The Macra Terror [TV/1967.3.11 ~ 4.1]

★★★★☆

  It's all about the atmosphere. That sense of dread, hidden under the veneer of happiness and productivity. The creeping horror beneath a claustrophobic surface of workers who are only too happy to carry on with their work, officials who are only too happy to keep visitors satisfied and sedated... The Macra Terror uses all these to great effect, and it becomes significantly more than just your average humans-under-alien-control narrative. It becomes a masterfully directed slice of horror, providing not just visual scares but conceptual nightmare fuel that haunts your dreams as you go to sleep. A colony of brainwashing, manipulation of the truth and blind servitude towards an unmoving face on a screen devoid of any emotion — how did kids of 1967 go to sleep at night after watching this?

  So many factors are in play here that make this serial that special kick. Michael Craze is given a meatier role this time around, playing the brainwashed backstabber and loyal member of the colony, and his villainous turn is almost as chilling as Patrick Troughton's in The Enemy of the World is; it serves as a good reminder that these are professional, talented actors. Speaking of actors, what I said before about atmosphere extends to the guest cast as well; there's an extra edge of harshness, danger and unseen injustice in every action the officials take, and it makes the Macras' threat even more formidable.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ  

  The Macra Terror is on the top section of my list of classic serials I wish to see in its entirety one day. The BBC junking policy really is a pain in the backside sometimes; it's clear through the telesnaps and surviving clips that John Davies brought something speical to the direction, and I wish I get to see the original transmitted version one day. It's a shame that the Macras have barely been used in the entire Doctor Who mythos... they have so much potential with their manipulative powers and their need for toxic gas.