Doctor Who: The Chase

The Daleks return for a chase through time and space.

Dalekmania and Beatlemania collided when the Doctor Who serial The Chase aired in June of 1965. The Beatles were supposed to come into the studio and film a cameo as older versions of themselves performing in 1996, but their manager squashed that idea. So instead, the Beatles have a cameo in the serial via a device the Doctor (William Hartnell) lifted from the space museum in the previous serial and has added to his time-and-space-travelling vehicle the TARDIS. This device is the Time-Space Visualiser, which allows the viewer to get a glimpse at moments throughout history, even moments there weren't video cameras present for, like Abraham Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address and William Shakespeare meeting with Queen Elizabeth I. Then the Doctor and his companions Ian (William Russell), Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill), and Vicki (Maureen O'Brien) see a moment that was televised - The Beatles performing on Top of the Pops in 1965. Sadly, this clip was removed from the Region 1 DVD release of The Chase, due to licensing issues.

The Time-Space Visualiser also tips our heroes off to the fact that their old enemies, the robotic-suit-encased aliens known as the Daleks, are chasing them down in a time machine of their own. So kicks off another epic Dalek-centric serial. The second serial of this season of Doctor Who was the six episode adventure The Dalek Invasion of Earth, so it seems fitting that the season's penultimate serial is another six episode adventure featuring the Daleks. This one isn't quite as good as the other, though.

The first two episodes of this serial, The Executioners and The Death of Time, feel way too run-of-the-mill. The TARDIS materializes on a planet called Aridius, where one species of alien is having a rough time with another species, as the fish-man Aridians are being run out of their underground homes by the octopus-like Mire Beasts; the problems of formerly aquatic species on a planet where the water has evaporated due to the suns moving closer. They're just the latest dueling groups on a planet the TARDIS shows up on, this situation plays out again and again in this series. Thankfully, the Daleks show up to disrupt the familiar scenario and our heroes are able to make a quick escape from Aridius - so quick that the Doctor, Ian, and Barbara accidentally leave Vicki behind, and she has to catch a ride in the Daleks' time machine.

Episodes 3 and 4, Flight Through Eternity and Journey into Terror, are the highlight of the serial as far as I'm concerned. Flight Through Eternity has a fun sequence in it where the TARDIS materializes on the top of the Empire State Building in 1966 and is spotted by a tourist from Alabama, a man named Morton Dill (Peter Purves). Morton is a real country gentleman and he's not too bright, but he's bright enough to figure out that there's something unusual about the TARDIS. He becomes convinced there's some kind of movie magic going on here, that he's witnessing a Hollywood motion picture being filmed on top of the Empire State Building. Morton's appearance is quick, but entertaining, and I was really hoping he would become a new companion for the Doctor so I could watch more episodes with this country boy saying things like "Hot diggity!" and calling things like the Daleks "an ugly little critter".

The TARDIS then materializes on a ship at sea, as Flight Through Eternity gives us an explanation for why the crew of the Mary Celeste abandoned their ship in 1872.

Journey into Terror appeals to me because it finds the TARDIS materializing in what appears to be a haunted house, where Dracula and Frankenstein's Monster reside. The Doctor comes up with the theory that they have somehow arrived in a place that was created by humanity's collective consciousness, that it doesn't actually exist, and therefore the Daleks can't follow them there. But the Daleks do get there soon enough, and we're treated to the sight of the Daleks crossing paths with classic monsters. Not just that; Frankenstein's Monster does substantial damage to a Dalek, and it's an awesome thing to see. As it turns out, they're just in a haunted attraction at something called the Festival of Ghana, and Dracula and Frankenstein's Monster are androids.

For the last two episodes, The Death of Doctor Who and The Planet of Decision, the action moves to the planet Mechanus, where the characters have to deal with deadly plants called Fungoids and robots called Mechanoids, which were supposed to be colonizing the planet for the people of Earth but were abandoned there when Earth got distracted by an interplanetary war. To the benefit of the travellers, the Daleks and the Mechanoids do not get along. The Mechanoids aren't the only robots around; in one episode, the Daleks try to exterminate our heroes by unleashing a robot version of the Doctor on them. They could have done something cool with that idea, but instead it's disappointing how quickly this robo-Doc fails at its mission.

While on Mechanus, the Doctor and his cohorts meet an Earth space pilot named Steven Taylor, played by Peter Purves - the same actor who played Morton Dill! Unfortunately, Steven is not an Alabama feller. Purves plays the character with his own English accent. Steven has been stuck on Mechanus for two years since his spacecraft crashed there and the Mechanoids took him prisoner. There's a reason why we're introduced to Steven as this serial is coming to an end - and that's because the Doctor is about to lose two of his companions.

After spending two years with the Doctor, travelling through space and time in the TARDIS, Ian and Barbara have finally found a way to return to their own place and time, England in the 1960s. Unlike the TARDIS, the Dalek time machine can be programmed to go to a specific destination and will take its occupants there. This could be their only chance to go home. They have to take it. The Doctor is not happy to hear that they want to leave him, but he puts on a front of anger to hide the fact that he's sad to see them go. As grumpy as he was toward them at the start, he truly did come to care for them.

It is sad to see Ian and Barbara leave the show, but they got the perfect ending. I'm glad they were able to go home after all they had been though. I don't think The Chase is a great serial, but it has a lot of fun moments, and served as a terrific send-off for Ian and Barbara.