Day 435: The Hand of Fear Part 4

At the end of the day, The Hand of Fear is a story destined to be forgotten. We may remember certain aspects such as the characters or the basic plotline, but it is all overshadowed by what immediately follows it. You see, Sarah Jane Smith, beloved companion, decides that she has had enough at the end of this story. Tired of being shot at, hypnotised and the like, she decides once and for all to give up the life of travelling in the TARDIS. The Doctor takes no notice of this, he's busy with other matters. But then after discovering that he has to go away to Gallifrey, he is forced to leave Sarah Jane behind. She quickly changes her mind, but then is told that she has to leave. So she does, but not before saying "Travel does broaden the mind". The Doctor responds with "Til we meet again Sarah", and she leaves. The Doctor looks away, hiding the fact that he's sad. Because he's never going to see his best friend again. This is the nature of Doctor Who. The companions leave and move on with their lives, just as the Doctor moves on with his life. Change is inevitable in the world of Doctor Who.

And we wish it wasn't. Sarah Jane Smith has been one of the best companions the series has ever had. She is able to be smart, funny and resourceful. She can be brave when the situation demands it but she's not afraid to show fear. She was a perfect audience identification figure, as she was able to provide an air of normality to the insane adventures that the Doctor went on, but she was also able to represent the very best qualities of humanity in the process. We'll miss you Sarah Jane Smith. And we'll never forget you.

Day 434: The Hand of Fear Part 3

This episode brings another interesting cliffhanger. Eldrad (who MUST live), has resurrected themselves and has secured the help of the Doctor and Sarah Jane to return to Kastria such that they can fully regenerate themselves, as they currently exist as a weird hybrid between their native Kastrian form and the form of the human that unwittingly helped resurrect Eldrad, Sarah Jane Smith. It is blatantly obvious throughout the serial that Eldrad serves as the antagonist, through using mind control on people and threatening to kill others, indeed almost going through with it in the case of Professor Watson.

Thus, it is a surprise to see Eldrad as the focus of the cliffhanger, where a trap is sprung upon them and they are in clear mortal peril. It is rare to see cliffhangers that focus on characters other than the regulars, let alone the antagonist, and yet here we are. However, it works as a dramatic device. We do not know whether this will kill Eldrad or not, and we have grown to become invested in that aspect of the story. We thus need to see the conclusion of the story, to get closure on whether Eldrad will live or not. But I've got a feeling that that won't be the main focus of tomorrow's episode...

Day 433: The Hand of Fear Part 2

There's a simple little scene within this episode. Sarah Jane, possessed by the power of Eldrad (who MUST live), has infiltrated a nuclear power complex and is making the reactor go critical. Professor Watson, the leader of the complex, is suddenly faced with the very real prospect of dying, so he calls his family. He doesn't let them know that he's going to die, he instead says that he's going to be at the reactor a little bit late. By having this scene, Bob Baker and Dave Martin, the writers, are able to make us immediately sympathise with this character who we've never met before, thus giving us a reason to pay attention to the story, because we suddenly care about this character and want him to make it home to see his children.

This is followed up with the cliffhanger to the story, which features the reactor having some sort of crisis, with the final shot being Professor Watson lying unconscious on the floor. It is an implicit rule of television that the regulars will always survive whatever cliffhanger you throw at them. As Professor Watson is not a regular, there is suddenly a very real chance that he might die. This simple character that we care about is now in danger and so we are encouraged to tune in to see the following instalment. Forget Eldrad, Professor Watson MUST live!

Day 432: The Hand of Fear Part 1

This, as an episode, doesn't quite feel right. It's not like The Seeds of Doom where I can pinpoint exactly where the story deviates from expectations, instead the not-rightness surrounds the episode as a whole, feeling like it's surrounded by a goo of not sitting well with me. It's unexpected that this should happen as well, I last saw this story a year and a half ago and can only remember good things, but seeing it now makes everything feel...odd.

