Written by Malcolm Hulke, Sydney Newman, and Donald Wilson
Directed by Paul Bernard

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series which has been around off and on since 1963. The main character is just known as “The Doctor” and is a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. This means he travels through time to various places. One of his favorite places to visit is Earth. Typically, he has a companion traveling with him, usually female, sometimes male, sometimes one of each. He travels in a time machine known as a TARDIS which is disguised as a British Police booth.   

A Time Lord can regenerate if fatally wounded, which has accounted for all the different actors who have played The Doctor throughout the years. This was the era of the third Doctor, portrayed by Jon Pertwee. He’s been pretty much confined to Earth by the Time Lords as a sort of punishment and has been working closely with UNIT (United Nations Intelligence Task-Force).  To that end, his companion for this adventure is Katy Manning as Jo Grant. 

Frontier in Space follows events in Carnival of Monsters that gave the Doctor back access to travel in time and space with his TARDIS.  The Doctor and Jo find themselves on Earth in the future. There is a tenuous treaty between Earth and a race known as the Draconians. The Doctor and Jo arrive just as tensions rise and an interstellar war seems imminent.

The Doctor and Jo are caught in the middle. The humans believe they are spies for the Draconians and hold them prisoner.  The TARDIS has been taken by what is believed to be Draconian forces intent on setting off the start of the conflict.  However, there is more going on here than meets the eye, and it’s up to the Doctor and Jo to unravel what exactly that is as well as put a halt to events that have been set in motion.

By Doctor Who standards, this is quite ambitious.  Not only are there a variety of aliens for him to deal with, but there are also a number of locales.  He’s on Earth as well as the Draconian and Earth ships and a moon location.  By budgetary standards, this one most likely broke the bank.  That shows at times, although I give credit to the production team that stretched it far enough to accomplish what they did.  The story is told over the course of six episodes, which happened on occasion back during this era of the Doctor and allowed for a full story and quite a bit of development of the different races and the story.

One of the highlights here was the appearance of The Master.  It would mark Roger Delgado’s final appearance in the role as he was killed in a car accident in Turkey a few months after this was broadcast in the UK.  His appearance here doesn’t have the feeling it would in later years as if he was the easy villain to pull out whenever they needed him.  Here, his appearance works so well particularly because the story does build for some time before it’s revealed that he’s behind a lot of what’s going on.

The Draconians are developed so well here, it’s a pity more hasn’t been done with them.  For this time, their costuming is pretty impressive, and their background is good in that they are a complex race and not just exclusively in the camp of being labeled “good guys” or “bad guys” reminiscent of the way the Silurians would later be.  They have been mentioned a few times throughout the show’s history, most recently by River Song, but haven’t made an appearance again.

For Jon Pertwee, this was a good turn for the Doctor.  Being away from what was then present-day Earth and under the thumb of UNIT, he seems to be having fun in the role.  Katy Manning also gets to stretch out more with Jo, and it’s a welcome relief from stories that seems to become repetitive.

The DVDs are great, as always.  The BBC really knows how to market the story arcs so they are worth purchasing and Frontier in Space is no exception.  Particularly moving is the tribute to Roger Delgado’s work as The Master.  He’s talked about quite a bit during the commentary as well, although there were times this got on my nerves.  Katy Manning going into a cutesy little-kid voice during the commentary which drives me nuts.  Just talk regular.

For people who are new to the world of Doctor Who, Frontier in Space is one of those classic story arcs I’d feel secure pointing them to in an attempt to get a feel for what the series’ history was like.  It’s definitely one of the top story arcs from the Pertwee era and definitely worth giving some viewing time to.


SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Commentary with Clayton Hickman, Katy Manning, Producer Barry Letts, Script Editor Terence Dicks
• The Perfect Scenario: Lost Frontiers
• The Space War
• Roger Delgado: The Master
• Stripped for Action: The Third Doctor
• Photo Gallery