TV #20 of 2023:
Classic Doctor Who, season 6
The end of an era for the show, in several different ways. This 1968-1969 run is the final year to be aired in black-and-white, and from a modern perspective, it contains the last episodes that are missing from the BBC archives, with only the audio recordings remaining: 2 out of 8 installments of the Cybermen serial The Invasion, which is generally pretty excellent regardless, and a whopping 5 out of 6 from the space opera-y story The Space Pirates, which feels so visual-dependent that it’s hard to fully appreciate today. And of course, this is the final outing for the Second Doctor, along with his returning companions Jamie and Zoe.
While the series had already gone through one such recasting of its central character back in 1966, that had occurred mid-season and retained the other main cast members at the time, as well as the overall structure and appearance of the program. Patrick Troughton may have taken over as the Doctor, but his subsequent adventures were more-or-less in line with his predecessor’s, piloting his TARDIS time machine to some predicament in the future, past, or present at the top of the serial and then departing once the crisis had been resolved. And although that general plot pattern would eventually return, it’s brought to a halt here in the magisterial finale of The War Games, which finally reveals details about the hero’s people the Time Lords amid the Doctor’s abject terror at having to call on them for support. For his nobility he is punished with a forced regeneration and sentenced to exile on earth, where next season would find the Third Doctor in full technicolor supporting the UNIT team against the invading baddies of the week. It’s the biggest upset yet for a show that by this point had already established a reputation for surviving change both on-screen and off.
Like a lot of Troughton’s era, this year shows a certain predilection for the ‘base under siege’ plot archetype, and few of its serials stand out as highlights. The Mind Robber’s trip to ‘the Land of Fiction’ at least is weird and pleasingly meta, but not all of it works for me, as some parts are a bit ungrounded and silly in the Celestial Toymaker fashion. And The Invasion provides a great blueprint for those upcoming UNIT days (and why its commander, the returning Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, would be such a valuable friendly foil for the Doctor). But overall, this is just solid late-60s sci-fi with some interesting wrinkles around the edges. Some of these serials may seem to overstay their welcome at 8 or even 10 episodes — after this, the writers would never again stretch material for a single story past 7 — but the longer ones are also my favorites, so it’s hard to say that that was the wrong approach for them. If anything, some of the weaker tales this season might have benefitted from a little more time to flesh out their components into something more distinctive. Still, it’s not a bad farewell showcase for the Second Doctor and this wider paradigm for the series.
Serials ranked from worst to best:
★★★☆☆
THE SPACE PIRATES (6×29 – 6×34)
THE DOMINATORS (6×1 – 6×5)
THE KROTONS (6×19 – 6×22)
THE SEEDS OF DEATH (6×23 – 6×28)
THE MIND ROBBER (6×6 – 6×10)
★★★★☆
THE INVASION (6×11 – 6×18)
THE WAR GAMES (6×35 – 6×44)
Overall rating for the season: ★★★☆☆
[Content warning for gun violence.]
Like this review?
–Throw me a quick one-time donation here!
https://ko-fi.com/lesserjoke
–Subscribe here to support my writing and weigh in on what I read next!
https://patreon.com/lesserjoke
–Follow along on Goodreads here!
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6288479-joe-kessler
–Or click here to browse through all my previous reviews!
https://lesserjoke.home.blog
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 