What a long, strange trip it’s been.
Today is our sixth and final recap/review of the classic Doctor Who serial ‘The Chase.’ The episode: ‘The Planet of Decision.’ To start from the beginning of our series, click here.
The geodesic sphere’s alcove turns out to be an elevator. It takes them up to the city where they meet Steven Taylor. But, wait, that guy looks familiar… It is the actor who played the yokel tourist, Morton Dill, in ‘Flight Through Eternity.’ The actor is Peter Purves. Steven would go on to be a companion of the Doctor through most of classic Series 3.
Steven has been stranded on Mechanus for two years. He was helping to set up for its colonization by Earth, but they abandoned the project when they got involved in interplanetary war. He has a little stuffed panda mascot named Hi-fi (which is important to know later). The geodesic spheres known as Mechanoids have been keeping Steven as a specimen and intend to do the same with the TARDIS crew.
The Doctor and Ian explore the roof for a means of escape. They find a cable which they think they may be able to use to lower them to the ground. Meanwhile, the Daleks were able to get up the elevator and infiltrate the city. The Doctor sets the machine that they have been carrying around to explode. It detonates next to a Dalek, who begins to spin frantically, exclaiming “I’m exterminated!” Quite a funny moment.
The crew and Steven begin the process of evacuation. They start with Vicki, but she is terrified of heights. Just as they begin lowering her, Steven runs back down to rescue Hi-fi from the fire that was started by the explosion. Ian hastily lets go of the cord as he calls after Steven, and the Doctor and Barbara have a desperate moment of struggle before he returns.
More from Doctor Who
- Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor Who Christmas special is a “complete reinvention”
- Ncuti Gatwa is “so nervous” to take on Doctor Who role
- The Doctor and Donna are better than ever in “Wild Blue Yonder”
- Take the Black: House of the Dragon season 2 trailer hints, the Fallout show, and more
- Jodie Whittaker didn’t pick up on any of the hate for her version of the Doctor
The Daleks and the Mechanoids battle, destroying the lovely city. The TARDIS crew make it safely to the ground and to the Dalek time machine. Ian and Barbara realize that this craft has the technology to take them home, so they request the Doctor’s assistance. He thinks that the attempt would be foolishly dangerous, but I suspect that he is overly exaggerating because he wants them to stay with him. The three argue, but Vicki reasons with him and he concedes. Barbara and Ian arrive safely in London, albeit two years late.
As for Steven, we leave him banged-up, making his way through the wilderness with Hi-fi in hand.
(Article continues after the next post box.)
Next: Doctor Who To Have Different Tone With New Companion
As the Doctor and Vicki watch on the time television as Ian and Barbara frolick around London, I reflect on the contrast between this bittersweet end to the run of these two companions and that of the recent devastating one of Clara.