None.
I don't think it's a brilliant introduction to Jo. I also have reservations about the plot, which I remember not understanding, and the doll, which I understand was terrifying back in 1971, but now is completely appalling. Neither am I a fan of the Time Lords as they appear from this story onwards. Roger Delgado is a revelatory addition to the series (even if, despite it being in the original 1963 plans, I'm still not sure that the Doctor needs an arch-nemesis), but the bowler-hatted buffoon at the start is an embarrassment. Smug is a word that too often comes to mind when I think of this era of the show, which is really unfortunate. I wish I liked it more than I do.
I know this is a favourite for many people, not least Jon himself. And it's good. I just don't think it's great.
I do love this story personally, but it really does have its issues. Liz Shaw's offscreen departure is pretty terrible, and it's an equally poor introduction for Jo Grant, who, while not quite the hopeless ditz a lot of people make her out to be, is still a far cry from the amazing, self-sufficient companion she would come to be by the end of her run. There's also the horrific overuse of ugly CSO effects, the really dumb and out-of-nowhere resolution to the Nestene's plan (how did it not occur to the Master until the last possible moment that the Nestene may not be able to tell the difference between him and humans?), and the unfortunate racial caricaturing of Tony. Plus, while on the whole I love the creative use of the Nestene's ability to control plastic (something no other piece of media featuring the Nestene Consciousness has ever been able to match), the killer phone cord really is a step too far, and makes for a pretty ridiculous and poor third episode cliffhanger.
I know that many fans of the show love everything to be neat and tidy but, on its original transmission I didn’t have any problem with Liz’s off-screen departure. I just accepted it, and that some time had passed since her departure. (After all, the show had been off our screens for half a year, and that felt a very long time when you were six years old.) Also, complaining about Jo being “a far cry from the amazing, self-sufficient companion she would come to be by the end of her run” rather ignores the whole point of her having that character arc, though the extent to which it was planned from the start is uncertain—probably no one expected Katy Manning to stay for three whole seasons. (After all, she was the first female regular to do so.) At the time I do remember liking Jo much more than Liz Shaw; mind you, earlier this year, I literally bumped into Katy Manning on the London Underground, and I STILL love her!
This was arguably the first “reboot” of the show I directly experienced as a viewer—albeit a “soft” reimagining of the show more in Barry Letts’ image. And I think it works. That said, I think this is REALLY where Pertwee’s Doctor arrives—and he’s arguably the biggest snob on the planet. That said, he’s at his best when face-to-face with Delgado’s Master, because he’s well aware that if he doesn’t put the work in, the new villain is going to take the show from under him.
The CSO work is rather cartoonish, I accept—but this was still remarkably new technology at the time, and Doctor Who was being something of a trail-blazer, pushing it further than most other TV shows of the time. That it didn’t always work is a shame, but given that most people at the time were watching on fairly small, black and white TVs, probably not the distraction many might think it is now.
The Autons are considerably less scary than their last appearance.
What do you think?