"No, not just... nothing, child. Hydrogen gas that... springs itself out like molten silver against the other stars in the same galaxy."
TECHNICAL SPECS: Part 4 of Galaxy 4, it is completely missing from the archives, so I have once again used the reconstruction on Dailymotion. A shortened version, using reconstruction elements, can be found on the Special Edition DVD of The Aztecs, as context for the newly-found third episode. First aired Oct.2 1965.
IN THIS ONE... The TARDIS pumps energy into the Rill ship allowing to escape the planet minutes before it explodes, leaving the Drahvins to their fate.
REVIEW: In its present state, the episode suffers greatly from sound issues, with the Chumbleys' incessant bloops and the ambient music covering up a lot of the dialog, and the booming Rill voice ripping through the ear drums. I sometimes think I'm being commissioned to turn into an assassin the next time I hear comedy beeping. And where the script indicates a battle between the Chumbleys and Drahvins, however, we get no audio indication that it's happening. With the Drahvins fighting a private little war almost off screen (because we no longer have the "screen" material), there's very little conflict left in the show. Steven tries not to trust the Rills, but it's a half-hearted effort at best as the "ugly aliens" continue to profess a respect for life, even willing to bring the Drahvins with them on their escape from the doomed planet (does the Drahvin infiltrator paralyzed by the Chumbley's non-lethal weapon in fact get to escape?).
Of course, the greater Drahvin army has no chance. If their huge bazooka-like guns look impressive, they are nonetheless so useless that Maaga arms her girls with steel pipes (Colonel Mustard is innocent, and I can prove it!). They perish on the planet (see Theories), but there's unfortunately no way to know what its destruction, or the Rill ship's departure, looked like. It might have saved the episode. Not that I'd put money on that.
While the obvious moral of the story is heavy-handedly related to the audience (and really, the Rills aren't THAT ugly), the Doctor does get one good bit where he muses about the death of a world. See, there's occasional poetry in William Emms' lines, but it's intermittent at best and isn't enough to ever recommend his work seeing as all the other elements fail. I find Vicki particularly silly here, as she acts like the Chumbley robots are living beings, shocked that one might self-destruct (there was also her contention that there were "baby ones"). In the last moments of the episode, she hurts her ankle, something that will stay with her until she leaves the program. Same thing happened to Susan. Hm... And the episode ends with a POV shift, cleverly introduced, and an astronaut who will actually NOT be helped by the TARDIS crew. But that's a story for next time.
THEORIES: In The Pandorica Opens (New Series Season 5), the combined forces of all of the Doctor's greatest enemies come out of a time corridor to ambush him. Drahvin ships are apparently part of that fleet. So the question is, if he only ever met this handful of Drahvins and they all perished in Galaxy 4, how could they hold such a grudge towards him. Various theories come to mind: 1) There have been unseen adventures featuring the Drahvins. 2) The Drahvins don't just act like drones, they are somehow part of a group mind. The events of this adventure were broadcast to other Drahvins elsewhere. 3) Alternatively, their ship's black box survived, or sent Maaga's logs back to the homeworld. 4) The Daleks scoured time and space for allies, tracking the TARDIS' unique signature, and picked up the small group of Drahvins just before the planet exploded, took them home where they convinced their empire to join up.
VERSIONS: I have not read the novelization, but according to the Emms himself, he rewrote most of the story from scratch and included such things as a pit trap. Written in 1986, he was able to include Time Lord lore that did not exist in 1965, including the Doctor's second heart and the possibility that the first Doctor wasn't actually in his first incarnation.
REWATCHABILITY: Low - Another noisome atrocity. Its best parts are likely lost forever, though I suspect it would have been boring even with the visuals.
STORY REWATCHABILITY: Low - A strong contender for worst Doctor Who story ever, it doesn't bode well for the John Wiles/Donald Tosh era of the program. A terrible way to start a new season.
