2.07 The Space Museum
First Doctor with Ian, Barbara and Vicki
Follows on from Season One, Planet of Giants, The Dalek Invasion of Earth, The Rescue, The Romans, The Web Planet and The Crusade
IAN: "Doctor, why do you always show the greatest interest in the least important things?"
DOCTOR: "The least important things sometimes, my dear boy, lead to the greatest discoveries."
Overview
The Space Museum is rather an odd one. It isn't widely loved among the fandom, generally regarded as slow-moving and clunky, both of which it certainly is, while William Hartnell's health problems and memory lapses are particularly apparent I sometimes wonder how much of the First Doctor's dottiness was always intended to be part of the character, and how much it was written into the scripts because of and as a cover for Hartnell's own failing memory. Yet when watched as originally intended, one episode at a time, there is a charm to the story that is unique to this period of the show, and this is very much a light-hearted, humorous offering to follow on from the gritty period drama that was The Crusade. While the guest cast and the clunky writing might leave something to be desired, the regulars are absolutely delightful here, running a whole gamut of emotion: fear, anger, confusion, playfulness, fun, rebellion, stoicism, despair, bravery and endurance. They always give their all to the material and sell it absolutely straight, delivering convincing performances no matter what.
This story is also significant as it marks the first time the show ever attempted to deal with what we would now call 'wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey' themes, and without faltering first efforts like this to feel out the boundaries of such concepts and lay groundwork for future writers to build on, we might not have some of the more complex storytelling we take for granted today.
The plot, in a nutshell, is this: when the TARDIS slips a time-track, its occupants find themselves slightly out of phase from their own timeline and arrive on a mysterious museum planet before they have landed there. From this alternate dimension, they witness their own future, in which they have been captured and preserved as exhibits for the museum. As their time-stream slips back into alignment, our intrepid heroes must find a way to change their own future or face the daunting prospect of eternity in a glass case!
Observations
Random thoughts while watching:
This story picks up exactly where The Crusade left off, a timely reminder that what we call individual 'serials' today, back when they were originally broadcast were not named as such but rather made up an ongoing series of individually named episodes which all formed the larger story of the Doctor and his friends on their travels through space and time, each episode leading into the next. The previous episode, 'The Warlords', ended with the four TARDIS travellers escaping back into the TARDIS and taking off from the woods outside Jaffa, only to suddenly freeze in place at the console, and the story continues from that moment in this next episode, 'The Space Museum'. The four travellers stand frozen at the console, wearing their 13th century outfits and I've got to say, I really do like that look on Ian, all ragged and dirty and bare-chested! Then we see a quick establishing shot of a bunch of (model) spaceships on a planet before returning to the TARDIS to find our intrepid travellers still frozen to the spot at the console except that they are suddenly wearing their normal everyday clothes again.
It amuses me immensely that when the group unfreeze again, the Doctor doesn't notice the change of clothes at all and is completely untroubled by it when the others, who are deeply perplexed, point it out. He just brushes it off as if freezing on the spot and then waking up in completely different clothes is a totally normal thing, happens all the time and the more Ian tries to get him to take it seriously, the more determined he is not to! Ian and Barbara aren't willing to let it go, however, and Vicki goes to see if their medieval outfits are back in the (apparently communal) wardrobe which they are, and I can't help but hope someone at least washed Ian's filthy clothes before hanging them up, if not the others too!
The focus of this episode is on building up the mystery of what has happened and what is going on, setting up the problem that must then be resolved over the course of the remaining three episodes of the story. And intriguing the mystery certainly is, even if the unfolding and discussing of it seems clunky to modern ears. It is always worth remembering that in 1965 most of the science fiction/technological vocabulary that we take for granted today had yet to be developed, so shows like this really were breaking new ground, one outlandish concept at a time, and therefore had to work a lot harder than modern shows to explain those concepts to their viewers. The scene where Vicki drops a glass of water which then reforms and leaps back into her hand is especially well done it's a very neat effect for the time! I especially love the look on her face when she takes the glass to the Doctor and watches with wide, shocked eyes as he drinks the water, waiting to see if he notices anything amiss. Maureen O'Brien wasn't always given great material to work with, but she does wonders with what she gets, filling Vicki with zest and personality, and she is at her funniest in this story, always acting and reacting to whatever is going on around her.
No one on Doctor Who ever believes anyone else when they say they've seen/heard something odd you'd think they'd all know better, after what they've seen and done!
This serial might have a poor reputation, but it is very funny in places, with loads of witty banter between the regulars Ian and the Doctor especially are always good value in that department, and I always love them as a double act. I enjoy their little interplay here where the Doctor is getting intrigued by the mystery, so Ian guesses that he wants to go out and explore which of course the Doctor pounces on as if it were a suggestion, so that he can claim it was Ian's idea and not have to suggest it himself. Ian's face is a picture; he is so amused by the Doctor's mischievous ways these days.
Out on the planet, the plot thickens as our intrepid heroes find the planet dead and decaying, on the verge of extinction, the ground thick with dust yet realise that they aren't leaving any footprints. Very spooky indeed. Ian certainly thinks so, and succeeds in spooking everyone else with his sombre musings, which the Doctor grumbles about, much to my amusement.
When a group of (rather ponderous) guards comes out of a large museum building, our heroes quickly take cover not very effectively, it has to be said, and then Vicki sneezes so the jig really should be up but to their amazement they remain unseen. The guards neither heard nor saw them. As they enter and explore the museum and encounter more guards along the way, it becomes clear that this was no fluke not only are they effectively invisible and inaudible, they also can't hear what anyone else says, are totally unable to communicate or interact with anyone here in any way. All very mysterious.
Unusually, the four TARDIS travellers remain together throughout this first episode of the story it is more common for them to split up early on, so it makes a nice change to be able to spend some quality time with their complete group dynamic as they explore the museum, talking among themselves and puzzling through the mystery.
The group find a Dalek exhibit in one of the rooms of the museum, and their differing reactions to it are very telling and a nice little bit of continuity. To the Doctor, Ian and Barbara, Daleks are well-known and greatly feared enemies that they have encountered twice previously and barely escaped with their lives, so they react accordingly on seeing one here until they realise that it is a harmless exhibit, dead and empty, and are hugely relieved. For Vicki, on the other hand, Daleks are merely something she has read about in history books, and while she's heard of them she's never seen so much as a picture of them before, so her only reaction is mild curiosity. Typically of Vicki, she even thinks it looks friendly! It's a really interesting little reminder that Vicki comes from far in the future, so that events the others have lived through are ancient history to her and I can't help feeling that her very existence must be reassuring to the Doctor: living, breathing, tangible proof that the shattered Earth he left his granddaughter on will rebuild and recover. Because there's knowing it and then there's knowing it. Ian just hopes they will never meet the Daleks again, and, with The Chase following on from this story, I believe this qualifies as the very first instance of foreshadowing in the show's history, achieved right here in 1965!
This is one of those serials where William Hartnell's failing memory seems more apparent than usual, and it's such a shame. The character he has created for the Doctor is so delightful and his delivery is always wonderful in the meatier scenes, when he's really got something to get his teeth into, but he does visibly struggle in the longer, more dialogue-heavy, conversational scenes, and I can't help but wonder how much difference it would make to those scenes if he weren't stumbling over the dialogue so but were able to deliver it more cleanly, as the writer intended.
When Vicki tries to touch one of the exhibits, her hand goes straight through it curiouser and curiouser. I like how she appeals to Barbara when the Doctor is too busy fussing to actually listen to what she is trying to tell him; such a familial dynamic! I do appreciate that while Vicki adores the Doctor and greatly values the paternal role he's taken, filling the gaping hole left by her father, she does at times chafe against being treated as a child and has to be quite forceful to make herself heard and listened to.
It is worth pointing out that while the special effects on display here might seem commonplace and primitive to modern eyes, in 1965 they were extremely difficult to achieve, technically especially as many of them had to be carried out 'as live'.
Then the group find the TARDIS, no longer outside where they left it, but inside the museum as an exhibit. Ian and Barbara are hopeful that they can just jump in and leave, but the Doctor suspects it won't be that easy and proves his point by walking straight through the TARDIS. They aren't really here, he theorises, and so it is that they turn around and see themselves, frozen and immobile in a glass case, reduced to mere exhibits in this museum!
