BOOK OF LISTS: TOP SIX DOCTOR WHO EPISODES - NUMBER 6

In the Grand Tradition of end-of-the-year entries, I'm wrapping up 2018 with a BOOK OF LISTS countdown. You guys always seem to like these.   

The very first end-of-year countdown that I put together involved my top ten favorite stories. Lots of people enjoyed the choices I made and loved telling me which stories they most adore. So I've decided to do something similar this year. But I'm going to go even more specific. I'm looking at single episodes that I feel stand out above all other episodes. Basically, what I feel are the best six episodes in the history of the entire series. 

Why Six? Why not something more accessible like Top 5 or Top 10? Well, I just kinda felt like six was a nice number. Who says everything has to fit into tidy little boxes?! 


NUMBER SIX:

Coming in at the bottom of this countdown is an episode that has received a fair amount praise but I feel deserves far more than it gets. It's also admired in a way that seems almost ironic. It's the first part of a story and it's loved so much because the three episodes that come after it are considered pretty sub-par. It's frequently given a, sort of, backhanded compliment. Fans say things like: "You really notice that first episode because the other three suck so badly!" A sentiment that, to me, takes away a lot of its lustre. 

Let's get the one big problem with this episode out of the way immediately: you have to view Part One of The Space Museum contextually. It was made over fifty years ago with visual effects that can be easily debunked nowadays (but still look quite fun and surreal when you watch it now). And the pace can feel ever-so-slightly slow compared to the way storylines move in modern television. But part of what makes the episode so impressive is that, overall, it still stands up quite well and does a great job of engaging you for its entire 23 minutes.

What gets me to love this episode so much is how much it resembles another show I have great fondness for. Part One of The Space Museum plays out like a classic episode of The Twilight Zone. It has the same sense of  "off-kilter creepiness"that happened every week on the Rod Serling Masterpiece. The actors seem to alter their performances slightly so that they better resemble characters in a Twilight Zone story. There's great use of the same sort of discordant incidental music that Zone employs. The central premise of characters discovering their ultimate fate and then trying to avoid it sounds just like something you'd see on Twilight Zone.  Even the fact that it's 60s Who so it was still being shot in black-and-white helped to create a resemblance.  There's a definite sense of homage going on here. And it's quite beautiful.

I have a definite nostalgic "soft spot" for The Twilight Zone. It's the source of many happy memories from my youth. I remember how much I loved being scared out of my wits by some of its episodes (the one about the talking doll that starts threatening the abusive father still terrifies me every time I watch it). But I was also impressed by how it could be equally moving (the door-to-door salesman who discovers Death is an actual person and tricks him out of taking the life of a young boy by sacrificing himself in his place gets me in the feels every time). My brother and I were very close in age - which caused us to be competitive to the point of combativeness. But our mutual love of the show meant we would call a truce between us any time an episode came on. As we both made it into our teens, we discovered that two very pretty girls that lived nearby also loved the show. They would come over in the evenings to watch it with us and then we would break away to different rooms in the house to indulge in various forms of amorous activities whilst trying not to get caught by our parents! But those acts of passion didn't start until after Twilight Zone was over. Which says a lot about the quality of the program. It was capable of  stifling the fierce libidos of teenage boys!

To see something in Doctor Who that really seems to be imitating my beloved Twilight Zone causes it to resonate deeply with me. And, yes, it would have been nice if the other three episodes were better (although, they're not terrible, either) - that still doesn't mar the brilliance of that first part. It really is a great example of how good 60s TV could be. Particularly when it tries to be surreal.

Like many of the great single episodes that I shall go on to discuss, The Space Museum keeps things very simple. In fact, Part One resembles the first episode of any number of Hartnell stories. The main characters have landed in a new place and are just exploring around a bit. They find a few things that "tease out" important plot elements that will arise later in the story. Basically, they get a general sense of where they are and who they're dealing with. But not a whole lot happens beyond that.

But here's what makes Part One of Museum that much more special: something really weird happens every couple of minutes. The TARDIS crew change clothes without knowing how. A broken glass flies back into Vicki's hands. They're not leaving footprints. Supporting characters don't see or hear them. They can't hear supporting characters. A Dalek appears - but it's only an exhibit! They're intangible. And so on...

And then, finally, the coup-de-grace: they discover they are exhibits in the museum, itself. All that other weird crap is great fun to watch (okay, admittedly, the intangible TARDIS is thoroughly unconvincing!) but this final revelation is a masterstroke. Things now become totally bizarre and it's truly delightful. There's a great little conversation between the Doctor and Vicki that gives us a bit of an explanation about what's going on but it's actually quite awesome that we don't fully get an answer, here. In fact, a better explanation would've hindered the creepiness of the moment. It was so much better that the whole thing is just a little bit mysterious.

And then, with a flourish of mood music, time finally starts lining up. The visuals during the next few sequences are great. The glass of water properly shatters. The footprints appear in the dust. The museum exhibits fade out of existence. The TARDIS crew freezes and then unfreezes. It's truly beautiful.

Although we will get bogged down with a stereotypical "rebels against their oppressors" plotline in later episodes, Part One of The Space Museum sets up an extra layer to this adventure. While they free the Xerons from the tyranny of the Moroks, the Doctor and his friends must also try to change the course of their own destiny. It makes all the problems of the rest of the story so much more bearable.

Part One of The Space Museum is a real visual tour-de-force that, in many cases, overcomes the limitations of its time. It's also a gorgeous tribute to another very remarkable television program that existed around that same time. Which makes it near-impossible for me to not be completely in love with it every time I watch it. Even if that intangible TARDIS looks really awful!



The latest end-of-year countdown has begun! I'll be back in a few days to reveal my fifth ranking. 

Just in case you're wondering: Yes, I do still love Doctor Who better than Twilight Zone. Even if the latter helped me to get laid during my adolescence!