Brief Summary
This video summarizes the second season of the original Doctor Who series, which ran from October 1964 to July 1965. The season consisted of 39 episodes across nine stories and introduced the pseudo-historical format, blending sci-fi with historical settings. Key events include the departure of the first companions, the rise of "Dalek mania," and the introduction of the Meddling Monk.
- The season marked a shift in the show's direction, moving away from pure historical and scientific educational content.
- The Daleks appeared in over a quarter of the season's episodes, highlighting their growing prominence.
- The pseudo-historical format was introduced, mixing historical settings with science fiction elements.
The first story of the season, "Planet of Giants," involves a malfunction that shrinks the TARDIS and its occupants to about an inch tall. The plot revolves around the crew's attempts to navigate a world of giant-sized threats. Originally intended as a four-part story, it was condensed into three episodes due to pacing issues. The DVD release includes a recreation of the original four-part version using existing footage, still images, original scripts, and voice acting.
"The Dalek Invasion of Earth" is set in the 22nd century, where the Daleks plan to remove Earth's core and convert the planet into a spaceship. This six-episode story marks the departure of Susan, who falls in love and is left behind on a desolate future Earth. The story highlights the Daleks' ambition and the Doctor's efforts to thwart their plans.
In "The Rescue," the TARDIS crew encounters Vicki on a wrecked ship, who becomes Susan's replacement. She is caring for an injured crew member and is threatened by an alien called Koquillion. The story is a two-part adventure that leads to Vicki joining the TARDIS crew.
"The Romans" is a four-episode historical story set in ancient Rome, dealing with themes of slavery, gladiators, assassination, and Nero's madness during the Great Fire of Rome. The story is presented as a comedy, contrasting the serious historical events with humorous situations.
"The Web Planet" is a six-episode story set on the planet Vortis, inhabited by giant insect-like creatures called the Zarbi, the Menoptera and the Animus. The story is known for its unintentionally hilarious special effects and ambitious scope. The Animus, the villain, is a cosmically powerful foe connected to the Cthulhu mythos in later books.
"The Crusade" is a four-part historical story featuring Richard the Lionheart and Saladin. Julian Glover, who played the bad guy in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," appears as Richard. Half of this story is missing, making it one of the incomplete stories from season two.
"The Space Museum" is a four-episode story that introduces the concept of time tricks. The TARDIS crew arrives at a space museum and finds themselves on display, leading them to travel back in time to try and prevent it. The story explores themes of predestination and changing the future.
"The Chase" is a six-episode story where the Daleks use time travel to chase the TARDIS through time and space. This story marks the departure of Ian and Barbara, who finally return to their home time. Stephen Taylor, an astronaut from the future, is introduced as their replacement. Peter Purves, who plays Stephen Taylor, also appears earlier in the story as an American tourist.
"The Time Meddler" is a pseudo-historical story that introduces the Meddling Monk, a rival Time Lord who interferes with history. In this story, the Monk plans to alter the outcome of the Battle of Hastings. The story exemplifies the pseudo-historical format by blending a historical setting with science fiction elements.
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Transcript
Full transcript of “A Quick Guide to Classic Who Season 2”. Click a timestamp to open the video at that moment. Need another video? Use the YouTube transcript generator.
0:13 mythology treasures of history season two ran from the 31st of october 1964 until the 24th of july 1965. it featured 39 episodes over nine stories and gave the show its first pseudo-historical a historical which featured sci-fi elements not limited to the doctor the tardis etc
1:00 and gave us our first ever companion departures the first story is the three-part planet of giants and no has nothing to do with the late sixties irwin allen show that you may or may not be familiar with there's been a malfunction with the tardis and so it's shrunk not just the exterior which wouldn't be a massive deal other than you couldn't leave but the whole thing and the people too for some reason everyone's about an inch tall and considering the story is called planet of the giants i think it took them way too long to work out what exactly had happened there's two notable things about this story one it's three parts long very unusual and two it was meant to be four parts long the last two episodes were cut down into a single episode in post-production apparently because it was slow but it was 1960s doctor who
1:46 everything about it was slow i wonder why this got special treatment on the dvd however they made an effort to recreate the original version by using a mix of existing footage still images the original scripts the surviving actors providing voices and a couple of impersonators including the guy who voiced hartnell in day of the doctor it's [ __ ] like that that makes buying classic who on dvd so worthwhile they [ __ ] love the show and can't stop coming up with demented ways to prove it and sticking those ways and special features in the dvds the second story is the dalek invasion of earth because once you've seen the daleks on their home planet it's only fair they get a whack at yours it's the 22nd century and 200 years haven't been kind to the world it's turned back to the mid-60s the daleks plan to remove the earth's core and turn
2:31 the planet into a massive space ship slash battle station slash wine bar i might have made part of that up but only part of it it takes our hero six episodes to stop them even though someone could have easily tapped the dalek on the dome and pointed out their plan is [ __ ] stupid this is the story where susan leaves she decides she's fallen in love with the man who helped to feed the daleks so the doctor locks her out of the tardis and leaves her with him on [ __ ] up desolate future earth when neither them asked him to oh doctor you scamp next up is the two part the rescue which even though the title heavily suggests it isn't about a chocolate factory they come across susan's replacement vicky on a wrecked ship she's looking after an injured crew member and being menaced by an alien called pakillion
