Perpetual Outsider: An Unofficial, Unauthorised Fan Guide To Doctor Who: Complete

SEASON ONE

Vicious old men, angry pepperpots and psycho hairdressing

AN UNEARTHLY CHILD

TRANSMISSION DATES

First Broadcast: 23rd November -14th December 1963 (BBC1)

Repeated: 2nd - 5th November 1981 (BBC2); 26th August 1991 (BBC2) – Pilot

RECORDING DATES

Ealing Filming: 19th September 1963; 9th - 11th October 1963

Studio Recording: 27th September – 8th November 1963

NOVELISATION

First published as Doctor Who And An Unearthly Child by Terrance Dicks on 15th October 1981, timely co-inciding with the forthcoming Five Faces Of Doctor Who repeat just weeks later.

VHS RELEASES

Originally released in January 1990, with a remastered re-issue 10 years later. The pilot episode turned up on The Hartnell Years video in 1991 and then with The Edge Of Destruction in 2000.

DVD RELEASE

Brought out with The Daleks and The Edge Of Destruction in a box set called The Beginning in January 2006 – oddly, there aren't complete commentaries for this disc (ditto for the next set of episodes). There's one for the pilot ep, plus one each for the first and last instalments, handled by a pick 'n' mix variation of Waris Hussein, Verity Lambert, William Russell and Carole Ann Ford.

Not much else of note on this disc, apart from some comedy sketches snatched from the late 1990s from Who aficionados Mark Gatiss and David Walliams, which were used for a special Doctor Who Night on BBC2 in 1999. The restoration techniques (as with all the DVDs – especially the 1960s and early 1970s eps) are astounding.

REVIEW

The trip of a lifetime. That's what happened way back in the cold autumn months of 1963, when a crotchety old man tried in vain to stop two pesky teachers barging into a ramshackle police box that actually happened to be an impossibly bigger on the inside than on the outside time-space machine.

And look what's happened since then…

Actually, looking back on Doctor Who's recent revival, you kind of wonder what sort of reaction An Unearthly Child would have got from modern viewers. The effects aren't quite as hot as nowadays. The pace of storytelling is a lot slower than most modern audiences are used to. The Doctor isn't exactly Mr Smiles either. And yet, An Unearthly Child is utterly compelling TV, right from the outset.

What makes the début adventure stand out is by how atypical it is. For a show that's traditionally linked with Bug Eyed Monsters and alien planets, both are conspicuously absent. There's no real sense of fun or joie-de-vivre. And rather than the reliable 'hero' tag that's commonly associated with The Doctor, the younger viewers can only identify with the luckless Ian and Barbara as they are catapulted into a terrifying new way of life.

Let's make no bones about this. The Doctor in An Unearthly Child is not the ideal travelling companion. Not even close. Imagine you're stuck next to him on a plane and you're listening to your iPod at reasonable volume, he'd still probably whip out a pair of scissors and cut your earphones in two just to prove a point, all the while, making that sinister little giggle as he does so. And in this story, The Doctor is selfish, arrogant, vicious even.

In the first episode alone, he's rude and offhand while dealing with Ian and Barbara's enquiries about freaky Susan. By the time they've blundered into the TARDIS, he's moved onto haughty, patronising disdain about their inability to grasp the concept of relative dimensions and time travel. Heck, he's even not above booby trapping the TARDIS console, causing Ian to get an electric shock when he tries to get free. As the episodes progress, he's even willing to bash a caveman's head in, just so that he and his unwilling companions can get back to the TARDIS. Oh, and he's seen to be a smoker, something that would be met with jaw-dropping outrage today. Although he's probably put off the habit for life after hearing the sounds of UHHHNGG! MAKE FIRE! ringing in his ears for all time. Never mind Nicotine patches, a quick trip to prehistoric Stone Age should stop smoking once and for all.

Isn't William Hartnell brilliant though? An utterly arresting performance, which is totally at odds with his usual lovable grandfather persona of later stories. Hartnell is a commanding presence throughout the story, and makes for a perfect anti-hero, which may be just a bit too disquieting for the younger kids. Last year, I reviewed nearly all the Blake's 7 stories for a website called Den Of Geek, which included sneering computer expert Avon. Although put him next to The Doctor of An Unearthly Child, and suddenly Avon starts to resemble a cheery kids TV presenter by comparison. Hartnell's début is one of his best performances, and amazingly, there's hardly a fluff to be found throughout the story.

Still, the other three regular actors are no slouches either. William Russell and Jacqueline Hill are fantastic, both providing the identity figures for us humble peasants at home. Ian and Barbara are both likeable and realistic characters. They are both perfectly intelligent and resourceful, but when thrown into The Doctor's world, they're totally out of their depth, both in knowledge and in experience. However, they both prove to use their resources to make their escapes from the Tribe Of Gum, even when the odds are against them. There's that harrowing bit when Barbara falls over the carcass of a dead animal and starts screaming and crying in horror. Like I said, the Trip Of A Lifetime on this occasion is about as enticing as an all-expenses paid trip to the local abattoir. No sense of fun, just four people trying to escape from a terrifying plight.

Of course, as many fans have pointed out, Ian and Barbara's initial experience strengthened them because they saw how primitive The Doctor regarded them. When it came to communicating with Hur and Za, this proved near impossible, instead resulting in a Stone Age version of Give Us A Clue. They saw how two different worlds collided, much like theirs and The Doctor's, and so from this point on, life on board the TARDIS became smoother (although it would take a couple more stories to achieve some sort of harmony on board).

Carole Ann Ford's Susan starts off really well here, and so it's a shame that she became a generic screaming teen in subsequent tales. Her eccentric hand movements at John Smith and The Common Men are a good example of Susan's alien background (Maybe this is Gallifreyan hand-clapping or something), and Ford captures this to a tee throughout the story with her aloof, alien manner.

Oh, and the faithful companion, the TARDIS can't be overlooked. I guess we take it for granted these days, but Barbara's first dizzying stumble into the TARDIS shows just what a brilliant idea it is. Totally unique, as it sums up why Doctor Who is so great: Pure imagination. What's different though is that the flight of the TARDIS is a bumpy one. All four crew-members seem to black out or at least suffer adverse reactions to the flight. That first trip of a lifetime is unpredictable, disorientating and even dangerous.

Much like the whole adventure: Totally simple (cavemen want the secret of fire; Doctor and co are made prisoners) but claustrophobic and uncompromising. The eerie howling wind effects, the forbidding jungles and the close-ups of bashed-in skulls all make for a queasy visual experience, but effective, too.

