The law of large numbers makes it somewhat inevitable, we guess. Given the huge breadth of Doctor Who stretching into a seventh decade, there are bound to be stories which are neither loved or hated but even worse, largely forgotten. And given the additional constraint of time, even apathy would be something to aspire to at times.
The Space Museum is a prime example of this. The episodes at least exist–something which can’t always be said from the Hartnell era–but unfortunately that also means there’s no mystery around what the story was (The Massacre or any number Troughton stories are an example of this) or even could be. In fact here’s where a thought experiment might be illustrative.
For those with long memories and remember how keen the search for lost/wiped episodes was back in the late 80s into the 90s know that for the longest time, only episode 1 of The Web of Fear existed, and my oh my how it promised so much! Eventually, almost all of the story would eventually be recovered–and it did not disappoint–but the point remains.
On the DVD extra for The Space Museum Robert Shearman succinctly summed up the problems for this story. In short (and paraphrasing) he said there were only three, and that they were episodes 2, 3, and 4. He was absolutely right. The first episode, especially for a Hartnell, is suitably strange with dollops of backwards time and intangibility of objects, including the TARDIS, all of which leads to the cliffhanger of the quartet of travelers seeing themselves encapsulated for display. It’s a neat image, and the kind of surrealism all-too-rarely seen in the program regardless of era. After that though…
The remaining three episodes feature drab officialdom, rebels without a clue (hands on hips for this one), and mandatory companion separation syndrome. Vicki gets the best of these, although to see Hartnell impishly fencing with Lead Morok Lobos is rather fun. Hartnell even takes episode 3 off, and that’s okay. He didn’t miss much. If The Space Museum had had the decency to be a one episode teaser, what would you bet that it would be better thought of today?
The new HD-elicious caps for The Space Museum were actually completed just before Series 14 began back in May. But if you haven’t seen them yet, they’ll be new to you.