Year: 1965

Categories
Classic Season 02 Doctor Who

The Rescue

Doctor WhoThe TARDIS comes to rest on the planet Dido, where its arrival is detected by the sensors of a crashed ship from Earth. The shipwreck’s only two survivors, a girl named Vicki and a man named Bennett, disagree on whether or not rescue is coming or is even possible. Vicki insists that the sensor reading should be investigated, but Bennett insists that any exploration won’t be looked kindly upon by a spiny creature called Koquillion, who has already killed the rest of the surviving crew. After attacking Ian and Barbara the moment they emerge from the TARDIS, Koquillion does indeed put in an appearance at the crashed ship, unaware that Vicki has rescued Barbara and nursed her back to health. As soon as Koquillion leaves, Vicki reveals Barbara to Bennett and seems puzzled by his reaction – he seems displeased that they will have another set of hands and eyes to use in their struggle against Koquillion. The Doctor, who has taken to an uncharacteristic bout of sulking in the wake of Susan’s departure, is energized by the mystery and goes with Ian to search for Barbara, braving Dido’s treacherous landscape and local life forms until they reach the crashed ship. The Doctor demands to speak to Bennett, but finds him curiously absent – od, since Bennett has been described as nearly bedridden. The Doctor discovers and explores a trap door, concealing evidence of the horrible truth: Bennett and Koquillion share a link that nobody expected, and Vicki will be in terrible danger if she doesn’t leave Dido with the TARDIS.

written by David Whitaker
directed by Christopher Barry
music by Tristram Cary

Guest Cast: Ray Barrett (Bennett/Koquillion), Tom Sheridan (Space Captain)

Broadcast from January 2 through 9, 1965

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 02 Doctor Who

The Romans

Doctor WhoVicki, thus far unimpressed with the promise of adventure aboard the TARDIS, gets more than she bargained for when the time machine touches down on a steep ledge and takes a tumble with its time travelers inside. When they come to, they find themselves in Roman Empire at its height, and take advantage of the hospitality and indolence offered to them – for weeks. The Doctor and Vicki go to explore Rome itself, but in their absence, Ian and Barbara are captured and sold as slaves. Ian manages to escape, but he is recaptured and dragged back to the dungeon, where he learns that Barbara has been sold while he was gone. The Doctor and Vicki happen upon the body of a murdered man, but before they can do more than pick up the victim’s lyre, a centurion appears and assumes that the Doctor is a musician en route to Rome. When the Doctor and Vicki arrive, they find that the Doctor has assumed the identity of a court musician whose personal patron is the Emperor Nero – who, unbeknownst to them, has bought Barbara as his newest slave. And unknown to any of the others, Ian awaits his fate as a gladiator…

written by Dennis Spooner
directed by Christopher Barry
music by Raymond Jones

Guest Cast: Derek Sydney (Sevcheria), Nicholas Evans (Didius), Dennis Edwards (Centurion), Margot Thomas (Stall-holder), Edward Kelsey (Slavebuyer), Bart Allison (Maximus Petullian), Barry Jackson (Ascaris), Peter Diamond (Delos), Michael Peake (Tavius), Dorothy-Rose Gribble (Woman slave), Gertan Klauber (Galley Master), Ernest Jennings, John Caesar (Men in market), Tony Lambden (Messenger), Derek Francis (Nero), Brian Proudfoot (Tigilinus), Ann Tirard (Locusta), Kay Patrick (Poppaea)

Notes: This early adventure is alluded to very vaguely by the tenth Doctor, who asserts – in The Fires Of Pompeii (2008) – that he had nothing to do with Rome burning, and then backpedals a little bit from that statement.

