"It's so quiet." "Yeah, it's almost too quiet."
TECHNICAL SPECS: Part 1 of Galaxy 4, a story that is was almost entirely missing until episode 3 was found late last year. This first episode includes the only other surviving footage, about 6 minutes' worth. Though I've listened to the audio as narrated by Peter Purves, for these reviews, I will use Loose Canon's reconstructions found on Dailymotion. These include the surviving footage, plus footage shot by the Loose Canon team with a Chumbley prop. A shortened version, collapsed into the second episode, using those elements can be found on the Special Edition DVD of The Aztecs, as context for the newly-found third episode. First aired Sep.11 1965.
IN THIS ONE... The TARDIS crew follow a wedding-cake robot to a crashed spaceship where space Amazons plot against their enemy who built these robotic "Chumbleys".
REVIEW: This episode is painful to watch and listen to, and not just because the video is mostly missing. Even the 6 minutes we do have are rather dreary. From what I can gather, writer William Emms really doesn't have a knack for dialog. Either everything is played silently, which doesn't help us understand his story today, or else it's vast swathes of nearly robotic exposition. The silent bits are the worst because,well, they're NOT actually silent. They're filled with noise. The avant-garde music and silly sound effects that accompany the robots' actions go on FOREVER and are never anything other than annoying. The "Chumbleys", as Vicki dubs them (before proceeding to name-drop them as if this were a drinking game and she clearly meant us to pass out long before the credits sequence), look like Dalek wedding cakes, and are always doing stuff. Which means there's a lot of beeping and comedy whistling going on.
As for the Drahvins, a race of female warriors led by a woman called Margot--oh, I'm sorry, it's Maaga. Whatever, it sounds ridiculous either way--they're more or less genetically engineered blow-up dolls made by a race that kill their men because they just take up space and eat all the food. Fair enough (I recognize myself there), but why is Maaga the only "person" in the group. Wouldn't having real characters in the place of the "numbered" Drahvins have made for a better episode? Even as pseudo-robotic warriors, they don't amount to much, losing their little net and then whimpering pathetically when their leader bawls them out. Maaga may claim she's a person, but she's as two-dimensional as the rest, spouting dogma like it was programming.
Obviously, as a hardened Whovian, I already know the twist of this story. It's a "don't judge a book by its cover" story. It just doesn't work as such because right away, the Doctor doesn't trust the Drahvin or their version of the story, and Vicki is ready to give the Rills a chance, sight unseen. It's quite clear where this is heading, since Maaga doesn't have one sympathetic bone in her body. Steven's a little more open, but that's because the idea of a race of women makes him a little randy. That is, when he's not fretful because he's been given Barbara's lines. But don't worry, when the plot gets boring, there's more interminable beeping as the Chumbleys (DRINK!) do something or other. I can't wait for this damn planet to explode already.
REWATCHABILITY: Low - The awful thing isn't that this episode is missing, but that it was made at all. What a terrible way to start a season!
TECHNICAL SPECS: Part 1 of Galaxy 4, a story that is was almost entirely missing until episode 3 was found late last year. This first episode includes the only other surviving footage, about 6 minutes' worth. Though I've listened to the audio as narrated by Peter Purves, for these reviews, I will use Loose Canon's reconstructions found on Dailymotion. These include the surviving footage, plus footage shot by the Loose Canon team with a Chumbley prop. A shortened version, collapsed into the second episode, using those elements can be found on the Special Edition DVD of The Aztecs, as context for the newly-found third episode. First aired Sep.11 1965.IN THIS ONE... The TARDIS crew follow a wedding-cake robot to a crashed spaceship where space Amazons plot against their enemy who built these robotic "Chumbleys".
REVIEW: This episode is painful to watch and listen to, and not just because the video is mostly missing. Even the 6 minutes we do have are rather dreary. From what I can gather, writer William Emms really doesn't have a knack for dialog. Either everything is played silently, which doesn't help us understand his story today, or else it's vast swathes of nearly robotic exposition. The silent bits are the worst because,well, they're NOT actually silent. They're filled with noise. The avant-garde music and silly sound effects that accompany the robots' actions go on FOREVER and are never anything other than annoying. The "Chumbleys", as Vicki dubs them (before proceeding to name-drop them as if this were a drinking game and she clearly meant us to pass out long before the credits sequence), look like Dalek wedding cakes, and are always doing stuff. Which means there's a lot of beeping and comedy whistling going on.
As for the Drahvins, a race of female warriors led by a woman called Margot--oh, I'm sorry, it's Maaga. Whatever, it sounds ridiculous either way--they're more or less genetically engineered blow-up dolls made by a race that kill their men because they just take up space and eat all the food. Fair enough (I recognize myself there), but why is Maaga the only "person" in the group. Wouldn't having real characters in the place of the "numbered" Drahvins have made for a better episode? Even as pseudo-robotic warriors, they don't amount to much, losing their little net and then whimpering pathetically when their leader bawls them out. Maaga may claim she's a person, but she's as two-dimensional as the rest, spouting dogma like it was programming.
Obviously, as a hardened Whovian, I already know the twist of this story. It's a "don't judge a book by its cover" story. It just doesn't work as such because right away, the Doctor doesn't trust the Drahvin or their version of the story, and Vicki is ready to give the Rills a chance, sight unseen. It's quite clear where this is heading, since Maaga doesn't have one sympathetic bone in her body. Steven's a little more open, but that's because the idea of a race of women makes him a little randy. That is, when he's not fretful because he's been given Barbara's lines. But don't worry, when the plot gets boring, there's more interminable beeping as the Chumbleys (DRINK!) do something or other. I can't wait for this damn planet to explode already.
REWATCHABILITY: Low - The awful thing isn't that this episode is missing, but that it was made at all. What a terrible way to start a season!
Comments