Departures: Vicki

Vicki joined the TARDIS crew in The Rescue, in the episode after Susan left. She was the first new cast member in Doctor Who history - funny when you think of how many cast changes will occur over the history of the show.

Name: Vicki
Home Planet & Time: Earth - 25th Century
Occupation: Unknown (I don't remember)
# of Stories: 9

At first Vicki seemed like Susan-with-a-twist, almost like the first few stories were written for Susan but she left before playing them out. They probably also didn't want to tinker with the show too much with the departure of Susan . Also the show is changing in season two in other ways, most notably the increased focus on science fiction elements.

I think she became a bit more interesting as time went on but due to missing stories some of her strongest performances may have been lost. Maybe that is wishful thinking on my part. I thought she had a very good performance in The Time Meddler but we can't really tell if it carried over as her final two stories have no surviving footage! At the same time she did name the Chumblies in Galaxy Four but I don't think we can really blame that fiasco on her.

I guess that overall I liked Vicki as a companion but the female companions that have been in Who so far haven't been great to this point so maybe Vicki is the best of a middling bunch.

Final Thoughts: Probably leaving at about he right time.

20. The Myth Makers

Another historical story, based at the battle outside of legendary Troy. Pretty much no footage survives from the story like so much of this season.

The story is decent but without the video this story really suffers. There is a lot of action happening that simply doesn't come through in stills. It also seems like the number of stills they had to work with was quite limited. It felt like they used the same two shots of Vicki for all of the scenes where she was locked up. I was frequently bored throughout the serial.

I thought it was clever how they split the TARDIS crew up and had them working against each other - both required to provide victory, under similar time constraints for their respective sides. Of course it worked out quite well for them in the end, but not so well for the Trojans. Poor Cassandra was right about Vicki and the Trojan Horse all along.

The shake up on board the TARDIS that was triggered last season continues as Vicki runs off with a Trojan hero and departs the crew. In her place is Katarina, a woman from Ancient Troy that worked for the seer Cassandra.

I feel like this one could have been much better had video of it existed and I feel bad penalizing a story simply because it had episodes wiped by the BBC but it did have a dramatic effect on my enjoyment, similar to how I felt the Crusades were hurt by its missing footage. There will be more on this concept in my review of the next episode, the Daleks' Master Plan. That story has 10 missing episodes but didn't suffer the same way this one did. More on that later.

Ranking: 5/10

19. Mission to the Unknown

This story doesn't have the Doctor, any companions or any surviving footage, making it tough to enjoy. I tried watching it several times before making it through, despite it being only one episode long. This story is almost like a classic version of Love and Monsters.

Ranking: 3/10

Season 2 in Review

With Season Two in the books there is quite a bit to talk about I think.

First Time Episodes
There was a lot of new Who this season for me but that wasn't always a good thing. There were some pretty good stories in the mix as well.

• Planet of the Giants
• The Dalek Invasion of Earth
• The Web Planet
• The Crusades
• The Space Museum
• The Chase
• Most of the Time Meddler

Missing Episodes
This season there were very few missing episodes which is nice -- two episodes in total and both from The Crusades. The unfortunate part is the story suffered quite a bit as a result of the lost episodes. Had The Crusades been complete and two episodes were missing from The Web Planet instead....

Changing TARDIS crew
After a stable first season aboard the TARDIS things began changing almost immediately with Susan's sudden departure in Dalek Invasion of Earth -- only the second story of the season! Ian and Barbara would be joined by Vicki before they departed themselves in the seasons penultimate story. The seasons concluding episode saw the Doctor traveling with Vicki and Steven as the new TARDIS crew.

But the shake up is just getting started as season three looks to be a tumultuous era for companions...but that's getting ahead of myself.

Early-Modern Who
A new type of Who is evolving in the second season of Doctor Who; more like the Who from the Pertwee/Baker era of Who in my opinion. It's not quite there yet but you can recognize it starting to take shape. In the Dalek Invasion of Earth the Doctor is actively working against the Daleks and attempting to alter history...but it is the viewer's future of course. Then his actions create the history we know when he gives Nero the idea of burning Rome to the ground. Now the Doctor is turning into the meddler we know.

