor has a knack for, making him a natural to recruit as an agent. The Doctor once again travelled in the TARDIS, re-acquiring Jamie, and possibly escaped again, or possibly served out his sentence- until event or events unknown conspired to carry out the original sentence of forced regeneration and exile.

The reason for this theory? Future specials The Three Doctors, The Five Doctors, and The Two Doctors all feature Troughton, looking older than he does in The War Games. No big deal, you say? True, before the New Series’ “Time Crash,” Doctors returning for crossovers were commonly shown older (as you can’t prevent the actors from aging) without any explanation, as if we’re simply supposed to imagine that the actors are the ages they once were when they played the roles, even though they don’t look it. So Troughton’s appearances are just more of the same, right?

Except… the Doctor references the events of the War Games and his forced regeneration. Think about it… a Troughton, free and traveling around, yet with knowledge of this story- implying it occurs AFTER The War Games, yet WITHOUT Troughton having regenerated yet. How could this be, except if he DIDN’T regenerate at the conclusion of this story? And the fact that we never SAW him change…

The theory is simple: First proposed in the 1995 book “The Discontinuity Guide” by Paul Cornell, Martin Day, and Keith Topping, the proposed series 6B takes place in-between the War Games and the forthcoming Spearhead From Space, suggesting that the later-established Celestial Intervention Agency, a Time Lord secret organization, spirit away the Doctor to become their agent, granting him increased ability to control the TARDIS at the price of freedom, as he now has to embark on missions for them. Thus, the Second Doctor of the Two Doctors (who has a TARDIS remote control, an ability even his Sixth self doesn’t have- a gadget given him by the CIA in the style of James Bond’s Q equipping their field agents? Plus, a far greater control of the vehicle than he ever demonstrated during his B&W era), The Three Doctors (Who claims to be on a mission from the Time Lords- impossible as per the War Games because he was only with them for 20 minutes, under guard, before his regeneration- the first they'd ever caught up with him since he became the Second Doctor), and The Five Doctors (Who is aware of Jamie and Zoe’s mindwipe because they’ve already happened)- are all from this mysterious in-between period of adventures. Plus, not only do we not see the change- only the Second Doctor tumbling into darkness, and the Third stumbling out of the TARDIS- he stumbles out with a ring, bracelet, and watch which homed in on the TARDIS some time later- none of which his Second self possessed at the end of the last serial. More Q-style gadgets from the CIA? And the reason that he did not reference this period is simple- when he finally rebelled and the Time Lords DID force his regeneration, they erased his memory of this time. Simplicity itself- the Third Doctor does claim significant memory loss, after all, the extent of which is never revealed! It even accounts for how the Second could have a TARDIS remote that the Sixth (his later self) didn’t know about- because his memory of it had been erased! (Note from Sarah: I totally buy it.)

We even see one of the Tribunal Time Lords again in ‘Colony In Space,’ a Pertwee serial, dispatching the Doctor to go and interfere in the events of a planet- the very thing he was condemned for here! Perhaps this man is an agent of the CIA, responsible for secreting the Doctor away to begin working for them following the end of the trial?

This is further expanded on in the novels- (though novels in the Doctor Who universe are as non-canonical as they are in the Star Trek universe)- 'World Game' suggests that the CIA needed an agent who could discreetly investigate temporal disturbances but also be disavowed- the Doctor’s known wanderings and interfering provided the perfect cover for this! Thus, his sentence is commuted in exchange for becoming their agent. Over the course of the novel, the Doctor gains knowledge of Gallifreyan politics sufficient to blackmail and leverage his way into negotiating his terms- demanding the return of his TARDIS, and of Jamie, his most loyal companion. They alter Jamie’s memories so that he believes he is still back in the Victoria era, and that she is simply away studying (accounting for references made in The Two Doctors), and giving the Doctor a TARDIS remote (with an override giving them ultimate control- thus allowing them to change the dematerialization codes, as per Spearhead). As per the TV Comics, eventually the Doctor did make his break from the CIA, escaping to modern-day (60s) Earth and living in the luxurious Carlton Grange Hotel. From there, he proceeds to have a series of adventure (Action in Exile, #916, up through The Night Walkers, #936)- at which point he investigates a series of scarecrows walking (tell me this wasn’t an inspiration to The Human Nature/Family of Blood’s original novel-writer…), which turn out to have been a Time Lord manifestation designed to use his own curiosity to trap him. They capture him, drag him into his TARDIS, and begin the forced regeneration that they started in the War Games- leading directly in to the start of Spearhead.

