first doctor

We are going to celebrate the great one-off villains of the First Doctor's era by counting down some of the best! No monsters or faceless hordes (so leaving off the Daleks--they got their own episode:-) but rather we are looking at the megalomaniacs, the schemers, and the scoundrels. Some are funny, some are scary, some are down-right devious, but all are unforgettable.

In Part III we will look at my pick for the #1 Best Non-Monster Villain of the First Doctor Era!!

Part I looked at my picks from #10-6 and Part II looked at my picks for #5-2. Please check them out.
 
The First Doctor and the Daleks for an in-depth discussion of the Daleks and how they define this era. This is a different sort of list.



Upcoming:
Serial #29: The Tenth Planet
4 episodes, 1-3 exist, 4 is missing:-(
Team TARDIS lands at the South Pole where a team of scientists are monitoring a spaceship from the planet Mondas...
Monday, January 30th

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

We are going to celebrate the great one-off villains of the First Doctor's era by counting down some of the best! No monsters or faceless hordes (so leaving off the Daleks--they got their own episode:-) but rather we are looking at the megalomaniacs, the schemers, and the scoundrels. Some are funny, some are scary, some are down-right devious, but all are unforgettable.

In Part I we will look at some honorable mentions and Villains #10-6. Next time, we will look at my picks for Villains #5-2. My #1 Villain is getting his own little episode in Part III. 

NOTE: See Vanquishing Villains #1: The First Doctor and the Daleks for an in-depth discussion of the Daleks and how they define this era. This is a different sort of list.

Upcoming:
10 Best First Doctor Villains (Part II)
We are going to continue are list with Villains #5-2 for the First Doctor.
Monday, January 16th

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Oh, Dodo....there was so much potential with this companion that was squandered. It often feels as if the writers just held her in contempt but didn't want to write her out of the story. And that's a shame. Dodo could have been an interesting companion if anyone had bothered figuring out her story. We are going to take a moment to celebrate the good parts and mourn what could have been.


Upcoming:

Doctor Who's Third Season
We are going to take a look back at Doctor Who's revolutionary third season wherein the Doctor is firmly cemented as the hero of his own story and the Doctor/Companion roles are renegotiated in a lasting way.
Monday, December 26th (Happy Boxing Day!!)

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Taking a moment to celebrate one of Classic Who's most underrated gems: Steven Taylor!  The man who escaped a Mechanoid City and nearly died for a teddy bear who goes on to become a leader uniting Elders and Savages. Noble, headstrong, a tad  immature, and a more than a bit silly, Steven deserves more love y'all.

Steven is arguably the Companion to the First Doctor who goes through the most--and he changes the most because of that experience! Our first companion to a "hero" Doctor, he is the first to be the "right-hand man" and friend to the Doctor, the first companion to embody the role we generally see companions play going forward.

NOTE for Clarity: I mention that Steven struggles with empathy...I think a better way of putting this would be he intellectually struggles with "perspective-taking." He deeply cares about people and has great sympathy for their suffering, but he struggles to understand when others see the world differently from him (which leads to him sometimes being a bit pig-headed/stubborn). I think the First Doctor actually has almost the opposite problem wherein he struggles to emotionally feel/connect to others but learns (mostly from Ian/Barbara) to understand multiple perspectives and ways of seeing the world.  In the most simplistic terms: Steven is all HEART, and the Doctor is all HEAD.


Upcoming:

Serial #26: The War Machines
4 episodes that all exist!!!
The Doctor and Dodo arrive in "present day" London where scientists have been experimenting with a computer that can think for itself....
Monday, December 12th

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Still reeling from the traumatizing events of "The Daleks' Masterplan," Steven and the Doctor land in France days before the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Separated from the Doctor, Steven gets caught up with the Huguenots who fear a plot to assassinate the newly married Protestant Prince Henry of Navarre. 

_____

TAVANNES: Thank God.
CATHERINE: God had very little to do with it. What is this?
TAVANNES: The list, Madame. When those Huguenots are killed we need have no further fear of a Protestant France.
CATHERINE: We have no need of lists, Marshall. The good people of Paris know their enemies. They will take care of them.
TAVANNES: The good people? Madame, if you rouse the mob the innocent will perish with the guilty.
CATHERINE: Innocent? Heresy can have no innocents. France will breath of pure air after tomorrow.
_________

DOCTOR: I was not responsible.
STEVEN: Oh, no. You just sent her back to her aunt's house where the guards were waiting to catch her. I tell you this much, Doctor, wherever this machine of yours lands next I'm getting off. If your researches have so little regard for human life then I want no part of it.
DOCTOR: We've landed. Your mind is made up?
(The Tardis doors open.)
STEVEN: Goodbye.
DOCTOR: My dear Steven, history sometimes gives us a terrible shock, and that is because we don't quite fully understand. Why should we? After all, we're all too small to realize its final pattern. Therefore don't try and judge it from where you stand. I was right to do as I did. Yes, that I firmly believe.

