My second watch of the animation has seen this leapfrog "Web Of Fear" as my favourite Troughton story! Brilliantly complex and multi faceted, with the threat to The Doctor's growing friendship with Jamie all makes this an absolute classic!
This story probably is one episode too many, but its opening and climax are so extraordinarily effective that it doesn't matter much to me - the first episode going from the Avengers, with clues, heavies in warehouses and weird masterminds, only to turn into Daleks and Victorian mad scientists is wonderful - as is the final confrontation on Skaro. Whitaker is playing around with structure, as he did in the Crusade, reinventing the Daleks, as in Power, and giving a great cast meaty scenes to tackle, as he would again in Enemy of the World. In an era of the show that increasingly gets bogged down with bases and cybermen, this story works as an example of a show that can do almost anything..!
i think the problem with Victoria in this story is that whilst David Whittaker created her with potential companion material, the production team were originally going to use Samantha Briggs from The Faceless Ones as the new companion, only for the actress to turn down the role, I can certainly see Victoria only being used in this serial as the bait for Jamie's trial and in Episode 5 leave with the others whilst the Doctor, Jamie, Maxtible and her father travel to Skaro
I know a lot of people want to site this story as an episode too long or any of the other issues that get frequently brought up but… I love it. I think it’s a terrific story. I love the middle episodes of Jamie and Kemel going to save Victoria. I think Jamie, Kemel and Victoria have a really lovely dynamic between one another. The only issue I have is Victoria feeling really boringly stereotypical. A damsel in distress who very rarely fights for herself. I adore the Daleks in Victorian London settings. It’s unique. The narrative is genuinely interesting and the Daleks are SO menacing.
Aside from reading the book the animation was the only other way I've ever experienced this story and I wish it was an episode longer 😁😁😁 There was so much to enjoy in this especially the planet and time jumping 😁😁😁
Evil is very good. I think it may be one epiosde too long but its still great at the length it is at. Theres a lot of good themes and playingthe doctor as a manipulator is always an interesting angle. Victoria doesn't do much here but she's not bad here, I think she actually does pretty well in some of the upcoming stories too. Tomb definitely plays on this as well. The character of Kemel is definitely problematic, as with Toberman in the next story, but I think they both manage to defy the sterotype to a degree. Unfortunately the brainless brute troupe was way too common in the age these storeis were made, but at least our heros treat them well and try to help them be more than their steretypes. Also the actor for Kemel, Sunny Caldinez, seemed to have fond memories of playing Kemel. Of course he also played Ice Warriors in all the classic stories to feature them and in all the times I've seen him on behind the scenes stuff he seems to have a real fondness for his time on Doctor who.
Glad you came around it! Personally after seeing it rather recently, I more than enjoyed it and especially the animation helps it a lot with being easily one of the best from the whole range!
Now, I'm no fan of the Jamie/Victoria season 5 era of Who, but I always wonder what this story would look like if Pauline Collins had stayed on as Samantha Briggs. What if ..... Samantha had been kidnapped at the end of the Faceless Ones (instead of the TARDIS) and The Doctor and Jamie had gone to rescue her! BANG! Victorian England / Daleks/ Skaro - season five could have been spent trying to get her back to 60's Earth ... oh, Hello Fury from the Deep! Drop off point!
I kinda loved the Jamie/Victoria dynamic. I think they had great chemistry and having Jamie willing to sacrifice his life for her during her travels was quite sweet and bold
