The Reign of Terror

A Land of Fear [Episode 1]

Hannah: We're watching some men creep around in some woodlands. Now that I know my mum reads the blog, I can't say the things I was going to say.
Me: What were you going to say?
Hannah: Something about dogging.

We're off to a promising start.

The TARDIS has landed near a meadow, and the time travellers speculate that they could be in Somerset. Considering his job done, the Doctor invites Ian and Barbara to disembark.

Hannah: He expects them to walk from there? If they're in the middle of a field in Somerset, it's going to take them a long time to get back to London.

Hannah is a little troubled when they help themselves to bread and clothes in a seemingly abandoned house ("Are they stealing?") but that's the least of their problems when Ian and Barbara realise the Doctor has landed them in the Reign of Terror, right in the middle of the French Revolution.

Hannah: And we were only talking about Les Misérables the other day. You must have known this was coming the whole time.
Me: Actually, Les Mis takes place about 40 years later.
Hannah: You know what I mean.

It's not long before a band of revolutionary soldiers turns up.

Hannah: They seem like a disgusting sorry lot. There's even one with an eyepatch. The costume designers really like their eyepatches, don't they? Obviously somebody spent a lot of money on it and wanted to use it in all the stories. It was bad enough when they had a Chinese pirate.

Nevertheless, she still objects to this disgusting sorry lot being referred to as "peasants in uniform."

Hannah: Well, that felt unnecessary.

As a soldier prepares to throw a burning torch into the hay loft, we cut to what is clearly a pre-filmed sequence of the torch being thrown and igniting the house.

Hannah: Wow. They went outside just to take a couple of shots of people throwing some torches.
Me: Well you can't do it in the studio, can you?

Ian, Barbara and Susan are arrested and taken away; Susan is concerned about leaving the Doctor in the burning house, but Barbara tries to reassure her that he probably got out.

Hannah: Why would they just assume... it's stupid. This whole thing's stupid. Instead of just assuming he'd get out, why didn't they tell the soldiers to go and capture him too? At least then he'd be alive, instead of them saying "oh well, I hope he's got out, it's fine, let's walk away." Of course he hasn't! They've already been told he was attacked.
Me: The soldiers aren't going to go into a burning house to rescue him, are they?
Hannah: No, beforehand! I know struggling would probably have got them killed and wouldn't help them in any way, but they seemed far too calm about leaving him there. They should be distraught and expecting him to die.

The credits roll over an exterior shot of the burning house as opposed to the usual black background.

Hannah: Rubbish. I couldn't understand what half of the characters were saying.
Me: It's nice to have the fire in the background though, isn't it?
Hannah: No. It ruins the continuity.

Guests of Madame Guillotine [Episode 2]

To establish the new location we open with a hand-drawn map of Paris, helpfully captioned "Paris" to clear up any confusion.

Hannah: That's not Paris. It's a picture of Paris.

Nothing gets past her.

Ian, Barbara and Susan are taken to the Conciergerie Prison, where the jailer inexplicably talks with a broad Lancashire accent.

Hannah: I do not understand a single thing he has said.
Me: Maybe your French isn't as good as mine.

The cliffhanger of the previous episode notwithstanding, Barbara seems confident that the Doctor is okay.

Hannah: Except he's a frail old man and we know that.
Me: He's not frail.
Hannah: He is!

This particular frail old man has a twelve-kilometre walk ahead of him, as the Doctor sets off on the road to Paris.

Me: Look, location filming! This is the first story to have any location filming. That's not actually William Hartnell, by the way.
Hannah: Why, was he on holiday?
Me: No, but they didn't have room in his schedule to get him all the way out there just to film him walking down a road, so they got Brian Proudfoot in a wig.
Hannah: He doesn't even walk like him.

Back at the prison, Ian's cellmate Webster is dying.

Hannah: And he already drank the last of the water. What a waste.

Webster tells Ian to contact Jules Renan at the sign of a local inn, Le Chien Gris.

Hannah: "The Dog..." oh, it's "The Grey Dog." For a moment I thought it was "The Dog Girls."
Me: I think that's a different kind of establishment.

And then he dies, which earns him the Golden Hannah Award for the hammiest piece of acting she's seen in the series thus far.

Hannah: This is just shit. The acting is bad, the directing is bad...

Meanwhile, Brian Proudfoot is still on the road to Paris.

Hannah: ...the wig is bad...

She concedes that the prison is well-made and looks good, but she finds Susan's screaming as annoying as ever. Elsewhere in the prison, Ian facetiously addresses the government official Lemaitre as "citizen."

Hannah: Why do they keep calling each other "citizen"?
Me: It's like "comrade," it's a way of implying equal position as a backlash against nobility.

The Doctor (now played by Hartnell again) is press-ganged into working on the roadside, but he neatly wriggles out of this by tricking the overseer and then hitting him over the head with a shovel. 

