And yet it was a water planet. Nominative determinism as a form of planetary apocalypse is quite the Doctor Who thing.
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It was prophetic naming. When the Aridians named their planet, they knew what was going to happen to it.
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This one was fun! But would’ve rather the team have taken that New Yorker guy as a companion instead of Steven lol. And I was also surprised by the fact the Daleks didn’t kill him, I rather liked that nuance.
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The Chase. Certainly it is a story. Despite being six parts it manages to never once be boring, though I think it is hilarious in more places than it intends to be. Very little happens, really, and yet it’s the strength of our quartet that really carries this. We bounce between various times and places and scenes with little rhyme or reason; the Daleks are completely non-menacing, it is too long. And yet I am charmed and compelled throughout. Not a favourite but definitely one I find fun
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Actually I hadn’t finished the serial before I posted this, I’d like to add that I love how bad the First Doctor is at saying goodbye and letting go of his friends. He’s almost childish in the way he refuses to engage with the idea that they’ll be gone - something that continues through the Doctor’s life of course, but I love that even from the start his friends mean so much to him. That typical vision of One being stoic and grumpy only, it’s simply not true
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The magic of that goodbye moment is that Hartnell is genuinely upset about Russell and Hill leaving, and you can see that he isn’t acting at that moment. He is a heartbroken William Hartnell, not the Doctor. It’s one of the best moments of the First Doctor era.
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Just watched this one and… it is quite a mixed bag. It’s actually mostly good in my opinion, the idea of the Daleks chasing the TARDIS Team throughout time and space is really fun and I thought it was cool to see different locations with different characters. The high point is definitely the last two episodes with an interesting location, an awesome looking city/base for the Mechonoids, the introduction of the next companion and Barbara and Ian’s departure which is somber and sad even when I knew it was coming.
There are some pretty significant flaws though. Episodes 1, 2, 5 and 6 are all enjoyable. But then there’s the middle. Episode 3 is kind of ehhh, putting two travel locales in one episode. New York City is utterly pointless, all that happens is bad American accents and a surprise early appearance of Steven except it’s a different character but the same actor. Now this silly and stupid comedy scene would be fine… if it didn’t feel like it goes on for hours but it does and Morton Dill gets really annoying really fast.
The Mary Celeste is better, it has one of those “explaining historical mysteries” moments and when the Daleks show up, it’s actually quite dark. Even if they don’t kill anyone with their guns, all the people on board basically commit suicide, including a mother and her baby, which is pretty dark. It also seems to be the real first time a Dalek scales stairs, because even though we don’t see it, one of them got onto the quarter deck.
Then there’s Episode 4. Episode 4 is utter wank. It has some really contrived and cheap excuses to separate the cast, with Barbara and Vicki really getting hit with some less than stellar portrayal of women, and the twist that they are in a haunted house theme park attraction is so obvious as soon as the bats appear for the second time and for some reason, no one figures it out. Not even One, who somehow comes up with a different theory that makes no sense whatsoever. The worst part of this however is that the Daleks are defeated by haunted house animatronics. I can get over the Dalek falling into Ian’s trap on Aridius, as well as the Dalek falling off the ship, but this is just humiliating and makes no sense whatsoever. The Dalek guns do nothing to them and the Frankenstein’s monster one apparently went to the Five Nights at Freddy’s school as it is apparently capable of walking around on its own and lift up a heavy metal cyborg creature and smash it… and Vicki gets left behind somehow which also feels out of character for both One and Barbara.
Thankfully, the Daleks are then actually quite threatening and well-treated in the last two episodes. The setting here is really cool and that battle between the Daleks and the Mechonoids is great fun. Unfortunately, both Mechanus and Aridius and their inhabitants are underdeveloped, so as cool as they look and as much as there’s something of interest they just aren’t all that memorable. The robot is a cool idea and done mostly well although it doesn’t get much screentime, but the hint that it’s not the Doctor by it referring to Vicki as Susan is brilliant. I don’t get why they used a stunt double for some scenes but it still works. Ian and Barbara’s departure is good and does tear at the heartstrings, you can see One (and even Hartnell himself really) being sad that they’re leaving.
Overall, it can get a bit messy and the mid-portion ranges from mid to pretty darn awful, but the last episodes save it for the most part. 7/10.
