Jaconda Forever

First off, here is a link to the video I watched. This episode is where things started to slow down. I’m wondering if this really needed to be a seven-part story. Even with the sandstorm and water crisis, it seemed like there was a lot of filler material and slow dialogue. It also seemed to be a “Doctor lite” episode, with the Doctor mysteriously off camera for most of the episode, ostensibly sulking in his room, even when he would have presumably been aroused by the sound of the sandstorm and Ian calling for Susan. I wonder if Hartnell had a vacation planned when they were filming. There were some unusual elements for Doctor Who in this episode, like their progress being tracked on a map Indiana Jones-style , and Marco Polo breaking the fourth wall while narrating his journal. Finally, I don’t totally understand why Tegana abandoned the plan to poison everybody, opting to sabotage the water supply instead. I'll stick with this format for at least one more episode.

At this point in my re-watch, I had a decision to make. I’d seen all of the previous episodes, but I’d never attempted to watch any of the reconstructed versions of this lost story. I do actually have the “Doctor Who: The Beginning” DVD box set , which includes a compressed, 30-minute version of the seven-episode story – although I’ve never watched it. But I felt like I should give the whole story a chance. This Reddit thread suggested the Loose Cannon reconstruction, so I went that route for my first telesnap experience. ( Here is a link to episode 1.) If I get really bored at some point during this story, I’ll skip the rest and watch the condensed DVD version. When you can’t actually see Hartnell acting, it seems like his mannerisms are exaggerated. He sounded extra churlish when he couldn’t get the TARDIS to work, and nearly insane with giddy laughter when he hears Marco Polo’s plan to give the TARDIS to Kublai Khan. In some ways, the telesnap version might be preferable. I have a...

I feel like a Thesaurus was involved when the writers wrote the script and came up with the episode titles of this story. The Mad Lib formula is: The [line where an object ends] of [bad thing]. At various points in this episode, the Doctor says “the point of disintegration” and “the brink of destruction.” And of course, the episode titles are “The Edge of Destruction” and “The Brink of Disaster.” They must not have liked “The Periphery of Despoilment,” “The Demarcation of Demolishment,” or “The Rim of Ennui.” I still don’t totally understand what happened. I get that the button got stuck, but why did it make everyone homicidal and amnesiac? However, it is cool that the TARDIS functions like an Atari 2600 and a button can get stuck.

This episode seemed a little slower than previous ones and didn’t totally make sense. At any given moment, a member of the TARDIS crew might be freaked out, homicidal, paranoid, or pleasantly serving tea, and the transition between these emotions is abrupt. And the effects don’t seem to work. I was unclear why they suddenly freaked out looking at clocks. Maybe the numbers were melting or something, but it was hard to tell what was supposed to be happening. Stabby Susan was pretty cool, though. Maybe Carole Ann Ford would have stayed on for longer if her role had involved less helpless screaming and tripping, and more stabbiness. Here’s something else she could have done: