Customer Reviews

Doctor Who - Frontier in Space [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

From the video cover of Frontier In Space, one can see the players involved--the Doctor, a Draconian, a Dalek, an Ogron, and the Master. But how and why?

The Cold War and the pre-World War I balance of power are the inspiration for Frontier In Space. The title is taken from a line spoken by the Draconian prince, where a treaty between the Earth and Draconian Empires established a frontier in space. Well, that frontier is about to erupt into full-scale war.

Jo and the Doctor materialize aboard a bulk freighter, which is subsequently attacked by Ogrons, the dumb-as-toast ape-men from Day Of The Daleks. However, the crew of the freighter see them as Draconians, a green reptilian humanoid race. Jo sees the crewmen as Drashigs (q.v. Carnival Of Monsters) so the Doctor deduces that someone is using "ultrasonics geared to stimulate the fear center of the brain." That is, the crewmen saw what they feared the most. Coupled with that is that along with the cargo, the Ogrons steal the TARDIS. The cargo, okay, but why the TARDIS?

Jo and the Doctor are falsely accused of being spies for the Draconians, while also accused of being spies of Earth military leader General Williams, a Draconiaphobe. This is reminiscent of the accusations levelled against the Rosenbergs in the 1950's. They tell the truth but expectedly, are not believed by the Earth President and Williams. The Doctor is sent to a lunar penal colony for political prisoners, while Jo is picked up by a certain suave-talking goateed bogus commissioner from Sirius IV, who claims she and the Doctor are master criminals.

I can see why Jon Pertwee found the Draconians as his favourite alien creatures, because of their realistic humanoid appearance and reptilian bubbles; their mouths move like a human. And the highly pronounced shoulders make their robes look like Japanese samurai as Script Editor Terrance Dicks pointed out. The traditional address of a Draconian noble: "My life at your command."

As in The Time Monster, the Doctor has a wonderful anecdote scene when he tells Jo of how the Medusoids captured him and had to let him go because they ran out of mind probes, which told them the Doctor was going to meet a giant rabbit, a pink elephant, and a purple horse with yellow stripes. It cheers her up while they are awaiting their fate in the cell on Earth.

Jo has chatty moments, when she is trying to escape from the freighter cell, and also when she tries to cover for the Doctor while he is making his escape from the cell of the Master's stolen ship. Strange, cells seem to play a huge role in this story.

The Master has his moments, as he reads The War Of The Worlds, and recites Tennyson: "My strength is as the strength of ten, because my heart is pure." This was also Roger Delgado's last Who appearance before his untimely death in 1973.

A successful political drama, Frontier In Space can either be seen as a stand-alone story of six episodes, or as the first half of a twelve-part Dalek story when in conjunction with the following story, Planet Of The Daleks. This is also akin to both The Daleks, split into two stories, and the epic twelve-parter The Dalek Master Plan.

This six part adventure is another constituent part in essentially a season that was one long Doctor Who story.

Frontier in Space postulates two great empires, one human, one Draconian on the brink of war with each other. The Doctor and Jo arrive in the middle of an attack by the Dragonians on an earth ship and become embroiled in the bitter struggle between the two.

All is not as it seems as the attacks are being perpetrated by Ogrons (last seen in the machine in Carnival of Monsters) which does not make sense to the Doctor. Somehow, Earthmen and Draconians see the attackers as being members of the race that they hate/fear the most and both refuse to believe that a third party is involved.

Eventually the Doctor discovers the mastermind behind the plot and ultimately the real power involved.

This story as many of the third Doctor stories is shot partly on location. The device of a season long plot laid the groundwork for a similar season under Colin Baker much later and has much to commend it. However, the story is somewhat drawn out and would benefit from better editing. All in all a good premise and a pretty good tale but the models do look a little pokey in today's world.

