I've not read Ian Marter's other novelisations but his version of the Reign of Terror was very interesting. It fleshes out the historical context of the story and makes a stab at explaining the often overlooked point of language by simply having the characters have to converse in both English and French - which actually causes some issues that were not explained in the TV version of the story.

The description of violence at certain points (Barbara's rejection of the jailer, Robespierre's capture) is more violent than would have been the case in a 60s show aimed primarily at children although is more accurate in the case of Robespierre. There's more general historical exposition (which I think makes the historical novelisations quite interesting) - often making use of Barbara's history teacher role. One of the points in this is that the fact that the characters are English and aren't fluent in French is a plot point - the Doctor doesn't have an issue blending in, Barbara and Susan can speak very well but stand out as English while Ian struggles to get by and this causes a number of issues (Ian speaking to Le Maitre in the jail, exposing Barbara and Susan in the Doctors office) which I think is interesting. This question was ignored mostly in the classic series and the TARDIS translation circuits are used as a justification in the modern series; so seeing this story use language as a plot point is actually really quite interesting.

Its a faithful retelling of the TV story in other areas and I broadly would recommend that over this - but I think both are interesting to look at.

There was only a single one part story in classic Doctor Who - and really that was a prologue for a twelve-part Dalek epic so it doesn't really count. It appears to have not been something that any of the production teams over the years ever considered as a possibility - but I think this little story shows that it possibly could have worked.

The story of this is that Moris Farhi wrote this single part story as a model script without being commissioned by the production office; but it got him a commission for Farewell Great Macedon (where in place of a storyline; he wrote six complete scripts due to his discovered love for the period). It was never seriously considered for production and I don't think it would have fit the era at all; but I really loved the context of this story. It weirdly feels a lot like one of the various short stories that are told and I also really like those; as it fleshes out the experiences of the characters - surely travels in the TARDIS is not all danger and near death. It also feels a lot like those as it is primarily a character piece involving Barbara and a character called Rhythm

The TARDIS crew have spent a prolonged period on the planet Fragrance where Barbara has struck up a friendship with a young man called Rhythm. Repairs to the TARDIS have been completed to the crew are ready to go - but Rhythm has fallen in love with Barbara so asks her to stay. The cultural norms on Fragrance are that love only happens once and if rejected (or if the other person dies) then your life is forfeit and you must also die. Rhythm's parents - who have helped the Doctor repair a key component - demand that they make Barbara stay but the Doctor and Ian refuse; and so as the TARDIS crew depart Rhythm sails out to sea, and appears to set fire to himself and his boat. Its a remarkably dark idea for this era of Doctor Who (and I don't think would have been made) and touches on some interesting themes of love and cultural differences that wouldn't have been covered at that time.

The acting is remarkably good - the desperation of Rhythm's parents and sisters towards the Doctor, Ian and Susan is notably good. The sound design also works as well.

This story isn't for people that want more traditional Doctor Who (with a bigger general peril and villain - where there isn't one here) - but if you like more different things then this is well worth a listen.

Un-made Doctor Who stories are always interesting - a lot of the time you can tell why they might not have been produced (and sometimes that it was a good thing they weren't!); but sometimes you get something incredibly special. Both stories in the first Lost Stories First Doctor Boxset are special; but Farewell, Great Macedon is really quite remarkable. The production by Big Finish is also good - especially considering that its one of their longer stories at over four hours.

This is a true historical that fits well with the others from the first season of Doctor Who. It is based around the last days of Alexander the Great; around a plot from a number of people in his court to kill him and his heirs in order to take power in the Macedonian Empire for themselves; and is excellently paced throughout with some very good cliffhangers. It manages to stand out narratively speaking from the other true historicals at that time - one example of this is that unlike the other stories the TARDIS crew aren't prisoners forced to stay in the time they are in: other than a brief period where they are accused of Hephisteon's death (where Alexander never truly believes them to be the culprits) they are theoretically free to go but want to spend time with Alexander.

