Yikes, a bit of a long break before this one! Never mind; here at last
is the first of two posts on this strangest of episodes - in which I
don't review the content at all.
There's a reason for this, which is that I found it impossible to come at the story with an open mind. There is just so much mythology and trivia flying around concerning Mission to the Unknown that it clutters up my ability to appreciate it simply for what it is, so I decided to get that out of the way first.
Let's start with the reason it exists, which is, basically, scheduling.
Towards the end of the previous recording block the last two parts of
serial J (Planet of Giants) were combined into one because there
wasn't enough content to warrant a four-parter, but this meant that the
team had effectively produced one week's worth of Doctor Who less than planned. Sydney Newman decided to tack an extra episode on the end of the second recording block to make up for it.
Of course this meant that the episode needed to be fairly cheap, and
also ran into the problem of the regular cast having to work an extra
week. Verity Lambert came up with a solution that solved both of these
issues at once, and in the process produced something quite unique.
This, then, is the first ever Doctor-lite story. It's so lite, in fact,
that the Doctor doesn't appear at all (which is not quite true of any
others, not even the 1960s episodes when William Hartnell was on
holiday). His companions don't appear, either. Nor the TARDIS.
It's impossible to imagine the impact this would have had on viewers at the time (though Elizabeth Sandifer gives it a go in her review) - it's almost as if the program had been invaded by another show altogether.
And, in a way, it had. Without the regular cast to hold people's
attention, Lambert turned to that other great attraction of the program,
the Daleks. (In fact, it could be argued that they were even more
popular: the first Dalek film came out in the summer, the stageplay Curse of the Daleks
was announced at the end of September, and the second Dalek annual was
due to go on sale two days after broadcast. Dalekmania indeed!) Lambert
asked Terry Nation to produce a 'teaser' episode for the forthcoming
Dalek epic, and Nation decided to use the opportunity to test out the
viability of an independent Dalek program.
So, how successful is the only single-episode story of the classic
series? You'll have to tune in next time to find out what I thought...
Behind the Scenes: Verity Lambert
Before she disappears from the show I need to say something about Doctor Who's first producer. This was Lambert's final episode before following Sydney Newman out of the door to produce The Newcomers with him, followed by Adam Adamant Lives!
(a show my mother remembered fondly). Lambert went on to have a
glittering career, which is detailed in the usual places, so I won't
reiterate it here. Other people have also said plenty about her
contribution to Doctor Who - see Sandifer again for an eloquent example. I just want to add one thing.
When I got properly back into the show (after a long break) in 2006 I
decided to investigate some highlights of the eras I had missed first
time around, as well as revisit some old favourites. Being new to fandom
I defined eras by the most obvious method (the actor playing the
Doctor), and the highlights by fan consensus (since I hadn't had a
chance to form my own opinions). It took me by surprise quite how off
target my expectations were, and in particular quite how much I enjoyed
the Sylvester McCoy and Hartnell eras, neither of which had been
suggested as highlights.
As time passed and I grew more knowledgeable I could refine that a
little more: what I loved was actually the Andrew Cartmel and Lambert
eras. Oh, there are plenty of joys still to come before we reach the end
of The Tenth Planet, and there have been a smattering of
clunkers already; but this has been a real golden age. And it set up the
show to run and run, for another fifty years so far. So I am very glad
that she lived to see the show successful once again in a new
millennium, under Russell T. Davies.
Next Time:
Dalek Cutaway.
No comments:
Post a Comment