B6 - The Ordeal

Apart from the obvious variances between the budgets and the technology available at the time to make the program, the main difference between new Who and classic Who is the pace. When the new series first debuted in 2005, there were small pockets of fandom who were worried that the new 45-minute stories would feel rushed and that it wouldn't allow time for proper character development. They preferred the old four-part stories, which they felt allowed time to properly develop the story, introduce the characters, unnecessarily pad out the story during Part Three, and so on.

To a point, I can sympathize with that attitude. But, having now become used to the pace of the new series, jumping right back into the beginning of the classic era takes some getting used to. And a seven-part Dalek story isn't the way to ease into it, either. Basically, each episode so far has revolved around one long set piece. In episode one, it's the TARDIS crew exploring the dead planet. In episode two, it's their plight with radiation sickness. Part Three focuses on their escape from their cell; Part Four, their escape from the city; Part Five, their trek through the swamp; and now, in Part Six, Ian, Barbara and some Thals brave the perils of The Cave of Crumbling Polystyrene in order to try and sneak into the Dalek city.

Meanwhile, the increasingly ineffectual Doctor and Susan, who, oddly, get less and less to do each week, somehow short circuit the Daleks' power supply with the (only?) TARDIS key, and then get captured. To further hammer home the leisurely pace, the Daleks are threatening to explode a neutron bomb....sometime tomorrow! It's all (gradually) building to an exciting climax in part seven...