Here it is, then: the last episode for Richard Martin, Dennis Spooner
(as script editor), Jacqueline Hill (as Barbara), and William Russell.
It may not be the end of the season, but it certainly feels like the end
of an era. So does it stand up to the pressure of the occasion?
Like Flashpoint, it's a story of two parts; so let's echo the structure of the review I did for that, and tackle the opening 17½ minutes first.
Mechanoid City, Well it Ain't the Same...
I'll start with the elephant in the room - no, sorry, it's a Mechanoid
in a lift, and who hasn't had that experience of having to push up
against the walls of a lift to fit around something - or someone -
enormous? Anyway, once again the BBC were hoping to find an alien to
match the commercial success of the Daleks; and as with the Zarbi, they
failed. The new challengers look interesting enough, though the thing
that pops out of the top is just bizarre, as if they've brought their
own executive toy. Or perhaps just Christmas decorations and fuzzy dice.
Either way, it's the sink plunger of the design - unless that's the
grippers which can barely grip. One wonders how they managed to
construct such a beautiful city, built as they are!
I shouldn't mock, though; for all their oddities they look good, and
their movement is surprisingly balletic (except for the distant one
crossing the bridge in the model shot). Perhaps it was the sounds they
make that put people off? They are so hesitant and inscrutable, not the
stuff of nightmares like the harsh and oh-so-clear screams of the
Daleks. On the other hand, maybe it was simply the Mechanoids' size. As a
fairly chunky humanoid I've had to deal with that on occasion, so I
sympathise. Poor Mechanoids.
Throughout this discussion I've spelled the name 'Mechanoid' - but in some of the on-screen credits it's 'Mechonoid'.
Most people think this was an error anyway - a hangover from the draft
scripts when they were called Mechons (and the Daleks still do so) - but
in my case the deciding factor is that the first time I encountered the
race it was in a comic strip, and spelled with an 'a'. But more on that
later in the marathon.
There's more to this part of the episode than one alien design, though.
It didn't really grab me at the beginning, mostly because the Mechanoids
are a bit too hesitant, Peter Purves' introduction as the barely sane
Steven Taylor is a bit too melodramatic, and the scene of the Daleks
summoning the lift is a bit too pointless. It soon picks up, though; the
interactions between the regulars and Taylor become quite charming, and
there is a nice "ooh, what's gonna happen next?" buildup to the
Dalek/Mechanoid confrontation. There are slips - the shutters of the zoo
failing to close and the too obvious setup of the cable as a means of
escape (combined with the unrealistic scale of the drop) - but in
general there's a proper heightening of tension. Throughout the episode
the music has helped with this, and it all builds to the final battle.
Again it's an echo of the early days of the show - in this case, the
climax of the second serial - with a battle between two alien factions
in the city that belongs to one side.
Unlike last time, however, this is stylish and effective - I could watch
it over and over (and have done). This is a great scene, only
overshadowed by what follows.
A Farewell to Iananbarbara
On to the final eight minutes, then. William Hartnell was apparently
quite angry that Russell and Hill were leaving, and couldn't understand
why they would abandon him and the show. He suppresses that anger
through most of the episode, giving a fine performance; and then
unleashes it at the appropriate moment. Everyone's fired up, here, and
aware of their roles. The Doctor, of course, is both devastated and
incandescent. Vicki comforts and reassures him by tackling the reasons
for his upset rather than the things he says (and Hartnell's one fluff
here - about floating around in Spain - is perfect). Iananbarbara are
nervous and excited - and we have a proper "can we go home?"
conversation, rather than "is this close enough?", though Barbara's "I
never really thought about it" is a bit disingenuous, even based on just
the TV series.
Then, following the emotional farewell, we have them falling back into
the world, landing in a London garage in 1965 and completing the journey
they began in a London scrapyard two years earlier, during the opening
episode of the show; followed by their prefilmed "victory lap". The
stills and the scene on the bus were directed by Douglas Camfield, so
this is rather a passing of the baton of go-to directors. And it's all
rather emotional. I felt a bit tearful watching this as part of the
marathon. It all comes together - and as the camera pulls back to reveal
Vicki and the Doctor watching them on the Time-Space Visualiser, and we
realise not only that they make it home but also that the remaining
travellers know that they do.
Which is how it should be.
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 26th June 1965
Viewers: 9.5 million
Chart Position: 7
Appreciation Index: 57
Rating:
7/10. Low to start with, but on an upward climb reaching 10/10 for the last third.
Next Time:
Serial R as a whole.
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