The Faceless Ones
Previous: The Macra Terror
The Faceless Ones
Huh. They still haven't started the Troughton variation of the theme tune yet.
Malcolm Hulke! Nice to see his name in the writer's credits again.
"IT'S A FLYING BEASTIE!" Now all we have to do is hope that this will be better airport/airplane-oriented story than Time-Flight.
Ah yes, and of course everyone's natural instinct is to run very fast from a plane that's already airborne and isn't going to land on them.
"SCATTER!" *lose Ben* ...there are times on this show when fail is a beautiful thing.
"Jamie, come over here with me!" Aww, poor little confused!Jamie. WAIT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MUSIC.
Jumping right into mysterious deaths and secret passageways. Making haste on the plot, then, are we?
Guys, I'm highly doubting that Polly would've heard your whispered shouting in such a noisy area. Really.
"Doctor! I've just seen a man killed!"
"By one of the beasties?"
That was funny until I realized why it really really wasn't.
Jamie, I see your hand there. You're just a natural comforter, aren't you? (or creeper, or clinger, take your pick) Awwwww...
So THAT'S where the Manly Side-By-Side thing of Two and Jamie came from. Like the sleeping thing from The Macra Terror, it's creepy now.
Over on Tumblr, we call this Jamie being AMAZED AND PERPLEXED (yes, the all-caps are intentional).
Cling cling cling, and I'm VERY convinced that the attendant here is in league with the creepers from earlier.
NO BEN, DON'T GO IN THAT DOOR.
"Yes! She saw the man killed!"
"He was electrocuted with a ray gun!"
How many times has Two had give Jamie a hush-you jab so far?
Regardless of the actual emergency, I'm finding that the TARDIS crews' struggles with modern-day authorities are always the most relatable.
Now there's a mysterious scaly arm sticking out of a cabinet. That can't be good.
I'm sorry to say it, but if I was in that guy's position right now, I wouldn't believe Two and Jamie either.
Ah, hello Unexpected!Polly. Don't tell me you've been brainwashed again...
Aaaaaaaand you have. Great.
Having never been there, I can't tell exactly which parts of this serial were filmed at Gatwick and which parts were done in the studio.
Although I can certainly hazard a few guesses.
I'm not sure your story's going to hold much water if it's your "first visit to England" despite having an excellent English accent.
And thankfully, Two calls her on it. Complete with a snippet of surviving footage.
"Jamie, I don't think we're very welcome here. When I say 'run,' we run."
("Jamie's is a foreign newspaper, and also upside down.") Two and Jamie: Masters of Disguise.
I think Two just demonstrated why shady groups in fiction need to stop giving themselves cover names that hint at their true intentions.
Huh. Looks like Ben's ploy from earlier with pretending to be a new member of the airport staff got him out of trouble after all.
How is this show so damn good at making things so consistently creepy?
Ah yes, the old trip-them-up-by-making-them-reveal-the-detail-you-didn't-mention maneuver.
It looks like the boys are all climbing into a photo booth...OH WAIT THEY ACTUALLY ARE. #goddamnburninators #iwantedtoseethis
"What is this place?"
"It's a machine that takes your photograph."
"Photograph?"
"Well y'see, you've got your..."
"Not now."
Poor Jamie. Lost, confused, but still oh-so-adorable. #AMAZEDANDPERPLEXED
Hello Samantha Briggs! Might I say it's a pleasure to finally meet you but what do you even have on your head.
So THAT'S what a Liverpool accent sounds like.
"ONE STEP CLOSER AND I'LL BLOW YOU ALL TO SMITHEREENS!" Not sure I even want to think what would happen if you did that in an airport today.
OH GOD POLLY I'M GOING TO BE SEEING THAT FACE IN MY NIGHTMARES TONIGHT HOLY SHIT
So Jamie only gets to introduce Samantha as "this young lady" whom he wants him to meet. I wonder how Two will interpret that...
Aww, Jamie is a good obedient little puppy, always does what Two tells him.
TROUGHTSICLE!
Ah, THERE'S Pat's theme tune!
