Anyway, getting back to this episode, I was joined by Ketina, Ronelyn, Schmallturm, Spoo, MisterMother, Photobug, Cz and SpookyGirl. We were also honored to be joined not only by seven year old MiniSpoo, but also by almost-six year old ElfGirl, for whom this was her first ever Doctor Who episode! What did she think? Well, for now, let's get to the summary!
Episode summary: First aired 5 March 1966. In a jungle, filled with plants and animals, a strange figure watches. It is tall with a head of unkempt hair. It turns to us and we can see that it only has one eye and no mouth! It wanders off into the jungle. A few moments later a wheezing, groaning sound is heard and the TARDIS materializes. Dodo, wearing what looks like a knight's surcoat, jumps out, looks around excitedly and sneezes. Steven follows quickly afterward, berating her for going out before checking to make sure it is safe. "What happens if you get lost?" he says. To Steven's surprise, she answers she'd simply take a bus home! She believes they are in a park just outside London. For proof they are on Earth, she points to a lizard, identifying it as a chameleon, then identifying a locust. "There’s nothing you can tell me about nature, simply nothing," she tells Steven. Suddenly, a weird animal cry ripples through the forest. Dodo jumps. "Having second thoughts?" asks Steven, archly. The Doctor exits the TARDIS and comes towards them, saying that young Dorothea ("Dodo!" she interrupts) might be right, they might be on Earth. "All I can say is that it’s more likely to be Earth than anywhere else and it’s very strange indeed. You know, I’ve been taking a look at my instruments in there...and it’s really very strange." They walk back to the TARDIS, as an arm of one of the one-eyed creatures moves a tree limb, watching them...
In a control room, a trial is going on. The room is full of men, women and children of various ages as well as a group of the one-eyed creatures. The leader of these people, an old man referred to as the Commander, conducts the trial of a young man who is accused of leaving a heat valve open. "By leaving open a wide valve in the heat exchange unit, you could have caused an explosion that would have been fatal...not only to the human race, but also to our friends, the Monoids," he says, referring to the one-eyed creatures. He sentences the man to the lightest sentence possible: miniaturization. "The prisoner will be retained at micro-cell size, to be re-constituted in its, approximately seven hundred years time, when it can no longer be a danger to us," he says, then asks the prosecutor, a man called Zentos, if he accepts the verdict. He does, and it is carried out, despite the pleas of the Commander's daughter Mellium. The prisoner, through his defense counsel Manyak, also accepts the verdict. He enters a small box and a Monoid flips a switch...and the prisoner shrinks out of sight. One of the other humans takes a tray and walks off.
Dodo, exploring, calls to her friends. The three travellers gaze in delight as an elephant wanders towards them! They pet the creature and then the Doctor and Steven step away. The Doctor still finds it all strange and Dodo articulates why: "Flowers from America, Birds from Africa, a Snake from Brazil and now an Elephant from India," she says and the Doctor replies that this is exactly his quandary. "Yes, and top of everything else, it’s a jungle without a sky," he adds, and the others look up through the trees to see a metal roof! The Doctor has also noticed that the ground is vibrating slightly--a mechanical vibration. The Doctor wonders if they could be in some kind of giant indoor park, on Earth or not. Just then, Dodo sneezes again and the Doctor irascibly tells her to use her handkerchief. "We must do something about that cold of yours," he says, and berates her for obviously playing around in the TARDIS wardrobe. "Is it all right to wear, or do I have to ask permission for that as well?" she asks angrily, and the Doctor smiles and tells her yes. "Arw, you’re not going to send me home, are you?" Dodo says. "Home?" laughs the Doctor. "What an idea, hmm? I couldn’t send you home even if I wanted to." He wanders off and Dodo delightedly tells Steven that she's beginning to like "this space travel or whatever it is." She wanders after the Doctor and an exasperated Steven follows. None of them notice the watching Monoid who follows the group at a distance.
On the control deck, a Monoid drives a small truck through the large room. Another Monoid walks up to Zentos and performs a strange sign language with him. Zentos turns to the Commander and reports that intruders have been seen in the jungle. The Commander is incredulous; how could intruders get in? Zentos uses a monitor device to try to track them down as Mellium, who has overheard, asks her father how this could be possible. Zentos completes his work at the controls and an image of Steven, the Doctor and Dodo appear on the large screen at the back of the room. "They look like human beings," says the Commander in surprise. "But they can’t be. We accounted for everyone." "Shall we not arrest them and bring them here and question them?" asks Zentos. Suddenly, Mellium calls everyone's attention to the screen where the TARDIS is now shown. "It seems to be their spaceship," she says. "It is an unusual design." The Commander takes Zentos aside and asks if he is sure that the Monoids have nothing to do with this. "Quite sure," Zentos says. "It was they who reported it." "Good, then you’re right - they must be questioned," says the Commander. But, before Zentos can leave, he quickly adds, "But Zentos...not arrested - invited."
