Who Review: The Enemy of the World

The TARDIS takes the Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria to a beach in Australia in the year 2018. It seems the perfect location for some R&R, but just as the Doctor’s getting his feet wet in the ocean, the travellers find themselves under fire. They are rescued by Astrid, a member of a small resistance group attempting to undermine one of the most powerful men on the planet. They believe this man, Salamander, is using his influence to destroy political opponents and suppress damaging information, all the while presenting himself as the world’s savior. Salamander grows crops to feed the world’s hungry, and is able to warn about impending natural disasters, saving thousands of lives. Astrid and her colleagues plea for the Doctor to help their cause. The Doctor wants hard evidence, and Astrid knows just the way to get it, exploiting the fact that the Doctor bears an uncanny resemblance to Salamander. But will the Doctor and his friends risk their lives on the chance Astrid is right and Salamander’s up to no good?

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen this serial. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

This six-part Second Doctor story, originally broadcast in 1968, disappeared from the BBC archives in the 1970s (along with a number of other Second Doctor stories), and remained lost (apart from episode 3) until 2013, when it was recovered from a television relay station in Nigeria. Fans who had before relied upon the novelization, the existing audio track, and pictures to reconstruct the missing five episodes could now see it all as broadcast.

“The Enemy of the World” is an unusual Who story in that there really isn’t much sci-fi to it. In fact, it’s more like a James Bond movie with undercover operations, and a seemingly benevolent, but actually horribly malevolent, bad guy. If you like your Who with space gagetry and monsters, then this is not for you. But if you want something a bit different, with neat plot twists (the reveal in episode 5 is particularly cool, I think) then you’ll enjoy this one. Also, the fact it’s set in what it to us now (i.e., in 2016) the very near future makes it all the more interesting!

The real joy of this story is the fact that Patrick Troughton gets to play both the Doctor and the villain, Salamander. And he plays them both well. Doctor number two is already my favorite, but Troughton’s oily, scheming baddie shows off his acting range marvelously. His Salamander has the politician’s smile and even temper, while at the same time projecting menace to those who cross him. He makes it easy to see how people might trust the public Salamander, and how those who know his true intent could hate him.

The story was written by David Whitaker, one of my favorite Classic Who writers. And this story shows why he’s one of my favorites. The Doctor doesn’t just blindly accept the claims of the “good guys.” All the way to the end he insists on proof, and only goes along with their plans on the promise that the end result will be conclusive evidence of Salamander’s evil-doing. The dialog’s good, and the story moves along, every scene pushing the narrative forward without pointless time-fillers.

Not long after the story’s discovery was announced, the BBC made all six episodes available for purchase on iTunes. Later, they released the fully restored (i.e., cleaned-up picture and soundtrack) story on DVD. Unlike other Classic Who DVD releases, this is pretty bare-bones. No extras, just the six episodes. For 150 minutes of quality Who, though, it’s worth it.