Doctor Who Rewind - The Enemy Of The World

If I'd started this insane project a few months earlier I would have been facing watching another static reconstruction, which, let's face it, is a pale comparison to watching the real mccoy. However, only in October, the BBC announced the complete recovery of this six part story, from, of all places, Nigeria.

The premise of this story is simple, and rather ambitious. It's 2018 and the Doctor and friends land on a beach in Australia. An assassination attempt is made on the Doctor by an operative called Astrid Ferrior, who takes the captives to see her boss Giles Kent. There, the Doctor learns he is the spitting image of another, a ruthless control freak called Salamander, who wants to take over as many United Zones as possible.

The Doctor is talked into helping Kent and Astrid when they tell him that Salamander is rotten to the core. The Doctor wanting to find out for himself, agrees to impersonate his evil double in order to gain access into his inner sanctum.

And so begins plot that would give any bond film a run for its money. Yes, it's totally ridiculous and about as far fetched as far fetched can be, but I found it gloriously enjoyable and watchable. And just when you think Salamander can get no worse, the plot twists down another unexpected route and takes it all to another level, quite literally.

Salamander is South American, and Troughton's thickly laid on accent is more of a Caricature than a true estimation. But this only adds to the fun of the role for me. Troughton is really working his magic here, and is just splendid as a villain that is totally opposed to the Doctor. And, Troughton is really playing three parts. The Doctor, Salamander, and the Doctor playing Salamander. In relation to the later, he even gets the Doctors less than convincing attempt at impersonating Salamander.

Elsewhere, there are some really good performances from a strong cast. Including Colin Douglas as the hard nosed no nonsense security chief Donald Bruce whose trusts no one eventually turns out as a positive for the Doctor.

Mary Peach, as action girl Astrid Ferrier embodies every nuance of the role, including a-hem, the tight fitting Latex body suit.

Speaking of which, the use of Latex and Lycra in this story is pretty extensive, and leads one to believe that either the BBC had a job lot sitting around somewhere with nothing to do, or, one of the production crew had a fetish that got way out of control. At times, I didn't know if I was watching Doctor Who or some Finnish art house porn flick.

Also, if there was a worst haircut in a Doctor Who episode competition, I feel sure that Milton Johns playing Benik would win hands down.

This then for me, has to be one of the best Troughton stories so far, and not a bug eyed monster in sight eh? This is why Doctor Who constantly keeps you second guessing. At that time there were no rules about what constituted a story. If it was original and a good idea it was in. Modern Who could do with taking note of that. It would be great to see some non monster stories with wacky ideas come through in Peter Capaldi's tenure.

Next time on Doctor Who Rewind, the Yeti's make the come back of the century in another recently found story.