Product Description

Patrick Troughton plays a double role, as both the second Doctor and the ruthless Salamander, in this six-part adventure of political intrigue from 1967. The TARDIS arrives in a futuristic Australia, where the genius Salamander has found a way to end starvation by harnessing the sun's energy and preventing natural disasters on a global scale. But there are those who believe Salamander's office is moving towards dictatorship. One such person is Giles Kent, and he is immediately struck by the Doctor's remarkable likeness to the great man. The Doctor and his companions infiltrate Salamander's top secret research station and uncover a web of lies on a massive scale. Unless the wholesale deception can be revealed, global war looks set to break out...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #234022 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-05
• Released on: 2002-08-05
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 2
• Binding: Audio CD

Synopsis
Patrick Troughton plays a double role, as both the second Doctor and the ruthless Salamander, in this six-part adventure of political intrigue from 1967. The TARDIS arrives in a futuristic Australia, where the genius Salamander has found a way to end starvation by harnessing the sun's energy and preventing natural disasters on a global scale. But there are those who believe Salamander's office is moving towards dictatorship. One such person is Giles Kent, and he is immediately struck by the Doctor's remarkable likeness to the great man. The Doctor and his companions infiltrate Salamander's top secret research station and uncover a web of lies on a massive scale. Unless the wholesale deception can be revealed, global war looks set to break out...

Customer Reviews

Good stuff.
The stand out story in an otherwise 'same old-same old' season, everything here stinks of trying to break away from the current conventions, with a human threat as opposed to an animal/vegetable/horribly mutated something or other from just left at galactic point zero. In addition to this, the cliffhangers are all somewhat non-events in terms of action, reliant instead upon dialouge to create the last second tension before the credits roll, albeit slightly wonky. Some of the action looses a certain something in the transition from screen to audio, most notably the helicopter sequences in Episode One, but on the whole it works quite well.
Good stuff, and even better when you realise which two stories came next :-)

Troughton triumphs!
An underrated Dr Who story from 1967, this one is largely ignored or dismissed by many because, I suspect it doesn't have the visceral thrills of a shambling alien menace like Ice Warriors or Yeti with which the good Doctor can do battle.

Nevertheless ENEMY OF THE WORLD is an enjoyable yarn with plenty of rather more subtle things going for it. First of all there's a great double performance by Patrick Troughton, both as the Doctor (version no. 2) and also as the titular villain: Salamander. The latter is a Mexican politician in the not too distant future, on a mission to take over the planet. His methods? Predicting earthquakes and volcanic eruptions all over the world(which he himself is causing)and then annexing the beleagured areas. Troughton's Salamander is a ruthless, conscienceless tyrant who bears much resemblance to many a Bond villain in his ambitions and deeds. It is he as well as the exotic foreign locations of the story (Australia and Eastern Europe) that causes many fans to proclaim it an attempt by the show's creators to "do James Bond".

This, though is not really an adequate way to explain the appeal of the tale. For a start, it's evident to anyone who has seen the sole surviving episode on film (episode 3), that the show's budget is not up to the glamour or action set-pieces of Sean Connery's contemporary outings as 007. Furthermore it lacks lots of other ingredients that go into making your average spy romp: there's no love interest, no high speed car chases, no climactic gun battles, no living it up in 5-star hotels or casinos.

So what are we left with? Well, it's more like a futuristic version of the historical Who stories during the Hartnell period (e.g.THE CRUSADE, THE AZTECS or MARCO POLO) where the emphasis is on interesting and often colourful characters vying with each other to gain power within an enclosed court or society. If you're up for it then it's lots of fun. There are many cracking performances to hold the attention. Particularly good is Milton John's sadistic Benik. My favourite moment is when he is threatening the Doctor's companion Victoria (played by Deborah Watling). The other companion, Jamie(Frazer Hines), says: "You must have been a nasty little boy."
"Oh yes," agrees Benik, "but I had an absolutely wonderful childhood!"

We also get Salamander's resentful food taster Fariah (slightly maddeningly, we never discover the reasons for Salamander's hold over her), the grumpy palace chef Griff and the rebel Astrid; an action babe very much in the mould of THE AVENGERS.

The cast of underground slaves who are manipulated by Salamander into doing his manufactured "Acts of God" are a bit colourless and difficult to care about, but this is a minor quibble when the rest of the plot is so engaging. In the end, it's Troughton's show; and you can really tell, even on a soundtrack, just how much work the actor put into making both his parts as credible and as distinct from one another as possible.

ENEMY... will never receive the acclaim of say, THE WEB OF FEAR, but it is a surprising little gem nonetheless. A further proof of DR WHO's ability to be inventive and format-breaking, even during a period where lots of its peers were just variations on the base-under-siege-by-alien-menace theme.

James Bond meets Dr Who
It has been commented many a time that this story is the nearest sixties Dr who got to James Bond, while this may be true there is a lot more to recommend it. Firstly of course there is Patrick Troughtons dual role. He is absolutely brilliant as Salamander, a better villian than many other guest stars from other stories while as the Dr he is great as usual. Bill Kerr as Giles Kent also stands out, Colin Douglas as Bruce is a bit wooden while Griff the aussie chef you will either love or hate.
However the stand out performance for me other that Troughton is Milton Johns as Benik, this may be surprising to you if you remember him as the astronaut in "The Android Invasion" with Tom Baker but in this story he gives a great performance as the creepy and slightly camp security chief. I love the way he delivers the line "Do you mean did I stand there waving my handkerchief". Frazer Hines narration is up to the usual high standard and the CD is well packaged with another great cover. A great addition to any true fans collection