Galaxy Four (revisited)

I reviewed Galaxy Four quite a long time ago, but having watched the rediscovered episode three and the new reconstrution on the Aztecs DVD, I thought I ought to write something about it.

The reconstruction on the DVD is very impressive, despite the scarcity of material. It's better than the Loose Canon recon and better than many other recons with far more available photographic material.

I am struck how much this is a story aimed at the kids. Not in the way that today's show aims stuff at children, with dumb laughs and non-stop action, but with a simple plot and simple morals. As I said in my previous review, there is an element of fairytale (not the Disney or Moffat style) in these Hartnell stories.

The recovered episode demonstrates that Stephanie Bidmead's performance as Maaga is less than impressive. As Lawrence Miles and Tat Wood say, she comes across as a "slightly irked school dinner lady," rather than a villain with true menace.

I think the Drahvins are a future offshoot of humanity. Maaga strongly imples that she (unlike her soldiers) is human. That means that this story, like a number of other Hartnell stories is set far into the future. For some reason, the First Doctor seems to end up in the far, far future far more often than his later incarnations.

I think this story would have worked well as a Graham Williams era story. Romana would have been able to fight Maaga, K9 could make Computer Love to the Chumblies and Tom Baker's Doctor would have been completely dismissive of the whole story. Quite a few Graham Williams stories feel like send-ups of the Hartnell era.

I still feel very sorry for the Drahvins who are left to perish with the dying planet. I wish Dr. Who could have found a way to save them.

The War Machines

"Doctor Who is required."

There you go. It's there in the script. In the canon. He really is called Dr. Who. You would think all those silly fans who insist he's called 'The Doctor' would just shut up. That line is one of a number of reasons for loving this story.

The War Machines feels very different from what has gone before. For the first time since Planet of the Giants, we have a story entirely set on contemporary Earth. We have some elements that would become a standard feature, Dr. Who working with an establishment figure, a military presence and a renegade computer seeking to control people. The War Machines is a template for much that would come later. Personally, this is not the kind of Doctor Who I like. I very much prefer the more fantastical Hartnell material, as well as the historical serials, but I do enjoy the freshness of this story and the sense of departure in it. Added to this, The War Machines gives us to new companions who are very different to previous companions, being trendy twenty-something adults (Barbara and Ian are probably in their twenties, but they don't feel trendy in any sense). The stories that follow show them taking to TARDIS travel with an enthusiasm that contrasts very strongly with Ian and Barbara. In this, they are a also templates for the later direction of the show.


I don't care much for stories with computers as villains. Part of this is down to the fact that they make boring bad guys, but also it seems inconceivable. Computers do not have a will or a consciousness. They are not persons. A computer simply processes the information it is given. A computer is no more likely to try to take over the world than your kettle. This makes me inclined to favour the fan theory that WOTAN is in fact a Dalek plot. Is it only a coincidence that the Daleks are active on Earth at this time? The whole WOTAN business does have a very Dalek feel to it.

The War Machines themselves are a little awkward, but they are visually interesting. The real problem with them lies in the fact that we only ever see one at a time, thus reducing their impact.

William Hartnell gives an energetic and engaging performance. His illness is not at all apparent here. He has perhaps lost something of the edge that characterised his earlier performances and has settled into being a kindly grandfather figure. Yet he is still delightful to watch.

Dodo's supporters are thin on the ground, but I still love her. Her characterization is paper thin, but she is so cheerful and pleasant. The sincerity in Jackie Lane's performance contrasts very strongly with the very knowing approach taken by Maureen O'Brien. Sadly, Dodo is not the last companion to be given a clumsy departure.

Ben and Polly are an instant hit. They are both well characterized and distinct. Ben quickly develops a great rapport with Dr. Who. Polly is also a strong personality. It is perhaps a little disappointing that she seems so meek and timid when a nightclub patron approaches her with immoral intentions. This highlights the way her character would frequently be inconsistently portrayed, with her being sassy, confident and sarcastic one minute and then whimpering with terror a few minutes later. Tragically, this is the only completely surviving story to feature this pair.

The War Machines is a light and enjoyable story at the tail end of the Hartnell era. While it is far from perfect, it deserves to be appreciated.

The Savages

Animated recon courtesy of DrWhoAnimator.

It would not be unfair to call The Savages a rather obscure story. No episodes exist in the archive and unlike some missing stories, such as Marco Polo or The Massacre, it has no great reputation. Perhaps its lack of a monster has caused it to drop from the collective memory of fandom. Its main significance is seen to lie in the departure of Steven.