Waris Hussein's direction adds much to this, and right from the start, is an inspired choice. His direction is actually quite ahead of its time, with the flashbacks to Susan's classes and POV shots. The action speeds along in that first episode, while the last three contain moody, violent atmosphere (complete with a brutal fight scene in Episode Four). Excellent stuff, the only downer being the extra who clearly wants to be Kenneth Williams in the very first scene.

Totally unlike the stereotype of a 'traditional' Doctor Who adventure, An Unearthly Child makes for a fine first instalment - although you wouldn't want every episode to be this dark. It sets the foundations for the most successful sci-fi TV show very well indeed, while telling a compelling story in its own right.

THE DALEKS

TRANSMISSION DATES

First broadcast: 21st December 1963 - 1st February 1964 (BBC1)

Repeated: 13th November 1999 – Episode 7 rough edit (BBC2);

5th - 9th April 2008 (BBC4)

RECORDING DATES

Ealing Filming: 28th October - 1st November 1963

Studio Recording: 15th November 1963 - 10th January 1964

NOVELISATION

The very first one, Doctor Who And The Daleks – initially Doctor Who In An Exciting Adventure With The Daleks - was written by David Whitaker and included a lengthy prologue loosely based on An Unearthly Child. It's notable for being told from Ian's point of view, combining bewilderment, fear and ultimately a thirst for adventure. It first hit the shelves on 12th November 1964, and was then published by Target on 2nd May 1973. As with the early novels, this one includes accompanying illustrations.

VHS RELEASES

Issued as a double pack in the summer of 1989, and then reissued as a remastered job in 2000.

DVD RELEASE

Bookended by An Unearthly Child and The Edge Of Destruction in The Beginning set in January 2006. Again, selected episodes for commentaries only – Two, Four and Seven are talked over by Christopher Barry, Verity Lambert, Richard Martin, Carole Ann Ford and William Russell. In all honesty, it's not that much of a problem.

Especially considering that the metal meanies get a good documentary charting their genesis. It includes interviews with original Dalek voice artistes Peter Hawkins and David Graham, as well as producer Verity Lambert, designer Raymond Cusick and archive footage of Sydney Newman, who was initially horrified at the thought of BEMs.

REVIEW

Our very first monster in Doctor Who, of course, has to be the Daleks. Say Doctor Who crops up on Family Fortunes, as annoying, foghorn-voice Vernon Kay bellows: NAME SOMETHING TO DO WITH DOCTOR WHO!!!! and it’s a safe bet that the Daleks will be near the top of the list.

The Daleks have become so intertwined with Doctor Who, that it’s a surprise that they haven’t got their own spin-off show in which they hang about in their Central Skaro flats, visit the Central Skaro coffee house and mock the rest of the universe.

Mind you, time and over-familiarity have robbed the Daleks of any shock value that they might have had back in 1963. These days, you know that they’ll start out as deadly, omnipotent threats, but end up as easily defeated laughing stocks. In the new revamp alone, they’ve been reduced to dust, sucked into The Void and turned into out-of-control dodgem cars. Even back in the days of yore, before modern technology, all you had to do to defeat a Dalek was find the nearest flight of stairs. All told, when you think about it, they’re not much cop as monsters.

But then, that’s missing the point. Doctor Who’s core audience is kids, and to a 5-year-old, a Dalek is an awe-inspiring threat. Their unusual appearance is commendably memorable, their lethal weaponry is a force to be reckoned with and best of all, their screeching, grating, metallic voices are imitated up and down school playgrounds everywhere. Daleks aren’t designed for cynical 38-year-old hacks like me, but for kids.

The terrifying threat of exterminating anything remotely different to a Dalek looms large in their début adventure. It’s been noted that the Dalek race can be equated with the Nazis. Anything that doesn’t conform to the Dalek appearance or ideology is a threat. Here, the Daleks regard the Thals as wrong since they don’t fit the Dalek pattern with their humanoid appearance and pacifist ways, and so, they must be wiped out without a qualm. Nation makes the Daleks a genuine force for evil, and for what’s meant to be a kids TV show, its advanced stuff.

In fact, the Daleks are excellently realised on screen - you can imagine kids peering out from behind their Christmas trees at not one, but several of the blighters. Their voices are memorably brought to life by Peter Hawkins and David Graham, who successfully laid the foundations for the likes of Michael Wisher and Nicholas Briggs.

The Daleks itself, as a story, is very good indeed. It carries on the themes laid down in An Unearthly Child. Again, the key aim of the story is to make it back to the TARDIS alive, as The Doctor’s blundering curiosity gets the better of him. And as in the début story, The Doctor is shown to be selfish and arrogant as he tricks the others into visiting the Dalek city to get some apparently vital mercury, when in fact, there’s a mercury link in his pocket all along. Hartnell carries on the good work, combining that spiky, alien personality with a degree of vulnerability as he realises his folly and falls foul of radiation sickness.

The initial uncompromising nature of the story does give way to more run-of-the-mill B-movie perils. In order to retrieve the lost mercury link, Ian, Barbara and the Thals are forced to brave various hazards such as lake-bound monsters and yawning chasms. The Thals aren’t exactly the most helpful followers, especially at the start when they refuse to fight. Steal your leader’s woman, and a Thal will become a mean fighting machine, throwing punches as hard as your average boozed-up clubber.

The Thals are a mixed bunch. Superficially, they’re all a load of hoary old clichés: The leader. The tough love interest. The ditzy blonde. Fortunately, they’re given a degree of weight by strong performances from the likes of John Lee, Alan Wheatley and Philip Bond. Dyoni and Antodus are less successful, but that’s down to the limitations of their characters rather than the performances. Dyoni is the stock damsel-in-distress, refusing to think for herself, as an army of Thal men drool over her Cheryl Cole-style split trousers. Antodus, meanwhile, is possibly one of the biggest whingers in Doctor Who. Every scene he’s in, he’s bleating, moaning and wailing about the injustice of his plight. Imagine Antodus on I’m A Celebrity as he tries to do a Bushtucker Trial: You can guess that he’d start crying like a baby at the prospect of crossing a pit of worms to get stars for a meal. So much so, that he makes Peri resemble Ripley from the Alien films.

Still the Thals and their rubbish dress sense don’t hamper The Daleks too badly. Christopher Barry makes a fine job of creating a suitably alien atmosphere with negative video effects, skewed camera angles and a perfect execution of that all-important first cliffhanger. Richard Martin’s direction isn’t quite as strong, with a couple of poorly shot action sequences, although it’s still competent enough. The eerie sound effects and Tristram Cary’s musique-concrete score add much to the story too, as do Raymond Cusick’s excellent stark, metal designs.

