Sunday 12th April 2015
Here we are in April, and it was meet-up time around MJ's again!
Yes I'd not held one for a while and, much like when we met around mine for "The Web Planet", it was a lovely sunny day outside! Also like "The Web Planet" this was a six part story. However UNLIKE that story only 2 episodes of this story exist!
So re-con city it was. Thankfully the first episode exists - which is helpful as it gives you an anchor to the rest of the story and some of the characters that are in it. We started Episode 1 with the TARDIS landing in modern day (well - modern in the 60's) Gatwick Airport! Right in the middle of the runway. As the gang leave the TARDIS they immediately get spotted by Airport Police who shout at them making our gang scatter in different directions!
Polly ends up hiding in the Chameleon Tours (apt name as we shall see...) agency hangar, where she sees a guy dressed in air pilot clothes (Spencer) kill another man and report to his superior, Captain Blade. Polly runs out and back to the Doctor and Jamie and tells them what she saw! They all go back to the hangar and examine the body - the Doctor noting that the victim was electrocuted by a weapon that can't possibly exist on Earth at that time!
They leave to find someone in charge but Blade captures Polly without the Doctor or Jamie noticing! He hides her along with the corpse before Jamie and the Doctor return with skeptical airport authorities! Here we are introduced to a great chap in charge, simply known as the Commandant. Not only that but he also has a great moustache! He doesn't seem to care for the Doctor - and, as none of them have passports, he assumes that they are stowaways. It doesn't help when he's told of a dead body (that isn't there anymore) and scorch-marks (by a ray-gun)!
Luckily for them all they soon deal with was a Detective Inspector Crossland - a moustached (yes another one!), pipe-smoking chap who has been investigating people disappearing after they have boarded planes at Gatwick airport. He believes the Doctor is more than a stowaway and between them both they persuade the Commandant to give the Doctor time to investigate - so The Doctor is given 24 hours to investigate the airport and find out where the people are disappearing too.
Handily they do come across Polly again - at a check-in desk - but she claims not to know the Doctor or Jamie and that she works for Chameleon Tours. Very strange! A hypnotised Polly! During all this we are introduced to another lady, Samantha, a Scouse gal who's trying to find her brother who, yup, went on a Chameleon Tours flight to Rome and never returned! During the course of the story she and Jamie end up together investigating a bit. They have a nice chemistry and she's quite feisty and fun. I believe the actress (Pauline Collins - who would appear as Queen Victoria in a 2006 episode of new Who) was so liked that she was asked to be a full time companion. She refused and had a much bigger career (in fact she was well known for appearing as the title character in the film Shirley Valentine).
A shame, but it might have been a bit grating having a Scouse accent every week!
Photo 1: Leigh, Jason (with the Lost In Time DVD cover), Shaun (holding the sign),
Mark (with eyes open!) and MJ (holding the DVD cover) around MJ's house!
Mark (with eyes open!) and MJ (holding the DVD cover) around MJ's house!
This is a fantastic story! The main premise is that Chameleon Tours is a cover up for aliens - they've come to Earth and have no faces - so THESE are the Faceless Ones. They take would-be passengers on their planes, get them to write postcards to send home (on the plane), then take them up to an alien spaceship that's orbiting the Earth. Up there they create bodies - using humans as templates - apparently a giant explosion on the Chameleons' home planet resulted in the loss of their faces and their identities. So to save their race from dying out, their scientists developed a process that would allow them to assume the identities of other beings! The Doctor stops them of course, but is kind enough to help them find other ways to carry on existing. So in the end all is lovely!
Photo 2: Leigh, Jason (with the Lost In Time DVD cover), Shaun (holding the sign),
Mark (with eyes open!) and MJ (holding the DVD cover) around MJ's house!
I enjoyed the story, there was enough intrigue to keep us getting through 4 recons, the actors who played the "Human-Chameleons" were fantastically menacing - but all whilst being slow and measured. There were also some cracking performances from the airport staff and all the extra characters. Yes a fun tale!
Mark (with eyes open!) and MJ (holding the DVD cover) around MJ's house!
However at the end we lose Ben and Polly - they were really side-lined in this tale and I can see why! Behind the scenes the producers had decided to get rid of the character of Ben and keep Polly. However Anneke Wills (Polly) felt loyal to Michael Crayze (Ben) and decided to leave with him. So we have a rather rushed, but sweet goodbye scene at the end. It sort of made sense, they had landed back in Polly and Ben's correct time, so it made sense for them to get off and get on with their own lives. Still as I say it did feel a little rushed and I felt the pair deserved a much better role in their final tale. Samantha was more of a companion than them both in this tale!
Anyway after their goodbyes the Doctor and Jamie go off to find the TARDIS which has disappeared! Ooo, what can that mean?....
Anyway after their goodbyes the Doctor and Jamie go off to find the TARDIS which has disappeared! Ooo, what can that mean?....
I enjoyed the story, there was enough intrigue to keep us getting through 4 recons, the actors who played the "Human-Chameleons" were fantastically menacing - but all whilst being slow and measured. There were also some cracking performances from the airport staff and all the extra characters. Yes a fun tale!
Anyhow that's it for now - next time we have some Daleks to be evil with!
Until then, I shall return, yes I shall return!
MJ - 13-04-15
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