Patrick Troughton plays a double role, as both the second Doctor and the ruthless Salamander, in this six-part adventure of political intrigue from 1967.
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Troughton triumphs! 0
James Bond meets Dr Who 0
We are going to put you outside now Salamander, no friends, no allies. NO!!!!!!!!! Special is the kind of word that comes to mind when I think of The Enemy of the World. This serial is one of my absolute favourite Patrick Troughton stories. Mind you, come to think of it, pretty much all of Pat’s stories are my fav’s. Well, this is something special anyway, no monsters, no evil mind controlling aliens, just good old fashioned DICTATORSHIP. Salamander is unique, never before have we had such a colourful human villain, {apart from Tobius Vaughn of The Invasion} – {another Pat classic}. I fell in love when I first watched this story a few years ago and it has continued to go up in my estimations with every viewing. Patrick Troughton is truly displaying the unbelievable acting talents he had here, the accsent of the great dictator Salamander is fantastic. It really is so different from Pat’s normal homely tone. Also, Barry Letts directs one of the most action-packed Doctor Who stories ever made here with great flair and overall the story just exudes expense. Alot of people have stated that this stands out as Doctor Who’s go at doing 007, well, they are not wrong. We have a lunatic dictator, exotic countries and settings, futuristic gadgets, gorgeous babes and fast transport. In fact, the only thing we are missing here is Q. Never mind, I’m sure Desmond Llewelyn had better things to do.Moving on to the plot itself, we have a would-be dictator’s plot to control the entire world, this serial is set around the year 2000 and earth is in trouble. An inventor, Salamander comes along with the answers to all the worlds demands and requirements and hey presto, he’s running everything now. His former worker and associate, Giles Kent wants to overthrow this evil bloke and save the world, or does he?, you’ll soon find out. As usual The Doctor lands and straight away gets caught up in events and to nobody’s suprise, it turns out he look’s just like Salamander, No Way!!!, what a coincidence. Although this seems a little tacked on, it works really well, mainly because the Doctor and Salamander don’t meet at every turn, in fact they only meet at the pivital final scene in the TARDIS.Funny enough, The Enemy of the World is the only story of season 5 that does not feature monsters and the typical base-under-siege type scenario. This is probably why the serial is so high up in my estimations, it gives me a break from the norm. The Tomb of the Cybemen had the Cybermen, the Abominable Snowmen had the Yeti, the Ice Warriors had the Ice Warriors {of course}, the Web of Fear had again the Yeti, Fury From the Deep had the Weed creature and the Wheel in space had the Cybermen yet again, so its no wonder the production team wanted a unique and special little 6 part story to break from all these monsters and bases in trouble that we had been subjected to for the past 9 months.And so on to the story’s main man, Salamander, he is a perfect foil for the Doctor, truly one of the best written villains for the series, I love his speech mannerisms, flamboyant style and overpowering ego, as well as that imfamous piercing gaze, the eyes of the devil himself no doubt. His cunning and clever atributes are what have propelled him to the top and were it not for the Doctor, Salamander would have succeeded. This creates a great feeling of power in the story and kept me glued to the screen for all 6 episodes. The story is greatly supported by the heavy calabre of guest actors, they really add something special and carry the story beautifully, not forgetting Pat of course who is after all the main man, in more ways than one. I can’t say the same of Victoria though, this is probably her worst outing. Here, she does not develop at all, unlike all the other opponents of this classic tale who all get jucier as the story progresses. I will admit however that Victoria, Jamie and the Doctor were my favourite trio during the troughton years. But as ever Victoria is just the screaming companion asking questions and looking pretty. I can fully understand why Deborah Watling left the role at the end of Fury from the Deep, her character was never going to be allowed to develop by the producers in to anything other than a nervous wreck. It’s a shame.On a brighter note, quest star Mary peach looks stunning in this outting, truly Bond girl stuff, as was the gorgeous Carmen Munroe, every bit the dolly 60’s girls that we all love. I enjoyed their subplots, they were quite interesting and very deep, especially Carmen’s. Also worthy of note is Bill Kerr’s Giles Kent, a man with underlying ambitions that make his character all the more interesting. In the end we find out what kind of a man he really is. I’ll let you find out that one for yourselves. Colin Douglas is another fine example of the great acting talent Doctor Who had in its arsenal over the years, his portrayal of security chief Donald Bruce was every bit as powerful as Pat Troughton’s Salamander. Good stuff.The BBC must also be praised,…