The Chase [TV/1965.5.22 ~ 6.26]

(artwork by Caroline Tankersley)

★★★★☆

  I've seen people deride The Chase for being overly comical, for making poor use of the Daleks, for being "pathetic"... and to them, I wish a very clear "bah humbug!" to all of them for the festive season. This is a hilarious serial from start to finish, never taking itself too seriously and nonetheless managing to give us an emotionally sound goodbye to Ian and Barbara (two of the major cornerstones of Doctor Who as we know it). It takes the approach The Keys of Marinus had, but unlike that example, it doesn't have a drastically conspicuous dud among them (well, I suppose the Aridius segment of episodes 1 and 2 are the weakest of the bunch, but at least they still have the hugely entertaining Time-Space Visualiser sequence); every setting is bursting with ideas, willing to have fun with the formula for once and let down their proverbial hair. 

  Am I blind to the fact that the Daleks are treated as little more than incompetent playground bullies here? No, I am not, and I'd be the first to point out that this is hardly the Daleks' finest hour. For the Doctor, Barbara, Ian and Vicki, however, these are six episodes of them on top form. It's a testament to just how strong they were as a team, showing such close-knit friendship even when split off and being quick on their feet to help one another. They're perfectly balanced, and it's such as shame to see Jacqueline Hill and William Russell leave the programme; you can see in episode 6 that they are genuinely sad at the prospect, and that William Hartnell is having a hard time as well. But hey, all is not lost! We gain another fantastic companion in the form of Peter Purves' Steven Taylor (with Purves playing another incidental character, an Alabaman on the top of the Empire State Building), him and his silly cute teddy bear. 

  So what do you get when you add six episodes of pure playground fun (almost juvenile to an extent), some deadly Daleks stalking the TARDIS through time and space, an intergalactic television set capable of showing us the Gettysburg Address, Shakespeare's night of inspiration for Hamlet, an imposter of the Doctor and a junked Beatles segment from Top of the Pops, and a bunch of random locations through the universe (including a Universal monsters amusement park set)? Why, you get The Chase, of course... and I wouldn't have it any other way. 'Silly' doesn't even cover it; you simply must watch it. It's a ray of bottled sunshine that never lets go of its ridiculous streak -- and it's simply marvellous to watch. All I'm saying about them Daleks is that if Terry Nation wanted them to be poetic in their words and also to be utterly useless dolts, he must've had a good reason!