Doctor Who: Classic Second Doctor story to be animated
By James Aggas
Following the success of The Macra Terror, The Faceless Ones has been announced as the next Doctor Who story to be animated.
Well, that came out of the blue! Today, it was announced that the classic Doctor Who story The Faceless Ones will be the next Patrick Troughton serial to be animated.
The Faceless Ones is a rather key serial in Doctor Who, in several ways. While the story of an alien invasion hiding in plain sight on contemporary Earth is a common enough story now, back in 1967, this type of story didn’t happen often in Doctor Who. In fact, after Planet of Giants and The War Machines, this was only the third story in the series set entirely on present day Earth.
There’s another key element that The Faceless Ones shares in common with The War Machines – it’s a major story for Ben and Polly. Just as the earlier story introduced them (and rather effectively, too), The Faceless Ones is their departure story. Ben and Polly were the first ever companions to see regeneration, so they’re pretty major companions in terms of the show’s mythology.
Unfortunately, like many of Patrick Troughton’s serials, a great deal of The Faceless Ones is lost. While it’s not completely missing, (unlike The Macra Terror or The Power of the Daleks,) only two out of the story’s six episodes have survived.
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A logical choice
For these three key reasons, it makes sense that The Faceless Ones would be the next story to get the animated treatment. There is one more interesting reason, though: it directly follows The Macra Terror. Not just the animated version, but during the story’s original broadcast, too.
Rather fittingly, the same team that animated The Macra Terror have done the same for The Faceless Ones, too. The treatment of the earlier story has been warmly received by a great deal of the fandom, and it looks like fans can be excited for The Faceless Ones, too.
However, the fans will also have to wait, unfortunately. While a specific release date has yet to be announced, we do know that we won’t be seeing it until 2020. Still, as a huge Second Doctor fan, I’m excited to check out this story. (I’m also hoping it’ll be given a much better release than The Macra Terror in the US and Canada – several months after its release in the UK, and it still hasn’t come out across the pond on DVD or Blu-Ray yet!)
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Have you watched The Faceless Ones? Are you a fan of the story? Which lost Doctor Who serial would you like to see get the animated treatment next? Let us know in the comments below.