009 - Planet Of Giants

Broadcast:

31^sd October - 14^th November 1964

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

Size

Written by:

Louis Marks

Director:

Mervyn Pinfield, Douglas Camfield

Music:

Dudley Simpson

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

8.57m (8.4, 8.4, 8.9)

Summary: When you're only an inch tall, the whole world is against you but when chemicals, murder and corruption are added to the mix is there any way of making everything right?

Because Planet Of Giants was the opening story of Doctor Who's second season it gained the dubious honour of being the first three part story, something that wouldn't happen again until Delta And The Bannermen in 1987 when the show was being crippled out of existence. You could argue that An Unearthly Child was in fact comprised of a single episode story and a three episode story, since there were no story titles applied at this time, only episode titles, but the official records show it as a single four episode story because that is how it was produced. Interestingly though, that opening story was original intended to develop into an adventure featuring the main characters being reduced to a tiny size and experiencing all manner of problem in a class room... The idea was deemed impractical and was shelved in favour of the caveman story but the idea was still something that the production team were keen to use and so here it was almost a year later opening the second season instead (with some detail changes and a new story) Something else that Planet Of Giants has in common with An Unearthly Child is that it too was actually produced as a four episode story. However, it was decided that although it was a good story and would normally have been acceptable, as it was to be the season opener it needed a bit more punch or a bit less flab. Consequently episodes three and four were cut down and edited into one giving it another dubious honour - that of being the longest episode so far (and I dare say it kept that record, though I have yet to prove this). Excluding titles and credits it is already over 25 minutes rather than the average 23. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

After The Reign Of Terror, Doctor Who went off air for six weeks (although production had continued and wouldn't rest for a few more months) and a lot had happened that is worth noting... The Sun newspaper had started publication, Malta and Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) obtained independence from the UK, the Warren Commission published the first official investigation into Kennedy's death, and the Shinkansen rail system (otherwise known as the Bullet Train) became the world's first high-seed railway in Japan in readiness for the Tokyo Olympic Games where Great Britain won 4 Gold, 12 Silver, and 2 Bronze (12 of the 18, including all 4 golds were in Athletics). The Soviet Union launched Voskhod 1, the first multi-person spacecraft and the first without space suits, while Martin Luther King Jr became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Similarly, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin became the first British Woman to win the prize for Chemistry (for determining structures of biochemical substances through the use of X-Rays). Parliamentary elections in the UK saw the Labour Party gain control of the country from the Conservatives after 13 years and Harold Wilson, the new Prime Minister, created the Secretary of State for Wales which would become the Welsh Office and ultimately lead to the National Assembly For Wales the next time Labour came to power in 1997 - I mention this here because the revived Doctor Who is made in Cardiff by BBC Wales. Oh and on the other side of the Atlantic, Canada had a new flag!

In music, Pete Townsend destroyed his first guitar (in the name of auto-destructive art), something that would become a regular occurrence, The Rolling Stones made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Kinks released their first album and Dr. Robert Moog demonstrates the prototype Moog synthesizer - paving the way for much over-use of synthesizer music in the 1980s (Keff McCulloch, I'm looking at you) Topping the Charts were Herman's Hermits "I'm Into Something Good", Roy Orbison's "Oh Pretty Woman" and Sandie Shaw's "(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me" (Orbison would return to the top during Planet Of Giants) while in the cinemas were Goldfinger, The Gorgon featuring future Doctors Peter Cushing and Patrick Troughton and The Black Torment also featuring Patrick Troughton. During the stories broadcast, the House Of Commons voted to abolish the death penalty for murder and ITV started daily broadcasts of soap opera "Crossroads" which would run until 1988, so starting a year after Doctor Who and ending two years before (it would also see its own revival in the new millennium running from 2001 to 2003, two years before Doctor Who returned)

008 - The Reign Of Terror

Broadcast:

8^th August - 12^th September 1964

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

French Revolutionaries

Written by:

Dennis Spooner

Director:

Henric Hirsch

Music:

Stanley Myers

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

6.73m (6.9, 6.9, 6.9, 6.4, 6.9, 6.4)

Summary: The travellers get caught up in the French Revolution, are imprisoned and face the guillotine!