Hannah: That'll kill him, though. The Doctor just killed someone.
Me: Not such a frail old man now, is he?
Hannah: Oh, he's snoring.
Me: Yeah, it looks like that's been dubbed over so that he doesn't look like he's dead.
Hannah: And he's clearly moving his chin. But the Doctor's put coins on his eyes for the ferryman like he's dead! There's very mixed messages here.

As William Hartnell's stand-in resumes his journey, I can't help but feel that Hannah's heart isn't in this tonight.

Hannah: Now we're watching a random old man walking through a field.
Me: Nice field though.
Hannah: I don't care.

A Change of Identity [Episode 3]

As the Doctor arrives on the streets of Paris, so does a coughing woman. It looks like Hannah has a new favourite character.

Hannah: I like her.
Me: Why?
Hannah: She's a scabby old woman.

Elsewhere, as a pair of counter-revolutionaries prepare to stage a rescue mission, we're told that surprise is worth three men. Hannah isn't convinced.

Hannah: That's very specific! There might be a saying, but I didn't think it was three.

As far as I can tell this number is completely arbitrary, so your guess is as good as ours. Speaking of jail-breaking, Ian gets lucky when the jailer leaves the key in his cell door.

Hannah: He is the world's worst jailer. And who designs a cell where you can reach the outside lock from the inside?

As Ian makes good his escape, we get a good look at his 18th century French outfit, complete with frilly shirt and culottes.

Hannah: I hope he gets to keep this outfit and casually wear it on some alien planet.

Back outside, the cart carrying Barbara and Susan to the guillotine has been accosted by the two surprising jail-breakers. As usual, Hannah is far more interested in the animals.

Hannah: A horse's bottom; best part of this story so far. Has Susan gone to sleep? She's about to be killed and she's found time to go to sleep?

In fact she's been struck down with a mysterious illness.

Hannah: Has she got the plague?
Me: Did they even have the plague in--
Hannah: No. If the guards know there's a gang that steals prisoners away from the executions, why don't they have more than four people leading an open-backed cart? If this gang rescues so many people all the time, why would the prison keep sending four plonkers and a completely open wagon?

The Doctor finds a local tailor and, not having any money to buy clothes, offers to exchange his own. Hannah is aghast.

Hannah: No, not the trousers! He could have just stolen a couple more coins from the man he attacked. The Doctor never bothers with actual money.
Me: Except for "The Runaway Bride" where David Tennant robs a cash machine.
Hannah: I don't remember that. Why isn't the tailor suspicious? The Doctor is pretending to be a bigwig but he didn't bring his own uniform and doesn't have any money.

Meanwhile another counter-revolutionary, Colbert, has found time to flirt with Barbara.

Hannah: Not this again.
Me: What?
Hannah: Nobody's allowed to be romantically interested. They're trying not to die.

The Tyrant of France [Episode 4]

Me: Okay, it's time for our next missing episode reconstruction. But this time there's a twist.
Hannah: It's got animated bits in it?
Me: In a manner of speaking.
Hannah: Are there no stills? Is it all just drawings?
Me: What, like a series of courtroom sketches? No.
Hannah: Are there actual pictures?
Me: Yes.
Hannah: So what's the twist? Is there no audio either? It's just stills with no audio and they've typed up the script. Or they've got one person to do all the voices.
Me: No, the audio exists for all missing episodes.

But unlike the soundtrack to Marco Polo, which was accompanied by a slideshow of still images, episodes 4 and 5 of this story have been fully animated for the DVD release.

Hannah: Is the whole thing like this?
Me: Yes.
Hannah: The animation is a little bit creepy. Are they just guessing at what was going on?
Me: No, they've got camera scripts and things, although they've taken some artistic licence as well. And sometimes they have the still images as a reference, although there aren't any available for this story.
Hannah: Why do they keep cutting to close-ups of people's faces? It's creepy and unnecessary.
Me: I think they're trying to make it a bit more dynamic.
Hannah: Yes, but it's not.
Me: No, but if they followed the camera script more closely it would look very static for an animation.

After several scenes with the Doctor and one with Barbara and Susan, I can tell that Hannah has just had an idea.

Hannah: I've just had an idea.
Me: What's that?
Hannah: Is Ian on holiday?
Me: Not this time, but he was on holiday for episodes 2 and 3 where he only appeared in pre-filmed inserts. Everyone else has had a holiday so far, it's only fair.

Creepy characters or not, some of the backgrounds are remarkably convincing and at one point Hannah even believes she's looking at a photograph of the set until one of the animated characters starts walking though it.

Hannah: Story's still stupid, but I quite like the animation. It's creepy but it's certainly better than staring at a slideshow.

The regular credits are followed by the names of the people responsible for the animation, a couple of whom apparently have nicknames.

Hannah: It doesn't seem very professional to put "MechMaster Smith."

A Bargain of Necessity [Episode 5]

The Doctor assures Barbara that his plans always work perfectly. Hannah isn't convinced.