The Daleks is just as pivotal a story as An Unearthly Child, introducing the show’s most iconic baddies and the archetypal alien monster story. Not only does it succeed in establishing the titular creatures as a memorable threat, it also tells a great story for all ages.

THE EDGE OF DESTRUCTION

TRANSMISSION DATES

First broadcast: 8th - 15th February 1964 (BBC1)

RECORDING DATES

Studio Recording: 17th - 24th January 1964

NOVELISATION

Published as Doctor Who – The Edge Of Destruction by Nigel Robinson on 20th October 1988.

VHS RELEASE

Released along with the pilot episode in 2000.

DVD RELEASE

The third DVD to make up The Beginning box in January 2006 – to date, it's the only Classic story not to feature a commentary track. But, what does it matter? There's a fabulous documentary on this disc called Origins, charting the humble beginnings of Doctor Who, telling how a vision for a unique time and space series in a rickety old police box got off the ground. All the original surviving cast and crew discuss the early days (Verity Lambert, William Russell, Carole Ann Ford et al), and again, 1985 footage of Sydney Newman helps to fill in the gaps.

There's also a well-produced documentary about the two-part story, called Over The Edge (regrettably, the Status Quo song from 1980 isn't played over the titles), a look at the workings of the TARDIS and a fascinating piece on the sound and music gurus, so all the relevant facts are there.

REVIEW

All the world’s a stage, said a wise man once. Shakespeare. Or was it The Doctor, causing Shakespeare to mutter Ooh, I must write that down, for about the millionth time. Never a truer word was spoken, especially when it comes to The Edge Of Destruction.

The Edge of Destruction is the stocking-filler of Who’s premier season. The bag of slightly melted chocolate money. The worryingly green-looking satsuma. With big alien worlds and lavish historical locales to design, corners had to be cut. So what better way to do so than to tell your story entirely in the TARDIS with only your four leading lights to star? Bingo!

Edge is an odd one though, and a story that doesn’t quite work for me. Maybe it’s because it’s too stagey: Each scene is executed like a set-piece down at the local theatre. Even the performances are deliberately stagey, especially when the four time travellers are acting strangely at the beginning. Hartnell even gets his own soliloquy near the end of the story, which I’ll mention in a bit.

But to your casual observer, Edge mainly seems to comprise lots of madness, arguing and shouting. It’s your standard Trapped In A Lift or worse, Big Brother scenario. Stick people together in a confined space and it’s inevitable that they’ll start bickering and arguing. Other people become targets for all that pent-up rage and claustrophobia, although why people like watching it on telly is a mystery. That said, the latest Celebrity Big Brother ratings have plummeted, so maybe people are becoming bored of the format. Or Davina McCall’s increasingly grating gurning and wacky, in-your-face presentation (CBB was revitalised for Channel 5 since writing).

As if the claustrophobia isn’t bad enough, our four heroes have to contend with some tenuous alien presence. This results in strange behaviour from the normally dependable Ian, who attempts to throttle The Doctor, and from Susan, who goes mad with a pair of very sharp scissors. Susan should never apply for a hairdressing job, since she’ll be mopping up copious quantities of blood as well as clumps of hair at the end of her shift. That’s one of the more successful scenes of the story, although it’s pushing the envelope to its limits with the kiddies tuning in.

The idea of the claustrophobic threat is a good one, although it’s never quite as fully realised as it could be. It doesn’t help that the direction in the first part is hit and miss. The scene with the melted clock fails for example, since it’s hard to work out what’s going on and also why a melted clock face is such a terrifying prospect in the first place. God knows what would happen if Ian took Barbara to see Raiders Of The Lost Ark – she would turn into an uncontrollable wreck at the sight of the melting Nazi heads. The silly plinky plonky music boinging away in the background doesn’t help either. Frank Cox’s direction in Episode Two is better.

The regulars make the most of the story, and altogether do well with their higher-than-usual share of lines. Jacqueline Hill, in particular, comes off well, especially in her verbal sparring with The Doctor. William Hartnell, too, is excellent, again displaying the vicious side of The Doctor, who threatens to chuck Ian and Barbara off the ship. Inevitably though, with such a high proportion of lines and such a short turnaround, there are many fluffs to be had, including the infamous Fault Locator slip (it sounds like something a lot ruder) and the You both knocked - You knocked both Susan and I un-un-uncon-unconscious goof. It’s uncharitable to fault Hartnell for this, given the pressurised deadlines of 1960s TV shoots, and what’s more, he delivers that revelatory speech without so much as a stumble.

Still, when it comes down to it, the whole kerfuffle is caused by no more than a loose spring. Yes, read that back: A loose spring. All that fuss and drama, and such an underwhelming resolution, which is just a little disappointing.

That’s an irrelevance though, since the main meat of the drama concerns the relationships of the regular characters. Having fallen apart at the seams, the four are brought closer together by their experience. The last five minutes make up for any previous shortcomings as The Doctor apologises to Barbara. It’s a lovely scene, and played perfectly by Hartnell and Hill.

From now on, The Doctor’s frosty persona starts to mellow, and while he’s still prone to bouts of crabbiness, there’s a twinkle in his eye and a paternal instinct present. That’s the most important legacy of The Edge Of Destruction - an opportunity to bring the four characters closer together and prepare them for their future adventures. While it doesn’t work particularly well as gripping action adventure, The Edge Of Destruction does succeed admirably as human drama - a brilliant paradox for a show about an alien being.

MARCO POLO

TRANSMISSION DATES

First broadcast: 22nd February - 4th April 1964 (BBC1)

RECORDING DATES

Ealing Filming: 13th - 17th January 1964

Studio Recording: 31st January - 13th March 1964

NOVELISATION

Doctor Who – Marco Polo was written by John Lucarotti and published in December 1984.

DVD RELEASE

A 30-minute idea of what the story would be like (using telesnaps, photos and soundtrack) is part of The Beginning box set released in January 2006.

REVIEW

What's this? A review of Marco Polo? Has the unspeakable happened and a complete set of prints of the revered seven-parter been found?

Huh. Some hope. At the moment, all seven episodes are still missing from the BBC archives, and there's about as much chance of them being recovered as Davros becoming a door-to-door carpet salesman.

