* This two part story is confined entirely to the TARDIS interiors and appears to have been commissioned for costs reasons, as a filler to pad out the series because the initial commissioning run was only 13 episodes (4+7+2 = 13) and also possibly because the next story,
Marco Polo, was taking longer than expected to sort out. The plot consists of the protagonists arguing and failing to realise that they are endangered because of a fault in the TARDIS. At the end, they resolve their differences and decide to travel on. I should explain that Ian and Barbara travelled with the Doctor and Susan by mistake and want him to return him to 1963 Earth but he is unable to control where the TARDIS goes. This is the recurring story theme throughout the first two years of Who. Viewers watching these episodes after the 'high' of
The Daleks story are likely to be disappointed and the lack of story titles for the episodes - each episode had an individual title for the first two and a half years - meant that the viewer had no clue how long this 'story' would continue (2 episodes or 7?).
* Some interesting 'firsts' here. We now see several interior rooms in the Tardis thus revealing to the viewer how mammoth it is including rooms with couches that serve as beds. An interesting device that dispenses food in the form of tablets was shown in
The Daleks and this is seen again (for the last time I think). Susan mentions that she and the doctor have visited an alien planet called Quinnex. The Doctor also name drops for the first time (of many) by referring to an encounter with Gilbert and Sullivan. Thus, it is now clear that Doctor & Susan have done a fair bit of time and space travelling before landing in 1963 London.
* The main story development in this episode is the introduction of concept that the TARDIS has an intelligence of its own. This has been developed a lot in the recent series revival. Most of the events of the two episodes consist of the Tardis trying to warm the occupants that they are in danger. The faulty control on the Tardis that has caused all the problems is helpfully identified by writing in felt-tip just above it. According to the making-of DVD documentary, this felt-tip marker has been done in rehearsal to help William Hartnell know which instrument to look at but no-one had remembered to rub the felt-tip off for the actual recording!!
*Again, the doctor is pretty horrible and Ian and Barbara are the heroes. At one point, the Doctor threatens to throw Ian and Barbara out of the Tardis in the middle of 'space'. The Doctor is possibly unbalanced at this point due to the effects of the Tardis on him although this is far from clear and the fact that he apologises to Barbara at the end indicates that he probably wasn't (unbalanced).
* There are several notable gaffs in this episode and these were to get worse. Back in 1963, the BBC still shot its productions on video tape in sequential order in long 5m plus sections with the cast moving around the set to get in position for the next camera shot with 4-5 cameras being used at the same time. The production team shot an episode a week of which 4 days (Mon-Thurs) were for rehearsals and then the entire 25m episode was shot in about a 90m session on the Friday evening. There was a reluctance to cut the tape for fluffs unless they were very serious. The budget for one of these 25m episodes averaged about £2.5k - in contrast the first series of The Avengers had a budget of about £10k (although those episodes were double the length). Hartnell fluffs his lines on several occasions but the takes are left in and he has to stumble through and finish. Hartnell continually mispronounces Ian's surname (Chesterton). It is unclear whether this is scripted or Hartnell is doing it deliberately or inadvertently. William Russell corrects him more than once on-screen and, again, who knows if this is improvisional or not.