3:17 how and why they're being menaced and what's going on in general is too silly to go into here you'll have to watch the story to find out or find the doctor who wiki at least with vicki joining the crew it's time for the first historical of the season the romans is four episodes long and deals with slavery gladiators assassination nero being crazy in the great fire of rome which killed a fuckload of people so we all know this is gonna be a comedy enjoying yourself dearest hmm oh i'm so sorry i didn't you were there did you want something no next up is the web planet it's six
4:02 episodes long and to save time you should maybe just pause the video now and laugh a lot why because the web planet is accidentally hilarious the crew land on the planet vortis a planet inhabited by giant sentient insects called the monopra the zarbi and the optra why is this so funny because we spend two hours with special effects like this when the only humanish characters are the tardis crew even today this concept on the small screen would elicit laughter just imagine what it was like 50 years ago i'm not saying the web planet is bad i like it i like it more than most hartnell stories but its ambition outstripped reality by several thousand times the villain of the story was the animus the first truly cosmically powerful foe the doctor faced and it was basically a
4:48 mushroom octopus hybrid so yeah the animus was one of the uber-powerful creatures in the show that the books later connected to the cthulhu mythos basically they were all survivors from the previous universe that collapsed and formed this one a bit like galactus the survivors of the previous universe became super powerful and somehow influenced h.p lovecraft's mind to create the mythos every god he created is real in the doctor who universe if you include those books in your canon which you should because that's badass after that we have another four part historical the crusade one thing you'll notice with early classic who is that the sci-fi stories are generally imaginative with their names and the historicals tend to do exactly what they say on the tin the romans is about romans the aztecs
5:34 features aztecs the gunfighters is about the gunfight at the okay corral the myth makers is about the creation of the myth of the trojan war the massacre saint bartholomew's eve is about a massacre that happened on the eve of saint bartholomew's day i'm not leading into a joke the titles are really that direct anyway the crusade is about richard the lionheart and saladin you might recognize the guy playing richard it's julian glover from season 17 city of death but you might have also seen him as the bad guy in a little film called indiana jones in the last crusade you see how this all fits this is the only story of season two that's still got stuff missing half of it exists season two is the most complete season of doctor who prior to season seven and color the space museum follows it's four episodes long and features the first
6:20 real use of a time trick the sort of thing that moffat loves they arrive in the titular space museum it's a museum in space and find themselves on display so they go back in time to try and avert it do they manage it watch this story and find out you know you want to it's got this scene i pulled them all i am the master next we have the chase notable because it's about the daleks but doesn't have the word in the title it's also six episodes long meaning that the daleks have appeared in over a quarter of the episodes this season and i thought they were overused now the dalek stories were following a very vague pattern first it's scarro the home
7:06 planet of the daleks then its earth and now its earth again and other places basically the daleks of time travel and they're chasing the tardis through time and space the previous two dalek stories were adapted into films in the mid 60s one of whom starred bernard cribbens aka one of the few good things about the russell t davies era this one was gonna be adapted too but that never happened for some reason involving money and reviews this is the story where ian and barbara leave the tardis finally giving up and getting to their exact home time and making do with being a few years out of date we also meet their replacement stephen taylor an astronaut from the future but we won't realize that until the next story the time meddler so how come we met him in one story and only found out he's a companion in the next
7:51 well he turned up near the end of the chase having been tortured by the evil mechanoids and then apparently left the story but at the start of the time meddler we discovered that he wandered into the tardis off screen and so now he's part of the crew but that's not the only frankly crazy thing about stephen he was played by peter perves who several episodes earlier in the chase had turned up with a terrible american accent playing a tourist on the empire state building did you think it was bad that amy and martha were clones of characters who'd appeared in the previous season well at least they didn't appear in the same [ __ ] story as their other part and yeah for the one person out there who really likes daleks in manhattan this story does indeed feature the daleks and the empire state building together again for the first time now on to the time meddler
8:36 the time meddler is one of my favorite hartnell stories and it's the first pseudo-historical a truly novel idea where you mix a historical setting with science fiction there's lots they could do with that just imagine the possibilities daleks with winston churchill vincent van gogh and a giant invisible chicken a shape-changing robot pretending to be king john they could do anything and they frequently will no matter how much i wish they'd stop and just do a pure historical once in a while anyway this story introduced the meddling monk that's not a name he calls himself a rival time lord who flies around space and time [ __ ] with history partly to put right what he thinks went wrong and partly for the walls so he's basically the doctor but he doesn't have his own tv show in this story he's planning on changing
9:22 the outcome of the battle of hastings so the saxons win and luckily for him the doctor is really not into that season two was where the show really started taking strides to become the show it is today the original companions left thus indicating the show might run longer than originally thought the pseudo-historical was born which eventually would spell the end for the pure historical and completely end the show's original intention teaching kids about science and history it was the season of dalek mania they're overshadowing everything for better and for worse join me next time for season three when we'll see an episode that doesn't feature the doctor the tardis or any companions we'll see possibly the longest story in the show's history and a musical
10:27 well there you are young man what do you think of that now a viking helmet or maybe what do you mean maybe what do you think it is a space helmet for a cow
