Brief Summary
This video summarizes Season 4 of Doctor Who, highlighting key stories, the introduction of new companions, and the evolution of iconic monsters like the Cybermen and Daleks. It covers the transition from the First Doctor to the Second, the introduction of Jamie McCrimmon, and the season's overall strengths and weaknesses, including memorable stories and less successful ones.
- Introduction of the Second Doctor and companion Jamie McCrimmon.
- Evolution of Cybermen and Daleks.
- Highlights of strong and weak stories within the season.
The season begins with "The Smugglers," a historical story set in 17th-century Cornwall. The story is described as traditional and somewhat forgettable, resembling a paint-by-numbers historical narrative. It does, however, reference Captain Avery, who later appears in "Curse of the Black Spot."
"The Tenth Planet" is a pivotal story, introducing the Cybermen and marking the regeneration of the First Doctor. The Cybermen in this story have a unique, slightly less robotic design, with surgical gauze and mobile life-support systems. The First Doctor's regeneration occurs due to his body wearing out after battling the Cybermen. Only the regeneration scene survives, partly due to its use in a Blue Peter episode.
"The Power of the Daleks" provides the first real look at the Second Doctor, who is portrayed as younger, happier, and more mischievous. Set on the planet Vulcan, the story involves the reanimation of Daleks found in a crashed rocket. The Daleks manipulate people and rise to power, similar to "Victory of the Daleks" but executed more effectively. This missing episode is highly desired by fans.
"The Highlanders" is the last pure historical story for nearly twenty years and introduces Jamie McCrimmon, who becomes an iconic companion. Jamie, a piper from the Battle of Culloden, joins the TARDIS crew after being captured. Initially not intended as a companion, Jamie's character was so well-received that the ending was rewritten to include him. Jamie's chemistry with the Second Doctor is highlighted, with their improvisations adding to the show's dynamic.
"The Underwater Menace" is described as the first embarrassing story of the era, dealing with Atlantis. The story involves fish people, a companion almost being turned into a fish person, and an insane scientist villain named Professor Zaroff. Zaroff's over-the-top acting is a notable aspect of the story.
"The Moonbase" marks the return of the Cybermen with a more traditional look. Set on a moon base in 2070, the Cybermen unleash an epidemic as a precursor to their assault. The story follows a base-under-siege format, common in the Second Doctor era.
"The Macra Terror" features giant crabs that brainwash people into mining gas needed for the Macra's survival but fatal to humans. The Macra also appeared in the new series episode "Gridlock", but with significant differences in appearance and intelligence. The original Macra were intelligent and able to hold humans, while the "Gridlock" Macra were much larger, unintelligent, and hairy. The story is described as weird and great, set in a happy fascist world maintained through hypnosis.
In "The Faceless Ones," Ben and Polly leave the TARDIS. The story is set around Gatwick Airport and involves the Chameleons, aliens who steal identities to survive after losing their own in an explosion. Ben and Polly depart after the second episode, with a goodbye scene recorded for the end of the story.
"The Evil of the Daleks" introduces Victoria, a new companion who is orphaned by the Daleks. The story shares elements with "Daleks in Manhattan," where the Daleks force the Doctor to create a new type of Dalek by adding humanity to them. This leads to a battle between human Daleks and regular Daleks, supposedly wiping out the Daleks. The Daleks' apparent destruction was a genuine surprise, leading to Terry Nation's attempt to create a TV show starring them.
Season four is considered a solid season, better than season three. It includes dull stories like "The Smugglers" and "The Underwater Menace," as well as strong stories like "The Second Doctor," "Jamie," "The Macra Terror," and two of the best Dalek stories in the show's history. Overall, it is rated as above average.
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Transcript
Full transcript of “A Quick Guide to Classic Who Season 4”. Click a timestamp to open the video at that moment. Need another video? Use the YouTube transcript generator.
