The Night Walkers (1969) Review

Dalek font...?

The Night Walkers, as very few will know, is the Second Doctor's real regeneration story. How can this be? FOR HE IS THE KWISATZ- let's take a look.

PLOT

Hearing of a mysterious case of walking scarecrows on a mystery talk show, Dr. Who is compelled to investigate, but his curiosity will be his undoing...

ANALYSIS

Okay, so what happened was that given the enigmatic conclusion to The War Games, the creators of Doctor Who's comic line had no choice but to continue with Patrick Troughton's incarnation until they themselves found out what was going on in the next aired story.

As such, they created a sort of proto-Season 6B that suggested the Doctor had somehow eluded the Time Lords before regenerating whilst still being exiled to Earth. More on that later.

As for the story, it's sadly really nothing more than a plot device to get rid of the Second Doctor as a new era was beginning and this peculiar extension of his era was no longer required. Nevertheless, it remains an interesting curio as the one and only time the character's regeneration was depicted in the comics as opposed to TV or even audio.

NOTES

*If Dr. Who is supposedly in hiding, what's he doing on TV? And who do these people even think he is?

*I love that his season 4 chimney hat makes a reappereance. I assume, given the Second Doctor's fairytale-esque comic run, that it stuck around?

*How did Dr. Who escape, exactly? It's implied the Time Lords have his TARDIS, so was he taken to Earth to be regenerated there and broke loose? Or did he escape Gallifrey via other means and if so, why go exactly where they wanted him to? And what happened to him at the end of The War Games then?

*Surely the Time Lords could've found a less conspicuous way to capture Dr. Who and take him away than this scarecrow business. What made them assume the farmer would go to the show anyway?

BEST QUOTE

"The banging you hear every Friday within your walls is probably the lodger taking his weekly bath." - The Doctor's remarkably risque response to mrs. Swiggins' mystery.

CONCLUSION

It's cool simply because of what it is, but could've been made amazing with... well, an actual story.