Saturday, 21 June 2014

Terror of the Zygons - Episode 1

The start of the thirteenth series starts just 112 days after the final episode of ‘Revenge of the Cybermen’. Normally I wouldn’t comment on this but its another stat that I can use and it’s the shortest gap since between the fifth and sixth seasons which were only 70 days apart. The shortest gaps were 49 days during seasons 1 & 2 and 2 & 3. The longest was 203 days between Jon Pertwee’s last season and Tom Baker’s first. Another fact is that this is the 80th Doctor Who story. Anyway enough stats for today and the opening story of the season sees the introduction of an underused creation. This is one of the Tom Baker stories that I have seen the least for some strange reason.

The opening scene of this episode reminds me of the opening of ‘The Sea Devils’. This is the season when Philip Hinchcliffe put his stamp on the show and its clear that the show has progressed a little bit since the last season. Tom Baker seems more confident in the role and it seems Elisabeth Sladen is adjusting to Tom as the leading man. This is her 47th episode overtaking Peter Purves and becomes the seventh longest serving companion. There that is the last stat of the review.
The Brigadier has some devise that can effectively recall the Doctor and whilst it’s a good idea, this is the only time that its used and seems like a plausible plot device to get the Doctor back to earth. Quite why the TARDIS couldn’t make it closer to where the Brigadier was is a bit of a mystery. It’s been an awfully long time since we last saw the interior of the TARDIS. In fact I think that it was during ‘Death to the Daleks’ that we last had a scene inside the TARDIS and that was over a year since this episode was broadcast. I best people were forgetting what it looked like.

This is the final story for Harry who has been rather under used since he first joined the show. He’s more use in this episode than he was for most of the previous season. However about the halfway point he get’s shot at. When he wakes up that is when his usefulness becomes important and what he heard that bloke say was what led to the cliffhanger. Not many times that Harry has been anywhere near the cliffhanger.
This story features John Woodnutt playing the Duke of Forgill who had previously appeared in ‘Spearhead from Space’ and under a Draconian mask in ‘Frontier in Space’. Like his previous two appearances, he instantly becomes an interesting character. Another fun character from the moment she appears on screen is that of Sister Lamont played by Lillias Walker. I cant let this review go by without mentioning Angus who comes across as a bit weird because he think’s that he has second sight but there is something quite charming about the performance that really sticks in the mind. It’s good to have the Brigadier back, even if its just to be mocked by the Doctor and Sarah.

Even though the title has Zygons in it, we don’t see a great deal of them. Just the eyes and hand of one until the cliffhanger when it is about to get very close to Sarah. It’s a great cliffhanger to what has been a very solid episode. I cant really find fault with it and the best thing is that as its Harry’s final story as a companion, he’s given something substantial to do and I will probably mention that a couple of time over the next three episodes but its perhaps the most interesting part of the story.

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