SEASON 4.
Continuing with my marathon I've now concluded Season 4.
I first watched (or listened to rather) a lot of these back in 2012, 6 years ago now. Times change though and so have my views on a lot of these stories.
Power of the Daleks is a good story and the animation helps. Its not by any means a favourite of mine and I liked it more in 2012 but a good start to the Season. I especially like the use of the Daleks here. They are very sneaky and crafty. They aren't powerful enough to take everybody on yet so they must pretend to work for the humans. What I like about it though is that as time goes on, the mask begins to slip, eventually they can just barely conceal their true intentions, which prove fatal to the colonists. Troughton is still finding his feet. He's intriguing, but not quite the Doctor his incarnation is known for. You could have put Hartnell in this story (and the next couple following it), tweaked it just slightly and you wouldn't have known the difference.
The Highlanders was the low of the Season for me. I like some of the historical Stories (Marco Polo and The Reign of Terror being the best of the bunch) but I found this boring. Only good thing was that we got the best male companion since Ian by the end of it in Jamie. First time I watched it.
The Underwater Menace is bad, but it knows its bad. As a result I enjoy it a lot in a so bad its good kind of way. Zaroff steals the show completely, upstaging everybody around him. He's just amazing "NOTHING IN THE WORLD CAN STOP ME NOW!". I am a bit concerned about how he, as a genius, has somehow not invented a fridge... The people of Atlantis get by on fresh food provided by the Fish People... But the world renowned Professor Zaroff, who has the intellectual capacity to destroy the Earth... Has NOT invented a simple fridge?!? Yep, its by no means a perfect story but its a fun roller coaster ride if you embrace it for what it is. The discovery of episode 2 has helped its reputation somewhat as well (I prefer the 3rd one personally).
The Moonbase starts out slow for its first half but rapidly picks up pace by Episode 3. Episode 3 is missing but its one individual episode i'd love to see. Ben, Jamie and Polly taking out the Cybermen in the control room, Jules getting chased by the Cyberman on the surface of the moon, the scenes inside the Cybership... Thank god we have Episode 4, the standoff between the Moonbase personal and the Cybermen is very engaging stuff. The Cybermen look great as well btw! I love the originals but for a re-design I think its perfect. Troughton I feel has almost completely found his feet by this point as well, his speech about the "evils of the universe" is delivered with passion.
The Macra Terror between 2011-2013 was the story I wanted back the second most (The Web of Fear was number 1 until October 2013 cheers Philip Morris, Underwater Menace on number 3). Now though? I'd rather something like Marco Polo. Its a good Story with a lot of memorable lines "THERE ARE NO SUCH THINGS AS MACRA!". I'm not sure they could've pulled the Macra off credibly without it looking silly but sadly we may never know if it remains lost. Interesting idea for a story though, Troughton is getting better (The Doctor gives himself 11 out of 10 for solving a complicated equation, great script) and taking control.
The Faceless Ones, like The Highlanders, I had never seen. I was missing out! This is the second best story of the Season! You could have easily made this story today. Troughton is now completely in the role and far more engaging than Hartnell. He comes across as insane, yet he's obviously the smartest person in the room, pretending to act the way he does while playing the bad guys off against each other. Its a very good way to handle the story. And, as opposed to trying to kill them as the early Hartnell era Doctor may have done. He didn’t just blow them up, and he didn’t watch somebody else blow them up, either, or watch them burn alive (case in point being The Romans: The Doctor secretly taking pleasure from the notion he gave Nero the idea of burning Rome .There must have been mass deaths in that fire so... You’d think he’d be absolutely disgusted/ashamed at the thought of being implicated in it. Its weird how proud and HAPPY he seems about it there). He instead showed humanity and forgiveness. And that’s what the Doctor is all about. The only issue I have with the story is the shameful way they ditch Ben and Polly. Like Dodo before them it comes off as half-hearted and i'm not even going to try and defend it.
Here is where it all peaked though. 6 years ago I really liked The Power of the Daleks and thought The Evil of the Daleks was boring. Times change. I still like Power, albeit less so... And Evil is now the missing story I want back the most. Easily the jewel in the crown for this Season and the only legitimate masterpiece of the 60's Dalek stories, Power comes in at a close second place (The Daleks starts out great but runs out of steam quickly, Dalek Invasion of Earth was decent but over-rated, The Chase is fun but some parts of it are less exciting than others- same applies to The Daleks Master Plan). Its heart breaking that we probably will never see anything more from this one besides the existing episode 2. Great atmosphere. I love the way the story carries us from present-day Earth, into Earth's past and then to Skaro so effortlessly. The Daleks thanks to Whitakers writing really come off well in both this and Power. I like seeing them experimenting, trying to improve any weaknesses they may possess. It's great seeing it play out in 7 episodes, the padding is there but it's all so drenched in atmosphere and flows so well that it isn't an issue for me here.
Maxable is a nasty piece of work. Jamie really shines and the Troughton/Hines double act comes into play. Twice in this story we get two electrifying scenes where Jamie stands up to the Doctor and challenges his authority. Not since Ian and Barbara has any of them done that. I like the fact that Jamie isn't going anywhere for another two seasons...
Last but not least, the Dalek Emperor and the civil war on Skaro, WHY can't we watch this
It must have looked amazing. It certainly sounds amazing, Daleks openly questioning their superiors before blasting each other into oblivion as the Doctor eggs them on, The Emperor going nuts as the situation escalates out of control.
I ache to see this story, this and Marco Polo both but this one more-so...
So, Season 5. To Telos and the Tombs of the Cybermen I go then...