Indeed, that is correct.
A First-Timer Watches Doctor Who
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The Keys of Marinus (5/10)
The Sea of Death (4/10)
The Velvet Web (6/10)
The Screaming Jungle (5/10)
The Snows of Terror (3/10)
Sentence of Death (6/10)
The Keys of Marinus (5/10)
Now that I've seen the whole first season, I can safely say this is by far the weakest part of it. It is not bad as such (Except The Snows of Terror), but very mediocre.
We start on a beach, with the TARDIS being a very obvious model. Susan wans to go swimming, but she accidentally drops her shoe in the water and it dissolves immediatly. After she gets new shoes it turns out some weird aliens have been crossing the acid sea in weird suits (This is why we invented flight on Earth). They set out for a tower, and find the weird aliens in zombie-like combat with an old guy who lives in the tower. The old guy explains the tower contains a machine that once did massive mind-control on the entiure planet, turning everyone "good" (good by whose standards, I wonder) and force them all to behave. Weirdly enough the Doctor and rest of the crew don't seem at all disgusted by this oppressive machine, and express their sypathies about it being broken, as a matter of fact. The old guy explains the weird aliens try to capture it and turn the entire planet into their slaves (as opposed to what he's trying to do?) and orders the crew to find five keys hidden throughout the planet that will make the mindcontrol machine work again. They refuse, but find they can't enter the TARDIS, so they accede and get wristteleportation thingies that will bring them to the places that the keys are hidden. Luckily the old guy is murdered shortly after they leave, leaving only one side trying to mindcontrol the planet.
They arrive in a sort of palace-thing, were Barbara is already getting everything she wants. A guy I call P.W. (for reasons I'll explain later) tells them they can wish anything they want, so Susan takes a dress and the Doctor wants a laborotory. Now they are offered food. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I was immediatly expecting the food to be drugged. However, the inhabitants of the city try to get them under their mindcontrol by placing little machines on their heads instead, but Barbara rolls over and the machine falls from her head (This is why we invented tape on Earth). The next day, she sees how the palacething really looks and gets rather upset, causing the others to think she's mad. P.W. takes her to the leaders of the city, which are brains in jars. She gets put in a cell together with some annoying girl, pretends to have escaped, and then actually escapes. She gets back to the brains in jars. In their first few scenes, I actually thought these made rather cool and creepy villains as we always see them from the back, but in this scene we see them from the front, and they have really silly cartoony eyes, making them look completly ridiculous and silly. Barbara smashes these sad excuses for villains, and the entire city is out of mindcontrol. The annoying girl and P.W. decide to join the crew after they find the key, and they decide to split up (Since William Hartnell had a vacation). (One thing I liked about this episode was that it was Barbara who got to be the hero, since she was a bit underutilized before)
Some horrible overacting later, they arrive in the jungle. It was at this point that I noticed P.W. wasn't wearing pants (trousers to all Britons), making me go
and lose what little respect I had for the guy, calling him Pantsless Weirdo (P.W.). Seriously, who figured having the most important guest character of the story wear such a silly costume would be a good idea? Anyway, they see a cave with the key in it on a statue, practically with a "TAKE ME!" sign next to it. Barabara takes the bait and the statue grips her and turns around. P.W., Susan, and the annoying girl decide to go on, while Ian will try to help Barbara and then join them as quickly as he can (Please do, the thought of P.W. being alone with Susan creeps me out). Meanwhile the statue has turned back and Ian gets grabbed by it as well, and he and Barbara get deposited in the cave were the actual key is, where they meet it's keeper, who set the trap (Someone should really explain to him that leads thieves of a priceless artifact to the area were that artifact is kept completely unharmed is not really a good trap). The guy dies, and mutters something I can't remember, and then Ian and Barbara search the room for the real key, but the jungle comes to life and start trying to eat them (This is why we invented herbicides on Earth) in a very funny scene were William Russell and Jaqueline Hill try desperately to keep a straight face while pretending to be in a terrible fight with plants. They find the key and move on, ending up in a blizzard, where they succumb to the cold in about ten seconds.
