Monday 8 February 2021

What's Wrong With... The Faceless Ones


The aliens in this are known as the Chameleons, because they take over other people's identities and can therefore blend in with the humans around them. Did they take over an airline that was already called "Chameleon Airlines", or did they name the setup themselves? If the latter, isn't it sort of drawing attention to yourselves?
A problem with all aliens who come to Earth to get what they want: how many more suitable planets did they fly by to get here. The Chameleons want humanoids to copy. Are there no humanoid races less technologically advanced, and therefore less of a threat, they could have picked on instead?
Just how did they manage to set up the airline? These things take a huge amount of time and capital, with all manner of international agreements if they're flying beyond the UK. Lots of licences and other paperwork involved. Just how long did they spend setting this up?
Why has no-one noticed before now that their flights are only full one way, and are always empty on return journeys?
If this has been going on for a while, how come Samantha Briggs seems to be the only person to have raised a missing person's report. Most of these holidays would be for a fortnight at best, which suggests that the aliens can't have been operating long, yet they have thousands of young people already swapped with - despite only ever operating those one way flights.
Is hiding your original bodies in a car park really a sensible thing to do, especially when tampering with them can kill you? Surely people using that car park day in, day out, would have noticed the same people snoozing in the vehicles. 
All sorts of things happen with Meadows in Air Traffic Control, yet he seems to be able to just return to his station as if nothing has happened.
The James Bond style "kill your enemies in an overly complicated manner without bothering to stay to make sure nothing goes wrong" bit has to be mentioned, as there's a glaring example of it here with Spencer and the laser weapon.
Victor Winding, who plays Spencer, on his first entry into the hidden office, takes the door handle away with him - and carries on acting regardless. What a star!
There's a security alert out for someone in a kilt. Just how many Scotsmen are passing through Gatwick this week, for Jamie not to be picked up straight away?
Ben and Polly discover that it is the same date as when they first walked into the TARDIS back in Fitzroy Square. That means that the whole War Machine incident has been occurring at the same time as this - yet there's no mention of it. WOTAN thought Heathrow would make a good base for setting up one of the Machines, so surely it would also have selected Gatwick. Very easy to get your raw materials shipped in, and lots of outbuildings to work in unnoticed. After all, if a bunch of aliens can run an airline for several weeks, killing policemen along the way, without anyone local noticing, then Gatwick would be ideal for a few day's construction on a War Machine.
For their final story it's sad that Anneke Wills and Michael Craze have such little involvement, disappearing after the first couple of episodes before a tacked on filmed farewell at the conclusion. Both were contracted up to the second episode of the following story, but were let go early (though paid up to when they should have left).

1 comment:

  1. I've just watched this for the first time recently. The finding of the bodies "hidden" in the car park was definitely an "eh?" moment. It might be down to the reconstruction but it seemed that some of those taken over by The Chameleons were already wearing Chameleon Tours uniforms just to add to the whole "chicken or the egg" puzzle. Maybe the Chameleons are drawn to things that already bear that name. Maybe if they'd arrived in Manchester in the 1980s they would have targetted post punk band The Chameleons. If as you suggest the airline is already called Chameleon Tours then why would anyone call an airline that?
    It is a bit jarring the way that Ben and Polly just disappear but what makes it worse is that they just seem to get forgotten, very little tension is built around the fact that they have been captured, they just get a passing mention in the conclusion (prior to the farewell scene that is)

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