Broadcast from January 16 through February 6, 1965

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 02 Doctor Who

The Web Planet

Doctor WhoAfter the TARDIS leaves Rome behind, it’s dragged off course to the planet Vortis, where some force keeps the time machine trapped. The Doctor’s attempts to take off again are futile, and he and Ian leave the TARDIS as Vicki recovers from hearing a strange noise that had an unusual effect on her. Aboard the TARDIS, Babara also experiences something odd, as though she’s being drawn out of the time machine and onto the planet’s surface. There, she encounters the butterfly-like Menoptera, who are desperately planning the last battle of a war against the ant-like Zarbi, who have the advantage in their sheer numbers. Controlled by a malevolent consciousness called the Animus, the Zarbi move the TARDIS from its landing site, capture the Doctor, Ian and Vicki, and make a deal with the Doctor: his friends’ lives will only be spared if he helps to defeat the Menoptera.

written by Bill Strutton
directed by Richard Martin / insect movement by Roslyn de Winter
music from stock music library

Guest Cast: Robert Jewell, Jack Pitt, Gerald Taylor, Hugh Lund, John Scott Martin, Kevin Manser (Zarbi), Roslyn de Winter (Vrestin), Arne Gordon (Hrostar), Arthur Blake (Hrhoonda), Jolyon Booth (Prapilius), Jocelyn Birdsall (Hlynia), Martin Jarvis (Captain Hilio), Ian Thompson (Hetra), Barbara Joss (Nemini), Catherine Fleming (voice of the Animus)

Broadcast from February 13 through March 20, 1965

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 02 Doctor Who

The Crusade

Doctor WhoThe TARDIS brings the Doctor and his friends to 12th century Palestine – the time of King Richard’s Crusade into the Muslim holy lands. Barbara is abducted by the Saracens and is held prisoner. The Doctor, Vicki and Ian fend off a Saracen attack are found by King Richard the Lionhearted and his men. Ian is infuriated when his request for help in rescuing Barbara is met with King Richard’s refusal, but the Doctor smoothes things over with the King and wind up becoming a member of the royal court, while Ian is knighted and sent on his way to save Barbara and the King’s brother – and to offer the hand of the King’s sister, Joanna, to Saladin in the hopes that their marriage would end the ongoing conflict. The Doctor and Vicki – the latter masquerading as a boy – try to keep their necks out of the court intrigue as they discover that King Richard has told his sister nothing of his plan for peace. In Saladin’s court, Barbara finds an ally who has his pledged vengeance upon the Emir…but this new ally leaves it to Barbara to carry out his murderous revenge for him.

written by David Whitaker
directed by Douglas Camfield
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: John Flint (William des Preaux), Walter Randall (El Akir), Julian Glover (Richard the Lionheart), David Anderson (Reynier de Marun), Bruce Wightman (William de Tornebu), Reg Pritchard (Ben Daheer), Tony Caunter (Thatcher), Roger Avon (Saphadin), Bernard Kay (Saladin), Derek Ware, Valentino Musetti, Anthony Colby (Saracen Warriors), Jean Marsh (Joanna), Robert Lankesheer (Chamberlain), Zohra Segal (Sheyrah), Gabor Baraker (Luigi Ferrigo), Chris Konyils, Raymond Novak (Saracen Guards), George Little (Haroun), Pera Markham (Safiya), John Bay (Earl of Leicester), Sandra Hampton (Maimuna), Viviane Sorrel (Fatima), Diane McKenzie (Hafsa), Tutte Lemkow (Ibrahim), Billy Cornelius (Soldier)

Notes: Guest star Jean Marsh would return in the following season, in the role of one-time TARDIS traveler Sara Kingdom in The Daleks’ Masterplan, and again as Morgaine in 1989’s Battlefield. Julian Glover would also appear in Doctor Who again, in the classic 1979 Tom Baker story City Of Death.

Broadcast from March 27 through April 17, 1965

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 02 Doctor Who

The Space Museum

Doctor WhoThe Doctor, Vicki, Ian and Barbara experience a number of completely inexplicable phenomena. Their clothes are suddenly different, and broken glasses instantly leap back into one piece. The TARDIS has arrived on a bleak planet whose only sign of civilization is a museum of space vehicles and hardware – and, as they discover to their horror, travelers. At first, no one else in the museum can see, hear or touch the Doctor or his friends, and they soon find out why – they’re already exhibits in the museum, a fate they must now try to avoid.

written by Glyn Jones
directed by Mervyn Pinfield
music not credited

Guest Star: Peter Sanders (Sita), Peter Craze (Dako), Richard Shaw (Lobos), Jeremy Bulloch (Tor), Salvin Stewart (Messenger), Peter Diamond (Technician), Ivor Salter (Commander), Billy Cornelius (Guard), Murphy Grumbar (Dalek), Peter Hawkins (Dalek voice)