Reviewing '60s Who is a frustrating experience, only because of the fact that a good portion of stories are still missing. Back in the day, the BBC didn't regard TV episodes as having any real future, and so decided to get rid of the master tapes. Still, how could they know that there'd be videos and DVDs, and a big interest in Doctor Who in the 21st century? Bless 'em.

As some sort of consolation prize, there are still audio recordings, telesnaps, and better still, reconstructions of the original episodes, using a combination of the two. Fantastic though they are, it's still hard to get a good idea of the original stories, since you're playing guessing games with only still photographs and screengrabs.

Marco Polo is a casualty of this, since its lavish production deserves to be seen in all its glory. The seven parter really goes to town on its first bona-fide historical. Barry Newbery's set designs are outstanding, and for the time in which they were made, are very high budget. What's more, it's a safe bet that Waris Hussein's direction was just as good as his work on An Unearthly Child. The trick of showing Marco's progress on a stop-motion map, and the accompanying voice-over are again ahead of their time, pre-empting Michael Palin's trips overseas.

Marco Polo isn't a case of flashy visuals and no story, though. John Lucarotti's début tale for Doctor Who is magnificent, and works on many levels. With the action taking place over four months in the story and in seven episodes on screen, this allows Lucarotti to expand his horizons. On the one hand, it's an action-packed, full-blooded historical drama with plenty of grisly deaths: A guard is found stabbed at the end of Episode Four, while Tegana commits suicide with a whopping great big sword. Who said history was boring?

Actually, me. History at school wasn't exactly a barrel of laughs, especially with the teacher managing to drown everyone in over-enthusiastic spit. As a younger chap, the Doctor Who historicals ranked at the bottom of my list, which is a shame, since now, I find most of them fascinating, and invariably, they're expertly produced by all concerned. Marco Polo is no exception and actually raises the bar pretty high for future efforts.

The character detail is well handled. The eponymous Polo (or Mr Marco as everyone keeps calling him - maybe they should do a remake in which that other famous Mr Marco, teacloth-headed Marco Pierre White takes Matt Smith's Doctor on a culinary voyage of the country... actually maybe not) gets lots of great lines and plenty of interplay with the regulars. The first historical personage in Who (which is par for the course these days), Mr Marco is portrayed as a wise, heroic figure, that's clearly no pushover - especially when he 'confiscates' the TARDIS. Again, as with many of the early Hartnells, the TARDIS crew are cut off from their 'home', meaning that their main mission is to make it back and in one piece. Before the days of dodging trams in Coronation Street, Mark Eden is excellent as Mr Marco, adding great depth to the character.

Ping-Cho is another notable player, and acts as Mr Marco's version of Susan. Both show great wonder at their travels, but Susan is clearly aghast at Ping-Cho's forthcoming marriage at only 16. Mind you, that's another significant parallel waiting to happen, given the conclusion of The Dalek Invasion Of Earth. It's a shame that Marco Polo doesn't exist, since it gives Carole Ann Ford something significant to do for once. Susan gets some great lines and good character development. For once, we feel how cut off Susan is after she is isolated from The Doctor, who's too busy being crabby at being apart from his beloved TARDIS.

Tegana is a worthy villain, and as with all the notable bad guys, there's a bit more depth to him than stock pantomime bwa-ha-ha-ing. His suicide, in particular, pre-empts the likes of other notable bad guys like Li H'Sen Chang and Kane. Derren Nesbitt portrays the warlord very well indeed.

There are some rather quaint concepts at work here. I love the idea of the TARDIS being regarded as a caravan: Visit your local caravan park, and wish that the sometimes cramped conditions were really bigger on the inside than on the outside. Still, much like the bohemian existence of caravan living, this idea suits The Doctor's life to a tee - roaming the universe and exploring its wonders very much at his leisure.

We also get our first examples of game playing in Doctor Who, a concept that would be taken to extremes in the McCoy years. In Marco Polo, Ian plays chess with Mr Marco, while Kublai Khan is partial to a bit of backgammon. Too bad that Tennant's Doctor didn't stop for a quick round of 'Operation' with Martha or 'Guess Who' with Professor Yana.

Even in its patchwork form, Marco Polo is a worthy example of how good the early historical adventures could be. Who knows, maybe in the future, someone might submit copies of the episodes? In the meantime, try and track down the reconstruction for a glimpse of this much-recommended early Hartnell classic.

THE KEYS OF MARINUS

TRANSMISSION DATES

First broadcast: 11th April - 16th May 1964 (BBC1)

RECORDING DATES

Model Filming: March 1964

Studio Recording: 20th March - 24th April 1964

NOVELISATION

Legendary Baker producer Philip Hinchcliffe wrote the novelisation and it was released on 21st August 1980.

VHS RELEASE

Released as a double pack video in spring 1999.

DVD RELEASE

Issued on 21st September 2009 with slight cuts from Episodes Two and Four slotted back in with the aid of tweaked visuals and audio recordings. It's a bit thin on the ground extras-wise, with a paltry nine-minute thing on Raymond Cusick's set designs. Its fine, it does the job, but if you're interested in more of the behind-the-scenes stuff, then the only other extra of note is the commentary, in which Clayton Hickman moderates discussion between William Russell, Carole Ann Ford, Raymond Cusick and John Gorrie.

REVIEW

What are the odds that the Now That's What I Call Music LPs will carry on forever? Expect the kids of 2110 to anticipate Now 178, featuring the great grandchildren of Girls Aloud, Coldplay, and a pickled Paul McCartney. Despite selling well and much as I love the early ones, for some, the issue with the Now's, is that you're only getting brief snapshots of a singer's meisterwork.

That feeling extends to Terry Nation's Keys Of Marinus, which is the man himself's very own Now That's What I Call Clichés. He's good at these greatest hit-style stories, is Terry: The Chase. The Daleks’ Master Plan. Planet Of The Daleks. The Keys Of Marinus is notable for not featuring any Daleks though: Instead, we're presented with the Voords, a batch of frogmen in flippers and walnut whip masks who plainly can't see where they're walking (one of them nearly trips over his feet at one point). As far as convincing monsters, the Voords don’t exactly rank at the top of the pile: the equivalent of Hoddle and Waddle or The Saturdays making a claim for the best pop act in the history of music.

Fortunately, the Voords don't feature too heavily in the adventure, only appearing in the bookending instalments. Instead, our intrepid heroes blunder from one run-of-the-mill peril to another, having been set a task by Arbitan, the Keeper of the Conscience of Marinus to recover a set of keys that will help to restore justice with the upgraded Conscience machine. The four time travellers have to deal with angry shrubbery, boggle-eyed turds in jars, questionable beardy pervs and a load of men with buckets on their heads. Sounds enticing?

