The Faceless Ones

"Your personnel are being systematically replaced."

Writers: David Ellis & Malcolm Hulke
Format: TV (Animation)
Released: March 2020
Season: 4.08

Featuring: Second Doctor, Polly, Ben, Jamie

Synopsis

The Doctor and his friends Ben, Polly and Jamie arrive at Gatwick Airport. They quickly stumble upon an alien plot, centring upon the mysterious "Chameleon Tours' – a low-price holiday company, whose young passengers have been vanishing in unexplained circumstances.

With the help of Scotland Yard and the airport staff, the Doctor investigates further, but it isn't long before his own friends start disappearing too.

What is happening to the passengers of Chameleon Tours? Where are the company's planes really going? Can the Doctor unravel the mystery of Chameleon Tours before it's too late?

Verdict

The Faceless Ones was a great story that has been fantastically restored will full colour animation! Prior to my watching of the animation of The Macra Terror on BritBox a couple of months ago, I would have chose to watch this one in the black and white version and I almost certainly would have watched episodes one and three in their original versions as they are the ones which luckily survived. However, when BritBox didn't give me choice to watch the Macra in black and white, I found myself actually thoroughly enjoying so I went with the colour option for the DVD here. I must admit that I find myself scratching my head a little when it comes to the fact that episodes one and three exist in animation when there's really no need for them to, but I watched the complete set in colour animation and I have to say I was thoroughly impressed. I think I have come to understand that animation works much better in colour and it gives a very different feeling than the monochrome colours the story was initially broadcast in. After reading a relatively recent The Fact of Fiction article on this adventure in DWM, I found many of the elements of the adventure familiar which actually surprised me given that it's been some six years since I blogged the original with the reconstructions available. Alas, I have yet to purchase the Target novelisation so I thought my memory was doing wonders! This story is obviously synonymous with being the farewell adventure for Polly and Ben as companions and whilst their moment at the end with the Doctor and Jamie and how they get to goodbye and leave right back where they started in The War Machines is touching, it's criminal that this scene is their only one of the last half of their final story. Polly goes down as one of my very favourite companions and I love that the animations thus far have given me more of her – we've even named our kitten after her! – and she is clearly quite emotional at leaving, but the pair can't resist going home. Samantha fills the companion role for that second half well and I really did love her relationship with Jamie. It's surprising given the way companions were picked up during this era that she didn't stay along with the Doctor and Jamie. I think she'd have been a lot of fun and having the potential of a romantic pairing in the TARDIS would have been a different dynamic. I thought the Chameleons were drawn very well in the animation and they certainly looked different to what we got on screen in the original. The plot is a very good one and I loved the airport setting. It really works well and I have to commend those behind the project for their little Easter eggs in including wanted posters for two versions of the Master that are synonymous with the Third and Thirteenth Doctors. That was subtly really well done and something I very much appreciated. Seeing the opening titles in colour for this era will still take some getting used to, but I thought all four main characters were depicted tremendously well. It was such a weird feeling to be seeing Jamie talking without his Scottish accent towards the end when he had been taken over by the Chameleons. That just felt off in so many ways which was very good. I like the plot as a whole and the moment where the Inspector reveals himself as the Director is a brilliant moment, even if he is overruled by his own people far too easily at the end as they agree to the Doctor's terms of continued existence after the doubles are found. The concept of the doubles is a lot of fun to play with and works very well. One other thing I want to mention about the animation is the humour that came with Jamie holding the upside down newspaper! That was marvellous. As a whole, this is a story I very much enjoy and getting to see it in colour animation and right the way through was a wonderful treat. Overall, a terrific animated story!

Rating: 8/10