Doctor Who began in An Unearthly Child with a story about cavemen. Here we get another First Doctor story featuring cave people, yet the change in the Doctor's attitude and values is enormous. Back in his first adventure, he showed complete contempt for the lives of the primitive humans he encountered. Here he values the savage humans as equals and is outraged by the injustices perpetrated against them. It is great to listen to the Doctor's condemnation of Jano's regime.

This is the First Doctor's third visit to the very far future, the others being The Web Planet (humanity has made its presence known in another galaxy) and The Ark. The Hartnell era seems particularly suited to dealing with the very far future, as it gave these stories a somewhat ethereal, dreamy atmosphere. We are no longer in the era of spaceships and robots, but an era in which humanity is living on an altogether, higher almost mythic plane of existence.

Delightfully, this is a story in which nobody dies. Sadly, there are altogether too many Doctor Who stories with high body counts. There is something ugly about the way writers would inject large numbers of onscreen deaths into stories. Despite the sadness of Steven's departure, the ending of The Savages is very upbeat and positive. There is the promise of peace and new hopes. Like The Ark, two groups previously hostile are forced to come together and live with each other. other. It is remarkable how little we see of this in later stories. In future, the villains would tend to die grisly deaths and the monsters would all be blown up. This Doctor is not fighting against terrible things that have bred in dark corners, but is knocking together the heads of warring parties and teaching them a better way.

For the first time, we see the Doctor acquiring a reputation outside of his own people. The inhabitants of the city know of the Doctor's travels, though not his name. This is quite interesting in terms of background. The Elders seem unaware that the Doctor would be against their activities, so it suggests that the Doctor had been travelling in this time before he was joined by Susan, before he called himself the Doctor and before his attitude mellowed in Season 1. Contrary to this notion, we are told in Carnival of Monsters that the Doctor had campaigned against miniscopes before his travels, a fact that sits awkwardly with the coolness of the Doctor in Season 1. I like to imagine that the youthful Doctor went on his crusade against miniscopes to impress a girl.

One thing that makes little sense is the lack of concern by the Elders about the welfare of the Savages. I know that the Elders think the Savages are subhuman scum, but they do depend on them to propel their civilization. Given the way the Savages are treated, their is the possibility that these people could end up dying out in the wilderness. I would have expected the Elders to show more concern about maintaining their feeding stock.

As with An Unearthly Child, we get a cave girl skipping about in her bare feet. As I have suggested before, it would have been more realistic for Leela to have gone barefoot. Even in the Middle Ages, Leela's boots would have stood out as exceptionally well made.

It's hard to judge the quality of The Savages by what is left of it, but I would have been happier had Doctor Who writers had stuck more closely to the values and spirit of this story. You don't need a scary monster to make a beautiful science fantasy story.

The Myth Makers

"If you take notice of them, I think you'll find they're doing more talking than fighting."

Animated reconstruction courtesy of DrWhoAnimator.

To say that The Myth Makers is irreverent would be a bit of an understatement. This serial is a complete send-up of the ancient story of the fall of Troy. The heroes of the ancient legend are made into a laughing stock and to cap it all, it has the Doctor providing Odysseus with the plan of building a wooden horse. The Myth Makers is hilariously funny. It is blessed with one of the wittiest scripts in Doctor Who, with almost every line getting a laugh from me, especially the continued ridicule of Cassandra ("Oh go and feed the sacred snakes or something"). Comedy stories in Doctor Who are always a little problematic because you have to believe in the fictional world you are watching. If you can't take it seriously, you can't believe in it. Perhaps it is difficult to imagine both The Myth Makers and The Massacre taking place in the same universe, even if the two stories are separated by over two thousand years. Nevertheless, there is enough violence and brutality in this story to remind one that this is history, even if it is being handled in a less than serious fashion.

Cassandra, by Evelyn De Morgan

The non-regulars give some very enjoyable performances in this story, of particularly note is the cynical King Priam and the thuggish Odysseus. Everyone seems to be really enjoying the story. Perhaps the big letdown is Adrienne Hill as Katarina. For somebody who is about to be introduced as a companion, she makes no impact whatsoever.

The Doctor is used highly effectively in this story. Here he is ensnared by his own cleverness, pretending to be Zeus, then finding himself unable to prove his own credentials. His protracted rage against his captor and tormentor Odysseus is quite amusing. Steven also gets a few good moments, particularly his hilarious interplay with Paris.

