Doctor Who: Series 13, Episodes 13-16 – “The Android Invasion” (1975)

An entertaining little yarn. I’m always a fan of doppelganger episodes of shows, and sci-fi series have so many reasonable excuses to use them. In fact, when you think about it, it’s a little surprising how seldomly it comes up on classic Who; new Who does a lot more of this, but considering its 26-year catalog, you’d think the classic series would have way more than it does. A parallel world here, a Zygon duplicate there, and, as here, the odd android replica, and that’s pretty much it!

Sarah Jane is convinced that she and the Fourth Doctor have landed on Earth, but the Doctor isn’t so convinced. As they move through a creepy, nigh-deserted village with unnatural-seeming denizens, these suspicions grow stronger and stronger. Nothing, it turns out, is as it seems, and with baddies capable of building android replicas of whoever they’d like, not even the Doctor or Sarah Jane are always as they seem!

Naturally, there’s some good fun to be had with androids here. There’s the ole “android makes a tiny slip-up that the other person instantly recognizes because they know you so well” routine, the human (or Time Lord) vs. their android grudge match, and of course, the fun of watching the actors play something not-quite their characters. Everyone is suitably creepy playing the implacable androids, but special mention has to be given to Ian Marter. When he’s playing an android (in a situation where the jig is up and he doesn’t have to pretend to be Harry,) he’s absolutely nothing like Harry. I don’t know that I quite appreciated him enough as an actor until I saw him in this serial.

What else is there to report? This is a great story for Doctor-companion interactions. There’s the aforementioned you-know-me-so-well brand of android-spotting, and in the early scenes, they bounce ideas off each other quite nicely. They also get in some top-shelf bickering, my favorite being when Sarah Jane points out the potentially fatal flaw in the Doctor’s strategy and, without a beat, he tsks at the holes in their plan. Ha! Even so, they spend a fair amount of the story apart, giving all the more reason for one or the other to be an android whenever they meet up again.

As far as the plot goes, I’m also interested in the dynamic between Crayford and the Kraals. Their evil scheme, while almost ridiculously detailed, gets a definite A for effort, and I like the particular set-up for how they wind up working with Crayford in the first place.

Doctor Who: Series 12, Episodes 5-8 – “The Ark in Space” (1975)

A post-regeneration episode is obviously our introduction to a new Doctor, but it’s often packed enough with big-picture stuff—the companions dealing with the change, possible regeneration-crisis issues, settling on a new outfit (I kind of love that that’s become such an essential part of any post-regeneration episode)—that it’s not always the best indication of who the new Doctor really is.  Often, a Doctor’s second adventure gives us a better, more settled look at who they are, and that’s definitely a factor in this entertaining space yarn.

The Fourth Doctor brings Sarah Jane and Harry (on his first TARDIS trip) to a seemingly deserted space station far in humanity’s future.  They soon realize that the space station’s inhabitants aren’t dead or missing, but frozen in stasis—they’re on an enormous ark filled with humans waiting to find a new home.  However, while they’ve been sleeping, something else has infiltrated their space station.  The Doctor and co. revive some of the crew to deal with the alien threat.

Pretty decent story.  The Wirrn have a lot of hallmarks reminiscent of other Who aliens, such as hive minds and a penchant for infecting and taking over human bodies, but even though the devices are familiar, they’re depicted well and feel like a palpable threat.  There are some good one-shot characters as well; I especially like medtech Vira and commander Noah.

Harry makes a mixed showing his first time out, which feels appropriate, since he really has no clue what’s he’s in for.  He’s totally bewildered and wrong-footed, and he makes a couple of well-intentioned screw-ups, but he makes up for them by putting his medical training to good use and learning pretty quickly on his feet.

In general, Sarah Jane doesn’t fare quite as well here.  She’s imperiled twice in relatively short succession (although, in her defense, the damseling is directly related to Harry’s bungles in both cases.)  I get that having to be rescued from danger and/or getting captured by the bad guys is a big part of the companion’s job description, but there are times when you have a multi-companion TARDIS crew and it feels like the woman is disproportionately in need of saving, or that there’s a different tenure to the female companion’s endangerment—I’ve gotten this vibe at different times, most prominently with Eleven, Amy, and Rory.  But, just as Harry starts to turn it around, Sarah Jane is used more effectively later in the story.  The scene of her threading the cable through the ventilation shafts is a classic—brave, but scared, too, and I love the Doctor distracting her from her fear by getting her mad.

Like I said, this serial gives us our first settled look at Four, and already, it’s evident why he’s so beloved.  I adore Four—he’s such an interesting mix of kooky, animated, detached, and impatient, drawing you in with that manic grin and then stunning you with those occasional reminders of how alien he really is.  I like that he can get so annoyed at or thrilled with Harry with equal measure, and the aforementioned scene with Sarah Jane is a highlight of the story.  I also really enjoy his interactions with the chief Wirrn, and just the fact that he’s someone who totally gets that this gigantic bug alien is an intelligent creature he can attempt to reason with.

Doctor Who: Series 16, Episodes 1-4 – “The Ribos Operation” (1978)

This serial kicked off the “Key to Time” arc, which, in typical fashion for classic Who arcs, is a series of mostly-unrelated stories very loosely connected by a linking narrative device (as also seen in “The Trial of a Time Lord” and “The Keys of Marinus.”)  The adventure additionally marks the first appearance of Romana, a kickass companion in any incarnation.

The Fourth Doctor is called by the White Guardian, a cosmic force for good in the universe, to collect the six scattered segments of the ultra-powerful Key to Time.  To assist him in this mission, a new companion is assigned to him:  Romana, an inexperienced but highly intelligent Time Lady just out of the Academy.  They, along with K9, follow their search for the first segment to the planet Ribos, where they come across a pair of grifters trying to pull a con on an arrogant young warlord.

I like this story a lot.  The grifters, Garron and Unstoffe, are both really fun, and for whatever reason, I like seeing how familiar swindler tropes are adapted for different sci-fi settings (see also, “Carnival of Monsters.”)  Their interplanetary hustle is entertaining, and I like watching them try to keep their con going amid the caprices of the mercurial Graff.

Additionally, I like sci-fi featuring differing levels of technology and space awareness.  Here, we have a number of off-worlders on a planet whose sensibilities are more medieval, and that leads to some interesting interactions.  I especially love the character of Binro the heretic, a Ribos citizen who is derided for his belief in stars; his meeting with Unstoffe is one of my favorite parts of the story.

Which is saying something for a serial that also features the introduction of Romana and her relationships with the Doctor and K9.  Right away, she’s totally awesome, imperious and frosty but at the same time not as all-knowing as she thinks she is.  While her pride in her nearly boundless book smarts is well-earned, she doesn’t have a fraction of the Doctor’s street smarts, and that can get her into trouble.

It’s a great mix of personalities, Romana’s cool reasoning and Four’s innovative improvisation.  It makes them a terrific odd-couple team who work well together as they greatly entertain.  And for a first adventure in a situation wildly outside her experience, Romana does all right for herself.  Yes, she freaks out when she finds herself in close quarters with a monster shortly after leaving the TARDIS, but she rolls well with the other dangers she encounters, learns quickly to be more discerning, and keeps her eyes on the prize—finding the segment—throughout.