Doctor Who: The Aztecs
(4 episodes, s01e25-e28, 1964)

How delightful! This serial was great, with our heroes having to transition from being reactive to being proactive within the span of four episodes and unpredictable rapid-fire twists and turns. The TARDIS crew shows up, accidentally gets separated from the ship, and gets mistaken for a god and her assistants. As the main villain, Tlotoxl, the High Priest of Sacrifice, keeps throwing every twist and turn he can at the time-travellers in order to usurp the power mistakenly given to them by the other Aztecs.

The beauty of the serial is how the group is forced to shift from dodging Tlotoxl’s efforts to countering his machinations before he even makes a move. The smaller moments (the Doctor gets betrothed, Susan refuses to get married, and Ian fights warriors and discovers the path back to the ship) only add to the delicious point-counterpoint between Barbara and Tlotoxl.

Most importantly, this serial really starts to emphasize the points that I’m familiar with in the Doctor Who mythos. No matter what happens, the timeline must remain intact and certain fixed parts of history cannot be changed. The sacrifices must continue despite Barbara and Susan’s protests, and, amazingly enough, the story ends with a win-win for both the heroes and the villain.

This serial was an elegant dance. I had seen it once before, but within the context of the show, this time I actually experienced it.

 

Rating: 5/5 – “Fantastic!”

 

UP NEXT – Doctor Who: The Sensorites

 

 

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.

Doctor Who: The Keys of Marinus
(6 episodes, s01e21-e24, 1964)

This is a great serial that is a effectively a series of short stories linked by a common thread. The companions carry the story quite effectively for two episodes while William Hartnell took a much needed vacation. Hartnell’s energy after his return made what was a simplified courtroom/detective procedural sing where it could have otherwise fallen flat. I had some problems with the detective story, but there’s also not a lot of wiggle room for the writers in a somewhat slow-paced 20 minute presentation. These companions are smart, which is something I’m enjoying as this team comes together. The resolution of the arc once the group acquires all the keys was also quite brilliant.

I also give a tip of the hat to the production team for saving money on the TARDIS materialization/dematerialization by using a model. It may not look like much in today’s era, but it was quite well done for what they had available. I almost want a model TARDIS like that one.

 

Rating: 4/5 – “Would you care for a jelly baby?”

 

UP NEXT – Doctor Who: The Aztecs

 

 

 

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.

Doctor Who: Marco Polo
(7 episodes, s01e14-e20, 1964)

I watched the Loose Cannon reconstruct for this serial since all of the episodes are currently lost. It is a great story that ran a little long, but did have a decent ending. I particularly loved how the companions drove the story, even though it forced the Doctor into a much smaller role. It was also quite nice to remove the TARDIS from the characters so they couldn’t just jump in and fly away, although the ship does seem to be malfunctioning quite often. In An Unearthly Child, Susan points out that the chameleon circuit isn’t working. In The Daleks, we find out that the fluid link may possibly be a single point of failure for the ship. In The Edge of Destruction, a broken spring in a single switch causes an overload of the power source, nearly destroying the TARDIS. The fallout from that casualty drops the ship into Marco Polo without power, light, or heat. If I didn’t have the background from the Eccleston, Tennant, and Smith years, I’d be worried about how long the TARDIS can hold out.

Is the Doctor incompetent at operating the ship despite the adventures alluded to before the series began? Is the TARDIS intentionally causing some of these problems? Was it just a simple writing crutch in the beginning of the series?

I give Clara one thing: It does make for a more exciting journey.

 

Rating: 3/5 – “Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow.”

 

UP NEXT – Doctor Who: The Keys of Marinus

 

 

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.

Doctor Who: The Edge of Destruction
(2 episodes, s01e12-e13, 1964)

Aside from developing the mythology behind the TARDIS being a living machine and some nice moments at the end between the Doctor and Barbara, I really didn’t like this serial much. It did emphasize some of the inherent friction amongst the companions and the Doctor, and seems to have healed those rifts to make a more coherent team. The plot, and especially the ending, seemed rushed and almost pulled from thin air.

Rating: 2/5 – “Mm? What’s that, my boy?”

UP NEXT – Doctor Who: Marco Polo

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.

Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child
(4 episodes, s01e01-e04, 1963)

In short: I’m glad the show got better. The best part for me was the first episode, An Unearthly Child. The rest of the serial with the cavemen just didn’t grab me. There were some nice little character moments between the Doctor and Ian over leadership of the group, but the cavemen seemed very one-dimensional and dragged down the pacing. In particular, I enjoyed watching Ian deciding who should do what, but assuring the Doctor that he was still the leader.

My dislike of this serial is tempered by the leniency I offer to both pilot episodes and Doctor Who regeneration episodes. Pilots are always pretty tough, and regenerations episodes are even more tough because it’s the same show with a different face.

 

Rating: 3/5 – “Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow.”

 

UP NEXT – Doctor Who: The Daleks

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.