Doctor Who: The Chase

I have never seen outside of stills any of the original Doctor Who series. So it was something of a treat that "The Chase" has come out on DVD. Much has been made in fandom about which Doctor is the Doctor you'd call for your own housecall. Let me just say that for me, it is not William Hartnell. He's perfectly good as the Doctor mind you, but if I need a crotchity person calling himself a Doctor I'll vote for "Bones" McCoy thank you very much. For the record it will always be Tom Baker for me, long may his scarf flutter.

With that out of the way, the story is an exciting one. The Doctor is being chased through time and space by the Daleks who finally figured out how to make their own time machine. The chase lands them on both alien planets and New York (Wonderfully funny attempts of Brits to do a Texan and a New York accent), and the Marie Celeste. For the most part the plot and acting are very good for children tv at that time. A view from later on from an older viewer might have wanted a bit more twists in a chase between two time machines. To me it would be a lot more like an aerial dogfight.. "Oh he's going to triassic, ah no he faked us out to the post apocalypse..."

Of course one can't watch this without looking at the production values which are both incredible given the time and cheesy given now. The Daleks for the most part look great, but their time machine is wonderfully laughable. I love the prints with the spinning wheels on the walls. I didn't know daleks were into pop art. As for some of the other races, they are good enough even if their leotards are a little ill fitting.

Over all a wonderful show, that would still engage a child's imagination to this day. Also, it is one of those story arcs that have a very satisfying end for some of the Doctor's friends. If you like Doctor Who watch it for sure.