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Classic Doctor Who, Season 6 Review
(I started writing this back in October but I'm just getting around to finishing it now. Which is fine I guess, but it means that some stuff probably won't be as fresh in my mind as I would like it to be...)
The final season of the black-and-white era (and the final season with 40 episodes) has the fewest episodes missing and the clearest vision of the show's identity. This is partially because this is the first season since the very first one where the cast remained the same through its entire run, but also because Troughton and Hines have an established rhythm that carries the show even when it doesn't really need to.
Like the previous five seasons, the series are available to watch via streaming on Britbox, while the rest are available as audio tracks from Audible. Though I have to say I am relieved that from here on out there aren't going to be any more missing episodes to deal with, and I'll be able to watch the show like a normal program. Like last season, there's very little separating my top choice from my bottom choice, though its not as tight a race as last time.
The Characters
Patrick Troughton as The Second Doctor - Troughton's taken the Doctor to a place that would have been hard to concieve of had Hartnell still been in the role. This isn't by any means a bad thing - Troughton's Doctor is much more physically active and more useful in narrative conflict, still commanding authority but not necessarily the same confidence. This grounds the character, and makes him function much more as a protagonist as the possibility of him losing feels more likely. Ultimately, that's what happens in the final serial, a tragic development as the Doctor had finally found the companions he'd been searching for over the course of the show: Companions that would stay, and stay not out of any obligation but because they wanted to.
Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon - Hines has taken a character that started out with a much different accent whose dialog was originally written for other characters and turned him into a staple of the franchise. With the longest episode count in the series' history, Jamie still kept the same brashness and charm he started out with but ended his run much more knowledgeable and mature. This makes his memory wipe at the end of the season all the more tragic, as he's essentially left at the same place he started, but at the same time unburdened by problems other than those of his own time.
Wendy Padbury as Zoe Heriot - In many ways, Zoe almost acted more like the Doctor than the Doctor himself! While other companions have been smart and challenged the Doctor, she may be the first who could be considered his equal in intellect and temperament. In the Krotons she took to their tests much more easily, and avoided falling into many of the same narrative pitfalls as past female companions. Largely, it felt like the writers were less prone to making her a damsel in distress or having the Doctor make her "stay where it was safe" because she was a girl. Her dynamic with Jamie was also markedly different from the ones he had with Polly, Ben, and Victoria.
The Serials
I've ranked the serials based off my own personal preference which is only tangentially related to how good they are on a critical level.
7) Serial 6, Episodes 29-34 - The Space Pirates (Episodes 29, 31-34 as an Audio Play)
This ranking may not be entirely fair, as this is the only serial this season that has the bulk of it's episodes missing. (The other serial with missing episodes, The Invasion, had animated reconstructions). However, this serial has the weird distinction of being very Doctor AND Companion-lite for the bulk of it's run. It's only toward the very end that the team gets clued in on what's actually going on, and spend the bulk of their screentime trying to escape after being captured or put in harm's way. (According to show notes, production of this serial overlapped with the War Games, and it shows.) That said, the world-building and performance of the guest cast is very good, though it sometimes feels more like something out of Star Trek than Doctor Who, and is interesting enough despite being predictable.
6) Serial 1, Episodes 1-5 - The Dominators
To be blunt, the execution of this serial feels very clumsy. Cutting the episode count from six to five may have streamlined some things, but it's probably why a number of plot threads are suddenly dropped or have rushed, inconclusive resolutions at the end. The Dominator's motivations are fleshed out enough, but their presence is undercut by the fact that I personally think their design isn't very interesting. The Quarks also seem like a massive missed opportunity, and a similar one that the show makes a lot, in that they want to create something like the Daleks or Cybermen but end up making them too simple to be interesting to avoid repeating elements.
Also the teens in the first episode were stupid. Really, all the Dulcians except for Cully are pretty useless and hard to root for.
5) Serial 4, Episodes 19-22 - The Krotons
Honestly, I think the only real weakness in this serial is that it's too short, but it's not a complaint I'd press upon as that's likely the reason why the drama regarding whether or not the Krotons believed the Doctor was so short. That was a huge strength for this story, and allowed it to spend more time on the threat itself and how the Krotons coped with their core attitudes and beliefs being challenged. The Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe all play essential roles in this that are very specifically written to their characters, and the story doesn't work without all three playing their part. The serial is also visually and choreographically dynamic and fun to watch, and the answers given are pretty satisfying.
