On This Day... 5th October

 

The 25th Anniversary season of Doctor Who kicked off today in 1988 with Part One of Remembrance of the Daleks. This wasn't the actual silver anniversary story - that would open on the 23rd November - but most fans thought this a far better story and more worthy of anniversary status.

Back in 1968, The Mind Robber reached its fourth instalment, whilst in 1987, Season 24 continued with the first episode of Paradise Towers.

On This Day... 4th October

4th October 1975 saw the debut of the second episode of Planet of Evil. 

Fast forward five years and the same date, in 1980, sees the second episode of Meglos broadcast for the first time. 

Trial of a Time Lord moved on to its second section - the four episodes generally known as Mindwarp - on this day in 1985. 

Then, in 1989, we had the opening instalment of Ghost Light.

On this day in 2014 we had the debut of Kill The Moon.

Finally, in 2011, CBBC broadcast the second half of Sky - the opening story of the final series of The Sarah Jane Adventures. Talking of which, it's Daniel (Clyde Langer) Anthony's birthday today.

Take a note of today's date for your diaries next year, as 4th October 2022 will mark the centenary of the birth of composer Dudley Simpson.

What's Wrong With... The Ice Warriors

 

Very occasionally, changes were made to costumes or effects once a story was already in production. A remount of the first episode of The Daleks allowed Ray Cusick to have a much better city model built. Later, the Menoptra costumes were revised between the Ealing filming and the studio recording. This lead to a noticeable mismatch. Something similar happened with The Ice Warriors.

Director Derek Martinus listened to actor feedback and decided to amend the helmet design for the Martian costumes so that their wearers could move their heads around more.

The difference in design is most noticeable with the cliffhanger at the end of Part One. The Warrior who has been thawed out of the block of ice is supposed to be the leader Varga, but once he's up and about we can clearly see that he has a different helmet to the figure in the ice. It isn't the same actor either, as Bernard Bresslaw only joined the serial with the second episode.

Jamie thinks that the Doctor has landed them somewhere on the same mountain in Tibet (referencing the previous story). It's the sight of lots of snow which prompts this remark yet - as we pointed out last time - there was no snow on location or in studio for The Abominable Snowmen.

The TARDIS materialises on its side, for no obvious reason. What's even stranger is that it has magically righted itself by the story's conclusion, and it's no longer immediately outside the dome.

The biggest problem with this story is the whole background to the new Ice Age. There's the whole problem of what defines an Ice Age, writer Brian Hayles seeming to think of them as big one-off events, rather than much longer geological periods with "surges" occurring every so often.

The events described by Clent would not lead to an Ice Age - rather they would lead to the opposite effect of global warming.

Hayles seems to think that trees produce carbon dioxide, rather than absorb it.

The script seems to have a problem with timescales. Sometimes it sounds like the Ice Age has just begun, and at other times it's been going on for years.

It is a remarkable coincidence that Varga, his men, and their spaceship, should all still be grouped within a few metres of each other after several thousand years - and still be intact. Whenever items such as crashed aircraft have emerged from glaciers, they have often been shredded by the ice.

The Ioniser seems to only cover a small area close to the base, so how can it possibly halt the glacier advance across the entire country? A base on mainland Europe would surely be much more effective as well, from a global perspective.

The scavenger Storr hates the scientists and won't have anything to do with them, yet he's happy to approach giant green reptile people from outer space for a chat, knowing they killed Arden and wounded Jamie. Storr talks a lot about "Loyalists". Loyal to what, or to whom? 

Why would the base have environmental controls that could potentially kill the occupants?

Victoria disappears half way through the final episode. Not a mistake or anything, just that no-one - including Debbie Watling - could remember why she was given the evening off (her scenes for Part Six being recorded during camera rehearsals in the afternoon).

Despite the crisis everyone is struggling through, Miss Garrett finds time to change her costume - twice. She's back in her Part One costume for Part Six.

On This Day... 3rd October

Under the Lake was first broadcast on this day back in 2015. 

Four years before, viewers to CBBC would have seen the opening episodes of the fifth and final series of The Sarah Jane Adventures - a story called Sky, which introduced what was supposed to be a new regular character, replacing Tommy Knight's Luke Smith. This was a sombre experience, as the series was being broadcast posthumously, Lis Sladen having passed away earlier in the year.

Also worth noting, 3rd October 1985 saw the broadcast of the episode of The Lenny Henry Show in which he played the Doctor, up against a Cyberperson named Thatchos, based on the then Prime Minister.

On This Day... 2nd October

Galaxy 4 drew to a close with its fourth and final episode today in 1965 - an episode called The Exploding Planet.

In 1976, Sarah Jane Smith fans were disconsolate as the opening episode of her final story - The Hand of Fear - was broadcast.

KO Round 1.2

 

The Knockout competition moves onto a battle between Season 26, and Season 11.

Season 26 was the final one of the classic era of the programme, and as such marks the last appearances by Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor, Sophie Aldred as Ace, Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier, and Anthony Ainley as the Master. 