Rating: 5.6/10

17. The Time Meddler

I had only seen some of this story before -- the last episode I think -- but didn't know what to expect. This is the story that introduces the Meddling Monk, an apparent Time Lord. He has a TARDIS of his own although the Doctor's race and home planet are never named.

Many fans of the classic series have called for the Monk's return. I can't say I would be against that...he was an okay character and with a guy like Stephen Moffat writing for him and the way he plays with time it could get quite interesting. Moffat has brought back some of the Hartnell era feel to the show since he took over as well, but that's a discussion for another time.

The story as a whole was pretty interesting. The Monk's plan was a bit odd but Who villains don't always have plans that make sense... sometimes the madness is what makes it work. Here the Monk's plan is essentially to blow up a bunch of Vikings with future tech so some guy in England wouldn't lose a battle and therefore remain king. Some of the intrigue may have been ruined because so little is revealed about the Doctor's history and none of it new to an old Who fan...but overall I enjoyed the episode. It was a nice way to end the season.

Finally it is worth noting that there is a new TARDIS crew. With Ian and Barbara departing last episode The Doctor and Vicki took off thinking they were alone, but Steven, has passed out on board the TARDIS. He is revealed shortly and he becomes the third member of the crew. This is also the final story of season two.

Ranking: 7/10

Departures: Ian Chesterton & Barbara Wright

I considered a separate entry for each of these companions but they arrived together and left together so it seems fitting I talk about the two of them. Also my blog is falling behind my episodes as I'm up to the Dalek's Masterplan in viewing.

Names: Ian Chesterton & Barbara Wright
Home Planet & Time: Earth - 1963
Occupation: Teachers at Coal Hill School
# of Stories: 16

Ian and Barbara joined the TARDIS crew in An Unearthly Child and outlasted the Doctor's grand daughter...not a bad feat for a pair that spent a good number of episodes demanding to be taken home. It took a few stories for me to warm up to Ian but in the end I quite liked him. He's certainly an heroic companion, which hasn't always been the case with male companions in Who. Think ahead to Adric the child, Turlough the turncoat for example.

Barbara I'm a bit less fond of. It's probably not her fault as she probably didn't want to spend tons of screen time comforting Susan either. She had her moments and I thought she was good in The Romans. After Susan left I started feeling better about Barbara. Still, I never quite got there.

Still it was a good run and they began or were apart of so much of what would go on to be "classic Who" -- for example, the look of awe and disbelief on Ian's face and the "bigger on the inside" stuff jump immediately to mind. Their 16 episodes are matched by few others and among that group are legendary companions like Sarah Jane, Jamie and The Brigadier.

Finally, it is a transformational moment in Who history in my opinion. It is the end of the original TARDIS crew that began way back in An Unearthly Child. Ian and Barbara's connection to Susan were the Doctor's last link to his past life on Gallifrey. He's no longer an exile, he's an adventurer who will become a constant meddler. A wanderer...the man without a home...the lonely god. Let's see if the episodes to come reflect this new Doctor.

Final Thoughts: Another episode or two would have been okay... (Barbara)
Final Thoughts: Another season would have been alright... (Ian)

16. The Chase

Well this story is a bit of a mixed bag. I don't think I've ever seen it before but it didn't really leave me feeling the way it should have...and I mean that in a bad way.

I felt the story just wasn't up to the challenge. The Daleks have a huge reputation in Who fandom. They are the Doctor's greatest enemies and he their greatest nemesis but some Dalek serials just make you wonder how they are so popular. Maybe they suffer from the weight of their fame and we expect too much from Dalek stories? I don't know...but I definitely expected more than we have here.

But it really isn't the Dalek's fault the story was a dud...the Mechanoids bear most of the responsibility. By the way - a space zoo right after a space museum? Maybe these robots were cool in 1965 but they were certainly awful in 2011. The Aridians were also pretty awful.

Hartnell era Who, I find, can be challenging...

On the other hand this story had a great start and was based on a pretty cool concept - the Daleks are so fed up with the Doctor that it's time to find him and put an end to his meddling. They were right -- if they didn't kill him he was going to make their lives troublesome. The Daleks on their own might have made this story into a success.

