User Reviews

The Doctor and Ian reunite with Barbara, but the Doctor risks his life trying to thwart Koquillion.

"Desperate Measures" is fantastic. David Whitaker writes the regulars so well; Hartnell and Maureen O'Brien share a wonderful scene together.

The revelation that Bennett is Koquillion probably won't surprise most viewers. It's also a fair judgement to say that Bennett's plan is rather stupid; would he just keep posing as a cripple when he returned to Earth?

The final confrontation between the Doctor and Bennett is fantastic. Christopher Barry directs it very well, and Hartnell and Ray Barrett are great ("You destroyed a whole planet to save your own skin? You're insane!"). In the end, Vicki decides to join the TARDIS crew.

Although it's only two episodes, The Rescue is a gem. It's written very well by David Whitaker, and the cast are on great form. Honestly, it gets better and better each time I rewatch it.

This very short story was always going to be up against it really. The viewer is coming off the back of the very strong 6-parter that saw the Daleks running amuck around contemporary London and on top of that there is going to be a gap with the exit of Susan during that story, so perhaps there was an acknowledgement of just playing a straight bat; don't try to do too much and risk going out, just get the job done and moved along. This is a same though because the story offers some decent potential. We find two human survivors on a plant awaiting rescue, meanwhile a mysterious creature roams around outside.

To enjoy this story, one needs to get over two very glaring facts – firstly that this pretty young Vicki character is clearly being positioned to replace Susan; and secondly that Koquillion is so clearly Bennett (made more obvious when you assume he needs to be removed to free up Vicki). Neither of these are too easy to overlook and both did bug me a little bit – particularly the idea of Bennett pulling it off for so long. The plot does offer potential though; this is a man who murdered a race for his own benefit and I was looking for him to be a monster and looking for the Doctor to burn with an anger because of these actions. This doesn't really happen, their confrontation is pretty good but very short, while their fight scene is pretty silly. I would have liked it to have had more time to be considered, more buildup around this monster, but instead we spent longer with Vicki and her big eyes.

The cast are good though. Hartnell has that solid scene while both Russell and Hill get to have some good action and moments. Barrett is imposing as Koquillion and I liked the idea but as I say it didn't have the time to be more than a filler. O'Brien is too early to judge; here she seems to spent a lot of time looking up beyond the camera with big "wonderment" eyes and a perky demeanor that doesn't suit her surroundings. She feels like a rushed copy of Susan – which is not too bad but I must say Ford was best when given something to work with, not just be a young girl who gets frightened.

These two episodes do what they needed to do (replace Ford) but they could have done more and I would have liked the story (and the confrontation) to have had more time to be delivered.