4) Serial 3, Episodes 11-18 - The Invasion (Episodes 11 and 14 as Animated Reconstructions)
The Invasion hits some of the same notes as other Cybermen and Earth being invaded/attacked by aliens/robots stories from earlier in the show, but does most of them a lot better. Though some of the world building at the start is confusing, it quickly gains and maintains momentum. (x)
The Invasion treads on a lot of familar ground, but largely succeeds because it hits a lot of those plot points and tropes much more successfully than the show has before. Lethbridge-Stewart being an established presence certainly helps, but the supporting villain was also compelling and added an interesting dynamic not usually seen in Cybermen stories. I honestly don't have many thoughts about this one except that it was well-executed and never feels like it drags anywhere. I kind of wish they had managed to secure the rights to use Professor Travers though.
3) Serial 5, Episodes 23-28 - The Seeds of Death
The characters in this episode are really fun. The Doctor and his companions are great, but they also really succeeded in building a guest cast that were interesting and compelling in their own right. They might have been too interesting though, as some character threads set up in the first episode fade to the back when the Ice Warriors threat takes over the story, which is kind of a shame. The fungus set pieces are pretty silly when given any serious thought, but they work surprisingly well and are very fun to watch, and this episode pulls off it's stakes very well the whole way through.
2) Serial 2, Episodes 6-10 - The Mind Robber
This serial is so weird and trippy and I love it, though I guess a lot of reviewers and the audience at the time may not have cared for it. The whole premise of this serial was a risk, as is essentially everything that happens in it, and it feels fresh and unlike anything the show has ever done before. The sequence at the end of the first episode is particularly striking, as the Tardis explodes and everyone is sent careening through space. The brief recasting of Jamie (due to Hines's illness) is an inspired move, and the visuals in the episodes are charming and unsettling (often at the same time). The reveal of what is happening is satisfying, and while I agree it drags a bit after that, the serial's willingness to play around with the world-building it's set up is fascinating and delightful to watch. I wish it hadn't ended as abruptly as it did, though.
1) Serial 7, Episodes 35-44 - The War Games
The Second Doctor's last serial is a big, sprawling epic that probably could've been two episodes shorter. That said, the sheer scale of this makes me understand why it was ten episodes long, as it has elaborate sets and a large cast that elevate the show as a whole. This isn't even touching on the lore introduced in this serial, which is my mind is what elevates it to being the best of the season. The show directly addresses the Doctor as a character, something that had only been done before in a very tangential way. The War Lord is an excellent foil for the Doctor, and the Time Lords themselves really illustrate how different a character the Doctor is. The final episode may be my favorite of this first era of classic episodes. Not only does it provide answers to key mysteries of the series' lore, but it has a heightened tension all the way through. The departures of Jamie and Zoe are as tragic as they are beautiful, and lay the template for other exits like Donna Noble and Clara Oswald in the modern series. Honestly, it just infuses me with a sense of excitement for where the show is going to go next, and what it's capable of doing.
Final Thoughts
I see why the sixth season is so beloved and popular among fans of the classic series. Part of it is because it's the most complete, but it's also because the show has the clearest sense of it's identity and every actor and character is at their absolute best. The show was willing to take more risks and challenge the structure and status quo that had been set up over the previous five seasons, and the emotional beats at the end of The War Games probably wouldn't have landed as well as they had if the season itself hadn't been so good.
This also functions as a pretty good end to an era of the show encapsulating the First and Second Doctors, bringing the arc of the character full circle and tying up a lot of thematic loose ends (ymmv on how intentional this was). Regardless, it feels like a year of my life watching this was well spent, and I'm excited to see the new direction the show takes with a new Doctor, a new status quo, and in color!
The final season of the black-and-white era (and the final season with 40 episodes) has the fewest episodes missing and the clearest vision of the show's identity. This is partially because this is the first season since the very first one where the cast remained the same through its entire run, but also because Troughton and Hines have an established rhythm that carries the show even when it doesn't really need to.
Like the previous five seasons, the series are available to watch via streaming on Britbox, while the rest are available as audio tracks from Audible. Though I have to say I am relieved that from here on out there aren't going to be any more missing episodes to deal with, and I'll be able to watch the show like a normal program. Like last season, there's very little separating my top choice from my bottom choice, though its not as tight a race as last time.
