Doctor Who, season 4 continues …

The Evil of the Daleks is a 7-part early Doctor Who adventure that is mostly missing from the BBC archives.

In order to watch the serial, I’ve found the “Loose Cannon” reconstructed version of the missing episodes (all episodes except episode 2).  This version employs the audio of the story matched against telesnaps (still images), descriptive text captions, existing footage where available, and sometimes a little added pieces of CGI/animation.

The Evil of the Daleks continues directly after the end of The Faceless Ones and begins with the Doctor and Jamie chasing a truck that carries the TARDIS out of the airport (an act that turns out to be the first step in a lure).  Given that they haven’t gone anywhere, would it have been too much for the Doctor and Jamie to request Ben & Polly’s help?  Not least of which would be Ben who, being much younger and more agile, might have chased the truck down at the first corner and caught it.

But, no.  So we’re left with this rather daft situation of Ben & Polly leaving when there’s nothing for them to leave because the Doctor and Jamie are still at Gatwick, on Earth, in 1966.  Surely Ben & Polly could have left later, once they’d helped retrieve the TARDIS?

Of course, for production reasons, this wasn’t possible but, in narrative terms, it feels a bit clunky.

The Evil of the Daleks begins well, with the lure to trap the Doctor and Jamie really quite intriguing.  At this point, they’re not really involved in the story and their hunt for the TARDIS is all that’s on their mind.  Again, though, this is where Ben & Polly’s knowledge of 1966 London would have come in awfully handy.  Couldn’t they give them a bell and ask for some help?

Next time … The Evil of the Daleks continues