Broadcast from April 24 through May 15, 1965

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Undermind

Instance One

PrimevalDrew Heriot returns from a trip outside of England to discover his older brother, a police inspector, embroiled in a scandal after arresting a cabinet minister over minor charges. Despite being urged by his superiors to drop the matter, Frank Heriot instead pushes the charge through to a conviction, resulting in a three-pound fine and a very public end to the cabinet minister’s political career – followed shortly thereafter by his apparent suicide. Frank is unapologetic for his actions. Frank’s wife, Anne, tells Drew that Frank’s behavior has changed radically; he shows almost no emotion and has grown distant and cold. Drew enlists the help of his psychologist co-worker to try to find out what’s happened to Frank, and in the process discovers disturbing things about Frank’s mental state and even the electrical workings of his brain: Frank is not guiding his own actions. When Frank is assassinated, Drew and Anne decide to join forces to discover who was controlling Frank’s actions – and to find out who else they’re controlling.

written by Robert Banks Stewart
directed by Bill Bain
music by Paul Lewis

UndermindCast: Jeremy Wilkin (Drew Heriot), Rosemary Nichols (Anne Heriot), Jeremy Kemp (Frank Heriot), Frank Mills (Inspector), Hugh Latimer (Paget), Tony Steedman (Hugh Bishop), Moya O’Sullivan (Edith Bishop), Paul Maxwell (Dr. Polson), Ernest Hare (Landlord), John Edmunds (Newscaster), Jill Cary (Secretary), Georgine Anderson (Receptionist), Peter Willson Holmes (Executive), Helen Ford (Clerk), David Swift (Macridos)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 02 Doctor Who

The Chase

Doctor WhoIn this mostly comedic six-parter, the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki are vacationing on the desert world of Aridius when they find themselves on the run from the Daleks, who have invented their own time vehicle. After a number of brief stops, ranging from the Empire State Building to the Marie Celeste to a haunted house full of robots, the Doctor is forced to make his last stand against the Daleks – at least for this season of the series – on the planet Mechanus, where he loses two companions and gains a new one.

written by Terry Nation
directed by Richard Martin
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Robert Marsden (Abraham Lincoln), Hugh Walters (William Shakespeare), Roger Hammond (Roger Bacon), Vivienne Bennett (Queen Elizabeth I), Richard Coe (TV announcer), The Beatles (themselves), Jack Pitt (Mire Beast), Gerald Taylor, Kevin Manser, Robert Jewell, John Scott Martin (Daleks), Peter Hawkins, David Graham (Dalek voices), Ian Thompson (Malsan), Hywel Bennett (Rynian), Al Raymond (Prondyn), Arne Gordon (Guide), Peter Purves (Morton Dill), Dennis Chinnery (Albert Richardson), David Blake Kelly (Captain Briggs), Patrick Carter (Bosun), Douglas Ditta (Willoughby), Jack Pitt (Stewart), John Maxim (Frankenstein’s Monster), Malcolm Rogers (Dracula), Roslyn de Winter (Grey Lady), Edmund Warwick (Robot Doctor), Murphy Grumbar, Jack Pitt, John Scott Martin, Ken Tyllson (Mechanoids), David Graham (Mechanoid voices), Derek Ware (Bus Conductor)

Note: Peter Purves plays the part of Morton Dill in an early episode of this serial, but then later joins the regular cast in the role of stranded astronaut Steven Taylor.

Broadcast from May 22 through June 26, 1965

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 02 Doctor Who

The Time Meddler

Doctor WhoThe Doctor seems to calmly accept that Earth space pilot Steven Taylor, stranded on the planet Mechanus, has stowed away aboard the TARDIS following their harrowing adventure with the Daleks. The TARDIS arrives on 11th century Earth, and despite all evidence to the contrary, Steven refuses to believe that he is now traveling in a time machine. The Doctor receives a warm welcome from the locals and quickly determines that he has arrived in 1066 A.D., just prior to a Viking invasion of Northumbria. But something is amiss – the chanting of the monks in a nearby monastery seems to slow down, as if it has been recorded. Steven and Vicki have a run-in with another local, finding a 20th century watch on his wrist. It soon becomes apparent that someone else capable of time travel is here, someone who has no ethical qualms with a little bit of historical tampering. The Doctor sneaks into the monastery and finds that a tape player is indeed responsible for the music…but he is then trapped, a prisoner of a lone Monk who seems to have a wide array of anachronistic technology, including his own TARDIS. Now, in the shadow of a great historic battle, the Doctor and his friends must try to wrest the timeline back from the Monk’s machinations.

