TV Club: The Chase

Television TV Club
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It’s a race through time and space as the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki are pursued by the Daleks in their very own time machine. It’s time to discuss Mire Beasts, Dracula, the Mary Celeste, Morton Dill, HiFi the Panda and robot doubles of the Doctor. This is a story of hellos and goodbyes and Doctor Who will never be the same again.

Watch all six episodes on BBC iPlayer:

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Ah, The Chase—a six-episode extravaganza by Terry Nation that is at times so silly and stupid that it feels like a parody, yet with some golden moments sprinkled in that make it an important adventure in Classic Who. Here are a few highlights from my review:

6/10 = Somewhat Enjoyable
  • Terry Nation is a lazy writer. With The Chase, Nation yet again repeats himself by essentially copy-pasting elements from his previous scripts.
  • The Chase is also known as the point in the original run of Doctor Who where the show decided to start parodying itself. Nation’s intention was probably to provide a fun-time light-hearted adventure featuring the Daleks, but the blend of a nonsensical plot, very tongue-in-cheek performances, silly concepts, and that strange, jazzy circus score makes this feel more of a spoof than an actual, serious adventure within the show’s canon.
  • The first two episodes are dull and go nowhere; the middle two episodes are laughable and pointless; and the final two are trying too hard to recreate The Daleks on a smaller scale.
  • The narrative remains fresh and unexpected in its silliness, which makes this one of the better-flowing six-parters in Doctor Who history.
  • Part 3 is a mess of an episode, featuring additions to canon (the Doctor built the TARDIS??!), the making of history (the disappearance of the Mary Celeste), a nonsensical plot, non-sonic screwdrivers, a Dalek screaming like a human as it plunges into the water (sigh!) and terrible American accents (brought to you by the one and only Peter Purves in his Doctor Who debut a couple of episodes before his return as a totally different character, and the new companion—did I mention how strange a story this one is?). This is probably one of the weirdest, messiest, and “funniest” episodes in Doctor Who history.
  • What is Part 4 supposed to achieve? This trek through a house of horrors is… interesting, to say the least, and proves to be a low point for the Daleks. This entire episode is, in fact, a low point for the series up to this point. It’s also ridden with production errors (such as the infamous Dalek visible at the back of a shot several scenes before they have arrived on the scene) that make it look like it was improvised on the spot.
  • The last two episodes on Mechanus provide some good sci-fi adventure. Granted, these episodes are a rehash of the far superior story The Daleks, but there’s some nice production design here, and the concept of the imposter Doctor is good on paper, as is the futuristic city of the Mechanoids and the battle between them and the Daleks.
  • If there is one thing that truly works with The Chase, it is the naturally warm character relations between the main cast members. The Doctor is sharp throughout this and showcases determination, warmth, and empathy, but also a sense of humour. Vicki feels like a full-fledged part of the team by now, and Barbara and Ian are so closely knitted to the Doctor’s world that their departure by the end of the story truly hits all the feels.

  • Crammed into the final few minutes of the last episode, Ian and Barbara’s departure feels very sudden, but it’s filled with genuine emotion from a heartbroken William Hartnell bidding his farewell (in what is a top-three acting moment from the man on this show).

  • Whether by design or accidentally, Terry Nation provides a script filled with dialogue that frequently makes me giggle—and that’s a rare feat for a Doctor Who story, even today.
  • Morton Dill is so bad he’s good. The unnecessary supporting role in Part 3 landed Peter Purves the new companion role three episodes later, and that terrible accent and goofy persona are something to remember, for better and for worse.
  • New companion Steven (played by the aforementioned Purves in the fastest return of a guest actor in the history of television) is energetic and likeable, making the last episode of this serial worth the watch.

  • There’s something clever about the impostor Doctor. He is antagonistic and selfish, much like the Doctor was when we first met him in An Unearthly Child, a clever callback to how much the character has developed in just two seasons.

  • The Doctor’d robot clone doesn’t look at all like Hartnell and falls short on amateurish sound design and editing. The way they edit between Hartnell and his stand-in is so jarringly bad that a three-year-old would have done a better job using nothing but MS Paint!

  • The Daleks in The Chase are made ridiculous and useless for no good reason. Gone are the Nazi allegories, larger-than-life plots, and cold-blooded murders. What’s left are hopeless shells of stuttering and one-liner-dropping dustbins.
  • The Mechanoids are a concept that works only on paper. They are big and clumsy, with terribly annoying voices, and lack any of the character or authority of the Daleks. It’s no wonder they ended up being another failed attempt at recreating the success of the Daleks.
  • Richard Martin’s direction simply isn’t good enough. The House of Horrors sequence is made worse by Martin’s directorial decisions, and the frankly impressive set used for Mechanus is likewise made less impressive by the fact that Martin doesn’t know how to direct the characters acting on it.
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Terry Nation certainly could be a lazy writer, and his DW output frequently suffers from this…

…and yet, when inspiration hits, he was also surprisingly daring. It’s just a shame that The Chase isn’t one of these cases.

It kind of baffles me that he could be so protective of the Daleks as his creation and yet did so much to undermine the impact of his greatest creation in this serial.

