From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated   
   From Address: solar.penguin@gmail.com   
   Subject: Pathfinders in Space -- 3. Lunar Bridgehead   
      
   "Lunar Bridgehead" is a rather weak title for a rather weak episode.   
   It's mostly concerned with the practical technicalities of lunar   
   exploration.  And, with hindsight, gets most of them completely wrong.   
      
   The cliffhanger reprise is re-enacted, with the unidentified spaceship   
   being seen on the periscope once again.  Yes, periscope.  The rockets   
   each have a big submarine-style periscope for seeing out!  (I can't   
   help thinking of that scene with Shatner in Airplane II.)   
      
   The actual shot of the spaceship from nowhere is different this time.   
   Not necessarily bettter or worse, just different.  It's now a model   
   shot, rather than a painting.  This means there's some parallax as the   
   camera pans past, but it's a lot less detailed.  The original painting   
   re-appears soon after as a background for when the rocket shoots past   
   with a near-miss.   
      
   The mysterious ship difts on, apparently in a fixed orbit.   
      
   There's some discussion over the radio about what just happened.  I   
   should've said something about the two-way radios before now.  They   
   have 'futuristic' handheld microphones with three rings/discs around   
   the end you speak into, making them look like something you'd find in   
   George Jetson's house!   
      
   Anyway, the upshot of the discussion is the Henderson is told to land   
   the supply rocket to avoid another collision with the mysterious   
   spaceship.  Landing is done with the same mix of model shots and cut-   
   out animation as before, except the shot of the rocket passing behind   
   the stars in the background has been trimmed to be a bit shorter.   
      
   The rocket lands is a deep crater, 150 miles away from the main   
   rocket.  Dr O'Connell is upset when he hears how far away the supplies   
   are.  He's supposed to be Irish but his accent might as well be   
   Scottish, and it's easy to imaging him doing a Private Frazer, "We're   
   all doooomed!"   
      
   Back in the supply rocket, Geoffrey carries out the show's educational   
   remit as he lectures the other children about radio waves not   
   travelling past the moon's horizon because there's no atmosphere for   
   them to bounce off.  At mission control, a technician called Jean has   
   to act as telephone operator relaying messages from one rocket to the   
   other.   
      
   The educational stuff continues on the other rocket, as Professor   
   Meadows lectures her colleagues on the height of the Lunar Apennines   
   and the hot temperature of the moon's surface.  (It's 215 Fahrenheit   
   in case you were wondering.)  They're need to know this because   
   they're setting out to walk the 160 miles to the supply rocket.  Well,   
   all except Ian, who's too bland to come.   
      
   The supply rocket's crew have been told to wait for them, which annoys   
   little Jimmy who's impatient to get out onto the moon's surface.  (You   
   can just imagine him going "Are we nearly there yet?  Are we nearly   
   there yet?" all the way from the earth to the moon!)   
      
   But even though they're waiting in the supply rocket, they've all   
   changed into spacesuits anyway.  (This is because they'll need to go   
   out later and the "recorded-as-if-live" format won't give the actors   
   enough time to change costumes then.)    The suits' helmets don't have   
   visors, in order to avoid reflecting the studio lights.  Instead they   
   have thin metal crosses to symbolise where the visors would be.  These   
   are made from straightened wire coathangers.  But not very well   
   straightened, as the close-ups show!   
      
   More educational talk about radio waves leads to Henderson deciding to   
   take the portable radio up to the top of the crater's rim to get   
   better reception.  He decides to take Jimmy and Valerie with him,   
   leaving Geoffrey to monitor the rocket's radio.  No-one thinks of   
   contacting Earth to explain what they're doing, but luckily Jean   
   radios in as they're preparing to leave, and they explain it to here.   
      
   The rocket doesn't have an airlock.  Everyone (including Geoffrey who   
   isn't going out) will have to be suited up when the door opens.  Good   
   job they were already wearing them then!  Hamlet the guinea pig   
   (remember him?) will have to be put in a spare helmet so he can   
   breathe, even though it doesn't seem to be connected to an air tank.   
      
   Jimmy's also having problems with his suit's air supply.  This seems   
   to be scripted ("Why don't they make spacesuits in my size?" he   
   complains) but in the end the actors don't manage to get connected   
   properly and he steps out onto the lunar surface with a lose airhose.   
      
   He also forgets to turn on his suit radio.  The strange thing is, he   
   can still talk and hear normally standing in the open doorway of the   
   airless rocket, but not once he's stepped outside!  I'm not sure how   
   that works.   
      
   Talking of bad science, apparently Sting and Sir Isaac Newton were   
   wrong.  Giant steps aren't what you take walking on the moon.  This is   
   lampshaded by a throwaway line explain that the idea is pure "science   
   fiction."  Even though you only have one sixth your normal weight, the   
   extra weight of your  spacesuit cancels that out.   
      
   So that means a spacesuit weighs as much as five people.  And it still   
   doesn't explain how you can just stroll around normally, since the   
   suit would still give you six times your normal mass, therefore six   
   times your normal momentum, despite the lower gravity,   
      
   If the show goes out of its way to lecture us about science, it might   
   at least try to get these things right.   
      