It's another reminder of Vicki's futuristic and highly educated origins that, despite her youth, she begins to understand what has happened long before Ian and Barbara are able to grasp the idea that this is a dimensional issue, they have slipped into another dimension of time. The Doctor agrees, explaining that the TARDIS has jumped a time track. While Ian philosophically observes that at least it explains the mystery, Barbara couldn't care two hoots about the mystery, she's just upset at the fate that lies before them. They quickly realise that they now have their work cut out for them how are they going to avoid this fate? The Doctor can only see one possible solution they must wait until they have properly arrived and then find some way to change their own future!
This is the first time that the show has actively dealt with the concept of changing a known future the Doctor has been dead against the idea previously, but in those instances it was recorded history (hundreds of years of it) that was in question, and altering that when they all already knew the outcome would have led to paradox. Here, this is a very immediate future that they have only seen in an alternate time dimension, so I suppose we could argue that what they are seeing is simply one possible future, so their efforts merely take their own personal timelines down a different track rather than setting up a paradox of any kind.
No sooner has the Doctor laid out the scope of the problem and his proposed solution than the moment of truth arrives, the misaligned time-tracks slipping back into alignment as the first episode cliffhanger. Given the technical limitations of 1965 television production, the effect works quite well we see a series of quick flashes: the broken glass that Vicki dropped, the group frozen around the console in their 13th century garb which changes to modern clothes, the TARDIS being discovered outside the museum, footprints appearing in the sand and then the frozen quartet vanish from their display cases, because that hasn't happened yet, that is the future our intrepid heroes must now try to change!
Episode two, 'The Dimensions of Time', begins to introduce us to the people inhabiting this planet and their political dynamics which are basically that there are two distinct groups: the Xerons, who are the natives of the planet Xeros, and the Moroks, who have captured the planet and made it into this museum that no one ever bothers to visit. Let us note that the good guys wear black while the bad guys wear white! The Moroks consist of a planetary governor called Lobos, who is bored rigid with his job but full of his own importance, and a squad of poorly trained and highly unmotivated conscripted soldiers; the discovery of the TARDIS enlivens their day only slightly and they begin a search for the 'aliens' they know to have left the craft. The Xerons, we learn, are mostly shipped off-world as slaves, with only the young left for forced labour on Xeros, so that the only Xerons we meet are a bunch of rebellious but fairly wishy-washy teenage lads awaiting shipment off-world, who are hopeful that alien visitors to their world might be persuaded to support their cause. As guest casts go, this one isn't the best, especially as they were given very limited direction for their characters.
Ian, meanwhile, has found an old ray gun in one of the museum displays and, now that they are able to interact with their physical environment once more, takes it out in case it proves useful for their defence. Typical of Ian's boyish sense of humour, he no sooner has the gun in his hand than he starts playing with it earning himself a scolding from the Doctor! The Doctor doesn't see why Ian wants the weapon at all, but Ian feels they can use it to bluff their way out, perhaps. All four are becoming tense and tetchy already, arguing among themselves as they try to agree on a course of action with no way of knowing what might successfully change their future and what might simply lead them straight into those cases. They can't even agree which way they came to retrace their steps back to the exit and the TARDIS and, bless her, Vicki's face is a picture as she resignedly waits it out while the others bicker among themselves! Then she forcefully shuts them all up by insisting that she remembers the route, gets her way, and is proved right. Vicki is great fun. She's such a confident, assertive character, despite being very young, and she has a terrific sense of humour.
Episode two is where the TARDIS travellers start to split up, starting with the Doctor, who falls behind the others, gets distracted by an interesting display case and gets himself grabbed by the youthful Xeron rebels. Being the Doctor, he doesn't take captivity lying down, of course except that he does, because he opts to deal with being captured by pretending to faint, successfully lulling his very inexperienced captors into a false sense of security. Two of the three wander off to do something else, and it is then an easy matter for the Doctor to overpower the third and tie him up before the others get back. They all then fly into a panic and rush off to find the other three 'aliens' whereupon the Doctor emerges from the Dalek casing he'd hidden inside, and if you don't think the mischievous First Doctor giggling like a schoolboy while playing at being a Dalek, just for his own amusement, is the best thing ever, there is something wrong with you!
Not that all this enterprising escapology does the Doctor the slightest good, however, since he has no sooner escaped from the hapless Xerons than he gets himself captured by the Moroks instead, and the Moroks have guns he can't get out of this one so easily.
Ian and Barbara, meanwhile, are bickering like an old married couple over what to do about having mislaid the Doctor, while Vicki stands around waiting for them, bored rigid. The long-suffering faces Vicki pulls in this scene are a scream this is Maureen O'Brien's talent, to take a scene she has barely any lines in and imbue it with Vicki's happy-go-lucky, humorous personality anyway, just by acting and reacting in the background. Ian is especially irritable here, but the stress is getting to Barbara, too I suspect they'd be a lot happier if they had a tangible enemy to do battle with, no matter how fearsome, but as it is the only enemy they are facing is the inevitability of the future they've witnessed and are so desperate to prevent, without having the slightest idea of how.
The despondent trio end up wandering in circles around the museum, unable to find either the Doctor or the way out. How they manage to consistently avoid all those people out there actively searching for them is anyone's guess. Frustrated, Ian comes up with an idea how they can avoid going round and round in circles by unravelling Barbara's cardigan and using the wool to mark their trail. This whole exchange is really, really funny William Russell and Jacqueline Hill inhabit their characters so perfectly, and the interplay between Ian and Barbara is brilliantly in-keeping here, from Ian's gung-ho over-enthusiasm and Barbara's mild indignation and slightly petulant consent to Barbara eventually having to take the cardigan off Ian and unpick it herself because he can't do it!
Of course, the downside of leaving a trail is that those out searching for it are able to find and follow it! Luckily it is the rebel Xerons who pick up the trail, rather than the Morok guards.
Ian's plan works just. The wool runs out, but it's okay because they have just about found their way back to the exit but get there only to find that the TARDIS, still standing just outside, has been captured and is swarming with guards.
The Doctor, meanwhile, is a helpless prisoner of the Moroks, taken for interrogation by the governor, Lobos. Now, William Hartnell's illness might be sadly apparent in parts of this serial, but he is wonderful in scenes like this one, full of subtle nuance. Watch his face throughout this scene, as the Doctor explores his cell in search of a way out, then finds himself restrained and is alarmed, then rallies to put on a magnificent show of sarcastic cool when Lobos tries questioning him, easily getting the better of the other man in their verbal sparring, then becomes wary again when he realises Lobos is using a mind-reading device to transmit his thought patterns onto a screen, then swiftly recovers to get the better of his captor again, now deliberately transmitting misleading images while laughing his head off with glee at Lobos's confusion. And boy howdy but that image of Hartnell in an Edwardian bathing costume is a hoot and a half! This kind of scene, just performing the character rather than having to rattle off reams of expository dialogue while juggling cues and marks, is absolutely perfect for Hartnell.
Alas for the Doctor, when Lobos realises he isn't going to extract any useful information from him, the order is given to take him to the preparation room to be turned into an exhibit for the museum! His glee fades at once and he is afraid old and frail as he is, he cannot escape.
William Hartnell was on holiday the week episode three was filmed, and so he does not appear in that episode at all, beyond the reprise of his cliffhanger fate. There is enough going on, however, that the other characters are able to carry the story forward without him with ease. So episode three, 'The Search', opens with Ian, Barbara and Vicki hiding behind a door watching the Moroks swarm all over the TARDIS, getting more and more frustrated and irritable at not knowing how to change their future, not knowing what might make the difference or what might lead them inexorably to their fate. There's been a lot of bickering in this serial, and a lot of those arguments have been pure padding, but I enjoy the character interactions anyway because they reveal personality, which is a valid purpose for any scene. Storytelling isn't all about plot movement! It is especially interesting to see Ian and Barbara taking their frustrations out on one another, reminding us that, as intimate as they have become over the course of their travels, they are still distinct individuals with minds of their own, neither of whom is afraid to speak their mind plainly with the other! In fact, I'd argue that they feel able to argue so vehemently because they are so close to one another.