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There’s also one very very dim Dalek.

It’s such a shame because The Chase does have some great ideas on display and is hugely ambitious. In order for the whacky stuff tocreally land, though, there needed to be a juxtaposition against a genuine threat from the Daleks. My feeling is that, every time we get comfortable with this story and start laughing, the Daleks should jolt us out of our complacency by being genuinely dangerous. Sadly, that isn’t the way it plays out.

Juxtaposition. I think a great deal of the magic of DW lies here. The Chase is commendable in that it does recognise this. Deficiencies in the writing and serious shortcomings in direction, however, erode any chance of this really working.

It’s an enjoyable ride (despite deeply cringey moments) but could have been something genuinely great. In many ways The Daleks’ Master Plan shows Nation (and the production team) giving the same basic idea another go and genuinely pulling it off. Love DMP. The recon genuinely blew me away!

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To be fair, this was 20 years before MS Paint. Said 3 year old wouldn’t have been born yet.

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IAN: Yes, home! I want to sit in a pub and drink a pint of beer again…

Later that day.

Ian & Barbara sat in a pub.

UNIT Soilder: (bursting into pub) Mr Chesterton? Ms Wright? Come with me!

Barbara: (staring knowingly at Ian, gently squeezing his knee as he smiles at her) You know what young man? We’re fine right here.

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This was essentially going to be my post.

While elements are enjoyable, the scatter shot nature of what’s presented really feels like a 4-year-old saying “and then this happens, and then this.” While aimed at children initially, as an adult viewer it just feels like a mess.

I think The Daleks Master Plan is a much better version of this story.

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Insert obligatory reference to the only recorded Beatles performance on Top of the Pops and Ian’s sublime dad dancing here

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It’s funny you mention that, I have a decent The Beatles bootleg collection. I must have that clip 20 times on various DVDs.

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The videos from Dalek 63-89 are usually worth a watch. This one dropped a couple of weeks ago all about The Chase.

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And they have done a few about this story:

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I recently found out about that YouTube channel and watched their videos on The Chase. Interesting stuff!

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An early piece of Doctor Who merchandise - the Century 21 release of the soundtrack to The Planet of Decision with linking narration by David Graham. A proper curio.

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I’d don’t know gang, I’ve always been pretty partial to this one.

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This story is the only Doctor Who story featuring the Beatles that I’ll acknowledge! :upside_down_face:

I really want to like this story, but it is just so, so flawed - @MrColdStream did a really good job at listing the many faults and shortcomings of this story.
The direction is appalling and the script feels like it needed an extra draft.

Silly Daleks should only be used in ridiculous Christmas songs from the 60s :eyes: It diminishes the threat of the Daleks to no end.

Can this story please go missing so we can get an animated version instead? And, very importantly, with new voices for the Mechanoids. Can anyone actually understand what they are saying if there are no subtitles?

:blue_heart::blue_heart:London 1965 :blue_heart::blue_heart:
Love, love, love that scene and their silly still photos shenanigans after finally returning home :blush:

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I flip and flop over whether or not I like The Chase. There are some fun bits which, in any other story, would be welcome light relief, but seem to form the majority of this story. The bits where the Daleks chase the TARDIS through time and the story stops in different times and places isn’t very well written or directed but I kind of like it - the Marie Celeste is the sort of mystery sci fi loves to explain so I’m glad Doctor Who got there so early - and it gives us the first death of a child on the show…; the Haunted House is actually a great idea but I’ve never really understood why the Doctor thinks they’re inside someone’s mind/dreams; and although I appreciate it’s not a great performance, I can’t help but have a soft spot for Morton Dill.

I actually really like the Mechanoids and for all the directorial fluffs elsewhere, the climactic battle is pretty impressive.

And I’ve always admired the sheer hutzpah of trying to do a robotic double of the Doctor. The mistake of it referring to Susan is fun.

As always Hill, Russel, O’Brien and Hartnell give it their all - and Purves matches their energy in his debut as Steven.

It gets a 3/5 even if I know, deep down, that it isn’t great.

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One of the videos by Dalek 63-89 explained this. Nation originally intended the Hosue of Horrors sequence to take place in another dimension, a world of fantasy and nightmares. However, Verity Lambert felt that this was too out there for Doctor Who (because this show could never take place in fantasy realms and other dimensions :D) and that they always had to retain a certain logic and level of reality on the show. Derek Martin incorporated the final shot on Lambert’s behest, revealing that everything transpires within a House of Horrors. They never update the original script, however, so the Doctor’s dialogue referring to being inside someone’s dreams still stays and feels very odd in context.

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I must get around to watching those videos considering I’m the one who keeps posting them!

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Apparently it’s World Octopus Day which seems rather apt considering the other great Doctor Who monster in this story - the malevolent Mire Beasts!

The image depicts a surreal, textured sculpture resembling a creature with a bulbous body and protruding limbs, set against a dark background. (Captioned by AI)

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I’m surprised no one has posted this anywhere at all on Tardis Gude… :wink:

Did anyone watch any of the Twitch Doctor Who stream? I caught some of it.

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