[daveyboy7472]

Frontier is one of the few 6-Parters I feel works quite well and that I quite enjoy. It's the sort of space fare adventure the show had been crying out for since Pertwee took over.

The only problem I have with it is that The Doctor seems to spend every episode being captured and locked up, it must be a record of sorts and Jo isn't far behind!

The Draconians are quite impressively designed and are a rare breed of Alien in that they are not actually evil, though they share the human quality of being devious if they need to!

The Ogrons are used more effectively here and I love the scenes between them and The Master. Also like the little throwaway line in the first episode distancing them from involvement with the Daleks....

Plus, may year before The Five Doctors, wasn't it great to see a Mind Probe actually in action? So love that scene....

Off course, no discussion on this story would be complete with mentioning Roger Delgado. I think as what turned out to be his last story, his performance was a good one. As with The Time Monster, the episode where it's just him battling wits with The Doctor is the best one, but I also think he was more charming and devious than ever in this. I am also glad Jo got her opportunity to stand up to his hypnosis, which showed how far she had come since her debut. It was almost as if was meant to be that this would be the last time she came across him.

The only disappointment is that he disappeared quite rapidly from the action at the story's conclusion due to some necessary editing and didn't quite get the last scene he deserved. However, those last two episodes he was in are some of my favourites to feature him.

Overall though, a good story, which led nicely into the next adventure.

[meglosmurmurs]

This is one of the few 3rd Doctor's 6-parters that doesn't feel like it just plods along and that you couldn't easily shave it down to a 4-parter.
It's actually a bit of a mad rush, going from ship to ship and planet to planet. Which can get exhausting, but it helps keep my interest and allows the story to change as it goes along, particularly towards the last two episodes. Also the plot is quite clever, and the aliens are used to full effect.

[sovietusername]

I remember getting the VHS for this years back cos there was a piscture of a Dalek on the front. OH YES! I thought, a Dalek story! And with the Master too! Really excited, got back home, and then was really disappointed to find out the Daleks were only in the 6th episode. First I had to tral though 5 tedious episodes of boring interstellar politic and space prisons. Bored me out of my mind. Now however, I love it! Loook back on it with fondness, love the Ogrons, the Master, the mind probe, Williams, and that bloke in the prison. Would still like to see a proper Dalek Master combo though

[digiblade]

Having only ever watched it on DVD a couple of years ago (as part of the Dalek War box-set) I agree with the above poster's initial feelings on it. There were some definite highlights but it has a strong pad-out feeling to it (especially the capture & escape & capture & escape etc etc). Its a massively ambitious story-line that wears paper thin in parts. If re-written & re-staged today this could easily be done within two 45 mins episodes, mainly due to the thrilling & surprisingly never re-visited idea of the master and the daleks combining forces.

[Larry1971]

Really not sure what to make of this one all the being captured escaping to get re captured and escape again and no one believing them does get a bit boring but Pertwee and Manning still manage to keep it fun.But in truth Frontier, is a typical Pertwee 6 parter and it's only another sparkling performance by Roger Delgado, that stops Frontier disappearing down the plug hole of utter boredom .

[sovietusername]

Originally Posted by Larry1971

Really not sure what to make of this one all the being captured escaping to get re captured and escape again and no one believing them does get a bit boring but Pertwee and Manning still manage to keep it fun.But in truth Frontier, is a typical Pertwee 6 parter and it's only another sparkling performance by Roger Delgado, that stops Frontier disappearing down the plug hole of utter boredom .

Such a shame this was Delgado's final story

[daveyboy7472]

Originally Posted by sovietusername

Such a shame this was Delgado's final story

I agree but if it hadn't it would have been one of his last as he'd decided to quit by this time. I think there should have been one more story for him at the end of the Season, which ironically may have meant no Green Death which you said you loved if he had not been killed.

[CoalHillJanitor]

Originally Posted by daveyboy7472

I agree but if it hadn't it would have been one of his last as he'd decided to quit by this time. I think there should have been one more story for him at the end of the Season, which ironically may have meant no Green Death which you said you loved if he had not been killed.

Was the Master supposed to have died in that last story? That might have meant The Deadly Assassin would never have happened either. Or any of the Ainley stuff...

[sovietusername]

Originally Posted by daveyboy7472

I agree but if it hadn't it would have been one of his last as he'd decided to quit by this time. I think there should have been one more story for him at the end of the Season, which ironically may have meant no Green Death which you said you loved if he had not been killed.

Ah no, I've read into this, he was gonna appear at the end of the next season for Pertwee's final story, just to sort of bring an end to the whole of the Pertwee era. I think the plan was for the Master to be revealed to be a sort of Dark Doctor, his Id, kinda like the Valeyard. There'd be an epic battle which would end with Pertwee's departure. Sounds rubbish especially after all the other stuff woth the Master since, but when you think about it, it is a perfect conclusion for the realtionship between Pertwee's Doctor and Delgado's Master, as they were always portrayed as equals, like 2 sides of the same coin. And it's a much better idea than that of the them being brothers which we almost had in the 80's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...The_Final_Game

[daveyboy7472]

Originally Posted by CoalHillJanitor

Was the Master supposed to have died in that last story? That might have meant The Deadly Assassin would never have happened either. Or any of the Ainley stuff...

