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Season 5
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General Information

Season Start:02 September 1967
Season End:01 June 1968
Season Length:40 Weeks
Writers:Brian Hayles, David Whitaker, Gerry Davis, Henry Lincoln, Kit Pedler, Mervyn Haisman and Victor Pemberton
Directors:Barry Letts, Derek Martinus, Douglas Camfield, Gerald Blake, Hugh David, Morris Barry and Tristan de Vere Cole
Producers:Innes Lloyd and Peter Bryant
Story Editors:Derrick Sherwin, Peter Bryant and Victor Pemberton
Visual Effects:Bernard Wilkie, Bill King, Len Hutton, Michealjohn Harris, Peter Day, Ron Oates, Trading Post and Ulrich Grîsser
Title Sequence:Bernard Lodge
Title Music:Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Delia Derbyshire
Incarnation of the Doctor: The Second Doctor
Number of Companions: 3
The Companions: Jamie McCrimmon, Victoria Waterfield (Departs) and Zoe Heriot (Joins)
Number of Acquaintances: 1
The Acquaintances: Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart (Joins and Departs)
Number of Stories: 7
Number of Incomplete/Missing Stories: 5
Number of Episodes: 40
Number of Incomplete/Missing Episodes: 18
Percentages:
 Full Stories Held  29%
 Episodes Held  55%


Television Stories

No. Title Number of Episodes Production Code Status
37 The Tomb of the Cybermen4MMAll Held
38 The Abominable Snowmen6NNIncomplete
39 The Ice Warriors6OOIncomplete
40 The Enemy of the World6PPAll Held
41 The Web of Fear6QQIncomplete
42 Fury From the Deep6RRNone Held
43 The Wheel in Space6SSIncomplete


Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions) 7.2
The Best StoryThe Web of Fear (7.6)
The Worst Story The Tomb of the Cybermen (6.8), The Abominable Snowmen (6.8)
The Tomb of the Cybermen (6.8)The Abominable Snowmen (6.8)The Ice Warriors (7.3)The Enemy of the World (7.4)The Web of Fear (7.6)Fury From the Deep (7.2)The Wheel in Space (7.2)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (1998)
Season: 75.45%  (Position = 4 out of 27)
Best Story: The Tomb of the Cybermen (84.26%)
Worst Story: The Enemy of the World (62.27%)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009)
Season: 73.92% Lower (Position = 8 out of 31)
Best Story: The Web of Fear (83.36%)
Worst Story: The Wheel in Space (60.65%)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)
Season: 75.85% Higher (Position = 7 out of 36)
Best Story: The Web of Fear (85.50%)
Worst Story: The Wheel in Space (62.51%)


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The Villains

Cybermen The Tomb of the Cybermen and The Wheel in Space
Others Cybermats (The Tomb of the Cybermen), Giles Kent (The Enemy of the World), Salamander (The Enemy of the World), Seaweed Creature (Fury From the Deep), The Great Intelligence (The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear), The Ice Warriors (The Ice Warriors) and Yeti (The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear)


Quote of the Season


 'Our lives are different to anybody else's. That's the exciting thing. Nobody in the universe can do what we're doing.'

The Doctor
(The Tomb of the Cybermen)


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A Seasonal Summary


The Yeti
The Yeti
Patrick Troughton had successfully taken over the lead row and had made the part his own. Many at the time mourned the loss of William Hartnell playing the part. But a strong following for Patrick Troughton had already started. The Second Doctor was much more hands-on, more physical, and more prone to slapstick. The beginnings of this were evident in Season Four but it was in this season that they came to the fore. The type of stories reflected the more physical side that Patrick Troughton, along with Frazer Hines as companion Jamie McCrimmon, could bring to the show.

