The Ice Warriors - Two and Three

Tough to critique these two episodes, as they no longer exist except in audio and telesnaps. So the Restoration Team put together a quick reconstruction of the episodes. They did a spiffy job, considering they compacted two 25-minute episodes into one 15-minute recon. It's well done, even considering it was, I think, their first attempt at such a job. The little lines on the vidscreens are a nice touch, as is the blowing snow on the outdoor scenes. The editing of it makes it zip along at a swift pace. At the very end it reverts to video again, using the recap from Four as the ending of Three. The framing device of using a "communications failure" to reflect the nature of the recon is clever. Hats off to the Restoration Team once again.

The Ice Warriors - One

This was a good starting episode. Nice atmosphere with the old house inside the dome, the cold outside, the mysterious frozen warrior in the ice. The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria are on good form here. And the Doctor, in particular, shines by demonstrating his intellect in predicting a computer's response. The base personnel they deal with are realized decently but not extra special. The awakening Ice Warrior, while Victoria and Jamie are on the other side of the curtain, is a great cliffhanger. This story promises good things.

The Abominable Snowmen - Episode 2

This episode feels very slow. Perhaps that's because there is absolutely no incidental music. Or the very atmospheric mood of the monastery. Who knows. The picture and sound quality are back to pre-Restoration Team levels, i.e., not great but OK. The Yeti don't look very threatening, more cuddly than anything. It's a well-made episode, just kind of dull. Especially after the previous classic. Up next is another incomplete story, "The Ice Warriors". Hmmm, Season Five is usually referred to as the Monster Season. It might just as well have been called the Cold Season, what with Tomb followed by Snowmen followed by Ice.

The Tomb of the Cybermen - Episode 4

It's the end of the story, and I'm sad to see it end. This episode has some more great stuff in it. I especially liked Toberman, the poor man who is partially Cyber-converted, then helps the humans finally sacrificing himself to trap the enemies within their tomb. Is Jamie's trip on the stairs from the hatch planned, or was it an accident? Victoria has some nice moments, too. She tricks Klieg and Kaftan, making them think there may have been a second weapon in the revitalizing room, and she has a pointed comment to Captain Hopper towards the end. Plus a nice skirt she's wearing. ;-) A Cybermat survives and roams free on the surface of Telos as the story comes to its finish.

Most definitely, this story gets a thumbs-up. Very exciting stuff. And while it may not be the spectacular epic that it was held to be before its recovery in Hong Kong in 1992 (I think it was '92), it's still pretty gosh darn good. Highly recommended, a great choice for the first Troughton DVD. Next up, we're back to incomplete stories, with Episode 2 of "The Abominable Snowmen"...

The Tomb of the Cybermen - Episode 3

This episode doesn't feel quite as exciting as the last one. It's still decent, though. The Cybermen are awake, and our heroes are in trouble. It features the classic scene of the Doctor talking about his family with Victoria. It also has the all-too-obvious wire lifting up Toberman as the Cyberman heaves him over his head. The larger not-as-cute Cybermats appear here, too. Still and all, a good episode.

The Tomb of the Cybermen - Episode 2

This episode has so many cool things in it. It's got a "This may be dangerous so those of you who'd rather leave may do so now, not you Jamie" moment from the Doctor. Toberman's knowing smile when Captain Hopper reports his ship has been damaged. The tombs are opened. The cute little Cybermat comes to life. The Cybermen awaken from their hibernation, ripping their way out of their tombs. The Cybercontroller. Victoria using a gun to destroy the poor little Cybermat. Powermad Klieg. This is good stuff. And we're halfway through the story.