They are found by a hermit, who brings them to his house. Ian wants to go look for P.W., Susan, and the annoying girl, but the hermit doesn't want to loan his fur coats, so Ian gives him the teleportation thingies to compensate him in case he doesn't come back. While lookign for them, he sees P.W. frozen half to death in a snowstorm (This is why we invented pants on Earth) Ian revives him and rubs his legs to warm him in a vaguely disturbing scene. Meanwhile the hermit tries to rape Barbara, but Ian and P.W. come back and make him lead them to the cave he dumped Susan and the annoying girl in. They set out for the cave, all in fur coats except P.W. who still doesn't bother putting on a pair of trousers, and go to the cave. But Susan and the annoying girl have gone deeper into the cave, over a rope ladder, under a loose rock, and find some frozen statues of soldiers (Double Checkhov's Gun here). They come back, and because they are some happy to see them, everyone but the hermit goes over the rope ladder, so the hermit breaks the bridge behind them (thus cutting himself of from all those fur coats). They go to the romm with the frozen soldiers and melt the iceblock the key is in. In doing so they also release the soldiers, who come to life (surprise, surprise) and try to kill them. They drop the rock to slow them (Wow, I didn't expect that.). They build a brisge of ice and Susan goes over it and put the real bridge up again. The all go back to the hermit who thinks they're ghosts and then gets killed by the soldiers while our heroes escape.
Ian ends up in a museum where the last key is hidden. Someone knocks him on the head and takes the diamond. Next Ian is charged with murder and theft (This is why we invented security cameras on Earth), and the Doctor is his lawyer. They find some evidence, Susan is kidnapped and saved and they can just take the key. When they come back, the leader of the weird aliens is disguised (really poorly) as the old guy and Ian gives the fake key to him and the machine explodes. The travellers leave and say goodbye to P.W. and the annoying girl.
The Sea of Death (4/10)
The Velvet Web (6/10)
The Screaming Jungle (5/10)
The Snows of Terror (3/10)
Sentence of Death (6/10)
The Keys of Marinus (5/10)
Now that I've seen the whole first season, I can safely say this is by far the weakest part of it. It is not bad as such (Except The Snows of Terror), but very mediocre.
We start on a beach, with the TARDIS being a very obvious model. Susan wans to go swimming, but she accidentally drops her shoe in the water and it dissolves immediatly. After she gets new shoes it turns out some weird aliens have been crossing the acid sea in weird suits (This is why we invented flight on Earth). They set out for a tower, and find the weird aliens in zombie-like combat with an old guy who lives in the tower. The old guy explains the tower contains a machine that once did massive mind-control on the entiure planet, turning everyone "good" (good by whose standards, I wonder) and force them all to behave. Weirdly enough the Doctor and rest of the crew don't seem at all disgusted by this oppressive machine, and express their sypathies about it being broken, as a matter of fact. The old guy explains the weird aliens try to capture it and turn the entire planet into their slaves (as opposed to what he's trying to do?) and orders the crew to find five keys hidden throughout the planet that will make the mindcontrol machine work again. They refuse, but find they can't enter the TARDIS, so they accede and get wristteleportation thingies that will bring them to the places that the keys are hidden. Luckily the old guy is murdered shortly after they leave, leaving only one side trying to mindcontrol the planet.
