The third season is messy but touched with greatness
Although the first season had its low points – ‘The Keys of Marinus’ is an entertaining but inconsequential runaround, and after a strong opening, ‘The Sensorites’ is remarkably dull – the quality of the stories is overall magnificent. As many bands and novelists find, following initial success can be difficult, but ‘Doctor Who’s second season is consistently good too. The departure of Ian and Barbara towards the end of it created a gap at the heart of the series. By the time season three opened, with the indifferent B-movie pastiche ‘Galaxy 4’, a touch of inconsistency has crept in. There are no fewer than three historical, though ‘The Myth Makers’ plays it for laughs and ‘The Massacre’ returns to the darkness of ‘The Reign of Terror’. ‘The Ark’ is built around a terrific idea, but it also feels like a B-movie, and new companion Dodo (Jackie Lane) is from the get-go, dealt a poorly-written part. By the time she leaves at the end of the season, she’s written out only half an hour into ‘The War Machines’, and is the only companion to ignominiously leave off-screen. By then, we’re on to the dashing new companions Ben and Polly (Michael Craze and Anneke Wills). There’s a lot of chopping, changing and churn over a chaotic, yet still satisfying season. Even behind the scenes, the role of producer and script editor were changing hands at a rate of knots. It’s amazing the season is as good as it is. Overall, Hartnell’s first two seasons are much stronger.
