I confess, I went into this one with expectations slightly inflated. Descriptions and reviews of The Macra Terror made me think that this story sounded like it was up my alley, and sure enough, I had loads of fun. Just for a bit of a change, I opted for the recent color animation of this story and found it to my liking. Never fear, I'm aware of the missing segments from this animation, which I sought out elsewhere to make sure I didn't miss out on anything. (Doesn't seem as though I did!)
Compared with the other stories so far, this one is something of an odd duck. Sure, it involves the Doctor and his friends saving a human colony, which has become something of a common theme at this point, but in this instance the alien threat is so entrenched within the colony that it has been influencing the place for centuries. All I can really compare that with so far is, I don't know... The Ark? I'll take Macra over Monoids any day. If I had to compare this story with any other Classic Who serial that I know of, I'd have to say The Happiness Patrol is the nearest match, with a cheery, always-smiling facade hiding a dark secret within the colony.
This story also wears its 1984 influences on its sleeve, though I was left disappointed that no one ever chucked a chair at Control's screen. (Or a big sledgehammer; nary a Macintosh in sight.) Themes of brainwashing are always chilling to me, and the idea of human ingenuity and industriousness being parasitized by the fiendish Macra is definitely a pretty spooky one! The realization of the Macra leaves a bit to be desired of course, but the animation does a good job of conveying what they're supposed to be like.
The Doctor plays an active role in poking around where he shouldn't be this time, continuing the pattern which I've seen becoming established through this season. I very much enjoyed him sweet-talking the Pilot and the other colony staff to give across an impression of harmlessness. It felt very much as if nothing ever stood in his way for long, and if you think about it, it is really quite impressive that he undermined an alien power that had taken a hold of this colony for generations in just a few days, and then swanned off at the end when the locals got a little too grateful. Perfect.
There is one serious fault I can find with the story, and it is one which mildly impacted my enjoyment. The pacing of the final episode was very curious to me, in that the Macra seem to get destroyed rather suddenly, and then almost before we know what's happened, we're hearing the Chromophone Band again and everything is just fine. It felt as if a little more time was needed to show sanity prevailing in the colony again, as Ola and his goons are nowhere to be seen in the aftermath. Presumably they either repented once the mind control faded or were arrested, but we are none the wiser as to which.
Overall, a very solid set of episodes, and one which I'll be planning to revisit again sometime. It's nice that the Troughton era can already claim two great stories so soon into its run. Rather than moving on to the next televised story, we'll be taking a short detour through three non-televised stories featuring this TARDIS team, starting with Resistance. See you then!
(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 28 September 2020.)
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