0:05 to me please do season four around for the 10th of September 1966 to the 1st of July in 1967 it introduced the second doctrine
0:50 classic whose longest-running companion yes it's not Sarah Jane basically year 4 was a very important year of change the first story is the four part of the smugglers a historical set in 17th century Cornwall now for people who don't know Cornwall is a bit like the UK's Florida not in the people are often nuts kind of way but and there's lots of water it's warmer than most of the country and they used to have pirates kind of way I suppose it was good of them to open with something so traditional and for once of a couple of better words boring and forgettable it's a historical paint-by-numbers but they do talk about captain Avery who later turned up in the equally forgettable curse of the black spot next is one of the most important stories in the show's history the 10th
1:36 plaintiff is a four-part er and does double duty introducing the Cybermen and killing off the first doctor first off about the Cybermen I really like this slightly silly looking version of them much less robotic than the later ones they're pretty much how the Borg might have looked if they were introduced in classic Star Trek the Cybermen were inspired by things like heart transplants and the logic of their appearances that they've had robotic parts surgically added to them so that's basically surgical gauze on their faces and the robotic parts are more like mobile life-support systems so it's one of those designs that looks silly but it works logically now on to the regeneration the doctor does not go down in a blaze of glory he survives the battle but his body wears out in the closing minutes of the story the only surviving pieces of the final episode
2:21 are the regeneration itself the kids show blue peter borrowed episode 4 from the archives to a bit on the regeneration years later on they lost it so the only bits we still have report they showed in that episode in the sixth part power of the Daleks we finally got a real look at the new doctor younger happier more mischievous and 20% more awesome I make no bones about it he's my favorite it's the future and on the planet Vulcan the locals are found to inanimate Daleks in a crashed rocket and against the doctors warnings decide to reanimate them Jonathan Archer was right the Vulcans don't listen to anyone this episode is basically victory of the Daleks done right they manipulate people they claim to be friendly and they serve people but when they get into a position of power they up however this
3:07 is different from victory in several important ways one it was made decades before - the doctor wears this hat and three most importantly this isn't if I had to choose five missing stories to have back this is another one the highlanders is the final pure historical for nearly twenty years and it said in the aftermath of the Battle of Culloden and introduces the first of what I'd say are the iconic classic Who companions ones which entered the public consciousness either because they really clicked or because they hung around for a very long time he's the only iconic male companion he appeared in more episodes than any other companion and even appeared in more episodes and about half the doctors he is Jaime McCrimmon
3:59 Jamie was a piper in the defeated Jacobite forces at Culloden facing either execution or transport to a colony he was captured but he teamed up with the TARDIS crew and ended up staying for a long time interestingly he was not supposed to be a companion they even filmed a goodbye scene before they hastily rewrote the ending brought him back in and reshot jamie is happy loyal funny and a little bit stupid but that could mostly be ignorance but even on top of that he's a bit happily thick honestly he's like the doctors friendly human-shaped sheepdog in a kilt he and the second doctor are brilliant together Patrick Troughton and Fraser Hinds knew each other in real life and their chemistry has bled out into the show they would come up with skits and ad-libs to do together in some ways they used the show was an excuse to improvise
4:44 and generally mess about they even deliberately tried to make it look like the doctor and Jamie were as much as they could in a mid-60s TV show they nearly joined the show together and they left together then and Polly didn't come out of this very well the character of Jamie was kind of forced on them and the scripts were very quickly rewritten so they each lost a lot of lines and neither of them were as popular as Jamie honestly it's a bit like how safe of the bail was originally about a teacher called miss bliss and the kids were side characters who were so popular they just took over so what I'm saying is that their days were numbered it's a pity as much as I love Jamie they were good too the next story is the underwater menace it's four episodes long and it's the first completely embarrassing story of this era and more importantly is the first time the show deals with Atlantis
5:31 you want to know how many contradictory ways classic who dealt with the destruction of Atlantis three times and two of them happened within a season of each other that's later on though this story features fish people one of the companions almost being turned into a fish person and the show's first ridiculously insane scientist villain who wants to destroy everything for the hell of it and the show's first piece of transcendently humming acting in the same guy here's a taste if I showed you any more the actor might chew through your walls right through the screen even though he's long dead till those two men nothing in the world can stop me now
