2.15: The Dominators

In which the villains hate each other, and the good guys kinda deserve it.

Broadcast: August-September 1968

Watched: October 2019

The Dominators, Episode 1 

This cold open is no Impossible Astronaut is it? 

Love how camp the Dominators immediately are. Also that the junior dominator looks so excited at the idea of killing some people.

Then there’s the attempt to make the quarks scary at the start, and when we finally see them they’re rubbish. Although the effect when they kill someone is surprisingly horrible.

Er... the hippies getting blasted is quite funny? But that was pretty bad, yes.

The Dominators, Episode 2

There’s some interesting stuff here, about a decadent vaguely Roman society that has lost all intellectual curiosity, with a ruling class that let their kids get away with breaking the rules. Not sure of the thematic links to the Doctor pretending to be stupid, and anyway it’s unfortunately embedded in the f**king Dominators.

Toba’s blood lust is by far the most entertaining thing here. The Dominators letting the regulars go is weird.

God the quarks are sh*t.

The Dominators, Episode 3

Jamie’s irritation at the Dulcians’ lack of an army is weirdly gross. (Jim Cooray-Smith points out he’s literally a soldier in a revolutionary army, though.) Although the Dulcians are f**king rubbish. Honestly, I’m almost rooting against them.

Also some of this looks weirdly cheap. Some good model work, but then again, Quarks. And the direction is bad enough that I’ve noticed, and I never notice direction. There’s a bit where we cut to the Dulcian council chamber and the speaker is waiting for his cue. 

More than that... this feels like cheap, camp TV scifi in the Lost In Space vein, something Doctor Who actually does surprisingly rarely – maybe I’m imagining it but it feels *much* cheaper than Galaxy 4 or The Savages (which, admittedly, I can’t see) which are examples of the same sort of story. It feels almost like a parody of Doctor Who.

Also, the first three cliffhangers have all been the same – Toba yelling “Destroy!” at some quarks. Boo.

The Dominators, Episode 4

Absolutely nothing to suggest Zoe is new to the TARDIS. Instantly in full companion mode.

I have no idea what’s going on but it’s happening quite boringly. The Doctor becoming utterly certain that Jamie’s fine because someone has destroyed a Quark is odd though. Although the bit with the boulder must have been fun to film.

I was going to say that the cutaways to the committee debating what to do are quite funny, but then it turns out they’re not there as thematic commentary, they’re meant to advance the plot, and on that score they’re rubbish.

I was going to finish this tonight but I’m so bored I’m literally going to bed. 

The Dominators, Episode 5

Zoe calling Jamie a moron like she’s been there for months. Bet he misses Victoria. 

The Doctor’s enthusiasm for explosives is also a bit odd. The bit where a quark is leaning over its fallen comrade and then Jamie bombs that one too is weirdly sad.

The villains’ plot is like a lobotomised version of the Daleks’ already dumb one in Invasion. The “digging a tunnel to catch the bomb” solution is actually dumber.

I am enjoying Toba’s increasingly pass agg tone when he says “command accepted” though. He’s the best thing in it. Also he’s right, they should have killed the primitives, then their stupid plot might actually have worked. Poor under appreciated Toba. And in his last moments he’s still being yelled at, too!

God that ending was dumb. Also – didn’t the Dominators enslave the entire planet in episode 4? That didn’t go anywhere either.

I think that might be the worst story yet.