The Faceless Ones episode 1 discussion:
P: So cool! I loved the old airplanes, and they moved!
<discussion about different types of airplanes>
Sp: So, the TARDIS lands on a tarmac. Two of our heroes peak their heads out. Big old airplane is coming. All four of our heroes pour out of the TARDIS and run.
P: Pour out of the safety of the TARDIS and run.
Sp: So why didn’t they just go back inside.
H: ‘Cause, no story!
P: You’re speaking from the viewpoint that the TARDIS in indestructible, and I don’t believe they’ve confirmed that yet.
H: It’s pretty indestructible. It’s survived being under water, being crushed…
M: It survived having Dodo on board.
<groans>
Sp: But still. Stupid writers.
M: I was impressed by the cast of hundreds of “sir not appearing in this film.” There was astonishing number of people talking on phones, intercoms, etc. to no one.
H: Actually, a whole bunch of this story was filmed on location at Gatwick airport. So if you saw stuff on film of people walking or talking on phones…
M: No, it’s more the main characters having conversation with nobody. Speaking on giant 1960’s telephones that reached down to your belly button.
Sp: The size of the props struck me in this whole episode. Giant hats on policemen. Giant cuffs the size of babies on the motorcycle cops…
M: Apparently big was in then.
H: Welcome to the 1960’s. Big helmets were perfectly cromulent. I’m not sure about the cuffs. They actually got permission to film at both Gatwick and London airports, but Gatwick was cheaper.
R: I suspect they had to give significant screen time to GRIPS! The Gatwick runway incident patrol.
H: No, they actually paid for it. As far as I know there was no quid pro quo.
R: Then what was deal with the exciting 5 minutes of revving motorcycles?
H: Again, it was the 60’s.
M: Motorcycles are cool
H: It’s not just that it was the 60’s. Something to remember, which wouldn’t occur to us now, this is only the third full story to take place in contemporary Britain.
Sp: Which explains why the Doctor doesn’t know what the hell a passport is.
H: So the idea behind all of the stuff is establishing contemporary Britain. Nowadays we see Doctor Who in modern times. But no so much back then.
K: It actually struck me when I realized they were in modern Britain as unusual. And Andred! Ha!
H: As I said, we’ll see many familiar faces in this story. Although we may not recognize them all. There are a bunch of people that either have made an appearance in Doctor Who before, or will be in Doctor Who again.
M: Chameleon Tours should really invest in a lock.
H: How about that way cool sliding book case.
P: With mismatching sound effects.
M: Speaking of sound effects, there was definitely some “attack of the soundtrack.”
Sp: The pitter-patter of Eye-Candy’s heart.
H: Welcome to the 60’s. Have you seen an episode of the Avengers?
M: Touche.
R: “Suddenly, jungle!”
A: How did Polly’s hair get long again?
H: Oooh! Very nice. Maybe stuff happened between the end of the Macra Terror and this story?
A: She had another moon-mist treatment?
Sp: Polly’s hair has become unstuck in time.
R: Wrong series.
K: There was a moment in the Chameleon Tours location where we heard, expectantly I suppose, airplane sounds and whooshing sounds and music. But then suddenly, giggling children.
SG: I just assumed he was a bad guy and stuffing them in a box.
K: Why would they be giggling if they were being stuffed in a box. I think it was a soundtrack error. I hope it was a soundtrack error.
H: Honestly I don’t know.
R: Myself I was amused by Ben putting his navy fitness training to good use.
K: He is short, isn’t he?
R: It’s not that. He’s clumsy, slow, and fluffy.
M: Fluffy?
H: He’s pretty rail thin.
Sp: <Katherine Hepburn voice?> He used to be hardy when he was on a ship all day. Now he’s fattened himself up on TARDIS food. Inter-dimensional cheeses. Transverse sausages. And those little buttery cracker things.
R: Did anyone else feel like Detective Inspector Gascoyne of the Yard was lured off of another set under false pretenses? A guy with a name like that deserves his own series. And they bumped the guy off in the first 5 minutes and he doesn’t get a line.
MS: Except for “argh!” That’s the only line he gets.
R: Even his death scream sounds indignant. That name sounds like a Bond hero.
M: The writers lavished a lot of attention on the name for a seemingly throw away character.
H: It’s almost as if the writers wanted you to remember the name! And speaking of the writers, this story was co-written by someone who would go on to be very important to the series in the late 60’s and well into the 70’s, Malcolm Hulke.
K: Malcolm Smash!
H: Malcolm does not smash. But among other things he created the Silurians.
M: They pulled the old double switcheroo “is the body in the box or not” on us.
SG: It was children, we heard them giggling.
R: “Do dee do. Don’t mind us. We’re just a couple of pilots escorting another pilot who is HORRIBLY BURNED!” Through the middle of Gatwick Airport.
SG: It was before 9/11.
P: It was before 8AM.
R: Dude, third degree burns. Flaps of skin.
K: Alien flesh, actually, I think.
R: Let me put it this way, obviously not at all well.
H: Well, they did sort of cover him up.
R: He was wearing a hat.
M: He was wearing an overcoat. You can disguise anything in an overcoat.
P: The Hulk.
M: Or the Loch Ness monster.
<Lots of “Doc-Tor” and Loch Ness monster jokes happen>
H: Final thoughts?
MS: <throws up the devil horns>
H: Does that mean he liked it?
Sp: Yes.
SG: I really liked this episode of Scooby Doo. I spent most of the episode waiting for the musical chase scene. From the moment they had to scatter.
M: I thought the same thing. I was right there with you the whole time.
SG: And they guy moves the Campbell Soup Can to move the bookcase.
M: And the body disappears.