It is also Ian and Barbara's final story as they travel back to their home time in a stolen Dalek time machine. We see a bit of the old grumpy Doctor who goes off with Vicki (and Steven) and he says goodbye to the last of the original TARDIS crew. Soon Vicki will be gone too. The seeds of the lonely Doctor begin to grow.

I'll definitely miss Ian, he was a pretty good companion. I'm not as fond of Barbara but there were times when she was good. But more on them later.

Rating: 5/10

15. The Space Museum

This is another episode I've never seen before and it is a pretty good episode for the most part.

To begin I like how they play with time here. The TARDIS crew see themselves as exhibits at a museum and quickly realize this is their coming future. It isn't as advanced as Stephen Moffat perhaps but it's a start and something that the show doesn't do incredibly often.

I'm not sure if the 'space museum with human exhibits" is terribly original but maybe it was for the time. Maybe it's not as common as I think it is...

I continue to think Ian is great, which is unfortunate because his departure from the show is imminent. However he truly has become a hero companion and I almost feel myself cheering him on - knowing the crew is safe as long as Ian is around. It sounds pretty lame when I read it but it is what it is.

I like the revolution/slave race/decadent empire angle that they added to the story. It didn't really make it feel too epic. Perhaps the "armies" drew me back down to earth? I guess 3 or 4 guys trying to pretend they are the planet's entire population will be a "trick" throughout the classic series...but alas...

I walked away feeling pretty good about this episode overall. It wasn't a classic but I think it's worth a watch.

Ranking: 7/10 (above average)

14. The Crusades

Well there isn't much to say about this one. I had never seen it before and it is one of the episodes affected by missing episodes, meaning only 2 of the 4 episodes exist. I watched them all but it was tough to really enjoy the serial with it as it is.

There was some okay moments but this episode took some time to watch. To make matters worse I watched part of another episode before doing my blog entry and I'm having a tough time remembering the episode now. That's generally a bad sign.

Ranking: 4/10 (poor)

13. The Web Planet

This story probably started out as an ambitious idea in some writers mind but given the effects of the day fell short. On paper it has everything - the TARDIS crew stranded on a mysterious planet, two alien races at war with the crew caught between them, an invasion/re-invasion by the former owners, a powerful overlord and the Doctor playing a multitude of tricks on his alien captors while buying time to find a solution to the problem.

Unfortunately when this story goes from paper to the screen not much of that translates. With 6 grueling episodes The Web Planet seems to drag on forever. With the constant stream of high pitched beeps and wails that go on and on for minutes at a time the episode managed to annoy others in my house that weren't even watching!

By the way, it needs to be pointed out that the aliens were giant ants and bees. When the bee-creatures spoke they sort of wriggled their bodies like a worm and talked strangely. Their enemies, the giant ant-things, may be the worst costumes in Doctor Who history. The only part of the costume that moved were the two, very obviously, human legs that power the costume around the set. The giant plastic ant body strapped to these poor actors is embarrassing.

The story they wanted to tell doesn't get told. I hadn't seen this one before and I doubt that I'll be watching it again any time soon.

Ranking: 2/10 (terrible)

12. The Romans

This is a story I have seen before and to be honest wasn't looking forward to seeing again. However I soldiered on and was pleasantly surprised by the story. In fact, this story is quite good. I don't know why I had a negative view of this one before but I thought it was fantastic.

The story, costumes, sets, acting, all for the most part was pretty good. I thought some of the humor scenes were a bit stupid - the Scooby-Doo scene where Barbara is being chased by Nero and goes behind a curtain just as the Doctor walks into the hallway for example. But other times they handle the "near misses" of the various actors pretty well. All the divergent story lines I felt were compelling, which is often not the case for me.

I also thought it was notable that in this story we see the "observer" status of the TARDIS crew that was cultivated in the first season start to crack and crumble. In The Aztecs they couldn't save the sacrifice being a prime example of how the TARDIS was just taking them through time and space but that they couldn't really change or alter the past.

In this story, however, that begins to fall away. After a fight where the Doctor easily dispatches an assassin he claims he taught the Mountain Mauler of Montana how to fight and then later the Doctor gives Nero the idea to burn down Rome. If the Doctor taught the Mauler (whoever that may be) then he wasn't a passive observer in that instance and certainly he was responsible for the fire that would consume Rome. Vicki points this out to him at the end of the story and he tries to deny it and then realizes he is responsible and a look of pure joy and satisfaction spreads across his face. It is almost like a "time can be rewritten" Eureka! moment that a future (current) Doctor will have.

