Frontier in Space

"The path you are treading leads only to war."

Writer: Malcolm Hulke

Format: TV

Broadcast: 24 February - 31 March 1973

Season: 10.03

Featuring: Third Doctor, Jo

Synopsis

It is the year 2450, and a fragile peace exists between the great empires of Earth and Draconia. The TARDIS materialises aboard an Earth cargo ship which comes under attack. Arrested and accused of espionage, the Doctor is sentenced to life imprisonment on the Moon, but salvation arrives in an unexpected form... 

Can the Doctor and Jo stop the Master's plans to provoke a galactic war and reveal the deadly enemy waiting for the chance to destroy both empires?

Verdict

Frontier in Space was an excellent serial! I probably shouldn't have watched this one long after watching the following serial of Planet of the Daleks as things very much felt like they were not finished by the end, but as a whole this was a fantastic adventure! I really enjoyed the dynamic of the futuristic setting with the empires of Earth and Draconia very much established and with a lot of history that had led to a peace treaty which we saw very much under threat here. I was really impressed with that aspect of the serial and I thought it worked very well to not introduce the Master until around halfway through proceedings. The Doctor and Jo's arrival on the cargo ship established us with a good start and their role in increasing tensions between Earth and Draconia was great stuff. The relationship between the Doctor and Jo throughout was wonderful and it was so much fun for them to just be getting on and enjoying each other's company. I totally forgot that the Ogrons appeared in this serial and it was something that amused me greatly given that I had just read The Romance of Crime a few days ago and that was a novel they were very much prominent in! They didn't actually have a lot to do in this story but they still continue to be amusing and I liked how Jo sold them being the brutes that they are as she was genuinely frightened of them. However, the Doctor didn't seem overly worried given their stupidity and that role playing into their inability to be subjected to the mind probe was great. The Master's arrival into proceedings as the Commissioner was magnificent and a perfectly subtle reveal as he just sauntered onto the screen in his full garb. The music effects that accompanied that were very good and Jo's reaction was marvellous. The explanation as to how the Master knew the Doctor and Jo were involved being that he had been sighted the TARDIS after the Ogrons captured it was brilliant. Jo had a sensational serial and this might be my favourite story for her. The way she was deducing the plan when trapped was a lot of fun with how it was annoying the Doctor as he tried to think and then her keeping talking to consume the Master's ears while the Doctor escaped the cell was wonderful. A highlight for me was the nursery rhymes reciting to prevent the Master from hypnotising her. Magnificent. The political nature of the serial was terrific and something I really liked and works really well. The plot of the Master is superb with him pitting the empires against each other and using the hallucinogenic sound to make each side see their opposition when it was actually the Ogrons who were attacking and taking cargo. Williams in particular not having any of that and his distain towards the Draconians was obvious. I thought the Draconians themselves were brilliant and their design and look is really great. It's an instant classic in terms of their costume and I also enjoyed the Doctor having a history on Draconia where he was granted nobility by the Fifteenth Emperor. With the talk of a space plague that he helped prevent, I'm amazed Big Finish are yet to turn those events into an audio drama! The moment where the Daleks are introduced is very good despite it probably coming a little too late, but it's still an impactful moment and the image of the Master and the Daleks together is sublime. What more of an alliance could you want? The end result is more of a lead into the next serial but that brief partnership is a delight. The Gold Dalek sounded a little strange but its air of authority was very good. I thought the ending of events between the empires was a little rushed as we headed to all things Daleks, but it was good to leave things in a sense of agreement between the empires. Overall, a brilliant serial! 

Rating: 9/10