"There are no tricks in science, only facts."
TECHNICAL SPECS: Part 4 of The Space Museum. First aired May 15 1965.
IN THIS ONE... The revolution happens and frees the TARDISeers from the Moroks and their predicted future.
REVIEW: At 22 minutes, The Space Museum's finale is rather short, especially when you consider the epilogue that includes a set-up for the next episode's Time and Space Visualiser, and a cliffhanger sequence with the Daleks. Even at that length, some of the editing seems to nip scenes in the bud too quickly. Technically, there's also a slight distortion problem with the print as used on the DVD, making characters on the left side of the screen thinner than they ought to be. A minor thing when you consider other episodes are entirely missing, so let's get back to the length - is it indicative of a fast and furious, slam-bang climax? Well, no.
The problem, I suppose, is that the Moroks are the least competent, least dangerous aliens in the whole Whoniverse. I mean, even their killer technology is absolute rubbish. The Doctor is freeze-dried (not embalmed as they previously said) and is well beyond being saved, but you know, they've never tried to reverse the process before. When Ian forces them to, the Doctor's a bit stiff, but his wits are as sharp as before, and he even claims to have been able to think at a normal rate while he was frozen. FAIL! Barbara gets gassed, and even though gas continues to billow into the room... she wakes up and escapes! FAIL! And what about those Morok weapons liberated from the armory? When the Xerons show up and get shot, you think it's gone pear-shaped and Vicki'll learn a valuable lesson about the price of revolution, but no... They wake up! Stun guns all! FAIL!!! Oh Lobos has a few moments of gleeful cruelty, but as soon as there's the least bit of opposition, he starts filling his briefcase so he can get out of Dodge.
I'm afraid to sound like I'm giving the story too much credit if I say it has a coherent theme, but its theme is one of inaction (probably something Doctor Who wasn't designed to support). Not only are the Moroks useless, and the Xerons need a teenage girl to prompt them to action, the TARDISeers themselves are fairly paralyzed by their thoughts on predestination. That's three episodes in a row where they discuss that situation now, and it never holds water for me, probably because the story has little in the way of internal logic. We could have replaced some of these philosophical concerns with, I dunno, a stronger romantic subplot between Vicki and Tor? As it is, their sweet farewell looks like something improvised by actors desperate to give depth to a shallow script. Oh, and the reason behind the temporal anomalies in episode 1? Some doodad in the TARDIS was "stuck" and made the ship jump a time track. That's pretty much the same rationale used in The Edge of Forever, and that's not going into the "pros" column. It also doesn't explain the mystery of the quickly eroding landscape and Morok equipment. Seems like there was something bigger at work in some version of the script. But sticky springs it is. Get that thing cleaned, Doctor.
VERSIONS: It shows that Glyn Jones wrote the book more than 20 years after he did the screenplay. The Doctor is more overtly a Time Lord and other bits of Who lore make it in. The biggest change is the addition of a chess-playing robot called Matt.
REWATCHABILITY: Low - When the story requires a climax, it can't achieve it because its non-dangerous antagonists are decidedly undeadly. And though this might be a send-up, the director doesn't seem to be in on it, so it just falls flat. It's a good thing it's so brief.
STORY REWATCHABILITY: Medium-Low - Taken as a piece, it has some redeeming features, like intriguing effects in episode 1, the Doctor's performance in episode 2, a good fight scene in episode 3, and Vicki being infectiously idealistic. It never manages to become a funny comedy or a thoughtful SF fable however, though that may be what various parties were striving for.
TECHNICAL SPECS: Part 4 of The Space Museum. First aired May 15 1965.IN THIS ONE... The revolution happens and frees the TARDISeers from the Moroks and their predicted future.
REVIEW: At 22 minutes, The Space Museum's finale is rather short, especially when you consider the epilogue that includes a set-up for the next episode's Time and Space Visualiser, and a cliffhanger sequence with the Daleks. Even at that length, some of the editing seems to nip scenes in the bud too quickly. Technically, there's also a slight distortion problem with the print as used on the DVD, making characters on the left side of the screen thinner than they ought to be. A minor thing when you consider other episodes are entirely missing, so let's get back to the length - is it indicative of a fast and furious, slam-bang climax? Well, no.
