The Keys of Marinus 2 - The Velvet Web

I was being negative in my head about The Keys of Marinus, but I forgot how good and dark this episode was. Especially when you see the world as it really is.

Personally the next time someone asks me about their clothes I want to say, "It's dirty.... dirty rags" at them.

The bit where William Hartnell picks up the cup thinking it's an incredible scientific instrument is particularly amusing and dark. But not as horrendously dark as the destruction of the brain things, especially as we're supposed to think of it as a good thing, sure the good guys escaped as a result, but that howl of anguish... Jesus.. And then The Doctor referring to them as "repellent brain things" after they were dead. The Doctor of "There should have been another way" is a long way away.

Given that we had gimps with dildo noses last episode and this one has a pretty blonde girl wandering round saying, "I am to be punished", I think it says a lot about Terry Nations tastes.

The Keys of Marinus 1 - The Sea of Death

Ah, Terry Nation, you do like your exploration and find weird bits episodes don't you. Well, good for you, sunshine. So do I!

Not so sure about the fetish rubbersuit dildonose men though, Gimptastic.

I realized also that in my head I'd mixed up the walking round the building in Marinus with The Daleks in my head before starting this. It shows how similar their first episodes are, because there is a lot of retreading of themes from The Dead Planet on planet of the turny doors or gimps vs monks here.

Here we have the first example of something that will follow some of the next Terry Nation stories, the Quest/Escape that requires them to go running through different places, so he can just make a new place up instead of doing an awful rock climbing episode and he can make something he enjoys instead of trying to stretch a story further than its welcome.

The actor playing Arbitan does a fine job with what little he has been given as a character but sadly he wasn't given much.

Oh well *sigh* I guess I have a good few more episodes of this to get through.

Marco Polo 7 - Assassin at Peking

It's funny watching this episode. I can't explain the glee I felt when i saw that the two grumpy old bastards were getting on. It's clear though that they've been on the road a while as The Doctor is being really submissive. Something of course that he never would have done in the future.

However, as always, he's using it to be incredibly cunning and win the TARDIS back.

Ping-Cho manages to avoid the dusty cock via him dying and I got to watch photos of a sword fight with the sound of timpani drums in the background.

All in all this wasn't three bad. Started out better than it ended, but that's par for the course with a lot of the old stuff. Next I'm back to extant episodes and back to Terry Nation.

Marco Polo 6 - Mighty Kublai Khan

So Marco Polo is the first historical figure to know what the TARDIS actually does. Well, be told at least.

He really is an interesting character though. I'm not sure what he was expecting but seems really disappointed when he's lied to. Despite the fact that he's holding them prisoner. As if he expects them to just put up politely.

Even Ping-Cho is fed up enough to want to do a runner. Fear of the old cock, clearly, the penis that looks like a discarded sleeping bag.

The actor who plays Marco Polo really carries this as well. While I can't see him physically his vocal delivery really is wonderful. More wonderful than the Khan's trumpeter, that's for sure.

I love the banter between The Doctor and the Khan. Grumpy bastards R'us.

Marco Polo 5 - Rider from Shang Tu

Today I learned that bamboo expands and blows up.

So we have an attack from bandits. Well, you couldn't have a story with ancient mongolians in it without a barney. It's the rules.

My enjoyment of this story has waned a bit at this point. It's not that it's bad but had this been a 4 parter rather than a 7 it'd probably be a belter, as it is it suffers from what a lot of old Who does, filling time with non-events and THE WORLDS CAMPEST MAN and a guy with an eyepatch and a monkey.

Seriously, does anyone think George Lucas used this story as an influence for Indiana Jones?

I will however take the time now to point out how important the music is in this story. It's incredibly atmospheric and appropriate and as this only exists in audio form, I think it's one of the reasons this has such a positive reputation.

So anyway, they nearly got away but we have to see Kublai Khan really don't we.

Marco Polo 4 - The Wall of Lies

You can't deny... Marco Polo has great episode titles.

This is essentially an episode of padding. However John Lucarotti is much better at writing people than Terry Nation is so even his padding is more interesting, interspersed with the Indiana Jones style map sequences.

In fact... it's weird that I hadn't thought of this before but this story has the first sophisticated non-regular characters. The cavemen were certainly not sophisticated and the Thals were all cardboard cut-outs (Terry Nation hasn't quite got his character chops down yet I'm guessing) so that might be one of the reasons it has an impact.

Maybe it's unfair saying this is pure padding, the characters make an attempt for the TARDIS and it causes Marco Polo to essentially incarcerate the TARDIS team, so you couldn't really just delete this episode and it not matter.

Marco Polo 3 - Five Hundred Eyes

I'll take a minute to talk about Marco Polo in this.

Obviously, a stately Englishman wouldn't be much like the real Marco polo but the character here is an interesting mix of hero and obstacle. The only reason they're doing this epic journey is because Marco has essentially stolen the TARDIS but he is presented here very much as the hero of the piece and you have his back against Tegana.

It feels, again, very much like an epic. Something which, I wonder if it would lose if it were actually discovered and we saw the 60s sets with two drunk cameramen at the back.

Shite cliffhanger though, I've got a feeling the padding is starting to set in.

Marco Polo 2 - The Singing Sands

The use of the game of chess as metaphor is really quite effective. Generally the whole thing feels like a proper travel apic adventure like an H Rider Haggard book.

The second episode is not quite as gripping as the first but is still great television, although it doesn't feel like Doctor Who which is very interesting. But we're talking about a show still finding its feet, and of course these early historicals are generally about arriving, then trying to leave as they can't really change events.

Marco Polo 1 - The Roof of the World

I have to admit, even as a recon I found this first episode compelling. Well written and rounded characters with clear motivations.

This might deserve it's reputation.