TECHNICAL SPECS: Part 4 of Galaxy 4, it is completely missing from the archives, so I have once again used the reconstruction on Dailymotion. A shortened version, using reconstruction elements, can be found on the Special Edition DVD of The Aztecs, as context for the newly-found third episode. First aired Oct.2 1965.IN THIS ONE... The TARDIS pumps energy into the Rill ship allowing to escape the planet minutes before it explodes, leaving the Drahvins to their fate.
REVIEW: In its present state, the episode suffers greatly from sound issues, with the Chumbleys' incessant bloops and the ambient music covering up a lot of the dialog, and the booming Rill voice ripping through the ear drums. I sometimes think I'm being commissioned to turn into an assassin the next time I hear comedy beeping. And where the script indicates a battle between the Chumbleys and Drahvins, however, we get no audio indication that it's happening. With the Drahvins fighting a private little war almost off screen (because we no longer have the "screen" material), there's very little conflict left in the show. Steven tries not to trust the Rills, but it's a half-hearted effort at best as the "ugly aliens" continue to profess a respect for life, even willing to bring the Drahvins with them on their escape from the doomed planet (does the Drahvin infiltrator paralyzed by the Chumbley's non-lethal weapon in fact get to escape?).
Of course, the greater Drahvin army has no chance. If their huge bazooka-like guns look impressive, they are nonetheless so useless that Maaga arms her girls with steel pipes (Colonel Mustard is innocent, and I can prove it!). They perish on the planet (see Theories), but there's unfortunately no way to know what its destruction, or the Rill ship's departure, looked like. It might have saved the episode. Not that I'd put money on that.
While the obvious moral of the story is heavy-handedly related to the audience (and really, the Rills aren't THAT ugly), the Doctor does get one good bit where he muses about the death of a world. See, there's occasional poetry in William Emms' lines, but it's intermittent at best and isn't enough to ever recommend his work seeing as all the other elements fail. I find Vicki particularly silly here, as she acts like the Chumbley robots are living beings, shocked that one might self-destruct (there was also her contention that there were "baby ones"). In the last moments of the episode, she hurts her ankle, something that will stay with her until she leaves the program. Same thing happened to Susan. Hm... And the episode ends with a POV shift, cleverly introduced, and an astronaut who will actually NOT be helped by the TARDIS crew. But that's a story for next time.
THEORIES: In The Pandorica Opens (New Series Season 5), the combined forces of all of the Doctor's greatest enemies come out of a time corridor to ambush him. Drahvin ships are apparently part of that fleet. So the question is, if he only ever met this handful of Drahvins and they all perished in Galaxy 4, how could they hold such a grudge towards him. Various theories come to mind: 1) There have been unseen adventures featuring the Drahvins. 2) The Drahvins don't just act like drones, they are somehow part of a group mind. The events of this adventure were broadcast to other Drahvins elsewhere. 3) Alternatively, their ship's black box survived, or sent Maaga's logs back to the homeworld. 4) The Daleks scoured time and space for allies, tracking the TARDIS' unique signature, and picked up the small group of Drahvins just before the planet exploded, took them home where they convinced their empire to join up.
VERSIONS: I have not read the novelization, but according to the Emms himself, he rewrote most of the story from scratch and included such things as a pit trap. Written in 1986, he was able to include Time Lord lore that did not exist in 1965, including the Doctor's second heart and the possibility that the first Doctor wasn't actually in his first incarnation.
REWATCHABILITY: Low - Another noisome atrocity. Its best parts are likely lost forever, though I suspect it would have been boring even with the visuals.
STORY REWATCHABILITY: Low - A strong contender for worst Doctor Who story ever, it doesn't bode well for the John Wiles/Donald Tosh era of the program. A terrible way to start a new season.
Comments
Saw the surviving episode and the abridged recons on the Aztecs special edition DVD last week. My average rating of 2/10 (from when I listened to the soundtracks) still stands.