John Dorney's portrayal of Alexander is very good: he gets him across as someone that can inspire loyalty and emotion; while also being difficult at times. Considering the small size of the cast (this being the period where First doctor Big Finish stories weren't full cast - unfortunate as a full cast version of this could have been excellent) this is key - William Russell does a good job as Ian (and his First Doctor works as well - although not as good as others); and Carole-Ann Ford as Susan and Barbara also works. The sound design is brilliant - I listened while watching the TV series and while it's clearly a modern production it doesn't feel that out there relative to the TV shows. The end of the story is very emotional - Alexander going to his own death and refusing the help of the Doctor and Ian; the immediate collapse of the Empire that he built and the death of a dream of world unity worked very well.

There are a few points that might be negatives - I think there's a risk that stories like this may white-wash some not great periods in history (but then again; this is remarkably accurate for a Doctor Who historical); and this story had religious overtones at times that felt out of place for even 60s Doctor Who (and I understand there were even more removed from the draft script) and the format of three actors + narration might not click for everyone - but if it does and you like your early Doctor Who this is a must listen.

I'm a sucker for a Doctor Who pure historical - especially in the shows first season. Its remarkable that the three stories here take up very different approaches to the same problem of needing the TARDIS to be inaccessible - Marco Polo has the crew all together throughout with Marco holding the key hostage to sell to Kublai Khan, the Aztecs has the TARDIS locking in Yataxa's tomb where the crew cannot access easily, and where Barbara ends up in a key position; and here where the French Revolution results in Ian, Barbara and Susan being arrested and the Doctor needing to recover them.

The story is simple - the Doctor is keen to throw Ian and Barbara off the TARDIS because of a perceived slight at the end of the Sensorites (one of the weaker cliffhangers between stories); the TARDIS lands in revolutionary France mid-Reign of Terror and the crew blunders into a safe house of a group of people opposed of Robespierre right as it is discovered. Ian, Barbara and Susan are arrested and sent to Paris and the guillotine; while the Doctor (almost burned to death) ends up taking on the role of a provincial official to get them back to safety. I think this is a story where interest in the period is required to fully appreciate: especially the terrifying nature of revolutionary France. The side story is also interesting; with an attempt to try and discover the identity of James Sterling, an English spy, who ends up being one of the key officials in the prison in charge of executions.

The set designs in this are good considering the budget of the show; I like the Direction (even though from all reports it was one of the more chaotic production jobs, with the Director having a breakdown mid-show) and the aminiation of the lost episodes is very functional for what it is - although clearly produced on a budget.

Negatives might include the animation point above (which also has some of the poorer audio quality of a Doctor Who story - and one where I hope recent discoveries of fan recordings may help them improve for the Season 1 Collection Blu-Ray when that comes); I think they probably could have achieved everything in four episodes and also the fact that again Susan is really not used at all well here - she spends basically the entire story locked up and when she isn't she's sick (which results in her and Barbara being re-locked up again).

The Sensorites is a pretty good story; and one that I think is well suited to a book adaptation. I've not read many of these (I'm going through in TV order) but I like Nigel Robinson's novelisations - he grew up watching this era and its clear that he has a strong understanding of the characters and the tone of this era. This story isn't one with large amounts of action which benefits the novelisation; it allows Robinson to go into the thinking of the various characters and to build the appropriate tone. It doesn't dramatically change the story or add major amounts; but worth a read if you like the core idea of the TV story (especially if the pace isn't your liking).

I was pleasantly surprised revisiting this story how much I enjoyed it - I remember this being a very slow, drawn out story with not much happening but there's a lot more there. I'm a sucker for stories with political intrigue and while what is here is fairly surface level (the City Administrator is sceptical of the humans and wants them killed, the Elders disagree so he gets himself the position of Second Elder to achieve that goal) but it works. The early episodes have this dark ominous tone that really helps this story and I think helps to subvert expectations - all the aliens met so far have been evil (Daleks, Voord); and so this is subverted quickly when the Sensorites turn out to be friendly; if very different.

The other thing this story does well is that it's the best use of Susan in the whole TV series - if only because it takes advantage of her not being human for the first time. Her telepathy is what establishes a connection with the Sensorites and opens the door between the humans trapped on the ship and the Sensorites; and is crucial at finding the Doctor and Ian (lost in the aqueduct after being captured by the previous set of humans who were trying to poison the Sensorites).