The Tomb of the Cybermen - Episode 1

Ah, a complete story at last. And we're on DVD, too. Cleaned up very nicely by the Restoration Team, but this is the only Sixties story on DVD that is not VidFIREd. Oh, well. Thank goodness they got Victoria out of her old-fashioned outfit and into some shorter skirts. Very lovely. The opening of this episode is especially good, the first scene in the TARDIS seems to be specially filmed, like a motion picture, with real closeups and such, not just standard TV stuff. The exteriors on the planet Telos are well done, too. Klieg and Kaftan aren't very nice, that's kinda obvious. Captain Hopper has a terrible accent, as well as a not-so-good actor playing him, too. The Doctor and Jamie are really working well together. I love Jamie's "Oh, aye, that" response to technobabble. He's really starting to shine.

The Evil of the Daleks - Episode 2

Well, we lose Polly, but... wow, oh, wow. Victoria Waterfield joins the crew. Deborah Watling. Very nice. The episode is unfortunately the only surviving one from this story. Still, it's a nice representation. The Daleks are evil, Waterfield and Maxtible are interesting "villains", I guess you could say. The story has sort of a Hammer Horror feel to it in some ways. The Doctor slowly realizes what's behind the whole thing, and you can see the dread forming in his features. Good solid writing by David Whitaker, the series' original script editor. Shame the rest of the story is missing. Next we finally have a complete story again! Our first full adventure since William Hartnell's "The War Machines", it's the classic "The Tomb of the Cybermen"...

The Faceless Ones - Episode 3

Darn it, no Polly or Ben in this episode! This was their last story, and since this is the last remaining episode of the story, we'll never see them again. What a shame, they were really fun companions. Unfortunately, a lot of their episodes are missing, but what we do have shows their great chemistry and fun. Goodbye, Polly and Ben, you were enjoyed. This episode furthers the story a bit, but not too fast. Inspector Crossland looked familiar to me, until I finally placed him at the end of the episode: he was in "The Dalek Invasion of Earth". Silly me. Colin Gordon does a great job portraying the skepticism and frustration of the airport's Commandant. Samantha Briggs, played by Pauline Collins, has long been rumored to have been offered to become a companion on the series. But she turned it down. It's hard to tell from this episode, where she doesn't get a lot to do, how she would have been. She didn't make all that much of an impression on me from this episode, to be honest. Oh, well, one of those what-might-have-beens. And from what I read from the Restoration Team's website, they had to put a lot of work into this one, because of damaged or missing film. I noticed it because of a number of shots which appeared to be zoom-ins, which turns out to be done to cover the missing or damaged frames. Well done, it works. Next up, the only surviving episode of "The Evil of the Daleks", in which the Doctor encounters some old enemies, and finds a new friend...

The Faceless Ones - Episode 1

Today we get our first look at the new main titles, featuring Patrick Troughton's features. Still using the Hartnell version of the theme music, though. And this episode is VidFIREd! Yay! Especially after last time's very poor quality "Moonbase" episode, this looks especially excellent. The Restoration Team certainly does a tremendous job cleaning up these 30 to 40 year old episodes. It's also our first story that has Malcolm Hulke involved in the writing. He'll be back later. This story also features one of the Number 2's from "The Prisoner". Captain Blade is a much more menacing villain than our last one, Zaroff from "The Underwater Menace". Much better to play it subtly than over-the-top. The glimpses we get of the weird creature are effective. Also very well done is the location work at Gatwick Airport. And the guy at immigration who gives the Doctor and Jamie trouble about their passports really reminds me of Rimmer from "Red Dwarf". It isn't him, but it sure is reminiscent of Chris Barrie. Sadly, this story is incomplete, so next time we get Episode 3, and that's it for "The Faceless Ones".

The Moonbase - Episode 4

A serious drop in video and audio quality. The opening of the episode is nifty though, cool to see the marching boots of the Cybermen stalking across the Moon. The animated raygun blast is kinda silly, but it's topped moments later by the wacky flying Cybermen as the Gravitron sends them into space. And their goofy spaceships, too. Overall, a decent story, not great, but serviceable. We've still got a few more episodes until we get to our next "full" story, so hang in there, folks. Next up, Episode 1 of "The Faceless Ones".