A reason could plausibly be due to the setting. We're firmly in the present day, but not the present day that we're used to. This is the first story since Fury from the Deep to feature no input from UNIT, and even then you'd have to go back to The Faceless Ones to find a story that's within the same category as this, with strange goings on happening in familiar environments (this time a quarry, a hospital and a nuclear power station). Add to this the fact that we have the Doctor separated from Sarah Jane for a vast proportion of the episode, a tacked on prologue detailing the possible origins of the titular Hand, and an odd scene where we see the Doctor not in a sprightly yellow roadster but in a rather more mundane car driving along in the passenger seat to find Sarah Jane, and we have an episode that doesn't sit well with this particular member of the audience.

But I do remember strong things to come in this story, and I look forward to seeing the rest of it as we delve more into The Hand of Fear...

Day 431: The Masque of Mandragora Part 4

I am not good with scares. One of my earliest memories is hiding underneath the dinner table from the Lion on the Teletubbies. This has continued throughout my life, with a fairly recent memory being watching Jurassic Park for the first time at a University event and entertaining my friends with my heightened reactions to the Velociraptors (I neglected to attend another session with the film Alien on similar grounds). So upon watching this story, I must admit that I yelped at considerable volume when the above image flashed on screen.

I had seen the image before, whilst researching photos of the Mandragora Helix. It struck me as one that was a little bit on the unsettling side. A lot of this is the lighting and effects placed on the mask, giving it a demonic look that can scare just about anyone. The design of the mask helps as well, adding a remarkably fierce quality that adds to the terror. Watching it come up in context, however, added a new element of horror to the proceedings. It flashes up suddenly, without any sort of warning. One moment the Doctor is being attacked by Hieronymous, the next we see that image. I gave a resounding cry of shock, and thought to myself of the glorious impact that Doctor Who can have on people. It can still provide fear to people even almost 40 years on from its original broadcast date, adding to the timeless nature of Doctor Who.

Day 430: The Masque of Mandragora Part 3

There's a moment in this story where Sarah Jane asks an important question. If they are in Italy, why does it seem like everyone is speaking English? The Doctor eventually responds with something aling the lines of it being a 'Time Lord's gift' and leaves it at that. What's impressive is that this topic has never once come up in the past 430 episodes. Never have we even stopped to considr why the Thals or Daleks or Ice Warriors or Cybermen or Sontarans or the Nestene Consciousness can speak perfect English. Instead, we accept this as a by-product of drama. We've seen enough programs of this ilk to know the general tropes and we know that everyone will be understood to the audience.

What's also impressive is that this topic will next be touched upon in the episode The End of the World, over 28 years later. This shows the way in which our society has changed, that we are less likely to accept things at face value and we seek for explanations for all that occurs on screen. In a way, this is reflective of one of the themes of this story, that we have become more seeking of reason in our media, seeking science over superstition and made up nonsense, perhaps showing that we have grown as a society.

Day 429: The Masque of Mandragora Part 2

Now the major theme of this story appears to be one of superstition against science. The superstitious beliefs of the time of Renaissance Italy are being taken advantage of by the Helix, who is able to instill the control that it needs through some dedicated followers by claiming to be Demnos, an old god from centuries ago. Meanwhile, we have other characters such as the Doctor and Giuliano, men of science who believe in reason and in seeking out answers even if they may contradict current beliefs. It marks a return to the series' original remit: to educate as well as entertain. Here we are being taught about the very foundations of science, how it is about rationalism and seeking out answers instead of relying on old beliefs and the ways of magic.

Day 428: The Masque of Mandragora Part 1

This story has immediately taken me by surprise. Surrounded by stories where the Doctor lands in somewhat familiar surroundings, here we land somewhere abstract: The Mandragora Helix. It marks a return for the series to the fantastical, after some time away whilst we've had relatively mundane adventures, where we deal with invasions from outer space or alien planets. This means that we can go to stretch the limits of what the series is capable of, showing weird and wonderful settings that are unlike anything that we've seen before. And whilst the TARDIS may make a return to the norm and land in Renaissance Italy later in this episode, the opening few moments stand out and draw the viewer in to what may be an exciting adventure.

Day 427: The Seeds of Doom Part 6

Earlier in the story I posed the question of whether this should be considered a Doctor Who story. It's frequently violent and dark, something which continues throughout the rest of the story as Scorby is drowned by some pond scum, and Harrison Chase is fed into a compost mixer. Eventually the Krynoid is dispatched not through the Doctor using his wits but through a full aerial assault from UNIT (and even they don't feel right, with it lacking the regulars that we know and love). The end result is something that feels more like a James Bond film than a Doctor Who story.

