The costume and set designs are once again impeccable, as seems to be the norm in these historical adventures. They have put a lot of effort into those costumes and the sets (such as the prison set), which greatly improve the quality of the serial. -- 3
The best part of the story comes from the Doctor playing dress-up for the first (but far from the last) time, by playing a French general. William Hartnell seems to love playing the part, as much I love watching it. -- 6
Writer Dennis Spooner's script makes a good job of capturing the feel of the French Revolution and the horrors associated with it; the terror, the politics, and the characters come alive pretty well. -- 8
This is Doctor Who gone depressing and serious for the very first time - it's great that the story isn't trying to gloss over the death, destruction, and hardship faced by the French people and soldiers under the reign of terror. -- 10
There's quite a lot of action underlined by an impeccable score that builds and maintains a very high level of tension and a sense of danger. -- 12
So, Part Six introduces a twist that, frankly, I had already forgotten about due to all the padding between this and the early episodes. It's satisfying to see that James Sterling has been hiding in plain sight in front of our noses all this time. -- 14
Part Six also fast-tracks the action and allows the Doctor to have some fun bullying the Jailer, which feels like a very Doctor-y thing to do. -- 16
I love how the opening moments of this story play around with the Doctor's (very real) inability to steer the Tardis where he wants her to go. -- 17
I kind of like how half of the first episode is spent by having the main cast members re-establish their relations while trying to figure out where and when they are (spoiler: it's not 20th century England!). -- 18
The Part One cliffhanger puts the Doctor in a properly life-threatening situation for once. -- 19
We are finally treated with another fairly memorable and varied score, this time by Stanley Myers in his only work for the show. -- 20
While the historical characters featured here aren't as memorable as those seen in Marco Polo (1964) and later in The Crusade (1965), they still have a lot of personality to them. Just look at the nasty eagerness of Jack Cunningham's Jailer or the sheer amount of authority brought forward by James Cairncross as Lemaitre. -- 21
The way the Doctor uses cunning and some light violence to escape from the road worker overseer in Part Two is such a William Hartnell thing to do that it really wouldn't work with any other Doctor. -- 22
There's some twisty and turn-y politics and treachery in this story that keeps it engaging throughout the six-episode runtime. -- 23
The animation is pretty good at capturing the distinct face details of the different actors. -- 24
What a lovely quick cameo from Napoleon at the end here - it's somewhat strange that this major historical figure hasn't appeared on the show since 1964! -- 25
THE BAD:
There's some light padding in the middle parts, during which the story switches back and forth between two settings and doesn't develop the pilot significantly. Here, the show returns to the routine of allowing the main characters to be captured, escape, and then be recaptured again a few times. -- 1
I appreciate the effort to animate the two missing episodes (Four and Five), but this early animation work is far from the quality seen in the most recent releases. It's better than watching telesnaps, but it's jarring in its visualization of close-ups, faces, and more action-filled moments. -- 2
Not a huge fan of how the fight in Part Five has been depicted in animated form, it looks very strange somehow. -- 3
Robespierre is supposed to be the big bad here, but he remains in the background and does not feel as palpably sinister as the more hot-headed and actively involved Lemaitre does - Keith Anderson's performance is good, though. -- 4
The biggest problem with the animated episodes is the close-ups and quick edits that simply don't fit the pacing of the existing episodes and feel too modern to fit a TV episode from the 60s. -- 6
Boy, Dennis Spooner did Susan and Barbara dirty here. Susan loses all of her character development from the previous story, The Sensorites (1964), and Barbara is far from her usual self - both are essentially useless. -- 8
The plot seriously suffers from the six-episode format. It's just too long to maintain the tension and interest from the first couple of episodes, as the narrative moves into rinse and repeat mode with very little actual plot development. There's a real struggle to wrap things up during the last two episodes and the entire story suffers as a consequence. -- 10
Review by Theo KallströmVIP 6BlockedParent2022-03-31T10:10:37Z