In the jungle, Dodo has discovered what look like odd paintings on a rock, such as a zebra with two heads. (She also annoys the Doctor by using the slang word "fab" to describe them.) "Yes, we’ve already estab...er...established this place as illogical," the Doctor says. "Why shouldn’t there be animals with two heads, hmm?" "No reason at all, except that the more we see of it, the less like Earth it becomes," replies Steven. Suddenly, an alarm rings out! Steven runs a short distance away to check...but stops short as he catches sight of a group of Monoids looking at the TARDIS. He runs back and says, "You were right. It is an alarm. They’ve found the TARDIS. I can’t say I like the look of them." To keep Dodo from worrying, the Doctor suggests she go into the cave she's found first to hide. "What do they look like, dear boy?" asks the Doctor. "Terrifying!" says Steven. "If this is Earth, it’s no longer inhabited by human beings." "Shh!" says the Doctor. "You’ll frighten the child! Come on!"
Inside the cave, Dodo tries to ask what the creatures pursuing them look like, but is hushed by the Doctor. She tries to ask again, but is suddenly about to sneeze...Steven covers her nose and mouth and holds her quiet as the Monoids come to the outside of the cave. After a moment, the TARDIS crew hear the creatures leave. Steven releases Dodo and says, "Bless you. Remind me never to take you out again when you’ve got a cold." The Doctor suggests they carefully return to the TARDIS. Dodo finally sneezes and Steven snaps at her to keep quiet! He then softens, as she seems to be crying, but she tells him, "No, me nose is running!" The Doctor tells them both to be quiet and they move out of the cave.
Steven is leading the way, but he suddenly stops and calls to the Doctor. The Doctor arrives and looks out to where Steven is pointing. He smiles. "Why yes, of course! Yes, ha ha! I know where I am now, yes indeed!" Through the trees, the travellers can now see the futuristic buildings that make up the control area we saw earlier. Steven wonders if it could be a city or factory, but the Doctor replies, "No, no dear boy, all this is a spaceship, hmm!" Steven is shocked, but Dodo asks, "Hey Doctor? If this is a spaceship, what are they?" She points as Monoids rise out of the undergrowth. The Doctor and friends see that they are surrounded.
Later, in the control room, the Commander addresses the Doctor and company in a friendly manner. "You travel in that black box?" he asks. Steven attempts to explain that they travel in space and time. "Why have you chosen to come here?" asks Zentos, suspicious. "Well, we didn’t," Steven admits. "It has a mind of its own." The Commander laughs. "Experiments to pass through the fourth dimension were undertaken in the twenty-seventh segment of time," he says. "They were unsuccessful. How can anything so crude..." Steven tells him to ask the Doctor. Despite Zentos' objection, Steven is allowed to ask, "Look, is this really a spaceship? This city and all that surrounds it?" The Commander laughs again and shows Steven a map of the Ark. He tells Steven that they, too come from Earth. "The origin of the Monoids is obscure," the Commander explains. "They came to Earth many years ago, apparently from their own planet which was dying. They offered us their invaluable services...for being allowed to come on this joint voyage." At Steven's further question, the Commander says that they are going to the planet Refusis II. "The Earth also is dying. We have left it for the last time....in a short time it will burn and be swallowed in the pull of the Sun." Manyak manipulates some controls and a picture of the Earth appears on the screen. "Then we must have journeyed forward...millions of years!" exclaims Steven in wonder. Zentos suspiciously asks if Steven and his friends really are human. "They could be Refusians sent here to intercept us, to sabotage our mission," he says. "We only know them as intelligence’s that inhabit that planet. They might have a way of assuming human bodies, of using them to pass, to mingle amongst us!" Rubbish! says the Doctor, leading Dodo through the crowd. Just then, she sneezes, and the Doctor uses it as evidence that they are human--complete with "the chills!" "A virus fever which used to be quite common to the human being," he explains, and the Commander says, "And cured so long ago, we’ve forgotten what it was like! Fascinating! Ah ha! It’s like history coming to life. Tell me Doctor, if you cannot direct your spacecraft, your journeys must take you to some strange places." In the background, Zentos has been signing to a Monoid, who nods and walks off. Mellium notices this and asks him what he's doing. "I wish to know more of the travellers spacecraft," he answers, saying