With Doctor Who off the air again until this holiday season, it’s time to dig back into the archives of Time and Space for some classic adventures. Thankfully, the BBC is providing us with its latest animated revival of a long-missing storyline.
Much of Patrick Troughton’s time on Doctor Who was hit hard by the BBC’s archival junking policy in the 1960s, meaning his era of the show, in particular, is the one most emptied in Doctor Who’s long list of missing episodes. Which is why it’s been great in recent years to see it make something of a comeback in the form of these animated releases.
We previously got Troughton’s iconic first story, “Power of the Daleks,” to preserve a vital piece of Who history. The animated take on “The Macra Terror” used the benefit of animation and modern cinematography to deliver a tale far more interesting than a simple release of the original ever could have been, if it had been found. Now, we’ve got spooky goings-on at a British airport with the latest release, “The Faceless Ones.”
First broadcast in 1967, “The Faceless Ones” saw the Doctor and his friends investigate the seedy Chameleon Tours, an airline company at London’s Gatwick Airport that is behind the mysterious disappearance of young travellers—and perhaps a front for something not of this world if the Doctor’s hunch is correct (spoilers for a 53-year-old piece of television, also duh: of course his hunch is correct).
The animated restoration of “The Faceless Ones” is available now in the UK, with an Australian release date currently unconfirmed.