But there are two things that make this feel like a Doctor Who story regardless. Those two things are Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen. Both represent the very core of their characters beautifully, with Baker showing the alien side of the Doctor and Sladen showing the human side of the companion. An example can be found near the climax of the story as they fight Chase, ending with some Chase shaped compost. Sladen reacts to this with a degree of sadness, because someone has died. He may have been despicable and he may have cost several people their lives through his actions, but Sarah Jane is able to remember that he was once a human being, and to mourn his death. It's a tiny moment, but a good moment nonetheless, and representative of so many good things about this story.

And this is a good story. I may have issues with it, but on the whole it would be remiss of me not to think of it as something that was well produced. A lot of this, of course, comes down to the director Douglas Camfield, who makes his final entry to the series with this story. He has brought with him a natural talent for directing, creating an awful lot of tension in The Web of Fear, giving us some fantastic action sequences in The Invasion, getting good performances out of actors in The Crusade, and several more besides. It's a shame that we won't get to see more of his work, but that's not to say that there won't be directors just as good as him, because there's a long way to go on this odyssey and We've Got Work To Do!

Day 426: The Seeds of Doom Part 5

Easily one of the best things about The Seeds of Doom is Amelia Ducat. She's an artist who sold a picture once to the villainous Harrison Chase, and is now being used by the World Ecology Bureau to discover more about what Chase is up to. Where she succeeds as a character is in the way in which she has fun with the entire thing. Everything and everyone around her is being deadly serious, but she is content to just treat all of this as a little amusement. This is partially due to the writing from Robert Banks Stewart and Robert Holmes, but also due to the performance of Sylvia Coleridge, who injects such an awful lot of charm into the proceedings. It's an absolute highlight of the story, and perhaps of the series so far, meaning that I can only recommend seeking out her scenes to fully get to know and thoroughly enjoy her character.

Day 425: The Seeds of Doom Part 4

There's a fantastic thing about The Seeds of Doom that leads into a disappointing thing. It's the design of the Krynoid, the alien that menaces the planet Earth this story. The Krynoid starts off as a pod, before infecting a human host and forcing them to go through a series of evolutions, with varying degrees of believability. The first can be seen to the left, and is my favourite of the designs. This is because you can see the actor's eye within the costume, both giving them more to act with and acting as a reminder that the creature used to be human.

 The second design is essentially a repainted Axon costume from The Claws of Axos. It still works as a monster design to some extent, and is something that would probably fester in the minds of children to make them more terrified of brocolli or the like. At least, it would do so more than the final iteration of the Krynoid.








The final Krynoid is a blob. It doesn't come across as particularly frightening, although the direction from Douglas Camfield does give it some credit through shooting some of its scenes at night, leaving it in the shadows and creating an air of dread about it. But at the end of the day, it's still a blob and doesn't quite work. It's a shame as well because the design had an awful lot of potential, it just loses that potential as the story continues.

Day 424: The Seeds of Doom Part 3

Doctor Who has an ability to change and adapt to different genres. In the past series we have had a typical UNIT story, a space horror story, a mummy movie, a science fiction adventure and a gothic horror story, and now we have something based more around action in The Seeds of Doom. 

The setting of the story has changed from the Antarctic base to an English country house, and so too the mood. Where once it was closed and tense, here it is open and sprawling. There's more action with guns being fired, punches being thrown and so on. It's enjoyable enough, with the characters all being well written and performed and it all being well directed, but there's a lingering question of whether this is right.

There's a scene, for instance, where the Doctor and Sarah Jane are attacked by a chauffeur. They respond by running into a quarry and ambushing him, with the Doctor giving him a knock-out blow to the face at the climax. We're not used to seeing the Doctor engage in violence like that, even Pertwee's Doctor was more refined when using violence and tended to use such techniques only in self defence. There are moments that make The Seeds of Doom feel more like a Doctor Who story, and we shall delve into those over the latter half of the story, but for the moment this comes across as one of the more atypical Doctor Who adventures.