Hannah: His plan was for them to be in England 1963.
Me: To be fair, when you've got all of time and space to aim at, 18th century France is pretty close.

We're watching this story during the week of Guy Fawkes Night, and the constant fireworks outside has meant we've had to keep sporadically pausing our viewing so that we can hear what's going on. At this point it starts up again, with a firework exploding at the exact same moment a gun is fired on screen. The effect is actually very good, and suddenly all is forgiven.

Hannah: It's like 4D cinema!

There seems to be some confusion over the pronunciation of Lemaitre's name. It sounds like a fairly subtle difference to me but to Hannah, who speaks French, it stands out like a fried egg on a mantelpiece.

Hannah: Some of the actors obviously have some French education and some don't, so some are calling him "le maiter" and one of them's calling him "le mettre". To the English ear they're just calling him completely different names.

When the Doctor seemingly betrays his friends by leading Lemaitre to Chez Jules, it looks like they're going to be recaptured for a second time.

Hannah: Back and forth to the prison. It's like watching you at a buffet.

Prisoners of Conciergerie [Episode 6]

Hannah: Yay, a real episode.
Me: It's the last episode of the first season. Or that's what we call it retrospectively, anyway. At the time it was just the last episode before a six-week summer break.

Suddenly, 42 episodes into the series, a thought occurs.

Hannah: No one ever questions the fact that his name is just "Doctor." Although they're speaking French, so his name is "Médecin."

The counter-revolutionaries are planning to eavesdrop on a secret meeting, a plan which requires Barbara to go undercover as a barmaid at a local inn.

Hannah: I wonder what she would do if one of the customers went to pinch her or something.

Hannah finds it hilarious that everyone is so casually okay with the innkeeper being bound and gagged in the wine cellar while they carry out their scheme, especially as Ian also proceeds to damage his property by drilling a spy hole through the wall. The surprise guest turns out to be none other than Napoléon Bonaparte.

Hannah: He looks normal height. Couldn't they get a short actor? Or were they going for someone who looks like him? I'm sure they could have found a short person with the same nose.

The original remit of Doctor Who was partly to teach children about history, so when Robespierre is arrested it's gratifying to see Hannah learning something from our favourite show.

Hannah: That must have been based on something real. Did he really get shot in the face before he was arrested?
Me: Yes, he tried to commit suicide by shooting himself with a pistol but only managed to shatter his lower jaw.
Hannah: Cool.

Sydney Newman would be so proud.

Following the downfall of Robespierre, Jules announces his next move is to find Jean, who we last saw in episode 4.

Hannah: I bet he was on holiday. I haven't seen him in a while.
Me: He doesn't go on holiday, he's in the supporting cast! He hasn't got a regular gig to take a holiday from.
Hannah: He just disappeared! Oh, I remember why; he decided to ride off into the country to find the Doctor and he never came back. And the Doctor was in Paris the whole time.

And we close the first season of the show with a screen full of stars and a nice little speech from the Doctor.

Hannah: That's a very random little... they were just having a chat and then suddenly they're doing a mysterious and deep voice-over.
Me: I think that's a nice way to end the series.
Hannah: No, I like it, it's just very strange. So it looks like he's acknowledged the fact that he can't actually guide them and he's just saying "I tried to take you home, but you know what, our destiny's in the stars, let's just go anywhere." The thing is, they don't have to leave the TARDIS every single time they land. He can just keep trying to throw the dart at the board until he gets the bullseye.
Me: But then they'd never leave, they'd just keep turning up in all these weird places and never explore them. Besides, Ian and Barbara are obviously enjoying it as well.
Hannah: I think they would like to be shown that they can go home, but also have the choice to carry on if they want to.

The Score

Hannah: Again it's a nice interesting period of history, although I'm not sure there's a period of history that isn't interesting...
Me: I bet there is.
Hannah: But I think the way that the story is told felt a bit rubbish. Bad directing. And the jailer, I didn't understand most of what he said straight away, I had to decipher it and I don't think they made it very clear. Back in the day when there was only one opportunity to watch everything, I feel like it must have been ruined for some people who wouldn't have been able to rewind it or put the subtitles on. Oh, and there's Susan's mysterious illness, which only exists to move the plot along and then just conveniently heals itself when she goes back to prison. There are bits and pieces that are done just to progress the story rather than have a clever way out of the situation. But I did like it, little twists about the identity of the traitor, it was fun. But it's... not perfect. And does that mean the Doctor lost his ring, and all of his clothes?
Me: I'm sure he's got others.
Hannah: Anyway. I really like the costumes and the sets and everything, but the story was a little loose and some of the acting was a little bad. But I still enjoyed it so I'll give it...

6/10

I decide to show her the DVD documentary so that she can learn more about the director Henric Hirsch and the problems he encountered whilst working on this story.

Hannah: He looks like the Queen. If the Queen had a receding hairline.