They arrive in a sort of palace-thing, were Barbara is already getting everything she wants. A guy I call P.W. (for reasons I'll explain later) tells them they can wish anything they want, so Susan takes a dress and the Doctor wants a laborotory. Now they are offered food. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I was immediatly expecting the food to be drugged. However, the inhabitants of the city try to get them under their mindcontrol by placing little machines on their heads instead, but Barbara rolls over and the machine falls from her head (This is why we invented tape on Earth). The next day, she sees how the palacething really looks and gets rather upset, causing the others to think she's mad. P.W. takes her to the leaders of the city, which are brains in jars. She gets put in a cell together with some annoying girl, pretends to have escaped, and then actually escapes. She gets back to the brains in jars. In their first few scenes, I actually thought these made rather cool and creepy villains as we always see them from the back, but in this scene we see them from the front, and they have really silly cartoony eyes, making them look completly ridiculous and silly. Barbara smashes these sad excuses for villains, and the entire city is out of mindcontrol. The annoying girl and P.W. decide to join the crew after they find the key, and they decide to split up (Since William Hartnell had a vacation). (One thing I liked about this episode was that it was Barbara who got to be the hero, since she was a bit underutilized before)
Some horrible overacting later, they arrive in the jungle. It was at this point that I noticed P.W. wasn't wearing pants (trousers to all Britons), making me go
and lose what little respect I had for the guy, calling him Pantsless Weirdo (P.W.). Seriously, who figured having the most important guest character of the story wear such a silly costume would be a good idea? Anyway, they see a cave with the key in it on a statue, practically with a "TAKE ME!" sign next to it. Barabara takes the bait and the statue grips her and turns around. P.W., Susan, and the annoying girl decide to go on, while Ian will try to help Barbara and then join them as quickly as he can (Please do, the thought of P.W. being alone with Susan creeps me out). Meanwhile the statue has turned back and Ian gets grabbed by it as well, and he and Barbara get deposited in the cave were the actual key is, where they meet it's keeper, who set the trap (Someone should really explain to him that leads thieves of a priceless artifact to the area were that artifact is kept completely unharmed is not really a good trap). The guy dies, and mutters something I can't remember, and then Ian and Barbara search the room for the real key, but the jungle comes to life and start trying to eat them (This is why we invented herbicides on Earth) in a very funny scene were William Russell and Jaqueline Hill try desperately to keep a straight face while pretending to be in a terrible fight with plants. They find the key and move on, ending up in a blizzard, where they succumb to the cold in about ten seconds.They are found by a hermit, who brings them to his house. Ian wants to go look for P.W., Susan, and the annoying girl, but the hermit doesn't want to loan his fur coats, so Ian gives him the teleportation thingies to compensate him in case he doesn't come back. While lookign for them, he sees P.W. frozen half to death in a snowstorm (This is why we invented pants on Earth) Ian revives him and rubs his legs to warm him in a vaguely disturbing scene. Meanwhile the hermit tries to rape Barbara, but Ian and P.W. come back and make him lead them to the cave he dumped Susan and the annoying girl in. They set out for the cave, all in fur coats except P.W. who still doesn't bother putting on a pair of trousers, and go to the cave. But Susan and the annoying girl have gone deeper into the cave, over a rope ladder, under a loose rock, and find some frozen statues of soldiers (Double Checkhov's Gun here). They come back, and because they are some happy to see them, everyone but the hermit goes over the rope ladder, so the hermit breaks the bridge behind them (thus cutting himself of from all those fur coats). They go to the romm with the frozen soldiers and melt the iceblock the key is in. In doing so they also release the soldiers, who come to life (surprise, surprise) and try to kill them. They drop the rock to slow them (Wow, I didn't expect that.). They build a brisge of ice and Susan goes over it and put the real bridge up again. The all go back to the hermit who thinks they're ghosts and then gets killed by the soldiers while our heroes escape.
Ian ends up in a museum where the last key is hidden. Someone knocks him on the head and takes the diamond. Next Ian is charged with murder and theft (This is why we invented security cameras on Earth), and the Doctor is his lawyer. They find some evidence, Susan is kidnapped and saved and they can just take the key. When they come back, the leader of the weird aliens is disguised (really poorly) as the old guy and Ian gives the fake key to him and the machine explodes. The travellers leave and say goodbye to P.W. and the annoying girl.
I don't mind it. It's not great, but there were some ideas there that were worthy of praise. A real attempt at an alien world, complete with seas of acid etc. Some clever set design and camera usage. Typical Terry Nation hallmarks - trapdoors, boobytraps & having our heroes put in a difficult and dangerous situation, which then only gets worse and worse. The idea of of an epic, story-spanning quest arc which would be revisited (albeit not entirely successfuly) in The Key to Time season.
The lowpoint to season 1 for me is The Sensorites.
The lowpoint to season 1 for me is The Sensorites.
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