Another theme that will be repeated many times in the future is the TARDIS crew is actually in Rome for a vacation but an adventure breaks out around them anyway as it always seems to do. The big difference here is it appears that they actually get a month or two of peace in before it all comes apart. At the end when Ian and Barbara get back to the Roman villa I also thought I detected a bit of romance brewing between them

This early version of Doctor Who is evolving into the show I love today and I love seeing it happen.

Ranking: 8/10 (good)

11. The Rescue

The Rescue proves to be mercifully quick as a two-episode story yet for some reason it took an eternity to watch it. The story is notable only in that it introduces Susan's replacement -- Vicki. Vicki is a human from the future who has crashed on a planet filled with seemingly murderous creatures.

Of course the big twist in the story is that the actual killer is the only other survivor from Vicki's ship, not the natives. Unfortunately the twist is so ridiculous that it stretches the imagination beyond belief. The story basically is that some dude kills a fellow crewman and is caught but the ship crashes before his crimes can be reported to Earth. To cover up his crimes he kills everyone on the planet except for Vicki and convinces her the now dead natives of the planet did it so he won't go to jail.

Despite the story I thought that the Koquilion (name of alien in picture) was a pretty good alian design for 1964. Vicki isn't terrible either.

Ranking: 4/10 (poor)

Departures: Susan Foreman

The Dalek Invasion of Earth saw, for the first time in Doctor Who, a regular cast member leave the show. When such an event happens I'll take the time to post my thoughts on the departing cast members.

Name: Susan Foreman (alias)
Home Planet and Time: Gallifrey-present era
# of Stories: 10
Most likely to say: "Grandfather!"

Susan is the Doctor's original companion and his grand daughter. Although very little is ever revealed about the Doctor and Susan's origins while she is a member of the TARDIS crew in Unearthly Child it is established that the Doctor and Susan are exiles from their home planet and presumably they left Gallifrey together and have been traveling for some time. The Doctor's reluctance to travel with Ian and Barbara suggests that they are the first outsiders to join Susan and the Doctor in the TARDIS.

Susan's character is not that interesting and was never fully developed in my opinion. Susan's origins themselves could have been fascinating story lines themselves had the producers of the day thought to flesh out her alien background. Fan's fascination with Gallifrey and Time Lord culture is well known - classic episodes like The Deadly Assassin were so interesting just by virtue of them filling in huge chunks of the Doctor's background. By the time Susan leaves we don't even know the name of the Doctor's world.


We are left with questions that will never be answered as a result:

• Is Susan really the Doctor's grand-daughter?
• Is Susan a Time Lady? Will she regenerate on poor David some day?
• How old is Susan. Considering the centuries old nature of the Doctor one would have to assume that Susan is older than she looks in the show if she from Gallifrey.

It also feels ironic that Susan is the first companion to depart the TARDIS considering how Ian and Barbara discovered it, that they didn't even want to be apart of the crew in the first place and hear Susan is staying behind on Earth while they fly away with the Doctor. To compensate they introduce David and the love story -- two characters that at least have more chemistry on screen than Harry and Ginny do in the Harry Potter movies -- to explain why she is out of the TARDIS.

Final Thoughts -- Glad to see her go.

10. The Dalek Invasion of Earth

The Dalek Invasion of Earth is another first time story for me and the first time that the Daleks make a return appearance to Doctor Who. It won't be the last time we see them and they really are quite good in this story. It's easy to see why they were so popular at this time in Doctor Who history.

I really enjoyed this story, although looking back I think it could have benefited from one less episode. There were a number of scenes throughout that were just empty space being filled with visuals and almost no dialogue. Daleks and Robomen marching prisoners and the wheelchair chase scene immediately come to mind. Of course the pacing of television was much different in the 1960s so you need to expect these little differences.

The new-look (slightly different) Daleks come complete with back-mounted satellite dishes that apparently allow them to overcome their movement limitations from their first story. They also use colored Daleks for the first time; a black leader Dalek. Also the leader and drone Daleks have different types of eye stalks.