This is an episode of Doctor Who I would define as an epic. It possesses many great qualities that set it aside from many other Doctor Who stories. "Frontier" has many, many varieties of colorful sets, fantastic aliens, and of course the Master as played by Roger Delgado. The beauty of this particular tale lies in how the story is unfolded and how it is directed. The feel of the story makes you get the sensation of travelling from one side of the galaxy to the other constantly. The space scenes are questionable in realistic qualities, but they possess that certain Doctor Whoness that makes these scenes so enjoyable. The story also explores racial questions through the Earthmen and Draconian's hatred of each other. The Master also plays an excellent role in using this hatred to his advantage. A surprise enemy turns in the end of this episode. One of the best of the best!

"Frontier in Space" maybe a little long, but it looks and sounds great! Great costuming throughout. Nice special effects(except for the Doctor hanging in space), and the design is also well done. It almost feels like a Hartnell story, with each episode just about in a different location. The Ogrons are hilarious: "We fear the Monster!!" The Master getting fed up with their stupidity. Really, very enjoyable. The only problem is not with the cliffhanger, it's next story pales in comparrison with this. With "Carnival...", this has to be one of the highlights of this season.

This episode won't make much sense unless you've seen other episodes like "Day of the Daleks" as the episode features a couple of Who Monsters that aren't talked about much today, the Ogrons (very strong mercenary type of aliens).

"Frontier in Space" to me is more a political adventure story so those seeking outer space stories with a lot of action might be disappointed although the storyline does have a couple of memorable scenes here.

First when Jo and The Doctor arrive (more like crash land) on board an earth vessel a mysterious sound devices makes the pilot see them as Draconians. The Draconians are in conflict with Earth. We actually see that the Ogrons are involved in this deception but as The Doctor points out such advance technology seems above their intelligence. Later on in about episode three we see who is helping the Ogrons.

Episode one then is decent at establishing the conflict with Ogrons and earthlings. Like I said it's a political adventure oriented story because it shows how two races from two government can be easily motivated to start a war with each other based on lies (Iraq anybody, Vietnam?). Above that it has decent acting from everyone involved. You get the feeling that with more complex story the actors really understood the material so they didn't quite have to resort to usual Who formula at throwing monsters in our faces.

Anyways, I liked it, it's a tad different from a couple of the Who stories and has a couple of nice cliffhangers.

This is the last adventure featuring Roger Delgado as The Master before his death in a car accident in Turkey. He doesn't appear until episode 4. And knowing that he was involved, I found myself waiting for his eventual appearance and as a result the story seemed to drag until he turned up.
This was in part because I have always been disappointed with 6 episode stories. They usually seem to be 4 episode stories with two extra episodes tacked on at some point or another. This story could probably have been made with one less episode, especially since the Doctor and Jo spend most of the story being captured and escaping and then being re-incarcerated again.
While being a complete story in itself, Frontier in Space is actually part one of a two-story arc (the second part being the story "The Planet of the Daleks") and it feels it too, especially since the ending is a cliff-hanger which is resolved in Planet of the Daleks. So if you don't have Planet of the Daleks already, you should get it from Amazon to see how the cliff-hanger is resolved and how the events in Frontier lead into the next part of the saga.
I recommend this story. It is well written in spite of its length. It is suspenseful as it is not clear who is behind the events that the Doctor and Jo find themselves embroiled in, and this keeps the story going. Jo is pleasantly resorceful and less of a screamer than in others of her stories. The Master is his usual cunning self and his belated appearance in the second half of the story is used to good effect - thickening the plot and causing the viewer to wonder what is actually going on.
Frontier in Space would be an excellent addition to the video collection of any fan of the classic series of Doctor Who, but especially for those fans of the Pertwee era Doctor.

The first thing you realize when you watch Doctor Who is that its budget was often limited. In "Frontier In Space" this did not seem to be the case.

First of all there are two alien races which require elaborate costumes. When this happens, you usually see two or three aliens, as costumes of this nature are expensive and time-consuming to create. In this serial, the Draconians and Ogrons are well represented. I counted at least six or more of each on-screen at once in various parts of this serial.

Next, there are at least five different jail cells, each of which were well-designed and executed sets. On the cargo ship, on Earth, on the moon, in the Police Cruiser, and finally on the planet of the Ogrons.

Then there were several different ship sets, each unique.

