Galaxy 4 is a bit of an oddity, in that it's one of the most socially conscious Classic Who stories, almost Star Trekian in its narrative, and it also happens to be one of the most missing serials (no tele-snaps and hardly any publicity shots exist; Part 3 was discovered a decade ago and there's a snippet of surviving material at the tail end of Part 1). We do get some grip on the story, even if the production is nigh impossible to evaluate as a whole. Unfortunately, I don't have access to the recent official animated reconstruction, so this review is based on the older Loose Cannon reconstruction.
STORY: 3
The idea of the ugly alien race being the good one and the beautiful alien race being the evil one (don't judge a book by its cover!) isn't particularly original but feels like a pivotal piece of education for 60s kids. And it's always a good thing to remember in 2022 as well, kids!
Similarly, the Doctor having to work against the clock and save everyone from a planet about to explode into nothingness is unusually bleak and depressing for Doctor Who. Add to that the rather dark ending of the story, and you have the beginning of a fairly dark and depressing season of Doctor Who.
CHARACTERS & ACTING: 3
This is an unusually action-packed episode for the Doctor, with poor 57-ish-year-old William Hartnell running around the sets trying to save everyone before the time is up. He does a good job regardless of this, though.
Stephanie Bidmead does a good enough job of feeling just as unlikeable and treacherous as she's meant to be as the villain of the piece - her fourth-wall-breaking moments are particularly effective.
The Drahvins being a race of women warriors using men as tools feels very forward-thinking and means Galaxy 4 is a story with a predominantly female cast, which is a rarity.
At its core, this is a classic warring factions story disguised under a flashy sci-fi production, an all-female guest cast and some important life lessons. The story itself is hardly representative of its themes and structure and is very repetitive in its content.
The plot sees the characters walk back and forth between two sets while trying to come up with different ways to escape the planet they're currently on. It's one of the emptiest four-parters the show has ever done.
Frankly, the action-heavy opening part coupled with a busy soundtrack and poor sound quality makes it very hard to understand what is going on at the beginning of the tale.
The twist in Part 3 is meant to be a genuine surprise, but I find it predictable from miles away, seeing as how Maaga and the Drahvins are depicted and performed before this.
It's truly jarring how the moral lessons of the episode stick out, due to there not being much of a plot to naturally embed them into. William Emms obviously came up with the educational part first and then struggled to find a way to convey the message
The conclusion to the story feels very confusing as well, so it's a pity it doesn't exist. In its current state, it's a bit too messy to work.
CHARACTERS & ACTING: -5
Why, oh why, did the producers insist on creating new Dalek wannabes? This time, the Chumblies (aptly named by Vicki, and then accepted by everybody as a fact) become something of a hybrid between the antlike Zarbi from The Web Planet (1965) and the clumsy Mechonoids from The Chase (1965) - and they appear a lot in this serial doing absolutely nothing of note, and we mostly just hear their beeping sound so they aren't all that effective (if they ever were).
Steven is unfortunately done dirty here because he is given the lines originally meant for Barbara (this story was written while she was still a character in the show) - and he lacks the energy and personality from The Time Meddler (1965) and later stories.
The Drahvins are mostly wasted potential, as their female warrior side isn't used to great effect and they end up spending most of the story sitting inside the crashed spaceship. Additionally, the story makes it a bit too obvious that they are not the good guys here, particularly in how cold and ruthless Maaga appears to everyone and everything from the beginning.
I'm sad to say that the Rills (who we, fortunately, get to meet properly in the existing Part 3) are nothing but shouty alien lumps that work better on paper than brought to life on a shoestring budget.
ATMOSPHERE: -8
It's a pity this missing story is so visual in structure because it is a chore to sit through and try to figure out what is going on. I had to read the episode synopses online to keep up with the narrative.
Unfortunately, watching a handful of pictures of Chumblies and listening to annoying beeping noises four episodes in a row does not make for a very compelling story.
Much like with The Web Planet, the head-piercing sound design is one of the chief reasons this story is hard to sit through, especially without supporting visuals.
Galaxy 4 is slow and tedious, but also very light on actual tension since the two halves of the story tackle the main characters very differently and there's no proper time to build up to anything.
PRODUCTION: -2
I'm not very sold on the production design from the little we can see from the pictures and the surviving material. This is one of the least visually pleasing stories of the Hartnell era, but that was probably unavoidable considering the production cost of upcoming, gigantic stories.
