Doctor Who: The Enemy of the World
(6 episodes, s05e17-e22, 1967-68)
This was one of the best in the season so far, especially that action-filled pulse-pounding opening sequence.
The TARDIS arrives (in stealth mode, nonetheless – no VROOP!) in a near future dominated by a rising world dictator named Salamander. The twist? The Doctor looks just like him. Despite all the confusion, The Doctor explains that he and his companions don’t know of current world events because they’ve been out of touch for a while… “on ice” if you will. That callback was a nice touch considering the theme of the first three serials in this series.
Since it’s the only way out from between the rock and a hard place, The Doctor agrees to impersonate Salamander. Patrick Troughton, an actor with whom I have no experience outside of Doctor Who, is amazing in this serial. He portrays three distinct characters in this – the Doctor, Salamander, and the fake Salamander – and his acting ability is superb.
Jamie stages an attempt to save Salamander to gain the dictator’s confidence, and as a result gets himself and Victoria hired onto Salamander’s staff. This introduces the crotchety chef, a character that I love, who provides a great humor break in the seriousness of this story.
Benik is deliciously mustache-twirlingly evil and creepy, even though it’s over the top, and the refugees hidden underground are another nice twist. The Doctor also understands the internet: “Strange isn’t it? People spend their time making nice things and other people come along and break them.”
This was an excellent political thriller with a small sci-fi twist, especially since the Doctor refuses to personally act against Salamander without concrete proof that the man is evil. It was a good break from the “defend the base from the invading alien” stories, even with an abrupt ending. Salamander meets a fitting end.
I watched the reconstructed version. It’s now a mission to watch this in the recently recovered full version.
Rating: 5/5 – “Fantastic!”
UP NEXT – Doctor Who: The Web of Fear
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 
This is definitely a nice break in the “base under siege” mentality of season 5. Troughton’s performance is marvelous, which comes through on audio but wait until you see it visually as well. He really sells that these are two people who just happen to look like each other and of course there are the versions of each pretending to be the other. I also like the lack of alien monsters in this one. It harkens back to the historicals even though this isn’t historical. Sometimes the worst monsters are human beings and Salamander is one of the worst monsters that the Doctor ever has to fight.
I also like that the perception of certain characters changes over the course of the story and there’s a gritty realism in some of the storylines that makes it somewhat effective. You feel for Fariah who has been blackmailed into Salamander’s service as a food taster and almost certainly also a sex slave. But then again, anything written by David Whitaker tends to be strong on character and really well written. He’s the only writer that’s been around since season 1 and writes for the series through season 7.
I need to go back and re-watch this one. I too liked the change of pace and Troughton is incredible in the dual role. It’s not so much the accent, but rather the hair and the simple scowl makes him look nothing like the Doctor. It’s a face he will never repeat in the series.
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