The Space Museum
review

Holistic Review: Episode 1 is amazing, imaginative and atmospheric, but the rest - while still enjoyable - are a little more pedestrian.

The Space Museum has a reputation much like An Unearthly Child, to wit: episode 1 is glorious and the following three are dull tripe. There's definitely more than a grain of truth to that assessment, but I don't think it's quite that bleak in this case. Episode 1 is undoubtedly a masterpiece of atmosphere; between the travellers' clothes suddenly changing, the broken glass of water reforming in Vicki's hands, and the fact that the TARDIS crew don't leave footprints, can't hear any noises, can't touch anything, and can't be seen by anyone, their situation is extremely intriguing. Episode 1 honestly feels like it came straight out of The Twilight Zone. With such a great setup, I suppose it isn't really a surprise that the following three episodes can't live up to that initial promise (although it sure would be nice if they had), but on the positive side, they do a lot of things right.

The problem, really, is that episodes 2 - 4 are "about" the evil Moroks who have enslaved the population of Xeros, and the adolescent (and all ginger-haired?) Xerons who are desperately trying to start a rebellion. This plot is as old as dirt, and about as interesting. There are some nice touches, though, such as the fact that the adult Xerons were mostly wiped out, and the remaining children are sold off into slavery once they're old enough, which means that our guest stars are a bit younger than usual. (Although it does occur to me to wonder how long it will be before Xeros no longer has any Xerons on it... then again, these are post-pubescent teens, even though we don't see any women around.) And the tired plot is given a great lift by the fact that episodes 2 - 4 are about predestination. What course of events leads to the TARDIS crew being captured under glass? With every action (or inaction) they take, each one of them has to ask: will this prevent us winding up as museum exhibits, or is this exactly the same path that inevitably leads us there? What I find really interesting - and refreshing - is that the story gives us a clear answer to this question. Even with foreknowledge, most of them are unable to avoid getting captured by the Moroks and prepped for display. But Vicki, who is kept focused and driven by her optimism, desperation, and determination to beat the odds and avoid the future, is the only one who tips the balance, by breaking into the Morok armoury and supplying the rebellion with weapons. It's likely that, if Vicki hadn't known she could end up embalmed for eternity, she might have given up on trying to hack the armoury computer. But because she knew the consequences if she didn't succeed, she persevered and was able to come up with a clever solution that changed the course of events and enabled them to evade that horrible fate. So the final three episodes are very tense too, in their own way. The only moment that really could have been dull is when the revolution actually starts. Battle scene upon badly-staged battle scene can get very tedious; but here, the rebellion doesn't start until we're fully aware that it's the TARDIS crew's only chance of survival, so it becomes very interesting indeed, and it's done succinctly. So, all in all, even though the last three episodes don't sustain the mystery and intrigue of the first, they do a very nice job of creating suspense and asking some tough questions.

As usual for this era, the four leads can make just about anything watchable. Hartnell gets to play this script as though it's a comedy. The Doctor's reaction to the crew's missing Crusading clothes is hilarious; instead of getting worried over the impossibility of the situation, he seems to regard it as a great convenience ("Well, I must say, it's gonna save us a lot of bother changing!"). His kidnapping by the Xerons is also played as a comedy moment, particularly when he overpowers Dako off-screen and leaves him trussed up like a chicken. Then, of course, there's the Doctor's hilarious interrogation by Lobos, as he turns the thought-reading machine's power to his advantage. Hartnell deftly contrasts these humorous scenes with the moments in which the Doctor conveys the gravity of their situation, and the difficulty of struggling against fate. I do find it extremely surprising, though, that the Doctor implies he's never been to a museum on Earth before. How likely is that?!

Ian gets to bluff his way to rescue the Doctor, holding a gun on the man guarding the TARDIS and forcing him to reveal the Doctor's whereabouts. His rescue actually goes very well, until he and the Doctor linger too long and are surprised from behind. I'm always impressed when characters show good sense in holding a gun on someone, and here Ian makes sure to herd both the guards ahead of him, grabs the governor's gun off him, and makes sure to keep an eye on his prisoners at all times, with his reflexes ready to spring into action... at least until he suddenly stops watching their prisoners, and lets the gun drop. Silly, silly Ian. And silly, silly script. He also gets a great confrontation with the Morok guard who discovers him hiding with Barbara and Vicki; his careful attempt to both talk the guard out of firing and give him a bit of a fright is really well-done. I especially like the scene in which William Russell begins tapping his fists together as Ian leaves the TARDIS console room, and continues doing it after he steps out onto Xeros. It's a lovely way to establish continuity between shots, and reinforce the idea that the TARDIS interior and exterior are linked.