Well I think Sovietusername has pretty much explained it below but it seems it would have been left unclear what happened to him, so I think there may have been an opportunity to bring him back. However, if Delgado had lived then I don't think there would have been any other Master for sometime, unless he wanted to come back and do it. Maybe after his eventual passing they may have regenerated the character, but who knows?

Originally Posted by sovietusername

Ah no, I've read into this, he was gonna appear at the end of the next season for Pertwee's final story, just to sort of bring an end to the whole of the Pertwee era. I think the plan was for the Master to be revealed to be a sort of Dark Doctor, his Id, kinda like the Valeyard. There'd be an epic battle which would end with Pertwee's departure. Sounds rubbish especially after all the other stuff woth the Master since, but when you think about it, it is a perfect conclusion for the realtionship between Pertwee's Doctor and Delgado's Master, as they were always portrayed as equals, like 2 sides of the same coin. And it's a much better idea than that of the them being brothers which we almost had in the 80's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...The_Final_Game

Oh right, I always thought it was going to be the end of Season 10. I wonder if they would have done it for Pertwee's last story considering it was his swansong, but there again I suppose he would have been the ideal villain for that last story.

[sovietusername]

Originally Posted by daveyboy7472

Well I think Sovietusername has pretty much explained it below but it seems it would have been left unclear what happened to him, so I think there may have been an opportunity to bring him back. However, if Delgado had lived then I don't think there would have been any other Master for sometime, unless he wanted to come back and do it. Maybe after his eventual passing they may have regenerated the character, but who knows?




Oh right, I always thought it was going to be the end of Season 10. I wonder if they would have done it for Pertwee's last story considering it was his swansong, but there again I suppose he would have been the ideal villain for that last story.

A much better villain for his swansong (considering most of Pertwee's era involved Delgado) than giant spiders. Mind you, I havent actually seen Planet of the Spiders, I really should

[CoalHillJanitor]

Originally Posted by sovietusername

A much better villain for his swansong (considering most of Pertwee's era involved Delgado) than giant spiders. Mind you, I havent actually seen Planet of the Spiders, I really should

Om mani padme hum!

Death to the eight-legs!

I recommend it.

[daveyboy7472]

Originally Posted by sovietusername

A much better villain for his swansong (considering most of Pertwee's era involved Delgado) than giant spiders. Mind you, I havent actually seen Planet of the Spiders, I really should

I could probably agree with, it would have made a good last story but i love POTS.....

I think you should watch it before the thread next week and see what you think. I personally love it but will refrain from further comment until then!

[sovietusername]

Originally Posted by daveyboy7472

I could probably agree with, it would have made a good last story but i love POTS.....

I think you should watch it before the thread next week and see what you think. I personally love it but will refrain from further comment until then!

I'll try though I've also got to keep up with the series 6 repeats for my own threads on them and, well, just interest. It's funny Series 6.2, I didnt really like it on first viewing but couldnt find anything I didnt like about it, if you see what I mean, rewatch should be interesting. Back to POTS, do you have the DVD, if not where did you wacth it? Dailymotion?

[daveyboy7472]

Originally Posted by sovietusername

I'll try though I've also got to keep up with the series 6 repeats for my own threads on them and, well, just interest. It's funny Series 6.2, I didnt really like it on first viewing but couldnt find anything I didnt like about it, if you see what I mean, rewatch should be interesting. Back to POTS, do you have the DVD, if not where did you wacth it? Dailymotion?

Yep, it's on Dailymotion, as is a few other stories and yes, I do have the DVD.

[codename_47]

It's a tantalising prospect of a team up between the Master and The Daleks that makes this episode stand out for me.
Sadly it was to go no-where, after I first watched this episode on UK Gold I was confused as to A)Why the Daleks appeared in the first place as UK Gold couldn't afford Dalek eps, and B) why even the Master would trust the Daleks or vice versa.

Obviously I never got to see the answer due to the same reasons as part A), but after a googling I found out the ep I missed was about a load of Daleks on a planet and didn't really follow on from the epic conclusion of this ep at all!
Missed opportunity or what!?

Thinking back on it now I also thought the stuff with the Draconians was very similar to what Babylon 5 later did with the Earth/Minbari war (multi layered alien race that Earth has a history of war with that are now trying to seek peace for mysterious reasons but other alien races manipulate that desire...)
I wonder if JMS had seen this ep before writing B5?

Still, I think there's potential there and I'd love to see them in the new series, particularly if more of the Earth/Draconia war could be revealed.

[doublefour]

I think this is quite well realised, even though it was made in the 70s. They made a good fist of trying to portray a future Earth and the out in Space Parts. The Draconians are still a good new set of aliens, even if there faces are a bit unconvincing when they are speaking.
Daveyboy mentions the record for amount of times being locked up, almost for the entirety of the first few episodes the Doctor and Jo are held captive. Either by Earth officials, Draconians and eventually The Master!
Speaking of which, The Master gets a meatier role then a few other Pertwee'e I feel. Delgado's last performance in the role is as good as ever and again can only echo former comments when saying it's dumb luck that they had to feed this story into the next,hence a slightly rushed ending for his last appearance.

[ocox]

Way ahead of its time when you see the scrolling news banner in the Presidents (I think) office. Like having a BBC3 in The Daemons.