Really don't like that cloak of the Doctor's.
Something on the console's overheating - it burns Barbara! - so Susan goes to check the fault locator.
They get the doors shut and the Doctor throws a bit of a wobbler. "I'm talkin' about time travel!"
Hartnell's Doctor has started to soften. "I always forget the niceties under pressure. Please forgive me."
After a quick shufti at the scanner screen, they head out to investigate where they've landed.
The Doctor tells Ian that "the space pressure was too great" when they materialized.
The Doctor & Barbara find a giant worm, while Susan & Ian find a giant ant. Both animals are dead.
Ian & Susan find a giant packet of seeds. From Norwich!
The Doctor & Barbara knock over a giant match. The Doctor's finally figured out what's going on...
Ian thinks it's some sort of exhibition, but Susan's quicker off the mark.
They've been reduced to the size of an inch! (Space pressure shrinks people according to imperial measurements).
Sensibly, Ian climbs into a random matchbox... only for it to be picked up and carried off.
We start to follow the "giants" now. R.K. Maroon argues with the man from the ministry...
Farrow won't give R.K. Maroon's insecticide the thumbs up, so he shoots him. Ian escapes the matchbox...
While the travellers stare at a giant photo of Farrow's face, a cat stalks them...
The cat gives them a good staring at.
They stay perfectly still till the cat gets bored and buggers off.
Love the way the cat just trots past Farrow's dead body, not giving a shit.
It is a cat. It probably is thinking, "Hmmm I bet he'll taste nice if I leave him to marinate in the summer heat".
It's Mr. Smithers!
Maroon gives Smithers some guff about the gun going off accidentally in a struggle.
Maroon & Smithers take the body back into the house; the travellers make their way to the house.
The Doctor & Susan give it their best incey wincey spider and climb up a water spout.
Science teacher Ian feels at home amongst the test tubes and litmus paper.
Barbara faints when confronted by a giant fly but the insecticide soon does for it.
Ian & Barbara can hear Susan whining louder than usual as her voice echoes in the sink.
Maroon & Smithers come in to wash their hands...
The Doctor thinks it's a great idea to hide down the plug hole...
Smithers gets excited because the DN6 killed a fly.
R.K. Maroon has lied & said that Farrow's report claimed DN6 didn't work.
The opposite is true - it works TOO well, and kills everything.
But R.K. Maroon doesn't care and just wants the money. So Farrow had to go.
The Doctor & Susan are down the plughole as the tap is turned on...
Agree a strange story to start a season with too. Not that it did the show any harm at the time but for impact the Daleks return would have been the bigger draw for viewers
True, although it didn't hurt to have the Dalek story run the 6 weeks up to Xmas, I guess! (Ep 6 was Boxing Day!)
The idea for this story had been floating about right from the very early days of planning Doctor Who. They could never quite get it to work; and frankly never did. It had been consigned to the bin in those early days and should have stayed there.
I suppose to be fair it was a 'leftover' of sorts. The 1st story actually *made* as part of season 2 being the next one...
The Doctor & Susan are okay, and the travellers are reunited.
R.K. Maroon impersonates a dead man on the phone, but the local operator & her hubby - a police constable - don't buy it.
Famously this was originally a 4 part story, but parts 3 & 4 were edited down to make a single episode.
Damn right too. Easily one of the dullest, least engaging Hartnell era stories.
the Target Novel was nice and brisk - made it more exciting. I don't think the TV version is too awful though.
I'd cut *another* episode!
Yeah all 3 to be honest. It might have made sense on paper when they were looking for a 'science-y' 1st story but (a) thank god they went with An Unearthly Child and (b) by this point the show had long since evolved away from what they'd thought it would be when this was conceived.
This is what the show could have been like. Imagine this as the very first story! Cancelled after three weeks?
Perhaps we'd just remember this as a UK pre-cursor to Irwin Allen's Land of the Giants.
Love that show. "Shall we run across the room?" "No, let us stick to running past the same skirting board!" It seems a little B-movie to me. Or Honey I Shrunk the TARDIS.
Barbara's starting to feel the effects of the DN6; it's absorbed through the skin - hence Farrow's thumbs down!
R.K. Maroon falls into Ian's trap & takes a blast of DN6 in the eyes.
Dixon of Dock Green turn up to arrest him.
I like it when people say the show should return to its roots. I think, "What? Educational instead of Sci-Fi fantasy?"
I look forward to a return to 4 camera, filmed-in-a-week, episodes, yeah. Bit tough on the CGI-ers.
Returning to the TARDIS, they regain their normal size, and set off for adventures new...
...and hopefully more interesting. It's about time those Daleks made a comeback, they were great first time round...
TTFN! K.
Coming Soon... Delta and the Bannermen
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