by Dr Kain » Sun Jan 26, 2020 9:53 pm
We finished off Pertwee's third season just a few minutes ago.
The Mutants - I don't know what happened with this one, but it was quite subpar. It started off strong with a solid first part, then the second and third episodes dragged on quite immensely, which were followed up by another solid fourth and fifth, only to have thing slow down for the finale. I did like the social commentary on imperialism, but beyond that, everything was extremely predictable as it moved exactly how you would expect it to, and didn't do anything exciting with it. The costumes for the mutants were very well done, though the chroma key effects left a lot to be desired, especially when Not-Conan was knocked into space. Fortunately, Pertwee gave a solid performance here that kept all of his scenes fun to watch.
The Time Monster - Ohhhhhhhhhhh boy, this one makes The Mutants look exciting. Hell, watching a pot boil is more intriguing than this complete and utter borefest. Even Delgado couldn't save this train wreck, which is not only the worst story of Pertwee's since Ambassadors of Death, but is just flat out his worst story thus far. Additonally, it's easily one of the worst stories in the entire franchise. Anyway, I did like the concept of Kronos, however, none of it made any sense and the first four episodes moved at the pace of a snail. I would love to say things got way more interesting once they reached Atlantis, but I would be lying because the novelty of that wore off very quickly. Not to mention the Doctor beat the minotaur in such ridiculous fashion even by Doctor Who standards. Oh, and then there is the whole baby Benton thing and the awkwardness of how this story ended. Who thought THAT was a good way to end the season? I'm not sure if I should be crying in terror of for how embrassing that was. Either way, this was not a good tale by any means. It also did not need to be more than 2 episodes in length.
Overall, I do not know what happened this season as Day of the Daleks was such an incredible story, but then each subsequent tale got progressively worse in each installment. Thus my ranking of this season is simply the order of the stories.
1. Day of the Daleks
2. The Curse of Peladon
3. The Sea Devils
4. The Mutants
5. The Time Monster
I really hope things improve with the next season as this season in the end became a chore to sit through.