With
The Faceless Ones, we return to present-day Earth, and the setting of a modern airport. Like everything else in season 4, most of the story is missing, although both the surviving and missing episodes have been animated for some time, making it readily available. It’s generally regarded as a middling episode, with some praising the mystery elements, and others finding it too long for its plot at six parts, as well as cutting out two of the three companions. But few people seem to actively dislike it, and an airport is, if nothing else, at least different from what we’ve seen so far.
(This series of posts will take a break after this, taking the companion departure, rather than the season finale, as a good place to do so. I’ll be back in a few months with Evil of the Daleks.)
Where & When
The story is set on the 20th July 1966, with a minor plot point revolving around the fact that this was also the final day of the earlier serial The War Machines. The Earth-based sections are set entirely on the grounds of Gatwick Airport in London, although there is also a brief journey to near-Earth orbit.
