Frontier In Space (1973) Review

"I am the Doctor's arch-villain!!" "NEGATIVE, WE ARE!!"

Frontier In Space is all over the place. It starts out with a dishwater-dull, but still understandable story and then the plot just gets stolen by the Master(a final "hell yeah!" for Roger Delgado) until concluding in a pretty bonkers way.

PLOT

The Daleks use the Master to manipulate the Human and Draconian Empires into war, until their plan is interfered in by the Doctor and Jo.

The first two episodes are some of the most boring Doctor Who has ever produced. It felt like a sequel to The Space Pirates, honest. After the Master shows up and literally kidnaps the Doctor and Jo from the story, it does perk up considerably, but make no mistake - the only thing saving Frontier In Space are the characters. Speaking of which...

CHARACTERS

Since this is Roger Delgado's final story, I feel it's appropriate to start with him. Now, I don't know if it's because the story sucks so much or because my mind is colored by the foreknowledge of his departure, but in my opinion, this is possibly Delgado's best performance.
The gentle way the Master treats his prisoners, all of his scenes with Jo Grant, his indignant arrest by the Draconians... Delgado rocks. He really does.

In fact, Episode 4 is just like Episode 4 of The Time Monster in the sense that it's just him, Katy Manning and Jon Pertwee being a cocktail of fun.

Yet, I think Delgado's comic talent is also what prevents him from being the best Master. Beyond Terror Of The Autons, he was never menacing or even dangerous. We only knew he was evil because he laughed at the wrong things. We never saw him actually do the wrong things. His gentlemanly behavior, especially towards Jo Grant, robbed him of the evil displayed by Anthony Ainley and John Simm later on.

I think General Williams was a really good character, a stick in the mud with a hint of villainy about him, but he ultimately turns out to be loyal, kind of like an even grumpier Captain Hart.

The Draconians are somewhat overestimated, in my opinion. Just because their design enables them to talk normally, they are cool? No.

The president showed remarkable sexism for being in charge of a future Earth, declaring Jo Grant to be corrupted by the Doctor despite the evidence being equally against them both.

NOTES

*The amount of times the same sets were reused in this story(most notably the prison cell) is just hilarious.

*I actually liked the story about the lunar prison. Mostly, because it's the nicest prison ever. Sleep whenever you want, do whatever you want...

*Where did the Master go at the end? The moment the Ogrons got frightened of the monster and accidentally clubbed the Doctor, he just disappeared.

*If the Ogrons worshipped the monster, why did they refer to it as "the monster"?

*The scene where the Master ranted about the Daleks was priceless.

*I also loved watching him tolerate the Ogrons' stupidity.

*Showing the future newscasts was a good decision, even if it didn't look very good.

*There's a nice hint of the Daleks' hatred(later revealed in Asylum Of The Daleks), when they allow the Master to keep the Doctor alive for him to witness the fall of the Human and Draconian Empires.

BEST QUOTE

"Right, we'll see who rules the galaxy when this is over. DO NOT FAIL THE DALEKS, indeed! You stupid tin boxes..."

CONCLUSION

Only for the Master fans.