The Characters
Patrick Troughton as The Second Doctor - Troughton's taken the Doctor to a place that would have been hard to concieve of had Hartnell still been in the role. This isn't by any means a bad thing - Troughton's Doctor is much more physically active and more useful in narrative conflict, still commanding authority but not necessarily the same confidence. This grounds the character, and makes him function much more as a protagonist as the possibility of him losing feels more likely. Ultimately, that's what happens in the final serial, a tragic development as the Doctor had finally found the companions he'd been searching for over the course of the show: Companions that would stay, and stay not out of any obligation but because they wanted to.
Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon - Hines has taken a character that started out with a much different accent whose dialog was originally written for other characters and turned him into a staple of the franchise. With the longest episode count in the series' history, Jamie still kept the same brashness and charm he started out with but ended his run much more knowledgeable and mature. This makes his memory wipe at the end of the season all the more tragic, as he's essentially left at the same place he started, but at the same time unburdened by problems other than those of his own time.
Wendy Padbury as Zoe Heriot - In many ways, Zoe almost acted more like the Doctor than the Doctor himself! While other companions have been smart and challenged the Doctor, she may be the first who could be considered his equal in intellect and temperament. In the Krotons she took to their tests much more easily, and avoided falling into many of the same narrative pitfalls as past female companions. Largely, it felt like the writers were less prone to making her a damsel in distress or having the Doctor make her "stay where it was safe" because she was a girl. Her dynamic with Jamie was also markedly different from the ones he had with Polly, Ben, and Victoria.
The Serials
I've ranked the serials based off my own personal preference which is only tangentially related to how good they are on a critical level.
7) Serial 6, Episodes 29-34 - The Space Pirates (Episodes 29, 31-34 as an Audio Play)
The Space Pirates has an entertaining enough plot but the TARDIS team seem like an afterthought and spend the majority of the serial away from the main plot being captured. The twists are also fairly predictable and don't have much weight to them (though they -really- should). (x)
This ranking may not be entirely fair, as this is the only serial this season that has the bulk of it's episodes missing. (The other serial with missing episodes, The Invasion, had animated reconstructions). However, this serial has the weird distinction of being very Doctor AND Companion-lite for the bulk of it's run. It's only toward the very end that the team gets clued in on what's actually going on, and spend the bulk of their screentime trying to escape after being captured or put in harm's way. (According to show notes, production of this serial overlapped with the War Games, and it shows.) That said, the world-building and performance of the guest cast is very good, though it sometimes feels more like something out of Star Trek than Doctor Who, and is interesting enough despite being predictable.
6) Serial 1, Episodes 1-5 - The Dominators
The Dominators has a very succinct premise and every episode has a nice forward momentum, but the Dulcians are basically useless and the story thread about that is essentially left unresolved after the planet is saved and the TARDIS team leaves. (x)
To be blunt, the execution of this serial feels very clumsy. Cutting the episode count from six to five may have streamlined some things, but it's probably why a number of plot threads are suddenly dropped or have rushed, inconclusive resolutions at the end. The Dominator's motivations are fleshed out enough, but their presence is undercut by the fact that I personally think their design isn't very interesting. The Quarks also seem like a massive missed opportunity, and a similar one that the show makes a lot, in that they want to create something like the Daleks or Cybermen but end up making them too simple to be interesting to avoid repeating elements.
Also the teens in the first episode were stupid. Really, all the Dulcians except for Cully are pretty useless and hard to root for.
5) Serial 4, Episodes 19-22 - The Krotons
The Krotons burns through the normal paces of "We don't trust the Doctor/believe the threat is real" within the first ten minutes, allowing it to reach and maintain a pace of heightened tension and action throughout much of the rest of the story. All three leads excel in this. (x)
Honestly, I think the only real weakness in this serial is that it's too short, but it's not a complaint I'd press upon as that's likely the reason why the drama regarding whether or not the Krotons believed the Doctor was so short. That was a huge strength for this story, and allowed it to spend more time on the threat itself and how the Krotons coped with their core attitudes and beliefs being challenged. The Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe all play essential roles in this that are very specifically written to their characters, and the story doesn't work without all three playing their part. The serial is also visually and choreographically dynamic and fun to watch, and the answers given are pretty satisfying.