Of course, there is no actual evidence for this, and those truly determined that no such 6B ever happened could claim that in the events of the Two Doctors (or a similar untelevised occurrence), a future incarnation simply told him what was going to happen, and his reference was made with knowledge of his forced regeneration to-come, but without The War Games having happened; and that the aged appearance of Doctor and companions was simply due to the ‘just ignore it’ real world circumstances, or some untelevised adventure involving an aging ray whose perpetrator they were tracking when they were briefly interrupted by the crossover story, and later whom they caught and reversed the effects- the sum total being all of this happened at some point during Series 4-6, and Spearhead From Space follows (subjective) minutes directly after The War Games… though of course this denial would include willingly turning a blind eye to a LOT of corroborating evidence!

(Indeed, the ironic part is that the most tangible proof- the Second Doctor’s knowledge of the mind-wipes of Zoe and Jamie from the Five Doctors, was an accident of a hasty re-write; originally, wraiths of Zoe and Victoria were to deceive the Doctor, but give themselves away when Victoria addressed the accompanying Lethbridge-Stewart as “Brigadier,” a rank to which he wasn’t yet promoted when they last met. But, Deborah Watling wasn’t available, Friaser Hines was, and the last minute rewrite for Jamie and Zoe gave the game away by having knowledge that they would have had mind-wiped, putting the Second Doctor’s knowledge of their regeneration into canon and originating the 6B movement accidentally!) One can probably ret-con and smooth out the bumps in total denial if one wants to, and is truly determined to oppose 6B- and yet, for those of us conspiracy-minded and continuity-strict, the clues are out there, and the possibility of a Series 6B, of many more years for Troughton and Jamie that we simply haven’t seen, the possibility is tantalizing, and thanks to the unclear and stylized ending of the War Games in which you can’t really tell what’s happening, the potential is out there… for this reviewer, the conclusion is inescapable… the War Games was not the end of the Second Doctor’s adventures; just of the ones that he remembers. (Note from Sarah: My spine gets all tingly just thinking about it! :)

Meanwhile, the Doctor didn't have so much of a catchphrase this season- the most oft-remembered catchphrase, "Oh, my giddy aunt Nancy!" has yet to materialize, and is apparently primarily a product of the multiple-doctor specials in which he will eventually appear. If anything reselmbled a catchphrase this series it would be *Annoyed offhand dismissal of a dumb idea from Jamie.*

 Ah, Troughton, Jamie- and either Zoe or Victoria (all three combinations were winning teams), how I shall miss thee! Rounding out the third season, the third dominant catchphrase/bit nicely showcases the developing fondness, father/children bond that the TARDIS crew- nay, the TARDIS family, posessed, and a third aspect of the Second Doctor- each year's favorite phrase illuminates yet another facet of why I love this Doctor most of all. Far more than David Tennant's 10th Doctor's so-called 'Children of Time' and all of the dramatic weight that it tried to convey, far more than Hartnell's grandchild- his flesh and blood, so near as we could tell... THESE were the Doctor's children, his family, and watching them grow and bond and work together is the true joy that makes even these reconstruction-dominated, sometimes weak-storied, often slow-paced Second Doctor-era serials a joy to watch. (NFS: I definitely agree. I think that there was a bond and a chemistry that I really don't think I've seen again, even though now I am into the fifth Doctor and I've seen all of the new series, I think they really had something special!)