Maureen O'Brien is especially strong in this story. I have never really liked her performances; there was always a sense that she was not taking the stories all that seriously. That this is a comedy enables her to offer a characteristically knowing performance. Her relationship with Troilus is not at all convincing and is a typically rushed Doctor Who romance, but I don't think it is meant to be taken all that seriously.

Interestingly, the Doctor has no concern that Vicky will be unable to communicate with Troilus after the departure of the TARDIS. This would indicate that, contrary to the BBC Wales series, the ability of the Doctor and companions to communicate with non-English speakers has nothing to do with any 'TARDIS translation circuit." It would seem that it is an almost supernatural ability that the Doctor bestows on his companions and is acquired permanently, not temporarily.

It is quite tragic that so little footage of The Myth Makers is available.

The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve

"And now, they're all gone. All gone. None of them could understand. Not even my little Susan. Or Vicki. And as for Barbara and Chatterton - Chesterton - they were all too impatient to get back to their own time. And now, Steven. Perhaps I should go home. Back to my own planet. But I can't... I can't..."

As with The Highlanders, I used the YouTube recon of DrWhoAnimator. These animations are not very good quality, but this person has gone to the trouble of animating all the lost stories, which deserves respect. So far 2Entertain have only given us one DVD featuring animated lost episodes, with one forthcoming.

If the producers of Doctor Who had continued to make serials like The Massacre into the Troughton era and beyond it is safe to say that the public image and reputation of Doctor Who would be completely different. It would not be thought of as a show about tinfoil or bubblewrap monsters, but a much more sophisticated and intelligent show. The Massacre is utterly removed from the silliness of the last two seasons, so far that it is practically a different show. In the unlikely event that Moffat or a future producer decided to make a proper historical, it would be very different to The Massacre. It would no doubt be set in a well known historical setting like the reign of Henry VIII and it would be a comedy.

The Massacre was made for a more historically literate generation than ours. Back then, a lot of school children would have been taught about the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve at school, instead of sitting through endless pointless lessons about the Third Reich. The Massacre assumes that its viewers have a certain basic knowledge of history and also presumes that they are willing to learn a good deal more. History is presented in its full depth and not treated as a Bill and Ted style theme park in the manner of the BBC Wales series. Of course, this means that the viewer has to make a bit of effort and concentrate when watching this serial. It is not easy to keep up to speed with the large cast of characters and the intricacies of the political machinations that are discussed in the dialogue. Clearly the writer of this story expected just a bit more from his audience.

The Huguenot on the Eve of St. Bartholomew, by Millais

The Massacre offers some serious historical drama with a lot of tension and excitement. It is also a Doctor-lite story. The Doctor remains absent for much of the story and we are left to wonder what he is up to. Could the Abbot of Amboise really be the Doctor in disguise? Often removing the Doctor from the action reinforces the power of the Doctor as a force. With the absence of the Doctor, Steven is driven to the centre of the action as a man bewildered, out of his time and hopelessly entangled in the complexities of a society he does not really understand. Peter Purves delivers a really powerful performance. While this is Peter Purves' story, Hartnell does not fail to impress. By taking on the extra role as the Abbot, he proves that he really could act. Perhaps it is a little disappointing that the Abbot did not get a few more scenes. What is interesting is how both the Doctor and the Abbot both make themselves absent from their associates and work behind the scenes. They are similar not only in their appearance, but in their mysterious roles in this serial.

This is one of the bleaker Doctor Who stories. Not only do we see the inescapable climax with the start of a massacre, but the unwillingness of the Doctor to interfere and to save one life. Yet Doctor Who should always offer some sense of hope or optimism, as with Curse of Fenric, where Ace's mother is saved from death as a baby. One of the failings, in my judgment, of Pyramids of Mars is the lack of any upbeat element in that story. In this story, we get the introduction of a bright and cheerful new companion (I know some fans dislike Dodo, but I think she is lovely) who offers the hope that she is descended from Anne Chaplet. There is the fan theory that Steven and Anne made love during this story and Dodo is in fact a descendant of Steven. This has a certain romantic appeal and should not be discarded, despite the obstacles that Lawrence Miles and Tat Wood point out in the About Time guide.