Each threat takes place in the space of the episode (although the courtroom saga takes place for an episode and a half). The impression I get is that each episode could have been a potential story, but in the end, these were only sufficient to last 25 minutes rather than 100. Which is something of a relief, since the episodes are superficially entertaining most of the time, but forgettable.

The most successful of these is the Morphotron storyline, which takes place in Episode 2. The first example of creepy utopian brainwashing in Doctor Who (see The Macra Terror), the plot involves Barbara at odds with the others. The Doctor, Ian and Susan see rich, opulent surroundings, while Barbara (having dislodged the hypnotic forehead device) sees that this is all a sham, and that instead, they're surrounded by grimy, decaying ruin. It's jarring to see The Doctor be taken in by such cheap hypnotism, and this subplot is highly effective. The Morpho creatures look creepy enough for the kids (especially with those bulging eyes), although their voices sound like a strict headmaster rather than an alien threat.

At this point, we're introduced to The Doctor substitutes, Altos and Sabetha: likeable but dull generic filler characters, who decide to join Barbara, Ian and Susan on their quest (Sabetha is Arbitan's daughter). These characters are efficiently played by Katherine Schofield and Robin Phillips, but there's something a bit off about them both. Sabetha looks half asleep most of the time, while Altos has forgotten his trousers for some odd reason.

Still, Hartnell's decided to take a holiday, so The Doctor goes and visits Millennius before the others. Not that he misses much in the third and fourth episodes. The hoary old plot device of Ian getting a fake key is somewhat clichéd, although this sets things up well for the denouement of the story. But the Screaming Jungle and the Ice Soldiers just aren't scary. Vegetation coming to life would be done with much more conviction in The Seeds Of Doom, while the Ice Soldiers look like a gaggle of drunken extras doing bad Ice Warrior impressions. The character of Vasor is more disturbing though, and it's questionable if his attack on Barbara is pushing the envelope a bit too far for the kiddies. At least Vasor gets the point in the end, though.

Alas, events take a dreary turn in Episode Five, with the dreaded courtroom saga, a personal pet hate of mine. Courtroom dramas are boring. They're stagy, predictable and dull. Just look at how courtroom drama generally brings events to a crashing halt in Who: The Stones Of Blood inexplicably takes a dive after the perfect fusion of Hammer Horror and humour. The Trial Of A Time Lord has been rightly lambasted for its never-ending courtroom bickering. About the only exception to the rule is The War Games Episode 10, which packed in drama, poignancy and a killer conclusion.

The Keys Of Marinus Episodes 5 and 6 offer no such attractions, although Hartnell puts in a spirited performance. The problem is that it's blatantly obvious who's behind the whole sordid saga on Millennius. Eyesen might as well wear a sandwich board saying I AM GUILTY, such is his OTT determination to see Ian do the time for the crime. Even worse is Aydan, possibly the most inept criminal in the history of fictional crime. Stammering and blundering his way through the whole sorry affair, Aydan cuts a pathetic figure as he starts squealing about his all-too-obvious guilt in the crime. At least Fiona Walker gives a convincingly evil performance as Kala, as does Donald Pickering as Eyesen, but on the whole, the Millennius episodes weren't the best way to keep the action going until the end.

Which involves chief Voord Yartek trying to convince the four travellers that Arbitan's head has doubled in size, as he flops around in the dead man's cape. Ian isn't taken in by Yartek's dupe though, as he hands him the phoney key, resulting in mass destruction. At least the story's wrapped up satisfactorily, but it's a shame that the dull courtroom shenanigans dominated the final episode. The last 10 minutes are a bit too rushed for my liking.

Overall, The Keys Of Marinus is a bit of a weak link in the first season, although it's enjoyable enough in its B-Movie way. The design from Raymond Cusick is strong, and the acting from the regulars is as good as ever, but for those who want a consistently strong drama, The Keys Of Marinus may be too pick 'n' mix.

THE AZTECS

TRANSMISSION DATES

First broadcast: 23rd May - 13th June 1964 (BBC1)

RECORDING DATES

Ealing Filming: 13th and 14th April 1964

Studio Recording: 1st - 22nd May 1964

NOVELISATION

Another John Lucarotti penned novelisation; Doctor Who – The Aztecs first came out in June 1984.

VHS RELEASE

The video was released in the autumn of 1992.

DVD RELEASES

10 years later, the DVD was issued on 21st October 2002. In the days before commentary moderators, Verity Lambert, Carole Ann Ford and William Russell gather round the mic for an OK look back at the story. Admittedly, the same stories and anecdotes start to creep in, so you have the usual stuff about the picnic hampers of the TARDIS crew and Carole Ann's unusual pet (see also Pertwee's bouffant, Janice Thorn the out-of-work actress etc) – but don't forget that these commentaries are generally designed with individual buyers in mind rather than die-hard fans who listen to every single commentary.

Elsewhere, there are in-depth looks at the designs of The Aztecs; an impressive 'Before And After' comparison of the old film tapes and the remastered VidFIREd versions; a 1970 Blue Peter clip in which a mumsy Valerie Singleton talks down to viewers about Cortez and the Aztecs; a catch-up with some of the old faces, including Ian Cullen, Walter Randall, and John Ringham; and Episode Four in Arabic! Quite what those strange TARDIS-cam interludes are all about though still leaves me scratching my head.

A Revisitation has been arranged for release in March 2013 – in order to tempt buyers, it will be bracketed with the recently discovered episode of Galaxy 4.

REVIEW

Where’s the First Doctor when you need him? He’s prepared to float in a giant space-age bubble to help his Second and Third incarnations to help thwart the antics of a shouty Time Lord pioneer with a bronze bucket on his head. He’s prepared to help three of his other incarnations defeat a hammy Time Lord maverick from achieving immortality. But if only he could have been there to stop his Tenth incarnation from going off the rails at the end of The Waters Of Mars. Now listen to me my boy. You can’t change the history for these Bowie people, hmmm? You must leave well alone. And while we’re at it, what’s with all this artificial mess in your hair, hmmm?

Alas, it wasn’t to be. But the First Doctor’s a real authority when it comes to sticking by the rules of changing history. Just look at The Aztecs, in which he’s forced to clash with Barbara over her attempts to rewrite history, after she fools nearly everyone into believing that she is the great god Yetaxa.