As we bring this era of companions to a close and start out with a clean slate, let’s end with a look at the companions of the past, eh?

Top 10 Companions

10. Ben – Solid, dependable, rough-and-tumble, Ben was reliable and always ready for action (unless he was being brainwashed by the Macra). Still, he was skeptical, dour, and pessimistic at times, which is probably why he’s last. He was also very moral and conscientious- deeply regretting having to take the life of a Cyberman, almost in tears- and the Doctor could always depend on him. He returned to (presumably) the Mercheant Marines after departing the Doctor… but couldn’t stay long away from the woman that he’d been bonded with through adventure and trial. (NFS: Ben is one of the most forgettable for me unfortunately...I remember...he had hair...and wore shirts.)

9. Polly – I wish I had more to say about Polly. She’s on the list because she was a good companion… but near the bottom of the list because I have so little measure on her personality. Still, a few things do stick out- she was friendly and kind, a real people person. She was open-minded, believing in the Second Doctor while Ben remained skeptical. She was the optimist to Ben’s pessimist. She embodied hope and possibility. One can hope that she and Ben had a very good life together, running their orphanage in India together. (NFS: I liked the possibilities of Polly, she had the makings of an interesting and different character back then, but I think they just didn't how or didn't want to write her.)

8. Susan – Let’s face it, Susan was a pretty weak character. A classical damsel in distress- even a redundant D-I-D with the early Barbara, her actress even left the show for this reason- the writers simply didn’t know what to do with her character, and didn’t develop her. This left her with little more to do than scream, hyperventilate, go weak at the knees, and get in trouble. (Aside from developing a little bit of conflict in the Sensorites as she began to assert herself… don’t bother to go watch it, just read my review and take my word for it.) I’m not against D-I-Ds myself (it's a valid literary archetype, so long as one does not think that it is representative of all women), in the mode that many feminists are, but really… this was pushing it. Still, for all of the abuse that it seems I’m heaping on Susan, it wasn’t her fault (the actress simply worked with what she was given), and she did have some redeeming qualities- enthusiastic, friendly, with a close relationship to the Doctor and a willingness to always play mediator between the quarrelsome Time Lord and his meddlesome human companions, always helping each to see the other’s side- a trait that perhaps future Doctors, from the Third-onwards, adopted from her. Her farewell was a tearjerker. Plus, she opened the TARDIS doors. It was her job. And besides all that… she was the first, and she’ll always have a special place in the pantheon of companions for that. This unearthly child has since settled down on 22nd century Earth, rebuilding a Dalek-ravaged world with David, her true love. It’s rumored that she and her son have had several adventures with the Doctor’s eighth incarnation, suggesting that her travels in the TARDIS may not be over yet… (NFS: I like Susan despite her inability to do much but scream. I think that Carol Ann Ford's genuine likability and charm shone through the character and that's why people like her even though she really didn't do much beyond scream and open doors. That said, I do feel like near the end before she left we did get more of her character, and there was a definite wonderful bond between her and the Doctor that was very palpable and sweet.)

7. Victoria – Despite her annoying behavior in the Abominable Snowmen, in which she went out of her way to intentionally be an irritant, I liked Victoria. Still a bit of a child, she was sweet and innocent, for the most part- a poor orphan with a sensitive soul who eventually found the dangers of traveling with the Doctor to be too much. Her scream was legendary, and her relationship with Jamie, after a few failed flirtations, was almost that of a little sister to his protective big brother… though deep down, some might say his crush never truly abated. In the end, fatigued by the constant danger and evil plaguing travels with the Doctor, Victoria decided to settle down with the Harrises, a friendly family on 20th century Earth. Despite being displaced from her own time, Victoria seems to have adapted well to modern life, and after tangling with the Great Intelligence one more time, years later (with the aid of future companion Sarah Jane Smith), led a quiet and happy life- in current times, getting to know her newly-born grandchildren. (NFS: Victoria didn't bother me, I liked her well enough but I still feel she's too close to being "Female Doctor Companion Model A" as so many of the Doctors female companions are. Written with an interesting and different back story but then nothing to show for it.)