The Moonbase - Episode 2

Only Episodes 2 and 4 of this story still exist. It's a neat little tale, typical of Troughton's era. Multi-national base under siege, this time by the Cybermen. Poor added-to-the-cast-at-the-last-minute-and-still-shoehorned-into-the-scripts Jamie is unconscious in the sickbay most of the time. Polly makes coffee. Ben seems to just kinda run around. The Doctor investigates. Patrick is really shining as the Doctor, his scenes are imbued by such varied tones of menace, fear, and silliness. The man is a joy to watch. The Cybermen look flashier than their first appearance, now they're all metal-skinned instead of cloth. We haven't heard the new voice style yet, but that changed too. The animated black lines creeping over the victim's hand was really cool. One of the guys working at the Moonbase is played by a fella who was Chief Inspector Dreyfus' assistant in some "Pink Panther" films. Next episode is Episode 4 of "The Moonbase".

The Underwater Menace - Episode 3

After a quick glimpse of the regeneration and the first faltering steps of the new Doctor, we're straight on to the earliest surviving Patrick Troughton episode, and one word sums it up nicely: ugh. Professor Zaroff is played by an actor attempting an accent that sounds unfortunately like Bela Lugosi, and ends up acting even worse than Lugosi in an Ed Wood movie. The costumes are just terrible, especially those of the Fish People (and don't get me started on their "underwater" antics). The executioner in the temple or whatever it is looks like Sewer Urchin from "The Tick" cartoon series. And, of course, Zaroff's famous "Nothink in ze world can shtop me now!" Ick. On the plus side, this is our first Troughton episode, so we get our first: episode with Jamie McCrimmon; recorder performance by the Doctor; disguised Second Doctor. Patrick, in his first full appearance in our marathon, really makes a great impression here. He gives the otherwise crappy episode a lot of energy and lift. I have the feeling that had this been a Hartnell episode, it would be excruciatingly dull and overlong. With Troughton, we get some vigor and verve. Bodes very well for the future. Shame it's such a crap story. On the plus side, it does feature Polly in that fish/seaweed/shell/whatever outfit... yummy. :-)

The Tenth Planet - Episode 4

I'm so glad they decided to do a full reconstruction of this, instead of a quick narrative recap. Using telesnaps and the odd brief film-clip, Episode 4 is as good as we'll probably ever see it. They did a great job of recon on this, with nice little touches, like lighting changes, and scrolling interference on the videoscreens. A fast-paced episode which sees the Cybermen finally defeated, and the destruction of the planet Mondas (which I think Ben pronounced "Mandos" at one point). Of special note is, of course, the regeneration of the Doctor. When William Hartnell collapses onto the floor of the TARDIS control room, it is the end of an era...

On the whole, the story was fast-paced and entertaining, and the Cybermen are wonderfully realized monsters. I can see why they were brought back on several occasions in the next few seasons. Thumbs up for this one.

And so the William Hartnell era comes to an end. It's been a long, strange journey. We started on November 23, 2004 with this marathon, and we're only through with one Doctor after almost three months. Quite a journey still lies before us. But, looking back at William Hartnell's era, it becomes clear that Hartnell truly put his own stamp on the role. Without his enigmatic performance, the show would not have lasted nearly as long as it did. At times, his eccentricities did get a bit irritating, and sometimes it was hard to watch William fluffing a line or struggling with some dialogue. The stories themselves were wonderfully varied, with historicals mixed with science fiction. Companions came and went, but none had quite the charm and lasting impression on us as Ian and Barbara. Both were also very instrumental in the early success of the show. The era had its high points (The Aztecs, The Crusade, The Time Meddler, The Dalek Invasion of Earth) and its low points (The Web Planet, The Sensorites, The Space Museum), and everything in between (everything else, naturally). If I was forced to pick a favorite Hartnell story, only choosing from the surviving ones I've watched in the marathon, I would have to go with The Aztecs. Four episodes of wonderful writing, wonderful acting, and even a romance for the Doctor. That's my pick.