There are also a bunch of bloopers in this serial, but these honestly don't bother me. These actors performed wonders every week, learning and performing their scripts on such a tight schedule. So they made the odd mistake that couldn't be edited out because editing was expensive and they didn't have time, big deal today's actors mess up all the time, there are blooper reels on most DVD releases cataloguing all those mistakes for humorous effect, and those actors barely even know they are born, they are so lucky in being able to re-take those scenes, sometimes over and over and over, and have their mistakes edited out for final transmission. The technology that allows them such time-wasting freedom did not exist in 1965, and, without either the budget for edits or the time to re-mount scenes, the actors and production team of this era of Doctor Who deserve all the kudos for pulling it off as well as they did, regardless of a few mistakes here and there.
No one in Doctor Who ever has any peripheral vision or particularly acute hearing, it seems. While Ian, Barbara and Vicki are alarmed to overhear the guards outside discussing the Doctor's capture, another guard manages to sneak right up behind them, and they find themselves at gunpoint, captured. And this is where Ian's frustration and impatience reach boiling point, prompting him to recklessness he is just about willing to let the guard shoot him, if it means the future they saw will be changed. Barbara is not so willing to take the risk, however, seeing no point at all in an altered future in which Ian is dead. They have a very long debate about it and the guard just lets them stand around talking among themselves, at length! I can see why the writer wanted that conversation to take place, but it's a bit of a stretch to believe that the gun-wielding guard would just stand back and let them talk for so long! In the end, emboldened by the thought that if his future self is to end up in a glass case then surely he can't die here, Ian decides to be sneaky and tries a spot of reverse psychology on the guard as a distraction that allows him to slowly edge closer and closer to the man until he is close enough to hurl himself at the gun, yelling for Barbara and Vicki to run.
Barbara and Vicki leg it in opposite directions, which means that all four TARDIS travellers are now well and truly separated. Ian is temporarily captured but manages to overpower his guards and escape, because if there's one thing Ian has got really, really good at since he met the Doctor, it is fighting his way free from a tight spot. He's certainly had plenty of practice!
The classic Doctor Who lack of peripheral vision proves a godsend for Barbara when Morok guards search the storeroom she has taken refuge in and completely fail to spot her when she is crouched right there in plain sight. Alas, they lock the door behind them, though, trapping her in there. Vicki, meanwhile, is grabbed and pulled into a hiding place by that hapless trio of Xeron rebels, whose names are Tor, Sita and Dako. Typically of Vicki, when she's recovered from the initial shock of being grabbed, her primary reaction is indignation rather than fear, and within minutes she is bossing them around! Well, they are a pretty wet bunch, admittedly, and they aren't even armed, so she doesn't have much to be afraid of, it's true. She agrees to go with Tor and Sita to the safer hideout of their headquarters, but as a concession Dako is sent back into the museum to look for Barbara who is still trapped in that storeroom, and you can tell how tired and frustrated she is just by how untidy her usually immaculate hair is! Unable to escape, she falls asleep only to be woken up by the door opening. Because she is Barbara, indomitable, indefatigable Barbara, she promptly takes cover and grabs an impromptu weapon, not about to be taken without a fight but it is only Dako, and the fact that he knows her name and can give her news of Vicki wins Barbara's trust.
Outside, while governor Lobos orders the museum to be flooded with paralytic gas to flush out any aliens and rebels, Ian uses more sneaky tactics to capture himself a guard and a gun, and demands to be taken to the Doctor a demand that becomes all the more urgent when he hears that the Doctor is already undergoing 'preparation', which is a form of embalming. If the future is to be changed, it has to start now!
Ian has always been brave and he has always seen himself as the defender of the group, but he has become a lot more direct in his approach over the course of his travels as his confidence in his own ability has grown. He is also, as we have seen, pretty much at breaking point in his desperation not to end up as a museum exhibit, and therefore is perhaps rather more willing to take reckless chances than he might normally have been.
Over at Xeron rebel headquarters, Vicki discusses revolutionary strategy over lunch. I love this aspect of Vicki she's such a firebrand, clever and creative and young enough to feel invulnerable, using her own confidence and resolve to encourage and inspire others. Fuelled by absolute determination not to end up in a display case, she takes on the rebel cause wholeheartedly, reasoning that if she can only help them drive out their alien overlords, it might be enough to change her own future. I enjoy the way she works away at the problem, not allowing the Xerons' pessimism to drag her down but instead insisting on hearing all the facts and then chewing over those details trying to come up with a solution. The Xerons don't have any weapons of their own and capturing one gun at a time by overpowering lone guards has never done them any good, so Vicki decides that there's only one thing for it: they must make an assault on the armoury!
The armoury operates a ridiculously complicated security system, which is pure plot device, frankly there's a hugely long series of pre-set questions, delivered by computer, and to access the weapons store both a correct and a truthful answer must be given. It seems an awful faff to have to go through just to allocate weapons to the guards every day! Maybe they keep a stock in constant circulation and only access the armoury in the event of an emergency. Anyway, Tor and Sita don't believe there is any way past this system, but Vicki is not so easily defeated. She keeps working away at the problem, waiting until she has all the facts before deciding on a course of action, taking the situation absolutely seriously but also having fun with it at the same time because this is hands on, practical action that she believes she is capable of and is certain is the right thing to do. It's good, strong characterisation for her. She listens to the full string of questions to see just what information exactly is required, and then figures out how to circumvent it, but opening up the machine and re-programming it, so that only two questions are asked and only a truthful answer is required, rather than a pre-determined one. Name, Vicki, purpose for which weapons are required revolution! The armoury opens, the rebels are able to steal all the weapons and Vicki softly wonders to herself if she's done enough to change the future.
Meanwhile in the museum, Barbara is not having such a good time. With (supposedly) paralytic gas flooding in from the ventilation system, she and Dako are struggling to put one foot in front of another, making painfully slow progress as they attempt to escape. Barbara has a will of iron and will not give in, all but dragging Dako along but at last she can go no further and collapses.
The cliffhanger end of episode three belongs to Ian, who is nicely ruthless as he forces his captured guard to take him to the governor's office in search of the Doctor. Scenes like this really do underscore just how far Ian has come since that fateful November day when he first stumbled into the TARDIS. It's hard to imagine the laid-back schoolmaster we first met holding another man at gunpoint, still less telling him that he'll kill him if necessary and might just enjoy it! Always stalwart in defence of those he considers in his care, Ian has had to develop nerves of steel over the course of his adventures and now knows exactly what he is capable of and exactly what has to be done when attempting a dangerous rescue. With both the guard and governor Lobos held at gunpoint, he is taken through to the preparation chamber where he finds the Doctor locked into a machine, already frozen and mummified!
And so we reach the final episode of this adventure, 'The Final Phase', which kicks off with Ian ordering Lobos to reverse the Doctor's treatment. Lobos really is an unpleasant character, taking almost sadistic pleasure in declaring that the Doctor is as good as dead already, but Ian is having none of it, ordering the man to bring him back to life if he values his own! I enjoy this ruthless streak that Ian has developed and I enjoy his determination and refusal to give up, even in the face of what seems hopeless. He is also smart, quick to confiscate any other weapons he sees and making sure that neither of his prisoners can get close enough to disarm him while always keeping them covered. While Lobos takes detached scientific pleasure in this experimental procedure this kind of processing has never before been reversed, it seems Ian fidgets and fusses until the Doctor finally begins to regain consciousness. He is very frail and vulnerable as he awakens, pained by rheumatism brought on by the extreme cold, which means Ian must now divide his attention between maintaining control of his prisoners and attempting to care for his ailing friend. I love how gentle and careful he is with the Doctor here, helping him into a chair and fussing over him, all one-handed as he keeps that gun trained on the Moroks. Here we learn the true horror of the fate that awaits our heroes, as the Doctor reveals that he was fully conscious the whole time, even while his body was frozen, which means that if the four travellers do end up in that display case, they will be aware of what is happening to them a truly eternal torment. Horror indeed and alas for Ian's bold rescue, while the Doctor recovers and resumes his verbal sparring with Lobos, more guards sneak up behind them and they are re-captured!
