Doctor Who: Series 6, Episodes 1-5 – “The Dominators” (1968)

Honestly, I love pretty much the whole of series 6. Two, Jamie, and Zoe are one of my favorite TARDIS teams, and the dynamic between them is always great. Even if this serial is slow-moving at times, I enjoy it a lot.

A relaxing holiday never turns out as planned where the TARDIS is concerned, and the Second Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe are dropped into quite the situation on the planet Dulkis. The Dominators have landed there too, on a radioactive island they intend to harness for their own purposes. Given their name, they’re inclined to do this in the most destructive way possible, with no regard for the population of the planet.

This has all the hallmarks of a good Two era serial. Entertaining oneshot characters? Check, particularly in the form of a dodgy tour guide and a university professor who’s brought a couple students to study the decay of the island’s radiation. Creative but laughably cheap baddies that are probably made of cardboard and tin foil? Check, with the worker robots the Dominators call Quarks. Padding out the five-episode story by having various subsets of our heroes take turns getting captured by the bad guys? Check, check, and check! It’s fun, there’s a museum dedicated to “ancient warfare” (i.e. laser weapons) on a now-peaceful planet, and there’s a giant drill burrowing to the planet’s core. What’s not to like?

While I like the overall plot, my favorite part is the interactions between the Doctor and his companions. This is often true when it comes to both classic and new Who—even the most interesting stories and scariest aliens usually comes second to good Doctor/companion stuff. And when you have Two, Jamie, and Zoe, you really can’t go wrong! They’re such a fun, chaotic trio who are endlessly entertaining.

In this story, a lot of that entertainment comes from the revolving door of our heroes getting captured by the Dominators and either escaping or being rescued by the others. I especially like the Dominators testing the Doctor and Jamie to assess their physical and mental abilities (and the Doctor trying to game said testing!) We also have Zoe caught in a grueling forced labor situation with some of the Dulcians, and Jamie getting trapped but moving heaven and earth to make it back to the Doctor and Zoe. Ah, bless them!

Doctor Who: Series 1, Episodes 37-42 – “The Reign of Terror” (1964)

Who has been putting aliens and other sci-fi hijinks into its historical episodes for so long that I think it’d probably feel weird if new Who suddenly threw in an alien-less pure historical, but back at the beginning, it was a staple of the series. The very first serial of the show sent our heroes back to meet a prehistoric tribe, and after spending its first season flitting through the past, the future, and far-flung intergalactic locales, the season ended with this six-parter set during the French Revolution.

For the First Doctor, Susan, Ian, and Barbara, seeing Earth’s history come alive can be exciting and fascinating, but there are times when the past isn’t so inviting When the TARDIS lands in France, deep in the revolution, the Doctor and co. are quickly thrust into a web of intrigue involving a network of conspirators. It’s all they can do to stay alive amid the brutality on the streets.

This serial is nearly intact, with four of the six episodes preserved and the other two given the animated reconstruction treatment on the DVD. It’s a real treat to watch this story—in the early days of the show when the budget was infinitesimal, 18^th- and 19^th-century period pieces often got the best bang for their buck, given that I’m sure the BBC’s frequent costume dramas provided a steady supply of cast-off costumes and sets to reuse. As such, the production is able to match the ambition of story. Whether it’s Ian and Barbara casing a pub as part of a political conspiracy or the Doctor acquiring a particularly resplendent public official getup, everything looks pretty darn good.

And the story on offer is a strong, suspenseful one. Who often plays with the fun of historicals—dressing up in the period clothing, meeting famous figures from the past—but it can be dangerous too, and “The Reign of Terror” obviously leans into that. Team TARDIS spends much of this serial separated into assorted subgroups as they’re arrested, recruited into undercover work, or trying to help their friends out of perilous situations, and it really makes you think about how scary the prospect of being trapped in the past would be. While it can be cool and exciting to visit, it would be really freaky to be separated from your friends, not sure where to find them or how to get back to the TARDIS. Even without the prospect of possibly getting your head cut off in the revolution, it’s an unsettling thought. I think “The Reign of Terror” is fairly unique in the series when it comes to capitalizing on that notion (the closest new Who counterpart would probably be “Rosa”—if it weren’t for the timeline-tampering they have to prevent, that would’ve been a story where they probably would’ve gotten out of there as quickly as they possibly could. Poor Ryan.)

