The Faceless Ones [TV/1967.4.8 ~ 5.13]

(artwork by David Burgess)

★★★★☆

  Textbook science fiction done right; the suspense is palpable as episode after episode reveals just a tiny bit more, a bit more and more and more besides until the final piece of the puzzle gives us a vivid and memorable full picture. The Faceless Ones is just as strong as it was in 1967, a well-paced six-parter that never gets too loose and never rushes either. I really must commend the pacing of it all (something I rarely do with classic serials that go over four episodes), and the way in which the direction and the right amount of runtime allow the disquieting atmosphere of an airport infiltrated by aliens to seep over the viewers. It says a lot about a serial when you're actively rooted to the spot and laser-focused on a six-part story with four of its episodes missing and reconstructed. That being said, Loose Cannon's recons of The Faceless Ones are pretty great -- there's an entirely CGI bit with the airplane and the Chameleon satellite that fits so well with the art direction and atmosphere of the 1960s.

  One nitpick? It has to be the fact that Polly and Ben are sidelined much too conspicuously for my liking, despite the fact that this is their swansong. It's a bit ridiculous when both characters are only in it for half the serial, and at the beginning and the tail end as well! Still, it's a better kiss goodbye than Dodo's from The War Machines, and at least they get to say their proper farewells to the Doctor. The emptiness these two important characters leave is properly felt in the next serial, but the expressions on Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines' faces, as well as the tone on their voices, are enough to tell the viewers how much they meant to them. Again, it's a shame their last impression on the show was a rather thankless one.

  Seriously, though, how great is The Faceless Ones overall? It's exactly the kind of serial that rewards the patient viewer; fear not the six parts, for those six parts fly by in an instant. You'll find yourself hooked on the central premise (and again, what a meaty setting an ominous airport is!), wowed by the plot developments and thoroughly entertained by another golden performance by Patrick Troughton. The Second Doctor here is very much his Season 4 persona: more cunning than jovial, but a stark difference to his predecessor nonetheless.