| An underrated Dr Who story from 1967, this one is largely ignored or dismissed by many because, I suspect it doesn't have the visceral thrills of a shambling alien menace like Ice Warriors or Yeti with which the good Doctor can do battle. Nevertheless ENEMY OF THE WORLD is an enjoyable yarn with plenty of rather more subtle things going for it. First of all there's a great double performance by Patrick Troughton, both as the Doctor (version no. 2) and also as the titular villain: Salamander. The latter is a Mexican politician in the not too distant future, on a mission to take over the planet. His methods? Predicting earthquakes and volcanic eruptions all over the world(which he himself is causing)and then annexing the beleagured areas. Troughton's Salamander is a ruthless, conscienceless tyrant who bears much resemblance to many a Bond villain in his ambitions and deeds. It is he as well as the exotic foreign locations of the story (Australia and Eastern Europe) that causes many fans to proclaim it an attempt by the show's creators to "do James Bond". This, though is not really an adequate way to explain the appeal of the tale. For a start, it's evident to anyone who has seen the sole surviving episode on film (episode 3), that the show's budget is not up to the glamour or action set-pieces of Sean Connery's contemporary outings as 007. Furthermore it lacks lots of other ingredients that go into making your average spy romp: there's no love interest, no high speed car chases, no climactic gun battles, no living it up in 5-star hotels or casinos. So what are we left with? Well, it's more like a futuristic version of the historical Who stories during the Hartnell period (e.g.THE CRUSADE, THE AZTECS or MARCO POLO) where the emphasis is on interesting and often colourful characters vying with each other to gain power within an enclosed court or society. If you're up for it then it's lots of fun. There are many cracking performances to hold the attention. Particularly good is Milton John's sadistic Benik. My favourite moment is when he is threatening the Doctor's companion Victoria (played by Deborah Watling). The other companion, Jamie(Frazer Hines), says: "You must have been a nasty little boy."
"Oh yes," agrees Benik, "but I had an absolutely wonderful childhood!" We also get Salamander's resentful food taster Fariah (slightly maddeningly, we never discover the reasons for Salamander's hold over her), the grumpy palace chef Griff and the rebel Astrid; an action babe very much in the mould of THE AVENGERS. The cast of underground slaves who are manipulated by Salamander into doing his manufactured "Acts of God" are a bit colourless and difficult to care about, but this is a minor quibble when the rest of the plot is so engaging. In the end, it's Troughton's show; and you can really tell, even on a soundtrack, just how much work the actor put into making both his parts as credible and as distinct from one another as possible. ENEMY... will never receive the acclaim of say, THE WEB OF FEAR, but it is a surprising little gem nonetheless. A further proof of DR WHO's ability to be inventive and format-breaking, even during a period where lots of its peers were just variations on the base-under-siege-by-alien-menace theme. |