Review by Theo KallströmVIP 6BlockedParentSpoilers2022-04-15T18:43:29Z
:no_entry:21% :thumbsup:6 :thumbsdown:23
Galaxy 4 is a bit of an oddity, in that it's one of the most socially conscious Classic Who stories, almost Star Trekian in its narrative, and it also happens to be one of the most missing serials (no tele-snaps and hardly any publicity shots exist; Part 3 was discovered a decade ago and there's a snippet of surviving material at the tail end of Part 1). We do get some grip on the story, even if the production is nigh impossible to evaluate as a whole. Unfortunately, I don't have access to the recent official animated reconstruction, so this review is based on the older Loose Cannon reconstruction.
STORY: 3
The idea of the ugly alien race being the good one and the beautiful alien race being the evil one (don't judge a book by its cover!) isn't particularly original but feels like a pivotal piece of education for 60s kids. And it's always a good thing to remember in 2022 as well, kids!
Similarly, the Doctor having to work against the clock and save everyone from a planet about to explode into nothingness is unusually bleak and depressing for Doctor Who. Add to that the rather dark ending of the story, and you have the beginning of a fairly dark and depressing season of Doctor Who.
CHARACTERS & ACTING: 3
This is an unusually action-packed episode for the Doctor, with poor 57-ish-year-old William Hartnell running around the sets trying to save everyone before the time is up. He does a good job regardless of this, though.
Stephanie Bidmead does a good enough job of feeling just as unlikeable and treacherous as she's meant to be as the villain of the piece - her fourth-wall-breaking moments are particularly effective.
The Drahvins being a race of women warriors using men as tools feels very forward-thinking and means Galaxy 4 is a story with a predominantly female cast, which is a rarity.
:thumbsup::thumbsdown::thumbsup::thumbsdown::thumbsup::thumbsdown::thumbsup::thumbsdown::thumbsup::thumbsdown::thumbsup::thumbsdown::thumbsup:
STORY: -8
At its core, this is a classic warring factions story disguised under a flashy sci-fi production, an all-female guest cast and some important life lessons. The story itself is hardly representative of its themes and structure and is very repetitive in its content.
The plot sees the characters walk back and forth between two sets while trying to come up with different ways to escape the planet they're currently on. It's one of the emptiest four-parters the show has ever done.
Frankly, the action-heavy opening part coupled with a busy soundtrack and poor sound quality makes it very hard to understand what is going on at the beginning of the tale.
The twist in Part 3 is meant to be a genuine surprise, but I find it predictable from miles away, seeing as how Maaga and the Drahvins are depicted and performed before this.
It's truly jarring how the moral lessons of the episode stick out, due to there not being much of a plot to naturally embed them into. William Emms obviously came up with the educational part first and then struggled to find a way to convey the message
The conclusion to the story feels very confusing as well, so it's a pity it doesn't exist. In its current state, it's a bit too messy to work.
CHARACTERS & ACTING: -5
Why, oh why, did the producers insist on creating new Dalek wannabes? This time, the Chumblies (aptly named by Vicki, and then accepted by everybody as a fact) become something of a hybrid between the antlike Zarbi from The Web Planet (1965) and the clumsy Mechonoids from The Chase (1965) - and they appear a lot in this serial doing absolutely nothing of note, and we mostly just hear their beeping sound so they aren't all that effective (if they ever were).
Steven is unfortunately done dirty here because he is given the lines originally meant for Barbara (this story was written while she was still a character in the show) - and he lacks the energy and personality from The Time Meddler (1965) and later stories.
The Drahvins are mostly wasted potential, as their female warrior side isn't used to great effect and they end up spending most of the story sitting inside the crashed spaceship. Additionally, the story makes it a bit too obvious that they are not the good guys here, particularly in how cold and ruthless Maaga appears to everyone and everything from the beginning.
I'm sad to say that the Rills (who we, fortunately, get to meet properly in the existing Part 3) are nothing but shouty alien lumps that work better on paper than brought to life on a shoestring budget.
ATMOSPHERE: -8
It's a pity this missing story is so visual in structure because it is a chore to sit through and try to figure out what is going on. I had to read the episode synopses online to keep up with the narrative.
Unfortunately, watching a handful of pictures of Chumblies and listening to annoying beeping noises four episodes in a row does not make for a very compelling story.
Much like with The Web Planet, the head-piercing sound design is one of the chief reasons this story is hard to sit through, especially without supporting visuals.
Galaxy 4 is slow and tedious, but also very light on actual tension since the two halves of the story tackle the main characters very differently and there's no proper time to build up to anything.
PRODUCTION: -2
I'm not very sold on the production design from the little we can see from the pictures and the surviving material. This is one of the least visually pleasing stories of the Hartnell era, but that was probably unavoidable considering the production cost of upcoming, gigantic stories.