If The Sensorites was the most removed from Earthly normality (so far) then it was followed by the most solidly grounded. The Reign Of Terror is regarded as one of the best historical stories. It brings a greater sense of reality and a more naturalistic drama than The Aztecs but the setting of subterfuge and revolution leave it vulnerable to being a little unclear in the latter half and researching the French Revolution ahead of writing this review left me just as confused but it's worth noting that this isn't so much a story of good against evil as it is pure circumstances. The Reign Of Terror is the first story, chronologically, to have missing episodes recreated with animation and they work really well.

Meanwhile, back in the summer of 1964 when The Reign Of Terror was first broadcast, a Rolling Stones gig in Scheveningen (Netherlands) got out of control and was ended after 15 minutes by riot police (resulting in spectators starting to fight the riot police!), Gwynne Owen Evans and Peter Anthony Allen were hanged for the murder of John Alan West, making them the last people to be executed in the United Kingdom (though the death penalty for murder would not be abolished until November 1965 and was still available for treason until 1998), and the IOC banned South Africa from the forth coming Tokyo Olympics due to the racial segregation of their athletes (similarly, John Lennon announced that the Beatles would not perform to a segregated audience in Florida). On a happier note, Derek Foster became the youngest player in the Football League at the age of 15, Mary Poppins had its world premier (though UK audiences would have to wait until Christmas to see it), and the Forth Road Bridge opened over the Firth of Forth. "Match Of The Day" had its first broadcast and could have been watched on portable televisions which also became available around this time. In cinemas, future film companion and series friend of the Doctor Bernard Cribbins could be seen in Crooks In Cloisters, along with Wilfred Bramble who's "Steptoe And Son" co-star Harry H. Corbett was in Rattle Of A Simple Man. Of particular note to us though, Jacqueline Hill could have been seen by older viewers in The Comedy Man. Topping the music charts were Manfred Mann with "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", Honeycomb with "Have I The Right" and the Kinks with "You Really Got Me"

007 - The Sensorites

Broadcast:

20^th June - 1^st August 1964

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

Sensorites

Written by:

Peter R Newman

Director:

Mervyn Pinfield, Frank Cox

Music:

Norman Kay

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

6.92m (7.9, 6.9, 7.4, 5.5, 6.9, 6.9)

Summary: Sensitive telepaths hold humans captive in their space craft while facing conspiracy and ilness on their own planet. There is good and bad on both sides of each problem and the Doctor must resolve it all before he can regain access to his TARDIS

The Sensorites has become a bit of a minor story over the intervening years as very few records remain in the archives and it simply doesn't get talked about. This is evident in the DVD extras (or relative lack thereof) and the brief career of its writer adds to that. It should not be completely overlooked however, as it contains some real quality and valuable points of canon and heritage - It is very possible that we would not have the Ood today if we didn't have the Sensorites first.

Essentially spanning July of 1964, The Sensorites came at a busy time in world history. No single major global incident, but plenty of events around the world that are worth noting. For example, American President Lyndon Johnson introduced the Civil Rights Act which abolishing racial segregation, there were six days of race riots in Harlem, and race riots in Singapore (between ethnic Chinese and Malays) while the Vietnam War was only approach its half way point. Malawi was given independence from the UK (and changed its name from Nyasaland) and former Prime Minister Winston Churchill retired from the House of Commons at the age of 89. In lighter news, the first close-up photographs of the Moon were taken by Ranger 7 - a thousand times clearer than anything ever seen from Earth, the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch was won by Jim Clark, the Warner Brothers Cartoon Division was shut down, and the Post Office Tower in London was completed - it would not begin operation until October 1965 but would go on to feature heavily in The War Machines in 1966. In music, country singer Jim Reeves died in a small plane crash, the Beatles returned home from America to an estimated crowd of 150,000 people which left 300 injured. At number one were Roy Orbison "It's Over", Animals "House Of The Rising Sun", Rolling Stones "It's All Over Now" and the Beatles's "A Hard Day's Night" began a run of three weeks at the top following the release of their film of the same name. Other films in the cinema included star studded black comedy What A Way To Go! and Seance On A Wet Afternoon which, in retrospect, has a number of elements that take an eerie turn when you think of the Moors Murders that were taking place at the time and searches that followed later (though it would be more than a year before they came to light)

Finally, before the review itself, between the broadcasts of episodes 4 and 5, on the 22nd July future companion Bonnie Langford was born, and on the 25th July straight after episode 5 viewers could see Carole Anee Ford on the Juckbox Jury panel for the third and final time! (It's also worth noting that episode 3 had been deliberately delayed to make way for an extended edition of Grandstand (hence the serial's seven week run when it only had six episodes)