The Dalek Invasion of Earth

Premise: When they land in London, Ian and Barbara are happy to be home but celebrations are cut short on realising they're in the 22nd Century and Earth has been conquered by the Daleks.

Notes: After their appearance in the second Doctor Who serial, a wave of Dalek Mania hit the country. Fans could buy Dalek toys, read Dalek comic strips and even wash themselves with Dalek themed soap. With a big screen movie planned for the following year, the only thing missing was a rematch between them and the Doctor on the small screen, and what better place to have them than London. The Daleks have been updated since their last appearance with metal disks on the back of there midsection and large fenders on the bottom to account for their increased mobility. This episode marks the first time a regular character departs from the series with Susan being left behind on Earth at the end of the story. This is the last time we see her until the twentieth anniversary special, the Five Doctors.

Verdict: A very entertaining serial with a strong plot and many iconic moments. The supporting cast do a great job of creating an impression of a ravaged Earth and the Daleks are as menacing as ever. The opening scenes of an eerily quiet London and Susan's farewell are extremely well done, with the latter possibly being the most emotional moment in the shows history 10/10

The Aztecs

Premise: The travellers land in the tomb of an Aztec High Priest but accidentally cut themselves off from the TARDIS as Barbara is proclaimed as the reincarnation of Yetaxa.

Notes: This serial marks the first time in the series where it would deal with the issue of changing history with the Doctor and Barbara taking opposite sides in the argument. Carole Ann Ford took a two week holiday in the middle of making this serial, her absence was covered by short prerecorded insets. The Doctor's romance with Cameca was his first romantic entanglement of the series and his only in it's original twenty-six year run. It is a aspect which appears a lot more in the new series due to the change in the times with the audiences.

Verdict: A well done character tale with Barbara's dilemma of changing history right at the heart of it. There is a sense of impending tragedy running throughout the tale and there are moments when it is unrelentingly bleak. However, the fight scenes now seem dated 8/10

The Edge of Destruction

Premise: The Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara are confused and disorientated after an explosion shakes the TARDIS and the doors open to reveal only a white void.

Notes: The series was only originally granted a thirteen episode long run. With extending the Daleks to nine episodes not being an option, only two months until filming was scheduled to start and a hardly any money to spend, script editor David Whitaker hastily wrote this script in two days the reach the initial episode run of thirteen episodes. It is a rare bottle episode where all the action takes place on one set (as there was no money to build a new set) and it only features the four regulars (as there was no money to hire any extra actors).

Verdict: Nothing substantial enough to make it all that special but given the circumstances it is a decent piece of television. The story rolls along at an acceptable pace and the brief moments of physiological horror are delightful 7/10

The Daleks

Premise: The TARDIS lands the Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara on Skaro where two opposing races have survived a neutronic war - the Daleks in their metal casings, and the beautiful Thals.

Notes: This serial marks the first appearance of the Daleks, Doctor Who's first and most iconic monster. They were based off the fear that writer Terry Nation had of the Nazis in World War II and the idea of racial supremacy. This story is an example of a futuristic story which is designed to teach children science as part of the educational value of the show. The other type of story was the historical one which was designed to teach children history and famous events and featured no futuristic elements despite beyond the basic premise of the show. The futuristic stories proved to be more popular so the purely historical ones were eventually dropped in 1966.

Verdict: One of the best Dalek stories ever and even one of the best Doctor Who episodes ever told. Classic moments which live in Doctor Who fan's memories forever and without this serial the show would probably not have been half as successful as it is today. However, the ending could have been handled better 9/10 

An Unearthly Child

Premise: Two school teachers' curiosity leads them to a junk yard where they meet Susan's grandfather, the Doctor, and stumble into his time/space vehicle, the TARDIS.

Notes: The new Head of Drama at the BBC, Sydney Newman, decided to have a children's science fiction show take place on Saturday evenings in between the popular sports show Grandstand and the music show Juke Box Jury. The series went through many problems in it's early stages as unworkable scripts, budget problems and issues in the studio kept pushing the air date of the first episode back. The sixteenth of November was eventually decided upon and the first episode was recorded. However, Sydney Newman saw many problems with this episode and allowed it to be shot again, pushing the air date back another week to the twenty-third, making the original episode become known by fans as the "unaired pilot episode". The first episode was overshadowed by the assassination of President Kennedy so it was repeated the next week directly before the second episode.

Verdict: A flawless first episode leads into a tedious but unsettling final three parts. The set pieces are nice and the music unnerving, it's ultimately nothing more than the four travelers stuck in a cave with an annoying caveman tribe 6/10