35)THE FACELESS ONES

The Faceless Ones occurs in what is arguably ‘the less creative period’ in Doctor Who. Storylines were becoming more and more recycled week up week, the same scenario becoming commonplace, and almost compulsory in design. The Faceless Ones goes a step further, taking the cliched body-snatcher narrative, and adding an existential crisis where an entire species’ existence hangs in the balance. 

Undoubtedly overlong, the narrative hangs on various threads where expositional dialogue, a handful of

locations (within the same building), convenient plot progressions, and a lot of running back and forth aim to convince the audience, that six-parters generally work well with the series format. They do not. The Faceless Ones is the first serial that breaks the four-part barrier which doesn’t feature the Daleks. It’s a bold attempt to stretch the series format, but a lot of major plot progressions do occur off-screen or simmer for a while before boiling over, and characters must inform the audience of these development, so they can keep up. Whilst flawed in various aspects, the finished product is something to be admired.

It's a pity that two-thirds are currently missing from the BBC Archives, but the restored animation versions do suggest a steady

standard of production values. In what is a more visually told story (the miniaturised humans, the aeroplane leaving Earth’s atmosphere, the Chameleons melting when ‘killed’), but the animation does do the visual service. A majority of the footage where the Chameleons are shot straight-on is also lost, and they themselves are nightmarish begins. The ‘body snatchers’ aren’t invading Earth, or holding a planet hostage, they're simply trying to save the species from extinction. The existential crisis they face is dually felt by the audience since we also require an image we recognise in order to function. They can be desperate for survival (killing Inspector Gascoigne) or ruthless (the murder of a Policeman) if it means all their scheming will come to nothing. The Doctor himself seems remarkable impressed with them, wanting to find out what makes them ‘tick’ rather than destroying them to save the day. We never see the Chameleons again but does hope that they successfully find a more morally driven plan to save their own skins. 

Escapist in nature, The Faceless Ones marks the beginning of a new era for Doctor Who and makes a courageous attempt to push the

boundaries of the show, which were otherwise restricted in previous years. The familiar world of an earthly airport becomes the centre of an alien plot, and the levels of energy never seem to die out. **** 

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