Day 423: The Seeds of Doom Part 2

The nature of this story means that we get only a few characters that we will see consistently for the entire story. Two such characters are Scorby and Keeler, who make a wonderful, if unsettling pairing. Both have been hired by the villainous Harrison Chase to capture a Krynoid pod from the Antarctic base where it has been found. Scorby comes across as a ruthless gun for hire, not afraid to kill or cause damage as long as it will get the job done. Keeler, on the other hand, is a botanist, who seems remarkably out of his depth in this situation, particularly when he is surrounded by the violence of Scorby. This makes Scorby seem all the more ruthless, whilst making Keeler more sympathetic with the audience, on the whole creating two characters that will entice the viewer to come back to the story over the next couple of episodes.

Day 422: The Seeds of Doom Part 1

I remember when I first watched this story it was when I was a teenager. My sister had borrowed the video version of it from our local library on the grounds that the name sounded kind of stupid, which it sort of does. Seeds are normally associated with plant life, not oncoming doom. However, doom is an appropriate word for this story,

The first episode is laced with atmosphere and dread, again mainly through the performance of Tom Baker who becomes deadly serious within a few minutes of learning of the situation, realising that the fate of the entire universe is at stake. The decisions that could be made to save the Earth also now have added degrees of weight with them, as seen when a man who is not explicitly trained in the medical profession is asked to amputate a limb, something which he doesn't feel comfortable about but everyone knows could be their only option. We spend time mulling over this decision, giving us both a sense of knowing the characters and realising the gravity of the situation. It's moments like this that rise this story to the high standard that has been set over the past few weeks and make us look forward to how the Seeds of Doom shall manifest themselves.

Day 421: The Brain of Morbius Part 4

This story is critically lauded, and for good reason. The direction from Christopher Barry, as mentioned before, is fantastic, as is the acting with masterful performances from Tom Baker as the Doctor, Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane and Philip Madoc as the villainous Doctor Solon. The story is engaging, the design of the serial is beautifully atmospheric, all of this goes towards making one of the absolute highlights of the series.

All of that said, there is a slight issue. The last part has the Doctor engage in a mindbending contest with Morbius. The scene involves images of the Doctor's past incarnations popping up on the screen in reverse order, but we go past William Hartnell to some unfamiliar faces (in reality members of the production team as an in-joke). This implies that Hartnell is not really the first incarnation of the Doctor, and that there were others before him. Of course, this is not the case, as this would require the Doctor to have broken the '12 regenerations' as early as when Peter Davison regenerates, although admittedly this rule has not yet been established. It therefore sits as a blemish, one that is ignored because of other things that came along after it, a moment when the series refuses to follow the rules.

But I like the scene. I like it because it acknowledges time before the series, and gives us brief glimpses at what the Doctor was like before he became William Hartnell. It uses the assumptions that have been made about the series (that Hartnell was the First Doctor) and refutes them, revealing something new, something that will remain untouched but can be quietly speculated about. It also fits in well with one of the themes of the story, being one of learning this unknown history as we discussed yesterday. So whilst some might choose to ignore the scene, I choose to celebrate it as a way to see something truly unknown and for us to enjoy the untold mythology of the series.

Day 420: The Brain of Morbius Part 3

The story of The Brain of Morbius is wonderful, as it delves into the past mythology of Doctor Who to produce something weird and new. There exists, on the planet Karn, a Sisterhood who have discovered the secret to eternal life. They only share this information with the Time Lords, who in return keep their secret from the rest of the Universe. That is, until Morbius, a renegade Time Lord, comes along and tells his followers about it. As they attempt to take over the Universe, the Sisterhood capture and execute him for his countless crimes. However, a surgeon, Solon, finds his brain and keeps it to resurrect the great Time Lord Morbius.

This backstory provides new insights into the pre-history of Doctor Who, something which is relatively rare for this time in the series. Previously Time Lords have been restricted to either putting the Doctor on trial and giving him odd jobs (with the obvious exceptions of the Master, Omega and K'anpo Rimpoche). Now we learn of the forces that once were, how they know the secrets of eternal life as well as some of the darker parts of their history. This all provides colour to the series, as well as rewarding the faithful viewer by beginning to answer some lingering questions about the society of the Time Lords. But this is only the beginning, and in a few weeks' time we'll encounter something far far more important. But for now, the important thing is dealing with trying to stop the Brain of Morbius...