Like the cruelly maligned Warriors of the Deep, The Massacre is one of those stories that makes you curse the Doctor. The Hartnell Doctor was always a good deal less cuddly than other Doctors, but here the viewer is disturbed by his callous disregard for the safety of Anne. The Doctor is alien to us; it is always a mistake to get too comfortable with his character. The Doctor has seen many horrible and violent events in history; the death of one young woman will not trouble him in the way it troubles Steven. Yet after Steven's angry departure we are made to sympathize with the Doctor, left alone for the first time in the series.

The Massacre is significant in terms of continuity. As improbable as it might seem, the First Doctor stories in the TV Comic most likely take place during Steven's brief departure from the TARDIS. The Doctor tells us that he cannot go back to his own planet, so where does he go? I believe he goes to find his two other grandchildren, John and Gillian and before returning for Steven has a number of adventures with him, including battling Kleptons and meeting the Pied Piper and Santa Claus. Well I think they're canon, even if nobody else does.

As a Protestant Christian I see the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve as an important part of my heritage and am glad that Doctor Who used this as a source of inspiration. This is story is a brilliant example of just how sophisticated and intelligent Doctor Who could get.

The Ark

In the grim darkness of the far future, flip flops are the first choice for footwear!

This is definitely not the most highly regarded story of the Hartnell era. I love it though. I saw first saw it on VHS when I was 18 and really like it and having watched it on the new DVD release, I feel it is my second favorite 1960s story after An Unearthly Child (the whole thing; those cavemen episodes are as brilliant as the Totters Lane junkyard episode!). The Ark has it's faults but it has an positive and innocent charm that is lacking in later stories. It is a welcome relief after the rather downbeat and violent mood of The Daleks' Masterplan.

A story about the destruction of the earth millions of years in the future was a bold and imaginative idea. Even bolder is the idea of a story that looks into the long-term consequences of the Doctor's actions. The return of the TARDIS to the same spot is masterfully clever, with the cliffhanger discovery of the completed statue. It is a very artful twist.

The Monoids have generally not been regarded favourably by fandom. This is a shame, as they look great, even if their movements are a little awkward. There is a great sense of mystery about them in the first two episodes; we don't know their origin and they never speaking, thus keeping their character a mystery. I prefer to think of the outer layer on their torso as a long snakeskin robe rather than skin (some fans think the head of the Nimon in Horns of Nimon is a mask). They have a somewhat Platypus-like appearance.




The great criticism of the Monoids is that they are a bit silly. Personally I think that is what makes them interesting. Does every race of alien monsters have to be expert in galactic conquest? Surely they must all start of as beginners. Having been a servant class on the Ark, it is unsurprising that they have not had a lot of practice at being evil. The moment when the Monoid can only mumble "err..." when Dodo rumbles their plans is great. There is also something delightfully childish about the Monoid who is about to smash the vase saying "When he hears what I am doing, he will come out to investigate." Like badly brought up children, they just need some attention and the Doctor and the Refusian's response reflects the childish folly of it's actions. The way the Monoids just give up their fight in the end suggests that they don't really have the stomach for a long fight. People have also criticised the fact that the Monoids address each other with numbers. They forget that the Monoids have only just adopted spoken language. Why would they have proper names before this? Besides, they are an alien culture. We should not expect them to be like us in every way. The Monoids do seem to have rather low standards of food hygeine (maybe this is due to their mouthes being in some unseen part of their anatomy?). They are strangely happy to eat food prepared in a room in which people eat, sleep, go to the toilet and, probably, copulate.




The Guardian society is not very well portrayed, nevertheless we are shown a variety of different ages, including children. This gives The Ark some points for realism. I think the Guardians' venetian blind tunics look rather good, though the female version reveals a bit too much flesh. As somebody who loves flip flops, I think it's great that all the male Guardians are wearing them. The female Guardians all wear the gladiator sandals that were so fashionable last summer. We get a lot of bad acting from some of the Guardians. Eileen Helsby who plays Venussa is an exception who shows real talent. She comes off as an unusually brave and spirited character among the Guardians. It would have been great if she had become a companion.




The Refusians are a budget saving invisible monster. That is a bit of a cliche, but the Refusian voice at least sounds great, with both authority and character. It has been suggested that the Refusians are a bit of a deus ex machina. I disagree. We are lead in the first episode to believe that there are Refusians and are left to wonder what they are like. The suggestion is that they may be hostile. Nevertheless, we are surprised to find that the Refusians are kindly preparing for the humans' arrival. The Refusians are perfectly happy for humans to come and colonise their world. There is also an irony in that the humans call themselves Guardians, but in the end they need a powerful guardian to help them out and to arbitrate between them and the Monoids.