Barbara’s mission is doomed from the start. The Aztec way of life sees the love of culture and great beauty go hand in hand with violence and bloodthirsty sacrifice. Barbara wants the violence erased though, as she thinks that she can teach her new subjects a more civilised way of life. Already, only about 20 minutes into her new reign of non-terror, she’s trying to stop a sacrifice from going ahead, which of course makes the sacrificial victim scratch his head, wonder what the hell’s going on, and then go ahead and jump off a great big parapet anyway. Only by the end of the story does Barbara grudgingly acknowledge that she failed in her mission, but at least history is allowed to run its course.

The Aztecs principally revolves around Barbara, and Jacqueline Hill makes a very good job of conveying Barbara’s new-found confidence (over-confidence, even) and frustration at not being able to make the Aztec race see the merit of living in perfect harmony. The two extremes of Aztec culture are presented to Barbara in the form of the wise old High Priest of knowledge Autloc, and bloodthirsty butcher Tlotoxl. Autloc is a gentle, wise old man, who puts rational thought and belief first, instead of vicious savagery. He is even forced to confront his own beliefs at the conclusion as he exiles himself: But at least Barbara takes comfort in the fact that although she hasn’t converted the whole of the Aztecs to her way of thinking, she has at least saved one man.

Tlotoxl, on the other hand, is a truly nasty piece of work, and one of the most memorable baddies of the Hartnell years. Shuffling around like a cross between a snake, a deranged clown and Richard the Third, Tlotoxl spends his time wading in blood, if you’ll pardon the expression, as well as trying to catch Barbara out. Bloody-minded though he is, at least Tlotoxl is no fool, having sussed out Barbara from the get go as a fake. Constantly devising new ways to try and catch Barbara out, Tlotoxl, in an unusual move, is ultimately seen to win the battle. He’s not killed off, and what’s more, his way of life is allowed to reign supreme, as a dejected Barbara is forced to concede defeat. That’s the price of history running its natural course. Events are in place, but you get nutbars like Tlotoxl winning the day – the first in a long line of historical loonies, of course…

The other regulars get their own little subplots to contend with (well, apart from Susan, who’s shunted off to the Aztec version of school for a couple of episodes). Again, the two subplots for Ian and The Doctor represent both sides of the Aztec culture. Ian spends his time battling against Mexico’s undefeated champion, Ixta. Ixta’s an odd one. He has the haircut of a 15-year-old girl, and inexplicably keeps calling Ian, Eeeeeeeeeeeuuunnnnnn. This is probably in revenge for Eeeeeeeeeeeuuunnnnnn getting the upper hand over Ixta as the new national fighting champion, a prospect that’s about as appealing to Ixta as eating stinging nettle sandwiches. Eeeeeeeeeeeuuunnnnnn is constantly put through his paces, getting stung with deadly poison, trapped in a water-filled tunnel and being forced to fight against his nemesis. Inevitably, Eeeeeeeeeeeuuunnnnnn wins the battle, as Ixta pitches off the edge of the temple with a girly scream, one of the first of many girly screams in Doctor Who.

While Eeeeeeeeeeeuuunnnnnn is forced to do battle against Girly Haircut Man, The Doctor gets a rather charming subplot, in which he falls for the charms of Cameca, the first example of a love story for Doctor Who. Ze language of lurve is fluent these days in Doctor Who, what with The Doctor locking lips with Rose, Madame Du Pompadour, Astrid Peth, and the posh one that wouldn’t convince as a cat burglar in a million years. But even back in the day of what they call Old Who, The Doctor still managed to be a hit with the laydeez: Troughton’s Doctor flirted with the likes of Gemma Corwyn and Madeleine Issigri. Then there’s Jo Grant. Romana. Whether Tegan and the Fifth Doctor carried on like a moaning old married couple is another point. But the Cameca story is very subtly written and played, resulting in some great comedic moments (the sight of The Doctor reacting to his unwitting proposal is priceless comedy from Hartnell) and some rather touching ones (The Doctor’s understated sadness at leaving Cameca behind and taking her brooch as a memento of her).

Altogether, The Aztecs is just as successful as Marco Polo, and the bonus is that we get to see moving images rather than still photographs and a soundtrack. It kind of reminded me of those old Shakespeare plays from the 1970s that I used to have to see as an English student many moons ago, what with the soliloquies and the studio-bound locales.

But The Aztecs succeeds in every respect. The aforementioned studio designs are magnificent: richly detailed and finely crafted by Barry Newbery. The acting is strong across the board, not only from the regulars, but from the guest stars including Margot Van Der Burgh, Keith Pyott and Chocolate orange man himself, John Ringham, doing a fine job as the villainous Tlotoxl.

The Aztecs is smaller in scope, compared to Marco Polo, which encompassed a wider range of settings and locations. But that's no bad thing. John Lucarotti's dialogue is still rich, and furthermore, the smaller scale of the story allows for a greater degree of human drama, such as Barbara's aims to rewrite history, Autloc's struggle with his faith, and Cameca's joy and loss at falling in love with a cantankerous old cove. Another coup for Doctor Who's first season, and probably my own personal favourite of the early historical stories.

THE SENSORITES

TRANSMISSION DATES

First broadcast: 20th June - 1st August 1964 (BBC1)

RECORDING DATES

Ealing Filming: May 1964

Studio Recording: 29th May - 10th July 1964

NOVELISATION

Nigel Robinson adapted Doctor Who – The Sensorites – it was first available on the bookshelves in February 1987.

VHS RELEASE

Released on a single tape alongside The Time Meddler and The Gunfighters in a swanky black box in November 2002. The episodes were treated with the VidFIRE technique of restoring the story’s original video look.

DVD RELEASE

Came out on shiny disc on 23rd January 2012. Contains a very crowded commentary – Toby Hadoke is in the moderator's chair, alongside familiar faces Russell, Ford and Cusick, plus Frank Cox, Sonia Markham and actors Joe Greig, Martyn Huntley and Giles Phipps. Russell defends the many Billy fluffs of the early 1960s; Greig reveals the perils of having a cigarette in a Sensorite mask; while Revelation Of The Commentary is that Peter Glaze had a toilet roll holder in the shape of a crocodile.

Hadoke is also responsible for the disc's main documentary called Looking For Peter which is a well-researched piece on the enigmatic author Peter R Newman – Hadoke embarks on a quest to clear up the truth about Newman’s career and the mystery over his passing. Some oft-quoted rumours are put to bed.

And huzzah for legendary kids' TV guru Clive Doig, who features on two small pieces on vision mixing and Sensorite voices. Mr Doig discusses coupling Chumblies, wonky cameras and (what seems to be a common theme of this DVD), the recurring Billy fluffs.

