Day two

Today is another hard choice, but for different reasons. So many of Patrick Troughton stories are classics, to me. Though many are sadly missing from the archives, I’m proud to have heard or seen all of his stories. So from out of all the good stories, what do I go for. Despite there being so many good stories, there is only one choice for me. The Web of Fear. You can imagine how happy I was to hear, earlier this year, that episodes, 2,4,5, and 6 had been discovered. The first time I watched episode two brought me to tears. It was great to see such a good story, nearly complete. It’s a shame that episode 3 is missing, but I hope that it’s out there, somewhere.

The reason why I love this story is because they get everything write. It’s telling that the London Underground wrote to the BBC, after this serial aired, asking how they managed to breaking into the underground. The BBC, of course hadn’t, and had made fantastic looking sets, that looked like the London Underground.

The director, Douglas Camfield, gets a great performance from all of his cast and the battle in the warehouse is fantastically shot, and played out. Nicholas Courtney, making his first appearance in the missing episode 3, appears as the Iconic Colonel Leftbridge Stewart. A legend is born in this story.

It’s even nice to hear the classic Space Museum music, which most notably appears in cybermen stories used during the warehouse battle. I think praise must also go to the writers, who have created a thriller in this base under siege story. Trying to work out who the Great Intelligance’s man is a great part of the latter episodes and the reveal is well done.

If there is a down side to this story, it’s that episode 3 is missing.

So what other Troughton stories do I like. There is so many to name. However, I’m going to go with Invasion, with Cybermen in the sewers. Fury from the Deep, with it’s killer seaweed. Moonbase, just because it’s a great story and a perfect way of bringing back the Cybermen, so soon after their initial introduction in Hartnell’s swansong Tenth Planet.

See you all tomorrow for Day three and Jon Pertwee. Many of his stories, were successful because of this and the semi sequel, invasion. Baggers.