Frontier In Space: Doctor Who: Season 10

Goldby

Grob

Boland

The Doctor must convince the Draconian Emperor that the Master is behind the attempt to start a war between the two superpowers and get them to combine forces against the real enemy the Master is working for - the Daleks!

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Frontier In Space DETAILS:

Rick Lester, Michael Kilgarriff, Stephen Thorne — Ogrons
Michael Wisher — Dalek Voice
John Scott Martin, Murphy Grunbar,Cy Town — Daleks

Production Staff for Serial QQQ:
Writer - Malcolm Hulke
Director - Paul Bernard
Script editor - Terrance Dicks
Producer - Barry Letts

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Frontier In Space REVIEWS



Goldby

Remember seeing Frontier In Space as a kid and really liking it, the first story I saw with the original Master. Thing is the memory definitely cheats on this one.

Space Opera is all well and good but it's really just plain boring...maybe it's because it has the word 'Space' in the title. Anyway all the points you make are good ones Grob, after the MH drinking game it would be hard to be revived by the finest doctors or paramedics in the world. First a little trivia behind Frontier In Space: did you know that this story and Planet Of The Daleks were meant as a 70's answer & 12 part tribute to the Daleks' Masterplan for the show's 10th anniversary?

So Frontier in Space...

Good Points:

The Ogrons - no longer dalek stooges, they come into their own as Stooges for the Master.The Draconians - a well realised and believable alien race with a well thought out background - pity the story drags for them too.The Master - give him a break it's Delgado's last story before his tragic accident and he does darn good too, plus his most ambitious scheme yet, setting two empires at war so the Daleks can take over and this time it's just an accident that the Doctor shows up to get involved. Also he's only in the last four partsThe Daleks - The surprise appearance of the daleks in part six. It's the ONLY time we ever see the Master meeting the daleks on screen.

Bad Points:

Its six parts long or it's six parts, Long.Slow moving space OperaUnconvincing space model work and lots of it.Too many space walks with people suspended on visible wiresReally bad costumes for the Earth People - especially the soldiers.Really stupid people in earth government who instantly believe the Doctor & Jo are traitors and refuse to believe otherwise.Too many incidental characters who remain one dimensional, the exception being General Williams who is just plain boring.Too much capture, escape re-capture.The really bad worm prop on the Ogron planet, which is by the way, our favourite quarry!Pertwee's hair is way out of control!!!!The Master uses another unconvincing disguise

Actually if you just watch part six by itself it's really good! Got the Pertwee years for a birthday long ago and thought it was the best. The Daleks unexpected appearance, the Master slagging them off. Jo Grant resisting the Master's fear box where we get cameo's of a sea devil, drashig & mutt. A shoot out between the ogrons, draconians and earth guys and the Doctor finally being shot down by the Master who meant to kill him this time. So zero for parts 1 to 5 & 5/10 for part 6.



Grob

This is a bit difficult cos the good ol' ABC didn't show frontier in space - or the next story cos of the daleks and the cost of showing them on television. Which is just bloody stupid in itself; Terry Nation invents the daleks for a TV show then cracks the shits unless someone pays him money for the privilege of screening them to a public that use a free-to-air service. God Terry Nation is a twat, but we'll get onto him tomorrow. Right now we should be slagging off Malcolm Hulke who has come up with another dull story to match "Colony in Space." Yes; its "Frontier in Space!" The best way to get through this story is by using the Malcolm Hulke Drinking Game:

Grab your favourite beer/wine/spirits and get ready to take a mouthful when any one of these typical Hulke scenes come into play:

Whenever there is a prison scene to pad out an already padded story - 3 drinksWhenever you see an interplanetary leader with a hot-headed second-in-command - 2 drinksWhenever you see some dodgy model spaceships - 1 drinkDoctor and Jo captured - 1 drinkDoctor and Jo escape - 1 drinkJo mentions her "escapology" course - 1 drinkAny supporting actor who looks like someone from Mordi Theatre - 2 drinksOgron with lopsided head - 2 pointsThe Master hypnotising someone - 1 drinkGween aliens - two drinksThe Doctor says "Not now, Jo." - 2 drinksThe Master comes up with an extremely convoluted plan that goes tits-up - 1 drinkStephen Thorne! - 1 drink

Well, that should have everyone pissed by the end of episode one! But not me cos I reckon Frontier in Space is carp and I'm not watching it!2/10 (cos it spawned a really cool drinking game!)



Boland

(Boland filling in here!)FRONTIER IN SPACE Well. The 12 part epic Dalek War starts off with this six part epic in it’s own right. It’s rather disappointing in it’s own way, dull but then that’s Malcolm Hulke for you. It’s set on three planets, three space ships and the moon, and yet the six episodes seem to drag. Then the last five minutes of part six are rushed and leave you with a whole lot of questions that Planet of the Daleks doesn’t answer. There are many strengths though. Two in particular. Firstly the Draconians. Lovely idea, good design, well characterized. Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning really gel well together here, they are at their strongest as a team. Roger Delgado’s final performance also a highlight, the acting all round is very good.

The scale across a galaxy was ambitious, and in the end I think it showed that the budget just couldn’t stretch that far. The Earth exteriors are rather plain. But I guess they fit with interiors, and the major issue is the shift from film to video and back. Then the plot. This is the real issue, because it really is six episodes of capture-escape-recapture. Malcolm, is this all you could think of? They land on Draconia and stay for ten minutes. Couldn’t we learn more about their world? Oh no, could only afford one set for Draconia.

The pacing is all wrong. I feel Frontier In Space was an opportunity with great ideas and concepts not worked through well enough by the writer, who none-the-less expected too much from the budget. But it has it’s moments if you can get past near whole episodes spent on a prison ship and can be convinced that future Earth is practically run by two people. So Frontier In Space gets a...

6.2/10

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