The sets and modelwork for the Ark is wonderful. The production team do a fantastic job of capturing the size of the ship. The use of a real elephant certainly adds to this and makes it an exceptional spectacle. The shuttle that carries individuals to Refusis is also a well designed spaceship. The Refusis set is also distinctive and looks quite different to other tropical worlds that we have been shown in Doctor Who. The statue, with it's altered head is a real visual triumph. It totally captures the sense of social upheaval and also makes a nice visual reference to Lord of the Rings.




Hartnell was declining at this point, nevertheless he still has some strong moments in this story. The moment where he offers some friendly encouragement to a Monoid assisting him is beautiful. He recognises their talent before the Guardians who have known them for longer. He also offers comfort to a distressed Dodo when she is overcome with guilt and shows a stoic resignation at the thought that he and Dodo might be trapped on Refusis. Peter Purves is also as strong in this story as William Russell ever was. Jackie Lane was clearly not a brilliant actress, but she still managed to make Dodo a very likable character. There is a real sense of bubbly enthusiasm in Dodo.

The story makes a good moral point about the long term consequences of inequality. The Doctor rightly chides the humans for their intolerance and short-sightedness. He is a little harsh in saying that the Monoids have repaid the humans in kind. The humans had a patronizing attitude to the Monoids, and shockingly seem to think that being saved from a doomed earth is a privilege that the Monoids should rightly repay in service. Nevertheless, the humans were never cruel to the Monoids in the way the Monoids were to humans.




I love the fact that this story gives us an happy ending so far into the future. The humans have lost their homeworld, but they begin life on a new world, watched over by the Refusians. They have the chance to make peace with their old oppressors. I love the Refusian's stern warning that the humans and the Monoids must live together in peace or else they have no future on Refusis. There is such a wonderful sense of both optimism and innocence in this ending.

You know what? I like this story much more than Ark in Space. I prefer the sense of beauty and hope in this story much more than the terror and horror of that Robert Holmes offering.

The Gunfighters

The First Doctor, Steven and Dodo get mixed up in the gunfight at the OK Corral.

This story has a really bad reputation among fans for some reason. When I viewed it, I was preparing for the worst. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it immensely. Perhaps because I quite like westerns or just because I like Doctor Who stories that are light, camp and fun.

I understand 'The Gunfighters' has the remarkable honour of being the first western ever made in Britain. This is probably not surprising as it makes a lot of sense to leave the Yanks to do what they are good at. By the time The Gunfighters was made, the public were getting a little tired of westerns and so the story opts to send up the genre. Hence, we are treated to some hilarious comedy. I think it is much more successful as a comedy story than The Romans, which was a little too daft in places, while in other places being very grim and quite serious.

As might be expected in a British western, the attempt to recreate a western town in a studio leaves a little to be desired. Nevertheless, the production team did their best and gave us a set that is certainly adequate. Unfortunately, most of the American accents on offer are even less successful, but this is Doctor Who.

One odd feature that makes this story stand out is a rather catchy ballad that is sung throughout the serial and provides a sort of running commentary on the action. I think this is quite cute and oddly nostalgic (though it is not a typical feature of westerns).

Hartnell puts in a fantastic performance in a period when his health was declining and he was getting rather lacklustre. Peter Purves also gives a great performance as Steven. Even the much unloved Dodo is reasonably good in this story. The guest cast are rather a mixed bunch; Anthony Jacobs is certainly very good as Doc Holliday.

I think the Doctor's choice of 'Regret'as a psudonym for Steven the 'singer' is fantastic.

Of course, there are plenty of things in the story that make no sense, for instance the fact that it is so obvious that the Doctor is a dental patient and not the dentist. Particularly strange is the Doctor's attempt to prevent the shoot-out. If he knows it happens, why is he trying to change history? Perhaps he has grown weary of watching dreadful historical events unfold and feels like making an hopeless, but well meant attempt.

Galaxy 4

The First Doctor and the TARDIS crew meet the amazonian Drahvins, but what of their enemies, the Rills?

You know I really like stories like The Sensorites and The Web Planet. Give me them any day over those horrific Hinchcliffe stories. There is something dreamy about the pace of these stories.

Sadly this is a lost story and even the available photography on the reconstruction is very minimal.

Like most of the stories of its era, Galaxy 4 suffers from being far too long. Still if you have patience, the reconstruction is worth taking a look.

The title of the story is a bit misleading. The story is not set in Galaxy Four, but rather that is where the Drahvins have come from.