This season is renowned for its more futuristic and alien invasion storylines - Gone were the historical stories that had been the mainstay of the previous four seasons. The new format devised by Innes Lloyd and Gerry Davis truly came centre-stage with every story except for "The Enemy of the World" featuring monsters. Despite having so many monsters this season is more notable for being the first season not to include a Daleks story (apart from a complete repeat of "The Evil of the Daleks" that was shown after "The Wheel in Space"). Despite this it is still considered as the classic ‘monster’ season – and one of the best seasons of the whole show.

During this season, the Cybermen returned, for their third and fourth stories, to cause The Doctor more problems, and we were introduced to two new classic monsters: The Great Intelligence, with its dangerous servants the Yeti (in the only two stories they would appear in), and the conniving Martian soldiers - The Ice Warriors (The Ice Warriors would appear in three more stories. These being: next season’s "The Seeds of Death" and then with the Third Doctor in "The Curse of Peladon" and its sequel "The Monster of Peladon"). The Doctor would also have to face a duplicate of himself bent on world domination. But it was when the TARDIS was forced to land in the London Underground – thanks again to the interference of The Great Intelligence - that The Doctor joined forces, for the first time, with Colonel Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart (played by Nicholas Courtney). Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart is an Army Officer who would soon be promoted and would become the long lasting semi-regular character that is best known as The Brigadier of the newly created United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, or UNIT for short.

Continuing his travels with The Doctor was former Scottish piper Jamie McCrimmon (played by Frazer Hines) – who would remain with The Doctor right through his second incarnation. At the end of the previous season The Doctor and Jamie were joined by a young Victorian girl called Victoria Waterfield (played by Deborah Watling). She and Jamie would form a strong bond. So much so that Jamie would become devastated, at the end of "Fury From the Deep" - the penultimate story of this season - when Victoria elected to stay on earth rather than continue travelling in the TARDIS. The final story of the season would though introduce to the show new companion Zoe Heriot (played by Wendy Padbury).

Behind the camera major changes occurred midway through the season. Innes Lloyd's wish to leave the show was finally granted enabling him to hand over the producer’s role, as of "The Web of Fear", to Peter Bryant. Before becoming the full time producer Peter Bryant had been acting as Story Editor during the beginning of the season. As a trial he produced the season’s opening story "The Tomb of the Cybermen". With Peter Bryant now the show's permanent producer, Derrick Sherwin arrived to take over as Story Editor for the latter portion of this season.

Like the previous two seasons very few episodes survive to this day - even though this season was not as affected as much, by the junking of stories, as the previous season. Thanks to a lucky find in 1992 and 2013 we have two complete stories – the classic Cybermen story "The Tomb of the Cybermen", which was returned from Hong Kong, and "The Enemy of the World" which was discovered in Nigeria. Other gems still held in the BBC archives include: episode one of "The Abominable Snowmen" and all but episode three of its sequel "The Web of Fear" (which was also discovered in Nigeria in 2013), four of the six episodes of "The Ice Warriors" and episodes three and six of the season’s finale "The Wheel in Space". Sadly, apart from a few Australian censor clips, nothing remains of the classic "Fury From the Deep" - a story considered by many to be the greatest Doctor Who story.

Having only seven stories this has been the shortest season to-date. A trend that would continue as the demands to create more sophisticated stories continued to grow and with the prospect of the show being made in colour only just over a year away.



Things to Watch Out For


Defrosting Tombs
Defrosting Tombs
Like the previous two seasons there are very few episodes remaining in the archives but we are lucky that there is two complete stories still remaining – thanks to a surprise find, in 1992, when the "The Tomb of the Cybermen" was returned from Hong Kong, and then in 2013 "The Enemy of the World" was discovered, along with five episodes of "The Web of Fear", in Nigeria.

This story includes some notable firsts. It is the first time new companion Victoria Waterfield travels in the TARDIS; the first time we get to see Cybermats and the first appearance of the Cyber Controller. This story also includes the classic scenes of the tombs themselves (remember this was before CGI was invented). Frozen at first we get to see the tombs defrosting and the Cybermen inside start to come alive. As the Cybermen break out of their sealed compartments and make their way down to ground level, one central tomb remains sealed – inside which will emerge the Cybercontroller.