written by Dennis Spooner
directed by Douglas Camfield
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Peter Butterworth (Monk), Alethea Charlton (Edith), Peter Russell (Eldred), Michael Miller (Wulnoth), Michael Guest (Hunter), Norman Hartley (Ulf), Geoffrey Cheshire (Viking Leader), David Anderson (Sven), Ronald Rich (Gunnar)

Broadcast from July 3 through 24, 1965

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 03 Doctor Who

Galaxy Four

Doctor WhoThe Doctor, Steven and Vicki, exploring the latest destination to which the TARDIS has brought them, encounter a primitive robot which Vicki nicknames a Chumblie. While it seems harmless enough, it soon indicates that it wishes the time travelers to follow it – and makes its wishes even more clear by demonstrating its ability to vaporize a nearby bush. Two statuesque, armed women ambush the Chumblie, and then take the Doctor and his friends prisoner for themselves. The TARDIS travelers are brought before Maaga, the self-proclaimed leader of the Drahvins. Maaga tells the Doctor that the Chumblies are the robotic servants of the vicious Rills, another alien expedition visiting this planet. Ever since the Rills revealed that the planet is just fourteen dawns away from destroying itself, the Rills and the Drahvins have been at war. The Rills’ ship is the only vehicle capable of leaving the planet in time, and the Drahvins intend to take it for themselves – with the Doctor’s help, which they secure by holding Vicki hostage. When the Doctor visits the TARDIS to see how much time this planet has left, however, he discovers that the Rills and Drahvins have less time than they thought to settle their differences.

Season 3 Regular Cast: William Hartnell (The Doctor), Maureen O’Brien (Vicki), Peter Purves (Steven), Jackie Lane (Dodo Chaplet)

written by William Emms
directed by Derek Martinus
music not credited

Cast: William Hartnell (The Doctor), Maureen O’Brien (Vicki), Peter Purves (Steven), Stephanie Bidmead (Maaga), Marina Martin, Susanna Carroll, Lyn Ashley (Drahvins), Jimmy Kaye, Angelo Muscat, William Shearer, Pepi Poupee, Tommy Reynolds (Chumblies), Robert Cartland, Anthony Paul (Rill voices), Barry Jackson (Garvey)

Notes: The master tapes of this episode were destroyed by the BBC in the early 1970’s, and no video copies exist.

Broadcast from September 11 through October 2, 1965

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
1954-75: Showa Series Godzilla

Ghidrah, The Three Headed Monster

GodzillaAs a group of scientist and reporters watch the night skies for “flying saucer people,” several meteors come crashing to the ground. One slams into the foot of a mountain. Princess Salina Salno of the Himalayan country of Selgina is fleeing to Japan, under a threat of assassination. She is mesmerized by a bright light and hears a mysterious voice urging her to get off the plane. It explodes moments after she steps off.

A prophetess, claiming to be from Mars, appears to warn people of future trouble. She says Earth is the brink of destruction. Detective Shindou, who was assigned to protect the princess before her plane blew up, is alarmed when he notices the similarities between the Martian prophetess and Salno, and begins to guard her unofficially. Meanwhile, the assassins travel to Japan to determine whether the prophetess is the princess, and kill her if she is.

The prophetess warns visitors at a volcano that Rodan is buried beneath and they should leave immediately. They refuse to listen, and the pterodactyl-like creature breaks free. Later, she predicts that a ship about to set sail will be destroyed. She is taken off the ship by the sister of Detective Shindou, reporter Naoko Shindou. They are followed by the assassins to a hotel. Shortly afterwards, Godzilla destroys the ship.

Naoko leaves the prophetess in the room while she meets her brother in the lobby. The assassins break into the room get her to admit she is the princess. Just then, Shindou and and Naoko return. Shindou exchanges gunfire with the assassins, who escape. They take the princess to see a doctor.