6. Barbara – Taking a little longer than Ian to really come into her own (as of The Aztecs), Barbara started out as a damsel in distress but became a very strong and competent character- whether fending off advances from Caesar Nero or escaping from a Zarbi prison, Babara was one of the more competent and physically capable female companions of the BWW era, a teacher with a passion for history and a deep compassion for suffering peoples- practical but gentle, yet with a steely determination in the face of trouble. After returning several years post-disappearance, and claiming an impromptu multi-year long missionary trip to Africa as cover, she married Ian Chesterton… their first child bore the names of two of the Thals that they met early in their travels. (NFS: I do like Barbara, I didn't at first I thought she was kind of a jerk. But then she grew on me. I thought she was an interesting mix of strong and vulnerable. I agree that she really did come into her own in The Aztecs.) And some say she and her husband have never aged since...

5. Ian – Ian was the original robust companion, the active, gallant hero to the Doctor’s more measured, less physically-active mentor role. A science teacher with a thirst for knowledge and a love of discovery, Ian was chipper and optimistic, always trying to look on the bright side of things. Physically fit and a decent fighter (When Barbara wasn’t accidentally smashing a vase over his head), Ian was perhaps put through the ringer the most of the Doctor’s original companions- ending up in galdatorial fights, staked out in the desert, imprisoned, fighting- and though he was given to bold exclamations in these situations, he always came through. He ingeniously engineered a Dalek-casing-ride escape, and his dance to the Beatles was perhaps the most awesome thing ever done by a companion in life. He remained stalwart and straightforward, ready to make the best of any situation, even while pining for England and home. And the romance budding between himself and fellow teacher Barbara Wright only intensified during their time on the TARDIS… (NFS: I like Ian a lot! He's fun and sweet and he's someone you'd want so much to be friends with. He has that self-assured without being cocky swagger, and is capable without being boring.)

4. Vicki – Vicky was a sweet and spunky child who grew closer to the Doctor than perhaps any companion since (at least in his first regeneration)- I’m not sure if even Victoria was as close to the Doctor; in large part due to the many ways Vicki reminded him of his recently-departed granddaughter. She was spirited and determined, and very clever- tackling challenges head-on, be they locked armories or the problem of blending in to ancient Troy. She and Hartnell shared a special bond, and at times felt more like blood-kin than the Doctor and Susan did. Her time with the Doctor came to an unexpected end for the same reason, though- staying behind for true love. While the reason was noble, her time was far too short… if only we’d had more time. As it is, until very recent times, she remained my favorite female companion, and even now stays a very close second. And while her happy ending was both implied and ensured, her story was written by the Bard himself, and recorded in the annals of history- and her epilogue, the unwritten part of Shakespear’s tragedy, proves that the old adage “All stories have happy endings if you end them soon enough” is not always true, for surely the happily-ever-after that followed the tragedy of Troy would make a far better legend than the sorrows of the prematurely ended tale suggests. I am confident in being certain of a long and happy life for her with her beloved Troillus; Vicki…Cressida, of Troy… has a bright future ahead of her, far in the distant past. (NFS: I think that the Doctor and Vicki were closer because the Doctor, having left Susan realized finally how much she truly did mean to him. I think he kind of kept her at arms length, and realized how much he would miss her when she was gone. I think he viewed Vicki as a second chance and this is truly when he starts to grow more emotionally and realize that you regret not growing closer to people as much as you hurt when they're gone. I liked how Vicki seemed kind of impish in her actions at times, she seems young and playful and in my mind kind of the epitome of the perfect teenager of the 60's.)