And let's talk briefly about the Dalek plan and reason for invading Earth in the first place -- to remove the core and turn Earth into an intergalactic space ship (death star?) for their conquest. It is a bit mad and brilliant at the same time. It is no Reality Bomb but certainly is worthy of the Daleks mad schemes.

Another interesting piece of dialogue establishes this story as happening before the events of The Daleks in season 1. Although this seems like just a way to fit the previously destroyed Daleks back into the DW Universe I liked the attempt and thought it was a clever way to begin leveraging the time travel elements of the show. Prior to this the time travel element was just a way to get to the start of the next episode but here we see the Doctor encountering an alien menace at an earlier point in their history for the first time on screen.

When I was watching this episode I really felt like I was watching Doctor Who -- maybe for the first time in the Hartnell era. The Doctor is not just trying to escape back to the TARDIS, rather he is actively interfering to stop the future from playing out as intended. He wants to stop the Daleks.

This also appears to be the first time that the Doctor saves Earth from an alien menace, at least on screen. The previous story was also set in Earth but the stakes were smaller and the TARDIS crew had a diminished role in the determination of that story.

There is also a shakeup of the companions at the end of this episode as Doctor Who sees one of its stars leave the series for the first time. Susan decides to stay on future Earth with one of the survivors, David. Ian also continues to find terrible hiding spots as he hides inside what turns out to be a Dalek bomb just before they assemble it. Barbara ends up getting sent to work detail and makes a poor slave -- but the scenes of humans carry rock in baskets from a mine was very reminiscent of a future episode - Destiny of the Daleks.

This story just feels like Doctor Who to me.

Rating: 9/10 (great)

9. Planet of the Giants

Season two starts off with a story I don't think I've seen before, the poorly named Planet of the Giants - which is actually Earth. Some sort of TARDIS malfunction has shrunk the crew to the size of one inch tall.

"Honey, I shrunk the TARDIS crew!"

Ian proves to be the master of terrible hiding spots for a one inch man by hiding in a match box and a brief case -- with the result that he gets carried off and separated from other crew members at various times preventing them from returning to the TARDIS.

Barbara also manages to prove dim witted as after she has her hands all over some poison that is killing things left and right she doesn't tell anyone that she's covered in the stuff. When she finds out it's lethal she whines and gets depressed but doesn't tell anyone. Why in the world wouldn't she tell someone so they could maybe wash her hands? I don't know.

That brings me to what I guess is the main story line. You see it's not just trying to find Ian and dodging cats that fill the story's three episodes. There is a very mean and nasty businessman who is making some insecticide. The problem is that it will basically screw everything up...but he would rather kill the scientist who discovered this, sell the chemical and ruin the Earth and make lots of money. In the process mini-Barbara gets it on her and the crew decide to foil evil Businessman's plans.

In the end however the crazy killer businessman is found out by an old woman and a police man after he tried to impersonate the murdered scientist on the phone. The crew escapes to the TARDIS and the Doctor manages to restore them to full size. The TARDIS begins to materialize at its next destination...

As I mentioned at the top I hadn't seen this episode and that is something I'll be saying a lot for this season. I have seen the Romans, which is coming up later in the season, but not sure about the rest of them. This story was a disappointment. I even had to try watching it multiple times as I fell asleep twice and grew bored other times. I'm looking forward to the next episode -- the Dalek Invasion of Earth!

Rating: 3/10 (failure)

Season 1 in Review

Well with the first season complete I have a few thoughts about it.

First Time Episodes
There were a few episodes in this season that I had never seen before.

• Marco Polo
• The Keys of Marinus
• The Sensorites
• The Reign of Terror

It was good to be able to see most of these stories - as a classic series fan I felt my experience was incomplete. It was almost like getting to see new classic Who because I didn't really know anything about any of these episodes before now. I'll try to go back and watch the full recon of Marco Polo some time soon to round this out but it's more for the sake of completionism than anything else.

Missing Episodes
The missing episodes suck. As I mention above I had to skip over Marco Polo. I am a fan of audio dramas but not on my television - I get easily distracted there. Fortunately this season is mostly intact with only Marco Polo completely missing along with the two missing episodes from Reign of Terror.

