"The Faceless Ones" Episode 3

Doctor Who
Airdate: April 22, 1967
Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines
Written by David Ellis and Malcolm Hulke
Produced by Innes Lloyd
Directed by Gerry Mills

The Doctor stuffs up the vents that are pumping in the freezing vapor, and then feigns unconsciousness. When Spencer enters, he uses the alien freeze ray to overpower him and escape. The Doctor and DI Crossland present what they've learned to the Commandant of the airport, while Sam convinces Jamie to take another look at the Chameleon hangar. Jamie and Sam return with pre-written postcards, which convince the Commandant that Chameleon's passengers never arrive at their destination. On Spencer's instructions, another Chameleon doppleganger attaches a device to the Doctor's jacket which can be activated remotely. Crossland goes to question Captain Blade on a plane packed with eager travelers, while the Doctor and Jamie again return to the Chameleon hangar. The device is activated by Spencer, immobilizing the Doctor. Meanwhile, Crossland enters the cockpit to discover alien equipment. Captain Blade overpowers him, takes off, and directs Crossland's attention to a monitor which shows that all of the passengers have vanished.

It's almost shameless the extent to which Sam is being set up to be a companion. She's not just hanging around in the background waiting for the Doctor to tell her what's going on. She's taking an active role in investigating the disappearance of her brother. After finding the postcards, she suddenly breaks down into tears, and then gets defensive about it when Jamie tries to comfort her. And when the Commandant agrees to give the Doctor twelve hours to investigate, she gives Jamie a triumphant little hug. This is all part of a clear attempt to get us to like her. In retrospect, it seems rather odd. I mean, we know that she won't be joining the Doctor and Jamie at the end of the story, so it isn't clear why we should be taking a special interest in this one character.

This episode dedicates a lot of its time to convincing the Commandant to assist the Doctor. This is actually a bit annoying, but it's something of a novel approach for the series. It's a problem that you only really find in contemporary stories. On alien planets, or whatever, the Doctor doesn't have to struggle so hard to convince the skeptical authorities. But things look different on contemporary Earth. We can imagine how a typical person would react to some scruffy-looking weirdo appearing out of nowhere babbling about ray guns and aliens. So it makes sense that the Doctor should have to expend some considerable effort in convincing the Commandant to cooperate, but it doesn't exactly move the story along.