[daveyboy7472]

A very different story to the rest of Season Five. Not as good as some of the others but I think it works as an interlude from the monsters for a few weeks and I love the James Bond Theme to it.

I also think out of all the stories where the actor playing The Doctor gets to play a dual role, this is by far the best. Troughton is superb as Salamander and is a very convincing villain and is about as different from his Doctor as he could be. The other villainous character I love in this story is Benik, played creepily and very sinister by Milton Johns.

With The Doctor having a reduced role for obvious reasons, Jamie and Victoria both have strong roles. I cite this as another story where Victoria is far from weak, mainly I think due to the lack of monsters within it.

Can I just say this before CHJ gets the chance. I too love the character of Griffin the Chef, whose ironic sense of humour is just superb. So there's only one way to end this post.....

'Peel those spuds!'

[chuffnobbler]

Goes on a bit, this one. (Though it's a long time since I have heard it). Nice twist, with people living underground kept ignorant of live above ground.

[CoalHillJanitor]

I love this story because Troughton is great in the dual role and it's such an exciting break from the bases under siege. We also get to see Jamie being quite clever when he infiltrates Salamander's inner circle.

Victoria is a bit silly in the kitchen scenes but Griff's a genius!

[Tom Tit]

I love this one. It's something different.

I always thought that not bringing Slamander back was a big opportunity missed.

Imagine this story in the Pertwee era:

UNIT head out to investigate some disturbance. They find the Doctor already on the case - the Second Doctor! Of course, this naturally leads the Brigadeer to begin to distrust the current Doctor (Jon Pertwee) who had managed to convince him he was the same man he met in the Cybermen and Yeti cases.

Of course, the 'old' Doctor would actually be Salamander who, after being jettisoned from the TARDIS, had somehow been plucked out of the void by some powerful entity (perhaps the Great intelligence?), sent to 20th century Earth and used in a revenge bid against the Doctor. Slamander would first be used to sow distrust in the real Doctor, and then, when he was out fo the way, pave the way for invasion by the Great intelligence. After all, we already saw in 'Enemy of the World' how skilled Salamander was at manioulating people.

How cool would that have been? Patrick Troughton returning as a villain! It would have made a much better 10th anniversary story than 'The Three Doctors', that's for sure.

[daveyboy7472]

Originally Posted by Tom Tit

I love this one. It's something different.

I always thought that not bringing Slamander back was a big opportunity missed.

Imagine this story in the Pertwee era:

UNIT head out to investigate some disturbance. They find the Doctor already on the case - the Second Doctor! Of course, this naturally leads the Brigadeer to begin to distrust the current Doctor (Jon Pertwee) who had managed to convince him he was the same man he met in the Cybermen and Yeti cases.

Of course, the 'old' Doctor would actually be Salamander who, after being jettisoned from the TARDIS, had somehow been plucked out of the void by some powerful entity (perhaps the Great intelligence?), sent to 20th century Earth and used in a revenge bid against the Doctor. Slamander would first be used to sow distrust in the real Doctor, and then, when he was out fo the way, pave the way for invasion by the Great intelligence. After all, we already saw in 'Enemy of the World' how skilled Salamander was at manioulating people.

How cool would that have been? Patrick Troughton returning as a villain! It would have made a much better 10th anniversary story than 'The Three Doctors', that's for sure.

I don't think Troughton would have come back to play Salamander, especially so soon after leaving the Series. The Three Doctors he only did I suspect because it was an anniversary. It would have overshadowed Pertwee anyway if he had done it, I think.

[Tom Tit]

Originally Posted by daveyboy7472

I don't think Troughton would have come back to play Salamander, especially so soon after leaving the Series. The Three Doctors he only did I suspect because it was an anniversary. It would have overshadowed Pertwee anyway if he had done it, I think.

He came back for the anniversary, as you say. So obviously he wasn't against the idea of being in Doctor Who again on a one-off basis. They could have done such a story instead of the Three Doctors. I think Troughton would have enjoyed it. After all, the character was created in the first place because he wanted a change from playing the Doctor. Troughton was a jobbing actor (a very good one) and not as precious about the role of the Doctor as others might have been. I believe that's why he came back so often: it was a nice, fun job. Why would he possibly not do it? He just didn't want to do it on a regular basis anymore. He had no animosity towards the show.

And how could he overshadow Jon Pertwee more than he did by reprising his role as the Doctor? Surely bringing back the old Doctor Who to play alongside Pertwee is the ultimate way to 'overshadow' him? Having Troughton play a different charcater is hardly worse than that. And to clarify, my suggestion isn't that he'd be a regular returning villain like the Master. My 'idea' (if you can call something that never happened an 'idea') is that it would have been just for a one-off story.

I think it would have been an amazing story.

[daveyboy7472]

Originally Posted by Tom Tit

He came back for the anniversary, as you say. So obviously he wasn't against the idea of being in Doctor Who again on a one-off basis. They could have done such a story instead of the Three Doctors. I think Troughton would have enjoyed it. After all, the character was created in the first place because he wanted a change from playing the Doctor. Troughton was a jobbing actor (a very good one) and not as precious about the role of the Doctor as others might have been. I believe that's why he came back so often: it was a nice, fun job. Why would he possibly not do it? He just didn't want to do it on a regular basis anymore. He had no animosity towards the show.

And how could he overshadow Jon Pertwee more than he did by reprising his role as the Doctor? Surely bringing back the old Doctor Who to play alongside Pertwee is the ultimate way to 'overshadow' him? Having Troughton play a different charcater is hardly worse than that. And to clarify, my suggestion isn't that he'd be a regular returning villain like the Master. My 'idea' (if you can call something that never happened an 'idea') is that it would have been just for a one-off story.

I think it would have been an amazing story.

I'm not disagreeing with the idea, it is a good one,( I know Troughton had said he'd like to have returned as a villain, in disguise I think it was, but it'd probably leak out he was doing it!)

No, my issue was with the timing. He was finding it heavy going towards the end of his time so it's unlikely he would have come back immediately in Season 7 where he definitely would have overshadowed Pertwee as a New Doctor. Probably not Season 8 either as it still would have been too soon. Season 9 would have been too close to an anniversary story and the idea of him returning as someone else aside The Doctor in the 10th anniversary story itself wouldn't have gone down too well with viewers, I think. Letts has stated he got letters every week asking when they were going to do a story featuring all three Doctors and the 10th anniversary gave him the opportunity to do just that.

So with him in the 10th anniversary it would probably be another two years at the earliest before he could appear again as Salamander, which takes you into Tom Baker's first Season and that wouldn't have been right either as it wouldn't have right to overshadow him on his first Season!

So I reckon him playing the role opposite Tom Baker would have been brilliant in later Seasons. Never ever seen those two together apart from one photo at a Panopticon event somewhere so it would have been ideal!

[Larry1971]

it's a pitty that the only surviving episode is probably the poorest of the 6 .