___________



Upcoming:

John Lucarotti's Historical Triumphs
A special episode exploring Lucarotti's three fantastic historical serials: "Marco Polo," "The Aztecs," and "The Massacre." Considering one writer's themes and his contributions to the early years of Doctor Who.
Monday, July 18th

Serial #23: The Ark
(Episodes: "The Steel Sky," "The Plague," "The Return," "The Bomb")
NO MISSING EPISODES:-)
Monday, July 25th



Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

A special look back on the Daleks as villains that shaped the First Doctor's Era. The defining villain for this period in the show's history, the Daleks gave the show direction and turned the Doctor from a silly stubborn old man into a hero. This podcast will consider the serials: "The Daleks," "The Dalek Invasion of Earth," "The Chase," and "The Daleks' Masterplan."

___________


Upcoming:

Serial #22: The Massacre
(Episodes: "The War of God," "the Sea Beggar," "The Priest of Death," Bell of Doom")
NOTE: All missing
Monday, July 4th

John Lucarotti's Historical Triumphs
A special episode exploring Lucarotti's three fantastic historical serials: "Marco Polo," "The Aztecs," and "The Massacre." Considering one writer's themes and his contributions to the early years of Doctor Who.
Monday, July 11th


Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Using the directional device they stole from the Monk, Team TARDIS races to Kembel to stop the Daleks from using their Time Destroyer....meanwhile Mavic Chen appears to consolidate his power but may be losing at his own game...and the Daleks prepare their Time Destroyer as the others squabble.

_________

CHEN: Now do stop this masquerade! See, I know he  [the Doctor] is trying to usurp my position with the Daleks.
STEVEN: That is absurd. The Doctor's always fought the Daleks. Why don't you believe us? We don't know where he is.
CHEN: Yet I find you at the entrance to the Daleks' secret headquarters. I know the Doctor's here and that he's trying to take my place. But I'll soon change that.
STEVEN: Why can't you understand the Daleks do not make allies?

_________

DOCTOR: Well, my boy, we finally rid this planet of Daleks.
STEVEN: Bret, Katarina.... Sara.
DOCTOR: What a waste. What a terrible waste.

___________


Upcoming:

The First Doctor and The Daleks
A special episode looking back on all the First Doctor Dalek serials and considering how they shaped the show and the Doctor.
Monday, June 27th

Serial #22: The Massacre
(Episodes: "The War of God," "the Sea Beggar," "The Priest of Death," Bell of Doom")
NOTE: All missing
Monday, July 4th



Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

On the run from Maverick Chen, the Daleks, and an unexpected old Enemy, Team TARDIS flees with the taranium across time and space....

_______

STEVEN: You killed Bret! You just shot him down.
SARA: He was a traitor. Between the three of you, you had stolen the taranium, the most valuable mineral in the universe. It was needed desperately to spread the peace which was founded in the solar system, to reach the whole galaxy.
STEVEN: What was the taranium going to do?
SARA: How should I know? I had my orders.
STEVEN: Your orders. And even though it meant killing one of your own people, you obeyed them blindly, without question?
SARA: One does not question the orders of the Guardian.
STEVEN: You didn't stop to think how it came to happen that a space security agent, one of your own people, was a traitor?
SARA: No!
STEVEN: You didn't give Bret a chance, did you. You couldn't question Chen and you wouldn't question Bret.
SARA: Look, what do you want me to say? That I believe your fantastic story?
STEVEN: It's true.
SARA: It mustn't be.
DOCTOR: I'm afraid it is, my dear.
STEVEN: But Bret had to be killed.
SARA: Shut up! Bret Vyon was my brother.
____

CHEN: Without me, their plan cannot completely work. Without me, they are but nothing. Nothing! When I am next to the Daleks, only they stand between me and the highest position in the universe. Then will be the time for me to take complete control!... You are a fortunate man, Karlton. You will have a high place in galactic history.
KARLTON: The highest, next to you.
_________

CHEN: Three time machines in one infinitesimal speck of space and time. Of course, a coincidence is possible, but hardly likely. You would agree?
MONK: Oh, yes, I would agree.
CHEN: Then why have you arrived here?
MONK: Three, three time-machines? Yes, well, the odd one out belongs to a certain Doctor.
DALEK: The enemy ship!
MONK: Yes, that's right. The enemy. I have an old score to settle with him, but I'm sure yours is the prior claim.
CHEN: He is a friend of yours?
MONK: Friend? No, no, an enemy. An enemy to end all enemies! I came here to inflict a terrible vengeance on him. I mean, we're all on the same side here, aren't we.


