When your subject is the Second Doctor, it becomes
near impossible to craft a mere 'top five' of his travels throughout
time & space. But that is what we must bring ourselves to at
least have a bash at here.
From his first full appearance in ThePower Of The Daleks to his swansong in The War Games, the three year stretch from 1966-69 in the company of Patrick Troughton's delightful cosmic Chaplinesque type (the exact description Sydney Newman gave when the decision was taken on high to give William Hartnell's First Doctor a 'renewal') is rightly fondly remembered by many as a high water mark of Who.
From his first full appearance in ThePower Of The Daleks to his swansong in The War Games, the three year stretch from 1966-69 in the company of Patrick Troughton's delightful cosmic Chaplinesque type (the exact description Sydney Newman gave when the decision was taken on high to give William Hartnell's First Doctor a 'renewal') is rightly fondly remembered by many as a high water mark of Who.
It's in this
spirit which we can begin to approach the tricky business of putting
good old Patty T's absolute bests into some sort of order. So when I
say run, run! Recorders, stovepipe hats and/or Tam O'Shanters at the
ready (as thinking caps) then, chaps & chap-esses...
It seems only fair to include the story in which the Second Doctor gains his best friend (& indeed the longest-serving male companion in the history of the series), The Highlanders. Having only recently regenerated, our new recorder-playing pal decides he'd quite like to have a go at the bagpipes after saving Jamie McCrimmon & a band of his Jacobite buddies from a life of slavery in the West Indies.
As well as appearing first on this list, The Highlanders is also a notable 'last'- at least until Black Orchid anyway - as the 'pure historical' format takes one final anticipated bow.
Why does it make this list? Well, the sight of the Doctor in drag as an elderly washerwoman has to be one of the best comedy moments in all of Who. Not only that but he cements his status as champion of seemingly doomed causes in helping the Scots - ultimately they'll be massively outfought by the Redcoats of the British Army, but at least a band of them will escape to France to join Bonnie Prince Charlie in exile in France. Which is something, especially for those with an interest in Stuart politics/intrigue. And the Doctor gets two souvenirs from his visit. A lovely alternative piece of headgear & a new companion who'll stay with him for the rest of his days. Great stuff!
4. The Mind Robber
Surrealist Who at its wonderful best right here in the form of The Mind Robber. Having been drawn into the Land of Fiction, a place outside of normal space/time where (as the name should imply) fiction is reality, the Doctor, Jamie & Zoe must escape the attentions of the Master of the Land & indeed his boss, a rather nasty computer going by the title of the Master Brain, before Two can be allowed to take over as the new Master.
Surrealist Who at its wonderful best right here in the form of The Mind Robber. Having been drawn into the Land of Fiction, a place outside of normal space/time where (as the name should imply) fiction is reality, the Doctor, Jamie & Zoe must escape the attentions of the Master of the Land & indeed his boss, a rather nasty computer going by the title of the Master Brain, before Two can be allowed to take over as the new Master.
Cameos
from literary figures including Lemuel Gulliver (later revealed in the novel
Future Imperfect to
have been a young Goth, working for the Celestial Intervention Agency
before rising to the rank of Chancellor on Gallifrey) and Princess Rapunzel herself
should give you some indication of the kind of thing we're in for
here. It's is perhaps proof of the possible high quality of herbal cigarette being passed around BBC staffers at the time.
In
short, The Mind Robber is sort of children's storybook answer to Luis Bunuel &
Salvador Dali's Un Chien Andalou -
mercifully without the famous 'eyeball slicing', although Jamie's face gets
rearranged, and not in the way he might have been used to back in
Scotland, of course.
This serial might just leave you
with an appreciation of just how trippy the whole 60's era was, without
the aid of a bong to boot.
3. The Abominable Snowmen/The Web Of Fear
If such a low-down trick is allowed, I'm going to group both of the Doctor's initial meetings with the Great Intelligence together here. Arguably the greatest of the Great Old Ones (a Lovecraftian link, grouping some of the Doctor's Ctulhu-esque foes together with H.P. Lovecraft's best-known creation - read up in entertaining fashion with The Nameless City), the being originally known as Yog-Sothoth first tried to get his mitts on the Doctor's mind in the Himalayas, with a little help from some robotic Yeti. Aka The Abominable Snowmen.
It
& they then tried to nab him in the tunnels of the London
Underground during The Web Of Fear (the plan hatched with a little accidental help from the
Eleventh Doctor - see The Snowmen).
In a timely discovery and a very welcome return, after being missing for the best part of 45 years, The Web Of Fear
was found in Nigeria & subsequently issued on DVD by the
BBC to coincide with the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who. On viewing, it proved every bit as good as rumoured, and deserving of a spot in the top 5 Second Doctor stories.