The Doctor himself has the best showing here. It’s in series 2 where we see more of One’s trickster qualities coming out—he and Vicki are so much fun together!—but this story gives us a little of that mischievous glint, and I love how he schemes to ensure his companions’ safety. Susan spends a bit too much time being damseled, but Ian and Barbara both have some good stuff to contribute. And speaking of Ian and Barbara, it’s interesting to contrast this story with “The Aztecs.” Whereas previously, Barbara argued with the Doctor over the notion of changing history, they have a more Zen idea of it here, realizing that what’s going to happen will happen regardless of what they do (even if they’d prefer not to get caught up in it themselves!)

Doctor Who: Series 4, Episodes 9-14 – “The Power of the Daleks” (1966)

For whatever reason, it seems like post-regeneration stories are often just okay. I suppose it’s at least something to do with the attention poured into introducing and establishing the new Doctor—with that as the major focus, the plot can be something of an afterthought (especially if new companions are being introduced as well.) I often look back on these episodes favorably, but it’s almost invariably because of the new-Doctor stuff rather than any particular narrative ingenuity. But this serial? The first post-regeneration story ever? This is one that fires on all cylinders.

The First Doctor has just regenerated into his second iteration, and Ben and Polly don’t know what to think or believe. Can they trust this apparent stranger who’s suddenly in the TARDIS, one who looks and acts so different from “their” Doctor? It’s a decision they have to wrestle with on the go, because it’s not the only issue they have to deal with. There’s also the small matter of landing on a sulfurous colony planet, discovering a dead body, the Doctor being mistaken for an examiner from Earth, and a colony scientist who’s made a very deadly discovery. On the latter front, the new Doctor comes face-to-face once more with an old enemy (come on, you’ve seen the title of this post—you know it’s the Daleks.)

Since One-to-Two was the show’s very first regeneration, there was more pressure on the show to get it right than probably any other time in Who history (although debuting Nine to kickstart new Who and the Twelve-to-Thirteen regeneration also carried especially big stakes.) No doubt everyone involved knew that, if they didn’t pull this off, the wild ride of the last three+ seasons was going to be over, and so they went for broke. A solid chunk of the first episode is spent with Ben and Polly—and Two, honestly—grappling with the ramifications of the regeneration, and it’s a recurring subject that they keep coming back to over the course of the story. Ben and Polly serve as our audience stand-ins, just as confused and unsure about this new guy as the kids at home in 1966 no doubt were.

However, we then have the Second Doctor, who I think would be pretty difficult not to love. Even though the episodes themselves are lost and we only have audio tracks synced to animated recreations of the episodes, Two makes the force of his impish personality known quickly. I love the little details of him testing out his new body, he’s just as savvy as he ever was even though his new incarnation is prone to strategically play the fool, and he creates his own pre-screwdriver “sonic.”

Putting him up against the Daleks for his first story is a strong tactical move, one that pays off well. This is an excellent Dalek story, with a lot of creepy atmosphere, good twists and turns, and an important, messy human element that kicks the whole thing up a notch. The plot is filled with great notes of interest, and this story gave us the unnerving image of a Dalek “obediently” serving tea decades before “Victory of the Daleks” did it.

As for Ben and Polly, despite both of them disappearing for an episode (the only way actors got any vacation time during the fast pace of early Who’s shooting schedule,) they’re still used well. Having two of them allows us a chance to see two different perspectives on the regeneration, which brings some nice balance to the story, and whatever reservations they have, they still pull their weight when it counts. They investigate, they sneak around, they get captured, they escape—you know, classic companion moves.