It starts at a circus where there are some lions! What a great start, even Survival didn't begin with lions. Is it a spelling mistaik do you think, should this story really be called Terror of the Lions?
They are being held prisoner in a cage by a baddy. While normally I would expect this to be followed by them immediately escaping and noming all the baddys, since this is a Doctor Who story I think it is reasonable to assume they will need to be rescued by the Doctor at some point... and then they will nom all the baddys. I can't wait for that bit!
There is the sound of the TARDIS materialising, and then a van appears like the TARDIS. Its reflection also appears in a puddle at the same time, which must have made this effect twice as expensive - the BBC splashing out for the new season, no doubt.
The door opens and out comes Roger Delgado... The Master! At last!
By having him arrive in the same scene as we saw lions, this creates an immediate association in our minds. Lions = great, therefore the Master also = great. And it is fitting that his first appearance and his last (in the original series, I mean) should be accompanied by cats, because cats are best!
The lion-capturing baddy says "Who the fuck are you?" although in some versions this is censored to the word "heck." The master replies
"I am usually referred to as the Master."The baddy tries to get rid of the Master, but he is instantly out-baddyed by him, and we hear the first use of the Master's special bit of incidental music. He hypno-eyeses the baddy into W-wording for him.
"Oh is that so?"
"Universally."
In the next scene we see the Master steal a Nestene energy unit from a museum, where it was presumably put by Indiana Jones.
At UNIT HQ, the Doctor is in his TARDIS. He sings to himself "I don't want to set the world on fire," which... too soon, Doctor, too soon. He is doing science on the TARDIS dematerialisation circuit.
Jo Grant comes in and fire extinguishes the science when it goes on fire. The Doctor calls her a "ham-fisted bun vendor." Having thus made a good first impression, Jo announces
"I'm your new assistant."Jo claims to be "a fully qualified agent" and lists her qualifications:
"Oh, no."
"Cryptology, safe breaking, explosives."When the Doctor says
"I'm sorry, my dear, but what I need is a scientist."Jo responds
"I took general science at a level."She doesn't say at what level, which is the setup for a komedy moment later on.
Jo tells the Doctor about the theft of the energy unit from the "National Space Museum" and he becomes interested. He says "the Brigadier's an idiot" when he learns that it was him who let Dr Jones take it.
"But who would want to steal it?"asks Jo.
"Exactly. Who, and why?"
At the "Ministry of Technology Beacon Hill Research Establishment" (thank you convenient establishing shot) there is a radio telescope. The Master goes in, accompanied by his music, and pewpewpews the manny there.
He takes the unit out of a box marked UNIT (is this because it contained a unit or because it came from UNIT? Mew, now I'm a confused cat) and plugs the unit into a computer. It moves the telescope, which is noticed by another manny. He comes in and sees the Master, then it cuts to the Doctor and the Brigadier before we see what happens next.
The Doctor is complaining about how he wants somebody with "the same qualifications" as Liz to be his assistant. The Brigadier replies with
"Nonsense. What you need, Doctor, as Miss Shaw herself so often remarked, is someone to pass you your test tubes and to tell you how brilliant you are."which is probably the most perceptive thing he's likely to say all season. The Brigadier then admits that they are both stuck with Jo:
"Miss Grant was very keen to join us and she happens to have relatives in high places."He deviously agrees to reassign Jo only if the Doctor tells her himself. When she comes in he can't do it, and so will be stuck with her for the next three seasons. This is good because Jo is one of the classic Companions, and I don't think the Jon Pertwee era of Doctor Who would have been the same without her. Is this therefore the only example evar of nepotism being a good thing?
Jo tells the Brigadier and the Doctor about the scientists at the radio telescope going missing and, realising that the age of seven-parters is over and they need to get on with the plot, they head straight there in Bessie.
There they are met by Captain Mike Yates, a character who is little more than a cheap Captain Hawkins knock-off, mew. They split up, and the Doctor goes to the radio telescope on his own.
