As I was watching, it occurred to me that this one seemed like a Pertwee or Tom Baker episode. It just felt like something from later in the classic series as opposed to the Hartnell era. There was a variety of locations around the airport and then add in the plane/spaceship and the big spaceship and you've kept those set builders very busy. Throw in some scenes out on the airfield and you have a rather extensive story world.
Sadly, Ben is absent for most of the story. Polly fares little better, getting more screen time only in the form of the alien that took her likeness. I guess the show's makers had given up on them by this time and had no interest in giving them a grand send-off. Instead, the Doctor and Jamie pairing gets an early run.
I watched the black & white animated episodes and the remaining 2 original ones. I must admit that I really like the animation. It may not be the most expensive, photorealistic stuff around, but it has a low budget charm just like the show itself. The grinning guy at the newsstand was funny plus I noticed a wanted poster with the Master's face on it.
Jamie gets in a wee snog with Samantha, a woman looking for her brother. What a stud! Leaving the originals (i.e. - humans) in those cars - not exactly the best hiding place, if you ask me. The animation meant the shots of planes and spaceships were better than what could be done back then. I also loved the detective with his omnipresent pipe. Did the animation ever show smoke coming from it or was that only in the surviving footage?
Overall I liked this story. Jamie is a fun character. I miss the goofy Doctor, though, especially the recorder playing. And I, for one, had no problem with the disguises. He's much more your standard Doctor here. That the aliens were taking young adults to be interpreted as a commentary on the youth culture of 1967? Hmm...
Troughton's first season is almost done and it ends with Daleks.
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