that he knows nothing of these strangers, although her father trusts them. "He knows no more than you," Mellium says. "He simply has faith." "So have I," replies Zentos. "In my own eyes and ears, and machines tell fewer lies than men." Meanwhile, the Doctor has been telling stories of his travels, talking about Nero, the Trojan War and the Daleks. The Commander is delighted. "But all that happened in the first segment of time," he says. What segment is this? asks the Doctor. The fifty-seventh, is the answer, which astounds the Doctor. "We must have jumped at least...ten million years, hmm!" Steven asks when their journey will end and the Commander answers, "Not for a long time. Neither I, nor my daughter Mellium, nor Zentos, will ever see the planet. That pleasure is reserved for our children’s children, many years hence." Seven hundred years, he tells them. But why go that far? asks the Doctor. Only Refusis has the proper atmospheric and temperature conditions--though no one has been there, they only know via "audio space research." "Hmm, no wonder you had to bring everything. At least two of each, you suppose," says Steven. "Like the ark?" asks Dodo. But the Commander has never heard of Noah's Ark. But, he confirms, they do have all of Earth's human and animal populations. Only the few, the "Guardians" are awake. The others "are stored in trays and will re-emerge normally when we land. Each cabinet contains a million people." Realizing that there are many things the travellers will want to see, the Commander suggests Mellium show Dodo and Steven "the statue." He invites the Doctor to learn more about the control deck, which delights the Doctor to no end. The Doctor begins to quiz Manyak on how everything works.
A short distance away, Mellium shows Steven and an excited Dodo what looks like a mini-building site. A Monoid backs a truck containing a block of stone up. What looks like a huge pair of feet have been built on a large stone block. Dodo asks what kind of stone this is, much to Steven's embarrassment, but Mellium explains that it is "Gragarium rock," which will last forever. She shows the plans to her new friends--a giant human holding a tiny ship, the Ark. Dodo is delighted. Suddenly, an alarm rings out! A Monoid drives one of the trucks towards the main control deck; on its back is another Monoid, lying still.
Zentos runs over as the truck reaches the main area and uses sign language to find out what is wrong. "Commander, the strange disease, the fever is spreading among the Monoids!" he reports, but the Commander seems distracted, holding his head. "I can hardly hear you Zentos," he says. "It’s so hot. What’s happened to the temperature?" The Commander collapses! Zentos begins to yell, "The Commander too - he has the strange fever! The fever brought by the strangers!" Mellium rushes to her father. Zentos tells her to stay away from both the strangers and her father. "Zentos is right," the Commander tells her. "Stay away." The Doctor comes over, but Zentos tells him to keep away. "We may be able to help," he says. Dodo adds, "It’s nothing to worry about. His temperatures a bit high, that’s all. It’s just a fever. It can only be a cold." The Doctor draws Steven aside, not noticing Zentos listening in. "What’s all the fuss about?" Steven asks. "The man’s caught Dodo’s cold, that’s all." "All? All?" says the Doctor. "These people, this generation, have never experienced the common cold - for the simple reason it was wiped out many generations ago before they were born. They have no resistance to it...it might be fatal and we shall be to blame. Yes, it’s all our fault and I should have foreseen it!" Zentos seizes on this, denouncing them to the assembled Guardians with their own words. "But it wasn’t my fault. How was I supposed to know?" says Dodo. Suddenly, Manyak announces that the sick Monoid...is dead. Zentos orders the strangers to be seized! "All of you listen!" he yells. "The success of all we stand for, everything aboard this spaceship is suddenly endangered by the strange fever, a fever brought by these strangers in our midst!" When the Doctor tries to interrupt, Zentos continues, "I invoke the special galactic law against them. Hold them, take them into custody and later, they will be made to suffer for the crime that they have committed!" The Doctor, Steven and Dodo are taken away. Mellium turns in fear to Zentos and asks what will happen to her father. "He may well die," says Zentos quietly. "But then again, so might all of us. In which case, it was pointless leaving...."
---
Ketina's...Transcripty...thingamabob
H: Historian
K: Ketina
R: Ronelyn
Sc: Schmallturm
Sp: Spoo
MS: MiniSpoo
M: MisterMother
P: Photobug
Cz: Cz
SG: SpookyGirl
EG: ElfGirl
Sp: They moved! The pictures moved!
