Doctor Who: The Romans
(4 episodes, s02e12-e15, 1965)
A nice humorous episode balanced with seriousness regarding the Roman slave trade. It was a true tour de force of popular Roman story tropes. The poor TARDIS keeps getting used and abused, this time falling off a cliff and laying in a ditch for a month. I loved Vicki’s energy, and the nice character moments between Ian and Barbara.
I also loved the allegory with The Emperor’s New Clothes.
Rating: 4/5 – “Would you care for a jelly baby?”
UP NEXT – Doctor Who: The Web Planet
The Timestamps Project is an adventure through the televised universe of Doctor Who, story by story, from the beginning of the franchise. For more reviews like this one, please visit the project’s page at Creative Criticality.
Creative Criticality 
Possibly my favorite Hartnell line ever is in this one. It goes something like “I am so used to outwitting my opponents that I sometimes forget the joys of the gentle art of fisticuffs.” The man is enjoying himself so completely in this one. All his scenes where he’s trying to deal with Nero who is obviously insane but who he also has to keep placated are just brilliant. I also really love the bits with Ian and Barbara in the villa. You can really imagine those two as a real couple and the humor is very natural.
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