Doctor Who In Perspective 1966-1969
John Hussey continues his Classic look back this time with the Troughton era.
“There are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things. Things that act against everything we believe in. They must be fought.”
Patrick Troughton must be congratulated for his fine efforts of keeping the show going during the first major transition it faced. It was made very obvious that the Second Doctor was to be different to his predecessor, undergoing a massive amount of change within the character’s own characteristics. He was portrayed as a space-hobo, accompanied with bumbling qualities whilst retaining a sense of adventure, justice and a caring nature. ‘The Power of the Daleks’ granted the audience a clever insight within their new character through his companion’s reactions, Polly proving more accepting whilst Ben Jackson remained sceptical.
The development of his character was fascinating as the Producers and Script Editors at the time set about to establish him as a hero. He was no longer a frail old man and so could now stand on his own two feet, no longer requiring his companions to hold his hand. This was established early within his adventures during ‘The Moonbase’ through an explanatory speech about fighting against the darkest creatures within the universe. Many of his adventures consisted of him meddling with the affairs of others and trying his best to outwit the powers of evil. His greatest triumph was causing the apparent destruction of the Daleks at the end of ‘The Evil of the Daleks’ through engineering a civil war. The Second Doctor made himself many enemies in the process which established the Doctor’s character as a full-on adventurer.
The Second Doctor pushed aside his grandfatherly figure and became a friend to Polly and Ben, perhaps forming a better bond with them that his predecessor. I really enjoyed his happiness and bouncy nature along with his stubborn side of not letting anyone else use the TARDIS Console. Jamie McCrimmon’s arrival within ‘The Highlanders’ brought the best out of the Second Doctor as the two of them became the best of friends. Though they bickered and had their hilarious moments onscreen, like within ‘The Tomb of the Cybermen’ where the Second Doctor accidentally held Jamie’s hand, they had a mutual respect. He was sad to see his original companions leave at the end of ‘The Faceless Ones’ but respected their decision through understanding their feelings. This moment brought about the end of the original era and the full start to Troughton’s tenure.
I loved his caring side to Victoria Waterfield who had lost her father to the Daleks during ‘The Evil of the Daleks’. The Second Doctor took her onboard the TARDIS in order to grant her a home amongst friends. This was done differently with Zoe Heriot’s arrival in ‘The Wheel in Space’ through warning her about the risks of his adventures. Another of his interesting quirks was his manipulative nature through pretending to be stupid and helpless in a situation, fooling his enemy in the process. This was something that made him stand out as a character because he became baffling to watch, leaving you anxious as to whether or not you could take him seriously. But then you became impressed by his sneaky ways of thinking which always lead to his victory.
In the end his proud nature towards his heroic actions caused him to get into trouble with his own people the Time Lords and in the final scenes of ‘The War Games’ was punished, bringing his journey to a tragic end. This fundamental trait of interfering and standing against evil became the dominant one within future incarnations which again was a testament of the extraordinary minds behind the show who kept cementing the establishment of this infinite character. What I loved though was even till the end the Second Doctor thought for what was right, despite the risk.
“Logic, my dear Zoe, merely enables one to be wrong with authority.”
The companions started to step back from being the protagonist and played the part of secondary character. This didn’t lower their status but merely allowed a new direction for the Doctor as he became a more hands-on character. Ben and Polly, who aided the First Doctor within ‘The War Machines’ before mistakenly entering the TARDIS mid-dematerialisation, continued their travels and developed as characters. It was interesting to see their reactions to the first ever regeneration. As stated above Polly was very accepting, showcasing her strong intelligence, whilst Ben was extremely in favour of avoiding the truth before him. The companions had changed somewhat within their performance with Ben and Polly proving very modern and up to date which was showcased through Polly’s independence within society as well as Ben’s middle-class status through his cockney accent and speech.
Jamie was a likeable character through his behaviour and attitude. He was very loyal, though not always bright, and determined to do what was right in order to help the Second Doctor. His simple indication of understanding things through the phrase ‘oh aye’ was always a delight. Like with Ian Chesterton, Jamie formed the role of bodyguard but this time it was more literal through Jamie being a soldier. Of course his most interesting trait was him coming from the past, making his travels in space all the more fascinating. This same feature was added to Victoria but unlike Jamie was from a more civilised point in history. She wasn’t the strongest of companions and seemed to sway back towards the early “screaming factor” but nevertheless was helpful and caring.
Zoe was certainly my favourite female companion for the Second Doctor because of her genius. She was the first companion who really rivalled him in intellect and the Second Doctor admired that about her, even asking her for aid. One of her greatest triumphs was forming the calculations for a perfect missile strike against the Cybermen’s fleet in ‘The Invasion’. The writer’s introduced the notion of companion’s getting their memories wiped. The cruel fate was given to Jamie and Zoe, resulting in them forgetting their journey with the Second Doctor apart from their first adventure before joining. Their departure is without a doubt amongst the saddest.
“You belong to us. You shall be like us.”
