Time Stream #15 - The Space Museum

          When Doctor Who began, its plan was to have three different kinds of stories: sci-fi adventures in the future, historical trips to the past, and finally stories that sort of go… sideways. “Edge of Destruction” and “Planet of Giants” were both “sideways” stories, although I would argue that “Destruction” fulfilled that remit a lot more successfully. “The Space Museum” begins as a story that goes sideways, and begins brilliantly I might add, and then Episodes Two, Three and Four happen.

          But, let’s start at the beginning. Episode One has a similar tone “The Edge of Destruction,” and this is by no means a bad thing.  There is suspense, surrealism, and a general foreboding that has all of the TARDIS crew on edge throughout the episode. When the end comes, our four travelers come face to face with themselves as displays in the museum and it’s a genuinely disturbing moment. How could this happen? How will they escape? How CAN they escape if it hasn’t happened to them yet? It’s a great cliffhanger moment, and sadly, one which is horribly let down by the three episodes that follow.

          To be fair, the questions that the cliffhanger asks are answered pretty close to immediately. That is also one of the problems. Once the explanation of “the TARDIS jumped a time track” is given, then the rest of the story has each member of the crew questioning whether what they do (or don’t do) is what leads them to their fate as an exhibit. This could have been a great surreal episode, questioning fate and destiny, and I could easily see how if this were a two-parter it would have been similar to the far superior “Edge of Destruction.” Unfortunately what actually happens is that the TARDIS team gets caught up in one of the most pitiful rebellions against the most ridiculous oppressors. Three episodes are devoted to the Xeron rebellion, and although there are some good moments, the story never fulfills the promise of that first episode.

          In one of the DVD’s special features, author Robert Shearman (“Dalek” amongst many others) rightly praises Episode One, but hypothesizes that the whole story is meant to be a comedy, a pastiche of the kind of story which Doctor Who usually does. The Moroks are meant to be a bunch of clods, and the Xerons are a group of beatniks in black jeans and tennis shoes. I just can’t agree. I want to, I really do, if only to help sustain the promise of Episode One. But I just don’t see it. There is comedy to be sure—Vicki as the spark that lights the flame of rebellion, the Doctor’s ability to outwit the mind scanner with ridiculous images. Ian gets a good line or two although he’s a bit whiny about the “What do we do???” business. Barbara, comes off the worst as she really doesn’t HAVE much to do. If this was meant to be a comedy, a la “The Romans,” it could have easily been played as farce or parody. But the earnestness of all involved isn’t the earnestness of those who are in on the joke. The guest cast, including a VERY pre-Boba Fett Jeremy Bulloch, is so sincere that laughing at this as a comedy would just seem cruel.

          “The Space Museum” is by no means horrible, but it commits the major crime of simply being dull. The promise of the first episode is broken by the subsequent ones. I wish it *had* been a comedy, or at the very least a knowing pastiche of the traditional Doctor Who story, just to give a little more depth to the proceedings. But alas, it was not to be. Much like “An Unearthly Child”, “The Space Museum” starts out strong but is hampered by the other episodes that make up the whole tale. It’s not the nadir of Doctor Who, just an unfortunate sideways misstep.

NEXT EPISODE: The Chase