Up next, it's the beginning of the Patrick Troughton era as the Second Doctor arrives. Unfortunately, like so many of the early Troughton stories, The Power of the Daleks no longer exists, so we'll be watching some surviving clips from the first episode of Power, and then the earliest surviving complete Patrick Troughton episode, The Underwater Menace Episode 3. You have been warned.

The Tenth Planet - Episode 3

Maybe I'm just in a nit-picking mood, but I noticed several things in this episode. First of all, the person doing the titles clearly hasn't been having much luck lately. The first episode was attributed to "Kitt Pedler", instead of Kit. This episode was co-written by "Gerry Davies", not Gerry Davis. OK, and here's another thing. The crew quarters that Ben is held in has a ventilation shaft that leads directly to the rocket silo. Does this seem wise? What happens when the rocket launches? Then there's the second Cyberman ship landing. It lands in exactly the same spot as the first Cybership landed. What happened to the first ship? Did it explode or something? Because it's clearly not there. And on a bit of a sad note, it's unfortunate that the final surviving complete William Hartnell episode does not feature William Hartnell at all. The Doctor collapses right at the beginning, and is out of action for the rest of the episode. Shame.

The Tenth Planet - Episode 2

OK, so the Cybermen sent 3 guys to take over Snowcap base. No wonder the good guys were able to beat them so soon. The Cyber-voices are really effective. A weird sing-song effect, with the actors in the suits simply opening their mouths when "speaking". Very different. And the film Ben runs in the projection room... looks like a Western, maybe John Wayne. I seem to recall the novelization had him watching "From Russia With Love". I think. But it seems that the danger isn't quite over just yet...

The Tenth Planet - Episode 1

It's the final Hartnell story. And the first Cyberman story. Historic, isn't it? Shame that Episode 4 doesn't exist in the archives anymore. Thankfully, we do have a restoration on this video. We'll get to that later. This episode's outdoor South Pole scenes were really quite effective, I thought. The Cybermen's first appearance is very creepy. This is very much a typical Troughton story. A multi-national base under siege from sinister elements. The Doctor is the base's only hope. Yep, we'll see this again in the near future. Good start to the story.

The War Machines - Episode 4

Action-packed finale to the story. Polly is freed from mind-control. Yay! I do wonder why the first War Machine created has the number "3" on it, instead of the more logical "1"? Perhaps the first two were vastly inferior prototypes that they really just don't want to ever discuss. Hartnell sure likes to pose, doesn't he?

The story is very enjoyable, so it gets a thumbs-up. And it got rid of Dodo for us, too, which is a nice bonus. As well as giving us the lovely Polly, which is another nice bonus. :-)

Next up, William Hartnell's final story, "The Tenth Planet", which also introduces a new enemy for the Doctor...

The War Machines - Episode 3

More UNIT-esque action! Soldiers fighting big robot machine thing! Some very gorgeous close-ups of mind-controlled Polly. Ben trying really hard to escape and convince the Doctor and Sir Charles that there is real danger out there. Great cliffhanger with the soldiers retreating from the advancing War Machine, and the Doctor standing defiantly in its way as it approaches. And no one says "Doctor Who"! Yay!

The War Machines - Episode 2

Both Professor Brett and WOTAN say "Doctor Who" several times in this episode. Ignore, ignore, ignore... On the bright side, it's the last episode with Dodo in it. She was taken over and goes all wacky-mind-control-y. After the Doctor experiences an attempted takeover of his mind (along with some horrible overacting by William Hartnell, sorry Bill), he figures out she's screwy and sends her away. Yay! Room for Ben and Polly to join him now. Fab!

