From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated
From Address: solar.penguin@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Pathfinders in Space

Visually, the general impression of this episode is of Hartnell-era-
style production values, with the same "recorded as if live"
approach.  Hardly surprising with Sydney Newman as the man behind them
both.  Even the caption naming the writers uses the same font!

In terms of plot, however, the general impression is that Buchan
Island rocket base needs someone like Professor Quatermass to take
over and force a bit of no-nonsense common sense into everyone
involved in the project.  Sadly, that doesn't happen.

The episode opens with an all-too-obvious model shot of the Buchan
Island rocket base.  The two rockets aren't bad, but the base's
buildings are obviously cardboard boxes with windows drawn on with
marker pen.  This gives way to a brief clip of location footage that
doesn't match up with the model at all.  Then we're into the studio
where we remain for the rest of the series.

Science journalist Conway Henderson (played by Gerald "Kamelion"
Flood) arrives to find the base entering a state of maximum security.
As well as having his ID checked, something that's apparently never
happened to him there before, he has to hand over any matches or
cigarette lighters and not even wear metal-tipped shoes because of
fire risk.  Despite this, we later see Dr O'Connell, one of the
scientists, smoking a pipe, so presumably the fire regulations only
apply to those irresponsible, non-scientist types!

Despite this, Professor Wedgwood's three children Geoffrey, Valerie
and Jimmy, are still freely "running loose in the rocket site."
Although Jimmy does get stopped offscreen by security guards when he
tries to get into one of the actual rockets.

The professor gathers his children together to tell them that later
this evening he'll "be going away for three weeks" on a flight to the
moon.  This is the first the children have heard of his plans.
There's no mention of what domestic arrangements will be for these 3
weeks, where he's left money for food, or anything like that.  But
what do you expect from someone who's never even heard of a nanny!

Still, at least he won't have to worry about the kids wrecking their
house with wild parties while he's gone.  Despite being made in 1960,
they look as though the teenage revolution of the fifties never
happened.  They dress like miniature adults and are very, very polite
and well-spoken.  Which, of course, just makes them even more annoying
brats than they already are!

Meanwhile Henderson, the journalist who's presumably been invited
there to cover the launch, still doesn't know what's going on at all.
The mission control crew aren't telling him anything, due to that
maximum security clampdown, but no-one's worried about him just
casually strolling around the place, watching and listening to
everything.  Luckily the children can't resist giving him clues, and
he pieces all it together.  He has quite a nice little speech about
the wonder of man going to the moon, which works well because Gerald
Flood is possibly the best actor (indeed the only good actor) in the
show.

This is then followed by a didactic educational bit where he tells the
children about the origins of the moon.  Interestingly, he explains
how it was ejected from the Earth's still-molten crust during
planetary formation.  This is all mainstream science nowadays, but
very controversial stuff back in 1960, and it's nice to see it being
included here.  (Of course, as we all know, just 10 years later
Malcolm Hulke had changed his mind and gone back to the "rogue planet"
theory just as that was about to be discredited!  Oh well.)

Professor Wedgwood and his team enter their rocket and take off, all
dressed in shirts and sweaters, with no spacesuits to be seen.  The
model work for the launch isn't great but better than that in
Quatermass 2, since the rocket is lifted from above rather than by a
big stick from the side.  But this is followed by a cardboard-cutout
animation of the rocket in flight, looking like a cross between
Captain Pugwash and Terry Gilliam's animations for Monty Python's
Flying Circus!

The professor's rocket is due to be followed by an unmanned supply
rocket with food and fuel for the return journey.  (Nice to see he's
remembered food for himself, even if he's leaving his kids to starve
for three weeks!)

But the professor's eldest son Geoffrey is allowed to help fix the
broken autopilot, and accidentally leaves his screwdriver on top of
the autopilot's casing.  This somehow causes it to short circuit and
burn out completely beyond all hope of repair.  (The dialogue implies
the screwdriver fell inside the wiring, but it's clearly seen just
rolling about on top of the casing when the circuit inside burns out.)

With no autopilot, and no-one at the base trained to pilot the supply
rocket in case of emergency, it looks like curtains for the mission.
Professor Wedgwood and his team will have to turn round and head back
to Earth.  But then Henderson volunteers to fly it himself.  He was an
RAF pilot during his National Service, and in theory flying a rocket
can't be that different from flying a plane!

For a brief moment it looks like common sense is going to prevail as
Wedgwood tells him over the radio, "You can't pilot a rocket just on
theory."  But then one of his crew, Professor Mary Meadows, says
"Isn't that just what we're doing?"  Yes, all three people on the
professor's rocket are academic scientists.  Not one of them has any
kind of experience as a pilot or engineer at all.

In addition to Wedgwood and Meadows, the third scientist of the team
is Dr O'Connell, the pipe smoker who was unable to go for a few hours
without his nicotine fix back at the base, despite all the strict fire
regulations.  I hate to imagine how he's going to cope without it for
three whole weeks!

Meanwhile, showing more common sense than he's ever shown in his life
before, Wedgwood instructs Henderson to take a couple of trained
technicians with him.  Henderson ignores him and decides to take
Geoffrey and Jimmy along instead.

Jimmy smuggles his pet guinea pig Hamlet aboard with him.  Hamlet also
accompanied him in his previous "Target Luna" space flight.  You'd
think that one one experience of rodent piss and shit floating past
his head in zero gravity would be enough to convince him it's a bad
idea, but apparently not.  He's obsessed with the creature to a degree
that borders on mental illness, and has spent most of the episode
showing it to everyone all the time.

Hamlet isn't the only stowaway.  Valerie, jealous at being left behind
because she's a girl, has hidden on board too.  At least she's
bothered to get herself a spacesuit, while the others are still
dressed in the clothes they've been wearing all day.  And they don't
seem to have brought along any change of clothing, so I dread to think
what they'll be like when the 3 weeks are up!

The episode cliffhanger has Valerie collapsing unable to reach a seat
to protect herself from the g-force of take off.  Mind you, it's lucky
a rocket that's supposed to be unmanned has lots of seats in it
anyway!

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