3. Zoe – (WARNING: Contains spoilers for Big Finish's "Legend of the Cybermen") Zoe is a brilliant and yet naïve 22nd century prodigy, a genius, a walking computer of knowledge and calculations and intelligence and ability… and yet she has the maturity of a child. Impulse-driven and reckless, likely to act on a whim without considering the consequences, she is almost foolish at times- yet has more brains than all of the other companions put together. Her relationship with Jamie is like that of a bickering sibling, and her sometimes competitive, teasing, almost bickering relationship with the Doctor is not nearly so close as that of Vicki, Victoria, Susan, or perhaps even Barbara. And yet, the Doctor is willing to sacrifice himself for her without hesitation, cares for her like family, and indeed, treats her as a wayward child, a daughter in need of guidance and correction as she grows to maturity. Very attractive (much to the distraction of the many males about her) and a bit of a braggart, she is well aware of her various talents and not shy about pointing out where she has trumped the Doctor. This should be annoying, but due to her immaturity, it’s sort of cute- the little kid bragging about every accomplishment they get over their parents- even when the parents let them win. Sadly, much of her development was undone by the accursed Time Lords, who erased her memories of her adventures with the Doctor and returned her to her own place and time… leaving her with a lot of growing up to do once again. As per the expanded universe, Zoe’s above-average mind resisted the Time Lord mind-wipe, but only subconsciously, revealing her memories in strange dreams. Several years later, when a Cyber-ship attacked the Wheel, the conversion into a Cyberplanner (due to her high innate intelligence) unlocked all of her memories and allowed her to take control of the Cyber-vessel from within, diverting it to the only place she could think of where the Cybermen couldn’t harm anyone- the Land of Fiction (from The Mind Robber). After battling the Cybermen in that realm with fictional constructs, she eventually summoned the Doctor (as with Jamie, his sixth incarnation- when did HE get so popular?!) with a distress call and, aided by an illusory Jamie created to protect him, the Cybermen were defeated. Upon a return to the Wheel and un-conversion, her memories were lost for good. While her life resumed, as normal, she never again reached the full potential of growing and learning maturity that she had with the Doctor- her intelligence ever grew, but that missing part of her personality returned. Dang. Still better than Dodo, but... almost New-Series Donna-like in that living out her future at less than she could have been seems almost crueler than death. An unfair end for a fantastic character- though at least she wouldn’t have known enough to wish for anything else, and would have likely been perfectly content. Alas, poor Zoe.
(NFS: Zoe annoyed me in the beginning. She creeped me out because she was like a kid but they always had her in super short or super tight stuff. I thought the actress did a fantastic job. And while she is not a favorite I will say she is one of the more interesting characters and also was written in character more than most.)

2. Steven – A traumatized space-castaway with years companionless, Steven adapts to life with the Doctor by adopting a caustic, ironic, and very wry sense of humor. His jokes and comments and barbs are among the best on the series, consistently, and he is very strong-willed. He often clashes or butts heads with the Doctor, and has his own ideas about how to do things, and years of being abandoned on his own have accustomed him to sometimes thinking and acting with very little care for others (be they people or animate dolls). Regardless, for those that break through Steven’s callous-but-gradually-softening shell of condition self-preservation, he is fiercely loyal and protective. While his first instinct is seldom to get involved in the trouble of others, once roused to action he is tenacious and determined, coiled full of energy. Harsh and selfish as this description may make him sound, he is really more scarred and haunted by his years as a castaway and captive of a group of unfeeling robots as their zoo exhibit. His is the journey of learning to live with people again, to expand his isolated and protective little world to include others again- to reclaim his humanity. All of his tendencies towards apathy or lack of compassion, towards strong-willed anger, towards sarcastic humor, are defense and coping mechanisms that we see slowly defused over the course of his time with the Doctor. And when he finally leaves, quite abruptly and suddenly (not the dramatic best option in the slightest- see my blog on the Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Eve, and, like ‘The Sensorites’ for Susan, take my word for it and don’t try to watch it…), it is because he has grown and changed so much that the Doctor sees him ready for a role as mediator and wise leader to a pair of conflicting factions. The introvert who cares mainly for himself has become a man capable of looking out for others. (Though, like Zoe and unlike the first 7 on this list, I don’t see Steven finding anyone in the future; probably ending up a lifelong bachelor. Still, I suppose they can’t all be fairytale endings…) His hard, cynical exterior has softened into a cheerful and caring personality. His strong opinions, stubborn will, determined nature, and readiness to act make him the ideal leader and mediator, and help to showcase his growth. Steven departs his travels with the Doctor (too abruptly though, dang-it writers!!!) to go and rule a planet. All in all, not a bad fate, and I wish him well.
(NFS: I thought I was ambivalent about Steven, but I do remember he made this really funny face when he didn't understand things and that made me and my brother laugh. I don't think he's the most interesting of the characters but I think he had solid qualities and is definitely one of the best male companions.)

