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.