From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated   
   From Address: solar.penguin@gmail.com   
   Subject: Re: Pathfinders in Space -- 4. The World of Lost Toys   
      
   'The World of Lost Toys' is another great episode title.  Again, you   
   could imagine it being used on something like DW nowadays, perhaps for   
   the return of the Celestial Toymaker, or a sequel to that recent   
   episode with the doll's house.   
      
   But back to 'Pathfinders', and there's no way this episode is going to   
   live up to that title.  But it's still better than most.  And it shows   
   the earliest signs of one of Malcolm Hulke's recurring obsessions:   
   prehistoric creatures.   
      
   First Professor Wedgwood identifies the statue as a stalagmite that's   
   formed on and around the corpse of one of the alien spaceship's crew.   
   The reason it looks like a human is because of parallel evolution.   
   "Humans are the most practical size and shape for life on our planet.   
   That's why we've survived and become the leading species."  (Tell that   
   to the insects!)   
      
   Back at the base (with that model shot showing the rockets still on   
   the launch pads) , the technicians are talking on the radio to Ian,   
   who's getting bored stuck in his rocket on his own, playing chess   
   against himself.  (Despite this, he remains obediently there, radioing   
   in on schedule, and not wandering off without telling anyone.  He   
   clearly doesn't belong on this mission.)   
      
   In the cave, Valerie is now looking at something through the   
   microscope.  "So that's what radioactivity looks like," she says.  No,   
   we don't get to see what it looks like, but I'd love to know.  "Let   
   Hamlet have a look," says Jimmy, holding the guinea pig up to the   
   eyepiece when she's finished.   
      
   Meanwhile, Dr O'Connell has identified the stalagmite's rock as being   
   similar to that of Cambian formations on Earth.  (Although IIRC   
   Cambrian rocks are mostly shale and stalagmites are mostly   
   limestone.)  From this he somehow concludes that the corpse is 400   
   million years old.  (Nowadays scientists think the Cambrian was 500   
   million years ago, but maybe they thought differently back then.  Or   
   maybe Hulke was just doing his standard 'Silurian' trick of randomly   
   mixing-and-matching of eras and their interesting sounding names.)   
      
   More confusion about prehistory follows, as the scientists explain   
   that 400 million years ago, the 'trilobites' that evolved into all   
   Earth's land animals were just climbing out of the sea!  OK, OK, these   
   are rocket scientists and astronomers, not biologists, but even   
   so...!  (Later the reporter Henderson will describe this as before   
   evolution started on Earth, but that's presumably his just   
   journalistic hyperbole, rather than claiming that our trilobite   
   ancestors sprang fully formed from the hand of God.)   
      
   Jimmy and Valerie explore the tunnels some more, and find some stuffed   
   toys that haven't been turned into stalagmites during this time.  In   
   fact, they look clean and new as if just made by the studio's prop   
   department.  They also find a children's picture book, which helpfully   
   teaches us the alien characters for "organic life" and "inorganic   
   matter".   
      
   Fresh from this discovery, Jimmy goes on to find an air inlet in the   
   side of the alien spaceship.  Of course it's exactly the right size   
   and shape to work with the hoses from their air tanks.  Once the   
   pressure has been equalised, it's finally possible to open the ship.   
   As they do so, Valerie screams that she can see something moving   
   inside, and we go to the ad-break.  As this show uses the same music   
   as 'Quatermass and the Pit', I can't help imagining those Martian   
   insects.  If it turns out to be anything less, I'll be very   
   disappointed.   
      
   Back from the ad-break, and we get a padding scene with Ian playing   
   chess by radio against the base technicians, who are cheating by using   
   the computer.  Fortunately those nice, friendly Soviets have been   
   eavesdropping in on the conversation, and their chess champion,   
   comrade Federovitch, helps Ian win.  An sign of Hulke's interest in   
   Communism, perhaps.  None of the English characters show any objection   
   to calling Federovitch, "comrade Federovitch", even though Hulke   
   must've known the significance of that.   
      
   Anyway, back on the moon, the alien spaceship is empty, and the   
   movement was just an interior hatch being blown by the breeze.  Yes,   
   I'm very disappointed.  Well, it's not quite empty.  Valerie and Jimmy   
   find a cupboard that the adults missed, containing a log book and a   
   coil of wire.  Professor Wedgwood quickly guesses that the coil is a   
   magnetic wire recording of a video signal.  (So these aliens hadn't   
   even invented videotape?)   
      
   I'm not the only one finding all this hard to believe.  Back on Earth,   
   Jean is having trouble persuading the press that it's true.  But then   
   her colleagues bring news that a meteor shower is heading towards the   
   moon, and could damage the rockets.   
      
   She tries radioing to warn them, but Wedgwood's team are all so   
   excited about the discoveries they haven't left anyone monitoring the   
   radio...   
      
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