1. Jamie – Ah, Jamie, the longest-running companion, piper of the McCrimmon clan of Scottland, what can I say about ye? Loyal, brave, fierce, determined… yet sometimes hapless and resigned to the madman you follow dragging you into yet another insane adventure. He would protect the Doctor, Zoe, or Victoria with his life, and though he doesn’t always- or even often- understand the strange technology of the circumstances he’s in, he always gains an understanding of the world he’s part of through his own 18th century worldview and tries to do the right thing (though sometimes his lack of technological knowledge makes him more of a hindrance than a help). He is a trained warrior, a scrappy fighter that won’t hesitate to attack an enemy- headstrong and impatient at times, when a fight is involved; a leap-before-you-look tendency that sometimes makes things worse or ruins the Doctor’s plans- but always done with the best of intentions. Jamie isn’t always the brightest of bulbs, but he’s the moral compass- his heart is always unfailingly in the right place. Typically good-natured Jamie gives the impression that he enjoys traveling through time and space, but would be just as happy dropped off back home in his bonny Scottland- a change you imagine he’d accept with a shrug, and then get right back into life without a second’s glance behind… which is exactly what he does in the end, aided by the thrice-cursed Time Lords’ erasure of his memories with the Doctor. He will undoubtedly fight- and survive- the war on behalf of his bonnie prince Charlie, and perhaps, just perhaps, find that special someone. Whatever the future holds for him, it seems likely he’ll be content. (Whoops! An addendum! Further research indicates that Jamie married Kirtsy McLaren (Polly’s companion fugitive in The Highlanders), and went on to have “more children than there are days in the week” and grandchildren as well. Many years later, as a white-bearded old man, he dies helping his friend the Doctor one last time. In this case, the Sixth incarnation, dying on the planet Marinus (as in ‘The Keys of’) defeating the Cybermen and their weapon to re-shape the galaxy. I suppose, as endings go, it’s one of the better possibilities- but I may just prefer the ‘surrounded by kids and grandkids option, peacefully’ a bit better. Still- a blaze of glory seems fitting for rash, headstrong Jamie- and he still has it way better than the novels gave Dodo.)
(NFS: Jamie is hands down the best ever male companion. He has so many wonderful things about him. He has this charm and easiness about him that makes you smile. You'd feel comfortable with him and probably feel as though you'd known him forever. I love how protective he always is, and how sweet and caring. I like how funny he is and how he and Troughton interacted together! They almost seemed like brothers to me, or best friends or both, and I think the 2nd Doctor and Jamie are the best duo ever.)

Not listed: Dodo (by choice! Oh, and her fate is apparently to have mental problems for the rest of her short life, find and lose a murdered husband, and get assassinated by an agent of the Master a few years later, so… worst companion AND worst ending!) Katarina, and Sara Kingdom (both by lack of visible material- and both sadly deceased in the line of duty, aiding the Doctor).

(As an epilogue, the Supplemental between-series idea proved so popular, novelist Steve Lyons in The Witch-Hunters, created a story in which Time Lord founder Rassilon gave the First Doctor a little extra time to tie up loose ends in his life, during/after the events of the Five Doctors, thus giving Hartnell a sort of Season 4B. The establishment and management of this blog does not support such wild speculations- but endorses Series 6B wholeheartedly!)