Upcoming:

Serial #21: The Dalek's Master Plan, Part III (Episodes 11-12: "The Abandoned Planet" & "The Destruction of Time" ) We will also discuss the serial overall.
Both missing
Wednesday, June 22nd

The First Doctor and The Daleks
A special episode looking back on all the First Doctor Dalek serials and considering how they shaped the show and the Doctor.
Monday, June 27th



Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the lo

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Desperate to save Steven from his poisoned wound, the Doctor lands on a jungle planet searching for medical help. Meanwhile, a secret agent named Bret tries to warn Earth about the Daleks' alliance with the Outer Galaxies and impending invasion of the solar system. Soon Team TARDIS finds itself working with Bret to discover the Daleks 'masterplan and save Earth...even from the Guardian of the Solar system himself!

NOTE: It might be helpful to watch "Mission to the Unknown"--or listen to the podcast on that serial--prior to this one as that episode serves as a prequel to this one.

_______

DOCTOR: These are Daleks. Now you listen to me, young man, I am in charge of this situation.
BRET: Sir! Will you shut up! At least that's stopped you arguing.
DOCTOR: Well upon my soul.
BRET: Now, look here, I don't care what happens to you, but I have got to warn Earth.
DOCTOR: Yes, and you will have to do far more than that. If the Daleks are doing something drastic, then we have to stop the Daleks. Now will you shut up, sir?
_____

STEVEN: She pressed the wrong button, Doctor.
DOCTOR: She may have wanted to, dear boy. She wanted to save our lives.
BRET: It must have been quick.
DOCTOR: I hope she's reached her Place of Perfection.
STEVEN: Yes, but not that way.
DOCTOR: She didn't understand. She couldn't understand. She wanted to save our lives and perhaps the lives of all the other beings of the Solar System. I hope she's found her Perfection. Oh, how I shall always remember her as one of the Daughters of the Gods. Yes, as one of the Daughters of the Gods.
____



Upcoming:

Serial #21: The Dalek's Master Plan, Part II (Episodes 5-10: "Counter Plot," "Coronas of the Sun," "The Feast of Steven," "Volcano," "Golden Death," "Escape Switch" )
All missing EXCEPT: "Counter Plot," & "Escape Switch"
Wednesday,  June 15th

Serial #21: The Dalek's Master Plan, Part III (Episodes 11-12 & End Discussion: "The Abandoned Planet" & "Destruction of Time")
Both missing
Wednesday,  June 22nd


Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Vicki is the first companion to choose a trip on the TARDIS! The first "pea in the pod" with the Doctor, she departs to prove her loyalty to her lover Troilus and re-write a myth. We didn't have her along for as long as we would have liked, and the fandom has somewhat forgotten her, but Vicki is a fantastic companion who sets the stage for later characters who link with the Doctor because they share his sense of adventure and fun. 

Let's take a moment to celebrate Vicki, later renamed Cressida: the great adventurer, the rebel, the girl who could make the Doctor giggle, the woman who goes on to found Rome.


FYI: Sorry this is coming out a couple days late! I was closing out the semester and could not record this weekend. I also accidentally recorded the first part of this on my computer mic:-( I didn't have time to re-record and this is already late, so uploading as is. I will keep an eye on this for the future, however.
____

NEXT TIME:
The Timeless Child Rant (You knew it was coming)
Monday, May 16th

For Classic Who, we are moving on to The Dalek's Master Plan!


Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Odysseus and company are trying to invade Troy. Guess who thinks up the horse scenario? Oh, and Vicki might be Cressida....yeah, The Cressida. Hold your horses for Doctor Who's The Myth-Makers!

So, in all honesty, I recorded this one several times and also cut it down considerably. I may come back to the Myth-Makers in the future. Still not sure I did it justice. I also think that how I feel about this ending has changed with every viewing...so there's that!