Impressions of First Doctor
This Doctor is certainly not what I'm used to seeing. Most people point and the grumpy and gruff nature of the first Doctor but a big item for me (and previously mentioned) was that the Doctor seemed like he tried not to interfere and wasn't looking for trouble whereas some later Doctors revel in interference and searching for adventure. It was also strange how he almost kidnaps his companions and how they want to get away. It isn't until later in the season where it seems that Ian and Barbara even want to stay with the Doctor.

The Companions
I actually like Ian the best of the companions, not sure why. At first I was cool to both Ian and Barbara but I've warmed up to both of them considerably. They have become much more interesting now that they aren't desperate to get away. Susan on the other hand has been the reverse for me. She's supposed to be intelligent yet most of the time she seems to be crying, confused or under some affliction/mind control. I think they could do more with it but I am also looking at it from a 2011 point of view.

Historical Stories
I'm feeling very mixed about these. Doctor Who has always done historical stories pretty well and they do a good job with Reign of Terror. But one of the things that continually bug me about these early examples is the lack of a science fiction element. That is magnified by the early Laws of Time where nothing can really change from history. In other words, in these early historical stories history and time itself isn't at stake -- only the lives of the Doctor and his companions. This is a bit jarring for me as I'm used to history and the Doctor being intertwined closely. Events in Earth's history are often influenced (or caused directly) by the Doctor or by the alien menace that he is battling. In these early historicals there isn't even an alien menace.

The Final Word
Overall I liked the first season. It wasn't great and even had a few duds in the line up. Still a collection of average, watchable stories that can still be enjoyable almost 50 years after they originally transmitted is a feat in itself.

8. The Reign of Terror

With the final episode of Season #1 the Doctor travels back in time to revolutionary France and the Reign of Terror. It's a great point in history for intrigue and plots and the Doctor gets entangled into a few along the way.

Another episode I had never seen before and it didn't disappoint. Of all the historical stories so far this was my favorite and much more suited to Doctor Who than cave man times or the Aztecs. The plots were more intriguing with this story than the others, perhaps because I do like the historical period.

The Doctor showed some of the flare for fashion that Colin Baker would later bring to the role with his citizen costume and the rest of the TARDIS crew also got dressed up for this one.

This story has two missing episodes (episodes 4 and 5) which have Loose Cannon reconstructions but the other four episodes were in tact. It seems that the two missing episodes may have been the most enjoyable of the story -- they had almost all the Robspierre action and the Doctor's elaborate attempt to get Susan, Barbara and Ian out of prison...typical of later who all the companions spent some time locked up during the story. Having the reconstructions in the middle of an episode I was already enjoying helped a great deal - unlike Marco Polo where I need to watch recons for the whole story - even though it does bring my enjoyment of the story down over all.

Ranking: 7/10 (above average)

7. The Sensorites

One of the things I always loved about Doctor Who was the imagination of their writers. Star Trek's aliens were okay but not nearly as imaginative as Who. Star Trek aliens were, for the most part, humans. They had wrinkly faces or pointy ears or different colors but Doctor Who always pushes the limits, despite the shaky sets and tiny budgets, especially when compared to Star Trek.

I think a big reason Doctor Who had to go further than Star Trek is aliens in DW were often monsters and monsters can't be too human. I don't want to come across as being critical of Star Trek, so let's not go any further on the comparison.

Needless to say I always appreciated Doctor Who for their monsters and at least trying...even when they failed -- the Nimon, the Myrka and sadly...the Sensorites.

They almost pull off a scary monster, even with the limitations of the time. The strange facial hair wasn't a good addition. The problem with this scary monster is as soon as we start learning about them we discover they are actually pretty lame. They have a boring caste society, they are afraid of the dark, they don't like loud noises and they need a stethoscope to communicate (old fashion Ood communications device?).

I had never seen this episode before and was looking forward to it, but my excitement waned with each of the seven episodes. It took a few goes to get through them all but it's over now.

There was some things that I did like. The Sensorites were creepy early on. The episode had an quasi-epic scope to it - covering a new alien race with strange powers, trapped space travelers, a rare and valuable mineral, sabotage, a war, domestic political plots in a society where such plots aren't supposed to exist (decay of a civilization?). The main problem is so much of the time is wasted on the boring political ambitions of the city administrator -- or rather his ridiculous plots.