Other things to watch out for in this season include the Yeti terrorising the London Underground in "The Web of Fear" with the fantastic sets, created by David Myerscough-Jones, that were easily mistaken for being the real London Underground. Having made their debut in "The Abominable Snowmen" the Yeti proved to be so popular their return - in their sequel story, roaming the dark, claustrophobic tunnels - was to be even better. Proving they were a menace in the London Underground as well as on the Himalayan mountains.

Unfortunately the season’s best story, "Fury From the Deep", no longer exists in the BBC archives, except for a few short clips that were recovered from Australian Censors and silent 16mm colour location film. The audio soundtrack does exist and so even though we can no longer watch the seaweed creature attacking the oil rigs and The Doctor’s hair-raising piloting of the helicopter we can at least hear Victoria’s unique method of defeating the enemy. One scene that we can watch, thanks to it being considered to be the most horrifying scene in Doctor Who, is where Mr Quill and Mr Oak attack Maggie Harris in her quarters by emitting a toxic gas from their gapping mouths.

The Cybermen would return again in this season’s finale, "The Wheel in Space". Despite being another story including the menacing Cybermen, and where the Cybermats are used again to devastating effect, this story is more renowned for being the introduction of new companion Zoe Heriot. Her role on The Wheel, as the parapsychology librarian, means that she's received brainwashing-like training in logic and memory. Zoe's abilities may not be in question but The Doctor’s statement ‘Logic, my dear Zoe, merely enables one to be wrong with authority’ sums up her whole upbringing perfectly. Even though only two episodes currently exist there is just enough of this story remaining to be able to appreciate the lengths the Cybermen will go to, in their continued quest to invade Earth, and also how Victoria’s recent departure, having left a huge hole in Jamie McCrimmon’s heart, is so quickly filled.



High and Low Points


Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart
Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart
It would be unfair to specify any particular story in this season as being its low point. As can be seen above two stories "The Tomb of the Cybermen" and "The Abominable Snowmen" both share the lowest viewing figures (each with 6.8 million viewers). Both stories though are considered to be fantastic stories (as pointed out above in Things to Watch Out For) and even though they have the lowest viewing figures for this season they are still high when compared to other less liked stories from previous seasons. Even the only non-monster story "The Enemy of the World" has high production values and with its unique Doctor Double storyline even this story is highly regarded.

While the story with the highest viewing figures goes to "The Web of Fear" (with 7.6 million viewers). The highly acclaimed sets, and the creepy scenes of the Yeti taking over the London Underground make this story a true classic. But the highest point of this story, and of the whole season has to go to the first collaboration between The Doctor and Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart (in this story as a Colonel) who would be destined to become the long lasting semi-regular character that is best known as The Brigadier. Interesting the first sight of Colonel Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart is of his boots as he walks through the tunnels at the very end of episode two. His first meeting with The Doctor is in episode three – which is sadly lost.


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First and Last

The Firsts:

 The first appearance of the Cybercontroller. (The Tomb of the Cybermen)

 The first appearance of the Cybermats. (The Tomb of the Cybermen)

 Peter Bryant's first involvement in the show as Producer. (The Tomb of the Cybermen)

 The first appearance of The Yeti. (The Abominable Snowmen)

 The first appearance of The Ice Warriors. (The Ice Warriors)

 The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Barry Letts. (The Enemy of the World)

 The first appearance in Doctor Who of Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart (aka The Brigadier) played by Nicholas Courtney. (The Web of Fear)

 Derrick Sherwin's first involvement in the show as Story Editor. (The Web of Fear)

 The first appearance of The Doctor's sonic screwdriver. (Fury From the Deep)

 The introduction of companion Zoe played by Wendy Padbury. (The Wheel in Space)

 The first story to have incidental music score and sound effects provided by the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop. (The Wheel in Space)


The Lasts (Subject to Future Stories):

 Innes Lloyd's last involvement in the show as Producer. (The Enemy of the World)

