The Macra Terror: Episode 1

The Doctor, Jamie, Ben and Polly land in an incredibly happy holiday camp. Resident Medok runs into them and is held by Ben and Jamie, the guards arrive and are happy with their intervention. The TARDIS quartet are taken to the Pilot and treated as guests of honour, they're even given a gracious thanks by the Colony's controller, and closely looked after by Barney. In custody Medok claims the camp is infested with creatures, that he has seen horrible beings. The Doctor releases Medok, but talks himself out of repercussions, he learns of the work the colonists do, refining gas. A curfew begins as night falls, he looks for Medok, intent on finding the creatures Medok described. The Doctor witnesses the hideous creatures for himself.

It's a truly fun episode, captures the spirit of the 60's holiday camps, the tannoy announcements, jingles etc. The beauty processing sequences sound incredibly funny, I bet they are great fun.

Patrick was wonderfully funny and entertaining, definitely crazier in character in his earlier episodes,

It does a good job at setting the blissfully happy camp, beset by night time monsters, it's a really fun, enjoyable opening episode. 8/10

Part 1 (Review for all 4 parts):

I have been able to reassess this story having seen the nice animated reconstruction which allows me to find greater appreciation for the story and edit my earlier review.

This 4 part 'futuristic' story is set in an apparently idyllic world which has dark secrets underlying the society. It is enjoyable and interesting with strong ideas of a 'Big Brother is watching you' type society and political underlying themes about manipulation and control. The Macra creatures, often referred to as 'giant crabs' due to their claws and crustacean like forms are quite an unusual and interesting idea too, though obviously the low budget and age of this story limited their original realisation on screen. The animated version makes the Macra a good monster visually as well as conceptually.

Part 1 features the ultra cheesy musical number which I found slightly irritating along with the music throughout but to be fair it was meant to be irritating, as it represents the unthinking, unquestioning happiness of brainwashed people.

All 4 parts are well written, well acted, fun and have deeper themes that add quality. I like the main guest characters and the story is very engaging. The animation provides sufficiently good visuals to allow the story to be really appreciated. I always enjoyed parts 2 and 3 just as much as I did watching the animation but parts 1 and 4 went up in my estimation as the visuals enabled me to enjoy them better. Adding colour was a great idea in my opinion. Colour was unavailable to the makers in the first place but if it had been available I am sure they would have used it and I think it suits the story better than black and white.

Overall an entertaining adventure with some interesting elements and some great scenes. The animated version has beautifully vibrant colour visuals.

My Ratings: Episodes 1 and 4 - 8/10.

Episodes 2 and 3 - 8.5/10.

Overall average for all 4 parts - 8.25/10.