Following Rodan, Godzilla walks ashore, destroying buildings as he continues his way inland. Scientists studying the meteor witness it growing and flashing from within. The rock cracks open and explodes revealing the flying three headed golden space beast, Ghidrah.

While undergoing psychological testing, the princess predicts that Ghidrah will destroy the Earth just as it did Mars thousands of years ago. Godzilla and Rodan are fighting nearby.

At a meeting with the Japanese Diet, the Fairy Twins of Infant Island suggest that Ghidrah could be defeated if Mothra, Godzilla, and Rodan joined forces. The meeting is interrupted when Ghidrah attacks. The monster spews lightning from each of his three mouths, ripping much of the city to shreds. The Twins sing out to the larval Mothra, who begins the trek to Japan.

Under hypnosis, the princess tells Shindou and the Doctor that several Martians escaped Ghidrah’s attack, and the descendents remain on Earth with only the power to foretell the future left from their advanced civilization. With the ongoing battle between Godzilla and Rodan approaching, the assassins break into the hospital. Shindou engages them in a gunfight, and they flee again. The princess and the hospital staff evacuate the building as the fight wages on.

Mothra arrives at the battlefield and debates the other two on whether they should combine forces to fight Ghidrah. The two creatures have had nothing but trouble with mankind, and refuse to help. The killers are careening down the highway to get away from Godzilla and Rodan, when they are caught in a rock slide created by Ghidrah. One assassin manages to escape the crushed vehicle, carrying a rifle.

Mothra fights Ghidrah alone, but is injured by one of the space monster’s lightning blasts. Godzilla, apparently have a change of heart, arrives and grapples with Ghidrah. He, too, is injured. Rodan flies in and taunts Ghidrah, drawing it away while Godzilla and Mothra recover.

With Rodan under assault, Godzilla and Mothra arrive to fight. The princess, who has slipped away from protection, is praying for Ghidrah to be defeated. The lone assassin finds her and shoots at her, causing her to fall onto a ledge. She regains her senses and is once more fully the princess, and no longer the prophetess. Shindou is again forced into a gunbattle with the assassin. He loses his gun, but tries to shield the princess. As the killer takes aim, Ghidrah blasts the top off the cliff, creating a rockslide that takes the assassin with the falling rocks.

Godzilla, Mothra, and Rodan triple-team Ghidrah. Mothra rides Rodan and sprays a cocooning spray on the the space monster, while Godzilla pulls its tail. Godzilla flings Ghidrah away, injuring the beast. Still covered in cocoon spray, Ghidrah gives up the fight and flies away.

Surrounded by a press gaggle, Princess Salno prepares to return home and thanks Shindou for saving her life. Godzilla and Rodan watch as Mothra swims off to return to Infant Island.

screenplay by Shinichi Sekizawa
directed by Inoshiro Honda
music by Akira Ifukube

Human Cast: Yosuke Natsuki (Shindou), Yuriko Hoshi (Naoko Shindou), Hiroshi Koizumi, Takashi Shimura, Emi Ito, Yumi Ito (The Peanuts), Eiko Wakabayashi (Princess Salno)

Monster Cast: Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, Ghidrah (King Ghidorah)

Notes: This is the English language translation released in the U.S. The original Japanese language version is titled Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster, and was released in 1964. In the original Japanese version, the prophetess was from Venus, not Mars. There is a short scene with a reporter talking to the Chief of Police Detectives at the beginning that is deleted from the U.S. version. Other than that, there are a few scenes that have been trimmed in the U.S. version, including the final monster battle which seems slightly shorter.