 The last story to be produced under the aegis of Doctor Who creator Sydney Newman. (The Enemy of the World)

 Deborah Watling's last story as companion Victoria. (Fury From the Deep)



In Print

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time)Season 5 Special
Doctor Who Magazine - Episode GuideIssue 143 - (Released: December 1988)
Doctor Who Magazine - Countdown to 50Issue 434 - (Released: June 2011)


Additional Stories

TitleRelease Date (UK)FormatSourceCompanions
Twilight of the GodsSeptember 1996NovelThe Missing Adventures Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield
The Dark PathMarch 1997NovelThe Missing Adventures Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield
Dreams of EmpireAugust 1998NovelThe Past Doctors Stories Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield
Heart of TARDISJune 2000NovelThe Past Doctors Stories Jamie McCrimmon, Victoria Waterfield, The Brigadier, Sergeant Benton and Romana
Combat RockJuly 2002NovelThe Past Doctors Stories Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield
Gemini: Twin PiquesDecember 2002Short StoryThe Big Finish Short Trips 1: Zodiac Jamie McCrimmon
Urania: The Astronomer’s ApprenticeSeptember 2003Short StoryThe Big Finish Short Trips 4: The Muses Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield
The Farmer's StoryJune 2004Short StoryThe Big Finish Short Trips 8: Repercussions Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield
ScreamagerAugust 2004Short StoryThe Big Finish Short Trips 9: Monsters Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield
The Last EmperorOctober 2004Short StoryThe Big Finish Short Trips 10: 2040 Jamie McCrimmon, Victoria Waterfield and Frobisher
Saint Nicholas's BonesDecember 2005Short StoryThe Big Finish Short Trips 15: The History of Christmas Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield
The RevolutionariesDecember 2005Short StoryThe Big Finish Short Trips 15: The History of Christmas Jamie McCrimmon
Father FigureMarch 2006Short StoryThe Big Finish Short Trips 16: Farewells Victoria Waterfield
The LostSeptember 2006Short StoryThe Big Finish Short Trips 17: The Centenarian Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield
Fear of the DaleksFebruary 2007AudioThe Big Finish Audio Stories (Companion Chronicles) Zoe Heriot
Across Silent SeasJune 2007Short StoryThe Big Finish Short Trips 20: Destination Prague Jamie McCrimmon
The Cutty WrenDecember 2007Short StoryThe Big Finish Short Trips 22: The Ghosts of Christmas Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield
Christmas PresenceDecember 2007Short StoryThe Big Finish Short Trips 22: The Ghosts of Christmas Jamie McCrimmon
On a PedestalMarch 2008Short StoryThe Big Finish Short Trips 24: The Quality of Leadership Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield
One Step Forward, One Step BackMarch 2008Short StoryThe Big Finish Short Trips 23: Defining Patterns Jamie McCrimmon and Vislor Turlough
The Great Space ElevatorAugust 2008AudioThe Big Finish Audio Stories (Companion Chronicles) Victoria Waterfield
Face-PainterMay 2009Short StoryThe Big Finish Short Trips 29: Re:Collections Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield
The Age of AmbitionMay 2009Short StoryThe Big Finish Short Trips 29: Re:Collections Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield
The Emperor of EternityMarch 2010AudioThe Big Finish Audio Stories (Companion Chronicles) Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield

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Photo Gallery


The Doctor and Companions/Acquaintance

 
Patrick Troughton
The Second Doctor

   
Frazer Hines
Jamie McCrimmon
Deborah Watling
Victoria Waterfield
Nicholas Courtney
Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart
   
Wendy Padbury
Zoe Heriot





Magazines

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time): Season 5 Special
Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time): Season 5 Special

CMS
Doctor Who Magazine - Episode Guide: Issue 143
Doctor Who Magazine - Episode Guide: Issue 143

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - Countdown to 50: Issue 434
Doctor Who Magazine - Countdown to 50: Issue 434

Marvel Comics
   


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