Elsewhere, Vicki watches proudly, gun in hand, as Tor and Sita arm their fellow rebels and plan an assault on the Morok barracks. She has no intention of going with them, though, planning instead to return to the museum in search of Barbara. Tor doesn't like the idea and tries to forbid her to go but Vicki is having none of it, she's going and that's that, he can't stop her! Sarah Jane might have been the first companion to call herself a feminist, but female companions have been embodying feminist principles right from the start and Vicki demonstrates that here. Seeing that he has absolutely no authority over her whatsoever, Tor gives in and asks Sita to go with her as back-up. Sita agrees, but reluctantly; he doesn't want to go, and that's worth remembering.
Meanwhile in the museum, Barbara and Dako are still laid low by the paralytic gas. Despite the fact that this gas is still billowing all around, Barbara manages to struggle back to consciousness it isn't so very paralytic after all, then and then her stubborn streak kicks in. She is not just going to lie down and give up, let herself be captured. She forces herself back to her feet, uses her handkerchief to cover Dako's nose and mouth to block out at least some of the gas, and practically carries him on through those corridors in search of the way out and this kind of compassion and care for another living being is really underrated as a heroic trait, but shouldn't be. Barbara barely knows Dako, yet she is risking her own life and safety for his sake and it never once occurs to her that she could leave him behind to make good her own escape. They make it to the exit at last only to be captured at gunpoint as soon as they are through the doors.
It's lucky for them, then, that Vicki and Sita arrive at just that moment, Sita shooting down the guard while Vicki and Barbara enjoy a very happy reunion. Vicki is so proud of her efforts, certain that she must have done enough to change the future, surely, because the rebels are planning to destroy the museum and they can't possibly end up as exhibits in a museum that doesn't exist, surely
But for the future to change, the rebellion has to succeed. More Morok guards come running and Sita, who didn't want to come on this mission anyway, is shot dead, while Dako is knocked out, and Barbara and Vicki are captured at last.
So, after everything they've been through, all four TARDIS travellers are now prisoners of the Moroks, staring their fate in the face. It's interesting to watch the group dynamic while they are all locked up together, processing and reacting. Ian, predictably, is the most overtly frustrated and angry, desperately trying to find something pro-active he can do that might still change their future, whether it be attempting to break through the door or smashing up the processing equipment anything is better than doing nothing. Barbara is more fatalistic and philosophical, gloomily reflecting on the four separate journeys that brought them inexorably to the place they were trying to avoid all along. Vicki is still hopeful that the Xerons might come through for them, while the Doctor is thoughtful and contemplative, wondering if instead of changing their own future directly, they may have influenced enough other people to change the course of events at a broader level, which might just be enough to save them.
And so it proves, as the Xeron revolution sweeps through Morok ranks until it reaches Lobos's office arriving just in the nick of time as Lobos and his deputy had just decided to kill their alien prisoners and have done with it. The Moroks are driven off Xeros, the Xerons have won their freedom, the museum is dismantled and the TARDIS travellers are saved. This means that Vicki was the only member of the group who actually achieved anything constructive over the course of the adventure it was her inspirational pep talks and sabotage of the armoury security system that saved the day for everyone. Girl power for the win!
I'm not sure how much of a future the Xerons actually have, mind. For one thing, there don't seem to be any girl Xerons, and for another, we were told way back at the top of the story that the planet was basically dead, and for another again, most of the Xeron population remain enslaved on other worlds, so the handful left here to rebuild are certainly going to have their work cut out and that's assuming the Moroks don't just come back with another, bigger army to wipe them out completely!
Still, that's their problem. The TARDIS travellers are just happy to say their farewells and get gone. Vicki and Tor have a bit of a near-romantic moment as they say goodbye and since there aren't any girl Xerons, Tor certainly will struggle to find anyone quite like Vicki again! The Doctor is bubbling over with enthusiasm once more, fully recovered, as he finds the stuck circuit that caused their dimensional trouble and attempts to explain it to Ian and Barbara, who are highly amused by his giddiness. Then Ian claps eyes on a gift the Doctor has been given from the museum and grumbles about how much space it takes up the Doctor doesn't like that, of course, but Barbara is quick to soothe, something both she and Ian have grown good at, during their time on the show. We aren't told in this scene just what this object is, but will learn in the next episode that it is a Space-Time Visualiser, and it plays a vital role in the plot of that next adventure. See, continuity '60s Doctor Who has it!
So the TARDIS departs from Xeros but for once the story doesn't end there and also doesn't end on a cliffhanger for the TARDIS travellers themselves. Instead, and the presence of a dead Dalek in the museum was foreshadowing for this, the episode ends on a very different kind of cliffhanger. There are Daleks tracking our heroes and they are hot on their trail!
Quotable Quotes
IAN: Doctor, we've got our clothes on.
DOCTOR: Well, I should hope so, dear boy. I should hope so.
BARBARA: No, Doctor. Our ordinary, everyday clothes.
DOCTOR: Well, upon my soul, yes. Yes. Now isn't that extraordinary? Yes, we were wearing those cloaks and things, weren't we? Well, I must say, it's going to save us a lot of bother changing. Yes. Now, let's see where we are, shall we?
IAN: Doctor! You can't dismiss it like that! We were standing here in thirteenth century clothes. We can't suddenly
DOCTOR: My dear boy, it's over and done with. Now let's forget it.
DOCTOR: It's time and relativity, my dear boy. Time and relativity. That's where the answer lies.
IAN: I dare say it does, Doctor, but we'd be a lot happier if you would explain it to us.
DOCTOR: Yes, I think we shall just have to go and search for the answers, and as there's always the element of danger in the unknown, I suggest we keep closer together.
BARBARA: Have you noticed something? I mean something very peculiar.
IAN: Well, everything's peculiar.
DOCTOR: My dear Barbara, if you've seen something or somebody, there's no sense in talking in riddles, is there?
BARBARA: No Doctor, not seen. It's the silence. When we stop talking, there isn't a sound. Listen. It's the sort of silence you can almost hear.
IAN: More and more like a graveyard.
DOCTOR: Oh, that's quite enough. Now stop it. You'll have us all imagining things.
IAN: We might almost be in a museum at home.
VICKI: Except that there are no little men following you about telling you not touch things.
DOCTOR: Well, you just pretend there are, young lady, and keep your hands to yourself.
VICKI: Time, like space, although a dimension in itself also has dimensions of its own.
DOCTOR: You know, I don't mind admitting, I've always found it extremely difficult to solve the fourth dimension. And here we are. Face to face with the fourth dimension. You know, I think the TARDIS jumped a time track and ended up here in this fourth dimension. It's extraordinary. It's inexplicable.
DOCTOR: Chesterton, this is no time to be playing cowboys and Indians.
IAN: Doctor, I might have shot a hole right in the middle of you.
IAN: Doctor, why do you always show the greatest interest in the least important things?
DOCTOR: The least important things sometimes, my dear boy, lead to the greatest discoveries.
IAN: Doctor, why don't you admit it. You are just as lost as the rest of us.
DOCTOR: Yes, I suppose I must confess I am.
DOCTOR: [mimicking a Dalek voice] I fooled them all! I am the master!
IAN: How do you undo this?
BARBARA: Oh, give it to me.
IAN: Well, what do we do now? Find the Doctor, I suppose. I'm afraid I'm no great expert when it comes to changing the future.
BARBARA: Why don't we do something?
IAN: Choice is only possible when you know all the facts.
VICKI: Well, sitting here planning and dreaming of a revolution isn't going to win your planet back.
SITA: We do all we can.
VICKI: By making a nuisance of yourselves, that's all it is.
TOR: What can we do without weapons?
VICKI: Nothing. We must get some.
COMPUTER: What is your name?
VICKI: Vicki.
COMPUTER: For what purpose are the arms needed?
VICKI: Revolution!
LOBOS: You'll be a fool if you kill me. You will achieve nothing.
IAN: Possibly, but it might be enjoyable.
LOBOS: He's as good as dead.
IAN: If you want to save yourself, you'd better bring him back to life.
LOBOS: Impossible.
IAN: But your only hope is to try.
TOR: I won't let you go.
VICKI: I won't let you stop me!
VICKI: But we must have changed the future! We just must have done!
BARBARA: Must we Vicki? Or were all the things that happened planned out for us? Four separate journeys. Four choices, that led all the time, closer to here.
DOCTOR: The future doesn't look too bad after all, does it?
The Verdict
Overall and taken as a whole, The Space Museum might not be among my favourites, but I enjoy it nonetheless for its humour and character dynamics, as well as for the eerie atmosphere it achieves early on and for its intriguing timey-wimey themes.
