The two 'Mr.Pem' episodes are generally regarded as the highlights of Season 4, and while I like 'No Way Back' ( the second one ), I'm afraid I can't be as enthusiastic about the first. It begins with Seaview running into a 'magnetic field' ( which involves the sub being buffeted several times ). The chronometer goes into reverse. Suddenly, a giant lizard can be seen through the viewing port! A great teaser to be sure.
As Seaview loses contact with the outside world, and a bird the size of a jet flies overhead, Nelson concludes that they have somehow been transported a million years into the past. When he tries to leave his cabin, he suddenly finds himself in his office at the Nelson Institute for Marine Research in Santa Barbara, California! A smiling man appears out of nowhere. He is, of course, Mr.Pem, and he has invented a time-travel device that looks like a pocket watch. He needs power to operate it, and plans to use the Seaview's reactor. Now all of this so far has been very good, with Henry Jones ( who had played 'Sprague' in Season 3's 'Night Of Terror' ) making a delightfully eccentric villain. So why then do I not rate it more highly? Possibly because there is no back-story for Mr.Pem - and there should have been. I imagine that - in true Marvel Comics' fashion - he was a mild-mannered man whom the world had no love for, and after perfecting the secret of time travel, decided to take revenge on Mankind. But we should have been told this.
Secondly, a large chunk of an earlier episode is incorporated into it for no reason other than Mr.Pem wants to illustrate his mastery of time to Nelson. Its every bit as annoying as the reuse of the helicopter attack from 'Eleven Days To Zero' in 'The X Factor'.
Mr.Pem is such a devious little man its hard to believe he would be so easily fooled by Nelson's ploy of switching door signs. And when he is apparently killed, how does Seaview manage to get back to its own time? Had these issues been addressed, I'd have unhesitatingly given 'A Time To Die' a full 10/10 rating.
As Seaview loses contact with the outside world, and a bird the size of a jet flies overhead, Nelson concludes that they have somehow been transported a million years into the past. When he tries to leave his cabin, he suddenly finds himself in his office at the Nelson Institute for Marine Research in Santa Barbara, California! A smiling man appears out of nowhere. He is, of course, Mr.Pem, and he has invented a time-travel device that looks like a pocket watch. He needs power to operate it, and plans to use the Seaview's reactor. Now all of this so far has been very good, with Henry Jones ( who had played 'Sprague' in Season 3's 'Night Of Terror' ) making a delightfully eccentric villain. So why then do I not rate it more highly? Possibly because there is no back-story for Mr.Pem - and there should have been. I imagine that - in true Marvel Comics' fashion - he was a mild-mannered man whom the world had no love for, and after perfecting the secret of time travel, decided to take revenge on Mankind. But we should have been told this.
Secondly, a large chunk of an earlier episode is incorporated into it for no reason other than Mr.Pem wants to illustrate his mastery of time to Nelson. Its every bit as annoying as the reuse of the helicopter attack from 'Eleven Days To Zero' in 'The X Factor'.
Mr.Pem is such a devious little man its hard to believe he would be so easily fooled by Nelson's ploy of switching door signs. And when he is apparently killed, how does Seaview manage to get back to its own time? Had these issues been addressed, I'd have unhesitatingly given 'A Time To Die' a full 10/10 rating.
