Ian finally delivers his message to James Stirling but in order to secure Susan's release he and Barbara are forced into a dangerous spying mission.Ian finally delivers his message to James Stirling but in order to secure Susan's release he and Barbara are forced into a dangerous spying mission.Ian finally delivers his message to James Stirling but in order to secure Susan's release he and Barbara are forced into a dangerous spying mission.
Photos
- Directors
- Henric Hirsch
- Timothy Combe(uncredited)
- Writers
- Dennis Spooner
- Sydney Newman(uncredited)
- Donald B. Wilson(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis episode survives only as a 16mm tele-recording, recovered from a television station in Cyprus circa 1985. Prior to this, a print was returned to the BBC, by a private collector in May 1982.
- GoofsNapoleon was in Nice, not Paris, when Robespierre was overthrown.
- Quotes
Dr. Who: [Barbara begins to laugh] What is it? What do you find so amusing, hmm?
Barbara Wright: Oh, I don't know. Yes, I do. It's this feverish activity to try and stop something that we know is going to happen. Robespierre will be guillotined whatever we do!
Dr. Who: [gravely] I've told you of our position so often.
Barbara Wright: Yes, I know. You can't influence or change history. I learnt that lesson with the Aztecs.
Dr. Who: The events will happen, just as they are written... I'm afraid so and we can't stem the tide. But at least we can stop being carried away with the flood! Now, Susan and the prison.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Dennis Spooner: Wanna Write a Television Series? (2009)
This story is missing two episodes, although this is only a third of the episodes so I decided to watch it anyway, since the middle episodes are the one missing so a plot summary online would carry me across to the conclusion. "Not following" was an issue sooner than I expected because, while I can understand the basic actions involving our quartet, I really didn't know who any of the other characters were. On one hand I appreciate the writers respecting my intelligence and assuming that I would know who Robespierre, Barras and others were but the reality is that they got it wrong because I do not deserve their respect and this is not a part of history I know really anything about. The better course would have been to introduce and explain the context without making me feel spoon fed, but as it was I felt I was missing things and not just because of the missing two episodes.
Perhaps due to this, the plot didn't quite grab me although I did appreciate the history and the well designed sets and costumes. I'm not sure why they bothered shooting outdoors just for the sake of a couple of shots of the Doctor walking, but I guess it is historically valuable since this is the first (or at least the first one I saw – some other episodes are lost too). The cliffhangers are a bit forced here and they feel too obvious, like they are replacing a more consistent sense of danger and tension – which they are I guess. The cast are roundly good though and I enjoyed that there was a nice edge of humor to the serial; Hartnell had the best of it in some of his interactions and I liked his playful dialogue which worked well with some of the incidental music being given a Gaelic touch. The rest are solid although again Ford is pushed into a blubbering mess again – the writers seem to struggle to find a good middle ground for her character, she seems to be wise and confident or totally losing her head, nothing in between.
The Reign of Terror was the final serial of the first series and, while it was not the best, it was pretty decent for what it did. I would have liked a more consistent sense of tension and danger and for sure I would have liked it to have helped me out a little bit with the historical context and not assume I understood everything simply from their names.
- bob the moo
- Aug 16, 2013
Details
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime25 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1