Follows on from Season One, Planet of Giants, The Dalek Invasion of Earth, The Rescue, The Romans, The Web Planet and The Crusade
IAN: "Doctor, why do you always show the greatest interest in the least important things?"
DOCTOR: "The least important things sometimes, my dear boy, lead to the greatest discoveries."
Overview
The Space Museum is rather an odd one. It isn't widely loved among the fandom, generally regarded as slow-moving and clunky, both of which it certainly is, while William Hartnell's health problems and memory lapses are particularly apparent I sometimes wonder how much of the First Doctor's dottiness was always intended to be part of the character, and how much it was written into the scripts because of and as a cover for Hartnell's own failing memory. Yet when watched as originally intended, one episode at a time, there is a charm to the story that is unique to this period of the show, and this is very much a light-hearted, humorous offering to follow on from the gritty period drama that was The Crusade. While the guest cast and the clunky writing might leave something to be desired, the regulars are absolutely delightful here, running a whole gamut of emotion: fear, anger, confusion, playfulness, fun, rebellion, stoicism, despair, bravery and endurance. They always give their all to the material and sell it absolutely straight, delivering convincing performances no matter what.
This story is also significant as it marks the first time the show ever attempted to deal with what we would now call 'wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey' themes, and without faltering first efforts like this to feel out the boundaries of such concepts and lay groundwork for future writers to build on, we might not have some of the more complex storytelling we take for granted today.
The plot, in a nutshell, is this: when the TARDIS slips a time-track, its occupants find themselves slightly out of phase from their own timeline and arrive on a mysterious museum planet before they have landed there. From this alternate dimension, they witness their own future, in which they have been captured and preserved as exhibits for the museum. As their time-stream slips back into alignment, our intrepid heroes must find a way to change their own future or face the daunting prospect of eternity in a glass case!
Observations
Random thoughts while watching:
This story picks up exactly where The Crusade left off, a timely reminder that what we call individual 'serials' today, back when they were originally broadcast were not named as such but rather made up an ongoing series of individually named episodes which all formed the larger story of the Doctor and his friends on their travels through space and time, each episode leading into the next. The previous episode, 'The Warlords', ended with the four TARDIS travellers escaping back into the TARDIS and taking off from the woods outside Jaffa, only to suddenly freeze in place at the console, and the story continues from that moment in this next episode, 'The Space Museum'. The four travellers stand frozen at the console, wearing their 13th century outfits and I've got to say, I really do like that look on Ian, all ragged and dirty and bare-chested! Then we see a quick establishing shot of a bunch of (model) spaceships on a planet before returning to the TARDIS to find our intrepid travellers still frozen to the spot at the console except that they are suddenly wearing their normal everyday clothes again.
It amuses me immensely that when the group unfreeze again, the Doctor doesn't notice the change of clothes at all and is completely untroubled by it when the others, who are deeply perplexed, point it out. He just brushes it off as if freezing on the spot and then waking up in completely different clothes is a totally normal thing, happens all the time and the more Ian tries to get him to take it seriously, the more determined he is not to! Ian and Barbara aren't willing to let it go, however, and Vicki goes to see if their medieval outfits are back in the (apparently communal) wardrobe which they are, and I can't help but hope someone at least washed Ian's filthy clothes before hanging them up, if not the others too!
The focus of this episode is on building up the mystery of what has happened and what is going on, setting up the problem that must then be resolved over the course of the remaining three episodes of the story. And intriguing the mystery certainly is, even if the unfolding and discussing of it seems clunky to modern ears. It is always worth remembering that in 1965 most of the science fiction/technological vocabulary that we take for granted today had yet to be developed, so shows like this really were breaking new ground, one outlandish concept at a time, and therefore had to work a lot harder than modern shows to explain those concepts to their viewers. The scene where Vicki drops a glass of water which then reforms and leaps back into her hand is especially well done it's a very neat effect for the time! I especially love the look on her face when she takes the glass to the Doctor and watches with wide, shocked eyes as he drinks the water, waiting to see if he notices anything amiss. Maureen O'Brien wasn't always given great material to work with, but she does wonders with what she gets, filling Vicki with zest and personality, and she is at her funniest in this story, always acting and reacting to whatever is going on around her.
No one on Doctor Who ever believes anyone else when they say they've seen/heard something odd you'd think they'd all know better, after what they've seen and done!
This serial might have a poor reputation, but it is very funny in places, with loads of witty banter between the regulars Ian and the Doctor especially are always good value in that department, and I always love them as a double act. I enjoy their little interplay here where the Doctor is getting intrigued by the mystery, so Ian guesses that he wants to go out and explore which of course the Doctor pounces on as if it were a suggestion, so that he can claim it was Ian's idea and not have to suggest it himself. Ian's face is a picture; he is so amused by the Doctor's mischievous ways these days.
Out on the planet, the plot thickens as our intrepid heroes find the planet dead and decaying, on the verge of extinction, the ground thick with dust yet realise that they aren't leaving any footprints. Very spooky indeed. Ian certainly thinks so, and succeeds in spooking everyone else with his sombre musings, which the Doctor grumbles about, much to my amusement.
When a group of (rather ponderous) guards comes out of a large museum building, our heroes quickly take cover not very effectively, it has to be said, and then Vicki sneezes so the jig really should be up but to their amazement they remain unseen. The guards neither heard nor saw them. As they enter and explore the museum and encounter more guards along the way, it becomes clear that this was no fluke not only are they effectively invisible and inaudible, they also can't hear what anyone else says, are totally unable to communicate or interact with anyone here in any way. All very mysterious.
Unusually, the four TARDIS travellers remain together throughout this first episode of the story it is more common for them to split up early on, so it makes a nice change to be able to spend some quality time with their complete group dynamic as they explore the museum, talking among themselves and puzzling through the mystery.
The group find a Dalek exhibit in one of the rooms of the museum, and their differing reactions to it are very telling and a nice little bit of continuity. To the Doctor, Ian and Barbara, Daleks are well-known and greatly feared enemies that they have encountered twice previously and barely escaped with their lives, so they react accordingly on seeing one here until they realise that it is a harmless exhibit, dead and empty, and are hugely relieved. For Vicki, on the other hand, Daleks are merely something she has read about in history books, and while she's heard of them she's never seen so much as a picture of them before, so her only reaction is mild curiosity. Typically of Vicki, she even thinks it looks friendly! It's a really interesting little reminder that Vicki comes from far in the future, so that events the others have lived through are ancient history to her and I can't help feeling that her very existence must be reassuring to the Doctor: living, breathing, tangible proof that the shattered Earth he left his granddaughter on will rebuild and recover. Because there's knowing it and then there's knowing it. Ian just hopes they will never meet the Daleks again, and, with The Chase following on from this story, I believe this qualifies as the very first instance of foreshadowing in the show's history, achieved right here in 1965!
This is one of those serials where William Hartnell's failing memory seems more apparent than usual, and it's such a shame. The character he has created for the Doctor is so delightful and his delivery is always wonderful in the meatier scenes, when he's really got something to get his teeth into, but he does visibly struggle in the longer, more dialogue-heavy, conversational scenes, and I can't help but wonder how much difference it would make to those scenes if he weren't stumbling over the dialogue so but were able to deliver it more cleanly, as the writer intended.
When Vicki tries to touch one of the exhibits, her hand goes straight through it curiouser and curiouser. I like how she appeals to Barbara when the Doctor is too busy fussing to actually listen to what she is trying to tell him; such a familial dynamic! I do appreciate that while Vicki adores the Doctor and greatly values the paternal role he's taken, filling the gaping hole left by her father, she does at times chafe against being treated as a child and has to be quite forceful to make herself heard and listened to.
It is worth pointing out that while the special effects on display here might seem commonplace and primitive to modern eyes, in 1965 they were extremely difficult to achieve, technically especially as many of them had to be carried out 'as live'.
Then the group find the TARDIS, no longer outside where they left it, but inside the museum as an exhibit. Ian and Barbara are hopeful that they can just jump in and leave, but the Doctor suspects it won't be that easy and proves his point by walking straight through the TARDIS. They aren't really here, he theorises, and so it is that they turn around and see themselves, frozen and immobile in a glass case, reduced to mere exhibits in this museum!