And so Two's hankie must be sacrificed for the greater good (but considering how much he keeps in his pocket, he probably has a ton more).
Yup, see? OH NOT THE COAT.
Oh god. Pat freezing on the floor. I don't care that he was faking it. My heart was break.
And now what is his hair. That frost must've melted fast, because it looks like he just got out of the shower.
Creeper!Two be creepin'.
Also, I just had another one of my Awkward Fanartist Moments when I realized how much I've been drawing Jamie's face wrong.
Did Two just call it "Comedian Tours"?
"I believe Chameleon Tours to be merely a front! A cover!"
"For what?"
*DRAMATIC CLOSE-UP* "For the mass kidnapping of young people!"
Still sounds like he's saying "Comedian Tours." Also, the DVD subtitles are sadly inaccurate (but not remotely as bad as YouTube captions).
I mean, they're close enough, but I *really* don't like subtitles that don't read exactly what the actors are saying.
"I think we're dealing with people who are not from this planet."
"Oh that hardly answers my queWHAT DID YOU SAY."
Two just turned a teacup to ice with a space pen to prove a point. This show.
The Cling: No One is Immune. (But seriously, every time Jamie puts his arm around someone, I need a multiverse for my d'awwwws.)
I think the Commandant and the inspector have the exact same glasses. No wonder I keep getting them mixed up.
Also, I understand completely why they wanted Samantha Briggs to come on as the next companion. She's got spunk and she knows how to use it.
...and yet when Jamie gets arms put around him (that aren't the Doctor's, apparently), he puts on a pouty-face.
The quick turn-arounds for the planes made no sense to me until I remembered that they're in England. #americafail
More Unexpected!cling, except this one was actually done with malicious intent. Dun dun DUN.
Must not make "problem, officer?" joke...
I just realized that I might've had Jamie's shoes, or something like them. *looks at the box of mis-ordered shoes I haven't sent back yet*
What. That flight attendant is existing in my mind as an amalgamation of several companions: Tegan, Dodo, Susan, and a little of Vicki.
Also, that airplane looks a lot more roomy and comfortable than the one I was on earlier today. #the60s
People in airplane cockpits with guns pointed at them. As a New Yorker, this situation is becoming more and more unsettling.
So of COURSE it's the second-to-last canister that Two tries to rip off the shelf that turns out to open the secret passageway.
NO SERIOUSLY, HOW IS THIS SERIAL DOING SUCH A GOOD JOB AT CREEPING ME OUT.
"Doctor!"
"He's dead. You're coming with me."
"I'll not leave him."
"You have five seconds to change your mind." Don't bother. He won't.
Sadly, the combined might of Scot and Sam is not enough to conquer the Creeper.
...who now appears to be thinking "why should I kill them one at a time with a little gun, when I can kill them all WITH A BIGGER GUN? :D"
Oh. No. No he's not. He's actually not doing the moving-the-laser-beam-slowly-towards-his-captives thing. That's only for Bond villains.
And of COURSE he just leaves them alone without seeing if they actually die. #somanytropesicanteven
From the way this scene is going, I'm going to bet that they get saved by a pocket hand mirror.
WHY HELLO HOT AND SWEATY JAMIE.
Yup, I was right: saved by a pocket hand mirror. SCIENCE. I mean...COSMETICS.
I just realized that the nurse kinda looks like Barbara a little bit. What.
Jamie: Human Clingwrap. Two: Gallifreyan Crutch.
Apparently, side-effects of your Gallifreyan Crutch include fictional rare tropical diseases.
"My two friends became involved with Chameleon Tours and they've both disappeared!" And it's their last story, too!
He just...kissed her...to steal her ticket...JAMIE MCCRIMMON I would've thought better of you than to take advantage of a lady like that!
Jeez, is that your response to everything? Point a gun at it?
"How high can fighters go these day, commandant?"
"Oh, ten miles plus."
"How futile."
I think I know where this thread is going.
Oh god. That flight attendant has quite an *epic* creeperface.
