OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 068
STORY NUMBER: 015
TRANSMITTED: 24 April 1965
WRITER: Glyn Jones
DIRECTOR: Mervyn Pinfield
SCRIPT EDITOR: Dennis Spooner
PRODUCER: Verity Lambert
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - The Space Museum/The Chase
Every so often a story comes up that I'm dreading. This is one of them. You see I've seen this recently when the DVD came out last year. But I will show my dedication to the cause by sacrificing another hour and half of my life to watch it again. Third time round I think...... Ave Morituri etc ....
The crew are frozen round the Tardis console as it materialises in a rocky area occupied by many spaceships. Shortly after landing they are able to move again. They find themselves wearing their ordinary clothes rather than their crusader gear. Vicki gets a drink, drops and smashes the glass then watches as it reforms whole and full in her hand. The other survey the outside with the scanner. Vicki tells the other what happened but they don't believe her. The Doctor thinks they have landed at a space museum, containing relics of space exploration. They go outside where Ian notices they aren't leaving footprints in the dust. They enter the museum building but once inside Barbara is unnerved by the silence within. Two white clad human like beings walk pass them not noticing them even when Vicki sneezes. They examine the exhibits at the museum. Oh no, they've made Billy try to say Fluorescent, that's asking for trouble! They're scared by a Dalek they encounter but it's just an exhibit. That's the first time Vicki's seen one, she says they invaded Earth 300 years ago dating her from c2465AD. Two black clad humanoids enter the room but nobody can hear what they said. Vicki tries to touch an exhibit but puts her hand through it. The two black clad strangers have returned with a third once again completely ignoring and inaudible to the travellers. The others think they must be invisible but the Doctor wonders if they're not really there. They find the Tardis in the museum but are unable to touch it just passing through the walls. Then they find themselves as exhibits in the museum. Oh dear Vicki's spouting scientific rubbish. Barbara wonders how they can get out of their present situation and avoid their fate. The Doctor thinks the Tardis jumped a time track (right.....) which has resulted in their present situation. The Doctor says they must wait for themselves to arrive in the Tardis. We see events in the episode again with the white clad humans noticing their footprints as the exhibit Tardis crew vanish.
I'm sorry but what was that all about? It made no sense at all!
Playing Dako,one of the black clad Xerons is Peter Craze. He'll be back for the War Games and Nightmare of Eden. He has a brother Michael who's also in the acting profession and he'll be along in 55 episodes time playing sailor Ben Jackson.
I can't argue with the fact that this episode makes very little actual sense. In fact if you start looking for logic-holes you rapidly realise it looks more like a net than a script. That said, I actually quite enjoy it on an aesthetic level. Like good Sapphire and Steel it feels like it has an internal non-logic that holds it together unpercieved by mere mortals like me. Or perhaps it just looks better by comparison with the three episode which are to follow.
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