I do think the slow pace broadly does hurt this story - especially between a pair of the top tier historical stories which have slightly quicker pace. Overall though this is worth a watch.

I'm not going to re-review this story but instead focus on the differences between this and the TV version. I really enjoyed the TV story and felt this was not as good.

Lucarotti again does a good job at expanding elements of the story - his descriptions of food is a mark of his novelisations and I cannot say that I complain about that. It also makes clearer some of the additional elements of the story - the Doctor's feelings to Cameca; some of the more conflicted emotions of the Aztec sides and similar. Additionally this story is truer to the overall character dynamics to Lucarotti's novelisation of Marco Polo - with the Doctor not dominating things as much as he did there.

However there are elements that feel slightly drawn out that didn't on the TV story which is only four parts. In addition I was shocked that the novelisation added some additional Christian undertones to Barbara and Ian's thinking - while that isn't shocking for the overall context of their stories it also feels weird to me considering the evolution of the Aztecs and I'm not a massive fan.

Overall this is a decent read but definitely a downgrade on the TV story.

The Aztecs continues the trend of the true historicals in Season 1 being better than the sci-fi stories. The four part length of the story coupled with John Lucarotti's faster-paced script helps this; but also this story introduces a number of elements that Doctor Who would use later on.

The TARDIS crew lands inside an Aztec tomb of Yetaxa - a fictional Aztec high priest-cum-God, with Barbara having studied the Aztecs being particularly interested. She find the secret exit from the tomb having picked up Yetaxa's bracelet and therefore is immediately considered to be a God reincarnate and the others in the TARDIS crew her servants. Ian is sent to the barracks to be a contender to lead the Aztec army (challenging Ixta, the long-time leader); the Doctor to the garden as an elderly man living out his last days while Susan stays with Barbara initially - until she intervenes in a human sacrifice attempting to change history where she loses the trust of Tlotoxl, the High Priest of Sacrifice, who then sees her as a false god. From then the main story is about getting back inside the tomb to the TARDIS while retaining the support they have - in particular from Autloc, the High Priest of Knowledge - to last as long as possible.

This main thing this story adds in is the point that you cannot change known history - as the Doctor tells Barbara: "you cannot change history, not one line!". That is the main point of this story: Barbara who is featured heavily as almost the main character (being a God) attempts to try and change things to ensure that her beloved Aztecs survive only for that to only cause problems for them: Susan is taken to a seminary to learn Aztecs ways and they lose trust of key people in the civilisation. This is something that becomes important throught Doctor Who and I think this is a perfect introduction of the concept simply because it makes sense why Barbara would want to try and change things; but also historically why it cannot happen. Jacqueline Hill does a great job playing Barbara here in, alongside the Keys of Marinus, some of the main stories that features Barbara in a major capacity.

It also features some of the early signs of romance involving the Doctor, who accidentally gets engaged to Cameca, an older Aztec lady. Its clear that the Doctor does have some sort of affection there which adds to this - and really its one of the few examples in the classic series of this sort of theme being explored which makes it remarkable that its in one of the early stories.

The production is very good - considering the overall budget the sets appear as convincing as you'd expect. It also feels like an authentic characterisation of the other cast members - while Tlotoxl is clearly the villain of the piece his reasons for being so make sense - his core beliefs are being challenged by a set of people who are, in fact, being dishonest themselves and as we know Barbara is not in fact a God he has no reason to trust her; and while Aztec beliefs are not ones that we would follow; it would take more than being preached to by a random outside to trust them. Autloc is the voice of reason on that side - but his reward is to simply lose his faith in the core Aztec teachings and leave the city while Tlotoxl retains his power; so there's a strong argument that Barbara's intervention was in fact harmful. While a lot of stories have a clear hero and villain; this feels surprising nuanced for early Doctor Who.

In terms of negatives; this is another story where Susan is sidelined - admittedly Carol-Ann Ford was on holiday for two weeks in the middle of filming which is a factor in this; but she spends her time being treated how to be a good house wife and almost being married off to the Perfect Victim - which considering recent stories adds onto her being misused.

