Terror of the Zygons - Episode 4

This is the final episode where Ian Marter appears as a regular and is the end of the regular appearance of UNIT. It is also the final appearance of Nicholas Courtney for a good number of years so it is the end of an era which is quite a sad moment. The episode starts of with the ship going off into the distance. There is a line about the spaceship last seen over Leicester but then they lost it. How exactly do you lose a massive ship like that. It’s a bit like in the 1998 version of Godzilla when it just disappears. Speaking of the ship I thought that the false perspective of the ship was a very good shot and I wouldn’t have noticed if it hadn’t been for the information text on the DVD. The model blowing up was another nice touch and it blowing up was another good blown up model.

The Prime Minister is mentioned and the Brigadier uses the term madam. This story was made four years before we got a female prime minister and so this just goes to show how ahead of the game the show was. Depending on your political views this was a nice moment or not.

I like it when we see the real versions of the caber, the duke and sister lamont. It shows that they are quite nice people and it. Sadly by the time we get to meet the nice versions they are written out of the show as the action moves away. I still think that Sister Lamont was the best of the supporting characters with the Duke being a very close second.

It’s good that it seems like the story is over when the Zygon ship is blown up but then the action moves to London at alarming speed when the Broton Zygon and the Skaran is about to attack the conference. It’s dealt with quite quickly with Broton shot by the Brigadier and the Skaran is left to go back to the loch.

The final scene is quite a nice one with the Doctor and Sarah going off leaving Harry and the Brigadier. Harry’s final line is about sticking to intercity isn’t the best departing line for a companion but it pretty much sums him up. The idea that Sarah only agrees to with him so that they could go to London seems like the wrong thing to say because it was obvious that she would really want to go with the Doctor anywhere so its no surprise that they don’t make it to London.

The line that the Duke gives to the Brigadier about being a Scotsman is a stereotypical line implying that scots are tight which I thought was probably intended as a joke but just comes across in todays world as a bit of a shame really but that said its hard to find any fault with this story because its been written well and a good start to the thirteenth season of Doctor Who. Now its just the Doctor and Sarah for the rest of the season and now that Harry is out it means that what I consider the golden era of the show can really get started. I’m sorry to say this about Harry and Ian Marter but I think that this character was a victim of circumstances and Ian Marter did the best he could.