R: Witchcraft!
Sp: Sorcery!
SG: I'm going to invoke Galactic Law!
Sp: Quick, to the halls of medicine!
H: So, welcome to the first episode of a new story.
Group: Yay!
H: Where all the episodes exist. So we'll have movement for the rest of the month.
Group: Yay!
Sp: Goofy side note, the actress who plays the daughter, is she someone? Has she been in something else? She looked familiar.
H: I don't know, but I can look it up. But my immediate comment is “Dodo, girlfriend, pick an accent!” I know the producers had a hard time making up their minds, but dude, just get there already. [NOTE: The original plan was for Jackie Lane to go for a Cockney accent, as heard in "The Massacre," but there was apparently some resistance from higher-ups because she didn't use the "standard" accent. Here she seems to be traveling from the North to the South to...somewhere... --H]
R: I have to say that the costumes for the Monoids... the effect was really creepy.
H: And you're fooled. At first they seem like monsters, but they're servants.
R: They almost have a menacing appearance, but they don't menace.
H: So, ElfGirl, this was your first ever Doctor Who episode. What did you think?
EF: I like when Doctor Who and the guys said that the machine made it turn. It was funny when the guy said “How did you get in?”
R: When they asked the Doctor how they made it on the space ship?
EF: Yeah
H: Did you like it?
EF: Yeah.
H: Did you like it Mini-Spoo?
MS: Yeah. I liked all the parts. It was cool.
EF: And those eye guys were really creepy.
MS: My favorite part was when they were talking and the Doctor was stroking his chin like “Oh, yes, indeed.”
H: Mini-Spoo is totally humoring me. He wasn't watching at all.
MS: Hey, I was watching a little bit.
EF: I watched ALL of it!
H: This is really great! These two kids are part of the original core audience the show was intended for.
Sp: I know I'm in the minority here, but this is a nice break from the historicals. I don't have the history knowledge to appreciate how well crafted the historicals are. Hey, science fiction. Space concepts!
K: I agree.
Sp: It was cool to see it unfold. How long before they figure out they're in a space ship? How long before they figure out they're in an ark? How long until the misunderstanding that makes them prisoners... oh there it is!
R: But it does feel like it's something we've seen before, a common trope. “Oh yes, we have no diseases. Cured them thousands of years ago.... Hahaha... Oh dear.. *sniffle*... damn!”
Sp: Is it just an artifact of seeing so many Reconstructions, or did they blow a lot on the sets?
H: This one is a big budget. The animals for one.
SG: Yeah, when the elephant came out I thought at first it was stock footage, but it was really there!
K: They were like filming it in a zoo, or something. [They weren't; the elephant was actually brought into the film studio! --H]
H: If you look closely, you'll see that some of it is on a big set on film, and some of it is in a studio on video. It was a huge deal that they brought in an elephant. Even now it's very unbelievable. The moment when the Doctor and the companions are petting the elephant is a magical moment in the series.
Sp: They've arrived!
SG: I had an issue with the costumes.
Sp: The human costumes?
SG: Really, ribbons and Speedos?
P: In defense, weather is not really a problem.
R: They spent millions of years in a giant living room.
P: Bathrobes would make more sense.
Sp: They should be naked, so instead they should get togas. But instead of togas they get ribbons.
H: The kind of sad costumes is indicative of how sad the human characters are so far in this story. Not intentionally. The interesting things that happened had to do with the Doctor, the companions, the animals, and the Monoids. Even the evil one...
Sp: The shouty guy.
H: Even the shouty guy obviously wants to take this advantage to take over.
R: “You will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes. You will be second. You, I haven't decided yet.”
Sp: “The living room, and all its elephants, will be mine!”
SG: You have the hippy old guy, and then the younger one who really should be more easy going.
H: You have fun grandpa and the authoritarian 30 year old.
Sp: And together they fight crime.
H: Well, remember they miniaturized the guy. Very simple, but effective, effect.
R: I'm terrified to admit, when they were doing the court scene, I thought that the daughter would be like “Father, please do not kill the blond one! He belongs to me, papa!” And then there it was. It struck me as being so much like every radio serial that's ever been done in science fiction. Like “show me more of this earth thing you call kissing.”
P: Like the plot of Cameron's Avatar.
R: Yeah.
H: I guess you could say that the humans are the way they are because they've been in this insular society so long, that they've become weak.
Sp: With only each other, and the occasional elephant.
R: “Oh Trunky, only you understand me.”
K: What is it with the humans just standing around doing nothing?