They're the last episodes to be produced by JNT, the programme's longest serving producer, and script edited by Andrew Cartmel.

Everyone agrees that the series was on an upward swing at this point - an improvement in quality which had begun with the previous season.

We have four stories per season by this stage, and this year's are: Battlefield, Ghost Light, The Curse of Fenric and Survival. There is a story arc of sorts - Ace's character development.

Battlefield sees the return of UNIT and the Brigadier after a long absence, and there are nods to the Pertwee era with the inclusion of "Bessie", and the appearance of Doris as the Brigadier's wife - someone first mentioned in Planet of the Spiders. Jean Marsh makes her final appearance in the programme, following two roles alongside William Hartnell.

The main inspiration is Arthurian legend, and there are some great idea here - but even its author wasn't happy with the execution. Things weren't helped when he was asked to change it from a three episode story to a four-parter.

Ghost Light was the final story to be recorded. It is a slightly confusing story, thanks to huge chunks of it being cut before transmission. Lots of things happen which aren't explained. It looks great, however, as the BBC were very good at period drama.

Probably the strongest story of the season is The Curse of Fenric - a tale of vampires in World War II England, with a lot of Norse mythology thrown in for good measure.

Survival brings the Doctor and Ace down to earth, in the everyday environs of suburban West London. Many see this as a precursor to the modern day settings of the programme when it returned in 2005. As well as Perivale, the action also takes place on the planet of the Cheetah People, where the Doctor encounters the Master. Ainley is far better here than he has been in a long time - less the pantomime villain. A great shame he couldn't have been allowed to tone it down this much in earlier appearances.

Not knowing that the series was going to be cancelled, there's no big finale. The story ends with the Doctor and Ace simply heading back to the TARDIS to continue their travels.

Season 11 marks another ending - this time the end of the Third Doctor, as played by Jon Pertwee. Katy manning had left at the end of the previous season, and Roger Delgado had been killed in a road accident. Producer Barry Letts and Story Editor Terrance Dicks were packing their bags and about to move on, so it really was the end of an era.

Just arriving, however, was Lis Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, and we would get our first glimpse of Tom baker before the end.

Stories this season include appearances by the Daleks and the Ice Warriors, as well as the debut of the Sontarans.

Season 11 comprises: The Time Warrior, Invasion of the Dinosaurs, Death to the Daleks, The Monster of Peladon and Planet of the Spiders.

The Time Warrior sees the introduction of both Sarah Jane Smith and the Sontarans, in the person of warrior Linx, played by Kevin Lindsay. It's a Robert Holmes story, and a very good example of the pseudo-historical story type. Pertwee rarely got to play in history.

Easily the weakest story of the season is Invasion of the Dinosaurs, mainly due to the terrible model work, but the conspiracy background tale isn't all that bad. If Season 26 was about Ace's character arc, then this season is about Mike Yates', as he turns to the dark side in this story.

Death to the Daleks is a typical Terry Nation Dalek story - not the greatest but certainly not the worst. It's the last "ordinary" Dalek story before Davros turns up and they are relegated to background characters.

The Monster of Peladon is the weaker of the two Peladon stories, though we do get the Ice Warriors going back to their old villainous ways. Nice to see Alpha Centauri and Aggedor back, and it's great that they made sure that the sets and costumes matched the earlier story, making it a genuine sequel.

Planet of the Spiders took the place of what should have been Roger Delgado's final outing as the Master (another mirror to Season 26). It's as much Barry Letts' swansong as it is Pertwee's. Lots of actors who had worked with both are brought back, Letts gets to write and direct the story as well as produce. Both the Doctor and Yates get resolutions to their story arcs which began in Season 9 and Season 10 respectively.

And the winner is...? A tougher choice than last time, but I have to plump for Season 11. Season 26 has two very strong stories, but Season 11 has just as many, plus some better quality middling ones. I like the mix of old and new as well. They didn't know Season 26 was going to be an ending, but they did know Season 11 was going to be one, so it has a slightly elegiac feel to it (especially if you know what's going on behind the scenes as well).

Next time, it's Tom Baker versus Peter Davison as Seasons 13 and 19 compete.

On This Day... 1st October

The Smugglers came to an end on this day in 1966, with the broadcast of its fourth episode. 

In 1977, viewers would have sat down to watch the opening episode of The Invisible Enemy. Then, in 2011, Series 6 came to an end with the debut of The Wedding of River Song.

Another Matt Smith item was also shown for the first time today, as part of the Doctor Who Confidential episode accompanying The Wedding of River Song. This was Death is the Only Answer, which was seen on BBC Three. This short piece was a competition winner for school kids, and featured a meeting between the Doctor and Albert Einstein, who is accidentally turned into an Ood.

Back in 2007, the first series of The Sarah Jane Adventures continued with The Eye of the Gorgon.

While we're here. let's wish Philip Hinchcliffe a very happy 77th birthday today.