Most people are no doubt familiar with the Doctor Who of the ‘70s and ‘80s starring Tom Baker – thanks to endless re-runs. Then in 2005 everyone was introduced to the revitalised Doctor Who series but did you know that the 2005 series was actually season number 27? This is following a movie in 1995 that is part of the canon too. So where did it all begin? Let me load you into an imaginary TARDIS as we travel back to the year... 1965.

Back then, you see, not only was television technology and acting quality more rudimentary than what we are used to today, but the BBC was even more strapped for cash. The end result is a wonderful ride back to the time of blissfully naive sci-fi, black and white reproductions and laughably unreal costumes.

The Powerful Enemy has The Doctor landing on the planet Dido where the last two survivors of a crashed spaceship are imprisoned and terrorized by the fearsome alien Koquillion. The Doctor and his companions must save the poor humans, and uncover a mystery in the process.

Make no bones about it – this is a low quality episode. Clearly they could only work with one camera, one sound boom, and limited editing tools. This gives us varying sound levels which can make the characters a little hard to understand at times and lengthy close ups that can’t cut away to more interesting features. Having said that though, these are the things that make an old classic like this so much fun!

The original Doctor, played by William Hartnell is played more as a ‘nutty professor’ as compared to the later incarnations. It appears not to have his wits about him most of the time, but is able to tap into a vast knowledge and able to grab clarity just in time to see through the puzzle and save the day. The Doctor’s evolution throughout the years is fascinating and it’s great to see where it all began.

The special effects, such as the ray gun (whose effect consists of a zoom up, a classic ‘60s ‘pew pew pew’ and no visual) are what you can expect here. This is all augmented with cheesy settings, and fairly poor acting. The Doctor and his friend trying to pretend that they are creeping along a precarious ledge is only topped by the fearsome monster below that is a guy in a sleeping-bag costume.

The writing is quite good, however, with some twists and turns which could be thought to be a little too sophisticated for the ‘60s – but don’t under estimate audiences from back then – their suspension of disbelief was stronger and it made necessary to be entertained by good old fashioned story-telling.

A classic episode of a classic series. Compared to today’s standards, it is lacking in every regard, of course, but with nostalgia glasses on, it’s a fun ride. There are no special features on this disc.