William Hartnell - The Keys of Marinus

At last!  A post! Having had the DVD waiting for a month already, I spent my sick day today watching the 1964 William Hartnell story The Keys of Marinus, written by Terry Nation.

First things first... I'm now fairly sure that whatever story terrified me so much as a child it was a Hartnell one. I remembered the opening credits (in fact, they creeped me out this time around as well).

Anyway, what did I thing of the story itself? I didn't mind it. The plot made sense, though the idea of the conscience machine being used to control people does creep me out. Too much like the supression of free will, thanks.

Oddly, while in other Doctor Who I've seen I've been fascinated by the Doctor as a focal point, in this it was Ian and Barbara. What a pair of characters they are! Intelligent, practical - as sharp as a pin, both of them. You could tell they were teachers, particularly in the first episode when they were discussing the makeup of the sand and the architecture of the building on the island.

I didn't think that much of Susan, she seemed to shriek and lose it every 5 seconds, which I thought was weird for the Doctor's Grandaughter. Then, listening to the commentary, the actress, Carol Anne Ford, seemed to the the character was written younger than usual in this particular story, but she couldn't figure out why. I'll have to wait and see her in another story to get a better idea.

I enjoyed Barbara's martial arts moment in the seond episode in escaping a brainwashed Ian and smashing up the brain aliens. Which, EW! Brains with snail eyestalks. Creepy.

Episode 3 had the one quotable moment I enjoyed:
"I do wish Ian wouldn't treat us like Dresden china" - Barbara
Quite appropriate the episode after she kicked his butt.

I also liked the concept of the jungle attacking and how it was explained scietifically, as speeding up the process of nature. Although it would have been nice to get a why.

I wasn't a huge fan of episode 4. In the ice tunnels, they were talking about finding something to replace the bridge and then their purpose was to look for the key with nothing to transition the two ideas. It was a bit jarring. I did appreciate Susan finally showing some courage in crawling across the makeshift bridge though.

The only note I made for episode 5 was 'TENSE!!'. The political/legal drama of that episode very much sucked me in. In episode six I laughed at the Doctor's comment about applying skepticism to the investigative process. I also saw Ian's switcheroo with the fake key coming a mile away.

Still, overall I enjoyed my first foray into the Hartnell era.