2. The Tomb Of The Cybermen
A dear personal favourite (as are the others on the list, prime cuts from the Troughtonian Period all), surely every successor to this Cyber-countdown winner owes something to The Tomb Of The Cybermen?. But just why do writers & fans alike love it so? Let us count the ways...first & certainly not least, in places its ruddy terrifying! Mostly thanks to these chaps in their lovely Sixties design finery. Note also the almost balletic quality of their emergence from the tombs on Telos...
But we also get to see the Second's 'kindly uncle' side (witness this pearler of a speech to Victoria Waterfield). In his wisdom the Doctor also knows when to use his cunning, though. Kindly & even a bit daft externally, mentally he was as sly as a fox which held down a position as Professor of Cunning at Oxford. He uses this gift to thwart the pesky Cybermen by electrifying the doors of their precious tombs - just one of the many chances he gets to show it off. It's particularly satisfyingly used in The Power/Evil Of The Daleks & The Ice Warriors as well, You see now just why compiling a Premier League of Pat is so damned hard!
A dear personal favourite (as are the others on the list, prime cuts from the Troughtonian Period all), surely every successor to this Cyber-countdown winner owes something to The Tomb Of The Cybermen?. But just why do writers & fans alike love it so? Let us count the ways...first & certainly not least, in places its ruddy terrifying! Mostly thanks to these chaps in their lovely Sixties design finery. Note also the almost balletic quality of their emergence from the tombs on Telos...
But we also get to see the Second's 'kindly uncle' side (witness this pearler of a speech to Victoria Waterfield). In his wisdom the Doctor also knows when to use his cunning, though. Kindly & even a bit daft externally, mentally he was as sly as a fox which held down a position as Professor of Cunning at Oxford. He uses this gift to thwart the pesky Cybermen by electrifying the doors of their precious tombs - just one of the many chances he gets to show it off. It's particularly satisfyingly used in The Power/Evil Of The Daleks & The Ice Warriors as well, You see now just why compiling a Premier League of Pat is so damned hard!
1. The War Games
One of the golden rules of Who is simple. When the time comes for you to hand over the keys of the TARDIS to its new occupant, make your last ride pretty memorable. It's on that basis that The War Games earns its crown & a throne at the centre of our Patty T palace.
Initially thinking they've landed smack bang in the middle of the First World War, the Second Doctor, Jamie & Zoe quickly deduce that they actually find themselves drawn into the battle plans of the War Lords. They've been taking soldiers from all of Earth history's big conflicts and conditioning them to fight in War Zones modelled on their native times, with the survivors from each Zone being banded together as a sort of super-army under the auspices of the War Lord & War Chief (who's a fellow Time Lord, formerly known as Magnus). And they must be stopped at all costs, which creates something of a dilemma for the Doctor. A very large one, come to that. It just might be the end, prepared for in rather dramatic fashion, to coin a phrase.
One of the golden rules of Who is simple. When the time comes for you to hand over the keys of the TARDIS to its new occupant, make your last ride pretty memorable. It's on that basis that The War Games earns its crown & a throne at the centre of our Patty T palace.
Initially thinking they've landed smack bang in the middle of the First World War, the Second Doctor, Jamie & Zoe quickly deduce that they actually find themselves drawn into the battle plans of the War Lords. They've been taking soldiers from all of Earth history's big conflicts and conditioning them to fight in War Zones modelled on their native times, with the survivors from each Zone being banded together as a sort of super-army under the auspices of the War Lord & War Chief (who's a fellow Time Lord, formerly known as Magnus). And they must be stopped at all costs, which creates something of a dilemma for the Doctor. A very large one, come to that. It just might be the end, prepared for in rather dramatic fashion, to coin a phrase.
Having
fled Gallifrey years ago
it quickly becomes apparent that he might have to do the unthinkable
& call in a little help from home. Which he does using a handy
little cube that those who enjoyed The Doctor's Wife
may well recognise...
Assistance does indeed arrive, but the Second Doctor is forced to stand trial for his repeated breaches of the official non-intervention policy in temporal matters and is sentenced to enforced regeneration, making for one of, if not the, best final act of any Doctor before or since, and placing The War Games in pole position in this Pat countdown.
What are your favourite Patrick Troughton Doctor Who stories? Let us know in the comments below.
Assistance does indeed arrive, but the Second Doctor is forced to stand trial for his repeated breaches of the official non-intervention policy in temporal matters and is sentenced to enforced regeneration, making for one of, if not the, best final act of any Doctor before or since, and placing The War Games in pole position in this Pat countdown.
What are your favourite Patrick Troughton Doctor Who stories? Let us know in the comments below.