Overall - this is a very good, engaging story that while not perfect is a highlight of early Doctor Who.

I was curious about this novelisation as its by Phillip Hinchcliffe; who produced one of the best periods of Doctor Who history; especially as this was a story from a very different era. However - as perhaps expected by the era that this was novelised - this isn't massively different from the TV story.

The writing itself is a very good description of the TV story - although that means that there's not much reason to read this on top of the TV story. There are a few moments when the writing explains a few differential things and a few times where Hinchcliffe went slightly off script (mostly to add to the intrigue of the story - especially the section when they are in the mountains) but not a lot. This contrasts with some elements that don't translate as well to the written page - in particular the hunt for the first key where the TV show gets over the idea that the others are brainwashed while Barbara isn't in a much greater way than this story initially (where it looks like she's the one in the wrong initially).

On the whole; worth a look if you enjoy the TV story but not remarkably different to it.

For some reason; I'd forgotten how much I enjoy the Keys of Marinus. Before this rewatch I had it in my head as a below average story that dragged; with the court room stuff being slow. None of that is true - this is one of the faster paced 60s Doctor Who stories, especially in contrast to a lot of the early sci-fi shows in the series.

It's an incredibly ambitious story; in a way it feels like four separate stories to fetch each key with an overarching arc with the fetch to get the keys. I understand why this is not something that was done more often (it is expensive to need a whole new set of sets every week) but it makes this stand out very well.

The individual stories however are somewhat inconsistent. The Voord don't really stand out as villains (probably why they've never returned on TV since this story; despite being the second ever set of alien villains) and the opening episode is one bit that moves slowly; but George Colouris's portrayal of Arbitan is very good - especially for a single part guest character. The story in Morphoton is an incredibly creative idea that I'd love to see the new series return to - the TARDIS crew are immediately brainwashed into thinking they are in some lavish environment as part of a scheme to completely brainwash them into working for the brains that control the city; Barbara manages to accidentally prevent this which means that she sees right through things and is the star of the show in terms of ending their rule over the city - while Ian, the Doctor and Susan are completely under their control. One of the thing this story does very well in making a strong use of the support cast (helped by Hartnell skipped episodes 3 and 4 for a holiday) and this is a perfect example.

Episode 3 feels like filler - but at least more interesting filler than other stories. The design of the forest set is impressive considering that it probably was the size of a shoebox; although the story is primarily 'Ian/Barbara fall into traps, barely escape, rince repeat'. It's an old Doctor Who staple; but feels awkward here. The fourth episode picks up - this is the section of the story where Ian gets to shine with him single-handedly rescuing Altus and somehow convincing the burly tracker to accompany them to the mountains. Its not remarkable but fits in here.

Episodes 5 and 6 are great - as the story goes into pure courtroom drama. Ian is accused of murder and theft of the final key; and stands trial in a justice system where individuals are guilty until proven innocent. The courtroom scenes are pure Phoenix Wright stuff 40 years before that existed: the Doctor as defence attorney is great with the examination of Sabitha leading to the death of Aydan; and the deception of Kala comes across very well. It's very well put together; and makes you want this to have been a bit more of the overall structure of the story.

The end feels like an anti-climax: Arbitan is dead and a Voord is wearing his cloak in the worst disguise ever; and Ian gives them the fake key to cause the Conscious of Marinus blows up. I also like that Altos and Sabitha are not particularly exciting characters with some very... awkward acting: and the alleged romance between the two doesn't come across and that doesn't help with investment in the overall story arc. Susan is the one character in the main four that doesn't get a chance to shine - Barbara has the entire second episode and finding Susan in episode 6; Ian has the march through the mountains; Susan is not particularly strong in this which is a negative - I feel like her playing a greater role in the detective elements in Millenius would have been a good use of her.

Overall I really enjoyed this - in particular episodes 2, 4, 5 and the first half of 6. Its an ambitious attempt at doing a lot with a little and while it falters at times, I think it succeeds more than it fails plus I'd prefer this level of overambition to slow and safe.