There were space walks, space battles involving at least three or four different space ships, and all put together with a really good storyline.

I began my Doctor Who experience with "Robot", the first of Tom Baker's shows, and only knew Jon Pertwee from "The Five Doctors." I now realize how much I have missed. Epic stories, good writing, excellent sets and costumes, and good actors.

The costumes for the President of the Earth were very well executed and color coordinated. The teal blue number with matching hair ribbons was gorgeous.

And of course if you've seen the cover of the VHS release, the bonus villain in the last episode won't be too much of a surprise, but I'll leave that for you to guess.

The only problem I had with the entire serial was the rather abrupt ending leaving the resolution to happen off-camera and at a later time. But even that is refreshing. Why should the Doctor have to be the one who lays it all out and explains things? It's his job to fix things, not to tie up the loose ends.

I have made it my mission to find as many Jon Pertwee episodes as I can and watch them, because I believe I've missed a lot.

I also recommend "Colony In Space" if you like a well-paced episode that is well written and follows the themes of Doctor Who.

This is perhaps the most completely satisfactory Jon Pertwee outing I have seen, for a number of reasons. Excellent ensemble acting; Roger Delgado in cracking form as the Master, the Osama Bin Laden of the galaxy; Katy Manning at her plucky best as Jo; and Pertwee in the title role, acting as though his life depended on it.

Many "Who" serials suffered from an awkward transition from the first episode (generally atmospheric, with many unanswered questions) into subsequent episodes which degenerated into predictable exposition and chase scenes. "Frontier," on the other hand, is a quiet miracle of variety and pacing. The set-designers, invariably operating on a shoestring budget, are able to turn their financial constraints to dazzling advantage; this serial could not have been better made at twice the price.

As always, "Who" remains an intensely British show with ambivalent attitudes toward grand heroics. A brave and well-intentioned professor on a lunar penal colony, whom the Doctor befriends, proves to be doddery and ineffectual in the face of real danger. "Who" is a show that celebrates the "Blitz spirit," the British tradition of muddling through in the face of impossible odds and evils.

In closing, note the barely hinted touch of affection and protectiveness hanging in the air between The Doctor and Jo on the one hand, and their arch-enemy the Master on the other hand. In this curious but quintessentially British love/hate relationship, all parties involved shy away from resorting to the ultimate solution.

This is the first true "space opera" in sci-fi TV history. It's a grandiose, large scale adventure, with a dominating Cold War theme and some poignant remarks on politics and xenophobia. There are a few problems - it's exceedingly long and very slow, often moving at a snail's pace. The first few episodes have the Doctor and Jo captured, escaping and being recaptured ad nauseum. Much of the time is taken up by travelling in space and the action doesn't really pick up until the last episode (which then ends on a cliffhanger and leads in to the next story!). There's also some quite wooden acting, a monster made of garbage bags and, often with seventies Dr Who, ridiculous fashions. (The Doctor is interrogated under the mind probe by a woman who wears a slinky silver evening gown!) However, the story is more than made up for by its sheer quality. The Draconians are brilliant monsters/aliens, with genuine character (especially the Emperor); the spaceship models are excellent (apart from one unfortunate scene in which strings are visible). It's good to see the return of the Ogrons and Roger Delgado's last performance as the Master is a pleasure to watch. This is heavy going, with padding typical of many Pertwee 6 part stories. I would have given it three stars, but the sheer scale and greatness of the story elevates it to four.

This is my all-time favorite episode of Doctor #3. It stars the Master, Ogrons, the Draconians, and of course, the Daleks. (Shh, I didn't give that away!) In it, Jo and the Doctor are thrust into the future, to the beginning of Earth's Empire. Earth and Draconia are at the brink of war, all because of the Master & the Daleks. The Doctor and Jo must escape out of not one but two prisons, capture the Master, refind the Tardis, and stop the Earth and Draconia from starting an intergalactic war. Warning - it's a cliffhanger into "Planet of the Daleks" (the one with the invisible daleks) so cliffhanger-haters beware! It's a two tape episode, in full color, and one of the greatest!