Yearly archives: 2016


Doctor Who continued … An episode that doesn’t really further the plot much.  Susan devolves back into the screamer with alarming ease, apparently not being able to do anything without the men being there.  I rather felt for Barbara at the time, particularly the expression on her face when Susan […]

36. Guests of Madame Guillotine


Doctor Who continued … I thought the early scenes in the TARDIS were superb, with Hartnell in particular being really on form.  The only trouble is that he’s suddenly gone back to being this irrational grumpy Doctor that we saw in the first episode, as though his mellowing, trust, and […]

35. A Land of Fear


Previously … Kidnap A Desperate Venture finishes the story adequately, but it felt like a bit of a poor pay-off after waiting six episodes (weeks) for this.  A bit more could have been made of the few people scavenging away underground.  Also, given that episode 5 came across as little […]

34. A Desperate Venture




Previously … A Race Against Death With the episode being called “kidnap”, I spent the entire episode thinking “so who’s been kidnapped?”  Apparently it refers to the cliffhanger at the end of the episode.  That made me think that a number of these episode titles have done that.  They don’t […]

33. Kidnap




Previously … Hidden Danger Although slightly tempted to rename this “Slow Plod Against Death”, this episode is effectively the stepping stone between parts of the story – concluding the “city” part of the story and moving into the “dark tunnels and monsters” part of the story.  Changing locations and adjusting […]

32. A Race Against Death


Previously … The Unwilling Warriors While we’re still in the ship, the adventure continues as normal.  Some of the decisions by the characters seem a little ropey – such as Susan’s decision to go with the Sensorites.  I know she’s only supposed to be a child, but addressing some of […]

31. Hidden Danger




Previously … Strangers in Space … This episode continues in the same style and strength as the opening story.  Having not yet shifted to the Sense Sphere, we still have the rich (and sometimes claustrophobic) setting of the ship – which, through clever filming, looks much bigger than it probably […]

30. The Unwilling Warriors



Previously … The Day of Darkness … Another six-part story begins with a strong episode.  It helps that we don’t see much of the aliens at this point, and we instead have the TARDIS crew in a confined set (the bridge of a spaceship) trying to work out what’s going […]

29. Strangers in Space