Story: Power of the Daleks
Written By: David Whitaker
Length: 6 Episodes
Year: 1966
"The Power of the Daleks" is the first story of Patrick Troughton's era of Doctor Who, and sadly, like a lot his stories, it is missing. Hartnell got off lucky in the junking policy, while a good portion of his 3rd season is missing, and some scattered episodes in Seasons 1 and 2, Troughton's Second Doctor is missing almost everything up until his final season, which is still missing some episodes.
So unfortunately its really hard to judge his debut here. Sure, you can hear him and see photographs, but the real performance is probably lost forever. Even animation wouldn't do him justice. So just as we all get to miss out on the last 25 minutes of William Hartnell's First Doctor due to the episode being "Lost in Time", we also miss out on Troughton's debut...in fact up until Episode 2 of "The Underwater Menace" there isn't a complete episode. That is the 13th episode of Troughton. Twelve missing episodes. In the end the whole season has 35 episodes, and only 6 are intact. Not one complete story in the season.
So for this season to the next, unless I state otherwise, I'm watching Reconstructions.
"Power of the Daleks" as a story is nothing too special, but the fact that Troughton so easily stepped into the role as The Doctor against the Daleks, and so quickly, is a testament to him...for without that actor, this show would be doomed for what it was trying to do. Ben and Polly are struggling with the Doctor's new face, as they are forced into a struggle with the Daleks as well. Even with audio, Troughton is a clearly doing a good job of playing the Doctor, especially for a debut. As a Dalek story, this isn't that great. Its also a rather padded story, and could have easily been trimmed to 4 episodes. Then again, maybe I'm missing a lot through telesnap recons.
UPDATE: I must admit that recently, through some great reconstruction work on YouTube, I've been able to get a better feel of Troughton's first few moments. They seem spectacular. I hope that these amateur productions can someday bring the full story to life, but time, money, and manpower can get in the way of that. What I've seen is promising for unpaid amateur fan stuff, and it bodes well for Recons, if not from the BBC then maybe with Loose Cannon (company producing the bulk of the recons I watched). This program Crazy Talk is IMPRESSIVE with what it can do for telesnaps.
NEXT TIME: Scots vs. Red Coats
Written By: David Whitaker
Length: 6 Episodes
Year: 1966
"The Power of the Daleks" is the first story of Patrick Troughton's era of Doctor Who, and sadly, like a lot his stories, it is missing. Hartnell got off lucky in the junking policy, while a good portion of his 3rd season is missing, and some scattered episodes in Seasons 1 and 2, Troughton's Second Doctor is missing almost everything up until his final season, which is still missing some episodes.
So for this season to the next, unless I state otherwise, I'm watching Reconstructions.
"Power of the Daleks" as a story is nothing too special, but the fact that Troughton so easily stepped into the role as The Doctor against the Daleks, and so quickly, is a testament to him...for without that actor, this show would be doomed for what it was trying to do. Ben and Polly are struggling with the Doctor's new face, as they are forced into a struggle with the Daleks as well. Even with audio, Troughton is a clearly doing a good job of playing the Doctor, especially for a debut. As a Dalek story, this isn't that great. Its also a rather padded story, and could have easily been trimmed to 4 episodes. Then again, maybe I'm missing a lot through telesnap recons.
UPDATE: I must admit that recently, through some great reconstruction work on YouTube, I've been able to get a better feel of Troughton's first few moments. They seem spectacular. I hope that these amateur productions can someday bring the full story to life, but time, money, and manpower can get in the way of that. What I've seen is promising for unpaid amateur fan stuff, and it bodes well for Recons, if not from the BBC then maybe with Loose Cannon (company producing the bulk of the recons I watched). This program Crazy Talk is IMPRESSIVE with what it can do for telesnaps.
NEXT TIME: Scots vs. Red Coats
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