REVIEW

When the new revival of Doctor Who graced our screens back in 2005, it would have been easy to totally ignore the past and start with a clean slate. Luckily for the die-hard fans, RTD and co didn’t. In fact, there have been so many tips of the hat to the past that you could be forgiven for thinking that you’d been whisked back in time to 1985 when acknowledging Who’s past was common practice.

And after the obvious candidates like the Daleks, The Master, Sarah Jane Smith, the Cybermen, the Autons and UNIT, there are subtler nods to the past. Take The Fires Of Pompeii in which The Doctor mentions the concluding events of The Romans. The following story Planet Of The Ood does the same thing, and mentions Sense Sphere from The Sensorites. Meaningless to 21st century kiddies, but Who fans must have been screaming in delight.

Whether or not modern kiddies will want to check out The Sensorites is another matter. Parallels with the Ood can be drawn in that they both look quite similar, they have telepathic abilities and despite their alien appearance, they’re actually peace-loving dudes. Rumours that the Sensorites can carry a tune still prove unfounded, although I’m sure they managed to hold their own against The Beatles with potential classics such as Love Me Ood.

The Sensorites is the first story of its kind in Doctor Who in that it presents viewers with an alien race that doesn’t want to wipe out the universe. This rather unusual take on the traditional sci-fi motif portrays the Sensorites as mistrustful of humans rather than hostile – understandable, given that they were originally affected by a deadly plague. At first, all their actions suggest that they are bad guys that have been taking leaves out of The Dalek Book Of Sneaky Tricks. They can hold innocents captive. They are capable of freezing people. They can drive men to the point of madness (presumably armed with a copy of the latest Miley Cyrus CD to help their cause).

And they’re also not above bickering among themselves, much like any current crop of politicians that you’d care to mention. For example, after Ian is struck down by the deadly poison, the faction of rebel Sensorites kidnaps the Second Elder and rob Ian of that all-important cure. Such in-house bickering would become a recurring theme in the future, as Silurians, Dominators and even Daleks would start to back-stab, manipulate and trick each other. All of which presents a refreshing take on the traditional alien threat, and altogether, the eponymous creatures work quite well. Their appearance is inspired (even with their comedy flipper feet), and in hindsight, paved the way for their 21st century doppelgängers very well indeed. Oh, and you can also spot Crackerjack’s very own Peter Glaze as the Third Sensorite. Who knows, maybe Don McLean played a Kraal or Stu Francis played one of the Tractators without our knowing?

The Sensorites is also notable for presenting our very first future humanoids as ordinary working people. Maitland, Carol and John are shown to be your everyday Joes and Jos, and it is all the more effective than having characters strut around in holey leotards, potato sacks or cloaks and no trousers. Lorne Cossette is slightly stagy as Maitland, although Ilona Rodgers and especially Stephen Dartnell as Carol and John, respectively, are much better. Dartnell’s convincing portrayal of madness is certainly an improvement on his previous cameo as Yartek, the scheming Voord in The Keys Of Marinus.

The Sensorites though hasn’t exactly enjoyed a reputation as one of the most memorable stories. I guess that it’s a case of padding out the story too much that’s led it to becoming one of those stories that time forgot. It could have been told in a far tighter four parts, and no one would have noticed the difference. The problem is that for all the political shenanigans and double-crossing among the Sensorites, after a while, it just gets repetitive, and ultimately, a little boring. Much as I’m not against ‘talky’ Who, in this case, it just seems to me that there’s way too much angry bickering and not enough action.

The Sensorites is one of those rare stories in which Susan is actually portrayed as an alien being, as her ability for telepathy is shown. Although the downside of that is Susan is still reduced to screaming and whinging and wondering why she’s being ignored by her grandfather. Regrettably, after this, Susan’s alien background would never really be brought up again, as the original alien teenager descends into a clichéd screaming wreck. Barbara and Ian have less to do than in The Aztecs, although as ever, Jacqueline Hill and William Russell make the most of their parts (bet Hill was glad of the two-week holiday though after the gruelling work schedule). William Hartnell, too, does a good job once again (and produces the classic Matron fluff into the bargain). Much as with the last couple of stories, it’s been interesting to see The Doctor’s persona mellow to the point where he has now become a diplomatic mediator among races. We’re allowed to see this change in the first episode where the TARDIS crew reflect on their travels so far, from what started out as the mild curiosity in the Totters Lane junkyard has turned into the experience of a lifetime.

A mish-mash of the ambitious and the mundane, The Sensorites still manages to hold up well enough as a different take on the alien race, and what it means to human beings. Although the talky scenes threaten to drag the story down, there’s enough good acting and unusual but effective set design (the curving alien sets from Raymond Cusick are inspired) to keep The Sensorites on track. Quite what modern kiddies today would make of The Ood’s forebears I don’t know, but for the time in which they appeared, The Sensorites were undoubtedly the Doctor Who Monsters of the Week.

THE REIGN OF TERROR

TRANSMISSION DATES

First broadcast: 8th August - 12th September 1964 (BBC1)

RECORDING DATES

Location Filming: 15th June 1964

Ealing Filming: 16th - 18th June 1964

Studio Recording: 10th July - 14th August 1964

NOVELISATION

Posthumously published after Ian Marter's sad passing in March 1987 as Doctor Who – The Reign Of Terror.

VHS RELEASE

Currently seemingly worth more than gold dust, The Reign Of Terror was the last VHS release, making it in November 2003 (with linking narration for the missing episodes from Carole Ann Ford).

DVD RELEASE

Due in early 2013 with animated Episodes Four and Five (this will probably make the VHS prices go down on Amazon).

REVIEW

Remember that quaint old invention, the video cassette? Amazing device, the video: yonks ago, they used to have adverts with a walking, boggle-eyed skeleton advertising some brand of home video, so that kids could tape the latest Dungeons And Dragons or Dogtanian off the telly. Of course now, the video is as obsolete as the skeleton, and is now right up there with vinyl LPs, Lolo Balls and Johnny Hates Jazz in the ‘Where Are They Now’ file.

Unless of course, you’re a Doctor Who collector.

In 2010, despite at least half the stories being available on DVD, there were still quite a few unreleased Doctor Who tales that could be tracked down on video only. Problem is, they were pricier than Jordan: whereas your average car boot sale flogs some tatty video of Friends for 20p, something like The Reign Of Terror fetched in the region of £30 on Amazon, a fact that’s particularly galling when your Doctor Who videos get washed away in a flat flood.