It's another reminder of Vicki's futuristic and highly educated origins that, despite her youth, she begins to understand what has happened long before Ian and Barbara are able to grasp the idea that this is a dimensional issue, they have slipped into another dimension of time. The Doctor agrees, explaining that the TARDIS has jumped a time track. While Ian philosophically observes that at least it explains the mystery, Barbara couldn't care two hoots about the mystery, she's just upset at the fate that lies before them. They quickly realise that they now have their work cut out for them how are they going to avoid this fate? The Doctor can only see one possible solution they must wait until they have properly arrived and then find some way to change their own future!
This is the first time that the show has actively dealt with the concept of changing a known future the Doctor has been dead against the idea previously, but in those instances it was recorded history (hundreds of years of it) that was in question, and altering that when they all already knew the outcome would have led to paradox. Here, this is a very immediate future that they have only seen in an alternate time dimension, so I suppose we could argue that what they are seeing is simply one possible future, so their efforts merely take their own personal timelines down a different track rather than setting up a paradox of any kind.
No sooner has the Doctor laid out the scope of the problem and his proposed solution than the moment of truth arrives, the misaligned time-tracks slipping back into alignment as the first episode cliffhanger. Given the technical limitations of 1965 television production, the effect works quite well we see a series of quick flashes: the broken glass that Vicki dropped, the group frozen around the console in their 13th century garb which changes to modern clothes, the TARDIS being discovered outside the museum, footprints appearing in the sand and then the frozen quartet vanish from their display cases, because that hasn't happened yet, that is the future our intrepid heroes must now try to change!
Episode two, 'The Dimensions of Time', begins to introduce us to the people inhabiting this planet and their political dynamics which are basically that there are two distinct groups: the Xerons, who are the natives of the planet Xeros, and the Moroks, who have captured the planet and made it into this museum that no one ever bothers to visit. Let us note that the good guys wear black while the bad guys wear white! The Moroks consist of a planetary governor called Lobos, who is bored rigid with his job but full of his own importance, and a squad of poorly trained and highly unmotivated conscripted soldiers; the discovery of the TARDIS enlivens their day only slightly and they begin a search for the 'aliens' they know to have left the craft. The Xerons, we learn, are mostly shipped off-world as slaves, with only the young left for forced labour on Xeros, so that the only Xerons we meet are a bunch of rebellious but fairly wishy-washy teenage lads awaiting shipment off-world, who are hopeful that alien visitors to their world might be persuaded to support their cause. As guest casts go, this one isn't the best, especially as they were given very limited direction for their characters.
Ian, meanwhile, has found an old ray gun in one of the museum displays and, now that they are able to interact with their physical environment once more, takes it out in case it proves useful for their defence. Typical of Ian's boyish sense of humour, he no sooner has the gun in his hand than he starts playing with it earning himself a scolding from the Doctor! The Doctor doesn't see why Ian wants the weapon at all, but Ian feels they can use it to bluff their way out, perhaps. All four are becoming tense and tetchy already, arguing among themselves as they try to agree on a course of action with no way of knowing what might successfully change their future and what might simply lead them straight into those cases. They can't even agree which way they came to retrace their steps back to the exit and the TARDIS and, bless her, Vicki's face is a picture as she resignedly waits it out while the others bicker among themselves! Then she forcefully shuts them all up by insisting that she remembers the route, gets her way, and is proved right. Vicki is great fun. She's such a confident, assertive character, despite being very young, and she has a terrific sense of humour.
Episode two is where the TARDIS travellers start to split up, starting with the Doctor, who falls behind the others, gets distracted by an interesting display case and gets himself grabbed by the youthful Xeron rebels. Being the Doctor, he doesn't take captivity lying down, of course except that he does, because he opts to deal with being captured by pretending to faint, successfully lulling his very inexperienced captors into a false sense of security. Two of the three wander off to do something else, and it is then an easy matter for the Doctor to overpower the third and tie him up before the others get back. They all then fly into a panic and rush off to find the other three 'aliens' whereupon the Doctor emerges from the Dalek casing he'd hidden inside, and if you don't think the mischievous First Doctor giggling like a schoolboy while playing at being a Dalek, just for his own amusement, is the best thing ever, there is something wrong with you!
Not that all this enterprising escapology does the Doctor the slightest good, however, since he has no sooner escaped from the hapless Xerons than he gets himself captured by the Moroks instead, and the Moroks have guns he can't get out of this one so easily.
Ian and Barbara, meanwhile, are bickering like an old married couple over what to do about having mislaid the Doctor, while Vicki stands around waiting for them, bored rigid. The long-suffering faces Vicki pulls in this scene are a scream this is Maureen O'Brien's talent, to take a scene she has barely any lines in and imbue it with Vicki's happy-go-lucky, humorous personality anyway, just by acting and reacting in the background. Ian is especially irritable here, but the stress is getting to Barbara, too I suspect they'd be a lot happier if they had a tangible enemy to do battle with, no matter how fearsome, but as it is the only enemy they are facing is the inevitability of the future they've witnessed and are so desperate to prevent, without having the slightest idea of how.
The despondent trio end up wandering in circles around the museum, unable to find either the Doctor or the way out. How they manage to consistently avoid all those people out there actively searching for them is anyone's guess. Frustrated, Ian comes up with an idea how they can avoid going round and round in circles by unravelling Barbara's cardigan and using the wool to mark their trail. This whole exchange is really, really funny William Russell and Jacqueline Hill inhabit their characters so perfectly, and the interplay between Ian and Barbara is brilliantly in-keeping here, from Ian's gung-ho over-enthusiasm and Barbara's mild indignation and slightly petulant consent to Barbara eventually having to take the cardigan off Ian and unpick it herself because he can't do it!
Of course, the downside of leaving a trail is that those out searching for it are able to find and follow it! Luckily it is the rebel Xerons who pick up the trail, rather than the Morok guards.
Ian's plan works just. The wool runs out, but it's okay because they have just about found their way back to the exit but get there only to find that the TARDIS, still standing just outside, has been captured and is swarming with guards.
The Doctor, meanwhile, is a helpless prisoner of the Moroks, taken for interrogation by the governor, Lobos. Now, William Hartnell's illness might be sadly apparent in parts of this serial, but he is wonderful in scenes like this one, full of subtle nuance. Watch his face throughout this scene, as the Doctor explores his cell in search of a way out, then finds himself restrained and is alarmed, then rallies to put on a magnificent show of sarcastic cool when Lobos tries questioning him, easily getting the better of the other man in their verbal sparring, then becomes wary again when he realises Lobos is using a mind-reading device to transmit his thought patterns onto a screen, then swiftly recovers to get the better of his captor again, now deliberately transmitting misleading images while laughing his head off with glee at Lobos's confusion. And boy howdy but that image of Hartnell in an Edwardian bathing costume is a hoot and a half! This kind of scene, just performing the character rather than having to rattle off reams of expository dialogue while juggling cues and marks, is absolutely perfect for Hartnell.
Alas for the Doctor, when Lobos realises he isn't going to extract any useful information from him, the order is given to take him to the preparation room to be turned into an exhibit for the museum! His glee fades at once and he is afraid old and frail as he is, he cannot escape.
William Hartnell was on holiday the week episode three was filmed, and so he does not appear in that episode at all, beyond the reprise of his cliffhanger fate. There is enough going on, however, that the other characters are able to carry the story forward without him with ease. So episode three, 'The Search', opens with Ian, Barbara and Vicki hiding behind a door watching the Moroks swarm all over the TARDIS, getting more and more frustrated and irritable at not knowing how to change their future, not knowing what might make the difference or what might lead them inexorably to their fate. There's been a lot of bickering in this serial, and a lot of those arguments have been pure padding, but I enjoy the character interactions anyway because they reveal personality, which is a valid purpose for any scene. Storytelling isn't all about plot movement! It is especially interesting to see Ian and Barbara taking their frustrations out on one another, reminding us that, as intimate as they have become over the course of their travels, they are still distinct individuals with minds of their own, neither of whom is afraid to speak their mind plainly with the other! In fact, I'd argue that they feel able to argue so vehemently because they are so close to one another.