The desert setting is not unusual, but the weird rock formations are effective in making it look alien.

The Drahvins are cool. Female villains are a rare treat in Doctor Who. Their leader is chilling, and their rather brutal and spartan society is well portrayed. The stupidity of the lower rank Dravhins is funny. The Rills are also well designed. Having them amonia breathing was imaginative and sets them apart from other Doctor Who aliens.

The moral message is rather simple; don't judge by appearances. This is not laboured on, however. The Doctor shows immediate suspicion towards the Drahvins and their maleovolence is quickly revealed. Perhaps it might have been more interesting had the writers kept us in the dark a bit longer about the evil of the Drahvins. The simple morality of the story has a nice old-fashioned quality.

The 'chumbly' robots are not very menacing, but serve the purpose of keeping the Rills unseen.

The regular cast put in a solid performance in this story. The Doctor is nicely cantankerous. The other two characters, Steve and Vicki are used effectively.

I rather imagine that some of the later Doctors might have been more concerned about the fate of the Dravhins at the end.

If you like Hartnell stories, the reconstruction of this story is definitely worth watching.

The Daleks' Masterplan

The First Doctor steals the 'Time Destructor' from the Daleks and they chase him across the universe.

They don't make them like this anymore. In fact, there is no other Doctor Who story quite like this one.

Sadly, a good deal of the Dalek Masterplan has been lost and so we are reliant on the Telesnaps reconstruction. The story carries across quite well with this reconstruction.

It is pretty incredible that the production team would attempt a twelve episode story. Even more ambititous is the use of different settings. The recreation of ancient Egypt is particularly incredible.

The narrative is a little uninspired. It is basically a long-winded chase across the universe. It follows on from the peculiar doctorless story, Mission to the Unknown in the jungles of Kembel. Personally, I feel the Time Destructor is a typical dull mcguffin, but this is Doctor Who.

The Daleks are used very well. They are treacherous, gradually killing off the alien represenatavies on the Galactic Council. In a Lovecraftian move, they are identified as evil gods, by both Katarina and the ancient Egyptians.

The various alien beings on the Galactic Council are impressive. It adds a nice variety to the story. It does seem odd though, that the Daleks have gathered them, yet are happy to kill them off one by one. Apart from Mavic Chen who obtains the Taranium, what purpose do they serve? They also seem rather naieve to put themselves in the hands of the Daleks without considering the possibility of betrayal. Not the typical behaviour of dictators.

The story has a rather high body count for an Hartnell story. It is remarkable to see two short-lived companions, Katarina and Sarah Kingdom both die.

I think it is a shame that Katarina was dispensed with so quickly. The writers lacked the imagination to use a character from the distant past. Later in the show, they would successfully use Jamie from the 18th century and Victoria from the 19th, as well as Leela from a primitive culture in the future. It could have worked with Katarina. That said, Adrienne Hill's performance is not particularly confident.



Katarina's interpretation of the Doctor is interesting. She believes he is a god and his TARDIS a temple. In later years, writers would tease us with the idea of the Doctor as a god-like figure. She also sees him not as a wanderer, but having a definite direction in a 'place of perfection.' Her death has real pathos.

It is strange, but still wonderful, to see Nicholas Courtney putting in an early performance as the security agent Bret. His death, killed by his own sister is also deeply sad.

I think it very regrettable that Sarah Kingdom is killed off in this story. Jean Marsh really was glorious as the tough, female agent. I can imagine the First Doctor using her as a strong-arm woman in a similar way to how the Fourth Doctor used Leela. This would be even more in keeping with the much more violent and bellicose First Doctor. Given that her death was planned, it seems somewhat inappropriate for her to be used in the slapstick comedy of the Feast of Stephen. She was clearly being treated as a regular, rather than a guest.

The character of Mavic Chen really brings something special to The Daleks' Masterplan. He is a bit of a Fu Manchu stereotype, but is quite distinct. It is great to watch his arrogant failure to realise how far he is pushing the Daleks. His sinister henchman, Karlton is also fun to watch.

The Christmas special episode, The Feast of Stephen is utterly stupid. William Hartnell's addressing the audience with a Christmas greeting is probably the most embarassing moment in Doctor Who ever. The idea of a Christmas special seems to have impressed Russell T Davies though.

The return of the Meddling Monk is much needed as the story begins to drag. Peter Butterworth does a great job with him. I thought he looked so cool in his sunglasses. Pity he did not return to attempt his revenage on the Doctor.