This episode also begins a familiar pattern that would become the backbone of so many classic who stories to come: an alien world, a new race, multiple intrigues and of course travel into the future. There is even a reference by a Sensorite about how intriguing humans are...a sentiment that will be repeated many times in the future, usually by the Doctor himself. It just isn't enough to save this story.

Ranking: 5/10 (below average)

6. The Aztecs

My memory of The Aztecs was pretty fuzzy as I had only seen it once and that was quite some time ago, so this was a nice refresher.

I'm a bit of a history buff and the Aztec civilization was one of the first historical civilization that I had learned about that really captured my imagination and drove my later love of history and "ancient" cultures. I have no idea how accurate the costumes were but I certainly thought they looked good. The names used certainly sounded Aztec -- Yetaxa, Tlotoxyl -- great stuff.

The moral dilemma the TARDIS crew faces with Autloc was also well done and puts a little bit of focus on the consequences of the Doctor's travel and meddling. Autloc believes that Barbara is the goddess Yetaxa and he suffers dearly for this. At one point in the story he even begs Barbara to not be a false goddess. Later in the show the Doctor will face other dilemmas and more consequences of his travels: the incubation room in Genesis, Satellite 9 in the new series, The Face of Evil, the Time War...

Despite all the good there was some bad that really hurts this episode. The entire plot-line relating to the Doctor and Cameca ("the love story") was pretty stupid. The show barely touches the subject of love during the classic run, perhaps because this initial foray into the subject matter was so awful that they decided it didn't fit.

The fight scenes were all just brutal. They were both long and poorly choreographed and that is a fatal combination. Just terrible.

I also find that the historical stories are a bit of a mixed bag for me. I do like history but I watch Doctor Who for science fiction. They do a better job weaving these two genres together in the new series (e.g. Fires of Pompey) and although the lack of sci-fi elements is a bit annoying it doesn't take away too much since DW usually does a very good job on the historical feel of these stories.

Finally, the aspects of human sacrifice that are apart of the Aztec ways are addressed in the story. I felt that this could have had some additional potential but I guess at the same time this is when DW was more of a childrens show and they probably didn't want to focus too much on the grisly topic of sacrificing humans. I would have liked to know a bit more about the "perfect victim" -- however we do get something out of Barbara's attempts to end the practice other than an ear ache....something big in fact - the first outlines of the rules of time travel and what will later become referred to as the Laws of Time.

Ranking: 6/10 (average)

5. The Keys of Marinus

Keys was one of the surviving stories that I had never seen before a few days ago.

This 6-episode story is unlike most DW stories -- it is like a series of short stories that are connected by an overarching goal...the collection of the Keys of Marinus. It is a cool idea but for the most part it doesn't achieve its ambitious goals. The problem with the story is that each individual episode are just over 20 minutes long and you can't tell a good DW story from start to finish in that short of time. It may have worked better as a series of 3, two-episode stories that could flesh the unconnected plots together better.

Despite that criticism I did enjoy the story for the most part.

Ranking: 6/10 (average)

4. Marco Polo

And here we come to the first of a few stories that I have never seen. Of course, in the case of Marco Polo, I am not alone in that regard. It is one of the episodes that have been lost to the ages when the BBC wiped a ton of tapes including many of the Hartnell and Troughton stories. Unfortunately this was a more primitive time when things like the VCR didn't exist and as a result there are no known copies of Marco Polo in existence or copies of a great number of other episodes.

In any case, much has been written by many more knowledgeable that I about that subject and I can do little to add to the discussion. Fortunately a group of fans known as Loose Cannon have done some incredible work and have created "reconstructions" of some lost stories using the surviving audio tracks, some very short video clips and a lot of photos. Marco Polo is one of the stories that get the reconstruction treatment. In fact it is kind of cool as many of the photos are actually color whereas all the episodes are black and while. It is a bit weird seeing it in color, even if it is only still photos.