There are also a bunch of bloopers in this serial, but these honestly don't bother me. These actors performed wonders every week, learning and performing their scripts on such a tight schedule. So they made the odd mistake that couldn't be edited out because editing was expensive and they didn't have time, big deal today's actors mess up all the time, there are blooper reels on most DVD releases cataloguing all those mistakes for humorous effect, and those actors barely even know they are born, they are so lucky in being able to re-take those scenes, sometimes over and over and over, and have their mistakes edited out for final transmission. The technology that allows them such time-wasting freedom did not exist in 1965, and, without either the budget for edits or the time to re-mount scenes, the actors and production team of this era of Doctor Who deserve all the kudos for pulling it off as well as they did, regardless of a few mistakes here and there.
No one in Doctor Who ever has any peripheral vision or particularly acute hearing, it seems. While Ian, Barbara and Vicki are alarmed to overhear the guards outside discussing the Doctor's capture, another guard manages to sneak right up behind them, and they find themselves at gunpoint, captured. And this is where Ian's frustration and impatience reach boiling point, prompting him to recklessness he is just about willing to let the guard shoot him, if it means the future they saw will be changed. Barbara is not so willing to take the risk, however, seeing no point at all in an altered future in which Ian is dead. They have a very long debate about it and the guard just lets them stand around talking among themselves, at length! I can see why the writer wanted that conversation to take place, but it's a bit of a stretch to believe that the gun-wielding guard would just stand back and let them talk for so long! In the end, emboldened by the thought that if his future self is to end up in a glass case then surely he can't die here, Ian decides to be sneaky and tries a spot of reverse psychology on the guard as a distraction that allows him to slowly edge closer and closer to the man until he is close enough to hurl himself at the gun, yelling for Barbara and Vicki to run.
Barbara and Vicki leg it in opposite directions, which means that all four TARDIS travellers are now well and truly separated. Ian is temporarily captured but manages to overpower his guards and escape, because if there's one thing Ian has got really, really good at since he met the Doctor, it is fighting his way free from a tight spot. He's certainly had plenty of practice!
The classic Doctor Who lack of peripheral vision proves a godsend for Barbara when Morok guards search the storeroom she has taken refuge in and completely fail to spot her when she is crouched right there in plain sight. Alas, they lock the door behind them, though, trapping her in there. Vicki, meanwhile, is grabbed and pulled into a hiding place by that hapless trio of Xeron rebels, whose names are Tor, Sita and Dako. Typically of Vicki, when she's recovered from the initial shock of being grabbed, her primary reaction is indignation rather than fear, and within minutes she is bossing them around! Well, they are a pretty wet bunch, admittedly, and they aren't even armed, so she doesn't have much to be afraid of, it's true. She agrees to go with Tor and Sita to the safer hideout of their headquarters, but as a concession Dako is sent back into the museum to look for Barbara who is still trapped in that storeroom, and you can tell how tired and frustrated she is just by how untidy her usually immaculate hair is! Unable to escape, she falls asleep only to be woken up by the door opening. Because she is Barbara, indomitable, indefatigable Barbara, she promptly takes cover and grabs an impromptu weapon, not about to be taken without a fight but it is only Dako, and the fact that he knows her name and can give her news of Vicki wins Barbara's trust.
Outside, while governor Lobos orders the museum to be flooded with paralytic gas to flush out any aliens and rebels, Ian uses more sneaky tactics to capture himself a guard and a gun, and demands to be taken to the Doctor a demand that becomes all the more urgent when he hears that the Doctor is already undergoing 'preparation', which is a form of embalming. If the future is to be changed, it has to start now!
Ian has always been brave and he has always seen himself as the defender of the group, but he has become a lot more direct in his approach over the course of his travels as his confidence in his own ability has grown. He is also, as we have seen, pretty much at breaking point in his desperation not to end up as a museum exhibit, and therefore is perhaps rather more willing to take reckless chances than he might normally have been.
Over at Xeron rebel headquarters, Vicki discusses revolutionary strategy over lunch. I love this aspect of Vicki she's such a firebrand, clever and creative and young enough to feel invulnerable, using her own confidence and resolve to encourage and inspire others. Fuelled by absolute determination not to end up in a display case, she takes on the rebel cause wholeheartedly, reasoning that if she can only help them drive out their alien overlords, it might be enough to change her own future. I enjoy the way she works away at the problem, not allowing the Xerons' pessimism to drag her down but instead insisting on hearing all the facts and then chewing over those details trying to come up with a solution. The Xerons don't have any weapons of their own and capturing one gun at a time by overpowering lone guards has never done them any good, so Vicki decides that there's only one thing for it: they must make an assault on the armoury!
The armoury operates a ridiculously complicated security system, which is pure plot device, frankly there's a hugely long series of pre-set questions, delivered by computer, and to access the weapons store both a correct and a truthful answer must be given. It seems an awful faff to have to go through just to allocate weapons to the guards every day! Maybe they keep a stock in constant circulation and only access the armoury in the event of an emergency. Anyway, Tor and Sita don't believe there is any way past this system, but Vicki is not so easily defeated. She keeps working away at the problem, waiting until she has all the facts before deciding on a course of action, taking the situation absolutely seriously but also having fun with it at the same time because this is hands on, practical action that she believes she is capable of and is certain is the right thing to do. It's good, strong characterisation for her. She listens to the full string of questions to see just what information exactly is required, and then figures out how to circumvent it, but opening up the machine and re-programming it, so that only two questions are asked and only a truthful answer is required, rather than a pre-determined one. Name, Vicki, purpose for which weapons are required revolution! The armoury opens, the rebels are able to steal all the weapons and Vicki softly wonders to herself if she's done enough to change the future.
Meanwhile in the museum, Barbara is not having such a good time. With (supposedly) paralytic gas flooding in from the ventilation system, she and Dako are struggling to put one foot in front of another, making painfully slow progress as they attempt to escape. Barbara has a will of iron and will not give in, all but dragging Dako along but at last she can go no further and collapses.
The cliffhanger end of episode three belongs to Ian, who is nicely ruthless as he forces his captured guard to take him to the governor's office in search of the Doctor. Scenes like this really do underscore just how far Ian has come since that fateful November day when he first stumbled into the TARDIS. It's hard to imagine the laid-back schoolmaster we first met holding another man at gunpoint, still less telling him that he'll kill him if necessary and might just enjoy it! Always stalwart in defence of those he considers in his care, Ian has had to develop nerves of steel over the course of his adventures and now knows exactly what he is capable of and exactly what has to be done when attempting a dangerous rescue. With both the guard and governor Lobos held at gunpoint, he is taken through to the preparation chamber where he finds the Doctor locked into a machine, already frozen and mummified!
And so we reach the final episode of this adventure, 'The Final Phase', which kicks off with Ian ordering Lobos to reverse the Doctor's treatment. Lobos really is an unpleasant character, taking almost sadistic pleasure in declaring that the Doctor is as good as dead already, but Ian is having none of it, ordering the man to bring him back to life if he values his own! I enjoy this ruthless streak that Ian has developed and I enjoy his determination and refusal to give up, even in the face of what seems hopeless. He is also smart, quick to confiscate any other weapons he sees and making sure that neither of his prisoners can get close enough to disarm him while always keeping them covered. While Lobos takes detached scientific pleasure in this experimental procedure this kind of processing has never before been reversed, it seems Ian fidgets and fusses until the Doctor finally begins to regain consciousness. He is very frail and vulnerable as he awakens, pained by rheumatism brought on by the extreme cold, which means Ian must now divide his attention between maintaining control of his prisoners and attempting to care for his ailing friend. I love how gentle and careful he is with the Doctor here, helping him into a chair and fussing over him, all one-handed as he keeps that gun trained on the Moroks. Here we learn the true horror of the fate that awaits our heroes, as the Doctor reveals that he was fully conscious the whole time, even while his body was frozen, which means that if the four travellers do end up in that display case, they will be aware of what is happening to them a truly eternal torment. Horror indeed and alas for Ian's bold rescue, while the Doctor recovers and resumes his verbal sparring with Lobos, more guards sneak up behind them and they are re-captured!
Elsewhere, Vicki watches proudly, gun in hand, as Tor and Sita arm their fellow rebels and plan an assault on the Morok barracks. She has no intention of going with them, though, planning instead to return to the museum in search of Barbara. Tor doesn't like the idea and tries to forbid her to go but Vicki is having none of it, she's going and that's that, he can't stop her! Sarah Jane might have been the first companion to call herself a feminist, but female companions have been embodying feminist principles right from the start and Vicki demonstrates that here. Seeing that he has absolutely no authority over her whatsoever, Tor gives in and asks Sita to go with her as back-up. Sita agrees, but reluctantly; he doesn't want to go, and that's worth remembering.
