Love and Liberty

As Patrick Troughton’s performance as the Doctor becomes compelling, his stories really hit their stride. He faces his own double, a would-be world dictator in the twisty-turny The Enemy of the World, as well as a host of monsters: giant crabs that mess with your mind in The Macra Terror; the eponymous The Abominable Snowmen and The Ice Warriors; the Cybermen at their most chilling in The Tomb of the Cybermen; and even, could it be, the final end of the Daleks…?

The Evil of the Daleks

“Somewhere in the Dalek race, there are three Daleks with the Human Factor. Gradually, they will come to question. They will persuade other Daleks to question. You will have a rebellion on your planet!”

Doctor Who’s Faust, a gripping morality tale of insidious Daleks and the Doctor exploring human and Dalek nature – defined as ‘to ask questions’ and ‘to obey and to kill’ – it’s the series’ most powerfully Liberal message and intertwines past, present and an alien world to perfection.


And, yes, I’m afraid it’s one more that doesn’t fully exist, though I’m hoping the big, CGI-Dalek-packed Recon that’s due soon will be thrilling. If there’s one ‘missing’ (burnt) story that I’d love to be rediscovered… Anyway, thankfully you can at least buy the one fully surviving episode in the Lost In Time DVD set, and the whole soundtrack is terrific on CD (there’s a book you might find second-hand, too). It was adapted as a stage play two years ago, and though you can’t see that, you can read Richard’s review courtesy of Millennium.

Labels: Daleks, Doctor Who, DVD, History, Liberalism, Patrick Troughton, Recons, Reviews, Why Is Doctor Who Brilliant?