Day 419: The Brain of Morbius Part 2

It's worth mentioning one key feature of Doctor Who that I haven't mentioned for a while, and that is the Doctor, or to be more specific, the Fourth Doctor. This Doctor is well and truly into the swing of things, making himself stand out from his predecessors through several factors. One of these is the writing of Robert Holmes, the script editor for the series and occasional writer of serials, such as this one where he rewrote Terrance Dicks' original script so much that Dicks refused to have his name placed on it as he didn't want to take any of the credit. Holmes is able to inject humour into the proceedings, but also a large swath of darkness, making the Doctor seem like a beacon of light in dark places, but one is all to aware of how to become serious when the situation demands it.

This is helped by the wonder that is Tom Baker. He is a tremendous actor in the role of the Doctor, bringing equal quantities of lightness (such as in the scene where he is to be sacrificed to the Sacred Flame of the Sisterhood of Karn) and darkness (such as the scene where he bargains with Solon to help Sarah Jane regain her sight). The juxtaposition of both of these factors increase their impact and make the character far more enticing to watch. It's also worth mentioning the fact that Baker was known to improvise a lot on the set, and thus it is difficult to know where the writer ends and the actor begins, but one thing is perfectly clear: The Doctor is always there and always good.

Day 418: The Brain of Morbius Part 1

This is one of those stories that I feel incredibly guilty about. It's generally held up as a great classic of Doctor Who, dealing with Time Lord mythology in a fantastic script that's been brilliantly brought to life. It's also one that I've never seen before. Much of what I know of this story comes from reading synopses, watching clips, chatting about it with friends and listening to the audiobook version a few years ago, yet this is something that I have never gotten around to watching until today. There's part of me that could feel disappointed, because much of the story has been spoiled for me, and yet there's also a large part of me that's still just as excited to watch this, mainly because the visual component adds an awful lot to the piece.

An example of this is to be found in a scene where The Sisterhood of Karn (more on them later) transports the TARDIS to them through a mystical ceremony. Two things make this scene memorable, one being the choreography of the Sisterhood from Geraldine Stephenson, which injects a mystical air to the proceedings by feeling like an ancient ritual, passed down from generation to generation. The mystical air is helped by the direction from Christopher Barry, which takes full advantage of the multi-camera set-up prevalent at the BBC at the time by taking several angles of the ceremony and fading between them, never allowing one image to dominate the screen at any one time. This adds to the air of mysticism as well as creating a disconcerting air for the viewer, letting them know that things are going to be different this time.

Day 417: The Android Invasion Part 4

There is an absolutely ridiculous moment in this story. One which threatens the quality of rest of the story by simply existing. There is a character called Guy Crayford. He is an astronaut who was rescued by the villainous Kraals, reassembled after a nasty accident (sans one eyeball which is replaced with an eye-patch), and then used as an unwitting pawn in The Android Invasion. Towards the climax of this story, the Doctor points out that Crayford has been used as a pawn by the Kraals, and to demonstrate this fact he reveals that Crayford actually has two working eyes, and thus no need for an eye-patch.

This is truly and legitimately stupid. For a start, it defies all logic that Crayford would not have lifted his eye-patch once since getting it, meaning that the Kraals must have relied on him being extremely gullible for him to believe them. Not only that, but there is actually no reason for them to give him the eye-patch in the first place. They could have just as easily told him that they rescued him and gone about their merry business on this lie, but instead they decide to utilise a plan which could fall apart almost instantly. This shows some poor writing from Nation, who is clearly going for such a big dramatic moment that he has failed to notice the obvious flaws staring right in his face, meaning that what once had the potential for a rather nice story instead becomes a story that has its moments, but not too much else.

