Doctor Who: The Reign of Terror (Story 8)

A Good Story - But Not Much Science Fiction!
The Doctor is trying to land in present-day England (1964), in another attempt to take Susan and Ian home. Unfortunately, the TARDIS ends up in the French countryside. More to the point, it is 1794 France. The French Revolution is five years old and Madame Guillotine reigns.

In spite of finding period clothing to change into (Ian comments on Barbara's transformation with, "Hairstyle's a bit modern, but it's all right."), it doesn't take them long to get into trouble. Susan, Ian and Barbara find themselves arrested and taken to Paris, and the infamous Conciergerie Prison, to await their execution. They're told, "You will be guillotined as soon as it can be arranged." [Historical note: This is due to a new law that gives the authorities the right to execute not only without a trial, but based on suspicion only.]

The Doctor, fortunately, was separated from the trio and not arrested. He takes off down the road to Paris to rescue them. He meets a forced gang road work...

Thanks for the animation
I am glad that 2-Entertain has taken to animating a few classic Doctor Who stories because it allows fans of the classic series to still enjoy the stories from the past. As most classic Doctor Who fans know the BBC wiped many of the the stories from the Hartnell-Troughton years to save money. All of the audio exists thanks to fans who would plop their cassette recorders in front of the TV each week to to capture the original shows as they aired in the 1960's. The BBC did not have the same marketing attitude of US TV producers who kept a lot of old TV shows that some of us would like to forget. But it allowed these shows to continue on in syndication for years (and years and years).

The animation here is pretty basic and I think it is done in such a way to reflect the original version in its original concept. The story is more of an historical drama rather than Sci-Fi. Granted I would prefer if the original 'live' performances still existed but this is a fine...

Classic Doctor Who at it's best!!
I love this 6 part story because it is just history and not Sci-Fi. When Doctor Who started it was an educational program!! The Doctor and companions traveled back in time as a fun way for kids to learn and see historical events ie.: The Aztecs, the rein of terror in France, Marco Polo (which I hope will be next to be animated.) King Richard The Lion Hearted ect. ect., also to teach them a bit about science too which is why Willian Hartnel often times sounds like a college professor. This all stopped with the Second Doctor Patrick Troughton I believe The Highlanders where we meet long running companion Jammie McCrimmon was the last straight historic story with no aliens or monsters.

As for the BBC having found the original audio tracks for the 2 missing episodes (4. The Tyrant of France and 5. A Bargain of Necessity) it's thanks to kids who recorded the audio on reel to reels and the new cassette tapes that we have the audio. On of the bonus features for the Partick...

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