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 screamed because there was a rat in their escape route.  Barbara saying the equivalent to “it’s okay, to save your nerves we won’t bother with escaping – we’ll just wait around here until they lop off our heads, that’ll be far better for us”.

Presumably William Russell is on holiday, with his filmed inserts covering for him adequately and obtaining the only real plot progression of the episode.  The sets of the filmed inserts and the studio were very similar.

But, really, it was William Hartnell that stole the show.  His small aside with the work party and doing with the shovel what he once threatened to do to a caveman with a rock was excellent.  Hartnell’s on sharp form here, and really shone.  Loved every moment of his work here.

The scenes of the first Doctor walking through the fields on his journey to Paris were true gems.  I really loved them.  They didn’t add anything to the episode, but they were little moments of magic.  Even though I doubt it was Hartnell in those scenes, that didn’t matter.  They worked very well indeed, largely I suspect because it was a huge contrast to the usually tightly-cramped studio sets (or studio sets with backdrops).

In short, an episode that doesn’t really do anything but is almost entirely excellent (Susan notwithstanding).  Can’t fault it.

Next time … A Change of Identity