Doctor Who: Mission to the Unknown
(1 episode, s03e05, 1965)
This is a nice interlude that shows the audience a slice of time and space around the Doctor Who mythos in a completely Doctor-less story. In fact, the Doctor passes by the planet at the end of Galaxy 4, totally unaware that this threat is rising to meet him in short order. This is the kind of interweaving mythology and storytelling that I dig.
This episode is pretty much James Bond meets Doctor Who with the Space Security Service and their license to kill. I really want to see the proposed series that this small entry was supposed to springboard, as it would be fun to see the Service as they hunt Daleks across the universe. Since the Doctor usually has trouble defeating them, I really want to know how a group of humans would tackle the Daleks.
By the end, the Daleks are assembling a coalition of the greatest powers across seven galaxies to defeat Earth. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the twelve-part The Daleks’ Master Plan. The Daleks seem significantly less xenophobic in the early years, but that may just be a ploy in order to destroy everyone all at once.
Rating: 4/5 – “Would you care for a jelly baby?”
UP NEXT – Doctor Who: The Myth Makers
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 
Did you get a chance to look at the animated version I was telling you about?
I found both the animated versions of “Mission to the Unknown” and “The Tenth Planet, Part 4”. The “Mission” one added a much better dimension to the reconstruction, and I’m looking forward to “The Tenth Planet” when I get there in a few serials. Thanks for the tips!
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