CC6.10b The Scorpion Men

Oh dear. I've been struggling with this marathon, and having to write a negative review always applies the brakes to my (already stuttering) momentum. I've been putting off reviewing the second episode of The Wanderer for weeks; time to bite the bullet. Still, this is going to be short one.

First, then, to tie up a couple of loose ends from last time. I was right about Grigori, which tends to make me feel good unless it's meant to be a mystery and is too obvious, which isn't true in this case. That's a plus. However, I also said that - as the first pseudohistorical drama I've covered - this needed to have a good alien plot. This one is bog-standard.

(An aside: I have reviewed a Hartnell pseudohistorical in this marathon, but it was a short story. For some reason I hold those to a different standard.)

The alien plot, as I say, is generic, and this puts pressure on the aliens themselves to provide interest. They threaten, they bluster, they kill... and that's it. No real character tics that we haven't seen many times before. They are admittedly visually impressive (and wouldn't have worked at all on TV, which isn't a complaint), but this is not enough. And the final solution to combating the menace is all rather "wha? where did that come from?", bringing up thoughts about how geology doesn't work like that - an inappropriate complaint for a Doctor Who story, but the fact that it came up is a red flag. Basically, this part of the episode falls very flat - and it is the main part.

What about the rest of the story? In terms of action it felt like running back and forth between the same two places, so not much to work with there. The business with Grigori is handled okay - Tim Chipping's performance is suitably mad, and the resolution was quite coolly crazy (in a 1964-ish way) - but the manner in which the potential opportunity to return Iananbarbara home was short-circuited felt clumsy. It wasn't even really necessary to hold out this promise in the first place! Grigori's situation could have been resolved by judicious use of the Fast Return Switch.

At the beginning of the first episode Ian was ruminating on lessons learned during his travels, and by the end of this one I had no idea why this particular escapade taught him what he said it did. Which was quite disappointing.

And that's quite enough for now.

Rating:
3/10. Though to be honest, weeks later, I'm surprised it's not lower - there must have been something more I enjoyed that I've forgotten!

Next Time:
Companion Chronicle 6.10, The Wanderer, as a whole.