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Doctor Who Serial 013 – The Web Planet

Synopsis: The TARDIS is trapped without power on a planet occupied by giant ants who make an annoying sound. Stream of consciousness blog post for this serial. Vicki seems to still be wearing the skin of a dead Muppet while reclining on her beach lounger. My favourite part is where Barbara decides to clean up in the TARDIS for The Doctor, I assume because she’s a woman. My god, this story is boring. The vaseline on the lens to give the feeling of otherworldliness doesn’t work. History doesn’t mean anything when you travel through space and time!” – The Doctor Ugh! That quote is so horrible, especially after a historical… Read More »Doctor Who Serial 013 – The Web Planet

Doctor Who Story 012 – The Romans

Synopsis: The crew are split up as The Doctor and Vicki are headed to Rome, while Ian and Barbara are sold into slavery. At the end of The Rescue we had the TARDIS standing on a cliff and falling over. The Romans picks up a month later. This is the first time we see The Doctor and his companions just enjoying themselves and taking time off from danger and adventure. The Doctor and Vicki seem to want to run for some adventure, while Ian and Barbara want to lounge and enjoy themselves. The Doctor will eventually return to the Roman Empire. This episode is one of the best comedic episodes of Hartnell’s… Read More »Doctor Who Story 012 – The Romans

Doctor Who Serial 011 – The Rescue

Synopsis: An Earth space rocket from the 2490s is crashed on Dido. The only surviving crew are Vicki Pallister and the injured Bennett. They’re being terrorized by Koquillion (pictured above), or is it Coquitlam? One is an alien, one is a city in British Columbia. This is the first story with our new buddy Vicki. Her equipment picks up the TARDIS in the distance, and she’s excited to think it’s the rescue ship. We learn that the ship is still three days away, and Koquillion is unaware of their intended visit to Dido. This is the first time The Doctor has visited a planet before the series began. He refers to the people… Read More »Doctor Who Serial 011 – The Rescue

Doctor Who Story 010 – The Dalek Invasion of Earth

Synopsis: The TARDIS lands in London. Barbara and Ian are excited to be home, but The Doctor is hesitant, he doesn’t think they’re in the 1960s. Instead they find themselves in the year 2164 and the Daleks have taken over. This is the episode everyone had been waiting for, the return of the Daleks, but it’s kind of horrible. You have an Earth conquered by the Daleks, a Doctor Strangelove-esque scientist who creates a grenade to kill Daleks, which doesn’t seem to work, brainwashed humans under the control of Daleks, and so many ridiculous ideas. This story is also a proof of how slowly a Doctor Who serial can move. This… Read More »Doctor Who Story 010 – The Dalek Invasion of Earth

Doctor Who Story 009 – Planet of Giants

Ah, thus we begin season two of Doctor Who. Our Doctor is still William Hartnell and his companions are Ian (William Russell), Barbara (Jacqueline Hill), and The Doctor’s granddaughter Susan (Carole Ann Ford). Synopsis: An accident lands the TARDIS in England again, but this time, they’ve shrunk to be an inch tall. This has to be the worst episode ever. The drama of the story revolves around a murder over a pesticide, but because The Doctor and company are shrunk to tiny sizes they’re completely uninvolved in the story. Thus the viewer has no interest. Oh, and also the Honey, I Shrunk The Kids trope is well over played.

Doctor Who Story 008 – The Reign of Terror

May I first say, it’s ridiculous I have to add a leading double zero because Doctor Who has hundreds of stories? “The Reign of Terror” is the final story of the first season. We’ve been through 42 episodes, broken down into 8 serials. Until “The Reign of Terror” we’ve only had seven missing episodes. Those seven episodes make up the entirety of “Marco Polo.” “The Reign of Terror” is missing two episodes (“The Tyrant of France” and “A Bargain of Necessity”). When I was a kid, I would record episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation on VHS, and then all other versions of Star Trek. It seems that British kids had a… Read More »Doctor Who Story 008 – The Reign of Terror

Doctor Who Story 007 – The Sensorites

Synopsis: The Doctor and his companions arrive on a spaceship to find a crew sleeping. They wake up to warn The Doctor to flee as soon as possible as the Sensorites are keeping them prisoner. The Doctor and his companions return to the TARDIS to find the locking and opening mechanism for the TARDIS has been removed. They can’t get in. This is one of the weirder ones; not because of the story. In 1997, a new TV channel launched called Space. They decided to show episodes of Doctor Who, and they started right from the beginning. They only showed complete serials, and they had the rights to air episodes from… Read More »Doctor Who Story 007 – The Sensorites

Doctor Who Story 006 – The Aztecs

Synopsis: After leaving the TARDIS, Barbara emerges from from the tomb of Yetaxa, a priest of the Aztec people. The Doctor, Ian, and Susan are mistaken for Yetaxa’s servants. This is second1 historical story. The original plan for Doctor Who was to have The Doctor finding themselves on alien worlds and in Earth’s past. This isn’t something that lasted longer than William Hartnell. Pretty early on, the party discover that a human sacrifice is about to take place. Barbara refuses to allow it. In her words If I could start the destruction of everything that’s evil here… then everything that is good would survive when Cortez lands.” But The Doctor has a… Read More »Doctor Who Story 006 – The Aztecs

Doctor Who Story 005 – The Keys of Marinus

Synopsis: The TARDIS arrives on a beach of glass on the shore of an acidic sea. They are being stalked by a man in a scuba suit. They find a building, and for some odd reason split up. They are all captured by an old man in robes, except for Ian, who saves the old man from a scuba man. Once he knows he can trust The Doctor and his companions, the old man tells them of his machine which can save his world, but he needs the four keys of marinus to work the machine. The Doctor and his companions are forced into helping the old man. They modelled… Read More »Doctor Who Story 005 – The Keys of Marinus

Doctor Who Story 003 – The Edge of Destruction

Plot Synopsis: Doctor Who was originally commissioned for a 13 episode run. The Four episode story “An Unearthly Child” and the seven episode story “The Daleks” left the production crew with a two episode void. They decided for budget purposes to set the entire story within the confines of the TARDIS. An accident completely knocks The Doctor and his companions to the ground (except Ian who seems to land perfectly in a chair). They all wake up confused and Susan complains of pain, ready to scream “GRANDFATHER!” They find the doors ajar, and Susan freaks out and assumes something got in. I don’t know if it’s supposed to be a big… Read More »Doctor Who Story 003 – The Edge of Destruction