Day 416: The Android Invasion Part 3

It's worth mentioning that this is essentially the last script for Doctor Who to be written by Terry Nation (he will be credited for one more story but there are varying accounts as to how much he actually wrote of the story). It's also one of only two stories that he has written not to feature the Daleks, out of 10.5 stories that he is fully credited for. It's thus interesting to see what he does when he's clearly not able to write to the set structure that he is used to employing for Dalek serials. There are less allies for the Doctor and Sarah Jane, for instance, instead they are surrounded by danger at every turn. There's also a knowledge that visuals can make for more memorable moments than dialogue, Part 1 ends with the reveal of the monster's face, Part 2 with the reveal of the android face of Sarah Jane and Part 3 has an entertaining set-piece where the Doctor is tied to a spire in the centre of the village. But there are still issues. Nation doesn't let things be subtle, with future plot revelations being hinted at throughout dialogue or set-pieces (there's one particularly egregious example which we shall look at tomorrow relating to an eyepatch), but on the whole he provides some generic action adventure fun, and sometimes we all need a little bit of that in our lives.

Day 415: The Android Invasion Part 2

The iconic moment that defines this story is the cliff-hanger to Part 2. The Doctor quickly deduces that the TARDIS has not taken them to Earth and that they have instead landed on a replica of Earth, then he deduces that the Sarah Jane that has been with him for the past few moments is also a replica. He throws her to the ground, at which point her face falls off revealing a robotic underside. It's a good scene, partially due to the direction from Barry Letts but mostly due to the design of the android face from either Len Hutton (Visual Effects) or Barbara Lane (costumes) which provides an unsettling visages and one that is guaranteed to stick in the nightmares of children.

That's not to say that there aren't problems though. The scene is simple enough to work out from what precedes it, as we have already seen the fact that android duplicates have been produced and that Sarah Jane is acting oddly, thus we can surmise that she is an android duplicate. But it still remains iconic due to the nature of the cliffhanger, something which has to be designed to stick in the viewer's mind for an entire week. There will be a massive post about cliffhangers at some point in the future, but for now let's just accept the fact that of all cliffhangers, this is one of the better ones.

Day 414: The Android Invasion Part 1

Never having seen this story before, the first thing that struck me was the speed with which it started. We're used to beginning stories with establishing shots, a quieter beginning to ease the viewer into the adventure. This time, however, we begin immediately with some disjointed music from Dudley Simpson and a UNIT soldier walking erratically to camera. The suddenness of this opening scene immediately shocked me, and encouraged me to sit up and pay attention to the story.

By paying attention, I was rewarded with sone excellent camera work from Barry Letts, the former producer/director/writer for the series, making a return as a freelance director for one last time. Here, he shows off his skills at creating suspense, particularly in a scene in the middle of this episode where people get off a truck and walk into a pub, then remaining perfectly still. Letts creates tension from thsi scene by holding long close ups of the people's faces, as we expect them to make any sort of movement, yet they don't. It's eerie, unsettling and exacerbates the mystery, prompting the viewer to wonder more about The Android Invasion.

Day 413: Pyramids of Mars Part 4

I've estimated that this point in the run of the blog marks a particular milestone, namely that I have now reached the halfway point on my journey. It's been a remarkably fun ride so far, with some particularly enjoyable episodes such as Pyramids of Mars Part 4, for example.

There are two major points that come to mind when thinking of this episode. The first is the beginning, which features the Doctor being tortured by the villainous Sutekh. It's a shocking scene as we see the Doctor put under intense pain. We aren't used to seeing the Doctor quite clearly losing, as he is forced to become one of Sutekh's playthings. This shows two things. One is that Sutekh is quite clearly a powerful force, and that we are all going to be doomed if the Doctor cannot prevent him from being set free. The second is that Tom Baker is a marvellous actor, fully conveying the intense pain that he is undergoing and making the audience feel greatly disconcerted in the process.

The second major point is more of a personal one. The majority of this episode concerns the Doctor and Sarah Jane chasing Marcus Scarman through a pyramid, completing little riddles as they go along. To an older eye this comes across as padding, and lacks much of the tension that was present in the first three quarters of the story. But when I first saw it, I loved it. I loved riddles and puzzles as a child, and so this sequence appealed to me, particularly as it showed the Doctor and Sarah Jane using brains instead of brawn to complete each obstacle. And so whilst I may have problems with this story as an adult, I can never take away the joy that it brought me as a child and I always enjoy thinking back on watching Pyramids of Mars and kneeling before the might of Sutekh.

