Take one small team of humans, place in a hostile environment and surround them with monsters. Then just add Troughton for flavour and voila! Another classic Doctor Who story. Now that was a gross generalisation but there's no doubt that every story bar one in this season is a variation on this single proven formula. However thanks to the quality of the writing and imagination of the productions, this was probably Troughton's finest period. Probably. Of course when most of it does not exist on film, it is hard to be definitive about its success. But the circumstantial evidence of telesnaps, audios and surviving episodes is very encouraging.
Supporting Troughton's fine portrayal of the Time Lord are Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling. Both turn in great work and emerge as two of the most likeable inhabitants of the TARDIS in its history. Jamie's never stated love of Victoria led to fine little scenes between them such as a conversation about the shortness of skirts in England's future.
Do you remember where you were when you heard that The Tomb of the Cybermen had been recovered? It was if the collective willpower of fandom had forced it into existence, this, the lost holy grail of Doctor Who. The legend had become real and suddenly we had all seen it three or four times within a week of its release. Did it live up to its reputation? Not quite but what could have? Who cares about the odd duff effect or occasional poor line of dialogue when the story is so rich in characters and incident. When the pace and the cold, almost expressionistic design demands your attention. No other Cyberman adventure ever portrayed them as such figures of horror. The fear of loss of identity, of gruesome violent death, or simply of claustrophobia makes this a superb campfire tale dressed up in SF language. Its authors might have plundered the Mummy films but they built on those familiar elements with some great ideas of their own. Amongst a strong cast, Troughton is simply incredible, whether comforting Victoria, challenging the Cyber-Controller or manipulating the archaeologists, his Doctor is a fascinating hero.
The mountains of Tibet made a pleasant change of location and the backdrop for another fine story, The Abominable Snowmen. After a dramatic opening where two explorers are killed by something, the TARDIS arrives and drops the crew into a rich story. Good use is made of the Tibetan monastery and its inhabitants. They bring an exotic, mysterious quality to the action plotline. While the Yeti are certainly cuddly, Gerald Blake directs them well and makes good use of their impressive bulk in close up scenes. The relationship between the regulars has already matured, despite this only being Victoria's third story, allowing for some amusing character scenes. The gradually unfolding mystery means the story becomes more than a simple siege scenario. Jack Watling is great as the bluff, obsessive Englishman abroad while Wolfe Morris' eerie voice, switching between dreamy wisdom and hate-ridden diatribes brings some much needed shade to the fairly simple character of the Great Intelligence.
The programme continued to draw ideas from the movies with The Ice Warriors which took the same premise as the classic SF film, The Thing from Another World but then developed into a more complex story. The Martians definitely come across as a race of intelligent beings rather than mere monsters. They wake up on Earth and discover that Mars is now a dead world. Their subsequent attempt to conquer the humans whilst reprehensible, is at least understandable. There is tragedy in their plight that makes their eventual death more significant. Similarly the human characters are well drawn and more fallible than usual. However the subplot about humanity's over-reliance on technology rings somewhat hollow since it is technology that saves the day and ultimately the world. The scene where the Doctor almost unknowingly takes over the control room as soon as he arrives is a classic Doctor moment. At six parts though the story is a bit too long with some unnecessary capture and escape business in the middle that slows down the pace. The production values are strong, providing some above average sets and of course a whole crew of Martians.
At least the James Bond antics of The Enemy of the World makes a break from the attacking alien forces. Whether this was a mature political story or a rather dull piece of pulp fiction, the jury is still out. Disappointingly Troughton's portrayal of Salamander is dangerously close to parody at times with his thick accent and heavy make-up. Once again the pace is somewhat slow, although this does lead to some amusing exchanges between the supporting characters such as Salamander's chef, Griffin. In a small role, George Pravda delivers an urbane dignified cameo as one of Salamander's opponents, Denes. The focus of the story alters from political intrigue to the more SF premise of an underground lab filled with scientists who believe they are the survivors of a nuclear war. It is a shame that nothing exists from that second half, particularly the intriguing ending where Salamander tries to impersonate the Doctor.
Given it a moment's thought, the plot of The Web of Fear is patently ridiculous. An alien intelligence trying to conquer the world from London's Underground with robot Yeti is rather eccentric. However under Douglas Camfield's brisk direction and peopled by a cast of well defined, very human personalities, the story becomes another gripping horror yarn. The shaggier, more bestial Yeti seen here is certainly their definitive incarnation. Once again the emphasis is on shadows and hideous sudden death. The series has never so blatantly mined our fear of the dark and it does so very effectively. Further tension comes from the subplot that someone on the base is a traitor. Even Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart is a suspect since he mysteriously appears accompanying the Doctor. In fact for much of the story he is a prime suspect. The alien threat is relentless, one by one the humans plans are defeated and ultimately the Doctor appears to win as much by luck as anything. One of the Doctor Who stories which is simply near perfect, every element in first class condition.
An embarrassment of riches as the season delivers another chilling adventure, filled with believable characters, Fury from the Deep. As with the Great Intelligence, the Weed Creature is seemingly unstoppable and manifests itself as a poisonous physical mass. The added twist that it can travel through the gas network into people's homes provides us with a superb sequence, recently found, where it attacks Maggie Harris in the sanctity of her home. The Weed has that great element of non-negotiablity. It cannot be reasoned with, though the Doctor tries, it can only be fought. Meanwhile Victoria gets an above average leaving story with the subplot of her growing disillusionment with her life in the TARDIS. Her scenes with Jamie where she tries to explain her feelings to him are among the highlights of the adventure. The existing photographs indicate a glossy, expensive looking production with good use made of the windswept locations and helicopter. The refinery's boss, Robson, and his nervous breakdown is a gripping theme, delivered with several first class confrontations between him and his staff.
After such a run of excellence, the production team finished the season with the rather lame The Wheel in Space. Surprisingly, given his record of imaginative stories, David Whitaker merely fleshed out Kit Pedler's same basic plot as used by previous Cybermen adventures, without adding any interesting characters or ironies. Only the locale changes, this time to a space station. This adventure gives the impression of being more like third rate Star Trek than Doctor Who. Despite the odd impressive memento such as the 'birth' of a Cyberman or the confrontation between the Doctor and the silver giants, tedium is the main emotion generated by this adventure. Zoe makes a fair debut, especially her first scene of intellectual one-upmanship with the Doctor but none of the other characters rise above cardboard.
Far too little survives of season five. Its influence on every Doctor Who season to come was profound, completing its metamorphosis from any pretence of educational drama to a full bloodied SF thriller. What is striking looking back at these stories now is the strength of the supporting characters, something that seemed to get lost too often during the seventies. When the series started to deliver dialogue as interesting as that heard in season five once again, we thought it was something radically new! When in fact it had been simply misplaced.
