Doctor Who: The Enemy of the World Review

SYNOPSIS

Arriving in Australia in the near future, the time travellers meet

Giles Kent, and discover that the Doctor is the physical double of

the globally famous Mexican politician, Ramon Salamander. Most

of the world regards the figure as a philanthropic hero - he has

devised a means of supplying and storing solar energy, thereby

ending famine, and preventing natural disasters is his next aim.

Kent however, believes that Salamander is a would-be dictator,

and the Doctor uncovers the truth by impersonating his doppel-

ganger. Gaining access to Salamander's base, the Doctor finds a

bunker where scientists have been undergoing an endurance test

for the past five years (a concept reworked for Invasion of the 

Dinosaurs).

Salamander had convinced his team that a war had broken out

on the surface, and had them engineer the apparent natural

disasters against their unseen enemy. Kent is exposed as a

 traitor, and destroys the station. Salamander then tries to

escape in the TARDIS by pretending to be the Doctor, but is

ejected into the vortex.

ANALYSIS

The greatest asset of a unique programme like Doctor Who is 

its equally unique format. The past fifty-three years has seen a

plethora of stories and genres across every conceivable medium

- Doctor Who is the 'everyman' of television. 

But in 1967 an unusual drama like The Enemy of the World was

proof that the programme could present a brave and competent 

espionage adventure at a time when the James Bond film series

 was well established and in vogue, albeit on a meagre television 

budget.

David Whitaker presents an atypical Troughton-era narrative

here, resulting in a welcome break from the popular monsters

and base-under-siege formula of season five.

The show was no stranger to serious tales of political corruption,

conspiracy and courtly intrigue - The Crusade and The Massacre

both combined politicking with religious dogma. The Power of

the Daleks essentially concerned a military coup manipulated

by aliens, and The Macra Terror featured a dictator controlled

by giant crabs. 

The Enemy of the World however, was probably the show's first

conscious attempt at the contemporaneous 'urban thriller' that

 typified Pertwee's tenure, and one that a modern audience is 

now familiar with. Salamander wasn't a puppet or a figure-head.

He was the archetypal Machiavellian politician, long before

Francis Urquart, besides being the spitting-image of the Doctor!

The spy canon might appeal to adults, but younger viewers still

hankered for the Cybermen, Yeti and Ice Warriors that menaced

our heroes elsewhere during this season. Espionage and natural 

disasters didn't send children behind the sofa.

The real legacy of this neglected little gem however, is that it 

showcased the need for gritty, dark, and more grown-up fare.

The introduction of UNIT just a year later and the eventual

Earth-bound format of the early 1970's meant a more adult

approach for a series that was itself maturing. The typical sci-

fi elements that were missing from The Enemy of the World

were present in like-minded stories like The Invasion and The 

Ambassadors of Death, with the show now tackling issues such

 as the dangers of big-business, technology, and xenophobia.

Consequently, the story is also considered the weakest link of 

the season, with a markedly different style, and it's obvious

lack of monsters, but the highlight is the notable dual

performance from Patrick Troughton.

Then in October 2013, almost forty-six years after their original

transmission, the BBC announced that The Enemy of the World

and The Web of Fear had both been recovered from Nigeria,

and were subsequently released on iTunes.

BACKGROUND

• this six-part adventure was broadcast over December 1967 and January 1968, and achieved average ratings of 7.4M
• this political thriller is the closest the show ever got to the Bond films and The Avengers - the action spans continents, features glamorous girls, and sees a villain, complete with underground base, intent on ruling the world (footage of an exploding helicopter is courtesy of From Russia With Love)
• the Radio Times sets the adventure in the year 2017
• before the story's discovery, only the third instalment escaped the mass junkings of Doctor Who episodes between 1972 and 1978, and the episode was issued on VHS in 1991 (see The Troughton Years) and later on DVD (Lost in Time) in 2004)
• Fraser Hines (alias Jamie McCrimmon) provides the linking narration on the CD version (2002, 2012)
• the story ranked 139th in the DWM Mighty 200 Poll of 2009, then following its release on DVD in late 2013, its standing rose to 56th place