Frontier in Space (Third, 1973)

Hey wait a second? Where's the "____ of the Daleks" title? I love those! Well calm down and be patient. Very patient. This is part of the box set called Dalek War for a reason. You'll see why eventually. Until then enjoy this serial with the Third Doctor and Jo Grant.

At this point the Third Doctor has finally been able to travel in time again after the Time Lords reversed their exile of him on Earth. Now one of his first trips out puts him in danger in a galactic dispute. Guess who's involved in it all? No, not the Daleks. The Master! This is the last story with Roger Delgado as The Master, because sadly the actor was in a car accident. He was always a blast to watch on screen because of his evil energy.

This story is available on DVD in that Dalek War box set I talked about.

What did you think? Was it a compelling story? Was it cool to see the first incarnation of The Master? How 'bout dem Daleks?

Yeah, I found this to be a little bizarre. I felt like it took so long to get going. There was a lot of "Obviously you're a Draconian spy! Even though my mind reader thing says you're not lying...you're clearly lying! You're a Draconian spy!" I mean, really. Neverending. Then the next bit felt like a big "he-said-she-said" between the Draconians and Earth. Once the Doctor is done with all the failed rescue/escape attempts I was glad when he finally set the record straight.

The Master is delightful in this. Leave it to him to just be all pitting two empires against one another. He's always up to something. He was a really fun actor to watch portray him though...you're right, Austin, he really does have a great evil aura to him. So convincing.

Then by the end who should be behind everything but the Daleks! This actually is a pretty smart plan. I mean, in theory, they wouldn't even have to do anything. They can just watch both worlds burn and pick up the pieces. They're smart, those Daleks.

I also decided in this episode I like Jo as a companion. While she's constantly getting captured at least she's useful along the way and is smart enough to hold her own. And stop herself from being hypnotized by the Master. I'm still trying to recover from Susan screaming all the way through The Daleks, so Jo is helping in that regard.

This was frustrating. After how much I enjoyed "Day of the Daleks" I had high hopes for the rest of the Third Doctor serials. This was too long and somewhat boring. It was too full of "now here, now there, over there, now we got to go this planet." And as pointed out too much of the beginning consisted of "No I'm not. Yes you are. No I'm not. Yes You are." And there was the Peace Part sub plot they started and abandoned in the middle.

Stereotypical Daleks. Not much too say there.

Like Michelle, I enjoyed the Master. He had that typical sci-fi evil look and feel about him.

I hope the next part is better.