In the new Doctor Who seasons one does get the feeling that the popular monsters of the Daleks, Cybermen etc do get a bit overused and this serial stands to remind us that this was also the case in the very early days. Despite already have been featured at the start of the second season in the far superior Invasion Earth, the Daleks return here in to chase the Tardis across time and space to hunt the crew down and kill them. Sounds dramatic right? Sadly the reality is that we have a fragmented series of stories and settings which are mostly delivered with a silly and ineffective content which really doesn't even work within its own context.
The plot sees the Doctor inventing a television that can see any moment in time – a plot device that seems pointless apart from acting as the sole way of seeing The Beatles performance which is featured as being seen via it (the irony of this show preserving another while so many of its own early episodes are lost). We have several moments via this TV thing before moving to a ship, to New York, to a haunted house, to a planet of robots and so on. Bits of it work but mostly it is just nonsense with an uneven tone that is silly but not fun. The planet in the final few episodes offer some excitement but the rest seems pointless – the comedy American, the haunted house etc, all of it is rather hard to watch.
The cast go with it but there is nothing here for them and it is a shame that this is the way that Ian and Barbara have to bow out. Such great companions from the start, they do not get the exit that Susan got and instead they just feel like they got dropped but were rewarding with a bit of mucking about in London as their leaving gift. What the show will be like without them (particularly with the ever vapid Vicki as the sole companion) I'm not sure, but I hope it will not miss them too much. The Daleks make limited impact (even if the serial tries to replicate the great reveal from the Thames) and generally they feel exploited for their popularity here, rather than a real threat or presence.
The Chase sounds good in a one line summary but the reality is a silly mess of ideas – most of which are not good ones. There are moments but they are infrequent and generally this didn't work. I guess the silliness of it all may work if you are in the mood, but for me even the comedic element was poorly done and misfired. So long Ian and Barbara, sorry it had to end like this.