The moonbase (1967)

Review
More about Doctor Who
More about this serial

Review

This was a four-part serial, first broadcast between 11th February - 4th March 1967. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Doctor and companions Polly, Ben and Jamie find themselves near a weather station on the moon. When the station personnel contract a mysterious disease and start disappearing, the stage is set for the Doctor to meet some old enemies.

What I've seen:

Parts two and four, and soundtracks of parts one and three.

The good bits (warning, spoilers ahead):

it's an early example of a Doctor Who 'base under siege' story, and it's not bad at all
the soundtracks of parts one and three are surprisingly enjoyable. There's enough dialogue to give you at least a rough idea of what's going on, and when there's no dialogue there are a good incidental score and interesting sound effects to listen to. The music even gives you some clues about what's going on, since the Cybermen, the 'converted' crew members and the exterior shots of the moon base all have their own themes

The less good bit:

as in more serials from the same period, we see companions Ben and Jamie both trying to fill the 'young action man' slot in the story. 'The moonbase' solves this problem rather nicely by having Jamie incapacitated for much of the serial

The really not good bits:

the scenes in part two where the Doctor tries to figure out what's wrong with the sick station personnel are a bit lame. Though the Doctor eventually succeeds it takes quite a long time, and his methods don't seem to make much sense. (Stealing people's boots?!)
the people operating the graviton, the device used on the weather station to avert hurricanes by influencing earth's gravity, wear some of the most ridiculous headgear ever seen in Doctor Who

My verdict:

Quite good, actually.

Soundtracks can be fun.

More about Doctor Who

An introduction:
Doctor Who reviews: introduction

More "quite good, actually" Doctor Who:
Doctor Who reviews: quite good, actually

More from the Patrick Troughton years:
Doctor Who reviews: 1966 - 1969

Similar stories:
Doctor Who reviews: alien invasion

Original version of this review:
06/11/01

More about this serial

Episode guides:
BBC Cult

Serial reviews:
Outpost Gallifrey

DVD reviews (of the 'Lost in time' boxed set):
Outpost Gallifrey

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