Meanwhile in the museum, Barbara and Dako are still laid low by the paralytic gas. Despite the fact that this gas is still billowing all around, Barbara manages to struggle back to consciousness it isn't so very paralytic after all, then and then her stubborn streak kicks in. She is not just going to lie down and give up, let herself be captured. She forces herself back to her feet, uses her handkerchief to cover Dako's nose and mouth to block out at least some of the gas, and practically carries him on through those corridors in search of the way out and this kind of compassion and care for another living being is really underrated as a heroic trait, but shouldn't be. Barbara barely knows Dako, yet she is risking her own life and safety for his sake and it never once occurs to her that she could leave him behind to make good her own escape. They make it to the exit at last only to be captured at gunpoint as soon as they are through the doors.
It's lucky for them, then, that Vicki and Sita arrive at just that moment, Sita shooting down the guard while Vicki and Barbara enjoy a very happy reunion. Vicki is so proud of her efforts, certain that she must have done enough to change the future, surely, because the rebels are planning to destroy the museum and they can't possibly end up as exhibits in a museum that doesn't exist, surely
But for the future to change, the rebellion has to succeed. More Morok guards come running and Sita, who didn't want to come on this mission anyway, is shot dead, while Dako is knocked out, and Barbara and Vicki are captured at last.
So, after everything they've been through, all four TARDIS travellers are now prisoners of the Moroks, staring their fate in the face. It's interesting to watch the group dynamic while they are all locked up together, processing and reacting. Ian, predictably, is the most overtly frustrated and angry, desperately trying to find something pro-active he can do that might still change their future, whether it be attempting to break through the door or smashing up the processing equipment anything is better than doing nothing. Barbara is more fatalistic and philosophical, gloomily reflecting on the four separate journeys that brought them inexorably to the place they were trying to avoid all along. Vicki is still hopeful that the Xerons might come through for them, while the Doctor is thoughtful and contemplative, wondering if instead of changing their own future directly, they may have influenced enough other people to change the course of events at a broader level, which might just be enough to save them.
And so it proves, as the Xeron revolution sweeps through Morok ranks until it reaches Lobos's office arriving just in the nick of time as Lobos and his deputy had just decided to kill their alien prisoners and have done with it. The Moroks are driven off Xeros, the Xerons have won their freedom, the museum is dismantled and the TARDIS travellers are saved. This means that Vicki was the only member of the group who actually achieved anything constructive over the course of the adventure it was her inspirational pep talks and sabotage of the armoury security system that saved the day for everyone. Girl power for the win!
I'm not sure how much of a future the Xerons actually have, mind. For one thing, there don't seem to be any girl Xerons, and for another, we were told way back at the top of the story that the planet was basically dead, and for another again, most of the Xeron population remain enslaved on other worlds, so the handful left here to rebuild are certainly going to have their work cut out and that's assuming the Moroks don't just come back with another, bigger army to wipe them out completely!
Still, that's their problem. The TARDIS travellers are just happy to say their farewells and get gone. Vicki and Tor have a bit of a near-romantic moment as they say goodbye and since there aren't any girl Xerons, Tor certainly will struggle to find anyone quite like Vicki again! The Doctor is bubbling over with enthusiasm once more, fully recovered, as he finds the stuck circuit that caused their dimensional trouble and attempts to explain it to Ian and Barbara, who are highly amused by his giddiness. Then Ian claps eyes on a gift the Doctor has been given from the museum and grumbles about how much space it takes up the Doctor doesn't like that, of course, but Barbara is quick to soothe, something both she and Ian have grown good at, during their time on the show. We aren't told in this scene just what this object is, but will learn in the next episode that it is a Space-Time Visualiser, and it plays a vital role in the plot of that next adventure. See, continuity '60s Doctor Who has it!
So the TARDIS departs from Xeros but for once the story doesn't end there and also doesn't end on a cliffhanger for the TARDIS travellers themselves. Instead, and the presence of a dead Dalek in the museum was foreshadowing for this, the episode ends on a very different kind of cliffhanger. There are Daleks tracking our heroes and they are hot on their trail!
Quotable Quotes
IAN: Doctor, we've got our clothes on.
DOCTOR: Well, I should hope so, dear boy. I should hope so.
BARBARA: No, Doctor. Our ordinary, everyday clothes.
DOCTOR: Well, upon my soul, yes. Yes. Now isn't that extraordinary? Yes, we were wearing those cloaks and things, weren't we? Well, I must say, it's going to save us a lot of bother changing. Yes. Now, let's see where we are, shall we?
IAN: Doctor! You can't dismiss it like that! We were standing here in thirteenth century clothes. We can't suddenly
DOCTOR: My dear boy, it's over and done with. Now let's forget it.
DOCTOR: It's time and relativity, my dear boy. Time and relativity. That's where the answer lies.
IAN: I dare say it does, Doctor, but we'd be a lot happier if you would explain it to us.
DOCTOR: Yes, I think we shall just have to go and search for the answers, and as there's always the element of danger in the unknown, I suggest we keep closer together.
BARBARA: Have you noticed something? I mean something very peculiar.
IAN: Well, everything's peculiar.
DOCTOR: My dear Barbara, if you've seen something or somebody, there's no sense in talking in riddles, is there?
BARBARA: No Doctor, not seen. It's the silence. When we stop talking, there isn't a sound. Listen. It's the sort of silence you can almost hear.
IAN: More and more like a graveyard.
DOCTOR: Oh, that's quite enough. Now stop it. You'll have us all imagining things.
IAN: We might almost be in a museum at home.
VICKI: Except that there are no little men following you about telling you not touch things.
DOCTOR: Well, you just pretend there are, young lady, and keep your hands to yourself.
VICKI: Time, like space, although a dimension in itself also has dimensions of its own.
DOCTOR: You know, I don't mind admitting, I've always found it extremely difficult to solve the fourth dimension. And here we are. Face to face with the fourth dimension. You know, I think the TARDIS jumped a time track and ended up here in this fourth dimension. It's extraordinary. It's inexplicable.
DOCTOR: Chesterton, this is no time to be playing cowboys and Indians.
IAN: Doctor, I might have shot a hole right in the middle of you.
IAN: Doctor, why do you always show the greatest interest in the least important things?
DOCTOR: The least important things sometimes, my dear boy, lead to the greatest discoveries.
IAN: Doctor, why don't you admit it. You are just as lost as the rest of us.
DOCTOR: Yes, I suppose I must confess I am.
DOCTOR: [mimicking a Dalek voice] I fooled them all! I am the master!
IAN: How do you undo this?
BARBARA: Oh, give it to me.
IAN: Well, what do we do now? Find the Doctor, I suppose. I'm afraid I'm no great expert when it comes to changing the future.
BARBARA: Why don't we do something?
IAN: Choice is only possible when you know all the facts.
VICKI: Well, sitting here planning and dreaming of a revolution isn't going to win your planet back.
SITA: We do all we can.
VICKI: By making a nuisance of yourselves, that's all it is.
TOR: What can we do without weapons?
VICKI: Nothing. We must get some.
COMPUTER: What is your name?
VICKI: Vicki.
COMPUTER: For what purpose are the arms needed?
VICKI: Revolution!
LOBOS: You'll be a fool if you kill me. You will achieve nothing.
IAN: Possibly, but it might be enjoyable.
LOBOS: He's as good as dead.
IAN: If you want to save yourself, you'd better bring him back to life.
LOBOS: Impossible.
IAN: But your only hope is to try.
TOR: I won't let you go.
VICKI: I won't let you stop me!
VICKI: But we must have changed the future! We just must have done!
BARBARA: Must we Vicki? Or were all the things that happened planned out for us? Four separate journeys. Four choices, that led all the time, closer to here.
DOCTOR: The future doesn't look too bad after all, does it?
The Verdict
Overall and taken as a whole, The Space Museum might not be among my favourites, but I enjoy it nonetheless for its humour and character dynamics, as well as for the eerie atmosphere it achieves early on and for its intriguing timey-wimey themes.