Rate and Discuss: The Faceless Ones

[SiHart]

After a short hiatus, we're back!



Gatwick airport 1966... teenagers are disappearing, staff are behaving strangely and a Police Box has landed on the runway... does any of this have anything to with the strange goings on in the hanger belonging to Chameleon Tours?

What do you think of The Faceless Ones?

[Si Hunt]

A wonderful story; tense and suspenseful, like an episode of The Avengers, some glorious location work, great monsters, good model work, some fine supporting acting and a world class hat.

Si.

[Rob McCow]

I strongly suspect that this is a bit of a classic adventure. I agree it feels more like an episode of The Avengers or an ITC serial than most other Doctor Who from the 60's. It's incredible how far the show had come on from the creekiness of the earlier stories. We're only two years on from The Web Planet, yet there appears to be plenty of location filming, decent-sized sets and a much pacier production style. We've got out of weirdness in the studio and into a breezy airport-based thriller.

And it's farewell to Ben and Polly too! Dumped, I think is the appropriate word. The focus of the story for the sole surviving episode is on Sam Briggs, Jamie and The Controller.

Can this story really be as well-made as I think it is? I hope so. I'd love to find out some day!

[Stuart Wallis]

Part of me wouldn't like to find out - and yet, the plane becoming a rocket... From what we have, it certainly shows promise, story and production.

7/10

[Andrew Curnow]

I'd really like to see the rest of this one turn up - there's still a little bit of 'novelty value' to seeing the second Doctor in a 'contemporary' setting, and the two episodes we've got are a real joy, not least for Colin Gordon's superb guest turn. A bit of an overlooked gem in some ways, certainly doesn't tend to be mentioned in the same excited way as Macra or Evil, but I like it!!

[Anthony Williams]

When we watched this one back in October/November last year, we had one major problem with it - the pacing felt all wrong. It felt stretched out and padded. This would've made a magnificent four-parter, with two episodes of padding cut out. It was no surprise to me to learn that it was originally scripted as a four-parter!

That's not to say that there aren't some fantastic ideas here. Let's start with the Chameleons. The entire concept of these aliens is fantastic. They're completely devoted to their cause, and see humans as little more than cattle. They also have individual personalities, with each one having its own character. The idea that these are creatures that can steal your physical identity is quite terrifying - and particularly terrifying in the 21st Century, where virtual identity theft is not unusual.

I absolutely agree with SteveRob in that this is ambitious, and shows just how far the show has come since its earliest days. The setting is just fantastic, and it's great to see the Doctor and Jamie on the run from the authorities in this relatively small setting. Seems awfully familiar!

If there's one bugbear that I have with this is that it doesn't really provide a suitable departure for Ben and Polly, who are virtually sidelined after episode 2. Like Dodo before them, their departure is unceremonious, and abrupt. It's a shame, as unlike Dodo, they really deserved a greater sending off.

While it's a shame that any stories are missing, this isn't one that I'm clamouring to have back. I'd much rather have all four episodes of The Macra Terror than four episodes of this. As I said, this isn't BAD, but it feels long and drawn out to me. It gets a lowly 6/10 from me.

[Stephen Morgan]

Yet again I have no clear memory of watching this on original broadcast, but whenever I watch the two existing episodes there's always a nagging familiarity about it, that dim vagueness of a long lost memory.
I see this is rated highly amongst my fellow Skarosians, that may be because of the season's increasing production values and the cast and crew becoming more comfortable with their roles, Troughton really getting his teeth into his Doctor showing what an accomplished actor he is. His Doctor has a great rapport with Jamie, but it's such a shame that this is Ben and Polly's last story, their final exit being one of the low points in an otherwise excellent production which really does remind me of its ITC contemporaries on "the other side". It helps that this story is set in a modern and familiar setting rather than (wholly) in space or in the past or the future, that sense of mystery and scenes set in airport hangars seemed the norm in series like The Saint, The Baron and Man In A Suitcase to name but three from 1967 alone.
It's a good story, maybe not quite a classic, maybe it plods a little, there's certainly some padding that could have been cut, but it's a story I'd like to see in full, again it's such a shame that the bulk of it is missing.

[SiHart]

Good story this one, plenty of atmosphere and it feels really fresh and new- maybe because it's only the second present day earth invasion story? Anyway, the airport setting is novel and I love the way they make it seem like an alien place by showing how bewildered Jamie is by it all.

While it's sad to see Ben and Polly so casually tossed away, their last scene is rather lovely and touching. But it does give Jamie the chance to come to the fore and become the companion we know and love. Frazer is fabulous all the way through this one- really rising to top flight companion status by getting a companion of his own, being brave and resourceful and fun.

Everyone in this gives it their all. It's a very good cast all in all and they make the characters distinctive and memorable- from Bernard Kay as Crossland/ the Director, through the marvellous Colin Gordon as the harassed commandant, through to the very manacing Cpt Blade played marvellously by Donald Pickering. Pauline Collins makes Samantha Briggs her own and it's something of a shame she didn't go on to be the companion- she'd have been brill. And shrill!

[J.R. Southall]

'Fraid to say, I'm in something of a disagreement about this one. It's lovely, and what exists of it makes for a very pleasant watch, and the recon I saw of it some while ago was absolutely fascinating. And yet, there's something about this story that just doesn't quite click with me. Impossible to say why not. Plenty of Frazer and Pat definitely means it won't be getting a "low" score though; I really want to say 7-and-a-half, but I shall have to stick with 7.