Hello everyone, the Historian here and I am on a roll! Don’t expect posting in the gaps to keep up at this pace, but I will admit I am feeling a bit more optimistic about actually catching up! Once again, watched in 2011, wrapup written in 2014, now let’s get to it!
PRODUCTION: Although writer Ian Stuart Black had originally approached the previous production team, this was the first story actually commissioned by producer Innes Lloyd and story editor Gerry Davis. It was their first opportunity to start making their mark on the show, which they believed should move more towards science fiction plots and away from some of the whimsy of earlier in the year. In what might have been a part of that plan, this story saw the end of individual episode titles. Goodbye, “Small Prophet, Quick Return,” hello “The Savages, episode one.” They also felt that the character of Steven was a bit too simplistic for what they wanted to do–a feeling that was shared by actor Peter Purves, who had already come to the decision to leave the series. This wasn’t the last of the changes Lloyd and Davis would make before the season was over…
I’d be remiss to leave this without telling the “Trilogic” story. Upon leaving Doctor Who, Purves (who was well liked by pretty much everyone) was presented with the Trilogic game prop from “The Celestial Toymaker.” Unfortunately, he spent the next year or so out of work…and started to look at the prop as a bit of a curse. He got rid of it…and got a call for a guest starring job on Z Cars within the week!
To finish up this section, here’s the Brief History of Time (Travel) page.
PROJECT REPORT: As a whole, we seemed to go back and forth a lot on this story. On the one hand, it felt very predictable–at least to our 21st century eyes. (We do acknowledge that this might have been true for the average viewer in 1966.) On the other hand, the writing, direction and performances (especially Fredrick Jaeger’s Jano) were all quite good and a lot of fun, as far as most of the Project was concerned. And, of course, there was….NAAAAA-NEEEEE-NAAAAA!
One thing we all definitely agreed on was the high quality of the recon from Loose Cannon. Really excellent work.
But see for yourself with the individual episode posts:
Episode One
Episode Two
Episode Three
Episode Four
And here’s the BBC episode guide for the story.
As a final note, the TARDIS Project bids a fond farewell to Steven Taylor, astronaut from the future and a companion that became very dear to us all over the year or so he travelled with the Doctor. (And I do wonder if somewhere…in some forgotten corner of the TARDIS…a small stuffed panda named HiFi sits alone…)
Until next time, I remain
THE HISTORIAN
