Whovember Part 5: 1971 to 1973

Today in Whovember, it's still the Pertwee years, with two memorable stories; one that featured monsters that have stuck in public imagination for many years, and one that became the template for how the show would handle anniversaries...

Year 9: 1971 to 1972 - The Sea Devils

This is a special one as it’s one of the first Doctor Who VHSs I ever bought, with that gorgeous VHS cover by Colin Howard you see about drawing me in.  (The biggest mistake the VHS range made was switching to photoshopped covers instead of nice handpainted ones.  It’s the main reason I go with many of the steelbook blu ray releases these days.)  It was a fine choice, as it’s a real highlight of the era.  For a start, this is probably the most fun of the clashes between the Third Doctor and the Master; we start with the Doctor checking in on him in prison, which has some moments to help highlight the relationship between the two, suggesting a longer friendship before they became enemies.  Then as the Doctor is investigating vanishing ships, we follow the Master on his own adventure, as he tries to turn the situation to his advantage.  Things just build from there, with swordfights between the two, struggles to convince the titular monsters, a hovercraft chase (something that Petwee loved, and Delgado was apparently terrified by) and a final cheeky escape.  It even has the classic moment where the Master watches The Clangers; I love little moments like that, showing them just enjoying things in between the villainy; it helps them feel more rounded out as a character.

As for the titular creatures, these guys are the aquatic cousins of the Silurians; it’s kind of interesting how they seem to be more well remembered than the earlier monsters, despite having less screentime and less characterisation overall.  I suspect that it’s down to a very interesting design executed well, memorable moments like their emergence from the sea, and some pretty good action scenes featuring them.  Plus there is a sense of a wider culture with them, the way that the Doctor is almost successful in talking them down, getting them to reject The Master… until the Navy under orders from Walker manage to screw everything up.    Even their weird string vest get up in there works well in context, this is still perhaps my favourite look for them; it at least looks like something they can swim in practically.  It says a lot about the original design that with last year’s Legend of the Sea Devils (which is a flawed but fun episode, the main problem being some very dodgy editing), they didn’t update the look that much, just gave them some more pirate inspired clothes, the masks were just the same as the 70s, just with a few CGI touch ups. (I’m being positive, so I’ll just skip over Warriors of the Deep.. there really should have been another way.)

There is so much to praise about this story; it’s far from the deepest, most thoughtful, or insightful story of the era, but it’s balanced out by being the best made of the time.  I guess getting actual support from the Royal Navy helps in that regard, it makes the final battle here one of the era’s better action spectacles (and in these “Action by HAVOC” years, that’s saying something).  It’s actually a bit of an oddity in that era, as this is one of the few stories during the Doctor’s exile to Earth, set on Earth, where UNIT and the Brigadier don’t show up, just having the Doctor and Jo, but that does make it that much more memorable.  On the note of the Exile, for my next choice, it’s the story that officially ended that status quo…

Year 10: 1972 to 1973 - The Three Doctors

Now I have a bit of a tough choice from this one, as it encompasses Season 10, and all of the stories are important to me in some way; Carnival of Monsters is just a tonne of fun, Robert Holmes at his satirical best, and with some great supporting characters.  Frontier in Space was one of the first Doctor Who VHSs I ever got given as a birthday present, and it’s one I find a bit bittersweet watching knowing it was Roger Delgado’s final story as the Master.  Planet of the Daleks was featured in the 30th anniversary repeat, it’s one that I still revisit a lot, despite it’s somewhat… recycled nature.  And the Green Death is a story that I often use to smack down the “When did Doctor Who go woke?” idiots, as well as being a fine leaving story for Jo Grant. (I have on one of the shelves next to me a DVD signed by Katy Manning).  But after a lot of thought, I decided to choose this one (If only to not make almost every other choice a Robert Holmes story for starters), if only to also act as a jumping off point for talking about some other notable names.

Let’s discuss that last point first; this one was written by Bob Baker & Dave Martin, the “Bristol Boys”, a pair who contributed a lot to the show over the 70s.  They were responsible for some highly imaginative and bold tales, really pushing what Who was capable of.  For example, there’s The Claws of Axos, telling a great tale of human greed being used to undo humanity, with one of the most truly alien creations of the era.  The Mutants is a powerful anti-colonialist tale, one that manages these concepts far better than the previous season’s Colony in Space.  They were later responsible for the creation of one of the most memorable of companions, K9, in a story that even works in a great Fantastic Voyage tribute too.  I will also say some good words for Bob Baker’s final solo story Nightmare of Eden, which manages to tell a pretty good anti-drugs story, without it going into the territory of “And now, on a Very Special Episode of Doctor Who…”.  Bob Baker actually has a whole lot more British culture cache to him, as he later on co-wrote Wallace & Gromit.  So yeah, a pair I wanted to give a nice shout out to whilst I’m here.

As for the story itself, it’s the one that set the standard for multi-Doctor stories, and for me it’s the best of the three that the classic series did.  Now admittedly this is more the Two and a bit Doctors, as Hartnell’s health meant he could only do an odd sort of cameo, but in a way it helps keeps things focused; if he was actively in the story more, it might have meant a less focused story overall.  Pat being back is great fun, especially since with Benton and the Brigadier he has established characters from his own era to bounce off.  It’s also a notable story for fleshing out the Time Lords a bit more; Omega is a threat that really feels big enough to warrant the Doctors crossing their timelines like this to face.  His whole situation, being able to conjure a world of will power is fascinating, and it leads to a horrific reveal that in the end, that will power is the only true part of him left.  He really is one of the more tragic villains of the era, something that Who didn’t really do that often, come to think about it, I’m really looking forward later this month to the new Big Finish audio featuring him (and the Gel Guards, I have a lot of fondness for the Gel Guards.)  So, for having a fascinating villain, showing how to do a mash-up for lead characters, and building up Time Lord lore, it’s a great story, and I think the right call to be given the recent Tales from the TARDIS treatment on iPlayer.

One final note; for another great use of Omega, check out the Big Finish audio simply called Omega; it does a good job of expanding on what we saw of him in the series, including fitting in a certain development from the McCoy era, and it has some clever reveals that can only be done in audio.  It almost makes Arc of Infinity worthwhile… almost.  Oh, and bonus points for having Hugo Myatt from Knightmare in it.

Next time, it’s a bundle of famous first all in one serial, and perhaps the story that has been repeated the most on TV over the years, for good reason…