6:20 that's professor Zaroff personally I'm thinking that he hasn't been quite the same since that incident with planet because this is so ridiculous I'm gonna make an announcement if the last two episodes of this are found or they're animated I will do a classic 20 who review on this story very soon after the DVD is released next we have the moon based on the return of the Cybermen who are back with a much more traditional look how the Cybermen look changed a bit and most of their appearances but from now on they're pretty much as most people remember them Metro on the outside squishy on the inside the story is four episodes long and it's set on a moon base in the Year 2070 the Cybermen have unleashed an epidemic as a precursor to their assault it's a base under siege story these are very common in the second doctor era
7:06 TARDIS crew and red shirts are in a place and evil monsters are on the outside attacking then death death death death death the next story is the macro terror and it's one of those story concepts that just wouldn't be done and knew who more as the pity knew who's crazy concepts are like space Titanic disaster fraud or large green thing absorbs nerds what I'm saying is them that comes to crazy concepts they have very little imagination the macro terror is about evil giant crabs that brainwash people into mining the gas that the Macra need to survive but is fatal to humans the Macra themselves turned up in the story gridlock and until the great intelligence reappeared in the snow man it was the longest wait for an alien to come back around 40 years in my introduction I commented about how new who basically likes to
7:52 reinvent tweak and repackage classic monsters with new names but what happened with the Macra between this and gridlock is the exact opposite they took around a monster and gridlock and made it the Macra for no reason whatsoever in the micro tear they could hold a human in one of their claws they were covered in hairs and they were extremely intelligent and gridlock they were a fuckload bigger had no hairs and we're about as stupid as an actual crab now there's a huge time difference between the two appearances in universe and normally I'd be ok with them showing the effects that lucien but why is this the only time it's been done humans are superficially the same regardless of the time period they're in oh wait sorry in Utopia they got tattoos and sharp teeth I'll shut up honestly I think they just made them the macro in gridlock demand classic who
8:37 finds squee alas everyone he knew who the macro were we're also likely to know that the macro and gridlock bear about as much resemblance to the macro from the macro terror as the tardis bears to a cheese sandwich anyway the micro terror weird and great it's a happy fascist world kept in place via hypnosis and people being artificial it's basically the happiness patrol but better and with giant crabs if I could have five stories back I want this one so onto the faceless ones and finally Ben and Polly's numbers are up the TARDIS lines in the 1960s and they're going home they're both gone after the second episode but unlike dodo they were able to record a goodbye scene which was stuck at the end of the story the faceless ones is said primarily around Gatwick Airport the chameleons are aliens who have lost their identities in
9:24 a massive explosion and so need to steal other people's identities to survive the story is six episodes long and it doesn't quite explain how a race can lose their identities an explosion and why they'll die without them or how stealing other people's can help but what the hey it's got characters called blade and point oh it doesn't need to explain anything in a way and we're on to the last story of the season power of the Daleks shared elements with the victory of the Daleks and evil the Daleks shares elements with Daleks and Manhattan poor season for your good Dalek stories are forever being cannibalized by bad new who evil of the Daleks introduces us to Victoria the new companion quite aptly for her name she's a Victorian and one of the youngest people ever to travel with the doctor she's in her mid-teens and joins up when
10:10 she's orphaned by the Daleks the evil evil Daleks like I said this shares ideas with Daleks in Manhattan the Daleks forced the doctor to create a new type of Dalek by adding humanity to them in the hope that it'll make them invincible this all leads to what was supposed to be the Daleks last battle as the human dogs battled the regular Daleks in a fight so I think it had to be done with models the Daleks apparently being wiped out and later coming back with so common in the Russell T Davies era that it was met with size of really you expect us to buy that again but with this it was a genuine surprise partly because it was really supposed to be there and they were so successful that Terry nation was trying to get a TV show off the ground starring them the fact that he never managed it is the only reason they came back season four is a
10:57 solid season and better than season three it's got the dull the smugglers the insane the underwater Menace and the way too long the faceless ones but it's also got the second doctrine Jamie the macro terror and two of the best Dalek stories in the show's history all in all it's easily above-average join me next time for season five when we'll meet the great intelligence on the Ice Warriors will have the first season without the Daleks I will get to look at the two stories that were recently returned to the BBC