:white_check_mark:71% :thumbsup:25 :thumbsdown:10
THE GOOD:
The costume and set designs are once again impeccable, as seems to be the norm in these historical adventures. They have put a lot of effort into those costumes and the sets (such as the prison set), which greatly improve the quality of the serial. -- 3
The best part of the story comes from the Doctor playing dress-up for the first (but far from the last) time, by playing a French general. William Hartnell seems to love playing the part, as much I love watching it. -- 6
Writer Dennis Spooner's script makes a good job of capturing the feel of the French Revolution and the horrors associated with it; the terror, the politics, and the characters come alive pretty well. -- 8
This is Doctor Who gone depressing and serious for the very first time - it's great that the story isn't trying to gloss over the death, destruction, and hardship faced by the French people and soldiers under the reign of terror. -- 10
There's quite a lot of action underlined by an impeccable score that builds and maintains a very high level of tension and a sense of danger. -- 12
So, Part Six introduces a twist that, frankly, I had already forgotten about due to all the padding between this and the early episodes. It's satisfying to see that James Sterling has been hiding in plain sight in front of our noses all this time. -- 14
Part Six also fast-tracks the action and allows the Doctor to have some fun bullying the Jailer, which feels like a very Doctor-y thing to do. -- 16
I love how the opening moments of this story play around with the Doctor's (very real) inability to steer the Tardis where he wants her to go. -- 17
I kind of like how half of the first episode is spent by having the main cast members re-establish their relations while trying to figure out where and when they are (spoiler: it's not 20th century England!). -- 18
The Part One cliffhanger puts the Doctor in a properly life-threatening situation for once. -- 19
We are finally treated with another fairly memorable and varied score, this time by Stanley Myers in his only work for the show. -- 20
While the historical characters featured here aren't as memorable as those seen in Marco Polo (1964) and later in The Crusade (1965), they still have a lot of personality to them. Just look at the nasty eagerness of Jack Cunningham's Jailer or the sheer amount of authority brought forward by James Cairncross as Lemaitre. -- 21
The way the Doctor uses cunning and some light violence to escape from the road worker overseer in Part Two is such a William Hartnell thing to do that it really wouldn't work with any other Doctor. -- 22
There's some twisty and turn-y politics and treachery in this story that keeps it engaging throughout the six-episode runtime. -- 23
The animation is pretty good at capturing the distinct face details of the different actors. -- 24
What a lovely quick cameo from Napoleon at the end here - it's somewhat strange that this major historical figure hasn't appeared on the show since 1964! -- 25
THE BAD:
There's some light padding in the middle parts, during which the story switches back and forth between two settings and doesn't develop the pilot significantly. Here, the show returns to the routine of allowing the main characters to be captured, escape, and then be recaptured again a few times. -- 1
I appreciate the effort to animate the two missing episodes (Four and Five), but this early animation work is far from the quality seen in the most recent releases. It's better than watching telesnaps, but it's jarring in its visualization of close-ups, faces, and more action-filled moments. -- 2
Not a huge fan of how the fight in Part Five has been depicted in animated form, it looks very strange somehow. -- 3
Robespierre is supposed to be the big bad here, but he remains in the background and does not feel as palpably sinister as the more hot-headed and actively involved Lemaitre does - Keith Anderson's performance is good, though. -- 4
The biggest problem with the animated episodes is the close-ups and quick edits that simply don't fit the pacing of the existing episodes and feel too modern to fit a TV episode from the 60s. -- 6
Boy, Dennis Spooner did Susan and Barbara dirty here. Susan loses all of her character development from the previous story, The Sensorites (1964), and Barbara is far from her usual self - both are essentially useless. -- 8
The plot seriously suffers from the six-episode format. It's just too long to maintain the tension and interest from the first couple of episodes, as the narrative moves into rinse and repeat mode with very little actual plot development. There's a real struggle to wrap things up during the last two episodes and the entire story suffers as a consequence. -- 10