He hears a TARDIS materialisation noise, and a manny appears in mid-air. He says he has come from 29,000 light years away. The Doctor recognises him, and he admits to being a Time Lord in case we haven't guessed by now.
"I came to warn you. An old acquaintance has arrived on this planet."This line of the Doctor's is interesting for two reasons. First, it tells us that he already knows the Master, which has led to much speculation as to whether the Doctor has met him before in the series, but played by another actor (because the Master's a Time Lord) and under an alias (because the Master's the Master). Possible candidates include the War Chief from The War Games, The Master from The Mind Robber (largely, it has to be said, on the strength of the name), the Meddling Monk from The Time Meddler, Lemaitre from The Reign of Terror, or Masters from Doctor Who and the Silurians... although the latter of those has mainly been suggested by me.
"Oh? One of our people?"
"The Master."
"That jackanapes? All he ever does is cause trouble."
Secondly the Doctor calls the Master a "jackanapes" which must be a Time Lord insult because, so the Monkeys With Badges tell me, the word means he's an ape or monkey.
The Time Lord goes further and warns the Doctor that a "surprise" has been left inside the radio telescope room - a bomb. Now presumably if the scientists had been missing long enough for it to be reported to UNIT, somebody must surely have looked for them in their own room, so the Master must have come back to put the bomb there afterwards, which means it is intended to blow up the Doctor.
The Time Lord is not going to help the Doctor do anything about it, and vanishes, although he is very polite about it.
The Doctor manages to get to it before it blows him up. Mike Yates and "the Director" (is he another Time Lord? He sounds like one) come in. The Doctor finds one of the scientists in a box - he has been made tiny by the Master.
Meanwhile the Master is meeting with Mr Farrel, who is in charge of a plastics factory. He tells Farrel
"The people I represent, Mr Farrel, can never have too much plastic."This is clever because it is presented as though it is a mystery what the Master's plan (Masterplan?) is, even though it is really obvious because we have already seen Spearhead From Space, so it allows us to feel smart by anticipating the direction of the story.
Now back at his laboratory, the Doctor says to Jo "I thought you took a level in science?" although he slightly fluffs the line, just not enough to warrant another take.
"I didn't say I passed."is her reply, which reveals that she is even worse at science than the Doctor thought before, lol. Oh, please yourselves.
After a brief discussion of what the Nestenes are for the benefit of Jo, as well as any viewers who haven't seen Spearhead From Space, the Doctor tells the Brigadier to search all the plastics factories for the missing unit.
It is always unfortunate when normally smart characters have to act stupid in order to make other characters seem more intelligent, and this is a perfect example of something the Brigadier should have already thought of, but by needing to be prompted by the Doctor it makes the Doctor seem the cleverest one. Poor Brigadier, I think he had better start getting used to that.
By now the Master is taking over Farrel's factory, which just happens to be the one that Jo is investigating. She hides from the Master and Farrel, but clumsily knocks over a box to give herself away. By the next scene she has been hypno-eyesed and is telling the Master all she knows about UNIT's investigations.
The Doctor and the Master unknowingly echo one another when the Doctor says of the Master "Vanity's his weakness," and then later the Master says of the Doctor "Curiosity is his weakness." This helps establish the Master as the evil reflection of the Doctor. Also there is a hidden joke there in that neither vanity nor curiosity are really weaknesses - just ask any cat!
Farrel talks with James McDermott (played by Harry "The Day Today" Towb) about "Colonel Masters," the first of the Master's many aliases, and one of the most fiendishly subtle, who McDermott has never heard of.
Farrell goes to get the Master, and sees he has made some Autons, as well as having installed some CSO to make their factory look bigger on the inside.
In the Doctor's lab, Jo goes to open a box with a bomb in it to blow them all up, because she has been ordered to by the Master while hypno-eyesed. She even pauses to beat Mike Yates up when he tries to prevent her, although she may have done that anyway.
Cliffhanger!
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