All of which waffle brings me to the question: Was The Reign Of Terror really worth tracking down? Well, not really. It’s serviceable enough and contains more points of interest than Time And The Rani. But compared to the last two great historical adventures of Season One, Reign Of Terror falls a bit flat.

Maybe it’s because the period setting this time isn’t quite as lavish as Marco Polo’s caravan settling down in Peking or Tlotoxl waving his bloody sword around in an Aztec temple. No, this time, we’re concerned with the French Revolution in the 18th century, where the TARDIS crew become embroiled with the machinations of Robespierre and Napoleon Bonaparte. It’s all grimy dungeons and tiny little châteaus, which means that if you only watch historicals for the splendid designs, there’s less spectacle here than a burgled opticians.

The other problem with Reign Of Terror is that it can’t make up its mind whether it’s a gritty historical drama or a whimsical French farce. Dennis Spooner makes his writing début here, and would go on to provide more of these sorts of historical adventures in the future (with varying degrees of success). The trouble is that while the story’s entertaining enough, the humour of the piece sits awkwardly with the violence. Take the pervy jailer for example: it’s the sort of character you’d find bumbling around in the Carry On films, but his antics towards Barbara are somewhat questionable (Barbara really seems to attract these sorts of weirdos, especially after shuffling lunkhead Vasor in The Keys Of Marinus).

Likewise, when the luckless foreman is whacked over the head with a shovel by The Doctor, it’s like something out of Shooting Stars, even though the act itself is decidedly un-Doctorly. There’s also plenty of grim death and violence on display too, especially when Robespierre’s mouth gets a kiss from a bullet.

Mind you, the two extremes sum up both the direction that both Doctor Who the programme, and also the character of The Doctor were starting to take. After the initial uncompromising set of stories, the show was starting to relax a little, and while the standard of tales didn’t drop, they were becoming more accessible and lighter in tone. The Doctor too, had now mellowed after his initial scary-old-man-you-wouldn’t-like-to-meet-in-a-junkyard schtick. Indeed, the next season would take this persona even further as The Doctor would spend much of his time chuckling away to himself like a madman.

So The Reign Of Terror is very much the bridge between both extremes. We see flashes of The Doctor’s old irascibility when he threatens to expel Ian from the TARDIS, but he’s also capable of indulging in whimsical dressing up and being rescued from burning buildings by heroic kiddies – neither of which would have happened in An Unearthly Child.

Far from being a dumbed-down parody, there’s still plenty of food for thought in The Reign Of Terror. Barbara questions her experiences in the TARDIS after she says that she is tired of all the death that seems to follow her. Pre-empting the likes of Tegan, and to a point, Martha, Barbara finds to her chagrin, the lives of innocent people are thrown away like discarded rubbish. In this case, it’s the duplicitous Leon Colbert, who befriends Barbara, but after his traitorous actions are revealed, he is ultimately killed by Jules, leaving Barbara to defend both his actions and the French Revolution.

There’s also an interesting alternative theory to The Aztecs, when The Doctor started screaming about how one action could change the course of history. At the end of The Reign Of Terror, it’s suggested that history would have run its course, whatever happened during the events. It’s slightly clashing with The Doctor’s reaction in The Aztecs, but it does leave open different interpretations. Maybe The Doctor’s relaxed his theory. Maybe history will always stay fixed, despite the best efforts of individuals. Or maybe the production crew had just forgotten The Aztecs.

These scenes add much-needed weight to The Reign Of Terror - which makes up for a lot of the to-ing and fro-ing and getting captured and recaptured in this story. While Reign contains some decent set pieces, good set design and some strong performances from the likes of Tony Wall, Keith Anderson and Edward Brayshaw (that’s the hapless Mr Meaker from Rentaghost to the Over-30s), it still feels like a lesser effort when compared to Marco Polo and The Aztecs. Both of these stories had greater drama, not to mention higher stakes. That urgency never really comes through here, and while it was a brave move to go to a less-important time in Earth’s history, the end product still feels like a bit of a damp squib in comparison.

The last scene’s rather charming, though. After initial bickering, moaning and power struggles, the four TARDIS crew members have become good friends, almost a family. And in a heart-warming final message, The Doctor claims: Our destiny is in the stars so let’s go and search for it as the credits start to roll over a galaxy of stars.

It doesn’t quite justify the £30-odd price tag of that all-elusive video, but it’s a lovely scene and rounds off the story and the first season in fine style.

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SEASON TWO

Dalekmania, jokier historicals and the rogue Time Lord that is Bidet

PLANET OF GIANTS

TRANSMISSION DATES

First broadcast: 31st October - 14th November 1964 (BBC1)

RECORDING DATES

Ealing Filming: 30th July and 13th August 1964

Studio Recording: 21st August - 11th September 1964

NOVELISATION

A faithful adaptation from Terrance Dicks brought his prolific tally of Doctor Who novels into the 1990s when it was issued on 18th January 1990.

VHS RELEASE

VidFIRED and released on video in 2002.

DVD RELEASE

Released on shiny disc on 20th August 2012. A strange release this, in some ways – the commentary is more production-based, with various behind the scenes crew (Brian Hodgson, David Tilley, Clive Doig and Sonia Markham) and moderator Mark Ayres discussing the tale from a more technical angle.

Admittedly, the inclusion of Hodgson and Markham does strike me as a bit odd, considering that there’s little in the way of wacky sound effects or elaborate make-up jobs, but they still contribute welcome, general anecdotes to the track.

Stranger still though is the baffling decision to include the cut extra episode, which was originally dropped for padding reasons. And very good reasons they were too, since the tagged-on episode serves no real function. Nice to have William Russell and Carole Ann Ford back on board, and John Guilor, the guy impersonating Hartnell is eerily on the money, but it's little more than a curiosity.

The DVD is boosted by one of those disentangled Doctor Who Stories interviews, which concentrates on Carole Ann Ford and what appears to be the first instalment of The Lambert Tapes, in which the producer (speaking in archive footage) offers her thoughts on helping to cast and form the show, as well as future incarnations of The Doctor (which she's not overly enthusiastic about).

There’s also the opportunity to watch the story with Arabic dialogue (with the guy voicing The Doctor sounding notably younger than Hartnell).

REVIEW

Imagine the offspring of Walt Disney films, Enid Blyton hokum and Honey I Shrunk The Kids. That’s Planet Of Giants in a nutshell.

The second season of Doctor Who had a lot to prove after the runaway success of the first. So it’s odd that the production team