‘THE SPACE MUSEUM’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Visiting the Space Museum
I was looking forward to the ‘The Space Museum’/’The Chase’ DVD box-set with William Hartnell!
I heard so much about ‘The Chase’; from my Dad and had listened to soundbites of both stories as well as the audio soundtrack of ‘The Space Museum’ beforehand. I was keen to see these two classic adventures from Season 2 of classic ‘Doctor Who’ with the Doctor; Ian; Barbara and Vicki.
This DVD box set stars William Hartnell as the Doctor; William Russell as Ian; Jacqueline Hill as Barbara and Maureen O’Brien as Vicki. It was great to see this TARDIS team in these two stories!
‘The Space Museum’ is a four-part story by Glyn Jones on a 1-disc DVD. The Doctor; Ian; Barbara and Vicki visit a futuristic space museum and are shocked when they see themselves as exhibits.
I’ve had the DVD cover of ‘The Space Museum’ signed by Jeremy Bulloch at the ‘Collectormania 22’ event in Milton Keynes, November 2014. Jeremy plays Tor, leader of the Xerons in this story.
I liked ‘The Space Museum’ as a story, but it isn’t popular amongst the ‘Doctor Who’ fans. I’d heard this story on an audio CD with linking narration by Maureen O’Brien before I watched this DVD.
I expected this story to be spectacular and imagined glossy sets and futuristic space settings with the ‘Morok’ museum owners. But when I saw the ‘actual’ story, I could help feel dismayed.
It seemed the story was pretty slow at times and the Moroks’s acting was poor as some tended to fluff their lines. The story also looked cheap and dull in terms of the sets and the atmosphere.
Everybody seemed run-down in the story whilst at the museum. I suppose it was meant to be deliberate, but I expected this to be a faster-paced and dynamic story than what it actually was.
But this didn’t stop me from enjoying the story. From seeing Robert Shearman’s defence, it made sense as the story depicts how the Moroks on the planet Xeros get taken over by the peaceful Xerons.
The Moroks have forgotten how to fight since their wars ended and their empire falls apart. Even the Xerons seem feeble on how to rebel and fight back until Vicki helps to sorts them out.
The first episode is exciting to watch. The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki drive the story forward with a mystery about why people can’t see them in the museum and why they can’t hear them.
Eventually they discover the truth as they see themselves ‘dead’ in boxes on display at the museum. I found these concepts exciting; scary and intriguing even when the Doctor explains it.
The Doctor has the answer before everything culminates with them arriving and their future selves disappearing. From thereon, the Doctor and friends have to stop their futures happening.
I was lucky to chat to Rob Shearman (writer of ‘Dalek’) about his defence of ‘The Space Museum’ and about writing. This was at the ‘Regenerations 2011’ convention in Swansea, September 2011.
It was quite a delightfully lengthy chat and Rob Shearman’s insight on the story was very intriguing. I’m sure Sarah Sutton, who was at the convention, was listening nearby when I chatted to Rob. 😀
The DVD special features are as follows. As well as ‘Defending the Museum’ with Robert Shearman; there’s ‘My Grandfather, the Doctor’ with Jessica Carney and the ‘A Holiday for the Doctor’ featurette. There’s also an audio commentary with William Russell, Maureen O’Brien and writer Glyn Jones, moderated by Peter Purves. There’s also an info-text commentary option; a photo gallery and a ‘Radio Times Listings’ PDF of the story. There is a ‘coming soon’ trailer for the ‘Myth and Legends’ DVD box set. It contains ‘The Time Monster’ with Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning; ‘Underworld’ with Tom Baker and Louise Jameson and ‘The Horns of Nimon’ with Tom Baker and Lalla Ward.
‘The Space Museum’ isn’t the greatest ‘Doctor Who’ story I’ve seen. But I certainly enjoyed watching it. The direction and writing could be better, but the story is worthy to watch with an open mind.
‘The Space Museum’ rating – 6/10
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For the First Doctor was For Ian was For Barbara was For Vicki was For the Daleks was |
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For the First Doctor is For Ian is For Barbara is For Vicki is
For the Daleks is |
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Bradley's Basement 
A great first episode followed by three clunkers, sadly this story never got going or held my interest from episode 2 onwards it had potential to be a great story but was poorly executed.
Brilliant review Tim you summed up this 4 parter quite brilliantly my friend.
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P.S you met Boba Fett…..omg i need to lie down now.
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Yes it’s a shame this story isn’t well-liked by the fans. The first episode seems great, but the remaining three episodes seem to fall apart in the story. I’m sure the novelization/audiobook of ‘The Space Museum’ with Maureen O’Brien is more impressive compared to the TV story.
Glad you enjoyed my review on this story, Simon. I’m pleased you found I summed this 4-part story brilliantly.
Yes. The actor who played Boba Fett; Tor and Hal the Archer. I’ve met Jeremy Bulloch twice now. I hope that lie down has made you better. 😀 Thanks. Tim. 🙂
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I still find this a slog to get through, a shame as the first episode good.
As always a fair balanced review.
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Hi Simon,
Yeah it’s a shame the last three episodes of ‘The Space Museum’ aren’t as good as the first episode. I look forward to checking out this story again in the Season 2 Blu-ray box set.
Many thanks for your comments.
Tim 🙂
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