SG: And then Polly is looking for the body, and I’m pretty sure if this was in color she was wearing purple tights.
M: And then Shaggy was off by himself. And the Doctor was giving Jamie Scooby Snacks.
H: And Scooby was worried about the giant monsters.
SG: So I liked the episode, but it had that feel of a caper waiting to happen at any moment.
R: Waiting?
SG: Okay, happening.
M: The one difference is that this time the aliens will actually be aliens.
R: And based on the story title, I’m expecting rubber masks. “Let’s see who the monster really was. It’s really Mister… Faceless!!!”
A: The way they took such tender care of the alien, it made me root for them to get him to the medical care. They were clearly bad guys since they shot someone…
M: And they were disposing of a bunch of suit cases in an incinerator.
A: I thought it was funny that Jamie was so concerned about the flying beasties, but he was perfectly content to hide behind the giant plane tire.
Sp & R: <at the same time> It was clearly asleep.
A: If I thought it was a giant monster I wouldn’t be sitting behind it.
E: I’m pretty much with A on this one. I do have to agree I was very reminded of a Scooby Doo episode for the whole thing. I felt horribly embarrassed for the Doctor when the body disappeared, even though I knew it was coming.
K: Andred!
P: I really dig the airport in the middle of a dirt field look. And I was super impressed that it was a real airport.
H: Gatwick, having flown into it, is still kind of in the middle of nowhere. It’s no longer surrounded by fields, but sort of unused land and a lot of industrial stuff. Between Gatwick and London, when I took the train between the two, Battersea Powerstation.
P: I really dig seeing the airplanes. I come from an airline family. I was kind of wondering why airline pilots were wandering around in their airline uniforms in the middle of nowhere. That was strange. It was like cops wandering around in the grocery store in their uniforms, or something. You’d be wondering what they were doing. I know from me, pilots don’t just hang around airlines all day.
H: But for small charter airlines their office might be in their hanger. And I could see if it’s only a few man operation.
K: They were aliens. Whatever!
H: Shhhh!
E: I would not be surprised if this aliens looked something like Chameleons.
M: I did like it. And, because it’s up to me to make the comment, there was two cast members running around in skirts.
R: And counting Ben, two in high heals.
H: It was the 60’s!
M: Because it was actually a location set, they were really running around.
K: I don’t think Polly was actually acting when she was out of breath.
Sp: Or confused.
K: I’m looking forward to more Polly acting out of character.
P: Polly under mind control.
H: Or something.
Sp: If you accept the first four seconds that we see our heroes, and are okay with them running out of the safety of the TARDIS in order to get the plot going, this story is pretty cool. It got off to a pretty brisk pace. They introduced multiple character and villains and dangers…
M: And telephones.
<Love Shack jokes?>
Sp: And as usual the Doctor was ecstatic to discover a murder!
H: He did sort of jump to it, didn’t he.
M: Excellent.
E: I especially love how he whips out the magnifying glass.
SG: One of these days he’s just going to go jinkies!
MS: If you actually recall the beginning of the Doctor Who, in the color one when I first started watching it. They actually went, like… basically what they were saying is “hey, let’s check this out.” And all this is just adventures of new stuff and trying to get back home into their own time. Which the Doctor is pretty young now. And it’s like “yes, yes, let’s see… shall we investigate!?”
Sp: My son took my usual ramble for this week, so I have nothing left.
P: No question of genetics there.
M: Nature or nurture?
P: It’s nerdture.
Sp: It’s Nutella.
R: “The important thing is, we’ve got her! And in the original packaging too.” The important thing is “holy crap, everyone in the Universe knows where we are!”
M: Captain Blade asks Polly a whole bunch of questions. The other guy asks her one question, and then Blade says “we’ll get nothing from questioning her, what are you doing!” Which was actually kind of nice, because it was a status sort of thing. He was slapping him down. I’m the alpha-D here.
Sp: “I’m the alpha Chameleon. Enough of your antics, stuff her in the Styrofoam and make her giggle.”
K: Andred!
H: Care to elaborate for our readers?
K: Jenkins (har har har) was ANDRED! Leela’s bit of fun. And I totally recognized him the instant he was on screen.
H: You got anything more?
K: I think I’m good.
Sp: Air traffic controller dude was intense.
M: Mister Theater actor? Mister “I’m big on the London stage.”
SG: But don’t turn around, uh uh oh.
K: <flat> The Commandant’s in town? Oh… uh… oh? Seriously?
Sp: But no, he’s the guy who should have his own series.
M: Yeah, it’s called Masterpiece Theater.
Sp: He was ordering people around. He was placing important phone calls. He was keeping the tarmac secure from TARDISes.
M: Get me the Police! Get me the Prime Minister! Get the Emperor of China.
MS: Get the king of Atlantis!
M: And you’d fully believe they’d ring that person right up for him.
Sp: <silly accent> Actually it was just a running gag. He had a secretary who was just really good at mimicking voices.
K: Maybe she’s a Faceless One?
H: I don’t know where to go from here.
Sp: Take us home?
H: Um… I like the episode. It’s a pretty good story, I think.
<insert Ben jokes here>
H: No speaking ill of the dead.
K: Ben’s dead? No!!!!
H: The actor died in the late 90’s. He fell. It was pretty shocking.
K: Okay, that was grim.
H: Evaluating this episode alone, and not the whole story, it had some fantastic location shooting. Really, really good use of the airport location. And more extensive that I think we’ve seen before. Some really fine acting, I thought. You get the feel of all of these characters, even if you get only a few lines from them. Like the Commandant’s secretary is clearly long suffering.
Sp: Gromit to his Wallace.
H: Exactly. I just think this was a really well put together episode. And I hope you guys enjoy the rest of the story as much as you enjoyed this one.
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