The monsters and villains became more sophisticated within the Second Doctor’s era, creating brand-new adversaries for the Time Lord to face. The show moved towards approaching more of the science-fiction aspects of the show and this worked nicely with the incorporation of alien adversaries within most of the stories. This pushed back on the usage of human enemies as done with the First Doctor’s era. There were still some great human/humanoid villains for the Second Doctor to face through his battles with Professor Zaroff, Salamander and the Dominators.
The Cybermen became an instant hit within their debut tale ‘The Tenth Planet’ and were quickly issued a return four serials later within ‘The Moonbase’. They were given a redesign and became an opponent for the Daleks within popularity and their role within the show, turning from lost souls trapped within cybernetics to conquerors in space. Their most popular story within this era is ‘The Tomb of the Cybermen’ which introduced the Cyber-Controller and the Cybermats. The chilling scenes of them exiting the tombs on Telos will always be memorable within the fandom’s mind. Their attempts at invading Earth within ‘The Invasion’ brought about a similar style that Terry Nation took with the Daleks during ‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth’ and in many ways was a more thrilling story and chilling through their cold behaviour.
The Daleks were pushed to one side after Nation moved away from the show. Two instalments were put into place within the Second Doctor’s first season. Both stories gave another dark spin on the creatures, similar to ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’, where they attempted to be sly and calculative. ‘The Evil of the Daleks’ introduced the Dalek Emperor and brought about the cruel scenario of them experimenting with humans and using the Doctor as a tool in an attempt to understand human behaviour to further the Daleks’ destructive power. After this it was thought that the creatures were destroyed for good.
There were many great new creatures introduced to the panel during this era. The Ice Warriors proved to be an inventive idea steaming from cinematic interpretations of Martians and creature designs. I think the most inventive of these adversaries was the Great Intelligence. The creature was pure intelligence and had the ability to challenge the Second Doctor with intellect and even came close to taking over his brain in an attempt to regain a physical form. Along with his robotic Yeti, the Great Intelligence was by far a clever invention from the minds of Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln. Even the underrated Macra proved successful. A giant crab monster is frightening for children to view but their real threat laid in their ability to control the minds of humans, which in itself is a fear to everyone as nobody enjoys the thought of being controlled.
“Of yes I can when I want to. And that’s the point really. I have to really want to, to bring them back in front of my eyes. The rest of the time they sleep in my mind and I forget. And so will you. Oh yes you will. You’ll find there’s so much else to think about. Now remember, our lives are different to anybody else’s. That’s the exciting thing because nobody in the universe can do what we’re doing.”
The original style of historical episodes was scrapped in favour of allowing aliens to be incorporated into the mix for a more compelling storytelling. ‘The Highlanders’ was the last historical tale to be told in the form of the original style. The new approach redefined the style of the show, something that would continue to be pursued to this very day.
The pace of the stories still remained slower to have time to build-up, but in another sense the stories became quicker through the adventurous approach of storytelling and the design of the Second Doctor. The show naturally became faster because the Doctor was faster through him now running around and operating with a hands-on approach. The tales started to become more fun through the Second Doctor’s childish behaviour, moving away from his stern approach from before. It was something children could appeal to further, seeing their hero change from a grandfather to a mad uncle who they could have a laugh with as well as an adventure. The approach was less educational and more entertaining. This didn’t stop the show from being dark and the implication of darker themes such as death was still very much a part of the ingredients of storytelling.
A lot of the stories incorporated space into their narrative and allowed for more futuristic tales showcasing the advancement of humanity. Everytime we would see an alien invader trying to disrupt the equilibrium whilst the Second Doctor took the position of defending humanity. We also saw cases of the downfall of Earth through a new Ice Age within ‘The Ice Warriors’ and the backwards thinking of technology in ‘The Seeds of Death’ which ultimately shunted space travel. As well as alien conquerors we also had the addition of human dictators. Though this was established in the original era through historical figures, this time round we had original characters, men who would go out of their way to gain power by the lowest means of human behaviour.
Salamander from ‘The Enemy of the World’ proved intriguing as an enemy as he resembled the Second Doctor in appearance, a concept that allowed the lead role to play the protagonist and the villain (which happened briefly with William Hartnell during ‘The Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve’), lending to the story through the implications of the Doctor having to impersonate Salamander in order to defeat him. It was the first major moment that the audience could question where exactly the face of our hero comes from; was it entirely their own?
An interesting addition to the formula was the Second Doctor aiding the military during Earth invasions. This was first established during ‘The War Machines’ when the First Doctor briefly aided them against WOTAN but now it was becoming a traditional element. This lead to the introduction of legendary character Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, a character that was first sceptical during the Yeti’s invasion of the London Underground. The invention of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce within ‘The Invasion’ moved the show forward towards a new era.
The tables were turned during ‘The War Games’ when the Doctor’s origins were finally hinted at. The Second Doctor was forced to call upon his people for help and this resulted in the audience learning not only the Doctor’s species name, Time Lord, but also some history into his species and why the Doctor left his home-world in the first place. This change was a huge step forward. It really added to the mythology and pushed the show into a new direction, even lending to the development of the Doctor as a character within explaining his meaning within life. There was only so long the Producers and Writers could hold back on explaining the Doctor’s past and this seemed like the right time for change, a perfect transition for the beginning of another new era.
