Doctor Who (TV Series) The Enemy of the World: Episode 5 (1968) User Reviews

I hadn't realised how good this story is.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 10/10 · 23 February 2020]

Salamander, has taken one of the poor mortals from the underground base along for the ride to the surface of the Earth, but he's spun him a lot of lies, and must cover his tracks.

The quality at the end of this story is astonishing, absolutely first class, on audio it was decent, on screen it is wonderful, I hadn't realised just how good.

It has combined the espionage/spy thriller vibe along with the science fiction element amazingly well. Even at this late stage, the layers of the story are being slowly peeled away, Salamander is a fascinating character, he really does seem to be out for only himself, he doesn't seem to care who he has to sacrifice to achieve his goal.

This is one of Troughton's best, and arguably Pat's finest performance, how wonderful that this was found for us all to enjoy.

Superb. 10/10

Enjoyable and solid throughout, strange at times but becomes really good in last few episodes.

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 10/10 · 2 September 2014]

Review for all 6 episodes:

This is often said to be like a Bond adventure. Certainly it has that type of feel. It involves various locations around a near future Earth, political intrigue, spies, helicopters and chases, glamorous women and a Bond villain type enemy who is played by Patrick Troughton in a fabulous dual role. As the Doctor, Troughton is a genial, clowning and mercurial character. As Salamander, Troughton gets the chance to play a ruthless, slimy and powerful villain.

Throughout its 6 episodes this is solid, enjoyable and intriguing but it has some strange, awkward, slightly badly done moments in the first 3 episodes. The near future setting is not particularly convincingly realised. Jamie and Victoria are also given dialogue and actions not in keeping with the characters they are meant to be portraying. This happens a little bit in other stories but happens a bit more blatantly in this story. The final 3 episodes really crank up with great material for Troughton, interesting story developments and exciting action.

Overall a very good story if a bit below the extremely high level of series 5 brilliant standards in the first 3 parts.

My Ratings: Episodes 1-3 - 8/10, Episode 4 - 9/10, Episodes 5 & 6 - 10/10