Day 412: Pyramids of Mars Part 3

Laurence Scarman is a lovely character in this story. He represents the typical turn of the century gentleman, a man who believes in what is right. This is exemplified in the cliffhanger for Part 2, where he prevents the Doctor from activating a machine to attack the villainous Sutekh, as it would also attack Marcus Scarman, Laurence's brother and a pawn of Sutekh, arguably already dead according to the Doctor.

Laurence also gets this story's best scene, as his brother finds him working away in a hut. He talks to his brother and attempts to remind him of his past life. For a second, Marcus remembers, and tries to break free from Sutekh's power, but Sutekh takes control again and he moves towards Laurence. Then, in a chilling scene Laurence begs Marcus for mercy, but in a confused state. He can't actually comprehend that his brother has been made evil and he looks on in a state of confusion as Marcus begins to crush him to death. The scene shows that there is no room for lightness in the story, and that darkness has prevailed, with only the Doctor and Sarah Jane standing in its way...

Day 411: Pyramids of Mars Part 2

There's an age old question for Doctor Who stories. Stories that are set in the past can't turn out badly because we know that the future is alright, therefore everything will be swell. But time can be rewritten, as is discovered in the clip above. When Sarah Jane requests to be returned to 1980, she finds that it has become a desolate wasteland. Suddenly, we get a chilling realisation both of the villain's power and of the importance of fighting against evil in all time periods. This is one of the most important scenes in Doctor Who as it reveals that what the Doctor and co. do is not worthless, and that they really do help make history go on the correct course, preventing vast temporal disasters throughout their travels in the TARDIS.

Day 410: Pyramids of Mars Part 1

It's going to be somewhat difficult to comment on this story. As mentioned previously on this blog, I used to play the video game Age of Mythology, and through it I gained an interest in Greek, Egyptian and Norse mythology. Around the same time, I was discovering Doctor Who and thus I sought out episodes where these things were heavily present. One of these was Pyramids of Mars, which I used to watch incessantly, with the end result being that I feel like I know this story like the back of my hand and there's not much that will surprise me.

But that doesn't get in the way of what is a good story. As I mentioned earlier, I was obsessed with Egyptian mythology as a child, reading and learning more and more about this thoroughly interesting culture. And this isn't just restricted to me, as Mummy movies and the like have shown with the Hammer and Universal Mummy pictures. So it makes sense for the series to take something that's popular and put a 'Doctor Who' spin on it, creating something memorable and enjoyable at the same time.

Day 409: Planet of Evil Part 4

The key driving force behind this story is one of an anti-matter monster which is rather annoyed that anti-matter is being taken from them. The Doctor resolves to ensure that all anti-matter is handed back, however there is a scientist, Professor Sorenson, who disagrees with this and sneaks anti-matter aboard the spaceship. Later, in scenes reminiscent of Inferno, we see the Professor turn into a monster, nicknamed Anti-Man by the Doctor, reflecting the mania with which he proceeded to keep the anti-matter in an attempt to find an alternate energy source.

But there's more to it than just that. Sorenson is fully aware that he is turning into a monster and tries to keep it under control with a vaccine. The Doctor then informs him that the vaccine will no longer work, and that Anti-Man will soon take full control over Sorenson. So in a harrowing scene, we see Sorenson lie down and prepare to be ejected into space. His hand hovers over the switch to eject himself, but we see that the hand has already changed into something monstrous. In a way, the Professor does die at that point. But it's not because he was ejected into the cold vacuum of space, instead it is because the monster has taken over. And whilst all turns out well by the end of the story, and the Professor regains his senses, this singular moment of horror remains one of the most truly disturbing scenes in Doctor Who.

Day 408: Planet of Evil Part 3

There are two characters of great interest in this story: Salamar and Vishinksy. Salamar is the controller of the Morestran spaceship, with Vishinsky as his second in command. Salamar is young, he makes impulsive decisions and is keen to make an impression as a strong commander, whereas Vishinsky is more eager to sit down and listen to arguments, in particular those of the Doctor. This is all fairly generic, until we reach the cliffhanger.

