The Space Museum

Serial Q, in 4 parts

• The Space Museum: first broadcast 4-24-65 / 10.5 million viewers
• The Dimensions of Time: 5-1-65 / 9.3
• The Search: 5-8-65 / 8.5
• The Final Phase: 5-15-65 / 8.5

Written by: Glyn Jones
Produced by: Verity Lambert
Directed by: Mervyn Pinfield

Mini-Reviews and Quotes:

"After a very promising first episode, which unusually sees time travel being used as a concept rather than as simply a device to get the Doctor and his companions into their latest adventure, The Space Museum deteriorates into possibly the weakest of any of the First Doctor's stories. The spartan settings and small cast list betray the fact that this is a very low-budget production..." - review from The Handbook: The First Doctor by Howe, Stammers, and Walker (Virgin: 1994).

The Brian Review:

I enjoy the first half of The Space Museum. Part one is fascinating, as the Doctor and his companions are caught in a strange time glitch. The special effects are simple but neat (in one particularly good shot, a shattered glass re-assembles itself in Vicki's hand), and the cliffhanger is superb. In the closing moments of part one, we learn that the TARDIS crew members have been shifted temporarily into their own futures. They get a glimpse of their inevitable fate - to become mummified exhibits in a Space Museum.

Part two is good comedy. The Doctor is captured by the museum's curators, and they hook him up to a device that will read his mind. The wily old man confuses his captors by projecting images of unicycles and sea otters into their device. Meanwhile, Ian and the girls get lost wandering around the museum exhibits. William Russell gets into the funny spirit of the episode and chews up the scenery with great gusto as he beats up and threatens countless inept guards.

The second half of the episode is junk. The Doctor and his friends become involved in a revolutionary plot hatched by a bunch of bratty-looking kids in bright white sneakers. The sneaker brigade, unhappy with life on their planet, are planning to steal some weapons and capture the museum. Too bad they're faceless, cardboard cut-out characters, so boring that I want them to lose.

The production values are pretty rubbish. The museum consists of some blank flats with gadgets stuck here and there that are meant to pass for exhibits. The most interesting thing on display is a Dalek, though don't ask me how the idiotic museum curators got their hands on one of those things.

OVERALL RATING: C