Vicki is very well characterized in this story. It's her inquisitive nature and mischievous urge to explore that leads her to try touching an exhibit, and discover that they're all intangible. Surrounded by a TARDIS crew who are feeling fatalistic and worried, Vicki's optimism is quite refreshing. Best of all, her determination and refusal to give up leads her to spur the Xerons to revolution, and fool the Moroks' computer into giving her access to the armoury. Her futuristic origins are also nicely touched on, as she recalls reading about the Dalek invasion of Earth in history books, and otherwise thinks they look quite cuddly (she'll sure change her tune in the next story!). Maureen O'Brien continues to show her acting chops by giving some very interesting line readings, like "We... it was an accident." and "Don't you know where it is?"

Jacqueline Hill is the only one who doesn't really get a whole lot to do here, being sidelined into a plot thread that involves her hiding from guards and trying to escape the zaphra gas with Dako. Poor Jackie even has to suffer through having her hair terribly mussed when she's desperately trying to open a locked door.

As the most enthusiastic of the guest stars, the Xerons make the biggest impression. I like that they're all portrayed as essentially scared young guys who want to break free of the Moroks but just can't do it by themselves. They do come across as pretty interchangeable, but all three are good actors. The Moroks, though, just aren't really all that interesting, and I found them very difficult to distinguish between. They're all perfectly competent, but none really give "wow!" performances, which is for the best, because I probably wouldn't have been sure I was singling out the right actor. This is probably because the Moroks are by this point rather blasé about ruling the planet, which makes for a novel motivation, but just isn't all that great to watch.

The effects here are iffy; fortunately there aren't too many of them. Every time the TARDIS crew confronts something that they're unable to touch, it looks a bit unreal, as if the image is just being projected in front of them. And then of course we have the Morok hairstyles, which are pretty hideous (and Pel-like... or should that be, the residents of Peladon have Morok-like hair?), and the Xeron double eyebrows, which just look strange. Sound-wise, there's a tiny little error when Ian tosses a rock over the TARDIS to distract the guard; we see the guard's reaction to it, but we never actually hear the rock fall.

Writer Glyn Jones, eventually to make his Doctor Who acting début in The Sontaran Experiment, has definitely written what feels like an uneven script. He's very good at characterizing the four regulars; and while he may have chosen a very dull plot for parts two through four, he nevertheless manages to keep it relatively engaging. But while he gives the regulars tons of quotable lines, he seems to fall back on the old cliché of "aliens must speak in stilted English with no contractions", which makes his lines for the Moroks and Xerons sound less than realistic. It doesn't help that the Moroks, in particular, go around insulting each other all the time (with "Fool!" being the most popular). He also seems to have a bit of trouble with exposition; we get a few lines that are clearly designed only for the viewing audience, as they're clearly not anything that the characters would actually say to one another.

Mervyn Pinfield does a nice job directing, with the aforementioned shot of Ian tapping his fists together, as well as the great shot of the glass of water re-forming in Vicki's hands, and the travellers' footprints suddenly appearing in the Xeron sand. In fact, I love the way he chooses to depict the TARDIS' arrival in general - it does feel like things are building to a crescendo, and is very atmospheric (as befits episode one!) Pinfield is very adept at composing four-shots, with all of the TARDIS crew arranged in frame. And how he managed to stage the shots in which characters approach and try to touch objects that aren't there, I don't know... given that those objects are clearly added to the film later, you'd expect that he would have trouble making sure the actors and the effects didn't overlap at the wrong moment, but it never happens, and the shots of them interacting always look totally believable. And I love the shot of Ian tenaciously tugging on Barbara's cardigan with his teeth! Alas, there is one tragic shot toward the beginning, in which the TARDIS crew cast shadows on the painted backdrop of the Xeron landscape, but that's kind of par for the course during the Hartnell era. There's also a slight misalignment of the camera as Vicki answers the computer's pre-recorded questions, and the top of her head is cut off by the top edge of the frame. But overall, his direction is quite nice.

Minor points:

No, it's not one of my favorite stories (or even one of my favorite Hartnell stories). Yes, they could have done so much more with parts two through four. But for what it is, it's enjoyable, and the plot is unique among Doctor Who stories, so for those who like their plots to have a good time-travel kick, this one's definitely worth a look-see.

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