H: The children were playing.
Sp: And the extras were extraing.
H: It's not often we see children, especially so many, as extras. It was nice to see kids.
SG: It was creepy that they were having the tribunal in front of the kids.
H: But the children are part of the Guardians. So they have to learn.
Sp: “Eat all your vegetables Timmy, or I'm gonna shrink ya!”
R: “This is what happens if you don't pass your A-Levels.”
Sp: The sign language, just barely this side of goofy. Just barely the correct side of goofy.
H: Are you sure it was on the right side?
P: I think it crossed the line into the bad side.
SG: The dog paddle they kept doing was on the bad side.
Sp: “Quick, strangers digging up the garden! Let's shrink them!”
P: “Timmy fell down the well!”
Sp: There's a well on the space ship?
H: I have to agree with Photobug. They were using only 4 or 5 symbols at most, and it was pretty goofy.
Sp: The Monoids are straight forward dudes. They're some kind of servant class, right?
H: They came to Earth and offered themselves as servants in order to go on the great journey.
SG: I think the Monoids might be eating the shrunken people. I think there's something suspicious about those guys.
Sp: They do have millions of people. It's doubtful anyone is going to notice if they're getting sprinkled on the ramen or something. [Note: Pun. Ramen=Raw Men. Made more sense at the time...barely! --H]
H: This is a pretty straightforward episode, especially after the last story. Cz, do you have any thoughts?
Cz: Moving pictures!
K: Good “Rush” album, but that's not the point.
Cz: I actually think I like imagining what is happening rather than seeing it.
H: So you didn't like this episode?
Cz: It was okay. But I didn't like the strangling moment when Steven was interrupting Dodo's sneeze. It lasted for like 20 seconds!
Sp: It was a heck of a sneeze.
K: It was like sexual tension on Doctor Who.
H: It's interesting, because Steven is very angry about her coming along and not taking things seriously.
P: But he's being replaced. The older child / younger child thing.
H: I think it's because he's seen three women who he's traveled with DIE really recently.
SG: Battle weary?
H: Take this seriously, new kid. People die!
K: Maybe only two, if Dodo is supposed to be Anne's great something something granddaughter.
Sp: But he is battle scarred enough that he is trying to leave in the previous episode. So he's definitely twitchy by now. Battle fatigued.
K: Actually, I think he's protecting her. And his reason for staying is to keep her from dying as well.
H: And he's frustrated, and is always believing that she's going to screw things up.
Sp: I can't stand her.
SG: She's very annoying. I was kind of hoping she'd walk off a cliff or something. That “fools” outfit doesn't help.
H: She was actually one of the actresses who was originally cast for Susan, but she originally turned it down. She apparently wasn't ready to be in a long term series. Thankfully Carole Ann Ford stepped in, and was pretty awesome.
K: And thank god it was Carole Ann Ford who actually played Susan and not the actress who played Dodo.
P: Hey, she said “fab” and the Doctor corrected her English.
H: We've never had a companion who was “hip” before.
P: Are they trying to get more kids to watch the show?
H: It was intended to be a family show and appeal towards the entire family.
Sp: Hence the elephants.
H: And yes, and elephants who might be tuning in as well.
Sp: “Hello, Roger.”
R:
H: Final thoughts?
SG: I definitely liked it. I agree with Spoo, that I prefer the stories that are more sci-fi than Historical. The historicals are well done, but I don't enjoy them as much. I watch Who for sci-fi. And I secretly think those Monoid dudes are evil, and I want to see where it goes.
Sp: From attacked by the common cold, to arc in space, they packed a lot into the episode. They didn't belabor the point of “are we in a zoo or what?” that contributed to a good pace.
H: Not like the Space Museum.
Sp: Yes.
P: One, no music.
H: I think some of those weird sounds we heard were intended to be incidental music.
Sp: You're right, no real music.
P: Two, they're failing as a Utopian society. Everyone who's bad gets shrunk and gets to wake up on the planet.
Sp: Miniaturize our criminals, and then when we get to Australia.
R: Your punishment is forty acres and a mule!
P: Three, total Doctor gaffe early in the show.
Sp: There were a couple of Billy Fluffs.
P: Steven filled in for him on that one.
H: There was one where the Doctor corrected himself, but yes.
P: Four... apparently only one vehicle on the ship.
SG: The most annoying alarm ever.
P: Oh my god, I almost wanted to stop the DVD.
Sp: Maybe they could miniaturize the alarm to be more amusing?
