N.B. there might (or might not) be spoilers in this article!
Frontier is Space is yer full-on epic space opera adventure Doctor Who-style. An uncharitable commentator might suggest its epic nature is down to its only really being the first half of a story: half a story in which the Doctor and Jo Grant spend most of the time getting captured, escaping, being re-captured, escaping only to be captured by someone else, handed over into someone else’s custody, escaping and getting captured again.
At this point in the story, it’s not clear why they couldn’t have just made it and Planet of the Daleks a twelve-parter entitled The Space War and be done with it, but the constant capturing and re-capturing, the chases across the galaxy, and the endless space walks all add up to arguably some of the most outrageous examples of padding Doctor Who has ever seen. And yet … leaving aside that there’s about two episodes’ worth of plot spread over six weeks of running around, it does feel as if we’re at the start of something huge. It must be said – Frontier in Space has its moments.
“I’ve come to take you away from all this.”
The Master, Frontier in Space: Episode Three
There are some lovely nods to continuity. Jo hallucinates a Drashig from the previous week’s adventure and also mentions Solos as the Doctor explains how the events of The Mutants took place during the decline of Earth’s empire (unlike Frontier where it’s at its outset). Going even further back, in Episode Five, she refers to the time the Master did successfully hypnotise her in Terror of the Autons.
During their imprisonment on the Master’s ship, the Doctor is ‘in reminiscent mood’, much like he was in The Time Monster, showing, if nothing else, for all his patronising bluster towards her, the Doctor is fond and trusting enough of Jo to share his past.
“They haven’t got a mind for you to probe.”
The Doctor, Frontier in Space: Episode Five
Of course, being a Malcolm Hulke script, there’s plenty of political intrigue, but perhaps what’s more surprising is how funny the story is at times. There are plenty of light moments with the Doctor and Jo. They’re so relaxed in each other’s company by now we almost take that for granted (if you’ll excuse the pun). But there are some genuine laugh-out load moments too, often at the expense of the Ogrons whose apparent stupidity bewilders even the Master in Episode Five:
MASTER
Well, that must be them. No other ship would be on a course for Earth at a time like this.
OGRON
We are on a course for Earth.
MASTER
Well naturally, because we’re chasing them!
The Ogrons seem to bring out the nasty streak in the Doctor too. He guns them down here almost as freely as he did in a most un-Doctorly manner back in Day of the Daleks.
Perhaps best of all though, is the Doctor’s bemused reaction to the Master’s new-found pacifism early in the same episode: “You feeling alright old chap?”
“Fear is the greatest enemy of them all, for fear leads us to war.”
The Doctor, Frontier in Space: Episode Five
In fact, it’s only when you watch the episodes back to back that you appreciate how much it’s often just the Future Prison Cell of the Week Show. Taken in single weekly isolation as each episode would have been originally, its repetitiveness might not have been so noticeable.
Besides they did throw in the distraction of discovering what 25th century nightwear looks like: the Doctor in his pyjamas in the lunar penal colony; Jo keeps those they give her back on Earth for the rest of the story! And it’s interesting (or depressing depending on your viewpoint) once again to note that Brutalist architecture continues to survive beyond the centuries.
The Draconians, too, deserve a mention as one of the best-realised alien designs in the show’s history.
Finally, whilst Roger Delgado’s untimely death denied us a final epic showdown with the Third Doctor, in a way it’s not un-Masterly for him simply to slink off after a scuffle with the Doctor. It’s hard to overstate how much Delgado as the Master has added to the show. Doctor Who, certainly the Third Doctor’s run, won’t be the same without him.
Anyhoo (obviously), to be continued next week …
"I was surprised that the Daleks were in this story …"
"… But I should have guessed they were involved because of the Ogrons in Episode One."
"This is the only time the Daleks and the Master appear in the same story in the whole of the classic series."
Son of UT Rating: 8/10