The Doctor and Sarah Jane are accused of killing members of the crew with special anti-matter powers, and so Salamar decides to eject them into space (acting on the suspicions of Professor Sorenson whom we will deal with tomorrow). Thus, they are held in coffin like structures, and are ready to be ejected when Salamar gives the order to Vishinsky that they be sent out into space. Vishinsky refuses, so Salamar forces him to do it, taking his hand and making him pull the lever to send them outside. It shows that Salamar is not just doing this to get rid of what he sees as the problem, he is also doing this to express his superiority over Vishinsky by making him do the action. He is the commanding officer and he isn't going to let anyone else on the ship forget it.

However, by performing this action, it reveals how unstable Salamar is, that he is willing to go to extraordinary lengths to prove his dominance over anyone else. As we approach the conclusion, we shall see how this instability shall manifest itself even more as the Planet of Evil rears its head once more...

Day 407: Planet of Evil Part 2

There's a rather nice effect featured in this episode which complements the story nicely. It's the oculoid tracker, a flying gizmo that provides a group of Morestrans (humans who colonised the planet Morestra) with knowledge of what's going on, by acting as a spy. It flies about the place with some considerable speed, juxtaposing itself with the alien landscape by being a rare piece of technology. It also helps that David Maloney, the director, makes the decision at several points to attach it to the bottom of a film camera and then place the film camera high above the studio floor, after which the camera begins to move around the jungle from the high vantage point. This both shows the tracker at work, allows for the model to be shown off, and shows the beauty of the alien planet, whilst being an innovative camera position and one that shows David Maloney as a director who is very good at his job.

Day 406: Planet of Evil Part 1

This story is beautiful. Seriously beautiful. To clarify, I'm not referring to the performances, nor the plot, nor the direction (although all of those are beautiful in their own right), instead I am referring to the sets. Or to be more specific, the jungle set of Zeta Minor. It was designed by Roger Murray-Leach, who creates an alien jungle before our eyes. The plants all look unfamiliar and untamed, creating an uneasy and alien landscape. This is coupled with the lighting from Brian Clemett which exacerbates the exotic feel of the planet, covering it with reds and blues unfamiliar to the human eye, and the fact that portions of the jungle have been filmed in Ealing, allowing for a larger space and thus giving the jungle more room to breathe. This all creates one of the most beautiful sets that we have seen for some time in Doctor Who and shows the wider world the hidden beauties that Doctor Who can produce on screen.

Day 405: Terror of the Zygons Part 4

December 31st and January 1st are traditionally times when we can look back on the past and look forward to the future. It's particularly apt then, that we come to to the end of Terror of the Zygons as this marks the beginning of a turning point in the history of the series.

Doctor Who, since Spearhead from Space, has been mainly based around modern day Earth. We have had alien invasions of several different types, mad scientists trying to take over the world, et cetera. All of this has been prevented by the Doctor, with the help of the Brigadier and UNIT. But over the past few series we have slowly moved away from this concept, to the point where the last series only had one story on modern day Earth (Robot). The series is going to become more about space adventures, and travelling back in time than it is about alien invasions.

So this story marks the beginning of the end for UNIT. The Brigadier makes his final appearance for quite some time in this episode, with Benton and Harry (who leaves the TARDIS crew without much fanfare in this story, a shame as he has been a delightful companion and will be greatly missed) due to make their final appearances in a little while and UNIT itself in a little while longer. It is a shame to lose this part of the series, as it allowed for an awful lot of things. Shorthand could be developed such that the Doctor wouldn't have to explain himself to the people in charge, as he was already in charge. Similarly, these people aren't going to be skeptic of alien invaders and will instantly believe the Doctor or his companion (as seen in Part 2 of this story where a Zygon disintegrates leaving no trace of a body yet the UNIT soldiers recognise that Sarah Jane is in the right and continue to help her). Add on top of this a splendid cast of regulars who provide consistency and comfort to the programme and you have a recipe for some solid stories.

But, it has to be said that there have been constraints to the format, and that it might be more beneficial to have the Doctor and his companion(s) go free to explore the cosmos without having to worry about Earth. So it's with a heavy heart that we must recognise the need to say goodbye to UNT and we thank it for all that it has done to make the series what it is today.