The War Machines - Episode 1

This one's got a great UNIT feel to it, with the Doctor in present-day London. Unique to see him strolling the streets... and wearing the same hat he wore in his very first episode! Speaking of first episodes, this appears to be the first story (as far as I can recall) with specially-made opening titles, with "The War Machines Episode 1" appearing in computer-ish font against a white background. Neat. Also, the first appearance of new companions Polly and Ben. I've always liked these two, they have a great repartee with each other. And Polly is the most beautiful companion we've seen yet! Did you know I met Anneke Wills last November? Oh, yes, and she is just as beautiful today as she was nearly 37 years ago. Got a chuckle out of seeing "and WOTAN" listed in the end credits. And of course this episode has the famous "Doctor Who is required!" line, which has annoyed purists insisting that Who is not the Doctor's last name ever since. I don't like it either, I don't think it's his name. But WOTAN said it, so we just have to get past it and ignore it as best we can. So say us purists. :-)

The Gunfighters - Episode 4: The O.K. Corral

Home sick today, so we get two episodes instead of just the one.

Another Earp shows up just as the youngest Earp dies. Poor Charlie is still dead. In the big gunfight, all the good guys live, all the bad guys die. Yep, it's a Western, all right. The O.K. Corral didn't feel all that much like a corral, though. But it was made with a BBC budget, so it was decent enough, considering.

Overall, I really did enjoy this story. It's not nearly as horrible as most of fandom seems to think. The American accents aren't bad at all, the story zips along at a good pace, and there are some fine moments of humor throughout. That damn song still sucks, though. The story gets a "Thumbs up" from me.

Next up, it's (according to the end of this episode) "Dr. Who and the Savages". "The Gunfighters" was the last story to feature individual episode titles, from here on out it's just Episode 1, Episode 2, etc. Also interesting was the little bit of the end, which I believe was edited out of the Lionheart-distributed compilation back in the 80's when I first saw this. Just a bit leading into "The Savages", which no longer exists in the BBC archives. So, this was our last episode featuring Steven, who was a decent enough chap, though not around for too long, at least, not in the number of existing episodes. We're still stuck with Dodo, though, but thankfully not for long. She exits in the next story we are watching, "The War Machines", and we get two new companions!

The Gunfighters - Episode 3: Johnny Ringo

Well, sir, we're right in the thick of things, I reckon. So I'm a gonna talk Western-like. And I got me all kinds of trivia for this here episode. Like the fella playing Johnny Ringo, he came back years later to be in "The Two Doctors" with Colin Baker and Patrick Troughton. And the fella what plays Doc Holliday, why, he ain't none other than the daddy of the youngun what wrote the 1996 TV-Movie with Paul McGann. Ain't that somethin'? I was kinda sad, seeing barman Charlie get killed, he were a nice fella. And it's like I said, this story ain't nearly as horrible as people like to make ya think. Except for that durn ballad, wish that gal'd shut up real quick. Well, folks, we got only one more episode of this here story. Who's gonna survive the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral? We'll find out soon enough, I reckon.

The Gunfighters - Episode 2: Don't Shoot the Pianist

Man, that song sure is irritating. Thank goodness it doesn't appear nearly so often as it did in the first episode. And Dodo is pretty much useless here. I've never really liked her. Her acting just seems way to forced. I do like the high-angle camera shots in this story. They're different and unique, not having been done much in the show before. And speaking of directing, this story's director is Rex Tucker. Now why on Earth does Amazon list Rex Tucker as the director of almost every video of Doctor Who? That's always bugged me.

The Gunfighters - Episode 1: A Holiday for the Doctor

Ooh, VidFIRE, shiny. Looks pretty good. This story's gotten a lot of flack over the years for many reasons. But I've always kinda liked it. The American accents aren't nearly as bad as they could be. William Hartnell has a wonderful comedic touch, he really shines when he's given some light-hearted fun. The ballad that keeps popping up every few minutes gets irritating almost right away. Doesn't Wyatt Earp look like Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen from "Back to the Future Part III", only cleaned up and a bit older? He does to me. Poor Steven and Dodo exchange one set of terrible costumes for another. The Doctor looks good in his hat. I also liked his hat in The Daleks' Master Plan. Hmm...