The problem, I suppose, is that the Moroks are the least competent, least dangerous aliens in the whole Whoniverse. I mean, even their killer technology is absolute rubbish. The Doctor is freeze-dried (not embalmed as they previously said) and is well beyond being saved, but you know, they've never tried to reverse the process before. When Ian forces them to, the Doctor's a bit stiff, but his wits are as sharp as before, and he even claims to have been able to think at a normal rate while he was frozen. FAIL! Barbara gets gassed, and even though gas continues to billow into the room... she wakes up and escapes! FAIL! And what about those Morok weapons liberated from the armory? When the Xerons show up and get shot, you think it's gone pear-shaped and Vicki'll learn a valuable lesson about the price of revolution, but no... They wake up! Stun guns all! FAIL!!! Oh Lobos has a few moments of gleeful cruelty, but as soon as there's the least bit of opposition, he starts filling his briefcase so he can get out of Dodge.
I'm afraid to sound like I'm giving the story too much credit if I say it has a coherent theme, but its theme is one of inaction (probably something Doctor Who wasn't designed to support). Not only are the Moroks useless, and the Xerons need a teenage girl to prompt them to action, the TARDISeers themselves are fairly paralyzed by their thoughts on predestination. That's three episodes in a row where they discuss that situation now, and it never holds water for me, probably because the story has little in the way of internal logic. We could have replaced some of these philosophical concerns with, I dunno, a stronger romantic subplot between Vicki and Tor? As it is, their sweet farewell looks like something improvised by actors desperate to give depth to a shallow script. Oh, and the reason behind the temporal anomalies in episode 1? Some doodad in the TARDIS was "stuck" and made the ship jump a time track. That's pretty much the same rationale used in The Edge of Forever, and that's not going into the "pros" column. It also doesn't explain the mystery of the quickly eroding landscape and Morok equipment. Seems like there was something bigger at work in some version of the script. But sticky springs it is. Get that thing cleaned, Doctor.
VERSIONS: It shows that Glyn Jones wrote the book more than 20 years after he did the screenplay. The Doctor is more overtly a Time Lord and other bits of Who lore make it in. The biggest change is the addition of a chess-playing robot called Matt.
REWATCHABILITY: Low - When the story requires a climax, it can't achieve it because its non-dangerous antagonists are decidedly undeadly. And though this might be a send-up, the director doesn't seem to be in on it, so it just falls flat. It's a good thing it's so brief.
STORY REWATCHABILITY: Medium-Low - Taken as a piece, it has some redeeming features, like intriguing effects in episode 1, the Doctor's performance in episode 2, a good fight scene in episode 3, and Vicki being infectiously idealistic. It never manages to become a funny comedy or a thoughtful SF fable however, though that may be what various parties were striving for.
Comments
It would've been probably better that way. I think it was a miscalculation by Spooner to make it more serious.
But anyway, for all its faults, I enjoyed this series a lot. It's neither agonizing to watch like most of the Chase nor incredibly dull like The Web Planet. And there are quite a few great scenes here. The interrogation of the doctor, the hiding in a Dalek case, the crew pondering if they changed their future and the funny scene were Vicky convinces the passive rebels to take some action. And this series portrays the characters really well. Ian has his moments to shine as an action hero and Vicky gets to do something on her own and not be an idiot. I think that's the only series where I really enjoyed Vicky. The main reason for this is that she isn't much around the doctor. I really don't like them paired together. He's too authoritative, even condescending, and she's fine with being ordered around.
So, all in all, I thought Space Museum was good. It's exciting when it intends to be, the rather lacking revolution aside, and I cared about what was happening. I wonder though if it was too early for such a story. Imagine something like this in the Peter Davison era, when the series had much more lore and could've stuffed the museum with more sights that hark back to certain stories.
Certainly, the potential was a bit wasted on this one, but overall I liked it. Not one of the greats, but enjoyable.
I like Vicki on any given day, much more than Susan certainly, and I did from day one. The Web Planet side-lined her character in just the way you describe, though I don't blame the partnership, but rather the writing. They work as an excellent double act in The Romans, for example.