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This is a further look at the stories of the First Doctor, portrayed by William Hartnell, during the 1960s.
The First Doctor, Part 4
Galaxy 4
This science fiction story is focused on the idea of not judging a book by its cover. The Tardis lands on a deserted, dying planet. They see a funny looking robot that Vicki calls a “Chumbley”. Then another one appears, and they investigate, but are rescued by three beautiful women who tell them they were in great danger, and take the three travelers back to their ship, where they meet the leader, Maaga, another beautiful woman. But somehow these women are odd and cold. They tell of how they met another ship from a evil race, the Rill, and that in a space battle the ships damaged each other and landed on this planet. Then later the travelers meet the Rill, who initially refuse to reveal their appearance because it would frighten the humans. Turns out they were very alien in appearance, but not at all evil, and it was the beautiful women who were evil.
Mission to the Unknown
This short little story takes place on the planet Kembel, and agents from Earth realize that the Daleks are here, and up to no good. This is really a prequel to The Daleks’ Master Plan, and is notable as the only Doctor Who story in which none of the regular cast appears. The reason is that this is an extra episode slot given to the Doctor Who team late in the day, and the regular cast were already given vacation time off. So it is best to take this as Episode 0 of The Dalek’s Master Plan, not as a stand-alone story. The original story has been lost, like so many episodes of early Doctor Who, but a very nice version was done by the University of Central Lancashire, and you can view it on YouTube. It is introduced by Edward de Souza, who played Marc Cory in the original, and is worth a look. They really did a good job.
The Myth Makers
This is another “historical” story, though instead of verified history it is historical legends at play here, in the form of the Seige of Troy by the Greeks. So you have all of the Homeric cast here: Achilles, Priam, Hector, Odysseus. The Doctor is taken for a God by Achilles, though Odysseus has his doubts. Vicki is captured by the Trojans and taken to Troy, calls herself Cressida, and is taken for a Goddess. Steven goes to Troy to try and free her, but is seen as a Greek, and so Vicki is now suspect. She falls in love with a son of Priam named Troilus, and you think something might happen here, particularly if you are familiar with play of Shakespeare called Troilus and Cressida. This story only has faint echoes of the play, preserving that Cressida is Greek and Troilus is Trojan. In this case it is Cressida staying with Troilus, so instead going back to the Tardis Vicki is now out. One more companion gone.
This marked the departure of Verity Lambert as producer, and she was replaced by John Wiles. Wiles tried to implement changes, such as making the show a bit darker, but ran into opposition from both Hartnell and BBC Management, and resigned after producing four stories ( The Myth Makers through The Ark). And the popularity of other SF shows on television made a move to more SF and less history desirable. And as for Hartnell’s opposition, it is notable that he had become quite identified with the role of The Doctor and was very proprietorial with it. This would come to pose problems later as his health declined.
The Daleks’ Master Plan
This story arc takes twelve episodes, or thirteen if you add Mission to the Unknown, as you indeed should. The reason for such a long story arc is that Sir Huw Wheldon, the Director-General of the BBC at that time wanted a “monster length” Dalek story because his mother was a big Dalek fan. And this story has a lot going for it. The length means that you can do more character development.
The story starts out with Steven recovering from a sword-thrust during the fall of Troy, and being attended by Katarina, a Trojan maiden, who is now in the Tardis. They arrive on the planet Kembel, and meet with Space Special Security agent Bret Vyon, played by Nicholas Courtney, who in a few years would become the beloved Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. Vyon tries to force the Doctor to take him to Earth so he can warn the planet, but the Doctor recognizes the Daleks and wants to find out more about their plans. And this brings us to one the most evil villains in Doctor Who, Mavic Chen. You see, the Daleks have assembled a group of villainous aliens to join together in conquering the Earth, and Mavic Chen is part of the group. He is also the idolized Guardian of the Solar System. So he is a traitor! Katarina, the Trojan maiden, sacrifices herself to save the others from a convict they meet on a prison planet. Another wonderful character is Sara Kingdom (played by Peggy Marsh), head of Space Special Security, who has been told by Mavic Chen that Vyon and the others are traitors, and who kills Vyon, who is in fact her brother! But they manage to convince her that Chen is the real traitor, and she joins them. In the middle of this story arc Christmas happened, and this resulted in the most absurd episode ever of Doctor Who, called The Feast of Steven, capped by the Doctor breaking the fourth wall. The episode is now among the missing. but you can find reconstructions on YouTube if you want to see the absurdity of it. And there is a re-appearance of The Meddling Monk.
This is a sprawling story, but overall worth a look. Mavic Chen, played by Kevin Stoney, is delightfully evil, and Stoney would return to play another villain in the Troughton story The Invasion. and it is interesting to see Nicholas Courtney before he got the role he would always be identified with. Doctor Who would not do anything this large again until _The Flux_ in 2021, and frankly this story makes more sense.
The Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Eve
You will often see this as simply The Massacre, which is fine since there is no other story with a similar title. And after that massive science fiction story, another historical story. This involves the true story of Protestants in France being massacred by the Catholics, and the main feature worth calling our here is that William Hartnell plays two roles in this story. He is the Doctor, of course, but also the Abbott of Amboise, a leader among the Catholics looking to rid France of the Protestants. This idea of playing two parts became even more nicely done by Patrick Troughton later in Enemy of the World. In any case, this leads to confusion by Steven who thinks the Abbott is actually the Doctor. In the story a servant girl named Anna Chaplette is rescued, and this opens up the interesting possibility that she is the ancestor of Dodo (i.e. Dorothea) Chaplet, a companion who appears at the end. She witnesses a car crash, and barges into the Tardis thinking she can call the police.
While the novelty of Hartnell playing two parts may stand out on first look, this story is really a showcase for Peter Purves, in his role of Steven Taylor. Because Hartnell is not on screen very much, Purves really has to carry the plot, and does so admirably. Hartnell was on vacation when the second episode was filmed, and so didn’t appear at all. And his health problems were beginning cause problems which contributed to this situation. He was having a lot of trouble with remembering his lines, which is a real problem for an actor. He was not that old by current standards, as he was 58 when this story was produced, and as I am 73 as I write this, 58 seems more like late youth to me.
The Ark
The Tardis materializes on a spaceship in the far future. It is carrying the future of the human race to a new planet, Refusis 2, because the Earth is falling into the sun. But it also has an odd race called the Monoids, who have one eye. They are an alien race who came to Earth when their own planet was dying, and now they serve the humans. Unfortunately, the Tardis crew carries germs for which humans and Monoids on the Ark have no immunity, and sickness breaks out. One faction wants to kill the Doctor and his companions, but instead the Doctor finds a cure for the disease, and they leave on the Tardis. Then the Tardis materializes back on the Ark, but they discover that hundreds of years have passed. The Monoids have rebelled and taken over, and now the humans serve them. As the old saying has it, be kind to those you meet on the way up, for you will meet them again on the way down.
Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_to_the_Unknown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW8yk-m5Ig8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Myth_Makers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troilus_and_Cressida
https://guide.doctorwhonews.net/person.php?name=JohnWiles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Daleks%27_Master_Plan
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0785302/
https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/The_Flux
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Massacre_(Doctor_Who)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ark_(Doctor_Who)
https://www.palain.com/science-fiction/intro-to-doctor-who/the-first-doctor-part-4/
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