The Celestial Toymaker - Episode 4: The Final Test

Another incomplete story, this time the last episode is the only surviving one. And it's in pretty poor shape, audio- and video-wise. Crackling audio, jumps in the film. Not good. But the episode itself is entertaining enough. Thank goodness it's in black and white, because Steven and Dodo's outfits are terribly tacky enough without having to suffer the color versions. Michael Gough is excellent as the evil Toymaker. Shame he never returned to the role, especially considering it nearly happened until the program was put "on hiatus" in 1985. Plans were underfoot for "The Nightmare Fair" to rematch the Toymaker with the Doctor in his sixth incarnation. Oh, well. Also unfortunate that William Hartnell is absent for a large portion of the story, thanks to another holiday. Cyril is rather irritating in this episode, which to be fair is what he's there to do: irritate. The stuff with the games is fun enough. And Steven, at the end, seems to be familiar with the TARDIS controls, and in fact dematerializes it. Has anyone besides the Doctor or Susan shown this much knowledge of the TARDIS before? A final verdict: classic story? Nah, but decently entertaining.

Next up is "The Gunfighters". Yikes.

WELCOME!

OK, so here's the scoop. Every day, while I'm at home, and no company is over, I watch an episode of "Doctor Who" during lunch and/or supper. I decided in 2003 that starting on November 23, 2003, the 40th anniversary of the first-ever broadcast of Doctor Who on the BBC, I would begin from the very first episode and watch each episode in order. (Before the marathon began, I didn't just watch Doctor Who, I would watch all sorts of other things, like DVDs with director's commentary tracks, various British comedies, and all sorts of other stuff.) Unfortunately, some episodes no longer exist as far as we know, so I have decided to skip the audio-only episodes. It was a tough decision, but I just could not see myself just sitting there, listening to a CD while eating.

As an adjunct (fancy word, eh?) to the viewing, I decided to run a blog where I would post various thoughts and ruminations about each episode. Sort of a Time-Team-Of-One for you Doctor Who Magazine readers. Yeah, I know, it's February, and I started back in November. So I started the blog late, so sue me. Anyway, as a beginning, here's a quick rundown of what I've watched so far...

An Unearthly Child -- I'll hold with the common wisdom on this story, which is... Great first episode, shame about the caveman episodes. OK, so it's not as cut and dried as that. The prehistoric episodes aren't that terrible, but they don't hold up well over the 40 years since this aired. Oh, well. It does have an odd moment where the Doctor may or may not be about to kill a caveman in order to facilitate their escape to the TARDIS.

The Daleks -- 7 episodes of classic Terry Nation. Rather slow-moving, with plenty of padding, but some interesting ideas in there. The cliffhanger to Episode 1 is a classic, revealing nothing of the legendary creatures on their first appearance except their sucker arm. Cool.

The Edge of Destruction -- I used to think I really liked this story. Don't know why. It's OK, but rather pointless. The first sign of the TARDIS having sentience, I believe.

The Keys of Marinus -- A servicable enough quest story. The Voord are just ridiculous, though. And the Doctor takes a vacation for an episode, one of the first instances (I think) of a regular being written out of an episode so the actor could go on holiday. I did think the uniforms for the city in the last two episodes (with the trial and all) were pretty nifty.

The Aztecs -- The marathon's first DVD. And first Vid-FIREd episode. Man, this looks great! Incredibly well-written story by John Lucarotti. Autloc is a truly sympathetic character. And the Doctor's "romance" with Cameca is charming to behold. Lovely touch that the Doctor take her memento to him with her.

The Sensorites -- Hadn't seen this one in a long time. Didn't miss much. The first part in the spaceship is OK. The guy who went sorta crazy reminded me too much of Clay Aiken. When they go to the Sensorites' planet... yawn city. Extremely cliched and boring plotting and dialogue. The Sensorites are just stupid.