Poor Jamie, nobody warned him about the side-effects of air travel on one's health.
Uh oh, looks like somebody's airsick (presumably they explained before take-off that the restrooms were at the back of the cabin).
These back-and-forth communications with the fighter jet are starting to give me flashbacks to Dr. Strangelove for some reason.
Wow. I thought the airplane would be docking with a spaceship, but apparently it IS the spaceship.
Also, it looks like being in the restroom saved Jamie from being whatever-happened-to-the-other-passengers'd.
Ah, so it's docking with a spaceship anyway. I figured.
"The intelligence of Earth people is comparable only to that of animals on our planet." Oh boy, I love being looked down upon by aliens.
Jamie McCrimmon, a-creepin' he will go...
Oh. Um, hello Close-Up of Jamie's Eyes.
Miniature people "like dolls" in cabinets? Huh. Looks like these guys got a jump on the Master's CVE technology.
I find it interesting that it's Two doing all the social investigative work at Gatwick while Jamie is trying to get things done UP IN SPACE.
Ah. FINALLY we get our explanation for what the everloving crap has actually been going on.
Eww. Blobby puddle of blob.
So now Two finally learns where Jamie went, and it's OFF TO THE RESCUE!
"Sure the Doctor will think 'o some way of rescuing us?"
"Not this time, Jamie."
Oh, you just wait.
"I am the director." ...uh oh.
Two, I know you want to get on that last plane, but I don't think you really count as a "young person."
I'm not gonna lie, I won't be remotely surprised if Captain Blade is still suspicious of chameleon!Two.
Ohhhhhhhhh crap they've got Jamie. AND THEY TOOK AWAY HIS SCOTTISH ACCENT. WHAT IS THIS.
BEN. POLLY. THIS IS YOUR LAST EPISODE. NOW MIGHT BE A GOOD TIME TO SHOW UP AGAIN.
"I checked with the medical center. You're both human." But didn't you just confer with the director and Jamie about who the Doctor was?
People of the airport, RALLY 'ROUND! We're going hunting for survivors.
"Well I don't think you've done a good job on him... You've lost his Scots accent in the process! I much preferred the original."
Hmm, Two seems to be going for a divide-and-conquer tactic here. Pretty handy, since it would involve the destruction of a bunch of people.
Uh oh, they're contacting the airport for proof when they haven't found the originals yet. Somehow I don't see this ending well.
Looks like the Doctor was already a good hand at screwdrivers before he decided it could be a bit more sonic.
"You haven't averted your fate, only postponed it." But yes he has.
So the originals were hidden inside cars the whole time? That doesn't sound like a place where they'd "never be found."
FINALLY Blade sort of stops being a dick and turns his gun on his boss.
Ahhhhh, so THAT'S where that "in the closet" icon came from.
("He's off, leaving Jamie and Samantha feeling awkward.") Oh, I know where this is going.
"I must go. The Doctor'll be...well, your brother'll be here any moment!"
"Yah. Well, ta-ta, then." *smooch*
Awwwww...
I wonder if this is the last, or one of the last, group shots we'll ever get of the first Team Two.
"It's as if we've never been away!"
"...You really want to go, don't you?"
"Well, we won't leave, Doctor, if you really need us."
D':
"Alright then, off you go. Now go on, Ben can catch his ship and become an Admiral and...you, Polly, you can look after Ben."
I look at this prolonged image of the telesnap of Polly and Jamie's last hug and...I almost feel like I'm *in* it. #multiverseformydaaaawwws
("And so with a final backward glance, Ben and Polly walk out of the hanger and out of the Doctor's life.") Tearing up a little here, guys.
"Well, I didn't tell the others but, we've lost the TARDIS." Wait WHAT.
"You mean somebody's stolen it?!"
"I don't know, but that's what we're going to find out! Come on..." *manly stride*
Ben, Polly, just a month ago I barely knew you, but now I've completed your run. It was short, but it was a good one. Take care, you two...
(...and next we'll get to join our lovely Space Husbands on the hunt for their former bachelor pad.)
Next: The Evil of the Daleks