4) Serial 3, Episodes 11-18 - The Invasion (Episodes 11 and 14 as Animated Reconstructions)
The Invasion hits some of the same notes as other Cybermen and Earth being invaded/attacked by aliens/robots stories from earlier in the show, but does most of them a lot better. Though some of the world building at the start is confusing, it quickly gains and maintains momentum. (x)
The Invasion treads on a lot of familar ground, but largely succeeds because it hits a lot of those plot points and tropes much more successfully than the show has before. Lethbridge-Stewart being an established presence certainly helps, but the supporting villain was also compelling and added an interesting dynamic not usually seen in Cybermen stories. I honestly don't have many thoughts about this one except that it was well-executed and never feels like it drags anywhere. I kind of wish they had managed to secure the rights to use Professor Travers though.
3) Serial 5, Episodes 23-28 - The Seeds of Death
The Seeds of Death is a very well constructed story that I wish focused a tiny bit more on some of the subplots they set up in the first episode. That said, this one is pretty impressive visually and makes the most out of the in-universe technology to tell the story. (x)
The characters in this episode are really fun. The Doctor and his companions are great, but they also really succeeded in building a guest cast that were interesting and compelling in their own right. They might have been too interesting though, as some character threads set up in the first episode fade to the back when the Ice Warriors threat takes over the story, which is kind of a shame. The fungus set pieces are pretty silly when given any serious thought, but they work surprisingly well and are very fun to watch, and this episode pulls off it's stakes very well the whole way through.
2) Serial 2, Episodes 6-10 - The Mind Robber
The Mind Robber is much more fantastical than Doctor Who is usually allowed to be and it's really an asset, which some of the most striking visuals of the series so far. All three leads get plenty to do here too. (x)
This serial is so weird and trippy and I love it, though I guess a lot of reviewers and the audience at the time may not have cared for it. The whole premise of this serial was a risk, as is essentially everything that happens in it, and it feels fresh and unlike anything the show has ever done before. The sequence at the end of the first episode is particularly striking, as the Tardis explodes and everyone is sent careening through space. The brief recasting of Jamie (due to Hines's illness) is an inspired move, and the visuals in the episodes are charming and unsettling (often at the same time). The reveal of what is happening is satisfying, and while I agree it drags a bit after that, the serial's willingness to play around with the world-building it's set up is fascinating and delightful to watch. I wish it hadn't ended as abruptly as it did, though.
1) Serial 7, Episodes 35-44 - The War Games
The War Games starts out as a pretty impressive story on its own, but becomes much stronger when it brings the lore of the Time Lords explicitly into the series for the first time. The final episode is one of the strongest so far and the departure of Jamie and Zoe is very moving. (x)
The Second Doctor's last serial is a big, sprawling epic that probably could've been two episodes shorter. That said, the sheer scale of this makes me understand why it was ten episodes long, as it has elaborate sets and a large cast that elevate the show as a whole. This isn't even touching on the lore introduced in this serial, which is my mind is what elevates it to being the best of the season. The show directly addresses the Doctor as a character, something that had only been done before in a very tangential way. The War Lord is an excellent foil for the Doctor, and the Time Lords themselves really illustrate how different a character the Doctor is. The final episode may be my favorite of this first era of classic episodes. Not only does it provide answers to key mysteries of the series' lore, but it has a heightened tension all the way through. The departures of Jamie and Zoe are as tragic as they are beautiful, and lay the template for other exits like Donna Noble and Clara Oswald in the modern series. Honestly, it just infuses me with a sense of excitement for where the show is going to go next, and what it's capable of doing.
Final Thoughts
I see why the sixth season is so beloved and popular among fans of the classic series. Part of it is because it's the most complete, but it's also because the show has the clearest sense of it's identity and every actor and character is at their absolute best. The show was willing to take more risks and challenge the structure and status quo that had been set up over the previous five seasons, and the emotional beats at the end of The War Games probably wouldn't have landed as well as they had if the season itself hadn't been so good.
This also functions as a pretty good end to an era of the show encapsulating the First and Second Doctors, bringing the arc of the character full circle and tying up a lot of thematic loose ends (ymmv on how intentional this was). Regardless, it feels like a year of my life watching this was well spent, and I'm excited to see the new direction the show takes with a new Doctor, a new status quo, and in color!