The Reign of Terror -- Had never seen this one, due to its incompleteness. Episodes 4 and 5 are missing. Still, what we do have is quite entertaining. Ian looks cool in period costume. Nice to see Barbara in a dress, too, that's rare. The Doctor has fun bullying a jailer. Decently done.

Planet of Giants -- They're small! And R. K. Maroon from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" is in it! And they shrunk what used to be Episode 3 and Episode 4 into an economy-sized Episode 3. Good thing, too. Got kinda boring. The oversized props were pretty well done, considering it was 1964 on a shoestring BBC budget!

The Dalek Invasion of Earth -- DVD and VidFire again. These look fantastic. Rollicking adventure story. Good use of location work, the Daleks in deserted London are cool. And the first regular cast member to depart, Susan is left behind by her grandfather. He knows what's best for her.

The Rescue -- Cute little Vicki joins the cast. Koquillion/Bennet is ludicrous. Quick 2-parter, thank goodness.

The Romans -- The first story done mainly for comedy. And quite well-done, too. Nero is a hoot, even if he is over-the-top. Very enjoyable romp.

The Web Planet -- I have never liked this story, and I still don't. Why did this have to be 6 episodes long?? Boring boring boring. The Menoptera and their mode of speaking and moving are irritating in the extreme. I admire the audacity they had in thinking they could pull this off, but it just doesn't work on a BBC budget. Yawn.

The Crusade -- Only Episodes 2 and 4 exist, Episode 2 having been located in 1999. They got William Russell to fill in the missing bits in character as Ian when they released this on video. The two remaining episodes are another fantastic example of how Doctor Who could really do great historical adventures. Julian Glover as King Richard is fiery and fantastic. Court intrigue and knights and Saracens. Good stuff, wish the other 2 episodes were around.

The Space Museum -- Another interesting first episode let down by a boring run-around follow-up. Funny to see Jeremy Bulloch looking really young. Did I tell you I met him? Oh, yes, I met good ol' Boba Fett a few years ago in Atlanta during Dragon*Con...

The Chase -- And speaking of run-arounds... or is that runs-around? Anyway, the Daleks chase the Doctor. Lots of quick arrivals and departures, not much of a plot, and a big explosive confrontation between the Daleks and the Mechanoids at the end. Very sad to see Ian and Barbara leave, they're two of my all-time favorite companions. You could always rely on them to give great performances, no matter how good or crap the story was. Sweet final scenes with them back on Earth. I shall miss them, too. But we seem to have picked up a new traveller, an astronaut named Steven Taylor.

The Time Meddler -- A fun story, with the first-ever appearance of another of the Doctor's race, the Meddling Monk. Wonderful funny performance by Peter Butterworth as the Monk, without being over-the-top. I was constantly reminded of Patrick Troughton whenever I watched the Monk, same sort of facial moves and gestures and such. Very reminiscent of Pat. William Hartnell seems to have fun in this one, too, especially facing off against the Monk.

The Daleks' Master Plan -- Only Episodes 5 and 10 remain of this 12-part epic. Episode 5 is rather boring. Episode 10 is OK, set in Ancient Egypt and featuring our old friend the Meddling Monk. Can't trust that fellow. Kevin Stoney as Mavic Chen is grandly evil. A good foil for the Daleks, even if they are supposedly working together.

The Ark -- The Monoids are a bit lame, aren't they? Interesting concept, two episodes set on the Ark, then two more episodes set on the same Ark but 700 years later. It would be OK if it weren't for the lousy performances of the Monoids. And the cheesy skirts on the men. Nice to see the first appearance of guest star Michael Sheard in Episode 2. He'll be back. Oh, and I met Michael Sheard, too, at ChicagoTARDIS...

And so, we're caught up. If I'm lucky, I'll remember to update this every episode. Next up, the only surviving episode of The Celestial Toymaker.