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)

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)

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)

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)