Flight Through Eternity 

The TARDIS crew's attempts to escape from the Daleks take them to the top of the Empire State Building and a 19th century sailing ship.

Director:

Richard Martin

Writer:

Terry Nation

Stars:

William Hartnell, William Russell, Jacqueline Hill

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
William Hartnell	...	Dr. Who
William Russell	...	Ian Chesterton
Jacqueline Hill	...	Barbara Wright
Maureen O'Brien	...	Vicki
Arne Gordon	...	Guide
Peter Purves	...	Morton Dill
Dennis Chinnery	...	Albert C. Richardson
David Blake Kelly	...	Capt. Benjamin Briggs
Patrick Carter	...	Bosun
Douglas Ditta	...	Willoughby
Jack Pitt	...	Cabin Steward
Peter Hawkins	...	Daleks (voice)
David Graham	...	Daleks (voice)
Robert Jewell	...	Dalek
Kevin Manser	...	Dalek

Storyline

The TARDIS crew's attempts to escape from the Daleks take them to the top of the Empire State Building and a 19th century sailing ship.

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Plot Keywords:

dalek | first doctor | science teacher | history teacher | stubborn old man | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Family | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-G

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 June 1965 (UK)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

25 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This episode "Flight contains a rather morbid first (remembering that the series was originally considered a children's programme and still is marketed towards children as of 2011): the first depiction of the death of a child. This refers to the baby being carried by the woman who jumps off the Mary Celeste (and, though no deaths occur on-screen, history records that the passengers of the vessel were never found).

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Goofs

As the Doctor reveals the Daleks are gaining on the TARDIS, a production crew member is visible in a gap in the wall of the TARDIS set behind him.

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Quotes

Barbara Wright: You're from Earth?
Morton Dill: No... no, ma'am, I... I'm from Alabama.

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Connections

Featured in Dennis Spooner: Wanna Write a Television Series? (2009)

User Reviews

The Chase: Episode 3 - A silly first episode followed by an adventure which is still silly at times but can be quite fun and has a really good last two parts.

Review for all 6 parts:

The Chase is a 6 part story beginning with The Executioners.

This adventure from writer Terry Nation features The Daleks chasing the TARDIS through time and space landing up in all sorts of adventures in different times and places. It is basically a comedic story without too much concentration on plot or serious realism for the first 4 episodes. Among other things this adventure explains the mystery of the Mary Celeste by landing the TARDIS and Daleks on board the sailing ship causing the disappearance of the crew. This is a nice idea but involves some silliness in how it is executed on screen. The first 4 episodes are all disappointingly silly in places but fun at times. Finally it gets more serious and increases in quality for the really good final two episodes.

This adventure starts badly with a very silly first episode featuring ideas like the 'Time Space Visualiser' or 'Time TV' invention which implausibly allows them to view historic events as they happened. Episode 2 is much better, not exceptional but good fun. Episode 3 goes back to being a bit more silly and is not hugely impressive but it has good moments and is not bad overall. Then there is the rather less satisfying episode 4 where the TARDIS and Daleks are in a 'haunted house' setting interacting with Dracula, Frankenstein's monster etc. (I kid you not). This is camp fun in a way but goes over the line into silliness far too much for my liking.

I think the problems in the first 4 episodes of this story exemplify this period when Dennis Spooner was script editor, it has too much silly humour and not enough quality. This was the last story before the superior Donald Tosh took over that role and the next 6 stories with Tosh as script editor had much better standards.

Thankfully things get much better and more serious in the last two episodes of this story. Part 5 is a very good, thoroughly enjoyable episode and episode 6 is an excellent concluding part of the story, also seeing the poignant exit of Ian and Barbara (William Russell and Jacqueline Hill). It is very sad to see them go as they were great companions but their farewell is nicely handled and the arrival of another really good companion Steven Taylor (Peter Purves) softens the blow.

The quality of the last 2 episodes rescue this from being a disappointing and overly silly story. It ends up being a reasonably fun adventure overall with a classic finale.

My Ratings: Episode 1 - 4/10, Episode 2 - 8/10, Episode 3 - 7/10, Episode 4 - 4.5/10, Episode 5 - 8.5/10, Episode 6 - 10/10, Average - 7/10.