The Edge of Destruction 2 - The Brink of Disaster

The interesting thing about this episode is that it's the first time that the TARDIS shows its intelligence and shows the crew a puzzle.

However, what caused the problem in the first place, well, it's a bit silly. All because of a little spring.

Of course, the weirdest thing about the episode is William Hartnell remembers an entire speech and pulls it off rather well.

The next story is where things get interesting... I've never bothered with Marco Polo in book/audio or whatever as it's a period of history that does nothing for me. Also it's the first completely missing story on the journey so it's all new!

The Edge of Destruction 1 - The Edge of Destruction

I'm starting to get annoyed with Carole Ann Ford's "distressed" acting. It's the one thing she's just not good at. Whenever she's screaming or freaked out I never buy it because it's so overegged.

Anyway. Apart from that this episode is a brilliantly tense drama with only the main cast and the TARDIS set. An invisible enemy... Paranoia... A considerable improvement on the last few episodes.

The Daleks 7 - The Rescue

Episode 7 amps up but then it has to given it's the conclusion. We even get the classic countdown.

So the Doctor says he was a pioneer amongst his own people. Retcon into Lungbarrow anyone?

Having now managed to "get through" The Daleks it's amazing to think it spawned the craziness that was Dalekmania and was instrumental in making Doctor Who a household name. It's slow and clunky but if we compare it to television at the time it seemed fresh and exciting.

Over 50 years in the future it definitely has more relevance as a historical document than a piece of entertainment. But what Nation did best was action and action has moved on A LOT in the last 51 years.

The Daleks 6 - The Ordeal

Ok, so how the fuck did a Thal know about "Ladies First"? Ah well.

If the characters had said, "I'm off to tesco" and then in modern TV it would cut to them at Tesco, this episode documents the 25 minute walk to Tesco including such excitement as broken traffic light, tripping over, problems crossing the road because of a pot hole and someone walking the dog.

Terry Nation does love his padding episodes.

I don't.

At least it was named appropriately.

The Daleks 5 - The Expedition

There are some very interesting moral questions raised in this episode, and unfortunate motivations. The TARDIS team were happy to leave until all of a sudden they were going to be trapped and threatened.

They do basically manipulate the Thals into becoming their personal army. It is sadly, pure coincidence that the Daleks want to explode another neutron bomb, so they actually ARE going to save themselves.

The Daleks 4 - The Ambush

Is it a burger tree?

If nothing else this episode gives us the first canonical exterminate and the Daleks show their true colours. Also it appears the thals need fruit and bog roll. Fair play, I mean... all that roughage will lead to something.

The Daleks 3 - The Escape

So... Thals wear chaps, eh? And dodgy tops. I guess this is the first time we see the typical wet indigenous species trope in Who, and they are wet indeed.

Also for ages there was a dalek with a weird blob on its toilet plunger and I was wondering, "what the hell is in that dalek sucker" and boom... magnet.

Anyway, not bad. The idea of a horror inside the dalek is well portrayed and yeah... so far so good.

The Daleks 2 - The Survivors

And here we see the Daleks for the first time, a design hardly changed since their first appearance (and we don't talk about that. Seriously, Moffatt, what were you thinking) even the Dalek attitude is pretty much fully formed right away.

But LOL at the sellotape with Danger written on it. Ah, 60s BBC your budget was amazing... And of course "Anti-Radiation gloves".

Also the "Susan running" scenes are awful.

Hey though... The Daleks are here and are pretty much exactly themselves.

The Daleks 1 - The Dead Planet

The first alien planet. And they don't mess about either. A petrified forest with a metal creature and an alien city.

here we start to see some of the curiosity that caused him to leave Gallifrey in the first place and, of course, Space bacon and eggs.

It's a wonderfully shot episode filled with mystery and I can see how it electrified the imagination of the British public.

And let's just give a round of applause for that cliffhanger... That scream... Jesus...

An Unearthly Child 4 - The Firemaker

The episode where we find that cavemen have no knowledge of forensics. We're not going to see CSI: Gum Tribe in a hurry.

We see the first example of the Doctor using his smarts to get what he needs. Generally this is much better than I remember, maybe my memory of this whole story was tainted by how awful The Cave of Skulls was. But the characters in this are engaging, they have reasons for what they do, and of course we get to see cavemen fighting in a disco... Or at least there seems to be a strobe light anyway.

I'm interested by the next ones, I've never really managed to sit through The Daleks before and I know it's plot primarily from the film version.

An Unearthly Child 3 - The Forest of Fear

This is a much better episode, likely because it's not just a bunch of cavemen arguing about fire and has some actual action in it.

It's interesting to see The Doctor is not yet The Doctor yet... He's a coward and has no interest in saving people, and it's the humans who are brave and kind. This adds weight to the theory that The Doctor learned to be better from Ian and Barbara. But most certainly not yet. This is the episode where he famously was only just stopped bashing Za's head in with a rock.

The clearly looped animal noises are hella annoying though, it has to be said.

An Unearthly Child 2 - The Cave of Skulls

It's still a police box.. Why hasn't it changed? Dear Dear... It's all very disturbing.

At least that bit's good. The rest is a rubbish caveman stageplay boo. There is no fire.. there is fire.. there isn't.... I couldn't give a bollocks.

that said, the old woman has the best voice ever.

An Unearthly Child 1 - An Unearthly Child

I'd actually got half way through the pilot version of this before I was left thinking, "I don't remember this being quite so shonky" so I started again with the proper one which... thankfully is much snappier and has much better performances.

In fact it's worth mentioning how much better it actually is, it changes from "a bit rubbish" to a total tour de force. The Doctor turns from close to evil to impish and mischievous.

An Unearthly Child is a classic worthy of it's reputation. It may be a little slow by our standards but a piece of gold, nonetheless.