Day 303: The Dæmons Episode 5

There are a couple of moments within this one episode that have transcended everything around it to become part of the Doctor Who mythos entirely, and it would be foolish of me to ignore them, so we'll cover a fair bit today as we look at the concluding part of The Dæmons.

Firstly, we should take a look at the destruction of the church which has been used to summon Azal. It's a fantastic explosion as we see the church get demolished, but most importantly of all, it's realistic. The audience complained to the production team at the time stating that they were very annoyed that a church was destroyed for the benefit of a television program, ignoring the fact that it was in fact a model shot. Credit must be given to the model makers behind the scenes, who are able to create these landscapes in a fairly simple manner, with a remarkably strong effect. It shows that sometimes we don't need computers to create effects, and that simple practicality will sometimes do.

We must also have a look at the very concluding moments of this story, as the Master gets captured once and for all and the Doctor and Jo engage in the May Pole Dance, finally having fun and getting a breath of fresh air after the high stakes adventuring that they've had for the past series. It's a lovely moment, and a knock-on effect from having Letts and co. deciding to make Doctor Who more of a family TV series on screen, thus making the relations between the characters more noticable. It means that we're also able to feel a sense of belonging to this 'UNIT family' and join in their celebration as all is well in their lives.

And there's one thing that I certainly have to mention about this episode. There's a gargoyle who has been brought to life by the Master called Bok. He's soon discovered to be indestructible, but not before the Brigadier has a go at fighting him. He calls over a UNIT squaddie and proclaims unflappably: "Chap with wings there, five rounds rapid". It's a famous moment because of how wonderful it is. It's taking fighting alien menaces in your stride and treating them as just another moment in your life, in much the way someone might regard catching a train or having a piece of toast. It's also a moment that sums up the military answer to problems: shooting it. And whilst we may have problems with this fact, it still remains part of the Brigadier's character and we like him for this fact. He's part of the family, and we can't really imagine the series without him. It says something that out of all the characters within Doctor Who, he is the only one who is frequently brought back to the series as the character who brings with him the strongest sense of familiarity. The strongest sense of family to the show.