Doctor Who Twitch Watch: recommendations of the day 05/30

As the Classic Series marathon on Twitch continues,  we look at the next three First Doctor stories to be shown today, as well as which story particularly stands out.

I hope many of you enjoyed the beginning of Twitch’s current marathon yesterday. Particularly as it featured such major episodes as An Unearthly Child and The Daleks.

The stories to be broadcast later today are also from the show’s first season. Once again, they highlight both the variety and creativity of the original production team. Especially with the first story to be shown.

The TARDIS crew go on an epic quest in The Keys of Marinus. (Photo credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: BBC Press.)

The Keys of Marinus

The Keys of Marinus is a rather unusual Doctor Who serial. Across the planet Marinus, the TARDIS crew search for five keys. These keys were meant to activate the Conscience of Marinus, a machine that keeps law and order across the entire planet.

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Each key was in a completely different location. So with each different episode of the serial, we were shown a completely different environment. These environments included a city, a jungle and a frozen wasteland.

You can’t envy the set designers for this story. It must have been difficult enough creating brand new sets in between serials. But for The Keys of Marinus, they had to do it for every episode! Considering that Doctor Who was made on a weekly basis back in the Sixties, that’s quite an impressive task!

As for the story itself, it’s a fun enough adventure. Having a different mini-adventure each week is intriguing. Of course, some stories work a little better than others. But overall, The Keys of Marinus is a prime example of just how creative the First Doctor’s era could be.

Barbara learns some harsh lessons about time travel in The Aztecs.

(Photo credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: BBC Press.)

The Aztecs

If you want to know why the pure historicals are so popular, The Aztecs is an excellent introduction to them. A story with a heavy focus on Barbara, it teaches her some harsh lessons about the responsibility of time travel.

Jacqueline Hill is absolutely fantastic to watch in The Aztecs. It’s a story that gives her so much to do, and she really runs with it. Some of the more confrontational scenes between Barbara and the Doctor are incredibly compelling to watch.

Ian is also given quite a bit to do, as he has to learn how to fight, while also facing the danger of his rival Ixta. And the First Doctor accidentally gets engaged. (Seriously!)

But The Aztecs is really Barbara’s story. If you want to see just how strong some of the companions really were in the Classic Series, you couldn’t go wrong by watching this story and seeing just how brilliant Barbara was as a result.

The alien creatures known as the Sensorites.

Photo credit: Doctor Who/BBC

Image obtained from: www.radiotimes.com

The Sensorites

We reviewed this story in more detail just a few weeks ago. When re-watching it, it was a rather intriguing look at a more peaceful alien race in Doctor Who. The Sensorites themselves were presented with a great deal of depth. It was particularly interesting seeing them on their own world, and how fleshed out they were as a society.

However, the story isn’t without its problems. Like many Doctor Who stories of the period, it can be quite slow paced at times. Particularly during the first couple of episodes, which were set on a spaceship above the planet.

Even worse, however, is the number of little fluffs that are in this story. Virtually every actor in The Sensorites makes a little line mistake that they very quickly but very noticeably correct. Due to how physically difficult editing was back then, fluffs were admittedly very common. But they’re considerably more common than usual in this particular story!

However, The Sensorites is still an interesting watch, particularly for presenting an alien race more complex than what we might usually be given in Doctor Who.

Overall recommendation: The Aztecs

Honestly, if there’s just one story that you have to watch today, then definitely make it this one. The Aztecs is full of fantastic drama, and really explores the temptations of time travel. It also looks at a historical society and truly aims to flesh it out in depth. A story that’s highly recommended viewing, and shows just how brilliant the historicals can truly be.

Starting with The Keys of Marinus, today’s block of episodes will be broadcast 11:00am, 6:12pm and 01:24am PDT. You can find out more details, and even watch the channel TwitchPresents,  at https://www.doctorwho.tv/watch/twitch.

Next: Review: The Age of Sutekh (Fourth Doctor audio)

Have you seen any of these stories before? Which one is your favorite? Are you enjoying Twitch’s marathon so far? Let us know in the comments below.