P: Five, I guess they miniaturized the food? Because only the carnivores aren't going to starve to death.
H: That's a good point. Although the elephant appeared to be eating something.
SG: Why wouldn't they miniaturize the elephant?
Sp: They need enough plants and animals to feed everyone and teach the next generation about the animals and plants. It's food and a zoo. It's awesome!
R: It's zood!
Sp: “Let's go to the owl exhibit.” “That owl show was great! What's for dinner?” “Owl.”
P: If we look at this as not the scientific eye, it was a good show. Also, Dodo not so “smarto.”
H: I can understand having a nickname if your name is Dorothea, but using Dodo?
Cz: Let's call her D-Dizzle from now on.
K: Oh yeah, because it's SO MUCH easier to type that then Dodo. No.
P: I think there was a lot that wasn't covered on this episode, but there you go.
Sp: It's a four episode story. There's room for more.
P: But to me, it's so obvious that you're making a planet of criminals.
H: But the criminals are the minority of the shrunk people.
P: But, even if it's every once in a while they're shrinking someone, they're slowly filling up the shrunk people with the bad people.
H: But they shrank the entire population of earth before they left, so most of the people stored are from the original population.
P: Sometimes you're good, sometimes you're bad. Think of a sine wave, where you stop every one of those when you're bad. Take someone out... oh he's bad now, put him back in the pool. They take people out, and only put the bad ones back.
H: I think the Guardians are born, not taken out of storage.
SG: But he's being punished for not repairing a machine. Is that really bad?
H: He forgot to clean a chicken soup dispenser, so everyone might die.
SG: And he was shrunk for that. Maybe they are having to bring people out every so often. If a minimal crime gets you shrunk, they wouldn't be able to have kids fast enough to replace them. So they probably have to replace the population with shrunk people a lot.
Sp: All of these are very good points. And they all assume that the characters are telling the truth.
R: Rashamon-oid. Let's see, I agree with a lot of what was said earlier. Although we were not attacked by the soundtrack, I guess it got killed off in the last episode, but it's cousin, the CLOSE UP, would jump out at people. And someone just standing there would get zoomed in. “I'm just standing here!” Also, I'm not sure if I heard this, but during the “everybody hide in the caves so Steven can spoon with Dodo” bit, was I mistaken in thinking I heard the sound of apparently the Monoids going by saying “muh muh muh?”
H: Yeah, I heard that. They didn't make any other noise in the episode, their was a sound there.
SG: I think there's a mouth hiding under all the hair.
H: They're Beatles hair-cuts.
K: I was disturbed by the zipper in the Monoid suit the first time we see one.
SG: Yes! I think they could have done a better job. They must have spent all of their time trying to get the eye in the mouth thing to look right.
K: I've seen this one, and I remember it, so I can't say much.
H: Just think about this episode specifically.
K: I like the foreshadowing about the thing I can't say. Subtler than I remember. And the stationary crowd bugged me. Why are they just standing there all day?
Sp: Maybe they were thinking about the Monoids.... If a Monoid needs to get corrective lenses, does he need to go to an optometrist or a dentist. I'd stand around thinking about that all day. Ever see a monocle with a chin strap?
R: “There's an emergency happening, and I don't have my Xanax. Arrest them!”
Sp: Shouty guy (Zentos) seemed to be a little crazy and hyper.
R: The old guy (the Commander) had all the Xanax that the shouty guy should have had. And I think this was the “B-Ark.”
H: With all the telephone sanitizers and account executives?
K: Douglas Adams doesn't write for Doctor Who for a while yet, but maybe this is where he got one of his ideas?
H: As I said earlier, I think this is one of the first Hartnell stories I ever saw. I have good memories of it, but I haven't seen it for many years. I think it's interesting how much my mind cuts to the chase and how I didn't remember how leisurely the pace of the setup of this episode was.
K: I agree.
H: But it works well. This episode isn't about building tension, but about building interest. The science fiction concepts themselves are fun and interesting.
R: Like a lot of the classic Trek episodes.
H: Mainly what I have to say is that the episode is not exactly like I remembered it, but I was really quite pleased with how it went.
---
Whew! And there you have the first post in this new story! I promise to try to have the next episode's post up by next week at this time. Really! (And it all works out, because we'd planned on taking this Friday off anyway...so perhaps I'll catch up.) Once again, my apologies for how sporadic the posting's been; I'll try to make sure this doesn't happen too often! So, until next week (give or take a day), I remain
THE HISTORIAN
NEXT WEEK: "THE PLAGUE"
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