The Doctor and Steven have been joined by Dodo and find themselves in the far future of the human race aboard a spaceship escaping Earth’s destruction.
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4 Likes
Watched it not that long ago and these were my thoughts then:
5 Likes
I don’t like it. It is super weird.
6 Likes
It’s as if the costume department were on holiday during the production of this story and Jackie Lane simply walked into the BBC wardrobe and picked the first piece of clothing she could find 
9 Likes
I’ve always enjoyed this story. I like the two separate parts and having a story deal with what happens after the Doctor leaves is a great idea.
I was hugely surprised to see, in recent years, some areas of fandom (or rather one commentator in particular) get their knickers in a twist over perceived racism in this story. I do see what they’re saying but I don’t think it’s as cut and dried as they make out.
Also - the Security Kitchen.
That is all.
9 Likes
Ahhh, this is the one with the ping-pong & Beatles wig aliens and the director who got fired for spending most of the budget of the serial to get a real elephant onto the set, and the elephant only appears for a few seconds in Episode 1!
8 Likes
You say that like they’re bad things…
8 Likes
No, just fan facts! I admire Michael Imison for insisiting on having a real elephant for such a brief appearance, when the other alternative would have been to use archival footage.
It’s a bit similar to Steven Moffat including a T-Rex in a Christmas Special just because he can.
8 Likes
Not sure he sourced a live one though…
7 Likes
Oh, and this serial has great cinematography and sets - the forced perspectives help to give the setting a sense of space and the jungle set looks really lush. It’s a pity that they rarely played around with the camera angles after this story.
7 Likes
I have missed this. What are they referring to?
5 Likes
I think it’s referring to the parallels you could draw between the human/Monod relationship here and the relationship between Europeans and Native Americans and/or African tribes, where the Europeans entered a new continent and brought diseases with them that spread to the natives, who the Europeans deemed less worthy and used as their slaves (the way the Monoids are used as servants here).
5 Likes
Coupled with the ‘slaves’ revolting and turning out to be baddies.
6 Likes
Interesting I did not think of that. But yeah I could see that aspect aswell.
4 Likes
I think there was also something, from one commentator in particular, about the skin colour of the Monoids. But they also thought Michael Gough was in yellow face in The Celestial Toymaker so I don’t value their opinion very highly.
5 Likes
I like this one! This one was quite the bold move and a slight departure from the much darker execution of the last two, despite this being equally a very dark Story in places.
It’s not as good as either of the previous two, but it’s really excellent. The first Part being all about a simple cold which is spreading rapidly is a fascinating dark Idea for Who to handle. Maybe not as interesting as it could be, but for the two parts where this is the Focus, I rather enjoyed myself. And of course having the second Episode have that Cliffhanger was brilliant really. The second Half of this Story is a bit lesser for me. I really like the Design of the Monoids, such a really splendid design. And of course the Production, as it is, is really well-made and feels rich, they even got an Elephant for this Serial!!
And maybe a Hot Take, but I really enjoy Lane’s Dodo here, she isn’t really a deep Character at all, but such a fun presence here, definitely one of her better Outings.
6 Likes
Not the biggest fan of this one, I won’t lie. Each half feels a bit generic and simplistic, I want more out of both of them. The Doctor working on a cure for a disease including a montage and a race until the companion succumbed to it was done two seasons prior in The Sensorites, but at least that story had more time to build the world of the Sense-Sphere where I feel the Ark and Refusis both could have had a lot more. The Monoids weren’t treated poorly by the humans at all, it seemed very equal, like they all had to contribute work for the success of the voyage, they seemed to have the same legal standing in the trial scene, some of the humans learned their language to facilitate communication between them, so I don’t buy it when the Monoids turn on the Humans for seemingly no other reason than “because they’re bad now.” And then there’s Dodo. They always seemed to flip a coin with her and in this one I feel it falls on the “she’s going to be annoying and not very bright” side. I like her in other stories, but not this one so much.
Security kitchen is great though.
7 Likes
I do very much like the idea of having half the serial be coming back to where you were earlier at a later time and seeing how everything got mucked up.
Costume was definitely an odd choice, and I don’t think I totally realised at the time I watched this that she was supposed to be a modern day earth companion. Last Dodo story I watched was her entrance one…
7 Likes
Gave her a regional accent in her start. BBC peeps said “no, no, we can’t have that,” and her accent was gone by her next story, this one.
5 Likes