LogBook entry by Robert Parson

Categories
Lost In Space Season 1

The Reluctant Stowaway

Lost In SpaceOctober 16, 1997: with Earth suffering from extreme depletion of resources, the race is on to colonize planets in nearby star systems, starting with a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri. The Jupiter 2 is prepared for launch, to be crewed by the Robinson family – Dr. John Robinson, Dr. Maureen Robinson, and their children, Judy, Penny, and Will – and the pilot, Major Don West. With the stakes so high, sabotage is almost expected, and indeed a saboteur has snuck aboard the Jupiter 2, one Dr. Zachary Smith, who has programmed the robot to destroy the Jupiter 2 with all hands aboard at eight hours into the mission. But Smith is as inept as he is evil, and is stuck aboard the ship when it lifts off. While trying (and failing) to convincingly explain his presence to the Robinsons when the Jupiter 2 goes off course, Smith now has to undo his own act of sabotage…or become a victim of his own plot.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by S. Bar-David
directed by Tony Leader
music by Johnny Williams

Lost In SpaceCast: Guy Williams (Dr. John Robinson), June Lockhart (Maureen Robinson), Mark Goddard (Don West), Marta Kristen (Judy Robinson), Billy Mumy (Will Robinson), Angela Cartwright (Penny Robinson), Jonathan Harris (Dr. Zachary Smith), Hoke Howell (Security Guard), Tom Allen (Inspector), Fred Crane (Alpha Control Technician), Don Forbes (TV Commentator), Bob May (Robot), Brett Parker (Security Guard), Ford Rainey (President), Hal Torey (General), Dick Tufeld (Robot voice / Narrator), Paul Zastupnevich (Bearded Foreign Correspondent)

Lost In SpaceNotes: None of the guest stars, except for Jonathan Harris (who is credited in every episode of the series as a “special guest star”), are credited on screen. Don’t let “received wisdom” convince you that Lost In Space is a giant ball of interstellar cheese; the show is actually quite forward-looking in some areas, including John Robinson’s use of a multi-directional jet gun during his spacewalk, very much like the one recently used by U.S. astronaut Ed White during the first NASA spacewalk earlier in 1965.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Out Of The Unknown Season 1

No Place Like Earth

Out Of The UnknownEarth was destroyed 15 years ago, after the solar system had been colonized as far as the moons of Jupiter. Bert, one of the last people to leave Earth for Mars, became more or less stranded on Mars, traveling between Martian settlements and repairing things for the locals. When the call goes out for men to colonize Venus, Bert is torn between his peripatetic life on Mars, which affords him both a living and leisure time, and the urge to rebuild a new world in the image of Earth. But it is only when Bert arrives on Venus that he learns that all of human history will play out in the building of this new world – even the worst parts. And if he starts a revolution, he may not be long for this, or any other, world.

adapted by Stanley Miller
from a story by John Wyndham
directed by Peter Potter
music by Norman Kay

Out Of The UnknownCast: Terence Morgan (Bert), Jessica Dunning (Annika), Hannah Gordon (Zaylo), Joseph O’Conor (Freeman), Alan Tilvern (Blane), George Pastell (Major Khan), Jerry Stovin (Captain of Spaceship), Vernon Joyner (Carter), Bill Treacher (Harris), Geoffrey Palmer (Chief Officer), Roy Stewart (Security Guard)

Out Of The UnknownNotes: The works of writer John Wyndham would inspire many future genre productions, including the BBC’s adaptation of Day Of The Triffids and ITV’s Chocky series. Norman Kay also provided the incidental music for the first Doctor Who story, An Unearthly Child, in 1963.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 03 Doctor Who

Mission To The Unknown

Doctor WhoA ship from Earth, piloted by three Space Security Agents, lands on the jungle world of Kembel for a scouting mission. Their recce soon turns into more than they’d bargained for – the local flora is capable of infecting humans and turning them into mindless killers, and one of the Agents is gunned down by his fellow officers in self-defense. Worse yet, they learn that the Daleks are massing a secret strike force on Kembel. The metallic monstrosities are planning to overrun Earth’s entire solar system, subjugate the human race, and from there take over the entire universe. In the end, only Space Security Agent Marc Cory is left alive, and he’s dying, infected by the mind-controlling vegetation of Kembel. He manages to fire off a distress signal to Earth – not a plea for help, since he will be dead by the time help can arrive, but a warning: prepare for an invasion.

