The Faceless Ones

The TARDIS materializes on the runway at Gatwick airport, forcing an arriving plane to abort its landing. The Doctor, Jamie, Polly and Ben scatter to avoid being caught by the police and Polly witnesses a man murdered with an alien weapon. There is an alien presence at work at Gatwick, using the upstart discount airline Chameleon Tours as a front, and first Polly then Ben disappear in the course of the Doctor's investigations. The Doctor and Jamie find themselves running out of allies as the aliens abduct and replace more people around them, and it becomes evident that they are facing a stealthy invasion by a cunning new foe.

The new baddies are referred to as Chameleons by the Doctor but they do not refer to themselves as such at all; their ability to shape shift and copy people is not actually a natural ability but something their science has created as a means of survival. They can't actually breathe Earth's atmosphere and are in danger of suffocating when in their raw state. The raw state itself is something only glimpsed on screen for reasons explained below. But they are pretty clever, taking advantage of the youthful desire to travel as a means to ensnare hapless young people. Polly is even taken by them and her duplicate version claims to be named Michelle Lueppi, something which author Gary Russell picked up on in his novel Invasion of the Cat People when Polly is stopped in the street by a stranger who believes her name is Michelle.

Aside from the isolated city of Atlanis in 1970 this is the first time the TARDIS touches down in modern contemporary times with Patrick Troughton as the lead role. Gatwick in 1966 would have been a bustling centre of activity and shooting there would be a whole new look for the series, as its last foray onto the streets for location work before this was in The War Machines. Location work outside of a quarry or field is a bit of a rarity for the series and when it can be done it's refreshing to see it done properly. Mind you I only have visuals for episodes 1 and 3 to go by, the others are still missing.

Yes, we're still in those dark ages where a lot of material is missing and unfortunately that will still be the case for a while to come. This season is hardest hit with only 7 of 35 episodes in the BBC archives, despite the animation treatment given to Power of the Daleks and The Moonbase. With The Faceless Ones it was a bit of a back and forth for me between the audio CD and the existing episodes on the Lost in Time DVD, and there was enough visual material to give an idea of what was missing - except for the Chameleons that is, we only get a glimpse at the end of episode 1. There's also this quick shot of the impostor Captain Blade injecting a Chameleon arm with a syringe and the visual that is offered looks like the arm is made of thick scales like an alligator.

And this is the end for Polly and Ben. When they realize that they have landed up right back on the
same day they left London with the Doctor they are off like a shot. It's not like they took off with him because they hated their lives; in fact Ben is facing some serious AWOL charges if he doesn't get back the same day he departs. The novelization of the episode, mind you, has Polly all excited to be back to the swinging sixties and then she realizes that it might sound hurtful and apologizes. The Doctor, however,  understands and parts ways with them sadly, carrying on his adventures with Jamie at his side. This is often referred to as the busiest day for the Doctor with the defeat of the Chameleons coming mere hours after the defeat of the War Machines, but there's no sign of the failed invasion attempt. In fact there is at least a day passed between the demise of WOTAN and the Doctor departing with Ben and Polly, so order would have been restored. No mention of it in any of the papers we see here and there though (that would have been some good Easter eggin).

There's no time to rest, though, because the Doctor's day just got busier. It seems that someone had stolen the TARDIS...

NEXT EPISODE: THE EVIL OF THE DALEKS