1.15: The Space Museum

In which the TARDIS jumps a time track, whatever the hell that means, and the crew decide that apartheid is bad.

Broadcast: April-May 1965 

Watched: July 2019

1. The Space Museum

“I think the Tardis jumped a time track and ended up here in this fourth dimension.”

Proper unsettling but totally nonsensical. 

The opening, with everyone frozen, is pretty spooky, which suggests the previous (lost) cliffhanger was too. So is Vicki’s glass smashing and reassembling itself. (Ian thinks Richard I ruled in the 13th century. Ignorant twat.)

Then we’re into the museum, where things are quite spooky but make not a lick of sense: the lack of footprints in the dust, the inability to interact with the staff, etc.

Is this the first story that plays games with continuity? The Dalek in the museum, Vicki talking about learning about the invasion at school etc. Also Ian saying it’s unlikely they’ll meet the Daleks again, because he clearly doesn’t read the Radio Times.

Also, the hands-passing-through-stuff bit is approaching proper special effects. They’re getting the hang of this now.

And it’s a hell of a cliffhanger: finding the TARDIS as one exhibit, then themselves, frozen, then time unwinding itself as the Doctor says, “We have arrived.” Even if I fear this is another great episode one, bullshit story, it’s great.

2. The Dimensions of Time

I sort of love the South African accents. And the Moroks’ hair. And the governor whining about being bored out of his mind using made up words. I like the incredibly subtle way all the Moroks wear white and all the Xerons wear black. The Doctor knows James Watt yes yes we’re all very impressed.

Some excellent music in this one, too. Vicki does some fantastic facial expressions when Ian and Barbara are fighting. And the Doctor twatting someone, tying them up, then hiding in a Dalek and *pretending to be one for his own amusement* is brilliant. So is the Doctor overwhelming the mind reading machine with images of seals.

It’s sort of like a second shot at an episode 1, this, isn’t it? Last week was the spooky “time is broken” one, this time is establishing the actual plot. Which, given that episode 1s are often the good bits, is great.

3. The Search.

Love Ian scaring the cowardly guard. Top fight scene and music.

“You can see we’re nothing like them!” says a man wearing a different colour top. Is this meant as a comment on the stupidity of racism?

The idea that the Moroks killed everyone but left the children is genuinely horrible.

Ooh I remember this bit, Vicki’s about to kick off isn’t she? She’s great in this one, really aggressive and reprogramming a computer just like that. Love fighty Ian, too. It is sort of cool that the thing that makes the regulars really angry is apartheid. The ‘60s equivalent of Capaldi punching a racist.

4. The Final Phase

I was going to say the story doesn’t really do much with its predestination theme, the idea that the regulars are destined to end up as a museum exhibit… but in the end it does, doesn’t it? Not sure it makes sense, but the whole “You can change your fate by inspiring others” thing actually works as a theme and everything. They even bother to come up with some technobabble to explain the timetrack stuff.

Something that is under exploited I think is the fact the Doctor is conscious while frozen, the horror of being conscious while a museum exhibit for centuries. But they don’t really go there.

But this one was really, properly brilliant, in a way I wasn’t prepared for – it’s clever and funny and about something – about more than one thing – and all the regulars are fantastic in it, and unlike vast numbers of Doctor Who stories it builds to a conclusion rather than just burbling along. God knows why I didn’t like it the first time I watched it; maybe I just wasn’t paying attention.

And then, at the end, there’s an unexpected cliffhanger with a Dalek.

Absolutely glorious.

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