While I do love audio books and audio dramas --having listened to many Big Finish stories and all 7 unabridged Harry Potter books in the format -- I prefer to listen to them while driving or walking on my blackberry rather than watching them on my television. I get distracted. Marco Polo is 7 episodes long. I'm working on it but it will be a bit before I actually get it watched and I have moved on to the next surviving video.

I'll repost when I get the chance.

3. The Edge of Destruction

This episode is quite a disappointment.

It is basically a low-budget episode designed with cost savings in mind -- and let's be honest, if there is one thing classic Doctor Who didn't need was a lower budget episode.

The entire episode basically takes place in the Console Room and is an all-out fight between the Doctor and Barbara & Ian. Everyone is acting strangely and nothing makes a lot of sense until about 2 minutes to go in the story when they realize that the TARDIS is making everyone act insane. Much like the explanation for Bad Wolf some 45 years later it doesn't make a lot of sense but I'm not going to waste too much time being negative. This is about the good, not the bad.

With that I render my verdict...

Ranking 3/10 (failure)

2. The Daleks

This is obviously another huge episode in the history of Doctor Who. With An Unearthly Child you had the first appearance of the Doctor and the TARDIS - in the very next episode we are introduced to another classic, enduring and very popular element of the show: the Daleks.

As with the previous episode I had mixed feelings about this episode for very similar reasons. My early exposure to the Daleks were from the Pertwee and Tom Baker eras and Genesis of the Daleks would be one of the first I would have saw so much of my understanding of Daleks and their back story comes from that episode. Genesis was my favorite Who story for many years and Davros one of my favorite bad guys. The only Doctor Who toy I ever owned was a Davros toy.

To go back and see the first Daleks and the way their history, the fight with the Thalls, etc... is portrayed is so different than future Daleks it just sort of distracts me. The fact that they need electricity conducted from the floor of their city to move seems like a decidedly poor design plan and one you would think they would try to correct quickly. Ian getting "stunned" was awful. Modern Daleks don't have a stun setting!

The story did do a nice job of showcasing the deviousness of the Daleks we all know today. Planning to steal the anti-radiation meds, then letting them keep the extra kit so they could build enough trust to ambush the Thalls - all very good.

My mixed emotions leads to a mixed review;

Ranking: 6/10 (average)

1. An Unearthly Child

This is where it all began - a crazy old man, his grand daughter, and a blue police box in the corner of a junk yard.

"Just open the doors Doctor Foreman"

"Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about?"

I enjoy the first two episodes of this story a great deal -- maybe it's the fan in me. Seeing elements that will be replayed throughout the show's long history used for the first time is just a thrill for me.

• The confused looks and words of a person the first time the enter the TARDIS
• How the TARDIS is supposed to change it's shape but is now stuck as a police box
• The console room
• The unreliability of the TARDIS

The list goes on.

But equally interesting is the elements of the show that had been abandoned later in the series or altered. In the early days the Doctor doesn't seem to be much of an interventionist. Later he goes exploring for trouble, not rocks.

The Doctor is also an exile, trying to get back to his home here whereas later he is a renegade who rejects Time Lord society.

The caveman part of the story is okay - not great that's for sure. I found the broken language tedious, the never ending prattle of fire dull and the behavior of the Doctor so at odds from his future self that it bothered me throughout the story.

Ranking: 6/10 (average)

The Doctor Who Review

Welcome to the blog. The concept is simple enough and has been repeated on blogs like this all over the internet. I'm starting from Episode #1 of Doctor Who classic and watching it all.

Briefly about me and Who - I started watching when it was on PBS just before the show was canceled in the '80s. After it stopped running on my local PBS I had a while where all I had was my VCR tapes but it wasn't a complete run of the show, not by a long way. It would be some years later when I discovered that I could get Who on the internet that I would fill in most of the gaps in my Who viewing.

I've seen every episode of Doctor Who from the Pertwee era on, with the small caveat that I haven't seen the last episode of Greatest Show in the Galaxy. I just couldn't take anymore and always intended to go back and watch it but some how never did.

The first two Doctors I have seen less of. I fully expect to see many individual episodes and some whole stories that I've never seen in this era. I think it's going to be exciting.

Anyway, I'm going to talk a bit about the episodes as I watch them and then rank them on the Dynamic Doctor Who Rankings page. It should be fun.