I
absolutely love this serial for the concept; it’s a terrific, eerie idea and a
great scenario to drop our heroes into.
However, I feel like the story as a whole doesn’t really live up to its
premise. I still enjoy it, but it
definitely could have been better (some basic spoilers.)
The First
Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Vicki are in for a shock when they arrive at what’s
evidently an interplanetary tourist trap – the titular “space museum” – and
find themselves as exhibits. By which, I
don’t mean they’re captured and made exhibits.
I mean they see themselves frozen and on display in glass cases. The Doctor realizes the truth: they’ve jumped a time track and have been
given a brief glimpse into the future.
All too soon, time rights itself, and team TARDIS desperately tries to
alter the course of events that will lead them to that fate. The only problem? They don’t even know what that course is.
Is this
officially the first timey-wimey serial on Doctor
Who? I love the whole conceit of
it: the Doctor and co. seeing themselves
in the cases is a classic nightmare scenario, and attempting to alter the
future is a neat challenge for them to face.
It makes them doubt their every move, never sure if their choices are
bringing them closer to or further away from being captured and put on
display. The first episode, which takes
place in the jumped time track, is pretty cool, too – I like the way they’re
not properly “there” until time gets back on course.
Unfortunately,
despite the excellent set-up, nothing too special is ultimately done with
it. Mostly, it results in them having
the same conversation – feeling hopeless because they can’t tell if they’re
making the right or wrong choice – over and over again. Maybe it’s actually a trap of the concept,
because I’m not even entirely sure what I would’ve rather seen them do to get out of their predicament. I just know the creativity of the first
episode definitely outmatches that of the following three. Perhaps they could’ve tried some specific
plan, like attempting to go against their instincts no matter how sure they
feel?
But if
the story doesn’t quite deliver, the character work here is pretty good. I get a kick out of Ian pulling a Theseus
with Barbara’s cardigan (once he gets her to help him start unravelling it,
ha!) to try to navigate the confusing museum halls, and I like how shocked the
others are at Vicki’s unimpressed reaction to seeing her first Dalek (in an exhibit.)
Far and
away, the serial MVPs are the Doctor and Vicki.
This story gives us lots of trickster One, probably my favorite trait of
us – his glee at messing with the Moroks’ telepathic interrogation machine is
infectious. It also features a
delightful moment involving the Doctor and the exhibit Dalek in what might be
One’s most adorkable scene ever (the Doctor usually saves that for his various
successors.) And Vicki – for whatever
reason, it’s very easy for me to forget how much I like her, and it takes rewatching
One-era stories to remind me. She’s
awesome here, very take-charge and clever.
I really love her takedown of the computerized lock on the armory that
requires a series of correctly-answered questions before it will open.
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