Its sixty years since the second season of Doctor Who was first broadcast so I thought I’d take a look at selected stories courtesy of the Collection box set, recently re-issued in standard packaging. To begin with, a story that brings back the Daleks at the height of Dalekmania and waves goodbye to a companion for the first time ever…
I originally knew of this story when it was called `World’s End` back in the days when the `official` titles of many First Doctor stories were actually those of the opening episode. Certainly most viewers in 1964 would not know the overall name with which we are now familiar so would have no idea till the end of part one that the Daleks were returning (unless the excitable press gave it away- these days there would be location shots on TikTok) and the suspense is well built. What I’ve noticed about these Sixties stories is how grounded they are from the travellers' perspective. So, each predicament or puzzle is debated initially in the context of something every day- it could be this, it could be that- until those options are discounted slowly to unpeel the real problem. The modern series rarely does that preferring to leap to the Doctor explaining something that he already knows.