Order this story on audio CDwritten by Terry Nation
directed by Derek Martinus
music not credited

Cast: Edward de Souza (Marc Cory), Robert Cartland (Malpha), Jeremy Young (Gordon Lowery), Barry Jackson (Garvey), Ronald Rich (Trantis), Robert Jewell, Kevin Manser, Gerald Taylor, John Scott Martin (Daleks), Peter Hawkins, David Graham (Dalek voices)

Notes: The master tapes of this episode were destroyed by the BBC in the early 1970’s, and no video copies exist. This is the only episode of Doctor Who in which neither the Doctor nor his companions appear.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Out Of The Unknown Season 1

The Counterfeit Man

Out Of The UnknownA long-haul space mission to and from Ganymede is taking a toll on its all-too-human crew. One of the ship’s navigators dies from what appears to be the stress of being away from an earthlike environment, while the ship’s doctor suspects that Wescott, one of the crew, is not human, but an alien being that has assumed his physical form. The doctor begins sowing the seeds of suspicion among his own crew, and soon Westcott is a pariah among his crewmates, and the suspicion spreads. How inhuman will the crew become in trying to prove a shipmate isn’t human?

adapted by Philip Broadley
from a story by Alan Nourse
directed by George Spenton-Foster
music by Norman Kay

Out Of The UnknownCast: Alan Davion (Dr. Crawford), David Hemmings (Wescott), Charles Tingwell (Captain Jaffe), Peter Fraser (Donnie), Anthony Wager (Jensen), Keith Buckley (Scotty), David Savile (Gerry), Geoffrey Kenion (Dave), Barry Ashton (Frank), David Munro (Ken), Hedger Wallace (Commander), Lew Luton (Officer), Derek Martin (Guard)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 03 Doctor Who

The Myth Makers

Doctor WhoThe Doctor is suitably bemused when the TARDIS lands him in the middle of a fight on the plains of Greece, where his appearance fatally distracts one of the two combatants and convinces the other that he is Zeus. Vicki and Steven watch helplessly as the surviving warrior, Achilles, tries to recruit “Zeus” in his quest to topple the city of Troy. More of Achilles’ countrymen appear, led by Odysseus, who doesn’t believe that the Doctor is Zeus, and he is taken prisoner. Steven insists that Vicki, still nursing a sprained ankle, remain in the TARDIS while he goes to help the Doctor. Faced with no choice, the Doctor decides to masquerade as a god, proving his “powers” with foreknowledge of events to come in the Trojan War. The ruse works too well, though – his captors decide that he’s too valuable to let go, but at least they grant him some hospitality. When Steven tries to come to the Doctor’s rescue, he is captured and brought before Agamemnon; to save Steven’s life, the Doctor claims him as his own personal “sacrifice to Olympus”, promising to make him disappear at the dawn of the next day at his “blue temple”…but when the appointed hour comes, the temple – the TARDIS – has vanished. The Doctor and Steven are declared spies, and fast talking is required to save their necks from Agamemnon’s sword for impersonating a god. The TARDIS has in fact been spirited away, and now lies within the walls of Troy. Cassandra admonishes the Trojan soldiers for bringing an unknown object into the city, warning that she has foreseen that a “gift” from the Greeks will result in the fall of Troy. Vicki emerges from the TARDIS, where she too claims to have knowledge of the future. She is given the name Cressida, and Cassandra immediately objects to having competition in the prophecy field. To recover the TARDIS and Vicki intact, the Doctor must propose an outlandish plan that may just prove Cassandra’s grim predictions correct…

Order this story on audio CDwritten by Donald Cotton
directed by Michael Leeston-Smith
music by Humphrey Searle

Guest Cast: Cavan Kendall (Achilles), Alan Haywood (Hector), Ivor Salter (Odysseus), Francis de Wolff (Agamemnon), Jack Melford (Menelaus), Tutte Lemkow (Cyclops), Max Adrian (Priam), Barrie Ingham (Paris), Frances White (Cassandra), Jon Luxton (Messenger), James Lynn (Troilus), Adrienne Hill (Katarina)

Doctor WhoBroadcast from October 16 through November 6, 1965

Notes: The master tapes of this episode were destroyed by the BBC in the early 1970’s, and no video copies exist. An audio recording of the entire story is available. Barrie Ingham has two unusual distinctions: for many years, he was the only actor to be seen in both the TV series and in one of the Peter Cushing Doctor Who movies. He also later guest starred in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This story marks the exit of Maureen O’Brien as Vicki – whose age is established as being in her late teens – and the introduction of Adrienne Hill as Katarina.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green