The Wheel in Space [TV/1968.4.27 ~ 6.1]

★★☆☆☆

  The Wheel in Space is what people unfamiliar with 1960s Dr. Who think it is in its entirety; slow, uneventful and sometimes even shoddy. If I had to pick one Patrick Troughton era serial to call boring, this would be the one. When even Troughton himself seems perplexed at how the usually masterful David Whitaker could have come up with such a half-arsed script, there really is no feasible way of enjoying it. No feasible way... except one: Zoe Heriot. Wendy Padbury takes one look at the dire production, shouts "This wouldn't do at all!" and breathes so much life in whatever scene she's in. She's the beating heart of the serial, someone who emotes and acts so affably and endearingly cleverly; whenever you feel nothing for the rest of the crew of the space station, you care for her and her safety (although the story never actually puts her in danger). She's given an actual reason for wanting to join the Doctor and Jamie onboard the TARDIS as well: she's disaffected, let down by her own seeming uselessness in the face of anything that doesn't follow hard logic. It's a sign of great character growth to come, at the very least, and Padbury owns this role -- I mean really own -- and I'm impressed every time. 

  Sadly, she's the only beacon of light amongst this slog of nothingness. Not even the usually dependable Troughton and Frazer Hines can bring up any real interest, and the serial itself moves in such a snail's pace without any fun moments to latch onto. The Cybermen have one of their most embarrassing TV moments ever, in that they take six episodes to even present themselves as a serious threat to a group of humans... and then promptly make way for the closing scenes as they get defeated with one fell swoop. There's an attempt to create tension, an atmosphere of peril, but it's on the same level as The Moonbase but extended to accomodate for two more episodes; unsurprisingly, a lot of attention-grabbing moments become few and far between a lot of boring filler. At least Moonbase was compact. For the record, I don't think The Wheel in Space is horrible... but that's all down to the existence of Zoe. It's a slog otherwise, a piece of work that does not feel like any love and care was put into it.