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I kind of love this one for just how barmy it is. Of all the classic Who I’ve watched, this is the one story that I genuinely wish I could’ve seen at the time, broadcasted a week at a time. Something I appreciate about Terry Nation’s writing (similar to Keys Of Marinus and The Daleks’ Master Plan) is that, while the other individual episodes tended to build on each other to tell their specific stories, Nation writes for week-by-week engagement. A matter of “what could happen today?” as opposed to “Where will the story go today?”, even with the running thread of the Daleks (the least interesting part of the whole thing for me, frankly).
Now, granted, a lot of my enjoyment here comes from the audacity of this rather than it being ‘good’ in any objective sense. It is beyond silly, and I can’t help thinking that the idea for The Mind Robber was born as soon as the Doctor wondered if they had landed in “an area of human thought”, but my word, was that a fun ride. This is the kind of naive insanity that only comes out of media made specifically for children, where silly things like ‘making sense’ are left behind so they can focus on just being entertaining by any means necessary. This appeals to the same part of my brain that considers Round The Twist as a childhood classic.
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That’s because Round the Twist IS a childhood classic.
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I’ve had great fun rewatching this. The various locations visited are wonderful and while the Daleks come off a bit too weak at times, this is such a joyful, silly adventure.
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This story is a 6 parter that feels like a 4 parter it’s so fast paced and fun I just can’t help but fall in love with it every time I watch it
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Going forward I’d wanna re-do certain Reviews/refine some of my Thoughts to certain Stories, did that a bit back with the Chase and thought I might share it here, if anybody is interested in reading my silly Thoughts haha:
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For any review enjoyers, you can find my complete thoughts on The Chase here.
But in summary, god I bloody LOVED this serial. It starts a little slow, and the earlier two episodes are my least favourite of the bunch, but I loved how loony and funny the whole affair is. The scene on the Empire State, the scene on the Mary Celeste, the House of Horrors, and then finally the final environments that I thought were brought to life quite magically. I absolutely adored Peter Purves in both roles, too; the simple and fantastically written American tourist, and the sassy charisma magnet Steven Taylor.
That is without mentioning the final twist of the episode too. I thought the goodbye scene for Barbara and Ian was just diabolically beautiful. The Doctor’s pain and refusal to let them go, Vicki’s agency in calming him to move to the right decision, the wonderful montage of Barbara and Ian in London, and the fantastic “I shall miss them” from Hartnell. The whole thing is so nail-bitingly written and wonderfully performed that is really did hit me in the emotional balls, and I realised I’ve come to love the both of them so, so much.
I recognise the episode is incredibly messy and completely all over the shop, but it’s quite rare while I’ve been working through First Doctor serials that I’ve found myself hooked episode to episode like I became with The Chase, and so much of it landed that it’s frankly an absolute knock out for me.
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I find this serial to be wildly inconsistent.
I quite like the first two episodes. I don’t really like the middle two episodes. I really, really like the final two episodes.
On the whole I think it’s fun, but there’s too much I dislike to rate it higher than a 7/10
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This is basically the same as my opinion lol. Ep 1 and 2 are pretty good, 3 is meh, 4 is awful, 5 and 6 are good.
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This one is standard 60’s fun times. The Daleks are mischaracterised to hell and back and the comedic tone really clashes with the stakes but the ending really redeemed it imo, solid 8/10.
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I love The Chase.
I know the Daleks are played for comedy. I know the American accent is bad. I know episodes 3 and 4 don’t move the plot forward much. I know the whole thing is all over the place.
But I don’t care, it’s funny and I love it. 9/10
I am up to Season 15 in the classic era and The Chase is still my 4th favourite story (behind Romans, Mind Robber and Three Doctors).
I think it’s great to have the opening scenes with the crew just chilling in the TARDIS (and Vicki getting in everyone’s way 
).
I really enjoy the concept of someone else chasing them through time (for the first time).
I did very much enjoy episode 3 (considered to be the weakest by most people it seems).
The duplicate Doctor was a fun concept that I found effective.
This is the last appearance of my favourite TARDIS team, and as Steven is rated quite high on my companion list as well, it was nice to see him interact with Ian and Barbara briefly.
Ian and Barbara get a fitting sendoff.
Season 2 is my favourite season, which again I think is not a very common viewpoint held by fans.
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I love The Chase and (controversial opinion alert) I think it’s more watchable than The Dalek’s Masterplan.
And I adore the Mechanoids in all their chunky glory.
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I agree that it is more watchable… and I don’t just mean that all it’s episodes actually exist
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Not difficult 
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