Jaconda Forever

The Part III cliffhanger was undermined somewhat when Barbara and Dako are suddenly able to get up and escape the gas. Seems like not collapsing at the end of Part III would have been a better course of action. The TARDIS of this era seems to have a fair amount of simple mechanical problems you wouldn’t expect of futuristic time travel technology. (Looking at you, Edge of Destruction !) I realize these issues help the plot, but it seems like they could have been prevented if the crew had just visited Space Menards more regularly. Odds & Ends: Lots of “ Hmmm…? ”’s from the Doctor, even by Hartnell standards. Quite the body count in this episode for a children’s show. With her long, wistful farewell to her Xeron friend, it feels like the writers are already setting Vicki up to leave the show for similar reasons to Susan. Unusual cliffhanger featuring the Daleks! Grade: B (Viva la revolucion!)

If the eyebrows were prominent in Part II, it was the Moroks’ matching receding hairlines that really grabbed my attention in this episode. And the armory seemed a bit too easy to break into. Ian’s fight choreography seemed a step above what I’d seen in other episodes, however. Grade: B+ (basic hide-and-get-captured plot, but kept my interest)