_______
STEVEN: Well, the Doctor said they were Greeks. We're probably in Greece.
VICKI: Oh, but that would be wonderful, wouldn't it? We might meet the Heroes!
STEVEN: Those men who carried off the Doctor wouldn't be heroes, or anything like them.
_____

DOCTOR: Yes, yes. I'm afraid we must face up to it, Odysseus, man was never meant to fly.
ODYSSEUS: Wasn't he now? Well, that seems to me a great shame. Now if your machine won't work, Doctor, I propose to fly you without it.
DOCTOR: Oh? What do you mean?
ODYSSEUS: Simply this. That my catapult is ready and it seems a great pity to waste it. Now you have failed me, therefore you are expendable. I propose to fire you over the walls of Troy.
DOCTOR: Ah, but I have another idea. And a much better one.
ODYSSEUS: It had better be. Well?
DOCTOR: Have you ever thought of a horse?


Upcoming:

Celebrating Companions: Vicki
We need to take a moment to say goodbye to our revolutionary, our Cressida, the Doctor's first pea in the pod companion, dear Vicki!
Monday, May 9th

Serial #21: The Dalek's Master Plan ("The Nightmare Begins,"** "The Day of Armageddon," "Devil's Planet," "The Traitors," "Counter Plot," "Coronas of the Sun," "The Feast of Steven," "Volcano," "Golden Death," "Escape Switch," "The Abandoned Planet," "Destruction of Time")
All missing EXCEPT: "Day of Armageddon," "Counter Plot," & "Escape Switch"
Buckle in...this is a long one.
Probably will be broken into multiple parts.
Monday, March 14th

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Vicki wondered what was happening over on that planet on the scanner....well, it isn't good. Welcome to Mission to the Unknown!

A group of humans have crash landed on a planet and one appears contaminated by the varga root which turns him into a killer fluffy thorny cactus. And the varga are not the most dangerous thing in the jungle.....

CORY: All right. I suppose you've heard of the Daleks?
LOWERY: The Daleks invaded Earth a thousand years ago.
CORY: That's right. Well, they haven't been active in our galaxy for some time now, but that doesn't mean they've exactly been sitting around. In the last five hundred years, they've gained control of over seventy planets in Ninth Galactic System and forty more in the Constellation of Miros.
LOWERY: Don't see why that should concern us. I mean, they're both millions of light years away from our galaxy.
CORY: Hmm, that's what we all thought. But about a week ago we had a report from the captain of a space freighter. His navigator spotted a space ship of a type never before used in our system. He saw it only for a second but he gave us a good description.
LOWERY: So?
CORY: What he described was a Dalek spaceship.


Upcoming:

Serial #20: The Myth-Makers (Episodes: "Temple of Secrets," "Small Prophet, Quick Return," "Death of a Spy," "Horse of Destruction")
NOTE: All of these episodes are missing.  
Monday, February 28th


Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

A planet has two dawns before exploding and Team TARDIS landed on it, of course. Welcome to commentary and analysis of Galaxy 4!

The Doctor, Steven, and Vicki land on a planet due to explode and must navigate a conflict between the beautiful Amazonian Drahvans led by Maaga and the monstrous Rills. But appearances can be deceiving....

MAAGA: This is a fight to the death for existence itself.
DOCTOR: I see.
MAAGA: in which one of us will be obliterated.
________
RILL: But if there is a choice, the Doctor must go. He travels further than we can. And everything he has shown he stands for is what we believe in. So it is better that he goes.
STEVEN: I'm sorry. You can't blame me, though, for being suspicious. In that case, there's something you ought know. Whilst I was in the Drahvin ship, they said they intended to leave this planet in yours.
RILL: We are prepared to take them with us.
STEVEN: Well, that's not what they mean. They take your ship, you stay here.
RILL: We must hope they do not succeed.
_____

RILL: To the Drahvins we are ugly, so they become frightened.
DOCTOR: You are different from us, of course, but at least you are intelligent.
STEVEN: Yes, what difference does it make what your form is?
DOCTOR: Importance lies in the character and to what use you put this intelligence. We respect you as we respect all life.


Upcoming:

Serial #19: Mission to the Unknown
 The one-episode prequel to "The Dalek's Master Plan"
Monday, February 21st


Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

We've made it through the second season of Classic Who!

This special episode looks at the second series overall. It's a weird one, right? We change out the entire cast, start getting comedic episodes, the Doctor is suddenly gradually becoming the star....so much to talk about!


NEXT TIME:
Serial #18 Galaxy 4 (Episodes: "Four Hundred Dawns," "Trap of Steel," "Air Lock," "The Exploding Planet")
All episodes missing except Air Lock. BBC has animated this one though!


Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/ 

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com

Special thanks to Cathlyn "Happigal" Driscoll for providing the beautiful artwork for this podcast. You can view her work at https://www.happigal.com/

Do feel free to get in touch to share the love of all things Doctor Who: throughthevortexpodcast@gmail.com