   (OTOH maybe I shouldn't complain too much.  Lunar gravity was still   
   causing trouble for the BBC over twenty years later in Star Cops,   
   where people would bounce around realistically in spacesuits on the   
   moons surface, but walked normally inside the moonbase building!)   
      
   The ad-break cliffhanger is actually quite effective as Jimmy   
   discovers a small triangle carved into the rocky ground.  If he'd   
   discovered something big and melodramatic, like an abandoned alien   
   spaceship, then it would've been too boring, too much of a cliche.   
   But a small triangle is just enough to make us curious.   
      
   We return to mission control, where once again there's an establishing   
   model shot showing both rockets still on the launch-pads.  You'd think   
   that whoever was responsible for that mistake last week would've been   
   given a right good bollocking and told not to let it happen again.   
   Obviously not.   
      
   There's a press conference going on, hosted by Jean who seems to have   
   taken time off from radio operator duties to avoid the need for hiring   
   another speaking actor.  The journalists ask questions like, "Was   
   there ever any water in the lunar Seas?  That's what our readers will   
   want to know," allowing her to do her share of the educational   
   lecturing stuff.   
      
   The journalists don't believe the claims about the spaceship orbiting   
   the moon or the symbol on it, especially since the main witness is   
   Conway Henderson.  Apparently he's not a very trustworthy or reliable   
   science journalist, with a reputation for inventing stories, which   
   makes it odd that he was the only one invited to watch the launch in   
   episode one.  (Combine that with the rockets on the launch-pads and   
   you've got the makings of a great conspiracy theory!)   
      
   Meanwhile, back on the moon, Professor Wedgwood's team have found   
   another triangle carved into a rock.  Professor Meadows describes them   
   as "hieroglyphics."  Well, they may be glyphs, but the word   
   "hieroglyphics"ought to refer to a specific system of Egyptian glyphs,   
   and there's no evidence that these triangular wedges were carved by   
   Egyptians!  (Yes I am nitpicking now, but considering how didactic and   
   educational this show tries to be, it really ought to make the effort   
   to avoid mistakes like that.)   
      
   And Geoffrey has been passing the time by making a spacesuit for   
   Hamlet the guinea pig.  It looks like something the Blue Peter team   
   might make, complete with a couple of mini-oxygen cylinders made out   
   of pen lids.  But he hasn't been able to make a cooling unit for it.   
   Instead there's two layers of glass-fibre insulation.  (Well, it makes   
   a change from sticky-back plastic.)  But it only gives two-hours   
   protection.  As Geoffrey explains, this means that if you keep Hamlet   
   out on the lunar surface for longer, you'll have to open up your   
   spacesuit and slip him inside to let him cool down.  (Geoffrey's   
   clearly inherited his father's grasp of practical strategic planning!)   
      
   Then, job completed, Geoffrey chats with Ian in the other rocket over   
   the radio.  There's a rather embarrassing moment when the picture cuts   
   from Geoffrey's rocket to Ian's, but the sound effects don't switch   
   from Ian's distorted over-the-radio voice until ten seconds later.   
   Oops.   
      
   They discuss the possibility of life on the moon, and Geoffrey   
   suddenly becomes all scared and does some some very bad acting: "Do   
   you (*pause while he glances nervously over his shoulders*) think   
   (*pause while he glances over his shoulders again*) they're still here   
   (*pause glancing over shoulders once more*) whoever they are?"  Even   
   after the conversation's over, he continues to act like a poor man's   
   Willie Best for a minute or so, until he suddenly snaps out of it, and   
   becomes his usual patronising self again.   
      
   We cut back to Professor Wedgwood's team walking across the moon.  Or   
   at least standing still waiting for the floor manager to cue them to   
   start walking.  Once the scene begins for real, the Professor says,   
   "Well, there are the lunar Apennines."  This is followed by the same   
   model shot that represents the crater and every other part of the   
   lunar surface.  That just might be a deliberate in-joke, since they   
   soon realise they're lost, and they've only got five hours of oxygen   
   left.  Given that it will take them days to walk 150 miles over steep   
   mountains, and they can only have been walking a few hours at most,   
   they should've thought about the oxygen issue before setting off!   
   Anyway, it gives O'Connell another chance to anticipate John Laurie's   
   acting style, which is fun.   
      
   It's approaching cliffhanger time.  Back at the supply rocket, Jimmy   
   takes Hamlet to the crater's edge to show him the view.  And falls   
   down a very, very obvious hole that he should've seen even while   
   holding a guinea pig.  But that's not the cliffhanger.   
      
   Everyone rushes over to the deep hole, which turns out to to be an air-   
   shaft lined with metal.  "This must be man-made... or made by some   
   creature like man," they helpfully explain for the benefit of any   
   viewers who might think that metal air-shafts are a natural part of   
   the lunar landscape.  But that's not the cliffhanger.   
      
   At the bottom of the shaft, Jimmy and Hamlet are  unharmed (pity!) and   
   in a dark cave.  Luckily he's brought along an electric torch, even   
   though it was daylight on the surface.  The movement of the studio   
   spotlight representing the torchlight isn't quite in synch with the   
   actor's movements.  At one point it illuminates the back of his head   
   even though he's holding the torch in front of him.  Anyway, as you've   
   probably guessed, he finds an abandoned alien spaceship.  And, yes,   
   that's the cliffhanger.  Oh well...   
      
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