Jaconda Forever

I watched a United States Public Broadcasting System omnibus version of this story over 30 years ago as a pre-teen or teenager. The Empire State Building scene stands out in my memory as being terrible, especially because of the American accents. I approached my rewatch of this episode with dread. Imagine my surprise when … I kind of liked it? Maybe even really enjoyed it? I guess you view things differently when you’re 48 … who knew? Anyway, I appreciated what they were trying to do and found it charming. That being said, Peter Purves’ Alabama accent is objectively terrible. The actor playing the tour guide with the Bronx accent might as well have been Sir Lawrence Olivier in comparison. And jeez, the death count on the Mary Celeste was excessive. There was even a woman with a baby suiciding herself into the ocean! What kind of children’s show is this? Is it excusable because of the presence of goofy xylophone music? Random notes: Why are the Daleks so into spinning rectangl...

As a two-part story, parts I and II of “The Chase” work reasonably well as a mini-adventure, although I’m guessing we’ll never find out what happens with the Aridians and their struggles with both Mire Beasts and Daleks. I’m not sure how well subsequent episodes will hold up based on my memory of them and the reputation of this story overall. But these two episodes were fairly fast paced without too much padding. I do know enough to be able to identify some Terry Nation tropes: The Daleks exploited and threatened an underground dwelling indigenous race, similar to the Exxilons in “Death to the Daleks.” The story is (at least about to be) broken up into several locations and mini-plots, similar to the Keys of Marinus. The Daleks’ first reveal to the TARDIS crew is dramatic, coming out of the water in “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” and the sand in this story. Even with these tropes, I still enjoyed the first two parts of this story. And Vicki gets some funny, understated lines, like when ...

I can’t say I’m immensely looking forward to this story, given its reputation and director whose last story didn’t blow me away. That being said, it set up the story reasonably well and at a reasonable pace – extended shot of six Daleks going through a door single-file notwithstanding. I do recall watching this somewhat recently on a version that actually has the Beatles performance. Unfortunately, BritBox does not. The absence of that scene does make the cast credit for “Television Announcer” make little sense. Random notes: The Time-Space Visualizer does remarkably well with limited input. “Pennsylvania USA” is a pretty large area and there are 24 hours in a day, but that was all it needed to pinpoint the Gettysburg Address. When the trap door opens, what exactly is Vicki doing? I can describe that reaction only as “panic giggling.” Grade: B